Speaker 1: 0:10

I am Ben Newman and you know how we do this. Every single week we're going to bring you a story of an athlete, an entertainer, a celebrity, somebody from the business world who's helped us understand and recognize that why and purpose is not enough. There's an underlying burn that ignites your why and purpose and causes you to show up on the days you don't feel like it, and especially after you win. Now, no surprise, I'm not in my regular home office. You know, back in the days of COVID, like man, everybody just stayed in the home office and we used to always do in person and then it was just stuck in the office all the time and everything's over Zoom. I get so excited when I have an opportunity to not only be with a friend and an opportunity to interview somebody in person, but especially when I can come to their stomping grounds, to their office, because it just it elevates the story of the work they do and who they are to be in their environment. We keep them comfortable, so maybe we get better answers to the questions. But today's going to be really special for you. There's some different things that I'm going to do in terms of how I ask certain questions, based upon the fact.

Speaker 1: 1:23

As many of you may not remember, I was a financial advisor back in the day. That's how I got my start. So I'm always very impressed when I have the opportunity to meet and study and observe and watch people in financial services who are doing it at the very highest of levels in the world, and to be able to see how did you build your business? Did you try to be everything to everybody, or was there a specific niche? So today's going to be an amazing story of a longtime friend. I don't even know if he and I can even figure out the years that it goes back, but it's a long time. A couple of St Louis guys ready to have fun and cut it up. Stephan Rhodes, welcome to the burn. This is long overdue.

Speaker 2: 2:04

Absolutely, brother, and I'm glad to not only be on the show but also for us to finally connect and have a little bit of home field advantage here, man. So always great to see you, See he's already comfortable.

Speaker 1: 2:15

You got the home field advantage Home field advantage for sure. So let's go back, because there's one story I am so excited that's a little foreshadow for us to talk about Before we get to the story that I cannot wait for everybody to hear. Where does your work ethic, your passion? I obviously I'm a big believer, as we've talked about together in the past balance and running a business, taking care of your team members, taking care of family but, like you're somebody who really does that. You live that. Where did discipline as an athlete growing up, discipline as a hard worker growing up, discipline as a student? Where did your discipline? Where did your burn? Where did your fire? Where did your example come from?

Speaker 2: 2:52

Yeah, man. So I think with a lot of people, when you look at their story and where they end up, like you said, it starts in a place, and for me it started with a lot of. I would love to say it was like all roses, but it wasn't so. I'm one of five raised predominantly by a single mom. I had a dad who loved me but also was kind of abandoned by his dad. So he grew up. He was on his own since he was 14. And so when he got a chance to be a dad, he made the best decisions that he thought were good decisions, but they ended up not being really good ones, and so he spent some time incarcerated. So I was raped, predominantly by my mom. So a lot of what you see now with the burn really was born out of. A lot of it was some anger like why is my dad not here? Why is he not around?

Speaker 2: 3:43

We grew up in poverty, food stamps, the whole nine, and so a lot of this was like, and also a lot of it was survival. So it was literally like hey, I don't like the circumstance that I'm in Mama's boy, I love my mom. I don't love the fact that she has to work two or three jobs just to kind of make ends meet, and so a lot of it was literally like all right, well, if I get an opportunity to change the trajectory for myself and my family, then I got to be all in, and so sports became like an outlet for me, like it was, like you know, there's a lot of chaotic stuff happening in the home life, but I'm in the locker room, I'm with my buddies. I love the fact that it was um, clear, clear objectives. We all had a role.

Speaker 2: 4:28

Uh, actually, I still miss about that, about life, man, like some of the stuff you're like, man, like what's life, was more simple, right? Uh, you get some of that business, but it's not the exact same, and so, um, so I I just really love the idea of being a part of a team, uh of us like going all in on a particular thing thing and really pursuing excellence and knowing that, like if we all did that collectively, then we can just do some stuff that you know might seem impossible, so that, so a lot of it came out of like, hey, man, like I don't really honestly, I don't feel like I had a choice. It's either like become what a lot of people in my neighborhood would become, which is guys and folks that are just kind of like had a bunch of potential squandered None of it, you know, materialized or to be the one to sort of break some of those cycles. And so early on, that was it was instilling, because, also in addition to that, I saw my mom work man and my dad was a hard worker too, like he's a mechanic, he's a gifted guy, he works hard, he always did that.

