Alex Newman, of Grape Wealth Management, has grown his firm to over $17M in AUM in just five months. This growth is largely due to a community event he hosts in Temecula, California for retirees. Alex developed this monthly event to address a need within his niche, resulting in expedient growth for his firm. In this episode, he will walk us through how to create events for your niche and the technology required to make it scalable.
Alex Newman, of Grape Wealth Management, has grown his firm to over $17M in AUM in just five months. This growth is largely due to a community event he hosts in Temecula, California for retirees. Alex developed this monthly event to address a need within his niche, resulting in expedient growth for his firm. In this episode, he will walk us through how to create events for your niche and the technology required to make it scalable.
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Alex Newman - The Advisor Journey
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Alex: When I do an event, I actually have to cap an event now. It just grew extremely quickly. So our very first event, we had a total of eight people. Our very first event at one local winery. Um, our next event we had 40 people. Our third event, we had 90 people. Our fourth event, we had 190 people. Um, our fifth event, which was also, uh, the launch of the firm, um, we had over [00:01:00] 250 people. That was like a wedding, right? Like, it just, it wasn't even fun at that point. So now we're capping it at a hundred people.
Jason: Welcome to the Advisor Journey, a podcast by Altruist dedicated to giving advisors the edge they need with proven RIA growth strategies. Each week, Dasarte and I will have hard hitting conversations about the topics that matter most to the modern RIA, how to scale, how to maximize efficiency, and how to effectively reach your goals. It's real advice from people who've really done it, and we're so glad you're here.
Dasarte: Welcome to another episode of The Advisor Journey. I'm your co-host, Dasarte Yarnway along with my partner in wealth, Jason Wenk and we are so excited to have you listening to this podcast here today. We have a guest, Alex Newman. I'm a big fan of your work. He is the founder of Grape Wealth Management based in Temecula, California. Um, welcome to the show.
Alex: Thank you for having me. I'm excited.
Dasarte: I'm so excited about what you're doing. My official [00:02:00] title here at Altruist is the Head of Community, but you're really the head of community in Temecula, and that's so cool. So tell us a little bit about breaking away first from the bank and starting your own firm, because I'm sure a lot of advisors were in your are in your position . Right now and need to hear that story.
Alex: I, yeah. So you know, Well, I, I guess I'll go back a little bit. Might as well. Um, but I actually started in finance when I was 15 and yes. So my, my brother, he got me into, to the industry, but it was, uh, doing mortgages back then. And so I started working for this
Jason: 15 year old doing mortgages. That is insanity.
Dasarte: Wow.
Jason: Yeah, I was 15. They like, they, they barely let me like. I grew up in the country, right? Yeah. So it's like if you're 15, you can maybe like shovel cow shit.
Alex: May, maybe that's too funny. Yeah. Yeah. So when I, when I was 15 is, is when I started, started uh, working for the small mortgage company, telemarketing, right? Uh, and then became a loan officer and then started my own. Brokerage, uh, when I was 19...
Jason: That explains a lot of things. Now, now I know [00:03:00] things about Alex and everybody knows, but the guy knows a lot about the mortgage industry. Now I know why.
Alex: Yeah, yeah, that helps. Um, but, but yeah, so then, um, when everything happened in 2008 right figure, I wanted to, to do something more stable. And so, uh, I started working at the bank and so, You know, it was, it was incredible walking in and, and being able to contact so many people. It was just, it was like a kid in a candy store. It was really awesome. Um, but so fast forward, um, you know, with, with transitioning, I, I moved from San Diego to Temecula and transitioned firms at that time. Um, and with, with that transition, um, you know, my, my focus was really to develop a community where I live.
Dasarte: Mm-hmm.
