The Power of the Podcast: Unlock Your Brand's Marketing Potential

Building a Successful Financial Advisor Studio at Rockport Wealth Studios

• Pedal Stomper Productions

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Join Josh from Pedal Stomper Productions as he talks with Adam Stalnaker, a financial advisor at Rockport Wealth. Adam shares the inspiring story of how Rockport Wealth invested in a dedicated studio space to enhance client engagement, educational content, and collaboration.

Learn about:

The Power of a Studio: Discover why Rockport Wealth made the decision to invest in a studio space and the marketing goals they hoped to achieve.

Educated Consumers: Hear Adam's emphasis on the importance of financial literacy for clients and how the studio helps them make informed decisions.

Collaboration and Community: Explore Rockport Wealth's commitment to collaboration with other professionals, including Tony Main, and their initiative to provide financial education for veterans.

Financial Advisor vs. Fiduciary: Get a clear understanding of the differences between these terms and why working with a fiduciary is crucial.

Continuous Learning: Learn about Adam's favorite resources for staying up-to-date on financial trends and the lessons learned from Rockport Wealth's recent acquisition.

This video offers valuable insights for aspiring financial advisors and anyone seeking to elevate their practice!

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You've seen our studios, and you may have wondered, what does it take to do that? We're going to answer that this week with Adam Stalnaker, as that is a question he is now qualified to answer. We're making the maiden voyage here in the Rockport Wealth Studios. And unlike the Titanic on its maiden voyage, we are definitely not going to sink. We're going to answer a lot of your studio questions, and you're going to get to learn about Adam and Rock Port Wealth in the process. Stay tuned. It's for Adam. Josh, you have a studio? I do. I mean, this is awesome, isn't it? It very much is. Very much is. I mean, the details, the stuff that like the wall and that the guys did there. Yeah. With this, you've made a pretty significant investment in this. This is the twitch inside out. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, there. Is nothing behind that at. All. What were some of the key factors that made you say, look, we need a studio. Yeah. Well, we did it in the past. Joe and I just sitting on our desks, and it was good like it was, but it was us sitting at our desks. Well, and actually, what caught my eye was you on LinkedIn, right? And you're talking about your studios. And, you know, I reached out and said, hey, could you and I come down and check one out and see what? Because we had this space in our office that was going to become available that we kind of picture that it was it would fit for what, you know, we were looking for. So we came down, checked out your studio, and I think you had a little bit more space than we did, but we we made them build us a little bit more space so that we could we could fit it in, but, but yeah, it was a it was a ton of work. The stone itself was from our, admin. Bev's husband put it up for us. A lot of the foam on the sides was Joe. I put the curtains up. You know, we put furniture together. You know, it was a team effort of putting it all together, and then you came in and put it all and made it all work, right? The wiring stuff? Yeah. Yeah, that's the stuff. That was stuff that we were going to do. No, absolutely. Absolutely not. So I mean, a lot of this I mean, most of the stuff that we do, it's it's about marketing, it's about promotion, it's about getting good information out there. Yeah. When you started this what's a marketing like? What are the marketing goals that you thought of when you were start? Get ready to do this. Well, I think what would Joe and I think about when we think about marketing is more just educating people and clients. Sure. A more educated client, as we've seen over the years of with these, we've expanded our newsletters, expanded communications, a lot less panic when things take place because they're more informed. Right? So they're more educated. There's a lot less of the oh my gosh, sky's falling. We need to do something. What are you doing for me? It's a lot more of when we meet with them. They're like, oh, thanks for the newsletter. It made a ton of sense. It used a lot of my curiosities, my frustrations. But I think expanding upon that, too, is as we go to the next generation, the younger generation of people understanding what are the things they should be thinking about. How do they get started in getting that next generation of people with the mindset that you know they need to save, they need to look at their insurances. They need to do all these things without us sitting down face to face. So I think where we can expand things in looking into this podcasting or education programing is being able to offer a lot more education programing. I like what you said there with the educated consumer, because then that to me, and I mean, it's the same thing that we try and do with our product. That's exactly what we're doing right now. Educating people on what's going on. So that way they can show up and they know what they need, why they need it. And they know the purpose behind it, too. And it's not just randomly throwing darts at numbers or anything