Speaker 2: 5:29

And then my mom obviously in the circumstance man she worked two to three jobs is like the most delightful person you'll meet, like she's the mom that everyone, all my buddies, were like man. I wish my mom was like your mom, right, and I wish my mom was like your mom. So I saw her. She would work all day, she'd go out and do sales and sell cosmetics and did all these different things. So I saw her hustle and saw her grind and sacrifice. And so some of it was internal and some of it was when I just sort of picked up, you know, just observing it.

Speaker 1: 5:59

So when you're going through the day-to-day be it sports, being a student, having a vision for the things you wanted for your life what you just described in terms of a burn a lot of times I refer to that it's like a never-again mindset. When you think of your mom, like two to three, like I'm going to work so hard that never again will my mom do that, never again will the family feel that and there's so many you know so much of your work today, as we'll get to, is with some of the highest performing professional athletes in the world and a lot of athletes. It's the same, it comes from the same place. I will change the landscape of my family forever. Never again will it be that way. How would you think about that when you're in the moment? Whether it was competing, whether it was school, whether it was your drive? Was it just kind of in you and you didn't think about it, or was there an intentionality of directly thinking about it?

Speaker 2: 6:46

Yeah, for me it was a little bit of both, but it was primarily me not thinking about it, because I literally was in the mindset of like this has to work out, this is it. There's no plan B, there's only the plan A. And so there was definitely those moments where it's like there's no other option. But I think some of that was also me being so fed up and so not wanting I knew clearly what I did not want that. So the idea of repeating some of the mistakes that my dad made, or winding up like some of these other different folks I was like there's no way that that's going to be the case. I will do anything besides that. And so some of it really felt like like, after I made that level of commitment there, everything else just felt like well, this has got to. You know, this is what I have to do. There's really no need to spend a lot of time sort of intentionally thinking about it.

Speaker 2: 7:40

But there are some of those moments when it's tough and things aren't working out, when, like I mean, you're not seeing the progress as fast as you hope, that I've had to go back and remind myself of like again, what's what's my burn, what's my why Say, oh yeah, right. And now the part that no one prepared me for is that that mindset we can probably get more of for a period of time, because then, all of a sudden, you get to a certain level whatever level you're pursuing Like I don't want to be here, I want to be there. But then, when you get there right, that mindset that got you there actually won't sustain you and allow you to get to the next one. Because now, if the mindset was avoiding something, right, well, if I'm here and I've arrived at a place that nobody else typically arrives at, the motivation kind of goes away.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Because really the probability of ever going back there is not even possible.

Speaker 2: 8:31

So then, what sustains you right? That was a piece that I wish someone could have prepared me for and that took some additional adjustment needed to come up with a new mindset.

Speaker 1: 8:41

So this answers the perfect segue for the story that I wanted to share and I'm going to make you talk, like all the specifics of this story, because I think when people look at success and I just want to frame this that at Signify Wealth, you and your team it's extraordinary what you've done. You know, I think, of the five years that I spent at Alabama and the amazing relationships that I've built and you know, when we got reconnected, you know a lot of it was man. Like you know, I've had the opportunity to wait what, like you know, it was all these joint, like individuals, we've been able to help and have these great relationships with. And then you go around from multiple sports and multiple leagues and football and basketball, what you've done. I think people see that and they say, oh man, like I want to be there. But people don't realize and a lot of times I like to remind people your story's so powerful. For this you have to be engaged in the chapter you're in of your life. Yes, you know it's like people want to read your chapter 20 and they're like I'm gonna have that, like you absolutely can have that, but like you better be getting after it in your chapter one, if you want, stephan's chapter 20. And so I'd like to tell a story.

Speaker 1: 9:52

We have another mutual friend here in St Louis Shout out to our boy, kenny Powell KP, kp, kp. And so, kenny, we went to high school together and you shared a story with me to where you were a growing up in the business financial advisor had no idea you'd be sitting in this chair doing the things you're doing today. You were trying to find like man you're trying to piece it together to pay the bills what you didn't know who your clientele was. Yeah, and kenny had always done a lot of work in sports as well, and he invited you to spring training. Yes, I mean, all I'm gonna say is this man knew nothing about baseball and he gets invited to spring training. So I want, like, the specifics, the like. Just tell us the story, because I think this is important for those people who want what you have or where they just read a book about somebody. I want that, but they're unwilling to have the long obedience in the same direction with the aggressive patience that you've had. So tell the story, have fun.