Alex: I don't know how many advisors that are listening to this that have built communities outside of where they live. Obviously virtually is totally different, right? That, that's totally different. But I would say if your, if your [00:04:00] focus is to be a local advisor, um, building that in a place that you don't live is, is really difficult. Um, I'm not saying you can't do it, but especially having a family and having a drive, right, an hour or two, depending on traffic, depending on where you live, is just not, um, it wasn't conducive to what I was looking to do. And so my, my, I absolutely love Temecula. I love wine country. Um, and so my focus was making that move to be closer to home. Um, but that transition process, It was, it was a lot, you know, it, it was like going through a hundred breakups or maybe I hadn't, I had a lot more clients than that, so I was like 500 break ups. Right. It was just a lot of breakups. It was an emotional rollercoaster, but it is definitely worth it.
Dasarte: Mm-hmm.
Alex: Um, you know, the freedom that you have to market the way that you want and to, to, uh, grow your practice and scale being independent. I wish I did it earlier. But yeah, that, that process of transitioning from one firm to the next, it is a process. [00:05:00] Um, I would say that the biggest thing is, is having great relationships with their clients. You know, that, that's really, really the biggest piece is just really focusing on, on having great relationships.
Dasarte: So, I have a friend that we had dinner last night and I've been talking to this dude about going independent for like three years.
Alex: Yeah.
Dasarte: And every year I talk to him. He has another thing that he puts in the way of him going independent. It's like, you know, I'm trying to leave with at least 140 million now. No. Get you saying like 50 million last year . You know, he's like, oh yeah, I just want to, you know, buy a new car this year and then I'm gonna go and I'm gonna pay this down first, and then I'm gonna go independent.
Jason: Opportunity cost.
Jason: That's right.
Dasarte: Just go. Just go already. So take yourself back to six months ago. Right. What were some of those fears that you may have had, right? Or self-sabotaging even, right, that you had that you had to get over to actually make the leap to go independent?
Alex: Yeah. Um, well, I think, I think there's two pieces in regards to fears, and [00:06:00] I'm sure all advisors. Kind of feel this. Um, but the, the first of which is obviously leaving and how many clients are going to stay with you. Right. So that's, that's one. And then number two is marketing, of course. Right. Where are you gonna get your new clients from? Those are...
Jason: Especially if you came from a bank. Yeah. Yeah. Especially the bank is Right. That's the theater. Like they were, that's the theater. Yeah. Increasing at all the people.
Alex: Yeah. You're used to just being fed, right? Mm-hmm. . And so, um, so those were my two biggest concerns. Right. Um, I've think going through that, I've transitioned once before I kind of knew what to expect. I kind of knew of, you know, those, those breakups and, and so it was a little easier to, to, I guess, prepare myself for, for that side of things. Mm-hmm. But the other piece was, was the marketing side, and that's really where Retired Temecula came into play and that gave me a lot of confidence. So, so yeah.
Dasarte: That's awesome.
Jason: Yeah, I say on the, uh, let's like zero in on that because
Alex: sure.
Jason: We, uh, it's funny, an Altruist is a financial technology company and so we [00:07:00] survey our users all the time. It's uh, um, you know, probably almost fatigue, right? You know, cuz you're, you're an Altruist user. But, uh, yeah, we're constantly asking people like, Hey, what's the most valuable, you know, what's the biggest pain point? Or what would be the most valuable feature. And I would say, you know, nine times out of 10, if it's not number one, it's number two, it's getting new clients is like the biggest pain points. Oh yeah. Biggest challenge. It's like, you know, I think most people feel confident that once they get in front of people in a lot of ways, um, that that's the biggest difference in your journey. Right. So going from a bank to independent, Where did you come up with the idea for, uh, retired Temecula? And I think it might also help for everyone to yeah. Know a little Californian now, so I understand Temecula versus San Diego, but people should probably know, like it's a totally different market, right? So like whatever relationships you had in San Diego, I mean, that's a pretty good distance away. This is like a. Basically a brand new community in a lot of respects too. Yeah. Um, so how did you come up with the idea, like what were the first steps, um, and tell us a little bit [00:08:00] about the community and some of the events that you're doing that are driving demand, kind of helping you replace what used to be a bank based referral, um, to now like, you know, organically generating new clients from scratch.
