Entrepreneur Files with Andrew Ellenberg
Entrepreneur Files with Andrew Ellenberg
Homespun Marketing Tips From Bob Lindquist
Bob learned from his father that being a business owner isn't for the faint-hearted. He knew there were huge risks. But he felt that he could never work for someone else. So he stuck his neck out and bet the farm on himself. Here's how an old-fashioned country boy learned to apply the Golden Rule that made his father successful in business.
Andrew Ellenberg is President & Managing Partner Of Rise Integrated, an innovative studio that creates, produces, and distributes original multimedia content across digital touchpoints. Email andrewe@riseintegrated.com or call 816-506-1257.
Entrepreneur files inspiration inside These are their stories. We're back in the studio with another thought provoking episode of entrepreneur files when business owners discover new meaning in their businesses they feel more connected to do it entrepreneur files inspiration inside. These are their stories. We're back in the studio with another thought provoking episode of entrepreneur files when business owners discovered new meaning in their businesses they feel more connected to people around them. Executive producer Andrew Ellenberg created this fast pace 30 minute podcast to inspire business owners creating deeper perspectives into their personal and professional motivations. Join the conversation with other entrepreneurs who give you the energy you need to power through the daily grind of owning a business. And we're back with another inspiring story from an entrepreneur that i is also a friend of mine full disclosure. And his name is Bob Lindquist. He started a company called safe retirement strategies. And let's let's just get right to it here. You've got a really interesting story. And I know that you're a homespun guy. That's part of your brand experience. You will and I want to talk to you about your upbringing. Who is your role model? Probably my my dad. He was he was a business owner. He was an entrepreneur. And I watched him do his thing for many years and Andrew, he had freedom he had he could make his own choices whenever he wanted to be somewhere do something with his family with his kids with his business with his community. He was available so he made his own time. And I was totally impressed with that phenomenon. That's that's nice to have a father as a role model like that. Not everybody can say that. No, he was a terrific man. I'm one of seven kids and and he managed his business and he managed his family. He did a terrific job. Of what business was he? He was an independent insurance agent in a town that we all grew up in and he knew everybody in town everybody knew him and life was was really pretty darn good. Interesting. So you, you're kind of following in his footsteps. At least in the beginning, right? I chose In fact, I joined his business many years ago. And that's kind of kind of how I learned how to how to work with people and how to be independent. And I'm I'm so glad I went that direction. It's made my life just really terrific. Very lucky. Absolutely. So what jobs did you work in as a kid and what did you learn from them? Oh, my gosh, no, I I cut grass. I drove a truck. I graduated from college. And I was always just kind of doing my own thing knowing that one of these days I was going to be calling my own shots. Hopefully, if I could pull that off, and I felt like I could but it was it was it was risky. And I didn't I don't know that. I knew how risky it was until I got a little bit older but sometimes what you don't know won't hurt. You. But I'm glad I did what I did, I stuck my neck out and I jumped into into my own business. And you have to have confidence in yourself to do that. And I knew that I could talk and deal with people and work with people because I knew how I was put together I knew how I was built. And it was always gonna be a strong solid foundation of just simply doing the right thing. So I'm an interesting choice. Sounds like it. What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur? Well, I've mentioned it already. I love the freedom to make my own choices. And the this this America that we live in today isn't is a pretty spectacular place. And there's so many opportunities. And if you just wake up every morning, with a little bounce in your step and a smile on your face, because you're clean and you know you're doing the right things for the right reasons. Just terrific things follow. Blanket. It's a great philosophy. Can you describe a typical day your routine? But gosh, I'm like, What's that movie? Saying? Same thing. Over and over and over again. I just I wake up and I go to work and you know, the first thing I do is day ground. Exactly, exactly. But the first thing I do I arrive at my office probably at 830. But the good news is I can get there whenever I want to. But also the good news is I get to take care of, of customers first. That's what I do first, so that I have I have a clear head. good conscience that that people are being taken care of. And once that's accomplished throughout my day, then I can really get started on the appointments that I've that I've made in the time that I need to spend with people to get new prospects and new customers and I have trouble calling them customers. I called a friend. It works. Works out beautifully because it really always turns out that way. Ah, so you called me your friends. So now I think we're friends but you call everybody your friends. I'm not that special. You've helped me a lot and you've helped me a lot and you're a really special friend and I remember the first time you and I ran into one another. I was impressed with your energy. And and I just I just saw that you were you had a stamp of bounce in your step that that you were trying to be helpful to me wasn't about you. It was about me and I just sensed it right away. So we've been good friends for forever, and we share that. That customer philosophy, putting the customer first it's just a must and it it in you're rewarded in the end because if you do the right thing for the right reason. People respond to that they see it they sense it. That's Cloneable Can I quote you on that? Absolutely. All right, the meme coming to social media site near you it's common. So have you ever wanted to throw in the towel? What kept you going? You know, every once in a while when it's kind of quiet and maybe not too much is going on you think to yourself, maybe I should have been more of a team player. I could have been a little bit busier. I could have been maybe a little bit more active and and I could have integrated my world with other people a bit more and maybe more friends and but you know when all is said and done. That turns out sometimes to be a lot of noise and and and I have confidence in myself to do the right thing. