Heart of a Servant Leader From the Start featuring Padric Scott

Padric Scott Podcast - BlogPost (1000x620px)

Padric Scott is a former professional football player who transitioned into wealth management. With a background in science and plans to become a neurosurgeon, he channeled his discipline and strategic thinking into financial services instead. Six years into his new career, Padric has achieved impressive accolades, including MDRT's Top of the Table and earning a spot on Forbes' list of best-in-state financial security professionals. Passionate about giving back, he serves on various boards and is committed to enhancing financial literacy and community support.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[02:26] How a former NFL player pivoted to a successful career in financial advising
[06:49] Padric Scott discusses the role of science and pattern recognition in the financial industry
[08:59] Harnessing sports discipline and fundamentals in financial practices
[16:15] How to accelerate growth and productivity early in a financial advisory career
[20:46] Strategies for effective communication and client engagement in wealth management
[25:12] Padric talks about his love for giving back to the community through financial literacy
[32:38] The value of leveraging connections from associations like NAIFA to expand influence
[37:20] Padric’s philosophy of contributing more to others as a pathway to success
[46:18] Advice for financial advisors

In this episode…

What does it take to pivot from one career to become a top-performing financial advisor in another? There are many overlapping skills and disciplines that can be applied to financial advising. How can you broaden your horizons and excel as a financial advisor?

Having transitioned from the NFL to financial services, Padric Scott leveraged a service-oriented mindset and self-discipline from the field to build a customer-focused financial advising practice. When making a career transition into financial advising, he emphasizes the importance of repetition and strategic relationship building. Padric also recommends connecting with industry leaders, mentoring others once you’ve established yourself, and engaging in your community, stating that these factors have been instrumental in his ascent in the field.

In this episode of Advisor Today, Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan sit down with Padric Scott to talk about his transition from professional sports to financial advising. Padric discusses his pivot from football to financial advising, the role science and pattern recognition play in the finance industry, the value of harnessing sports discipline and fundamentals in financial practices, and strategies for effective communication and client engagement in wealth management.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

"Repetition is the mother of all learning."
"In finance, you just have to be right once."
"You can't chase football and a career in medicine at the same time; it's not going to be smooth."
"I just chose to figure it out and take a solution-focused approach."
"Fall in love with practicing the fundamentals; that's where muscle memory and expertise are developed."

Action Steps:

Practice repetition and master the fundamentals in your career: Consistent, deliberate practice builds muscle memory and develops expertise.
Cultivate financial literacy as a lifelong skill: Understanding finance is crucial for everyone, especially athletes and those with high earnings, to ensure long-term financial well-being.
Embrace a service-oriented mindset: Giving more than you receive naturally attracts opportunities and assists in building a strong network of support.
Seek mentorship and nurture meaningful relationships: Mentorship can provide tailored guidance, accountability, and insider strategies for success.
Be open to career transition opportunities: Skills and disciplines from one field can be successfully transferred to another, broadening one's potential horizons.

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors' Advocacy program. NAIFA provides a newsletter open to the industry that reports on government activities at the state and federal levels. Sign up now

At NAIFA, we enhance professional skills, promote ethical conduct, and advocate for legislative and regulatory environments.

By joining NAIFA, you gain access to a partnership that elevates your performance while providing greater purpose to your professional work. NAIFA members are happier, make more money, and stay in the business longer.

Get in touch with NAIFA and learn more about how to join NAIFA by visiting NAIFA.org.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:02

Welcome to NAIFA's Advisor Today, podcast series where we focus on how financial advisors work live and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now let's get started with the show.

Chris Gandy 0:20

Hi NAIFA nation. This is your co-host, Chris Gandy, here at Advisors Today podcast where we promote the voice of you. It's our constituents and NAIFA leaders. I'm here with my wonderful co-host, Suzanne, the Suzanne Carawan, hi, Suzanne, how are things going?

Suzanne Carawan 0:39

I'm good Chris. Good to be here.

Chris Gandy 0:41

It's good to see you. Today, we have a wonderful new guest, new to us, new to the scene, so we want to give him as much time as possible. But before we go today, Suzanne, our sponsor for today's podcast is who?

Suzanne Carawan 0:59

So actually it's a little bit of a combo today. So it is our namesake Advisor Today, our media platform and Advisor Today have, for the last 20 or so years, has given up out the four under 40 awards, and they will be presented at this year's Apex. That's happening September 19 to 21st at the Arizona Biltmore. And so September, as we kind of roll into this we're going to start to for the rest of this time as we lead into September, highlight all of our four under 40 winners, and we're kicking off today with our first 4 under 40 winner, Padric Scott, so we're delighted to have him out of Florida to talk to us about his background. Padric, welcome.

Padric Scott 1:39

Pleasure to be here. Thank you so much, Chris. Thank you Suzanne, honor and pleasure to be here with you both today.

Chris Gandy 1:45

So let's jump right in. Shall we? So first, I'm sure people may be seeing your name come across their screen. They're trying to figure out how to pronounce it. So could you tell us the correct pronunciation of your full name?

Padric Scott 2:00

Yes, sir. So the easiest way to do this thing of Patrick, just with a D. So Padric, and if you consider yourself a friend of mine, friends call me Pad say Padric Scott. Nickname pad, yes, sir. Okay.