Alex: Yeah. So, um, so what I've noticed is there's a lot of people moving to the area, uh, primarily from Orange County, LA, San Diego, um, to Temecula. Mm-hmm. typically to Temecula is like a, a suburb out of San Diego, right. Um, and, and so typically to be close to their kids and grandkids, right? Uh, because their kids and grandkids, um, wanted a bigger home and all of those things that are very difficult to get inside of the city, right?
Alex: Um, they, it's of course more expensive inside the city. And so you'd have the kids that would move out there, they would have a family, and then parents are about retirement age, and then parents wanna retire. They wanna be close to their kids and grandkids. And so, um, there was kind of that natural migration to the area.
Alex: And so I started witnessing it when I [00:09:00] first transitioned, when I moved from San Diego, from JP over to, to, to, uh, Wells Fargo Advisors. Um, and, and Temecula. And, and so every client that I was meeting with it, it was like a broken record, right? Sure. I moved here from LA, I moved here from San Diego.
Jason: You noticed a pattern.
Alex: Exactly. I noticed the pattern. I noticed the pattern. And the thing that I also noticed is that they were all kind of having a tough time meeting other like-minded retirees. So you think about it, right? You're, you, you've spent 30 plus years in this one area, and your kids went to school and you've met incredible friends through your kids going to school and going to, you know, uh, uh, football games and all of these things.
Alex: And then, you're, you're taken outta that community. You're now retired. You live in a beautiful area and wine country. It's, it's nice, but now you have no one to share it with. Really. You're close.
Jason: I was wondering by the, when you're gonna bring, cause those, again, outsiders don't know. Temecula is like Southern California wine country.
Alex: Yeah. For those, that's right.
Jason: Everyone thinks maybe it's all in [00:10:00] Napa or maybe Central Coast, but we have our own little wine country right down here in Southern California. Temecula.
Alex: It's absolutely beautiful and it's, and it's growing. It's, it's, it's amazing how fast it's growing. And, and so I, with, you know, this group of people, these retirees moving to, to Temecula and, and having a hard time socializing with other people, I would constantly have my clients say, Hey Alex. You know, um, because I would take em out to dinners and stuff and, and, um, they, they would always mention that they would love to see, you know, some more they would like to meet more people. And so, um, came up with the idea of, of Retire Temecula, and it was ultimately an idea that allows for retirees to get together and, um, and it just worked out extremely well.
Jason: Can you, can you tell us a little bit about the logistics? Right? Sure. Like, I mean, if, let's say I have. ..Community has some similar characteristics, right? Similar migration pattern, different location. You don't wanna create competition yourself necessarily, but [00:11:00] how would someone go about creating a community? Obviously you, you, you, you recognize that there was this potential demand, like what's the logistics, like how, throw up a website do you send out invites? You create a Facebook community? Like what's the logistics of creating a community and then like, what's that look like when you get a group of people together? That is one, providing value, but then clearly there's something that's getting them to also want to talk to you about their own financial plan. Um, so curious, some of those moving parts.
Alex: Yeah, no, of course. And some great questions. And so, uh, my, my wife has a background in kind of marketing, so she helped out a ton with, with some of the stuff. But, but yeah, so as far as a process. The process, um, it was, it was pretty simple. So my focus was really creating that community, right. And the way that I did that was through Facebook. Right. So, um, really focus on like Facebook ads, things of that sort. Um, and I think it caught a lot of people's eye, Retired Temecula especially, you know, in, in that local area.
Alex: Um, and so, so, um, that allowed [00:12:00] for, for people to start. Uh, subscribing, I guess you could say and then from there, um, I created a website called retiretemecula.com. And I think a lot of people, when they're considering moving out there, of course they're, they're looking at retirement. Yeah. And so if you type in retirement in Temecula, you're going to see Retire Temecula at the top, just from the SEO.
Alex: But, um, but so creating, um, creating the website and then what I would do is, Through Wix, um, you're able, I, I'm able to create events. And so,
Jason: By the way, I don't think everyone knows, I know all about Wix cause we've talked about it. Yeah, sure. But like, Wix for those who don't know, aren't familiar with Wix.
