Marketing Meets Finance: Innovating Industry Boundaries With Shantell Wright and John Lewis

Shantell Wright is a seasoned professional with 14 years of experience in the financial services industry. He is also the visionary behind a financial services company that offers solutions to build and grow wealth. Having overcome personal challenges, Shantell uses his experience to empower clients from all socio-economic backgrounds. With a commitment to adding value, making connections, and creating an impact, he partners with marketing expert John Lewis to reimagine financial services through technology. Shantell is also a NAIFA member and a graduate of the Life in Leadership Institute.

John Lewis is a marketing expert, host of a community-focused podcast, and a dedicated social strategist providing financial information to underserved communities. His disadvantaged upbringing empowers him to educate and enrich his community with life-enhancing financial strategies. Alongside his professional pursuit, Lewis embodies a passion for creating meaningful connections and a genuine commitment to social service.

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

[4:50] Shantell Wright's history in the financial industry and his involvement with NAIFA
[7:47] Innovative solutions Shantell offers for financial planning
[10:59] How John Lewis’ marketing strategies expand client outreach
[13:43] The impact of personal experience and trust-building on establishing a financial services business partnership
[18:14] Identifying client goals: a unique approach to financial advising
[23:51] The importance of adapting to change and utilizing technology to advance financial services
[28:25] Why advisors should relinquish their egos and embrace collaboration for business expansion
[32:29] Shantell's perspective on humbling experiences and the courage to embrace new business methods post-COVID
[33:39] How human psychology plays a role in financial literacy across cultures
[36:13] How to make complex financial concepts accessible and relatable
[42:52] What’s the role of CRM in finance?
[43:40] Advice for young professionals entering the financial sector

In this episode…

Those in low-income, urban communities often lack the financial knowledge and resources to plan for retirement and other life goals. How can financial advisors expand their practices to reach customers in these communities?

Financial services veteran Shantell Wright and marketing expert John Lewis educate and empower individuals across diverse communities, providing them with the tools and knowledge to secure their financial futures. As business partners, John and Shantell maintain that professional relationships provide additional resources and expertise to expand into untapped markets and communities. They leverage technology in their joint practice to expand service offerings and increase engagement with their communities.

In this episode of Advisor Today, Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan sit down with Shantell Wright and John Lewis to talk about revitalizing financial services through innovation and technological integration. They share their journeys, insights, and strategies to creating inclusive, comprehensive, and proactive approaches to financial education, emphasizing the transformative power of CRM automation and the profound impact of building genuine relationships to foster trust, loyalty, and community resilience.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

"Ego aside, you don't know it all."
"I want to make sure that the knowledge I have gets to those people so their finances don't perish."
"If there are certain things I can't do on my own, why not pick somebody good at what they do?"
"Good is the enemy of great, and consistency is the key to success."
"We want to add value, make connections, and make an impact."

Action Steps:

Build partnerships where expertise complements each other for mutual growth: This promotes synergy and allows for more comprehensive services, addressing the greater needs of a diverse client base.
Embrace technology and leverage modern marketing strategies: Staying relevant and competitive in today's market requires adapting to new methods to reach and educate clients.
Keep learning and stay informed about financial trends and tools: Continuous education is critical for offering up-to-date solutions and maintaining a trustworthy advisory role.
Offer educational sessions to empower clients with financial knowledge: Educated clients can make informed decisions, resulting in better financial outcomes and stronger advisor-client relationships.
Stay connected with clients using personalized communication tools: Regular, meaningful interaction helps retain clients and encourages them to become advocates for your business.

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, or NAIFA, the #1 association for producers in financial services.

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 0:16

Hi everyone. This is Chris Gandy, one of your co-hosts of Advisors Today's podcast where we deliver some of the most innovative and creative minds out there in the marketplace, amongst you, our constituents. And I'm here with the wonderful to Suzanne Carawan, the week of the Fourth of July, how are you Suzanne?

Suzanne Carawan 0:38

I'm doing great. Chris. Good to be here.

Chris Gandy 0:41

It's great seeing you. You may wonder, hey, how did I get this fancy I love NAIFA thing. You can have it too. So just reach out to Suzanne and she can send you that wonderful background. So with that being said, Suzanne, before we get to today's podcast, can we talk a little bit about who our sponsor is for today's program?

Suzanne Carawan 1:06

Yeah, we certainly can. So today, hopefully everybody's gotten the news so far. But if you haven't, Life Happens. The wonderful Life Happens. Award-winning content, consumer kind of division, they folded into NAIFA as of January 1 of 2024 so we're six months into that. We're happy to have them kind of back home. And then also hopefully you know that they create amazing content for Life Insurance Awareness Month, which is in September.

And so as part of being a NAIFA member, we have a whole new bundle that you get as a NAIFA member from Life Happens, curated content. And the exciting thing about July is that's when the LIAM, if you're in the know, you know that Life Insurance Awareness Month is short for LIAM, and the LIAM content drops this month. So this month is going to drop, NAIFA members get a special full piece of it, and then if you're not a member, or if you want to upgrade and get even better content. You can subscribe to Life Happens Pro. And so that's our sponsor this week.