like that. That's, I like that. The other piece to that is, I mean, do you feel this is going to give you a better connection with a lot of your current clients? I think so. I think, when it comes to we'll talk about Roth conversions, right. It's a big it's a big topic and we'll do a video. So stay tuned. But as we're educating people see you got to get them to come back right. But it's an education point that a lot of people don't understand. They they don't understand the opportunity there. So I think if we're able to teach them up with some education and why we look at those things. And Joe's done a ton of research when it comes to Roth conversions and higher res with Ed slot and all these other programs that he's, he's, he's gotten into. And as we educate more ourselves, we can educate our clients and then they can come to us when it makes sense. Instead of everybody raising their hand, it wants to say, hey, is a Roth conversion good for me? Well, if everybody did that and once it's a it's a little much and Meghan wouldn't be too happy making a pair of planner you'll see here on some stuff later on. So she's she's peeping in on this one too. But she would, not be happy in terms of the workload, I'm assuming. Absolutely not. I don't even think we have. We have better things, for her to do. So. Okay, good. Yeah, that that makes sense. That makes sense. So, I mean, like, you said, initially, you came down to one of our studios and said, okay. Yeah, this this looks doable. This looks feasible. As we started talking about the equipment, what were some of your thoughts when it came to that? Like, I mean, what did you envision? Not as many boxes. When it all got delivered. It was like Christmas time in my house when my wife orders everything from Amazon. Right? It was just all these boxes and continuing to open things up and and look at them. You thought it was going to be a couple of bucks? Yeah, but it was a lot. If if you could, people could see a picture of what all is inside here. It just looks like it's you and I sitting here at a table. But there's a whole lot more, right? There's a couple of cans in front of us, and they don't realize the three cameras, the four tables, the lighter. One, two. Three. Four screens. Lights. Yeah. All the foam on the walls. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's the there's a there was a lot. It's like, how are we going to put all this stuff into one space? Right. How is this all going to fit in that closet? Because that's something else that I think is interesting. A lot of people, when they come to one of our studios, and I'm assuming they're gonna have the same reaction here. I think you guys were surprised when you walked in the room and you're like, oh, it's only this big. Yeah, absolutely. Because you'd seen podcast and you're like, okay, this is great. Giant big hallway. And it's not a big room. No, not at all. I mean, we're we're there's five of us in here right there. This it's cozy, it's cramped. It's. Kids go. It's going to get warm. Yes it is. And we're like 8 or 9 minutes in. Yeah. And yeah, it's already toasty. I can't believe you're wearing something. Long sleeve. I know. You're just the trooper when it comes to that. Well, it's usually cold in this office, so. Not in. Here. Not. Not in this particular room? No. What were some challenges along the way in getting all this together besides putting the foam up, besides assembling? Well. I sliced myself really bad. Tried to cut the foam one day because Joe did a great job of getting all the the big pieces on. Right. So there's big pieces all over and there's little cuts. And then I was like, oh, there's a little bit of sticky on the blade of the scissors, and I just ran my. Finger right down it. So that was we'll call that a challenge. And then figuring out curtains in the corners. Yeah, that was a challenge. It wasn't a challenge putting it all together because you did that. You guys did all the furniture and the foam and stuff like that. And, I mean, you guys did a great job. It looks really good in here. And especially I mean, like I said, this wall yeah, is super cool. Yeah. Yeah yeah I mean I love the look of it. It's I mean I feel like there should be a fireplace here. Maybe it just feels like there's a fireplace in here. I'm sure that's the right way to put it. Right, right, right. If another financial advisor is thinking about putting up a studio, what, what would be your advice or what's something that they. Do, and I don't want competition. I was just, I just. I was just going to say, besides, don't do it. We don't want the competition. No, I think it's I think it's a great idea depending on what they're trying to accomplish. Right. Sure. I think a lot of us are educators, teachers to a certain degree. With our clients. And I think it's a great platform, a great piece, a great way, to be able to do it. But you gotta you got to really, buckle down and make a commitment to it. Right? Like we're not going to put this thing up and then do something once a month, right? A podcast? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's that's something that we, we, we we, we put the money into it, but we also have to put the time into it. And I think what a lot of people don't understand is, if you're going to do something, you if you don't put the time into it and expect some sort of result that that's not realistic, like you got to put the time in, you got to plan it out. And, and plan out what you're going to do as well. I mean, it is, as we've talked about, some of the production pieces where that, you're like, oh, okay, there's more than just come in and push the button that says record. And away we go and magically have this podcast that goes out into the world and brings us all sorts of clients. The one thing that I like with this too, is especially I mean, you talked about the piece about with working with people. There's a trust thing. People need to trust you. Yup. They are basically a I mean, I don't want to say giving you their money, but in a sense, they're entrusting you with the money. Yep. For you to appear in front of them all the time and to be like, look, this is who I am. As long and we've known each other for a very, very, very, very. It is true. Long time. I think that was a very for each decade. That's true. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But to me, it's the the fact that you are who you say you are is a huge thing, and you can't really hide behind the microphone. You can't really hide behind or around the camera. It's just going to be you. It really is. You guys do some collaboration with some other people? One of them, a name that was brought up was Tony Mane. Yep. How do you see the studio changing that collaboration? Well, I think we'll be able to, because he's out of Columbus, Georgia, and he's he's on basically on bass. Working with Army Rangers. So as were we've done some collaboration in the past and done some podcasts. And weaned off a little bit. But I think with this, we're going to be able to now make an effort more and say, hey, we need to do this right. We spent the money and we gotta use. Right. But I think it's going to be able to give us that platform back and get back to creating that education piece for the veteran community. Speaking of which, that that's excellent. Segue into my next question here, because, I mean, you do something you said in some of the pre questions that we worked on was that you guys saw a gap in financial literacy for many veterans. They're coming out of the service, whether they've been in there for a few years or a lot of years, and that adaptation to civilian. I don't want to say money, but civilian finances is different. The program that you guys have, can you give me the the 60 to 70s summary of that? Yeah. And I think that's another reason why we did this right to to expand that programing that we had before. Joe and I put together, a five video class, basically starting out basics. What you need to think of. What do you need to worry about? Really easy to digest. I think five, maybe ten minutes max on the video is a workbook that goes along with a little bit of homework. And it was some of the first videos we did. You. It was pretty funny how bad we were. It's always painful to go back and watch the first one. I think we we we became much more comfortable at the end. We're able to do a whole lot more. So I think we're looking forward to creating more education programs for the veteran community. Being able to create a library that, Tony and his his group can just access, free of charge, being able to educate themselves. And then if they need us, we're there for more. If they don't, if they can move on and take those steps that we kind of gave them, that's kind of our, you know, it makes us feel wonderful. Yeah, I know that's I mean, to speak of that. What are like some of the gaps that you've seen in that in terms of that knowledge? I mean, most people I mean, in the US, we are known for being terrible about knowing what the heck to do with our money. Right? I think it's no different in the veteran community than the civilian world. I think the behaviors, the habits. Right. I think what what we've become is a group of consumers, and we all we want to do is consume. And it's it's it becomes unbalance. Right. So I think when we talk to people, even our own lives, right. We want to be able to become balanced. We don't want to, you know, have too much on our work plate and not enough in our personal plate, because if you become unbalanced, then things are just going to go awry. And I think it's the same way within finances too. So I think what we've done is we've consumed way too much and haven't gotten, that habit of saving and being able to invest and understanding that, you know, if you are 20 years old and you start investing now, even though it's it's small amounts, it's going to be a huge impact later on. So I think that's one of the pieces that just to get through to these guys that, hey, here's the impact, here's the time value of money. Like, understand that if you're starting in your 20s, you're going to be so much further ahead. And then insurances, unfortunately these guys, they beat their bodies up. So when they're when they come out of the service, it is become a challenge for them to get life insurance. So being able to get it while they're in, while they're healthy, before they go through the rigor, of being in the military and then going through the disability process and the way out to where now everything is on the table. And so when they're going through the life insurance process, all that information is available to them. And then it makes it really, really difficult for them to get insurance. So those are like the two major things that they can start with. And it's really easy to do. So you said that people should, educate themselves