Alex: Yeah. So a little bit about Wix. Um, you're able to build websites mm-hmm. , you know, with, with through Wix and kind of like a GoDaddy. Yeah. Um, but it's a lot more robust than I've ever imagined. It has a lot of pieces that's inside of there, including, um, being able to put up a landing page or being able to, you know, create a website [00:13:00] really quickly and, and really create events.
Alex: So through there I'm able to create an actual event. We just had our last one on, um, on the first of this month. And, And so with, with that event, you can, I, I'm able to post it on Facebook and, um, the community's able to go in and, and RSVP to this event. And so it's all transparent. I could, uh, keep tabs on everything that's going on when, when somebody joins an event, and I'll have to show you later, but, um, when somebody joins an event, they fill out a form. And of course it's where they retired from and their phone number and email address. And
Dasarte: This is amazing. I actually just Googled, retire Temecula, right? And this is like eHarmony for retire, retired folks.
Alex: eHarmony.
Dasarte: It's crazy. Seriously, like you can literally 'discover new retired friends in the valley'. Like who wouldn't want that? Right? Like I just moved to Sacramento.
Alex: Yeah.
Dasarte: And my wife and I moved from New Jersey. And the one thing we wish we had was more friends. Yeah, sure. And we had our [00:14:00] daughter. And it seems like our daughter has way more friends than we have . She have all the kids from the mommy group.
Alex: Yep. Yeah.
Dasarte: Stuff like that. So this is amazing.
Jason: Well, that's, that's a great irony. Cause I think so many people, they make friends actually through from their kids. Right. But then when you get to retirement, it's like, wait a minute. you don't have . That. Like, oh, I met so and so through, you know, in first grade, like blah blah, like, um,
Alex: Breaking the ice. Yeah.
Jason: Gotta be awkward. Right.
Alex: Very
Jason: Pretty. Pretty cool that you built a Built a, a solution.
Alex: Yeah.
Dasarte: The thing that I like about this is that you have all these testimonials on the site.
Alex: Yeah, sure.
Dasarte: People are telling about their experience. A lot of the times, you know, people want to hear about your services from someone else. Like a referral almost. In your practice before they say like, I'm gonna give this guy a chance. Like they'll go to like Google, um, reviews, right? Yeah. I, that's a big thing for advisors and a lot of advisors have been asking their clients to give 'em a review on Google. Yeah. So that they can see or have these testimonials around, um, their work.
Dasarte: Even FinTech companies now, like they're having people put testimonials on the site because they want that added credibility.
Alex: [00:15:00] That's huge.
Dasarte: I think this is amazing and it's something, it's like an alternative way to build a book or business because you're providing value before a person even says, I wanna work with you.
Alex: Yeah, right, exactly.
Dasarte: You've connected me with a missing piece that I didn't have. Often I think about how can I create undeniable yeses? And I know we talked about this outside. I wanna make sure that if you're coming to work with me, right? There's an undeniable Yes. Right. And you showcasing this value so early adds to that.
Dasarte: Like, yes, I would love to work with Alex because not only does he handle my finances right, but he's allowed me to tap into a community. Yes. Greater than Yes. Um, the one that I have, I think this is amazing.
Alex: Yeah, it's really interesting, you know, talk about kind of that icebreaker, um, when, when, when one of them comes to an event. It's just such a great time and it, it's so natural. And so the time when they give me a call, um, and say, Hey Alex, you know, I need to. I need for you to look at my portfolio. I mean, it's, you know, they're calling me. Hey Alex. Oh my [00:16:00] gosh. You know, thank you so much. It was such a great time. I loved that band that was playing.
Alex: Oh my gosh, those tacos were amazing. Oh, what was the name of that wine that you got me? And, oh, by the way, um, I need for you to look at my portfolio and, and, um, you know, I've been meaning to consolidate it since I moved here a year ago from San Diego. So yeah, that's,
Jason: It's a good problem to have.
Alex: It's awesome. It's awesome.