We really want to plug Life Happens. And then last thing, if you're a NAIFA member and you have a story, I think Chris, you're going to do a real-life story, aren't you? And if you've got a real-life story between a client, your yourself and a client and you want to get captured for all time, and tell that story about how life insurance, or one of another risk insurance protection product has protected your client, and get that out to the rest to help other consumers understand the importance of it, you can look no further than your NAIFA membership, because we can get you on tape.

The whole thing. We cut it up, we'll make it into a whole video, and you too can help kind of move the consumers forward. So with that, Chris, maybe that's a good way to turn it right back to you to just give another plug for the real-life stories.

Chris Gandy 2:51

NAIFA proud Suzanne. See that's kind of cool. Yeah, you're right. An opportunity, as I mentioned, to my clients who memorialize their loved one, and to tell the story, it's a great opportunity. We're actually going to talk about multi-generational wealth and protecting assets through long-term care. So if you have a story, reach out to Suzanne, let her know, hey, listen, I got a real story that without us or without our help, then they might not have made the difficult decisions to purchase either insurance or protect their assets. So with that in mind, Suzanne, enough about us. Let's talk to our guests. So would you kindly introduce our two? Yes, we have two today.

Suzanne Carawan 3:39

Yeah, we're mixing it up. We thought it'd be fun to bring on the whole team. So this is Shantell Wright. Shantell, say hello to everybody. And also need a blog, yep. And so we're going to talk delve into what these two, how they're working together, what they're doing to move the needle on consumer awareness, etc, and some of the new things that Shantell is doing. So let's start with that.

Chris Gandy 4:01

Awesome. So welcome, Shantell. How are you?

Shantell Wright 4:04

I'm doing pretty good. Thank you, Chris.

Chris Gandy 4:06

Good, good. Where are you based out of if you don't mind us asking?

Shantell Wright 4:09

Metro National Letter.

Chris Gandy 4:12

Okay, and so tell us a little bit about your business. Kind of your work? Are you in the business space? Are in the personal space. Tell us a little bit about your business, and tell us kind of how you became or you came back into the NAIFA. Because I believe that I heard, there's a little whispering that you were a member, then you weren't a member, that you were a member. And I think probably most people kind of go through that. So it's also a little bit about your business, where you're at, what you're doing, and then how you became a strong NAIFA advocate.

Shantell Wright 4:49

Chris, if you don't mind, I'd like to back up a little bit to exactly what I came into NAIFA. Back up a little bit, but I’m going to fast-forward a little bit. Let me say it like this. NAIFA has been a big part of my recovery. For me to be back at this point where I am today. Here's why I say that. I've been in the financial services industry for about 14 years. For the last four years, I had taken very ill from Covid. I caught Covid before they had a vaccine. What I was not aware of is that the long-term effects that it would have on me over the next four years.

When all this was started happening, I was already a member of NAIFA, but heavily involved in the state local and recovering from Covid after the doctors told me that they didn't think initially that was going to make it out, was pretty devastating. It was also around the same time where I've been nominated to be in the LILY program, The Life and Leadership Institute through NAIFA, because coming out of that with the brain fog, not feeling quite as sharp, it was my NAIFA and LILY family that helped me get through those times. It was those monthly meetings, meeting with those core group of people who were basically living life with me in those moments as I'm going through recovery.

Couple sessions, I couldn't make it because I still had Covid, and they made it righteous that I could still be there virtually for them to make those kind of accommodations for me. That means a lot. NAIFA and LILY means a lot to me, and when I could continue on in my practice and financially, it devastated me and I could continue on what my obligations to NAIFA, I had to come back, because they are a big part of making it through that whole situation, and I'm still battling some things. Thank God that I'm better and have one more homework line, and while I've been down over the last five years, well, four and a half years, I've been blessed to put some other things together with John and some great strategic partnerships that I put together. Well, I didn't put them together. I was blessed to be a part of.

Chris Gandy 7:45

So share with us a little bit about those partnerships.

Shantell Wright 7:47

In addition to my 14 years in financial services, I also have a 14-year history in mortgage by Keenan mortgage origination and somehow some folks connected me with these two particular gentlemen who said they could do something that I really didn't think that they could do. Our big thing is that we want to add value, make connections and make an impact. And in doing those things, we know the business is going to come. So in adding value in this particular program, we can set folks up to be in a very good financial situation, not just now, but potentially for generations to come. Excuse me for my nervousness. It's been quite a bit since I've been in this seat, it's been about four years or longer.

What if I told you that we could take someone who has a traditional mortgage or put them in a situation where they can pay off their mortgage in five to 10 years, save them anywhere from 10s of 1000s to $100,000 in interest, and also potentially set them up with a tax advantage retirement account where they can get tax advantage retirement income for the rest of their lives. These are some of the things that we can do. And it doesn't matter about socioeconomic status, if the numbers work, the numbers work. So we add value in what we can do, just in that particular product. And with the connections that I've made, I can connect those people that we can do all this, and set them up and make an impact on our lives. These are some of the our slogans we have intelligent, innovative financial solutions. And this is just one of the things that we can do.