on the differences between advisors and planners and learn to make sure that you're working with a fiduciary. What's the difference? Absolutely. I mean, yeah. So let's talk about a fiduciary. A fiduciary is something that works in the best interest of you as the client. So they take out conflicts of interest. So when I want to sell you something and I make a commission, and you buy something and I receive a commission, and then maybe there's no, I'm not bound to work with you anymore because our transaction was that. Right? So if I need something, I can sell you something. You pay me something, and then that's it. Of the transaction. You want somebody that continuously works with you, right? You want somebody that if you're working on a plan and our. Our plans aren't a one time thing, they are a continuous. I call it living, breathing plan. Right. We sit down. Let's say you come into our office and you work with us, and we put together your plan. As things change in your life, you let us know. We update said plan. Okay? Your balances are updating all the time. You understand how you're getting charged. We're sitting not across each other, basically from the table. Figuratively. You're we're sitting on the same side because our goal, our goals are exactly the same. And you know exactly what we're trying to say. And so it really takes away that conflict of interest of, hey, who were you doing this for? More for you or more for me? And so over the years, I think what happened was in the commission based world. And that's saying that like for some people it's those are fine ways to work with them. Sure. But I think in the overall, world of commissions and fees, commissions create more of a conflict of interest and fees are more upfront. You understand what you're paying, you understand why you're doing it, and then you know it's a better understanding. Instead of, so you did this. Oh, how do you get paid? Well, you know, when you sit down with me exactly how you're getting paid because you're going to sign a form, you're going to see exactly how it works, you're going to see it come out of your account every month and understand why you're doing it. That makes sense. Okay. So it's it's there's no there's much less of a chance of an ulterior motive for any type of product, any type of movement, anything. Absolutely not. And once again, I'm not saying that people are doing that. It's just, you know, it takes away that. Right? You know, the visual of. Sure, sure that I mean, that makes perfect sense. There's there's always the car salesman that's saying, hey, you need to. Yeah, you need the bigger, better, faster one. Right? But really, you just need the grocery better. Instead of selling somebody something, you're finding a solution for their problem. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. That makes sense. You've emphasized continuous learning, too. That seems to be just a pillar of what you guys do. What are some of your favorite resources that you go back to? Oh, man. I mean, I think networking in this industry and understanding that I don't know everything and people, have done things different ways from us and we need to learn how all these different ways are. And then we can kind of pick and choose on how we we put ourselves together. We have a business coach who helps us, you know, on a monthly basis to kind of work through things. He works with a ton of different advisors, so we get an understanding from what other people are doing, too, and kind of walks us through things. It's listening to podcasts on even different industries based on just business itself and how things are, are put together. Because this is a business to as well as, you know, we're helping people on a day to day basis. So we got to be able to run this thing in the most efficient manner, whether it's, you know, HR, payroll, like all those sorts of categories. The lights on. Yeah. Exactly. Right. Exactly right. So we got to continue to grow too. So because as we grow more, we can help more people. Sure, sure. And you guys recently have gone through a big growth spurt. Coming to this. You just purchased another another company. Yeah. Yep. Yep. And that has been interesting in itself. I'm sure it's got. Its challenges right. How do you get different company cultures. You've got different ways of doing things. And learning. You know, what good things they're doing. What things we're doing and how do we combine them together to make kind of a marriage? Sure. And it takes time. I mean, there's a even even though when you go into the transaction and you say, hey, this all looks great on paper, you know, once the personalities get in there and, you know, you get to be working with all these other people, you never know what's going to happen. And, you know, we've had those sort of challenges, but it's, you know, you got to emphasize learning, got to emphasize open mind and communication, you know, and so as long as you're doing those things and you're talking to people with the right intentions, I think it all works out. Yeah. And that makes sense that, that, that that as well put. And I like that. The other thing I, I find it really interesting that your coach also works with a lot of other financial advisors. A saying I've always loved is that a smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. If someone else has already made the mistake. Yeah, I probably don't want to make that. Yeah, it's