Dasarte: For sure. Um, 90% of this stuff is relationship management.
Alex: Oh yeah.
Dasarte: And that 10%. The work that you do, right? Yeah. The financial planning, the technical stuff. Sure. And I think that if advisors master relationship building, right? Yep. They can grow their business. I wanted to get into the economics of the actual event because we talk a lot about growth rates and you know, how much are you growing because you did this?
Alex: Sure.
Dasarte: How much money do you have to put into throwing this event and what are the returns from having such event.
Alex: Yeah, so great question. So normally an event, um, and I was doing these events once a [00:17:00] month and so every month we would have an event. Um, um, I now am switching to doing them quarterly. Um, but, but nonetheless, each event was about $2,500.
Alex: And so that includes buying all the wine in advance as well as, uh, you know, like a taco cart and things of that sort. Um, but yeah, about 2,500 bucks. And then, uh, out of that, that would generate about $12,000 in. In revenue. Um, now that $12,000, of course, is over the course, you know, of, of a year because,
Jason: But that's reoccurring revenue, right?
Alex: That's reoccurring revenue, so, yeah.
Jason: Yeah. So for all the math geeks out there, assuming your clients are around for at least 10 years. You know, and there's some incremental growth Right. In their assets over those 10 years. You're basically taking a cost of acquisition of, so it's 2,500 bucks.
Alex: 2,500 bucks.
Jason: And you could extrapolate that and say it's probably generating, uh, $200,000 or more of of LTV. Right. That's a pretty good, yeah. CAC [00:18:00] to LTV ratio for my fellow math geeks out there. Um, but, but that's actually like, you know, um, even the payback, right? Another term I use a lot. Um, it sounds like the payback is, you know, around a quarter, right?
Jason: Mm-hmm. , I mean, a few, few months, and you've basically paid for it. So theoretically, It's a flywheel you, you've built and like the more you, you know, the more events you do, the bigger flywheel gets faster spins.
Alex: And I love your flywheels by the way
Jason: Yeah, well, you know, it's just a simple way of thinking about growth, you know, cuz it's not a one time thing, but that, that's, that's pretty cool.
Jason: I want on that, the cost, so one thing you didn't say you had to spend a whole lot on was actually getting the people there. Are you having to run ads or are you able to, like, how are you able to get, cuz you're getting pretty good audience, like size of, of audience there.
Alex: Yeah, sure. So, um, yeah, initially, um, I did run ads in order to get the word of Temecula, Retired Temecula out there. And so, um, we grew in, we have about 700 members now of Retired Temecula. Um, obviously specific on, on our demographic. Um, I'm a [00:19:00] retirement specialist mm-hmm. and so. So, so yeah, I ran ads initially in order to build that community and to build that group. And now I have that group and it's just continuing to grow organically with their friends, inviting them and, and neighbors and things of that sort.
Alex: Um, and so when I do an event, I actually have to cap an event now. Um, it, it just grew extremely quickly. So when we, our very first event, we had a total of eight people. Our very first event at one local winery. Um, our next event we had 40 people. Our third event we had 90 people. Our fourth event, we had 190 people.
Dasarte: Wow.
Alex: Um, our fifth event, which, which was also, uh, the launch of the firm, um, we had over 250 people. And, and so, and that was like, that was like a wedding, right? Like, it just, it wasn't even fun at that point because it's hard to sit down and, you know, have a meaningful conversation with somebody when you know you're trying [00:20:00] to, to, to do that with everybody.
Alex: And so, um, so now we're capping it at a hundred people. And it's weird because. I, I,
Jason: No one has that problem, by the way. no one's like, how do I get more people to my class or event or whatever, but to be like, yeah, no, no, we had too much demand. We've gotta like temper it back to like a hundred, which is still a crazy big number, but that's pretty cool.
Dasarte: Can, can we talk just a little bit about that consistency? I was actually reading an article the other day and it was talking about a, like a artist. Uh, sold tickets for a concert in New York and only had like 25 people buy tickets, so he canceled the concert.
