Sheri Fitts: Personal Branding a Focus at 2026 SWAY | LIVE

SWAY | LIVE, the retirement industry’s most unique annual conference—and the only one focused on helping retirement industry professionals build their personal brand—is coming to Boulder, Colorado Aug. 2-4.

Event founder and organizer Sheri Fitts, the speaker, creator and catalyst at Sheri Fitts & Co., returns to the 401(k) Specialist Pod(k)ast to tell us what makes the event so unique, and explain the value behind maintaining a strong personal brand. She also talks about the importance of developing storytelling skills, and why it’s such a key skill to have in the retirement industry.

Professionals interested in attending SWAY | LIVE can register here. The event’s registration deadline is Friday, July 24.

SEE ALSO:

• Sheri Fitts’ SWAY | LIVE Brings Personal Branding to Boulder in Early August

Transcript

Sheri Fitts: [00:00:00] People follow the advisor. They do not follow the company. And, you know, if you're thinking about your practice and truly owning your practice, then owning your brand is the starting point for that

Brian Anderson: This is 401Specialist editor-in-chief Brian Anderson, and this is the 401Specialist Podcast. We are now less than a month away from the retirement industry's most unique annual conference on the calendar, and the only one focused on helping retirement plan advisors build their personal brand and better understand the real value in doing so.

Yes, I'm talking about Sway Live, the brainchild of retirement industry marketing and branding expert Sherry Fitts, who, as our guest on today's podcast, is gonna tell us all about what makes this intimate event so unique. This year, Sway Live comes to what is almost my backyard of Boulder, Colorado, where it's gonna be held August 2 through 4 at the brand new and beautiful Limelight Hotel, which is right on the edge [00:01:00] of the University of Colorado campus.

401Specialist will again be there as the event's official media sponsor, and after last year's great experience we had at Sway Live in Milwaukee, we're looking forward to seeing what Sherry has in store for us this year. Sherry, welcome back to the 401Specialist Podcast. 

Sheri Fitts: Hey there, Brian. Thank you for having me.

It's awesome to talk with you again, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you this year at Sway Live, for sure. 

Brian Anderson: All right. Well, let's start by talking a little bit about this year's theme, which is centered around purpose and personal brand. Why is that message especially relevant for financial professionals right now, and do you think, uh, most retirement professionals tend to underestimate the value of cultivating their own personal brand?

Sheri Fitts: Well, let's start with the purpose part, and you might have to remind me, 'cause I always forget, you know, the second part of the question. I had a conversation with Nevin and Fred a few weeks ago, and one of the things that was interesting in talking with them is that in their efforts to kind of create [00:02:00] content and, and create viability and social proof for themselves as they grew in their career, they weren't specifically going for visibility.

They were going for value. And that is why when I think about a purpose-driven personal brand, it brings the value forward as, as quickly as possible. So if all you're doing is creating a brand to say, "Pick me, pick me, pick me," it is not differentiated in any way, it's not unique in any way, and really, it just adds to the slop that's kind of out there.

And yet, if you sit for a moment and get clear on what matters to you most and who you're here to serve, then that component can start to come through in your brand. You know, Brian, before, when I first left corporate America, I started a marketing firm. Many people remember the name [00:03:00] Shoe Fitts Marketing.

And when I would work with business leaders on creating their company brand, I would tell them, "I just need you to know this is gonna be kind of like sitting on a therapist's couch for a while." Because essentially what I was asking them was, "Who do you wanna be when you grow up?" And why does that matter?

And, you know, what, what journey are you here to do? So it's the same question for individual practitioners and frankly, just about every industry person in that we all have a personal brand. You know, it's what people think about us. It's our reputation. It's what enters a room before we enter the room, and yet there is a way to be more intentional about it and to get clearer about how we wanna show up and who, who we wanna show up for, which is frankly, in the whole scheme of the marketing world, right, our niche.

Brian Anderson: Right. Well, you often say that, uh, your personal brand [00:04:00] is the one asset that you own. What do you mean by that? Uh, why do, why do people need to understand this concept? 

Sheri Fitts: Particularly in a world being devoured by M&A, particularly in a world where companies are firing huge swaths of staff for AI only to figure out that it's not gonna change their world, right?