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be confident. I use that word a lot because it takes confidence to stick your neck out and do your own thing and trust yourself and yeah, I probably could have been a little bit busier and a little bit more active and a little bit more noise. But But noise isn't all that important to me doing the right thing and having relationships with people because you've done the right thing. They know it and you know it that feels extra special good. Is that what keeps you going when you run out of steam? It absolutely is. I have friends and customers that call me all the time and and they you know in quiet times. And they say little things like like Bob. I really appreciate what you've done. You're a good friend. And in this crazy, busy world we live in today. Just being able to settle down and have a really decent, good productive, meaningful conversation with people is a special relationship. And I get those all the time. And that that's the that's the boost that keeps me going all the time. How long have you been married? Oh my gosh, been married for 25 years. To a pretty special lady. And, you know, I talk about confidence all the time in trust. This lady trusts me to do the right thing. She jumped in with me and she says okay, you own your own business. You're on your own time. What do you do during the day? Is this gonna work? We had all those conversations. And in she just really does she trusts me and it when you have that you've got something special going, what role does she play in keeping you pumped up and inspired? She has confidence in me. And she tells me that all the time through good times and bad times. She doesn't get too high when things are really good. And she doesn't stay too low when things are kind of quiet. She's She's a real strong lady. And the foundation of our relationship is is this confidence and trust that I talked about. That goes a long way what is the most rewarding part of your business? Just seeing smiles on people's face. When when they know you know when I've done a plan with them. When when they are I love Andrew when these people walk around I see them on the streets and I can see this, this this the special smile on their face that they have. They have confidence that things are really going to work out because we've done some nice planning and and they live with. They live with integrity because because they've made the right choices for themselves and their families. And in they can in this financial planning, retirement world that I that I live in when I help people, when people can spend with confidence because they have an income that's going to last for the rest of their life. It's never going to go away. They are in a good good place. And just to see that that confidence and and that integrity that they live with in the feeling of what we've really done the right thing, haven't we when everybody else is watching the news and the world's kind of crashing in on them. These people have certainty in their life, and it works out really well. MSB a great feeling. It is that's what keeps me awake at night. I know that each and every person that I work with, can can can have that feeling for themselves one of these days and that's a pretty special good place to be. All right now we're gonna get behind the scenes and get a little deeper to your challenges with technology and marketing to the new generation. Why do you have to ask me that because there's a lot of people in this audience that can relate to it. You're a boomer you didn't grow up with technology, but you realize that your customers and clients and prospects are using social media. They're watching videos, they're listening to podcasts like this. And you forced yourself to embrace the new way of marketing. How did you get through your initial resistance? It's never been easy for me and I have fought it almost every step of the way. I really needed someone like you to push me into this because I wasn't going to go there easily. And I've got to tell you a little story. I've got a Zoom meeting after this podcast and I can't believe that I've created a zoom me out for myself because I never would have thought that Bob Link was was going to be sitting there creating this Zoom meeting but you know what I found out, you can't get to people anymore. Unless you do this content marketing stuff. I just never dreamed I'd say that. I was an old radio guy and I was I was look me in the eye and shake my hand and trust me guy and in a one on one guy and life moves too fast for them anymore. You just can't. You can't be successful with a onesie at a time and in podcasts and in content marketing and web reviews and zoom meetings. It's just a part of who I am anymore. And I'm still learning that I'm trying to get better at it because for me to survive. I know it has to be done that way. Congratulations on facing the challenge. It's not easy Andrew for me, I'm I'm I'm an old. I'm an old guy that's really hard to move because I've been so independent and nobody's going to tell me what to do or how to do it. And I have needed someone to push me into that into that area and and I'm still moving a little bit slow in that area. But But I realized that it just it has to you did accept the Zoom invitation for this studio session. So I just want to say congratulation, you believe? I don't know what button I pushed or what I did. But I teach slowly but surely I'm getting better at it. We got it. Let's cue up the applause