Speaker 2: 10:50

Please don't hold back. All right, so before we get to spring training, I mean, that was a miraculous piece of it. I think the back story is even more miraculous Because my context was when I first started in this line of work I worked for another company wasn't Signify and one of the things we'll talk about a little bit later about the benefit of being in the niche. This company had a niche, but their niche was not professional athletes, it was public school teachers, educators, and so that's who our clients were. I think I told you this part of my story after business school, before I got into this line of work. I was blessed to actually be able to work in education, work in alternative school, and so I was a teacher, right, have a master's in education, all those different things. So their motto was everyone who worked for the firm would be their current or former teacher and that's what their specialty is like teachers, helping teachers, teachers, teaching, teaching, teachers, teaching teachers about money, that's kind of the model. So the reason I say all this is because that's my niche. I'm there, I'm working.

Speaker 2: 11:55

You know, man, I think year one, like we, we made a big faith move. My wife and I were both working, um, in education. Um, we got pregnant with our first child, um, and I left education to go into financial advising and my wife left to come home. So we went from two you know guaranteed salaries to like nothing, right, and I, bro, I think I made like literally like two grand the first year. It was rough, and part of it was I'm trying to figure out who I am, who I'm looking to serve. But we're working with teachers, and so I end up getting referred to a teacher in the Labu School District and I kind of spread like wildfire. I started helping all the teachers there get ready for retirement. One of the teachers that I get referred to is Candy's mom, and so I don't know it at this point in time, and so she was still pretty far away from teaching, and the company that I was with was a company that basically charged like a commission for products. She didn't need any of the products, just needed a lot of education, right. So, um, I probably helped her, probably like for two or three years, right, free of charge, just giving her advice. She's a super sweet lady, I almost felt like a second mom, and so, um, this is in the this is january of 08, before we have like our sort of our final meeting. Prior to that, I'm doing a lot of soul searching and praying, like Lord, like who do you want me to work with?

Speaker 2: 13:32

And I remember reading a book, good to Great, by Jim Collins phenomenal read and classic and he talks about the hedgehog concept. The companies that go from being good companies to great companies. Figuring out this hedgehog concept, which is where do three things overlap? They basically said they found out things that you can be passionate about, things that you can make money in and things that you feel like you can be the best in the world. Those companies figured out where do the concentric circles of three of those things overlap and they put all their focus there and that propelled them from being good to being great.

Speaker 2: 14:06

And I remember reading this thing and I don't have these moments, but there's been a number of times in my life where I literally feel like god is like, it almost feels like an audible voice. I remember reading that and and when I got to the part where you think you could be best in the world, for some reason it felt like the lord just laid in my heart, like I don't think, I don't know if I can be best in the world at helping C-suite execs. You know that work for Fortune 500 companies, I don't know that world, but when I read it I thought, man, I can be best in the world at helping athletes. Didn't say it out loud. It was the weirdest thing, because at this point, bro, I have zero athletes. My only client is the teachers. I'm running a credit card debt, right, and I'm helping people and not getting paid, right. But it was just one of those things that, like, it was like a thought that like exploded in my head and my heart and I was like okay, this needs to be my focus right Now. Again, we're in St Louis, right, I went to Washington University. It's not a D1 school, it's a D3 opportunity. It's great for academics, but it's not the Alabama where you can cozy up next to somebody who's your roommate. All I have to say is I remember reading Good to Great in November and December of 2007 and I remember praying okay, lord, if this is something you want me to do, you've got to open the door, because I have no natural path. I don't even know how this is going work.

Speaker 2: 15:27

Fast forward to January of 08. Just a month later, I'm sitting down with Kenny's mom again, right, and it's just another routine meeting. She's still far off from retirement. She said something she was like you've been so helpful to me, you're like a son to me, you should meet my son. He does some sports stuff and I'm like, okay, that's kind of cool. It was really more of a miracle that I didn't already know Kenny, like the smallest St Louis Absolutely. And when I met Kenny, he just so happened to be one of the part owners and one of the largest baseball agencies in the Midwest. He just so happened to be doing interviews for a financial advisory firm because they had a bunch of guys in the minors and some of them were starting to break into the majors and they're like they're asking us money questions. We're not money people, we need to find a resource. And so they were interviewing me and some folks at Edward Jones and again, none of this existed. It's just me, right. And so, because of the relationship and I met with Kenny and the other folks, they ended up selecting me to go to spring training right now.