Suzanne Carawan 2:14

Nickname Pad, love it.

Chris Gandy 2:16

So those in NAIFA nation who might not have ever heard your name before. How did you get connected to NAIFA? And then how did you get started in the career?

Padric Scott 2:26

Yeah, so I would just actually go started with the career. And you know how we connect with NAIFA? So I buy trade, I guess you would say, prior to being career changer, I played professional sports five years NFL, CFL started with the Arizona Cardinals. So it's going to be real full circle moment to be at the Apex conference in Phoenix. Even I played ball out there, back in 2013 which seems forever ago. And while playing in NFL, realized didn't know much about money. Have a molecular cell biology degree from Florida and in university, started my career at Stanford, where a lot of my connections and friends and business partners are located.

So we've done a lot of great work in that tech and finance space on Wall Street. And so, once, getting cut, I realized, as much as I knew about science, started my master's before going to the NFL, realized I didn't know much about wealth, and so given my career, I was going to be a neurosurgeon. There's a dentist. Since the dentist, lot of surgeons in my family on the orthopedic side. However, my grandmother suffered with Alzheimer's, so I kind of want to just do something along that path. So, that's really what my heart was at in my earlier days.

That said, as I matriculated, science was just very easy to me. Thought it was some other things out there, but you can't chase football, it chase career medicine at the same time, if it's not going too smooth. And so from there, finance really caught my eyes realizing how money was moving in a pattern in the same way science did, is in math and pure capitalists. And so I really wanted to dive into as a discipline. So back in 2013 when I got cut, I sold myself as an assistant manager role at a bank with no experience. And told them basically, if I can manage, 91, 18 to 21 year old, testosterone driven males, I could manage a bank. And they took me in my word. And so, you know, hey, been selling for a long time, and so got into the assistant manager role. Stayed in kind of like banking in my off seasons. Came up through the trust in the States route, and really said to myself, I would love to do this for a living.

That said I was at the end of 2017 the stars really aligned, to my brother asking me, why had I never considered becoming a wealth management advisor and Northwestern Mutual reaching out in that exact same moment. And to be honest. So you didn't know the company. Didn't know anything about anything outside of banking. Turns out, we were clients since the 80s. My father shared with me and showed me he would understand me, never going to med school if I went this space, because he knew I could do phenomenal in it. And the rest have been history since. And so that's really how the career, I found the career, and then nationally, just with NAIFA, a lot of newsletters, different things coming back. And so around 2021 got no really interested, became a member around that time. And then, yeah, I would say, just in terms of my career, God has been very good, Forbes list this year, best in state financial security professionals.

Last year, the American College named me their top next gen award winner as well. And we just been kind of having a lot of great things. And also took home NAIFA Florida's top four in the 40 last year as well. So MDRT quarter the table, top of the table in only six years. And so it's truly an honor, given that level of production to me, it just means a lot of service and impact. So to now be named to Advisors Today, 4 under 40 award is truly an honor. So that's just a quick snapshot of, you know, finding a career and then naturally, through exposure, you find NAIFA if you're anything to do with the industry, and to be recognized is truly an honor. Yes, sir.

Chris Gandy 6:19

So it's funny you spit by you studied neuroscience. Hello, Suzanne. I just want to study neuroscience. Was gonna go be a doctor. Wait, wait, hold on. Time out, science and wait, wait, hold on. Let me rewind the table so you had an interest in becoming a physician and you entered into financial services. I just want to make sure, did I hear that, right?

Padric Scott 6:49

Yeah absolutely did. And I tell you, it's funny, a lot of my clients who are like portfolio managers. One of my clients a good friend. He's the advocate of our firm. He's a PM at Harvard harvest endowment. And he's actually a bio major also. And what I'm finding a lot of people we work with who are in finance actually have science backgrounds, because that level of scientific thinking, hypothesis stress testing, if you bring it over in finance, we kind of have a running joke amongst us. In science, you got to be right 17 out of 17 times.

And finance, you just got to be right once, and you should run and so by being able to apply that level of thinking, I would say pattern recognition has been crucial, and just understanding how to diagnose needs, hear needs, solve needs, as well as being able to look at my contract, not as just a contract, but more of an enterprise opportunity to now build entity and scale it to the point of where we have it today, of having nine people on payroll. I'm over the kind of regional area of Northwestern Mutual firms in North Florida, South Georgia, in this area of Tallahassee, Thomasville, Georgia.

And we have roughly 18 advisors also, and so just pattern recognition has been a key, and that's what I learned from science. So yes, Molecular Cell bio undergrad started my master's in the same that concentration was cardio physiology. That's all they had really offered when I was at FAMU. And so, yes, I was going to study become a neurosurgeon. Yes, sir.

Chris Gandy 8:23

So you're an HBCU grad. Yes, sir. Very proud. You skipped over that too. So I'm going to say that you're, you're very accomplished in an early stage. So you and I both know. So let's talk about sports for a moment. Take us down the path for sports for you and kind of what allowed you to excel at sports that you're able to use at financial service. So take us down your career path through sports.

Padric Scott 8:59

Got you, I will start this off by saying repetition is the mother of all learning. A lot of times, people come across situations where they're intimidated by learning something new. That said, as an athlete who wants to go further, you almost have to embrace that and also fall in love with the basics and the fundamentals, which I found a lot of professionals in their career, they kind of lose excitement with the fundamentals, and when they start trying to do all these new things, they lose the things that made them great in the first place in serving their clientele.