Suzanne Carawan 10:17

So Shantell, how are you getting to these people? Like, how are you going to market with this, and how are you getting this out so you can do this? Because I know this is your mission-driven kind of, why? If you take some LILY terminology there, how are you going to get to these people and get that, spread that word?

Shantell Wright 10:34

Well, I'm going back to my current client base that I had before I take it ill, reaching back out to them, and then also through word of mouth of them, but also John, who's heading up my marketing, he would be the primary one that he'd be able to tell you about how we're reaching the public with this.

Chris Gandy 10:59

Okay, that would be what you call a baton. Yeah, absolutely, John. Let's hear from you. So tell us. Tell us, the baton has been passed to you, and you're in the last 100 yards. We got a chance to go to the Olympics. Tell us, what are you doing to impact people, to get in it, get it out to people, so that you guys can be effective and efficient.

John Lewis 11:20

Okay, well, first and foremost, I just kind of want to introduce myself. My name is John Nino Black Lewis. I run a podcast and do a bunch of other things in the community. So the name Nino Black is a nickname. My real name is John Lewis. I run, I'm the CFO of Growth Fuel Marketing, and to be quite honest, the main strategy to it is giving good to the world that requires it. What the knowledge that Shantell has is something that the world needs, like it's a lot of people in our community, on the outside of our community, that don't know these type of options exist. I'm from the urban community where we think life insurance is only for when you die, that's the only time you can enjoy.

Well, when he comes with a plan that can utilize it throughout the rest of your life, and you can enjoy the benefits of it. Why not put all the tools that I have with Growth Fuel Marketing behind it so we can get it out there? Some of the things that we're doing, other than creating him a dynamic website that's easy to operate for his target market, but also we're using social media. We in the day and age of social media, each social media platform has a fan base. So Facebook is more for the middle age what they like to call older people. I'm considered older people. Then you have you have TikTok, you have Instagram. So we're going to utilize those and we're going to reignite his book of business, because his book of business kind of have been stalemate while he recover from Covid.

So we got to reengage that book of business. Once we reengage that book of business, there's no telling what the possibilities of what Moneyed LLC can do. So that's our goal with Growth Fuel Marketing.

Chris Gandy 13:25

Let me ask, how did the two of you meet? I'm curious. I'm always curious. Suzanne, how people, how did the two of you fine gentlemen meet? Wasn't it walking down the street and said, that's a nice guy. That guy looks like he knows what I mean, how did you guys come together?

John Lewis 13:43

Well, actually, Shantell was stealing from a store. On his way out, he tripped and bumped into me, and I talked to him into taking it back, because God wouldn't want him to do that, and he asked me to go to church with him. And that's what happened. No, I was looking for a financial advisor, because I've always been very good at obtaining money, but I've always struggled with knowing what to do with it and how to make it work for myself. So somebody suggested Shantell, and I'm gonna be honest, all the Shantells I know are cute and they are female. So when I met him, I did not expect him to be a guy, but he was, yeah, and over time, I just understood that he has a calling on his life and a passion for helping people, because I don't even remember if he charged me the first four or five times that we met each other, but he just poured into me and he let me know.

You know, quite often in our community, we hear about representation. I never knew anybody that was in the financial space. So him being in it him inviting me to the office and showing me and he treated me like, I had on a suit and tie. Um, so after that, we just always been in contact, always in touch. And that's the one thing I really like about him as a person. He checks on you, he emails you on your birthday and say, Hey, this is from Shantell. At the time it was pin mutual, a Shantell for being mutual. Just wanting to say Happy Fourth of July. So that's how it was Constant Contact, and we just built from there. That's my version. His version might be different. I might end up in jail, or his version, I don't know.

Shantell Wright 15:40

This has been our friendship. John and I, over the course of time, is because I don't care if you're the CEO, if you're the janitor, you meet and talk with everybody with respect and dignity. John was hungry for knowledge, so much so at that point in time, I was doing workshops every Saturday morning called Well For Breakfast, I did a special session just for a group of people that he got together because they were hungry and thirsty for knowledge. The whole premise of why Moneyed was formed was based on Hosea five and six. Since my people are destroyed or perished for a lack of knowledge. I want to make sure that the knowledge that I have gets to those people so their finances, college funds, their retirement, I want to make sure that those things don't perish. Regardless if you make 50,000 or 50 million a year, you deserve the right to have those same rights and privileges and access to those things as anybody else, that's the approach that we take.

Chris Gandy 17:06

So question, tell us a little bit about kind of your, what is the hope and the goals and the dreams that you guys are intending to build?

Shantell Wright 17:26

The hopes and goals and dreams of what we tending to build is just those three basic things I stated before. We want to add value, make connections and make an impact. We want to change folks lives. The whole reason why I got into this industry is I want to make sure that they're edified and educated. Ignorance has gotten a bad name. There's nothing wrong with the word ignorant. It just means you don't know about a particular situation. But when you have the opportunity to, and you're in the general vicinity of a person who may be expert in that, you have a choice whether or not, if you want to stay ignorant or learn and grow. And for those who want to learn and grow, I want to make sure that I'll be able to pass that information on to.