The one thing that every one of us has is our reputation and our brand, and I lived this myself. You know, in 2008, I decided to start working on my personal brand because the market was going sideways and everybody wanted to have lunch with me 'cause I worked for an insurance company, and they were unemployed.

And it got me thinking, "Wow, wow, you don't-- I don't wanna be looking for a job when I don't have a job. That seems like not the best idea." And so I started really working on that, and between 2008 and 2010, I leaned into my personal brand. Turns out it was extraordinarily beneficial for the [00:05:00] organization that I work for 'cause I had a fire in my belly to kind of build things that were unique and, you know, we did, right-- At that particular time, I was doing webinars every other week.

It was just really fun, um, and offering some unique things to the advisor market that had never been offered before. And in 2010, I got downsized out of a job, and within five weeks, I had five job offers Right? And now, you know, that's a little bit different, but the fact of the matter is, is y- you buy car insurance, you buy house insurance, you insure your health, and the way that you insure your longevity in the professional world is to insure, you know, your reputation.

And so, um- Love it ... that's one of the things, right? For practitioners. For advisors, it's, it's more that what the research has told me in doing some research [00:06:00] for a, a report that I've done, people follow the advisor. They do not follow the company. And, you know, if you're thinking about your practice and truly owning your practice, then owning your brand is the starting point for that.

Brian Anderson: Great. Interesting. Okay. Well, let's, um, now let's talk a little bit about the Sway Live conference experience, which I'll say is definitely different than any other industry conference I've been to, which is a good thing. It's not an event where attendees simply sit still and listen. Why was it important to design such an interactive experience?

Sheri Fitts: Adults learn by doing, right? You know, you go to Nordstrom's, you look at a jacket, you just don't leave it on the hanger and buy it. You try it on. And so essentially what we're doing is we're allowing people to kind of be in an, in an environment where there are a bunch of ideas floating around, and the best way for them to think about that idea is to actually try it on.

And so one of the things that we do, Brian, and this is one of the [00:07:00] challenges as we grow, is that we have a commitment to only four people at each table because, and you know this, right? There's a lot of conversations that happen And what also happens is very deep and, um, beautiful relationships that happen as a result.

So business relationships. So conversations that you can have across the table from an advisor or a third-party administrator or a wholesaler or whatever that you would never have at another industry conference. And so it's just, I wanted to give people a chance to explore all the things they were learning.

It's a requirement for our speakers to build in time for the audience to talk, and we've got mic runners at all times, you know, getting their steps in. And so that's why. Learning. 

Brian Anderson: Great. Great. Well, in, in looking over the agenda, you see that, uh, several of the sessions focus on storytelling. Why do you think storytelling is such an [00:08:00] important leadership skill today?

Sheri Fitts: Well, wow, there's so many. What is really interesting is that the place where decisions take place in our body physically is in the limbic system of our brain, which is our emotional center, not our logical center, our emotional center. And so th- the actual where the synapses snap, that happens in our limbic brain, which is our emotional c- center.

That's also where when stories happen, that lights up like crazy. So a couple things happen with storytelling. If it's very well done, the listener begins to experience the same brainwaves as the teller So if you want mind control in a sales environment, get really good at storytelling. Y- bottom line, right?

So, you know, and also just even the memorability. [00:09:00] We remember stories more than we remember facts and figures. So again, from a sales business perspective, get better at stories, get better at connecting with people, get better sales results. 

Brian Anderson: That's, um, that's really interesting. I never thought about it like that, and it all makes perfect sense.

Now, the Sway Spotlight it seems like is quickly becoming a signature part of the event. What do you think it is that makes that, uh, evening session so special? 

Sheri Fitts: When I decided to do it last year, Brian, I didn't know what was gonna happen. So essentially, gang, what happens is, is that, you know, people all leave for dinner, and then I ask them to return at 8:00 for something that's called the Sway Spotlight.

Some of you may have been at a story slam or maybe a poetry slam, or maybe there's a organization called The Moth that does this. But we give five to seven people the microphone for, uh, eight to 10 minutes, and they have a chance to tell a story or share an idea that has been compelling to them. [00:10:00] And there are so many stories that don't get told.