And so I take you back, to sports and that career trajectory. The first thing that comes to mind was probably being a 10th or 11th grade. 10th grade had to be. And we had a recruiting coordinator for our high school who said I might be too short to go play college ball given my position. And so that said, could have allowed that to be something that served as a roadblock, rather, decided to use it as motivation. And so from there, it became okay, if I want to be great at this thing, I just had to practice it more than anybody else, because maybe I may not have the height or size of certain individuals, but I'll be dogged if I allow the variables that I can control to be outside of my control. And so that was one I could make myself the strongest individual possible, which the year I came out in the NFL draft and Pro Day and undrafted time I had the highest bench press that year.

So I can make myself the strongest individual I said to myself in high school. And two, I can make myself most technically sound. And so, my mom probably hated picking me up late from school as I stayed and worked out and worked drills three four hours afterwards, even on days that we weren't in season. But to me, I was honing my craft because whereas a lot of people may turn on TV and see people just running and doing things, that said, the athlete knows the countless hours of work that went in that no one saw in a very first place like we can see and witness with the Olympics right now, no one just woke up and ran, that has been years and years and years and years of practice and paying attention to the smallest of details.

Suzanne Carawan 11:13

You don't see nothing but just Noah Lyles, just natural ability.

Padric Scott 11:16

Right? Like, man, that guy's fast, right? How many times did he practice his start at each phase of his run, to be behind 30 meters at the end and to take off and to catch up? No, he's been working on that drive phase. And so from there, understanding how to master those fundamentals. The next thing I would say is just the concept of tradeoffs. I share that with our clients. Every day that all I am is someone to assist you in waiting tradeoffs, pros and cons of each decision so you can make the best. That said, dating back to my college days, I was faced with a lot of tradeoffs. I can either work my behind off and go to the NFL, or I can do what every other college student was doing. And so, having a heavy course load, graduating with honors and a molecular cell bio degree, so I wasn't having easy classes, so I could just focus on sports or sports and not focus on the other. I had to double down on my time and weigh those tradeoffs.

So for example, in my HBCU, Florida, AM University, everyone in my house went to the NFL because we surrounded ourselves with individuals who are like minded. One went to the Patriots, the other Detroit Alliance, myself, Arizona Cardinals, and then the one who went to the Patriots was older than us. So when we let someone move in, we would not let anyone move in who was not like minded. It was willing to serve. We were willing to sacrifice. So my brother, who we let in, John O he ended up going to the New York Jets the year after Brandon Hepburn and myself. And what we had amongst us was a shared vision of being the best of the best, not seeing any handicap from coming from a smaller school. Rather use that as motivation. So what will we be doing at 2am in the morning on a Saturday, while some people are out partying? You may have caught us on a football field working, and the beautiful part about that is there's no one out there, so that means we're working by ourselves.

We're practicing with bags, and we all play different positions. But it was that repetition, even when no one was watching, that made us great. So that was really, I would say some of the things from sports, I took that transition right into this field, that when I career changed, I realized, man, it doesn't matter just what you know. It also matters how well you communicate it. So I really doubled down on my ability to communicate and simplify topics. So when I started, you could catch me at our you know district office, 1, 2, 3, 4 in the morning, practicing walking a you know individual through the door, greeting them, sitting them down at the head of the table, me sitting beside them, so on the same side of the table and I would conduct an hour to hour and A half Fact Finder to a chair on a piece of paper, right? And some people may call that crazy, but to me, that was just practice, because that's how I practice the sport in the first place, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, did the same. And so just putting that level of practice from the very start, I would say I put about 20 years of work in those first two years. Now, did I miss a lot of sleep?

I surely did, but I was just tied to something greater, and I'm so glad to see a lot of the fruits of that labor paying off now. So, repetition being the mother of all learning, the power of practicing the fundamentals and being so good at it that it becomes muscle memory, this concept of not necessarily just accepting no as an objection, but more so realizing that it's just simply the need for more clarity on what needs to be accomplished versus what can't be done. Those are some key areas and traits that was able to draw directly from sports into the career.

Chris Gandy 14:57

So five years in and MDRT, yes.

Padric Scott 15:01

So, six years in hit MDRT at year two, and then quarter the table the last two years initial will be at top.

Chris Gandy 15:13

Good. So, what do you account for these quick start, because that's a fairly like that. That trajectory is, they see if you hit MDRT by year three. I was at NML for five years, four years, four years, five years, something like that. And I remember when we first started, they had a like, a race, right? A sprint. They faced at a first 40 and second 60. You remember, that's why you're like, hey, do the first 42nd, 60, which was 40 lives, clear? Because, right? It's 40 lives in your first six months, and then the balance of that year is, it's another 60, right? So 108 in a year, right? So that sprint are you grant numerous sprints, right? Put that objective in front of you, and they said, okay, let's see how fast you can sprint. How hard was it for you to get out of the gates running? And then, has that accounted for some of the success you've had, right? Have you been able to then replicate that every year, or is it a different model?