Chris Gandy 18:14

Some people, the quick quote one of my mentors talks about is there's two types of people in this world. There's the informed, any uninformed. And many times we ask uninformed people to make informed decisions with information they don't have, and part of the work is educating and empowering people so you can uplift them. And good job on doing that work. So you're in communities. And so what are some of the common things that you find in the communities that you're reaching? Do you find that they're homeowners? Do you find that it's a marginalized community? Do you find that it's, I mean, share with us a little bit about the communities that you're reaching, and then what is your plan to empower them to grow their wealth and to build their wealth.

Shantell Wright 19:08

Well, the people that work is a melting pot of people. They're coming from all different genres and all different socio-economic backgrounds. So there's not one particular group of people, I want to make sure that I'm there for those who are novice, and for those who may know, who may be experts.

John Lewis 19:36

Yeah, I was going to say for me, prior to me even getting into marketing or learning more about financial literacy, investing, insurance, all of it, I've been doing community activism, and I did that for eight years. And at the beginning of 2020, I kind of pivot, because. Realized something in my process of being in the community, doing the work, and I learned that the people that we see on the news that do these crazy things, and the people that we drive by the impoverished neighborhoods and look at and be like, Why are you doing that? They're not doing it because they're crazy. Most of them doing it because they're broke, like most of the problems that you see within certain communities is not because they want to do it is because they don't know no other way, and that other way is because they lack the toolage, they lack the understanding that Shantell said they're ignorant to the things that many people in this room right now might consider as simple, simple as simple.

That's common knowledge. You don't know that. You know, you can get a room full of 50 people and ask them what a 401, K is. They can tell you that their job offer it, but they can't tell you how to utilize it. And what's the point of it, you know? So when you're moving into those communities, and you're going into certain sectors of communities, you'll realize that a lot of these people, they have the work ethic, they have the wherewithal to get up and go and get money, but they don't know what to do with it once they retained it. So somebody like Shantell is vital. Somebody like, you all like this company, this brand, is vital because y'all are employing and allowing agents to have continued education, to go and serve a population of people don't have it.

So, when you asked the question earlier, what is the hopes and goals of money? Is to empower individuals financially, is to power, I mean, is to provide expert guidance, is to enhance financial literacies in areas that's required. It's innovative financial solutions, as Shantell said, that's the goal, period.

Shantell Wright 21:49

And let me say, let me say this to both of you all. Let me apologize, because one part of the story that I did leave out that the last thing that I'm going through right now is that Covid caused my kidneys to shut down right now. I'm currently on dialysis three days a week. I had dialysis this morning, so I'm a little bit off-kilter. So I asked you to forgive me for that. And John, I thank you for stepping in, because you realize what was going on.

John Lewis 22:19

Absolutely I know I'm sorry. I was just saying, I know you like the back. Come on now.

Shantell Wright 22:26

Thank you. What I was saying earlier about regardless of socioeconomic status, we make 50,000 50 million. That's our process. We want to have a relationship with you first. Don't bring your checkup. I want to understand in you, what you want, what are your hopes, what are your goals, what are your dreams? We can we can work on the numbers, but let me find out more about you so we can build that relationship. So when we come down to talking about the numbers, I probably have a pretty good idea of where you're looking to go. My job as an advisor is to advise, not to tell.

My job is to let you know the good, the bad and the other thing, and give you my recommendations, the final decision is up to that individual that's sitting across from me. That's what I'm going to make sure I provide opportunities for anybody who wants that, who wants that relationship, when we can build the wealth, we can build your finances, but let me learn. Let's learn about each other that we do want to do business.

Chris Gandy 23:51

So Shantell and John, let me ask a question. This question is, I'm sure other people are like, Okay, so let's just go from 10,000 feet down to five, right? So John, your background is marketing and community activism, right? Shantell, your background experience and financial services, right? So you were looking for a finance I just want to make sure I understand you're looking for a financial advisor. He, financial advisor. He can't. He walks in the office all GED up, looking great, you know, pocket square, all crispy. He walks in and you say, okay, help me. You guys have a meeting. How did you guys decide to build a business together? Like I could just like we're ways away. We started here, but we like, you guys, obviously are doing something different than most advisors.

I mean, most advisors are their own marketing people. They're their own mouthpiece through referrals and they're going to the lunches, and they're going to PTA meetings and they're shaking hands, kissing babies. I mean, that's how they're doing it. So my question is one, what was the foresight for you two coming together saying, okay, let's build something magnificent together, and in doing that, well, I'm gonna ask that first, and then I'm gonna come back and ask you a follow-up question to that, because the follow-up question is, who had to put down what to then make it singular, because, I was in financial so, man, just give me examples. I'm in financial services. We have an external marketing group, right? Okay, got it. But they understand who we are, what we do, got it.