Speaker 2: 16:27

Again, I grew up football, basketball and track. I love playing sports. My knowledge of baseball, I mean. We played a couple rounds of baseball at the local park. We didn't play with the baseball, I played with the tennis balls. We didn't break windows, but baseball was just not my sport, right. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to spring training and so I fly out to spring training. I don't know nothing about baseball.

Speaker 2: 16:54

The one funny story that we still laugh about to this day was they were like, hey, we're renting a bunch of vehicles and, stephan, if you would, if you rent a car for yourself, get one where you can carry some extra space, because we want to make sure we got enough room to carry guys around and get them to places that we need to go. No problem, except for I'm broke, right. I go out and I literally like I got room on a credit card, right, and that's basically it. So I'm like, okay, I can't splurge and get like a big Tahoe or a Range or something like this. How can I get something that's larger than size but it still works, given the fact that I got two, three hundred bucks and I'm gonna be out of eat and I gotta do all this other stuff? So I get, and I remember getting the car and I pull up, man, and I had I rented a powder blue pt cruiser and I pulled up to the lot and they looked at me like bro, what are you doing? Like you can't show up in that, and I'm like, but it makes sense. And I rattled off all the reasons why, except for at that point in time I hadn't cracked it in. Like the perception side, I'm thinking like I can afford it. We can see five people, all these different things. So they still give me black of the day for showing up with the PT Cruiser, which was really interesting. It did help me in some ways, which I'll talk about in a second.

Speaker 2: 18:03

But then again, the secondary thing is I'm at spring training, bro, and I don't play baseball. Like I've gone to a couple Cardinal games. I actually don't even like baseball, which I know, and I want to say that out loud here in St Louis. I'll get stoned for not being a Cardinals fan, but I literally remember sitting at a game and I'm looking, I'm trying to be observing, I'm getting kind of bored, uh, because it's not as fast paced as the sports that I play. And I know, I know the dugout, uh area right, and I'm like all right, there's some of the players that are there and this other area on the outfield where some folks look they're warming up and I'm like, wait, they got the same uniforms on. Like it's not. It just I was trying to figure out with all my context to the weather working.

Speaker 2: 18:40

I just remember thinking like, okay, I'm gonna lean over and ask somebody. So I lean over and, hey man, what's this area here and how come this is? They're not in the same space, because every sport I know, like we're all together it's one team right, and they kind of looked at me like oh my god, hey, time out, everybody come in group huddle. So stephan knows nothing about baseball. I need you guys to train him from the ground like oh, my like, oh, my gosh man. So I was pretty embarrassed. But what I didn't know at that point in time and I know now, is that it actually worked in favor, because athletes want to be treated like a normal human being 100%. They've got thousands of fans. They don't want another fan in somebody. They don't really trust fans like they would somebody else. And so you know, I remember being another guy that I was doing some work with.

Speaker 2: 19:26

We went down to the Royals Red Sox game and we're down at batting practice and he played for both teams. And so I'm standing next to him and guys are coming up and greeting him and so on and so forth, and he's introducing me and this big guy comes up and we dap up and we have a great conversation and we walk away. And we great conversation and we walked away and I was like bro. He was a real cool dude man. Like who was that? He was like bro, you don't know who. That was like no clue. And then he eventually pulled out later and teased me. The cover of like sports illustrated it was a big poppy. It was like how do you not know?

Speaker 2: 19:57

and so those were some funny stories, but it actually I think what it allowed some of the guys to pick up on is the fact that you know I was there for them, like I didn't necessarily know who they were and what their stats were, and that I thought it was going to harm me, but it actually helped me a lot.