Padric Scott 16:15

Yeah, that is a phenomenal question that get out to the gates, P40 second, 60. What I would actually accredit it to are having some phenomenal mentors across the NML system who poured it in. And also being just that, the pests who would reach out to people and not necessarily use words like, I'm going to pick their brain, rather more so sending emails such as, hey, I was able to watch videos around the work you put out, and it really has impacted my career. And that says, want to let you know that in everything you taught me that one video, I look forward to being a part of your legacy and paying it forward. And I will get emails back from the top producers, historically, asset managers with 500 million of assets under management, saying they would love to carve out time to actually educate me further. And one such individual is a individual in our area who oversees 200 million assets has a very healthy risk production, about a million in risk production.

He was my managing director when I started. And get being Gant CEO of southern wealth. And I'll never forget, when I started, if Ben hadn't probably recruited me, or the person that I had my first sit down with, I don't think I may have started. He just taught me that wasn't going to be an insurance or investments, whether I was just going to be a professional and a CEO and to think like such. And he showed me his revenue. And when he showed me his revenue, I was like, wow. I thought only athletes could make this, not even doctors. It was earnings he was bringing in. And so what I did, Chris was study his practice. I saw the risk operations person, the investment ops person, and all these other different roles that needed to be accomplished. So from day one, I never really saw myself as a solo practitioner. I saw myself as a CEO.

And then, whereas a lot of times with our industry, we use the term work as a business owner, like my father really taught me to translate this, and really shouts out the my this, the wisdom my dad gave me before I started NML really granted me the fast start, and I'll circle back to that, but it had me looking at the business different. And so instead of saying joint work, I would say terms like contracting labor, because what I was doing was contracting these firms the same way a general contract would subcontract things out to get a project done. And so it was just hey, before I could afford, you know, based off my revenue to hire and reinvest, I could contract our services to different firms to get it done. And so I was saying, thinking that way, I never came to the marketplace with the mindset of, I'm brand new, I'm alone. It was, hey, I'm the individual, this middle man per se, that can grant you exclusive access to firms you would have never had access to in the first place, as I'm speaking to individuals out there.

And so by using that language, I really was able to curate curiosity and the people I was talking to that made them want to sit down. And so just having this concept, idea of being the CEO, I was able to contract out these services. So boom, I was able to go do the P40 between contractor services and me getting like, low hanging fruit, I would say what really allowed me to grow fast was working initially with a primary, diverse marketplace. This is going to be right, some pushback, and then push back, not because of the marketplace. It was the people I was working with cannot translate the lingo.

And with that, I had a lot of what could have been great cases not go through. And so I said to myself, okay, I got to complain about this. I can figure it out. And I just chose to figure it out and take a solution focus. So that said I really left my higher market tip, like clientele loan for a bit. And just because it was really falling off, and I started working this 30,000 40,000 household space. And I said to myself, if I can get these households of 30, 40, 50 to take action, I can get someone making 3 million to take action, because they just have no capacity to do more. And so with that mindset, learning how to connect emotionally behaviorally, you know, really draw objectives and goals and resources. We was able to get people to take lives, take action. So he hit the place that affordability second 60 action did hit. Now I submitted 127 but the health and things of that diabetes in certain communities, and things like that, let's just say about...

Chris Gandy 20:41

We can say underwriting.

Padric Scott 20:46

Underwriting issues, about 30 of those lives got declined, so finishing that low 90 space. But that said, though that became the launching pad, and I would say it was learning to communicate, learning to translate has been a thing that has allowed us to now go to any marketplace, I can talk well through the lens of golf. I can talk well through the lens of basketball, getting someone to understand. And here's a key concept shift I think our profession needs a lot of times we say insurance is defensive planning. Actually in sports, that would not be true, because in sports, once the starter goes down, the backup then comes the inter place.

So truly, insurance is back up offense planning, and, for example, being able to translate this, getting our clients to see they're the quarterback, the star of the show. Like I never use the word I'm the quarterback of the plan. Because I know in football, the quarterback is a superstar. So the moment I say I'm the quarterback of the plan, I'm kind of say, hey, you're on the bench. I'm the star. So early on, I would get them to see the other quarterback, very important, that everything revolves around and then from there, ask them a question, well, what happens? Hey, if the quarterback gets knocked out the game. How are we going to win? They go and so I was share with them.

Suzanne Carawan 22:06

They're taking accountability right there, because now they're in a game. Yeah, right.

Padric Scott 22:11

They're in a game now. So now it becomes, hey, you get knocked out for a quarter two versus a private disability insurance, couples with your group plan, you get knocked out for the game with dog on it, we need something to come in and finish the game of life, and they go, ah, that's why that amount. And so by just being able to translate was allow people to take ownership and accountability of what the action that needed to happen, and getting people to take action early in their career, it was just able to then build off of that. So now being very credential can solve some very unique issues in the state and business planning space. So now, we're able to write case sizes of 250 200,000 that is pushing us up, you know, that chart on the risk side, and subsequently move assets over along the way.

Chris Gandy 22:58

So you've got a, I'm going to call it a game plan, right? It just because, a lot of people have a playbook, right? I was joking with the group I was talking to today about if I could hand you the playbook, you still couldn't execute the play. That's it. No, that execution of it, which is the reason why you go practice, right? Practice Makes Perfect. So you've been practicing a long time prior to coming into this business that just allows for you to execute a little better than others. When you mentioned mentors, you're at nm, have you spent any time with Keith Wagner?