Alex: Sure.
Dasarte: I think that you have to be committed to the process because it's not gonna happen overnight. Right? And I just kudos to you on that consistency and just sticking at it because a lot of advisors who really want to grow, we'll write one blog and quit. Or will do one podcast and quit like, nah, I'm not gonna do that. And they end up just wasting time. And they could have been building traction. To reach some of their goals. Right. Yeah. So I think that's [00:21:00] very, you know, very noteworthy of you.
Alex: You're right. Consistency is is everything.
Dasarte: Mm-hmm.
Jason: Very much true. And I think, uh, you know, we're gonna wind up into some final questions in a bit, but I think that we've just given people, you know, pretty good glimpse into like a way that you were able to scale a community quickly. Effectively, um, if you had to give like two, three steps, right? Someone's listening to like, damn, I could do that. Sure. I've got some similar characters, like what? The first things you'd tell them to do to actually kick off a community in their own, you know, local area Sure. That might be able to deliver similar results.
Alex: Yeah. So I would say first, and you know, you hear and so cliche, but niche down, right? Yeah. Obviously focus on what, what you focus on or what you want to focus on, um, and trying to make it fun for, for that clientele. Um, I think that that's a really big piece. You know, nobody, Go to a timeshare seminar, right?
Alex: Um, so, so that's the first piece is kneeing down. Second piece is, um, creating a [00:22:00] website right around that event. Um, I feel that that was really powerful. Um, and then the third piece is advertising to that demographic in order to bring them to that area or, or to that website, um,
Jason: You make it sound so simple.
Dasarte: Mm-hmm.
Jason: You think the best stuff is actually simpler than people, like they must think. Results are so good. This must be incredibly complex. You must have like 15 people behind the scenes, you know, turning on these knobs and pulling these like levers or whatever. But in the end, you know, it sounds like you did this largely with yourself, your spouse, like pretty lean team and over like six months. I mean, between like, you know, that first event Yeah. Getting a big going independent. Right. Launching the new firm. I mean, yeah. Um, so anyway, I, I just did the recap to tell anyone who's like, feeling like they've got the sort of analysis paralysis thing where it's like they want to be perfect at sort of the enemy of even doing anything.
Alex: Oh, sure.
Jason: Um, but y'all launched, right? And that's, that's the hardest part. And those three steps are brain dead simple. Really.
Alex: Yeah, it, [00:23:00] it's, it's really, it's just that, that process, as long as you do that, you're, you're fine. But yeah, it's not that difficult.
Dasarte: Real quick, real quick. When you're at the events, yeah. Right. Like what are you doing? Are you hard selling? Cause I know some advisors will like not pass out business cards, not do anything, and other advisors are like, no, you're gonna know I and I wanna work with you. Like very direct. So she kind of gets our RapidFire questions. I just wanna ask you, what are you actually doing when you're in that space?
Alex: Yeah, so, you know, we're, we're definitely always trying out different things. Um, but I try to keep it light, so I usually just introduce myself, you know, my name's Alex Newman. Um, thank you guys so much for coming. The reason why the group was created, um, and. And what I do, right? So my specialty, and this is what I'm able to help with, but I'm not here to talk shop.
Alex: That's not what this is for. But I am here for each and every one of you in the event that you need assistance with what I do. And that works out very well, you know, and, and I've just let them know if they wanna [00:24:00] set up a time and date. Just let me, um, or we have a new guy that we just brought on recently, so either talk to me and we could set up a time and date or talk to him.
Alex: Um, and it's, it's really as simple as that. There was one other thing that we did try as well, um, which we, we bought wine in advance and I would give a business card. So gave business cards out to all of them and said, okay, well that's your ticket for your wine, basically. So they would bring it up to the bar and they would, um, just kind of tally it, and that was their kind of keepsake.
Jason: You should get a label.
Alex: Yeah.
Jason: Get a label made with all your info on it. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm laughing. You probably already did this or doing it. Yeah. So.
Alex: That's, that's future of Grape, right? Yeah, that's the future of Grape.