Speaker 1: 20:12

Yeah, I love hearing that story because I think a lot of times when that happens to somebody, our naturalness, especially as adults, because it's hard, you're already getting rejection in the business, you're not making the money you want, things aren't going your way. A lot of people, the natural inclination is like all right, you come home to your wife, honey, that did not go well. I know nothing about that. That was embarrassing. Maybe sports isn't for me, but instead you found, through a shift in perspective, why it was, and you and I have conversations with athletes every day. It really is the truth, like they don't. They don't want you to be their fan, they don't want you. They just want to know that you're going to take care of them and have a beautiful relationship for the right reasons. And it's scary for athletes these days. You know males and females and what they go through. It's very scary and so you lean in. You then focus on sports and you mentioned it earlier. You've stayed in sports, which I think a lot of times, and I think this is very unique and I love this about your work and how you've grown your business and your practice. Being a former advisor still coaching some of the top advisors. I still coach some of the top advisors in the world. Who lesson for some of them. They're not doing as much as you're doing and they still want to be everything to everybody. Or they say oh well, I do a lot of work in the construction industry, but if this physician calls, I'm going to take care of the physician and it's easy to get pulled out of a niche which a lot of times becomes distraction. Then your team has to learn something new or they've got to learn new benefits of what a doctor has through a hospital. It becomes more confusion as opposed to staying in your lane. Fast forward to today, now that everybody knows like you started in a place where maybe a lot of people listening are right now, but they have this big vision.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Now you've stayed in the niche. You've stayed in sports and we joke like you are very connected. In St Louis People know who you are. You've built a great reputation for taking care of people. You could easily, with some of the relationships you have, have people walk in and just you could take care of everybody's money because you know people who have money. But you've stayed in your niche. How have you done that? Because I think most people they're like oh well, this is a one-off, it's okay. And then you've got a hundred one-offs and you've got a whole separate book of business. That's completely out of the niche. So you read that in good to great, you believe that there's this niche when you didn't have a sniff of anybody who was an athlete. And now you're there. Have you had that temptation?

Speaker 2: 22:44

in the past to get out of the niche. How have you stayed true to the niche? Yeah, man, that's a great question. I would love to say it's like I've never thought about wavering, or even attempted, because I think the challenge, is the tension that you face, is staying in the niche but then still being able to think about how the niche may change and how to still grow and have ideas that come from outside the niche and bring those in without completely just switching. So for me, I think it was a little easier one, because the company that I started with when I started, from day one, it was a niche based company. It's a niche, but they knew how to get into and penetrate it in such a way where they actually got.

Speaker 2: 23:33

I'm doing it for a couple reasons. One the clearer you are around, who you work with, it starts to you know, allow other people to start to realize this is the guy that specializes there, and so when they think about an athlete, oh, I should have him talk to Stephan. And it also put people at ease, because here in St Louis it seems like there's finesse revisions every place, and so some of those people that I would have come in contact with would be thinking, oh, my God, he's going to pitch me now. And then when I say I clearly mentioned who I work with, they kind of you know, relax. And now they're actually start thinking like, oh, you know what, I know someone who knows. So some of that was trying to be clear about that up front and some of that was trying to be clear about that up front and some of that was also because that's the world that I came from and another piece of it was I also had to work extremely hard to get into the gym right and like because there was a period in my career where I'm doing work with the teachers just because I've got to keep the lights on and keep food in the fridge, and God's saying I'm hard doing this work with athletes, the lights on and keep food in the fridge, and god's saying I'm hard doing this work with athletes, um, but I can't say I can't really stop doing the future thing, uh, fully, and start the other one because this one's paying the bills, that one has potential, and so there was a lot of hard work, um, to even get into the space.

Speaker 2: 25:17

And then when you get, once you get into the space, the last thing you want to do is just abandon something that took you so long to get into um, but being in the space, the last thing you want to do is just abandon something that took you so long to get into um, but being in the space to your point, um, there have been, uh, multiple instances in which um you start having success and you start getting pulled like we've actually had a number of instances where we got um a number of, like, high-end entertainers that got referred and so, again, I love doing r&d, I love doing R&D, I love doing, I like being creative, I love doing research and thinking about okay, we got this. If we add this, how could this complement? And so I would love to tell you that I didn't experiment and try outside of it and I did. We actually did some work with some high-end entertainers and it just was not who we were Like. It was one of those things that, and some of them came aboard because they were referred by some different people and don't want to say no to people who think highly enough of you to refer. You know a household name on the entertainment side, but but staying the course has been easier when you start to remind yourself of like OK, but who do we, who can we really serve and who can we do our best work with?

Speaker 2: 26:32

And so, as we've been able to lock in on that the mindset around athletes, the challenges that they face, the unique opportunities that they have there's just not a lot of firms out there. A lot of people want to be in this space, but they haven't done the work to actually be able to really help those guys at the highest levels. I know you probably have a lot of coaches that are like, hey, I want to be able to coach athletes and it's like, yeah, it sounds great, but there's a level of commitment and sacrifice that you have to be committed to and it actually has to match the commitment that the athletes make. I talk about this all the time. These are guys and gals who are all-in on their sport and they want to work with people who are all-in as well, and so some of that was a necessity that I realized that, like, in order to do our best work for these folks, um, we got to be all in, like we can't be dibble, dabbling and saying this because they're not like, they're not again. You got travis hunter that's playing multiple positions, but you don't have a guy who's a first round pick in football and also a first-round pick in the NBA.