Padric Scott 23:34

Of course, we just together. We walk it at the forum there.

Chris Gandy 23:38

So Wags is a good guy, I would continue to tell you to spend time with him. He's a monster in our industry.

Padric Scott 23:49

Absolutely,

Chris Gandy 23:50

He's done great work. It's interesting, I'll tell you when we get done. Kind of one of my mentors came from NML, too, and it's funny because him and I have nothing in common, zero, right? And we don't have anything in common. But I learned from him, and I mimicked his behavior, and started to realize, like, if I do what he's doing, I'm better looking, I can get more than what he's got, right, but I just have to mimic this behavior. So, kudos for you for identifying the opportunity of mimicking until you're able to gain that success.

Let's talk a little bit about some of the stuff you're doing in the community, because it sounds like you're doing some community work, whether it's through financial literacy or you're serving on different financial institution, financial opportunities with Collect, kind of collaborating with other professionals, like estate planning, attorneys, accountants, those type of things look like you're doing some things to then help put you in the position to be the specialist that get called in. So share with us a little bit about what you're doing and then why that's a strategy, because it looks like kind of, some of the things you're doing, you're sitting in roles where you're kind of, you're the go to expert.

Padric Scott 25:12

Man, great question, Chris, thank you, and one speaking of NML leaders, that jumps right into this question. I got a shout out. My main mentor in his career has been a guy by the name of Tom Lipscomb. Tom was someone that, as I friend him on Facebook, saw the language of my posts. And he's a real like, homes in on his language, and he saw it. He reached out to me. We connected. How do you have to do cases together? He just really took me in. Almost like a father son, a mentorship in this business. And I would say to answer your question, what shifted my mindset even when I could accomplish faster, I had to go back to 2020, when I took my CFP exam.

Tom invited me up to KC, just to take my mind off of the grind so I could relax before the exam. And so while I was there, he had a meeting with a senior partner at one of the big four firms, and got permission so that I may sit in and so I could learn. And so I was in a meeting with someone that I probably would have been meeting with for some quiet time, so that exposure really opened my mind to what was possible. And in his meeting, as he was breaking down, the insurance tool and how it could be leveraged in his world. I had studied Tom's language so much that I knew all the language and the nuances.

However, what smacked me and changed my trajectory immediately for I think, that super upward skyrocket, was when he shared with this guy who he spent time with. Because prior to that, coming from a medical background. I was just thinking, doctors and dentists in that world where I was going to nest and grow. And then he said to this guy, hey, let's say fake name, Steve. Hey, Steve, the people we use, we sit down with, spend time with the individuals who look to leverage this tool, right as a fixed income alternative, these are individuals who, who are bond fund managers at Pimco, Blackrock Russell. And I was just sitting there, like, wait, what? Let's start taking these notes. Like, okay, and I'll pause. That's all I need to really hear. Because I'm like, okay, wait, you mean to tell me we can work with these people. Got it, and I started thinking about where he fit.

He was brought on as the estate and business planning specialist. And I saw how he was really positioning himself to get into this space to where the dollars really moved through, like a state business and like charitable planning. And I was seeing it just from my studies alone as well. And so I said, that's where I really want to be, that individual from a qualitative side, who can add a ton of value and communicate and add a state and intersection between the state charitable business plan, which nationally brings into personal and now be that like coordinator in an entire picture. And so from there, it had me thinking bigger, portfolio managers, hedge fund managers, private equity right? People can make 400 of a base, but may have 1.6 to 2 million of a bonus.

I don't want to spend my time there, so I need to connect with the people who spend their time there. And so from there, it really was just building out key relationships. And I think the spirit that I brought to the table had a lot of great individuals put me up to those rooms. So the first major connection, I think, and God bless him, is a guy by name with Timothy Bilber. Tim Belber is the professor at the American College of the estate planning department. He was a part of my master's program, and back in 2021 he introduced me to an organization that I'm a part of, to this day, the purposeful planning Institute, which is a group of individuals who just believe in qualitative planning and capitals beyond just that of financial and since being in this space, Tim introduced me to the founder, Johnny Warnick, an attorney.

Their mentor was Jay Hughes, who wrote Complete Family Wealth. So I got really brought into this, like, nice family, almost. And from there, John A got me out into the organization, to me with all these top attorneys, top tax people nationally. And he so believed in me that he allowed me to speak on stage year one in the organization. And then I got a keynote closing speaking engagement the following year. And from though that exposure, man, it's led to being on the boards within that organization. First was diversity and inclusion. From there, I got to meet a lot of philanthropists that I sit on the advisory board now for daylight advisors with D and E, who was over the cap designation at the American College.

So, just being there and connecting and serving with great spirit, with people like D and E and Tony Macklin, these top philanthropists, and now connecting with estate planners, it just led to a lot of great things. And then, for example, Connections. I want to shout out, you know, three parts of mine, James Carlos McFaul, Trey McDonald, they're attorneys at a major law firm. They represent a lot of top family offices for NBA athletes, one of the most prominent in the game right now, I say the most prominent in the game right now. He myself and a buddy from college who's a 13 year NFL event, Michael Thomas, we're working on some great things to bring financial literacy to the nation, and very large scale, being approached with podcasts and different things like that. And so they're estate planning attorneys, business planning attorneys.