Okay, cool. But I don't, I don't. I have no desire to go in business with him, right? He has his own business. He markets bunch of different other companies and groups and things like that. We have our group, and we focus on financial services. So my first question is, how did you guys decide that, ooh, we can do this thing together.

Shantell Wright 26:03

Hey, John, let me take this. Let me take part of this. This relationship here has been six to eight years in the making. So, this is overnight. We've known each other for quite a while, and when John and I met, he was an activist in the community. Over the course of years, we basically, with my illness, we've lost touch and all those over that time, he's built something. He's built this marketing company, and he calls me the old man, because about what about Floyd was ordering you. And I understand the times and changes, and I have the business knowledge, and so does John, but I have more experience. John has the knowledge to understand and how to use technology to our advantage so we can reach in addition to do those things, go into the PTA meetings, I still do those things, but this is in addition too to capitalize on this technology, this technological error that we're in.

Chris Gandy 27:23

So, that was the question. That was the first part, John, you want to add something? Go ahead. Sorry.

John Lewis 27:29

Yeah, I want to add something. Then I say, okay, when you think about, you know, we in Tennessee, so you think about the Tennessee Titans, right? The Tennessee Titans have an offense and a defense, right? Why do they have offensive defense? Can't the offense just learn defense, or vice versa? They can just learn it. Why do you have an offensive coordinator in the defensive coordinator? Why one person just can't teach at all? Because one person is a master, is something when the other person is not. I'm in the community, so I'm a master of people. I know how people think. I know what people are afraid of. I know what people will do, what they won't do. You send somebody in my community video and say, hey, watch this. They gonna instantly think multi-level marketing.

They gonna say no, but if you say, Look what I did. I saved $5,000 by switching to NAIFA, they're gonna be like, where sign me up so I know people because I'm in the community and do and I do community. She said, I'm in the community. Shantell is in the book. Shantell is in the knowledge. There's a book by a guy by the name of Sam Greenlee. It's called The Spook Who Sat By The Door. He is the person, the martyr, to go and get the information to bring back to the community of people, and that community people, as he stated, are just ignorant. They're not stupid, they're not dumb, they just don't know it exists most of the time, the financial knowledge or the tools that we need to be successful, we're just not in proximity of it. I'm in the community. I can bring the proximity to us. So I land my plane. Thank you.

Suzanne Carawan 29:04

I love that idea. Financial proximity. Yeah, are you in proximity to that? You guys are narrowing the gap the distance.

Chris Gandy 29:13

Okay, so we're walking this journey. You guys decide, okay, let's do this thing together. Is the company that you guys have created, is it a financial company, or is it a financial marketing company?

Shantell Wright 29:28

It's a financial services company?

John Lewis 29:34

Yeah, and I'm an employee. I'm an employee for Shantell. So, yeah, I'm an employee. He gonna have to start paying me a little bit more. We keep I'm an employee.

Suzanne Carawan 29:49

You get your unfortunate.

John Lewis 29:53

And when he called me, start asking me about marketing. He is an employee. I tell me. Uh, sit down and be quiet. Take your hand off the button. He's an employee when it comes to marketing. All right.

Chris Gandy 30:07

No, that's an important point though. It's an important point to know what you're good at, what you're not good at, and being comfortable with putting your ego aside to say, I'm willing to have somebody else be good at that, right? I think, as financial service professionals, I've been in the business now 25 years, and I can tell you that over the period of time, we believe we, I say we as collectively as financial advisors, because we are recruited, and we're typically, we're a personalities, which is the A dominant personality is, teach me, show me you didn't get out the way. And I'll show you I can do it. And so part of that is you got to let go to grow.

And so I know Shantell didn't willingly get off the and say yes, I'm willing to go online, I'm willing to do video, I'm willing to be on podcast. He didn't willingly do that. And that's a lot of our NAIFA audience. A lot of our NAIFA audience. Let's call them old school. Let's just for the purpose of this exercise, we're going to call them old school. And the technology has not yet caught up to their practice. So what advice could the two of you, since you're in the business doing the deal, could you give to the NAIFA audience of why they should be considering marketing, digital media, being in the communities? Why if it's working the other way. Why would I do that?

Shantell Wright 31:41

I answer that that first part when you said that, yeah, I'm 51 years old. I have no problem saying my age. I'm thankful that I'm here 51 years of age. And actually, I approached John about doing this because over the last four years humbled me, having two almost near deaths. I know what I'm good at, but more so also know what I'm not good at, and I know that he is so I did willingly. John, here's my idea. I gave him the vision. This is what I'm looking to do. He took my vision and he ran with it, and I'm thankful for that.

Suzanne Carawan 32:29

Yeah, this so Shantell, you got a lot of courage to do that, right? So, I mean, I get it. You got kind of reduced for life, if you will, like, twice, right?

Shantell Wright 32:38

And realize there's certain things I can't do on my own. Yep. Why not pick somebody who's real good at what they do, and I'll stay in my life, and they stay in theirs, and we work together and achieve faster.