Speaker 2: 27:24

So the point is they needed a firm that was committed to staying the course the way that they were, and I found that not only does that allow our team to pick up efficiencies and we see similar problems, we can get even further into solving those problems, because it goes from the black and white of a problem to the gray. Of the nuance is important, um. But then I just think that they, the athletes, pick up on that as well, that they know the difference between someone who's using their lips to make it sound like that they are committed to solve the problem, um versus guy. And I tell my wife all the time I was like listen, uh, they like these guys get paid to analyze gals as well, to analyze people and exploit circumstances. Like if you think about what athletes do, like if I'm coming down the court and you're guarding me right, I'm paying attention to where you're leaning, what we're about. If I'm a defense offensive lineman, I'm watching for the subtle cues. I'm actually looking for a weakness in you. This is how I'm going to to exploit right here. Or if I'm a corner or why receive so?

Speaker 2: 28:25

A point is is that they, they're naturally wired that way and they can sense that, and people that they're working with and they they pick up, they're like dude, like you're saying a good thing but you're not fully committed. Um, you know it doesn't work. So for me to answer your question, the state of course, um, in the niche started out of survival, started because it took me so long to get into this thing. I'm like, all right, it took me so long to get in it. I don't want to give up while I'm here, but now it's actually more into like man, like in order to be the best that we can be for our clients, like we've got to stay the course. And you know, like I said, long obedience in the same direction.

Speaker 1: 29:08

So one of the things that I really admire about the growth, the success you've had and then for everybody to hear your burn, your journey, how you've gotten to where you've gotten to, is how, not only have you taken that never-again mindset, and financially you have been able to change the scope of the future and provide great education for your children. Knowing that you got a great education, similar to my wife Wash U, that's like the Harvard of the Midwest. For those of you that don't know, that's like as good as it gets in terms of education. But now you have four children one child in college, another one on the way, two other children behind. And family is so important to you and you mentioned when you shared your story that growing up was tough Times where dad's incarcerated, mom working two to three jobs.

Speaker 1: 29:51

I admire for you that you've been able to continue to make family a priority. I mean the number of times I'm in here, whether it be trips or even today, before we hit record. You're like man, it's AAU and you could easily tell your wife hey, babe, you do the AAU trips and I got work I need to do. You've maintained that family is so important to you. Why is that thing so important?

Speaker 2: 30:12

to you. Yeah, I mean I think it's some of what I mentioned beforehand Like I've never been a person even though I didn't want to go back to where I came from life to me has never been just about money, right, and so that's why a lot of people are motivated and I'm not saying that that's not, it's unimportant. I mean, we've got to put food at the table and all that sort of stuff for sure. But for me it's always been like, what does a person's legacy look like? Right? Like what does a person's legacy look like when, it's all said and done, 50 years from now, 75 years from now, somebody else is going to be in this office. Hopefully, the work that we're doing is still around, and people know about Signify and so on and so forth, but if they do, it'll be because there are people who were touched and who were impacted and so um.

Speaker 2: 31:07

So for me, when you think about like why do you do it? It's it's to actually leave a legacy, and I think about my kids. You know, I know the impact of what it was like growing up, not having certain things, and so what I have wanted to do as much as what God would allow me to do is to to do what every parent wants, like you want to give your child a better opportunity in some ways than what you had, and now that can be complicated for a lot of reasons. But for me the family has been important, because why are you doing what you're doing? And so I love to work, I love to use my gifts that God has given me, but I also have to have a reason for why I'm doing it.

Speaker 2: 31:45

My wife and I were just talking about this by watching a podcast. We were 21 years in marriage now and we were just talking about some of the science around what happens in a mom when a baby is born. Baby is born like some of the genetic and biological things that like come to surface for a mom and desire to nurture a child, and what the podcast was also talking about was that that same thing potentially not for all guys, but really turns on the switch of like I got to protect, I got to provide, and so for me, my, my, my desire to grow signify has always been to be able to say like hey, I want to be able to provide for my family. Um, and I always love the idea of like having a place or a space that, if they desire to, at some point in time they want to come back into the business, that's great.