We built out a great network between our Stanford connections shared. They work with a lot of top sports agents like clutch sports with Nicole, Lynn Smith and David, you know, I forget his sports agency. He's like, the number one agent in the world right now. So I would say that's all popping off. I would say a lot of that this year, but it came from the previous five years of being in the right space, serving at a higher level. And now a lot of taps on the shoulder is starting to come from the exposure that was had. But I would say it really started with Tom Lipscomb, seeing how he positioned himself in that state and business planning world. Me wanting to do the exact same. Him opening my mind to who we could be serving at a higher level. And that then led to the people who was serving them, their attorneys, their tax professionals, etc. And it's like I said, building out that community absolutely.

Chris Gandy 31:24

It's interesting. You mentioned the fact that Lipscomb. So another guy you want to connect with over at NML is Curtis Estes. I don't know if you heard of Curtis. Curtis is fantastic, but he was one of the guys that I heard speak from stage year three, and after I heard him speak, I say, okay, wait time out. Time out. Time out. Why is he sitting on the floor at the Lakers game, and why is he having meetings with like, the likes of like, Kobe Bryant and like, how is this work? Why is he mentioning, like, these are the people that he's like, going to have dinner with, and they're like, how is he meeting these people? And lo and behold, the master of meaningful connections, the guy is fantastic, right? And leveraging those so somebody you definitely want to connect with. So with that being said, so share with us what's the future look like for you. Where are you trying to take the practice? And why should people get involved with their associations early?

Padric Scott 32:38

So futures is easy. It's billion dollar advising firm, multi billion. For me, it's always been about that which Ben showed me when I started what we could create. And that is more of a medium is not the end goal that medium is to support my HBCU, Florida, a university, to kind of reverse engineer the drive that I have. I used to complain a lot of time and think about the facilities we've had, the resources we had, and so now that I've come to I used to think I was going to bless family through sports. And again, God has had a different path for me, and I'm so thankful for that differentiating path now I'm having even bigger impact. And through that now I said to myself, as I came to this space, okay, instead of me worrying about the resources there or complaining about it, why not just become the man that can get the job done?

And now for black men and women and other diverse populations who want to go to Florida and university, anyone who wants to walk that campus, and why not be the man that can bless them the same way, like the Arriaga family has blessed Stanford, and that has been a driving factor for me. So truthfully, the multi-billion dollar assets under management, the sales value that practice, the passive income that I will create, that is simply the medium to accomplish a goal of a passion for me that is a blessed Florida anime University in the south side of Tallahassee, where my grandmother grew up, and my grandfather my dad side as well. And so that is what drives me, that is what keeps me going. So that is where we are right now, and I see that, we basically tracking towards a billion by the time I'm 42 based off some of the businesses we work with when they sell, and we being there to manage those assets. That said, with some of the connections we just connected with, this attorney group represents several billionaires alone, like I'm talking about getting sit downs with NFL owners family offices now. And so the trajectory again, God is good.

So I would say to that the reason getting involved earlier with your associations is, man, your network is everything. It's not about what you know, it's who you know. And I think if you come to the table with a heart of service, everything else takes care of itself. Because I think where a lot of individuals go wrong, especially early in their career, they're always thinking about, what can someone almost do for me? That said law, this world is what we put out, comes back to us. And so as a result, I never was asking myself, what could people do for me? I always ask you, okay, what could I do for someone else? Right? How can I amplify their brand? How can I amplify what they got going on? So through the American College, amplifying their mission, their desire to make impact got me noticed very soon by the likes of Michael Finga, Ross Risk and shots, those two guys who can critic, critical to my growth.

I always ask myself, How can I amplify the brands of other advisors, even because, man, if someone's noticing them and bringing business to them, they'll likely want to pull me up because I'm amplifying their brand also. It's enough to go around where I can't, not amplify another advisor. And so then you do that, amplifying small businesses in this area getting a part of very business groups, speeds and various chambers of commerce, things like that, doing speed engagements to fraternities and sororities in the local area, nationally, right? Exposure is everything. But for me, it was, hey, give, give, give, give, give, give, give. And then now what started happening is like, hey, a lot is it starting to come back from that heart of service. So especially, strongly encourage anyone listening become a better giver. If you become a better giver and very active in your organizations and associations, you'll see people take notice of you, tap you on that show, and probably bring it to the space sooner than later, you would never imagine.

Chris Gandy 36:30

That's a good philosophy in life, yeah, give the give more than you get, right? It's a good reminder. It's a good reminder of that. Suzanne, do you have any questions before we go to the...

Suzanne Carawan 36:47

Yeah, I have one that's been just the entire time. How have you kind of sidestepped not having being put in a recruiter role? Because I can totally see something like, you know what? Like you talked about your house and who's coming in and how you vetted people to have the kind of the same mindset. How are people not like, hey, Padric, we need 50 more people just like you. You go find them, right? You do that too. Because I feel like that happens all the time. People get kind of sidetracked, right from doing what they're trying to do to say, oh, yeah, happened to you? Have you done that?