Suzanne Carawan 32:53

Well, you could have come out of that Covid stuff a lot of different ways, but you came out with gratitude and that heart to ready to give back. That's powerful. Yeah, and now a FinTech company, right? FinTech company getting people that always don't have access to this, which I love that, right? You're increasing that awareness and exposure. Like you said, I love that idea of cutting down the distance, making it financially proximate to where you are.

Chris Gandy 33:23

So when you're reaching out, so let's fast forward the tape. So now you're reaching out to communities that that you might have been actively involved in. So John, this is questions for John. John, what are we doing to impact those communities that you weren't actively involved with?

John Lewis 33:39

Well, you, first and foremost, you got to come to the conclusion that we're all humans. If you was to ask me to help you understand a kangaroo, I couldn't do that, because I'm not a kangaroo. I would have to do some detailed research to understand that, but people, it's our psychology. We understand how people think, because we are people, and we think as such. Now we have certain limiting beliefs that keeps us from thinking like the person standing next to us, but unequivocally, we all think the same. So rather, you say, well, why don't black people know about financial literacy? Well, if you figure out why African American people don't do financial literacy, you'll find out why Spanish people don't, why Indian people don't. It's all the same. The trickle effect is the same.

The only difference is earning the trust of the community that you're trying to see. He doesn't know it. Shantell doesn't know it. Is I hired him when I brought all those people to his breakfast shop, I mean to his breakfast thing, I qualified myself by saying, hey, I went to your event. I liked it. The breakfast was good. I want to do it again. In, but I want to do it with people I bring, how about it? He said, oh, yeah, let's do it. He don't understand that all of those people, I surveyed them afterwards, what you think? You think you good? You think you did a good job? Did you understand what he was saying? All of that, I hired him first, because, again, he can tell you that it wasn't all the same race of people that came to that event. It was some Hispanic people, it was some Caucasian people, it was some rich people, some people that didn't have money, because I wanted to know what he was doing, if it would resonate, because that's the only thing. It's not about communication.

It's about comprehension. He can talk all day and tell you, I raffle off all the words he knows, but it's about the people understanding and taking away what he had to say. So to me, reaching the people that aren't in the neighborhood, you operate under the same principle. They're human, and we all have the same essential needs, as long as if I can help you enjoy those essential needs while you're alive, not long after you perish, I can get you to listen. I can get you to come to a business over breakfast. You know what I'm saying? I hope that makes sense. But yeah.

Shantell Wright 36:13

I actually had a mortgage professional when I was with another firm that I did a workshop. She and I did a workshop together for a group of people, and one of the first things she said after the first time we did one, she said, you don't make this so daunting, because it doesn't show as much here, but I'm pretty goofy. I like to make people laugh. I like to crack a joke, and also want to break things down to the lowest common denominator that anybody can understand.

And I think that's what people appreciate most. One of the things that people appreciate most that you're not trying to talk over here, trying to show how smart you are. No, let me tell you. Get an understanding of why you're doing what you're looking to do. So we put these things into play. You're not going to question, why am I doing this? You already know why. Because I'll be able to break things down with you and teach you along the way what, exactly what we're doing to benefit you and your household.

John Lewis 37:24

Yeah, no, I was gonna say, the other part of the question that you asked, what would you suggest for the old school to the dinosaurs? I was gonna say, in our society, we've been taught because we live in consumerism. We've been taught to react, we we're not taught to be proactive. So to those dinosaurs, eventually they're going to have to react to the change that's coming. If you've been paying attention, Uber has autonomous cars. Taxis are being autonomous. Burger King just laid off 1200 people, and Pizza Hut just laid out 1500 people flipping the robot is taking jobs.

So pretty soon, the financial information that we need is gonna be in the palm of my hands, but we ain't got to go too far to find it. So right now, Shantell is breaking off and creating his own FinTech company with his own information, that he can galvanize his own following of people, and he can grow that right? Because there are always going to be people who learn by hearing, learn by seeing and learn by touching. Well, the goal will Grow Field Marketing is to put him so he can do that successfully, and the dinosaur should follow the other dinosaur.

Chris Gandy 38:54

Suzanne, do we have dinosaurs?

Suzanne Carawan 38:56

We do have dinosaurs. I love the idea, though. You can react. I mean, you can wake up, or you can be proactive, yeah, absolutely.

Chris Gandy 39:04

NAIFA is the New Jurassic Park. We've got some dinosaurs. We've got some T-rexes. We've got some people. I would say that the hesitance to engage in the new world is just simply because of fear, right? And so you know, the fear of the unknown and the fear failure. If we fail at something, we feel less than and so, you know, we typically don't go down those paths. Talk to us a little bit about...

Suzanne Carawan 39:47

Even before that, Chris, I'd say, I don't even know. Most people even know. I think they're complacent, the complacency, right? They're just comfortable. They're just comfortable. So they maybe they don't even know they're dying.

Chris Gandy 39:59

This is in a business Suzanne, where, if you do it for a very long time, and you actually are partially decent at it, those renewal checks keep coming. And clients, as you guys probably already know, clients are too, as I call, entrenched, or too satisfied with what they you know, the status quo. So they don't move their money. I can tell you, well, all the money we manage, I probably lose 10 clients a year. Well, yeah, like, maybe, if that.