we look at a ton of other podcast studios for the same reasons. What's gone right? What's gone wrong. Yeah. How do they handle things. So that way we can look and be like, oh, I like that idea. Or I'm glad they messed that up so we don't have to. Well, it's going back to learning, right? How many times when you were growing up, did your dad say and try to teach you something and you did not do it because you're like, you don't know what you're talking about, and then you come back later and you're like, well, he was right. Right. I have a great short story about that. When I was about 29, 28, I went to my father and said, dad, I don't know what happened to you. When I turned like 12, you got stupid. You didn't start to get smart again till I was like 24 or 25. Without hesitating, my father looked at me square in the eyes and he goes, that's weird. He goes, it must be genetic. My dad had the same thing. It's true though, right? You know what I say. But you go full circle on that and understand that as you're older and in life and there's other people in business that have made mistakes. Yeah. Why not learn from those? Because I don't want to make those mistakes. I don't want to make those mistakes. Those can be expensive. Okay? Can. Yes they can. What advice would you give to an aspiring financial advisor who's just starting out in their career? Yeah. I really think that you need to find a firm that matches your values and gives you a system to learn and not have pressure to sell or bring in money, because think about it as a 22 year old. Like, think about it. Is a 22 going to come come up to you and say, hey, Josh, I've got this great idea. And you're like, you're 22. Like, what did you get out of college yesterday? Like, but if they bring somebody a little more seasoned like myself and receding hairline, a little bit of gray, it makes it a little easier for them to to bring people in. But but it allows them to learn, too, because we've made those mistakes right there. And you give them a platform of learning and growing and then allow them to just flourish. That's that's where you need to find it. I think going out on your own right away is just not it conducive. Like that's that's what Joe and I did. And frankly, like when Megan came in, we said, no, you don't want to like all the all the warning signs like, don't do that. This is the best place for you. And nice. Yeah. She would say that she made a great decision. So. I we're we're waiting to see if we get a nod from that in the corner. Yeah, yeah. What would you say to someone that's looking at financial planning? Yeah. I mean, from a completely, like, starting from zero. Yeah, yeah, well, I think y right. What did you want to accomplish? Like, I think this is a great business to help people. I think and educate people. So I think when it comes down to it, you know, how does it match your values as a match, what you're trying to do. And I think helping people is a very rewarding thing. But sometimes it's really hard to get started and grow. So you have to be patient. And I think one thing that a lot of people, young people, we'll call it, in this world, they just don't have the patience when it comes to growing. They want to be, you know, head person right away. Very patient when I was 22. Also. I'm sure you are. Yeah. But it's it's it's one of the if I can give anybody and you rewind back of, you know giving somebody advice. It's getting in this industry is having patience to to be able to understand and learn and understand how the growth works and understand how they can get into this position at some point. But yeah, patience is either. Side of it. So whether it's the, the, the financial advisor side or the person that's bringing both of their dollars here, correct. It's patience. Yeah. Yep. Time is an amazing thing when it comes to. Oh, God. Yeah. Yeah. It's your, your biggest, you know, bonus tool out there is time. Love it. Love it. Especially when you're young. Makes perfect sense. Is there anything as we start to wrap up that you would like to add. Yeah dude you unpacked a lot of information here. No but I, I think, I think he hit a lot of the points. You know I think balance in life I think is so important. You know I think it's balance in business too. And being able to if you do all growth and you don't take care of your clients, well guess what? You're not going to have any clients, right? And if you take care of spend all your time on customer service, but don't add any new clients, eventually all those clients are going to go away and you're not going to grow and you're going to die in business. So it's balancing those pieces out, too. And it's it's balancing the, educating yourself too. Sure. You can't just 100%. Yeah. Every day I there's a couple of podcasts that are deal with podcasting. Imagine that every day they're in in the car. Because because I mean and it's self-awareness, right. You know, you don't know everything. And when you don't know when you know you don't know everything, that's when you can start learning. Yeah, I love that. And that to me is a great place to finish for all of you. You out there, keep on learning because that is the key really to moving forward, especially when you add time into that equation. That being said, do me a favor, take care of yourself and if you can take care of someone else, I will see you very soon. If so, yeah.

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