from the live audience. So how has your marketing strategy evolved to adapt to these changes? For the other business owners that are listening? How has it evolved? He's not sure that I know what you mean with that question. I use a big word and it's it's probably too existential for this interview. So I'll dumb it down. What tactics are you using now that are different than the ones that you used a year ago or two years ago? Oh, I'm using podcasting which is what we're doing right here now. I'm I've got a monthly newsletter that goes out. I bought a service that provides some monthly content. I write my own thoughts in there. That's so much different than I used to work. Just just a Zoom meeting more so than ever before, like we've talked about. It's just a must Andrew and a year two years ago, I I never believed that I'd be doing something like this. I think a lot of us are doing things that we never believed that we would be doing. I'm certain that's the case and you know what has kind of moved me into this area more so than than you pushing me and I so appreciate that is is other businesses that I work with I I've noticed I'm getting so many messages from them over there over the internet, and I'm seeing how they're doing it and everybody is moving that direction. Some I'll tell you what, when I when I walk into people's businesses today, they don't they don't care that I'm there. They don't want to see me they're too busy. I used to be able to get that accomplished that big ol smile. Everybody. Well everybody's got their heads down, working on their computer, and nobody's got time to talk with me anymore. They don't really want to see me they really want to do business over the internet. They want to do text messages. They want to do cell phone messages quick and short and and to the point and nobody's dilly dallying anymore around. Let's let's get something done. Let's get some business Dominus. Let's let's solve our problem and let's move on everybody's moving too fast. So, one of the popular tactics of the financial industry to educate prospects and maybe get an opportunity to review their portfolio. Are these dinners these free dinner seminars? Yes. Do you do that? Have you done that? What do you think about that? Now I've done it in the past and I'm backing away from it. Honestly, it's it's time consuming. It's it's costly. People say they're going to show up and their lives are too busy and they don't show up. And so you end up spending a lot of time talking to just a couple people at a meeting and it just it's just it doesn't feel like it's working like it should. And I years ago I think people would show up and and when COVID became front and center in our lives. People just kind of keep their distances from one another and kind of don't trust what they're what they're where they've been in. In people just there's I'm just shocked but but people are responding to content marketing. They're responding to podcasts. They I'm trying to get people to know me through that media versus the in person because the in person just the last few years has not worked at all. So what is the next natural extension of that formula updated to the digital age be webinars? That's happening all the time in my world. Competitors, other people who are trying to try to recruit me to help them in their business. They're all doing webinars. It's just I mean, I've got a I've got an opportunity to listen to a webinar three was two years ago, just two years ago. That's how fast this has happened. The webinars in my world are spectacular. Get out to my monthly newsletter. They go up to 500 people a month and into send them a webinar with some facts that I might have done so quickly and so efficiently and with such little to no cost. That's really the direction that I've that I've had terrific luck so you made an interesting move recently. I'm not seeing anybody else in the financial services industry doing it. What is your strategic thinking behind launching a publication with a full length feature story? Why the story people they want to get to know who your customers are and how you affect this line, so I've used it, it's really become a part of who I am but people it's so true. People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Tell them the stories and give them examples of people that you've worked with businesses and how your relationship and your planning has affected their lives. That registers people start to know I kind of liked that Bob linquist guy, kind of I think I know who he is. I know how he works. And until they get to know they don't care how much you know, give them all the fancy statistics, all the different numbers like throw all that out at him. And you know what I've learned Andrew, people don't care about any of that stuff. They care about how much you care about them, and how much you care to solve their problem. That's really what they care about. Sure. And then people relate to people. So if you're talking about the features and benefits of a complex financial product, that's going to be just purely rational. Well, that sounds boring to me right now. As you as you asked me that question. I see you're yawning. Yeah. It just sounds boring to me because people don't care about the fancy numbers. They want their problems solved. And you know what, in this retirement business of mine, they want to sit back and relax one day and they want to play with the grandkids they want to travel and they want to know their bills are going to be paid. That's all they care about. That's great. That's so so right on target. Very insightful. You really do know your market. What advice do you have for young professionals just starting in the financial services industry like you were many years ago? It's it's it's not going to be easy. It's a slow process. You, your partner, your wife, your spouse, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, whoever they need, they need to trust you, because it's a long journey doesn't happen. But it is it's so satisfying, when you will find yourself. started having a little bit of a bounce in your step when you get out of bed in the morning because you can't wait to