Suzanne Carawan 40:36

So painful, right? It's like moving houses too painful to move.

Chris Gandy 40:40

Oh, I don't want to do that. I'll just leave it. And so what ends up happening is, because we continuously get paid on that business, we continue to get paid on the work we do today, it creates a false sense of security, a sense of security, because those checks keep coming. And so we have to continue to grow.

John Lewis 41:00

But see, that's one of the things that I think that's going to make Shantell and money a lot different. Because, like, one of the things, like, when we recently linked up and went to event, he seen me put my wrist up to somebody's phone and exchange contact information. He was looking at me all perplexed. I said, well, dinosaur, welcome to the new age, buddy. And what I was explaining to him is the one thing that I want to bring to him is y'all, all, all of you dinosaurs, have heard of the CRM before. Y'all heard of it. CRM. Well, guess what? When you automate CRM, it's way easier. So by me scanning my wrist onto your phone, I have to email you after this event and say, hey, I'm John.

You met me at such and such event. It's gonna do that automatically, and it's gonna send me a reminder that I need to contact you about whatever business, that's simple. That's one simple thing. Well, what's going to make Shantell different and money is he's going to actually build a relationship, right? Because he's going to know when your oldest daughter birthday, when she feel to graduate. He's going to know all of these things so these emails are coming. He's going to email you and say, hey, I see your birthday is coming up on Friday. If you have any big purchases coming up, make sure you contact us so we can... Let's keep it going so that when the time come, these people are also your marketing tools, because that's what the customer retention management is for, is to engage them to tell the friend, to tell a friend.

So we're going to use CRM in a different way that the finance industry has not ever thought about using it because, again, you said, yeah, I lose 10 clients. Ever, yeah. What if you don't have to lose clients? What if you never lose them? What if they bring you 10 more clients?

Chris Gandy 42:52

That would be great.

Suzanne Carawan 42:57

That would be great.

Chris Gandy 42:58

The cushion between me and all those expenses and bills like Shantell has, as he has more and more employees, as he expands, because he can't do it alone, makes it a little easier to breathe. Shantell knows what I'm talking about.

Shantell Wright 43:16

He does, and look and I had no asthma problems since I played sports and not in high school and college, so I don't want none now.

Chris Gandy 43:26

Easier to breathe. So recruiting to this. Let's talk about the next generation. So John, whether you realize it or not, you're old too. Okay, so what are we doing?

Suzanne Carawan 43:38

Shantell is loving that.

Chris Gandy 43:40

What are we doing? Because, because, as you know, what they say about technology is the newest technology is already outdated. So John, this goes to you. What are you guys doing to recruit young professionals into the business and replicate what you're doing with Shantell.

John Lewis 44:00

I'm gonna answer the first half for the question, and then I’m going to fast let Shantell tell you about what Monday is doing, as far as the new recruits. But first and foremost, I'm Peter Pan. I don't get old. I get young, okay? But one of my favorite quotes as good as the enemy of great. Because as long as I think I'm good, I'll never be great. So I'm a favorite student. So at 40 years old, I'm a college student right now. I'm go to Nashville State Community College to do cyber security. I'm gonna be there for two years. I'm gonna leave out of there and go right back for software engineering, because again, I see what's going on. It's no longer being reactive. I'm gonna be proactive.

So I'm gonna be as young as more than likely, I'm gonna be in college when my kids get low into the ground, because I'm gonna continue to learn. I'm gonna be a student every day, all day and forever, because if I stop thinking about what's to come, then I'm taking food and keeping food out of my son's mouth, but money has a great solution and idea to continue with the youth and keep continue bringing young, smart and ambitious talent into the finance market. I'll let Shantell speak from that.

Shantell Wright 45:19

One of the things I'm doing is that I'm actually looking, keeping my ear to the ground, looking, just being observant, because I want the younger folks to have an opportunity, the same opportunity, or even a better opportunity than I had. With the help of John, I've asked them to do some things. I was like, this is what I want to do. Can we do this? I am pretty much the prototype of what John is putting together for our future FSPs, financial service professions. So they will have the tutelage and the training and all the automation.

Have everything they have at them, at their disposal, with the expertise and wisdom of knowledge of me and those around them and my connections come in and teach them and train them, along with the technology that John are providing for them to just come in and plug and play and learn and grow. That's why this is a practice, because you never master it. You get better, and things are always changing, so you either change with it or get left and I'm bringing the younger folks up so I can continue to stay young, so I can be like Benjamin Buttons.

Suzanne Carawan 46:53

Good point. Good point. All right, Chris, I hate to break this up, but we got to get to the lightning round and see what these guys how they cannot do how they fare with the fast, rapid questions.

Chris Gandy 47:05

Well, I'll just simply say, gentlemen, we look forward to seeing you at future NAIFA events, and look forward to shaking your hands and then getting an opportunity to expand the conversation to other NAIFA members. But the key is, so, John, you hear this, right? So Chantelle, the key is you can't come alone. You got to bring somebody else who's in the business. That's how this works, because collectively, we lift the boats of all others. So with that being said, we go to the lightning round. We created this round so people can get to know.