Speaker 2: 32:40

But it's always allowed me to remind myself that the primary reason I'm doing this for them, right, and so it feels weird because it means that, like, okay, I got to travel and potentially be away from them, right, to provide for them, but it's always with the eye of I'm doing it for them and I want to be able to give back to them as quickly as possible. And so the idea of the accolades and the lights and the fame and the money was never the motivation, um, and so it just allowed me to be able to try to keep the main thing, the main thing, so that legacy, that family, is the most important thing at the end of the day. If you have all the money in the world and you have your name on all the articles, but you don't have anyone to spend, that time sharing with.

Speaker 1: 33:22

So I'm going to call an audible on my final question I have for you, but I'm going to do something that you have no idea that. I'm going to do something that you have no idea that I'm about to do, and he may end up saying no after I do this, not to me, but to those that pursue him for this potential opportunity. So I'm going to do something for you because I think it's special how you show up in life, how you do things, the representation of the consistency of building a business, having the patience In a world right now where a lot of people don't have patience, they want everything right now, personally or professionally. So before I call this audible, on the last question, you and I have talked a lot about how and I remember we were in your office a handful of months ago saying, like man, you need to be speaking at universities, you need to be in front of more sports teams. So it's no secret, just like his work in sports, I do a lot of work in sports and I know there are a lot of coaches of professional teams who check out the burn every week. There are a lot of coaches in the collegiate ranks that check this out. You may get the word no, but we're going to make it as easy as possible for you to reach out to this man Because I'm telling you, with NIL at the collegiate level, the changes of the amount of money that players are making, some of the conversations we've had because you've stayed in the niche, the level of care and doing the right thing and I know there's specific things that you can't but some of the things you've been able to share never disclosing clients' names, but it's amazing how you continue to do the right thing. So I'm just saying, if you're a professional coach, you're a collegiate coach looking for financial literacy.

Speaker 1: 34:59

Stephan Rhodes is an individual that I think you need to take a hard look at, or not even look, just make the decision, try to get a hold of him. I'm telling you he loves his family. You may get a no, but we're going to make sure in the notes that you have an opportunity to learn more about Signify Wealth, to be able to figure out ways that you can get in contact with Stephan and his team, because I know he probably would only do it a handful of times, but I really do believe you're one of the individuals doing things for the right reasons. That isn't going to show up to sell product. You're going to show up to want to teach and that teacher in you comes out in your work.

Speaker 1: 35:35

And my mom, being a former teacher, I've really admired through our conversations I don't think I've told you that directly, so good for me to say it in front of the world, but I just admire and respect that about you and I really do believe that you belong in those team rooms. You belong in those professional. You belong in those front offices more than you already are Because he already does that sort of work. But I believe you belong there more and so you may say no when they call. But I had to do that because you have earned the right for me to say that.

Speaker 1: 36:04

I appreciate that man.

Speaker 2: 36:05

It means a lot and, like I said, I do view it as a. I'm naturally introverted and so people are like I can't believe you're an introvert and you speak for a living. But when you care about people and when you've been impacted by education like I have, then it actually feels it doesn't feel it doesn't feel like a burden to go into universities and to talk, I guess, lecture at different universities, talk to different teams I really enjoy it. It's some of the funnest time I've got to watch myself. So I'm not like booking my calendar too much and then I'm like missing other things. You know I want to prioritize the things, but when the time and space is available I love to do it.

Speaker 2: 36:44

And again, you just, I'm a't know ultimately how that comes back to you, but I think there is power in knowledge and so having spaces and places to be able to talk to people and teach is something that brings me a lot of joy. And I appreciate the comments too. Man, I think the compliments that you mentioned because that means a lot Coming from someone like you who's actually been in the space and knows what it ultimately entails right. There's a lot of folks I think they understand. They think they understand the sports world. They understand it from a fan's perspective, but it's a different animal when you're in it, and so for you to be in it, operating at the level that you're operating, and being able to say the kind of things you said about me, man, I really appreciate that it means a lot.