And wow, this year there's a Russian immigrant sharing her story of growing up as a first-generation family. There's a woman who, how surfing has changed her life. I'm excited about someone I love dearly, as in my son, is gonna come and talk about his journey in recovery. So there are stories that, you know, oftentimes don't have a place or platform in our industry that are still super compelling.

And so usually, you know, remember last year we were laughing, we were crying, we were screaming at the top of our lungs. It was just goosebumps, and, you know, wow. It was, it was phenomenal, so I'm excited. And, um, Jay Washington is coming back again as the emcee. It's his birthday, so, you know, I'm, I'm making him be the emcee again, and he's a great voice to be bringing other voices to the platform.

[00:11:00] So yeah. 

Brian Anderson: Yeah. He's the perfect person for it. Last year was really great. Now, I know as an event organizer, it's kinda hard to play favorites, but is there anything new this year for the event that, uh, you're particularly excited about? 

Sheri Fitts: Oh. You know, as the event has grown, so have I, I have grown, you know, in my ability to understand what it means to truly create a transformational experience.

So I'm really working on that myself as a facilitator and as a speaker. And, um, and I'm super excited about all of the speakers because they're not the standard panels that we'll have. We'll have one panel and, and you know, it'll be a bunch of our, um, community talking about, you know, what visibility in real life looks like.

And I have a, in the, in the, in the music world in the United States, we have the Grammys. In Canada, that's called Juno. And so I have a Juno-nominated musician, Peter Katz, is coming for a 90-minute session with us on Tuesday. That's not something [00:12:00] that happens at a conference of our size. Peter's audience, well, his cover of Halo has, like, 23 million views on YouTube.

But I know Peter from my work in working on learning more about transformation and facilitation and connection and that kind of thing, and that says a lot about that community. But he's coming down from Toronto and for Tuesday morning, so... And then my friend Anne is g- I'm getting goosebumps, Brian. My friend Anne is gonna be the opening keynote speaker, talking about emotional intelligence and owning your own stories, and Renee and Sam and Freddy and, holy criminy, we have a whole bunch of new people.

Johanna, um, wow, TEDx, books. Leah's back. Of course Leah's back. We love- We have Liz, right? So yeah, I can't say a favorite, but I am most excited about the new people that are coming and new voices to the industry. Yeah. 

Brian Anderson: Great. Great. Perfect. [00:13:00] All right. Well, there's, uh, one other thing I wanna touch on before we, uh, wrap up.

I know you've been, uh, hosting a new LinkedIn Live series lately. Can you tell us what that's all about? 

Sheri Fitts: Yeah. I talk about this on Tuesday at Sway. We, you know, we do the, the first part on Monday is predominantly about who you wanna be when you grow up, and Tuesday is, okay, now that you know that, what are you gonna do about it?

And, you know, as an example, do you want a podcast? Do you want a book? Do you want a TEDx? Do you want a LinkedIn newsletter? Whatever, whatever. And I've been talking about doing a LinkedIn Live series for a really long time, so I said, "Well, get to work on that, Miss Fitts." And so it's really about the idea of the, what I see are the seven signals that are taking place in our industry, and I wrote a research report on it Brian and I will talk about maybe in another podcast.

So I'm having those conversations about what does it mean to be transformative, what does it mean to our industry, and my favorite thing is quilting people together, so having conversations with [00:14:00] folks that maybe our industry hasn't heard, much like bringing Leah to Palm Springs, and now she's just a superstar, right?

Like I want to expand our perspective on what it means to be of service to others in our industry. And so that's where I'm starting and, you know, Brian, it's just easy to have conversations with people. Right. So LinkedIn Live is a, is a easy way for me to create content, you guys, from a marketing perspective, I mean, to be clear, and then I can repurpose it, right?

So yeah. And it's a different kind of platform. 

Brian Anderson: Right. Right. Excellent. Well, Sherry Fitts, speaker, creator, catalyst at Sherry Fitts & Company, and the brains behind Sway Live, thanks so much for joining us today and getting us excited about next month's big event in Boulder. 

Sheri Fitts: Thank you, Brian. Thank you. 

Brian Anderson: All right.

If you haven't already, remember to get registered soon. There's a link to it on the homepage for this podcast on 401kspecialist.com. Thanks for listening, and have a great [00:15:00] day.