When they see you, they may say something about what some of the questions we ask, but you know what we do for a living and who we are, two different things, right? And so part of this is just whatever comes to mind. And so Suzanne will ask three questions so we can hear John's aspect too. We'll just go around. Okay, so the first question, is your favorite food? Shantell.

Shantell Wright 48:07

Oh, my God, Jesus, anything entire Mexican?

Chris Gandy 48:13

Okay? John.

John Lewis 48:16

Mexican. Let's go.

Chris Gandy 48:19

All right, so see how easy it was. Didn't have to think very hard. All right, so here are the next couple questions, um, if you could go back and have dinner with anyone in history, whether they're dead, they passed on, or they're alive, now you got one opportunity. Who would you have dinner with? And why? ShantelL.

Shantell Wright 48:37

My grandmother and grandfather?

Chris Gandy 48:39

Why?

Shantell Wright 48:41

Because those were two of the wisest people that I ever knew.

Chris Gandy 48:46

John.

John Lewis 48:49

P Newton.

Chris Gandy 48:51

Why?

John Lewis 48:54

Because financially, they did something that was going to disrupt the financial economy of the United States, and that was the ultimate reason why they had to be removed.

Chris Gandy 49:07

Got it. Next question, gentlemen, I got two more. If you two, could advise yourself. You just started in the business yesterday, you can go back in and give yourself advice, what advice would you tell your young self in the business? John, whatever business you're in, what would you go back and tell yourself?

John Lewis 49:33

Consistency is the key to success and the only key to success? Keep going.

Chris Gandy 49:41

Shantell.

Shantell Wright 49:44

your ego aside. You don't know it all.

Chris Gandy 49:49

Last question, gentlemen, all right, so NAIFA nation is listening out here today. What advice would you give them If they're listening to this podcast, what advice would you give to aspiring people that would like to learn from you? What advice would you give them? NAIFA nation is listening. We'll go to John first.

John Lewis 50:14

Okay, the advice that I would give is growthfuelmarketing.net, we're tech-savvy, so you don't have to be.

Chris Gandy 50:25

Awesome. Shantell.

Shantell Wright 50:30

Mine would be the power of agreement. Scripture says that if one could put 1000 a flight, two could put 10,000 a flight. That tells me that we're better together. Let's partner up and do real some real, constructive work.

Chris Gandy 50:48

Last question for you, Shantell, and this one is just for you, your proudest moments in financial services.

Shantell Wright 50:56

My proudest moment in financial services. I know this is going to sound corny, but the day that I got pinned by the President of NAIFA, I'm talking about the national organization, that was one of my proudest moments.

Chris Gandy 51:15

Well, look at that, Suzanne.

Suzanne Carawan 51:18

Look at that.

Chris Gandy 51:19

The power of the pen.

Suzanne Carawan 51:20

Power the pin is right there. It's a real thing.

Chris Gandy 51:22

We talk about the power of the pen and how strong that power is and the importance of it. So any final words, gentlemen, we have to wrap up. We got a close shop. But John, any final words,

John Lewis 51:43

Oh, yeah, no. I just, I look forward to learning more about the company and potentially growing with the company, because Shantell has been in my ear for the last couple of weeks telling me I need to go out here and jump in the water and become NAIFA and join the financial side of things and I'm moving closer to it. I think it's about that time to do it as well. So, I look forward to seeing you, and I look forward to being on the podcast in 25 years and teaching all about calculators.

Chris Gandy 52:18

Shantell, any final words.

Shantell Wright 52:20

Final words, I want to the definition of Moneyed, where the name of the company came from. That's M-O-N-E-Y-E-D, it's having goods, property and wealth and abundance. That's what we want to help people to do, and we want to give them the knowledge to be able to do that. Awesome. Suzanne, yeah. Final words

Chris Gandy 52:48

Awesome. Suzanne, yeah. Final words for NAIFA members, it's the week of the Fourth of July. You know?

Suzanne Carawan 52:52

Well, yes, as always, get out the vote all of those things. Happy Fourth of July. Yeah, John, I'm looking forward to having a new national president pin you into membership, that'll be great. We look forward to seeing both you. We hope you can get to APEX. It'll be awesome to be together.

Chris Gandy 53:11

So I'll close this out. Thanks everyone out there listening on either your phone, your device, or John may say, another platform of technology. Thank you for listening to Advisor Today podcast, where we get an opportunity to uplift the voices of all of you and our advisors collectively together. Just remember, we're stronger together than we are apart. We'll see you next week, same time, same place. Thanks for tuning in to Advisor Today. Podcast, have a good Fourth of July. Be safe. Eat a lot of barbecue, and we will see you. We will see you all in APEX soon.

Outro 53:46

Thanks for joining us for NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast series. Make sure to subscribe to get future episodes, and if you're interested in coming on the show, let us know you.

40 min read