Padric Scott 37:20

So, taking on, like a management contract that definitely happened. So here's what I'll say. When I first took on a management contract, I didn't know any better, right? Because you only know any better to get started. So the first management contract I got brought into, like the college internship program, and that definitely stymied my gross selling. I probably been here, like, three years soon. But hey, everything happens for a reason. I would say, through that I got exposed to what was possible and being in a role like that, because I definitely got through the internship, the individuals I've mentored have gone on to some great things, and they become phenomenal advocates for our firm.

And then also just a lot of the time they actually introduced their families to me because of the trust and relationship we built out. So that was first step. Then I took over as what's called a growth and development director, or GDD role, and that's more of like a second in command to be the managing director over like the regional area. So that's the contract I hold now. In that space, surely enough, I do have other advisors underneath my union. What I have learned to do, though Suzanne, because I did get out of leadership to focus on the private practice alone. Now I am back into that married role. The difference now is I'm very thankful one of the principals at nm is a guy named Jim Makowski. And Jim just took the liking to me and taught me how to be a phenomenal business owner and consultant. And through that with Jim, he allowed me to look at my business, I think, very different than most.

And what he taught me to do is look at it like a holding company, so not one that competes with each other, but me as being the CEO over all varying parts, and to look at how to create synergy. So now what we've done is like my team has become like that central hub that other advisors use their financial planning kind of services by, and also through that, I realized newer advisors can oftentimes be victim of feeling alone, and that's what really slows them down, is thinking about themselves. So I actually allow them kind of to market as junior advisors across rural capital.

And so now is what I've been doing, is I've scaled up. I can't see but so many people, so I kind of utilize the contract as a way to create, like g2 and g3 advisors. So as I'm scaling them up based off my advisors who are really taking off and they're doubling down on themselves, I am making introductions to them as like their primary advisor moving forward. So instead of me having to bring it on my direct payroll, I'm actually leveraging the contract to now generate my g2 g3 and g4 advisors. And so as I keep scaling up, they keep scaling up, because we bring people in, we're actually bringing people into a strong base of connectivity through the original clients I met with year one.

So now they're able to prospect with them, get out into the marketplace. We just have first right of refusal on any kind of crazy joint work. But I want the need off to that fast start. So I really marry those contracts. So that has been how I've been able to, like, stay very growth oriented without being brought into just this main recruitment style role. Because what I know about attraction is success attracts and so in my city, it's a small city, 180,000 population. Bam you Florida State, right? I grew up here, went to the NFL from here, so I'm very well connected here. So now, as I've actually just become more successful and done more in the community and gave back to the community, it's making a lot of people ask, Pad, what are you doing? We want to do it too.

So I'm kind of actually drawing people in without me having to be out in the community as a primary role. So I'm just doubling down on my own private success and impact, which is leading now to people reaching out, and that's being able to attract eight to 10 advisors on an annual basis.

Suzanne Carawan 41:17

Yeah, it makes sense. You just built your own Pop Warner collegiate level and NFL programs stuffed it right on up, yeah.

Padric Scott 41:25

And each year, the standards go up.

Suzanne Carawan 41:28

I got it. I got it, yeah, yeah, the recruiting profile gets better, I got it. That's great.

Chris Gandy 41:35

Awesome, awesome. So Padric, congratulations on the opportunity to inspire others through the work you're doing. You're 40 under 40, up and coming. Superstar. Welcome to success, right? Yeah. With that being said, we're going to go to the speed round. Speed Round is basically people get a chance to know you get a chance to know a little bit about your background and again, first thing comes to mind, don't overthink it, pretty much, it's open dialog. So it's not, it's not, we're not going to ask you questions about what you did in college that night when you were supposed to be in the room, questions like that.

Padric Scott 42:17

No, formulas, yeah.

Chris Gandy 42:19

Basic questions that you already know the answer to. So you ready? So what position did you play in college,

Padric Scott 42:25

Nose tackle.

Chris Gandy 42:27

Okay, what position did you play in the pros? Because they move you around?

Padric Scott 42:31

Nose tackle and three tech.

Chris Gandy 42:33

Okay. So how long did you stay in the NFL?

Padric Scott 42:37

Oh, let's call that one, eight months.

Chris Gandy 42:41

What prompted you to leave professional sports?

Padric Scott 42:47

Misalignment. Misalignment.

Chris Gandy 42:50

Your biggest mentor in the business.

Padric Scott 42:53

Tom Listening.

Chris Gandy 42:55

Your most impactful mentor. Okay, if you could give advice to someone that's starting in the industry today, what advice would you give them?

Padric Scott 43:05

Think, bigger faster.

Chris Gandy 43:06

If you could go back, well, no, I'll ask that question last, what's your favorite food?

Padric Scott 43:16

Steak, medium rare.

Suzanne Carawan 43:22

Little a one, you got a special sauce. He put on that.

Padric Scott 43:25

If it's done right, it's good by itself. He's been real sauce guy, but it's done right, the better steak house up going to hey, I'm good. But hey, dash, little a one, a little high. Husband, seven. hey, good to go.

Chris Gandy 43:37

The proudest moment in the business so far.

Padric Scott 43:41

Ooh, the tears shit with my team when we hit was known as forum at Northwestern which was production above the 750 mark this past awards year.