see your friends and your customers because you've done the right thing and you've done some planning and that planning feels good and that planning feels right. And all of a sudden, you wake up and in this world that you lived in years ago, where you were kind of operating out of your hip pocket. Now you're in charge and you're on offense. It feels good and your friends and your clients start telling their friends, their clients about you. When the phone starts ringing. You get yourself on a really good roll and life really, really good. When you've kind of created this thing for yourself since a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of time. But I can I can tell everybody who might be listening to this. You're doing the right thing for the right reason. It's so much easier when you start playing games and start cutting corners a little bit and doing that kind of thing. All of a sudden your life gets complicated and complicated, is not good. You know real solid certainty and feeling good about the decisions you've made. That's what makes you feel good and that's what gives you that bounce in your step every morning when you get out of bed. Yeah, interesting. So we haven't really talked about your new initiative to form alliances or channel partnerships with business owners who may be looking to enhance their benefits package for employees. Oh, can you tell us what your thought process is? The elevator pitch. I'm excited about this. It's it's happened to me a couple of times within the last couple of years to go to an employer who's scrambling around trying to find the right employees. And if they haven't expense, the new employees cost money and and they want to retain these employees. They want them around for a long time because it just makes their life easier. But what I've been able to do and I haven't seen it anywhere in town is working with employers and letting them know hey, let me be kind of on your staff and I'm not going to charge you a nickel. Okay. But let me be on your staff. And and let's, let's let's endorse the fact that you've got someone on your staff like a financial person who can kind of instruct your employees along the way and, and how to how to invest their money in 401 K plans or personal IRA accounts, that kind of thing. And then as they get older and all of a sudden they start because they've been with you for many many years, which is a fantastic employer loves this, because you want to retain good solid employees. And in this day and age, Andrew people don't care about going to work and just making money. They want to be around and work for somebody who literally cares about that's a big deal anymore. You know, this life we live in is is so cold sometimes, and so not personal. But when you get an employee who's looking in the eye and say hey, I really care about you, not only today but long term I've got a guy on staff who will visit with you and talk with you about maximizing your retirement, your income, your the growth of your account helping you along the way. Not any employers have that available to the not many, but I'm working with a couple of them. It's really worked out beautifully. These employees love the opportunity to sit down and visit with you doesn't cost the employer anything. He really is retaining these employees they're doing a great job because they're finding out slowly but surely that this employer really does care about them. I love that. It also plays into the trend toward being to use a buzzword if you'll forgive me socially conscious. The millennials, the next generation of of earners and leaders and parents. They will not work for a company that doesn't reflect their values. They absolutely won't these young young people today, they want to be someplace where they're appreciated and where there's consideration and where people care about them. That's just as meaningful to them. As a paycheck anymore. And this is what they get. This is what these employers get accomplished when they can when they can tell some employee groups of theirs that hey, we care about you and we've got we've got Bob on staff or Joe Blow on staff who can help you with these financial decisions. Got it now. There's all kinds of financial experts I'm sure knocking on their doors. What is it that you're providing that is different than other financial solutions? What I've what I've gone to them about is is people have worked a lifetime and they work their tails off for you. And now it's time for them to put together a plan where they can go off into the sunset, and they can spend with confidence because they have an income that's going to last for the rest of their lives. And I talked with his employer about let me help your employees have the very best retirement they can possibly have, where their bills are paid for where they know that there is certainty with income. They can sit back and enjoy this retirement better than anyone has ever enjoyed a retirement because when you have lifetime income that's guaranteed to never go away. You can sit back and you can spend with confidence and you can live with with with a with a peace of mind that is is just spectacular. This field sounds like it sounds like income insurance. I don't know why they didn't just call this this vehicle income insurance because it's from an insurance company. Can you explain a little bit about the specifics here because we don't know exactly what you're talking about. Andrew, have you ever run into anybody that has a pension plan? And, I mean, these government workers, they all have those teachers, they all have pension plans, what they what they can't wait to do is retire one of these days because they're going to have income for the rest of their lives. It doesn't get any better than that, in addition to Social Security and so forth. That's exactly what I do for for individual workers. That work for XYZ company. I create a guaranteed income stream for them that they can count on for the rest of their life and the rest of their spouse's life. Right. But how do you do that? What is the vehicle? Oh, it's a it's an insurance vehicle called an indexed annuity, and annuities