Dasarte: Good introduction. Just telling people what you're doing and bottles pop, right?
Alex: Yep. That's right. It's a good time.
Dasarte: All right. Rapid fire questions. Let's get into it. This is our opportunity to get into your brain and just see what you've been up to in your practice and in life. So the first question I have for you is, what is the most interesting thing that you read this [00:25:00] week?
Alex: This week it was actually this morning. Um, I was just scrolling through and it was a Wall Street Journal and. It was about Jeff Bezos. I don't know if you saw it or not, but it says, um, forget the yachts and forget the watches. This CEO is flexing his muscles. Right. So, and I think it's so true. You know, I feel like we're definitely, there's definitely a transition now of. CEOs. Right. And, and I think, you know, being personally fit, that's a very, very big piece, um, and I think that's something that we all strive for. Right. Um, but yeah, that was really interesting. I don't know if you've seen that, but that didn't to me. Yeah. Jeff Bezos, he's like,
Jason: I saw it man, yeah, Bezos, he's all jacked, you know, but they, they also showed a couple other, the funny part right, was they showed like three other CEOs and they were all, all fit, and, and they showed Elon Musk and he went looking , uh, you know, but yeah, I saw that article in the journal too. It was a good one.
Alex: How successful do you want to be? Right?
Jason: Yeah. All right. I get the next question. So, um, we talked about your [00:26:00] events, but even backing up further in your story about breaking away. Yeah. What's one thing an advisor that's at that, you know, maybe their Desarte's friend, I gotta go meet this guy. I think I can, I think I can sell him.
Jason: You know, I think, but uh, the question is, what's one thing an advisor looking to break away do, um, to overcome and start their business.
Alex: Yeah. So, um, that's a really, really good question. Um, you know, I, I think focusing on those fears that you naturally have, right? If those fears are how many clients are gonna move over and how can I continue to grow my practice after I transition?
Alex: Work on those, right? Have a better relationship with your clients. There is a book that I read, and I know that's really cliche, but, um, there's a, a book that I read called Supernova Advisor, um, and I don't know if you read it or not, it's, it's really, really awesome. Um, but part of what I started doing was speaking to my clients every month.
Alex: And even if it's a five minute phone call, this is what's going on in your portfolio. This is what's going on in the market. These are the adjustments that I'm making. Is everything going okay? How's your grandson? [00:27:00] Cody, right? When you talk to a client every month, um, even if it's just for a tidbit, you start to get an idea of what's going on, right?
Alex: You think of a friend, right? How often do you speak to your friend? Right? Probably doesn't go past the month, right? Yeah. And so I think that, that when you, when you do that, um, you naturally start to get a better relationship with them. Um, and if it's just a quick, a quick check in. Um, so that, that's one thing.
Alex: The other piece is of course, growing, right? Um, and how are you gonna continue to scale after you make that transition? And with that being the case, um, try out some of these other things. You know, try out these marketing techniques and really focus on it.
Jason: Even better. Get the old firm to pay for it.
Alex: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Tell me about it. That might be a little tough, tell you from firsthand experience, but , but, uh, nonetheless, you know, um, do it. You know, even if you have to take money out of your pocket to do it, do it. Um, and, and figure that [00:28:00] out because that was my big eye opener, right when I went and I sat. There is over, you know, 200 people there, it's like, that's more people than I've seen my whole five years of working at other firms.
Alex: Right? And so it's like there's an easier way to do this and 90% of everybody else, although other firms are not doing these types of things. And so it's a, it's just a huge opportunity and I think that, that, that's going to continue to change. Obviously there's some very big firms and they have.
Alex: Obviously a lot of, uh, marketing capital and so on and so forth, but there's things that we're able to do right now, um, to get in front of our clients and provide authenticity that. That they can't do right now. Mm-hmm. right now, at least. Right. Um, I mean, you go through LinkedIn, right? And you're constantly going through and you just see all the cliche clips of a family, you know?