Speaker 1: 37:26

I appreciate you and the friendship and relationship we have. Final question so what caused me to call the Audible was you said legacy, and then you mentioned 50 years from now, I believe and I'm going to date how long I've been doing my work, which is almost 20 years. You've been doing this a long time. A lot of people they don't have the longevity to become an expert yet, so I'm going to date myself. I wrote a book in 2014 called Leave your Legacy, and in 2012, there was a precursor to that book called Own your Success, and in both of those books I mentioned that I believe legacy isn't something that you leave behind 50 years from now. It's something they said. I believe legacy is something you live every day, and I've never asked you this question, we've never talked about it, but it seems fitting for me to call this audible because I feel like that's how you show up, that you have a similar philosophy. Your legacy isn't just going to be your legacy. You're very intentional about the decisions and choices you make today. Impact legacy now.

Speaker 2: 38:29

Is that accurate? Is they do, and I and I think that's exactly right I mean the what I alluded to beforehand when I talked about the shift in mindset from like you know, I never want to go back there which can be described as like a scarcity mindset, to more of an abundance mindset. Um, that shift was massive for me, right? Because it went from hey, me thinking about legacy around this sense of like if it's going to be, it's up to me, right Versus like. The abundance mindset is the realization that, like man, like, in order to really accomplish the vision that I believe God has laid on my heart, like he's made it abundantly clear to me that it's not something I can do by myself. And so, to your point, what that ultimately means is it has to involve other people, it's going to involve relationships, and that means you can't wait until you die to try to motivate those folks. You've got to live out that legacy today, each and every day. And so my desire, more than anything else, I never want to get to the end of my life, whenever that is, we never know what it is. I feel like I just wasted it. I wasted it, right. I want to stand before God and hear well done my good and faithful servant. And so for me, that means, like, not just my own efforts, but it means that, like what does it mean to live out my legacy in the people that God has entrusted to my care? Right, that starts, of course, with my family, the team here at Signify and just other people in general, because I think that leadership and influence is a gift. I think it's people trying to rush forward it and to take it by force, but I think it's actually one of the things that people naturally follow people that they see trust and seesaw them being vulnerable and authentic, and I think that's actually a gift. I think it's one of the things we're going to have to give account for at some point. So that means to me that you can't just wait to say, hey, all my tombstone, this is what I want. Yeah, that could be a goal, but I think, in order to get it there, you've got to be making those intentional decisions today with the people, because those are going to be the people that are going to still be around, that are like talking about the impact that you had and the love that you actually communicated. So you're exactly right. It is about again, and I want to take some of my friends that are wired, like myself, off the hook a little bit, because some of us struggle with being just like you know, uh, like laissez-faire, life is just going to happen. They need to be more intentional.

Speaker 2: 40:51

And then some of us that are being so trying to be so doggone intentional that we don't give ourselves grace, like we think we got to figure out, have it all sort of figured out, and I just have been in this line of work and lived enough life to know, ben, that like you, can be as intentional as you want to be, you can plan out every aspect of it, and there's just some things that God does, just because he's God, like you could have never known, like I could have never known that by working with a teacher that I was going to meet a teacher who was going to connect me with a kid.

Speaker 2: 41:21

There's no way to connect all those dots. All you can do every day is show up and be intentional and say, okay, how can I use the day that I have before me and I'm going to trust the rest of God to work those things out. So, exactly right, man, that's the way that I try to live imperfectly. I don't get it right every single day, but I just feel so grateful that this is not work that I have to do, but this is work that I need to do With that answer.

Speaker 1: 41:48

there's nothing more for me to say. If that's not a mic drop, I don't know what a mic drop is. All I'm going to say is thank you for letting us come into your work, home, this beautiful office that's been built, because you did choose to do the work every single day. I appreciate you, I appreciate how you show up. I appreciate all the opportunities we have to be connected and to be here in this town. We don't see each other enough. I know. I know We've got to do something about that. I knew that man, but I'm going to make sure that you guys have an opportunity to learn more about Stephan and their amazing work. Those coaches forget what I told you, but you see how he came back and then he planted that little bit.

Speaker 1: 42:25

You might be a no because of my calendar, but I think what an amazing story of the burn and what we talk about every single week. Please do me a favor. I don't ask this every single week and there's no cost right for the burn, but what I ask of you is please pay this forward, because I think there's so many amazing things that need to be heard from patients to connection to the burn, to the long obedience in the same direction, to the importance of family, and you can still have high levels of success. So much of doing things. The right way is the way that Stephanie chooses to live every day. So this has been the burn, and remember the burn is so important because that's what ignites that why and purpose and causes us to show up on the days we don't feel like it and especially after we win. Share this episode.