have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Insurance companies have done this for many, many, many years. But what we've done is we've brought it down to the street level where just the big boys just used to know about this vehicle, you know, only those big what a Warren Buffett says two rules of investing. The first rule don't lose your money. And the second rule is referred to rule number one. And so the vehicle that I use, protects their life savings and grows their money until they decide they want guaranteed income for the rest of their lives. Okay, it's a simple story. Got it. So how do you when you say growth, so they are participating in the stock? Absolutely. Okay. How does that work? Absolutely. These carriers that I go to in these in these financial vehicles, BlackRock and JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, and all the fantastic money managers all across the world, participate and they help you grow your money inside these guaranteed contracts. And then every year when you have growth in these contracts, we lock in that growth. So your original principal plus your games are never exposed to risk again, when the markets going well, your plan, credit your account to growth, and that's your money for the rest of your life. I call it capturing your growth and when the markets in decline Can you imagine this when the markets in decline, you're not exposed to the risk of the market, your money is never going to go backwards. It's never going to decline. Your money is only going to grow and we're going to lock in those gains and you capture those gains for the rest of your life. And then eventually, on your timetable. When you have a need. We can turn all of your savings into lifetime guaranteed income. It's that simple. It's such a no brainer. It's so obviously the right solution especially for people that have experience losing 50% of their stock portfolio in a matter of weeks, more than once. So a lot of people I would think would want to get off the roller coaster. Why aren't their financial planners putting them in these? Because the financial planners they don't sell this lifetime income vehicle because they don't get paid to do this. They get paid to manage people's money. It's called assets under management. And so can you imagine a guy waking up and he's got $100 million dollars that he's managing. And he he charges a 1% fee to manage that money. He doesn't even have to get out of bed anymore and he makes a million dollars a year. Okay. The money that I'm getting from people that are transferring into this guaranteed income plan no longer is it his assets under management. So he doesn't get paid for that. He'd rather have this monthly income steady income. And the fact is that the financial world has marketed their stuff better than than the insurance guaranteed income world. We're kind of a boring quiet, but we're the best kept secret in town sounds like guaranteed income. It doesn't get any better than that. Yeah. So why? Why is the word annuity a kind of stigma to it or something? Why do people not like annuities? I think years ago, I think many many years ago when people were guaranteed income and insurance companies have been doing this forever. When when they said to Mr. And Mrs. Smith that we're going to pay you an income stream you hand over your money to us and we're gonna pay you an income stream for the rest of your life. It Mr. Mrs. Smith years ago they'd lost control of that money. The insurance company now owns that money, but because they owned it they gave Mr. And Mrs. Mrs. Smith a promise of income. Well, once Mr. And Mrs. Smith were gone. The contract was over with the insurance company went off to the sunset with their money. Well, that's that's not at all what's happening today. We can guarantee that same Mr. And Mrs. Smith does income for the rest of their lives. And at their death, they get an annual statement that shows exactly how much money continues to be in their account after their death. 100% of the proceeds that are left in that account. Go directly to Mr. And Mrs. Smith's children or charity of their choice. So people have a bad feel about how they used to be treated. And that no longer is what's happening today. Okay, so part of your challenge from a marketing standpoint is to educate the market and to take make sure that that perception catches up with reality. Is that fair to say? I think that's a huge challenge is letting people know what the 2022 contracts look like versus what the 1922 contracts look like. And they are so so much better. Phenomenal. What a fantastic story really interesting. Appreciate you coming on entrepreneur files. I'm sure that you inspired a lot of business owners to rethink a lot of things about how they do business. Yeah, I love talking to business owners because they're entrepreneurs just like I am they've they've stuck their neck out and in their successful people. They deserve to be treated so fairly, and and they need to be told the truth. And that's the only way really good work gets done today. Phenomenal interview. Thank you for coming on. And we'll see what we come up with next week or the week after with an entrepreneur. Sounds great. Andrew, thank you for having me. It's okay. You call me out on this as long as by my name right of the check. Exactly. Thanks. for having me today give. We hope you're inside look into the entrepreneur file. Today's industry titans lets you inspire to bust through any walls between you and success. Not literally. Entrepreneur files is not responsible for any property damage caused by uncontrollable zeal. Well, our job here is done. You could be the next entrepreneur we feature on podcast Call 816-506-1257 or visit Rhys integrated.com To schedule a quick meet and greet with our producer. Now we're off to visit credibility, our creator community where we share what we love and love what we share. It was designed for creatives by creatives to collaborate and grow media projects like entrepreneur files, find credibility on LinkedIn and continue the conversation there. It's too long to get the cut some of the seller should yeah. That is an objective monitor monitoring and recording