Alex: Yeah. And some text behind it, and with one like right. , right. [00:29:00] Um, but if your advisor gets all
Jason: My engagement is probably like, you know, someone just. Aunt probably
Alex: Wouldn't be surprised.
Jason: That's most my post. Yeah. My mom, my aunt, Debbie, Michael, John. Anyway, yeah.
Alex: I'm there with you. But no, um, you know, I think that providing that personality is, is really, really important.
Dasarte: Awesome. Next question for you, and I'm just nodding my head in agreement cause everything you said is so true. Um, next question. What has been the most helpful tool for you as an independent firm?
Alex: Helpful tool as an independent firm. Well, alts has been absolutely amazing.
Jason: I thought we were gonna lose to starts with the W and ends in ixs.
Alex: Nope. Nope. No. At certainly you guys have been absolutely amazing. Um, I've been very, very impressed, um, from start to finish. Um, you know, one of the things I was concerned about with being a retirement specialist, uh, is, is, you know, my average client is mid sixties and so took me about two years, by the way, in order to choose what platform I wanted to use.
Alex: Um, [00:30:00] and, and that was a big piece for me was I love the fact that it's paperless and I love all of that. Um, but that was a concern. Well, can my clients, you know, have an app and, and sign and, and, and do everything that I need for them to do? And the answer is, yes. It's it's
Jason: You heard it here folks.
Alex: It's was really simple and, um, it, it helped my transition a ton.
Jason: Cool. Well, so glad to hear that. Glad to be of service. Um, and one final question, um, and this one if you don't have, if you don't have the answer I'm looking for, I'm gonna give you one that you should use for your, your, uh, clients. But, uh, any new hobbies or what's a new hobby that you've started recently?
Alex: Oh, geez. Um, No new hobbies.
Jason: You're missing one though. There's like this thing, pickle ball man. These retirees.
Alex: Oh man. Yes.
Jason: Can you imagine they're out there. Little wine, you know, playing a little pickle ball the winery or whatever, and then just rolling right into the office for some appointments.
Dasarte: I don't know, you might have to get [00:31:00] insurance for Retire Temecula make like they start getting people out on the pickle ball court.
Jason: The fastest growing sport in America, I guess. Allegedly, something like that.
Alex: The baby boomers.
Jason: Yeah, man.
Alex: Yeah, no, I agree. Pickle ball. Um, yeah, that is a. That is, that is great. I really just been so busy, obviously, with the firm.
Alex: Um, but an interesting fact is I have my falconry license.
Jason: Ooh, dang.
Alex: Something interesting. And I was flying planes for a while, so I like doing different types of things. Right. But no time right now.
Jason: Love it. Okay.
Dasarte: Real quick, before we kind of close this thing out, Favorite wine right now?
Alex: Oh yeah. Um, so I'm a big fan of Sangiovese , so that is, yeah. Um, yeah, it grows really well in Temecula, uh, cuz Temecula has a pretty hot climate. Um,
Jason: Hot and dry
Alex: Initally soraie, so I'm a big red guy, but, um, soraie was, was really good. And, but recently I feel like, um, Sangiovese has just been, been perfect for the temperature out in Temecula.
Jason: Good local knowledge. Yeah. I just went to to Napa for [00:32:00] my, my wife's birthday.
Alex: Oh, nice.
Jason: And so I learned a whole bunch of stuff about wines that I didn't know before. Uh, so now I know I have to go down to Temecula, get some Alex's favorite wine.
Alex: Yeah, let us know. Anytime. We'll take you out. It'll be a good time.
Dasarte: Awesome, man. Well, thank you so much, Alex, for joining us on The Advisor Journey.
Dasarte: We appreciate you and hopefully we can do this again. We will hear about a year and a half from now, how much your firm has grown with Retire Temecula. Jason, my partner in wealth, it's a pleasure to see you man.
Jason: Likewise.
Dasarte: So good to see you. For all you guys listening, make sure that you subscribe on your favorite podcast, uh, platform, and be sure to visit us www.altruist.com/theadvisorjourneydemo. Until next time, we'll see you soon.
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