Chris Gandy 43:53

Forum's a good level. Forums are great levels. There's a whole another level of conversation that happens when you go to forum, these conversations. I wish I was having these before I got here. I'm aware of those conversations. I'm like, what? Oh, wait, it's like the secret sauce. Like the secret sauce is out in this club I want to be a part of that. It's a great club to be a part of. Yeah, and then you'll always want to go back. So last question is, you can go back in history and have dinner with anyone in history, whether they're alive today, or they passed away, or they're a past leader of the world, or whatever it may be, who would you go back and have dinner with him more.

Padric Scott 44:40

So the easier answer would be, I would say, in my faith for me, Jesus Christ, that's I'm gonna go with a personal one. Through my close family is my namesake, so my middle name is Herndon Bivins. So it's Padric Herndon Bivins Scott, and Herndon Bivins is my mother's first cousin who gave his life in Vietnam. The only reason we know all of what happened is because my uncle, his father, was a very high ranking officer, and so he was someone who actually was able to get the bulk of his team out, but one person was left behind, and so he decided to give his life to go back for that one got him out. He was captured, and that was it for my uncle.

So since he never had children, my mom gave me his middle my middle name, his name. And ironically enough, everyone, everyone who knew him from that time span, say we're just like Bill, I see you pictures of him. We built similar man. We've had similar cut with the fake kind of the military fade, he was apparently the strongest one, the most playful one. And so I keep hearing from everyone, people I haven't even met, who knew him and could remember him, that we were just alike. So if I could go back and talk with my uncle Herndon, and have dinner, I think that'll be very special.

Chris Gandy 44:40

Awesome. So Padric, we'll give you the floor you have NAIFA nation listening. Is there any comments that you would like to share about the industry the future, or just a mindset that you'd like to share with NAIFA nation?

Padric Scott 46:18

I would go Chris Suzanne to the mindset part, I know, I kind of said, Think bigger, faster, earlier, as I've spoken to a lot of network offices across Northwestern Mutual and even other firms outside of that framework. I think a common thing that I'm seeing between those who go off to astronomical success and those who keep hitting their head is thinking that things had to be done just a singular way to us as an opportunity of endless possibilities, and it just on us to think that way and execute that way, that once you make up in your mind who you want to be. The beautiful part about this industry is we can accomplish it. Now to that right, I'm going to share this wisdom that got me onto the fast start, and it was from a private equity manager out in Chicago actually managed 3 billion of assets. He went to Howard University. He played golf with one of my dad's friends.

My dad got me to room to talk with him, and what he basically to some of that conversation. He asked me, did I pledge a fraternity? I said, yes, sir. He asked me, you know, because he was a member of one, also, he asked me, before I joined that fraternity, did I do everything to know as much as I could about it? I said, yes, sir. And then when I became a member, did I not, when I when someone wanted to come in, did I not make sure that they did everything that they could know, to know about the fraternity before I would even let them in? I said, yes, sir. Knew what he was saying. He was basically saying I managed $3 billion here you are asking me these questions about finance, whereas, hey, listen, if you really want to be successful in this, you give your all, his words to me at that time were before I came in, I don't care if you got $8 to your name, which I had about 11 for playing arena League, 300 bucks a week. And he says someone like that would go into debt to get a subscription to Wall Street and bearings, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

He said, because what you have in our industry Pad coming Pat at a time. He said, what do you have in our industry Pad, are a lot of frauds, people who see it just for the income opportunity, but not the service and impact. He says, see this career has allowed me to bless Howard University. I can stroke a quarter million dollar check and bring a Bloomberg, you know, facility to Howard so I can make the changes that I want to see. But as a result, that keeps me accountable in how I go to business every day, it makes me bring forth my best self. And so, in the words of the great Wendell Mackey, which is his name, and that's who blessed me, I would just want to encourage everyone, hey, are you being the professional or the fraud?

Are you simply showing up to get by, whereas a professional like a Kobe Bryant that Curtis Estes was having dinner with, he was up four o'clock every morning, perfecting his craft, doing the same thing day after day after day, can you fall in love with the basics? Can you fall in love with the fundamentals and you and from that, bring forth your best self to serve those around you. And if you can do that, I believe from there, the possibilities are endless.

Chris Gandy 49:21

Great message. Suzanne, you have any comments? Do you have any announcements you would like to make to NAIFA nation before we close out?

Suzanne Carawan 49:31

Well, if you want to meet this phenomenal gentleman in person, you need to get on into registering for apex and see us all in Arizona in just a few short weeks, apex.naifa.org, but yes, I'm also going to say, Wow, did we choose wisely? So yeah, welcome to the 4 under 40 club.

Padric Scott 49:48

Suzanne, thank you so much, Chris, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to connect with you both, and looking forward to seeing you out of Phoenix.

Chris Gandy 49:55

Right. Padric, look forward to presenting you the 40 under 40, and being a part of that, Suzanne, look forward to seeing you in Phoenix and all of you in NAIFA nation. You know you may not have played in NFL, you may not have an opportunity to play in NFL, but you do have an opportunity to learn something from this young man. He did drop a lot of good nuggets. So go back, re listen to this so you got your pin out, and some of the things that you heard today is that of a winning mindset. So for all of those listening out there, NAIFA nation, make this become the best version of yourself. Thank you for tuning in today to Advisor Today, podcast where we promote the voice and uplift your association and the organization and the world and individuals we serve collectively. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.

Outro 50:49

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40 min read