The WealthStack Podcast
00:00:00 · Shannon Rosic, Brad Johnson
[00:00:00] S0: As wealth shifts to the next generation, client expectations are shifting too. The next generation of investors expects intuitive personalized digital experiences on par with their everyday digital experiences like Uber or Amazon. Smart IQ from Smart Communications helps wealth management firms deliver that intuitive personalized experience to your clients by modernizing onboarding and client servicing, capturing complete and accurate data, reducing friction, and supporting compliance throughout the client journey. Prepare your firm for the next generation of wealth at smartcommunications.com. Welcome to The WealthStack Podcast. I'm your host, Shannon Rosic, the director of WealthStack content solutions. And today, we're talking about something every growing advisory firm eventually run into, the limits of its own capacity. We have more technology, more automation, and, hey, even more AI tools at our disposal than ever before. Yet somehow, advisers are still buried in that administrative work and managing those disconnected systems and struggling to find enough hours in the day. So is the answer really more technology, or do we need to fundamentally rethink how we're building and operating advisory firms? So to help to help us unpack all of this, I am joined by Brad Johnson, cofounder of Triad Partners, where he's helping advisers rethink what it means to build a successful business, one that can scale without consuming their entire lives. So, Brad, welcome to the show. [00:01:42] S1: Glad to be here, Shannon.
00:01:42 · Brad Johnson, Shannon Rosic
[00:01:42] S1: Glad to be here, Shannon. [00:01:44] S0: It's fun having you on the other side of the mic. Because last time we did this, you were asking me the questions, and that's always a weird spot for me to be in. So I am happy to be the one asking you the questions today. [00:01:54] S1: I'm excited to dive in. It's not often I come to this side of the mic, so this is fun. Little switch. [00:01:59] S0: Alright. We're changing it up, and I'm going to start actually with probably what will be the hardest question. You will get this entire conversation because I wanna know, listeners wanna know, what makes Brad Brad both personally and professionally? [00:02:15] S1: My... The first thing that comes to mind, I'm a husband. I'm a dad. That's my first most important job. Married my high school sweetheart, Sarah, and we have three kids. So we've got a couple high schoolers. I have a football game tonight, actually. We were just talking a little football before we hit record here. And daughter that's in grade school. So that's my primary number one job that I take the most seriously. And then, obviously, everything on the finance side of the house, been doing it almost twenty years. You can see here in the back, do business, do life. So our goal here at Triad is to help our members grow a business without sacrificing their life along the way, which is really the same mission we're on as well.
00:02:15 · Brad Johnson, Shannon Rosic
[00:02:15] S1: My... The first thing that comes to mind, I'm a husband. I'm a dad. That's my first most important job. Married my high school sweetheart, Sarah, and we have three kids. So we've got a couple high schoolers. I have a football game tonight, actually. We were just talking a little football before we hit record here. And daughter that's in grade school. So that's my primary number one job that I take the most seriously. And then, obviously, everything on the finance side of the house, been doing it almost twenty years. You can see here in the back, do business, do life. So our goal here at Triad is to help our members grow a business without sacrificing their life along the way, which is really the same mission we're on as well. [00:02:54] S0: And if you haven't already, folks, please check out Brad's podcast because it's pretty incredible, and he has really unique guests on there. So if you just wanna quickly just talk about do business, do life just because I had the pleasure of being on, and I was just happy to be part of the conversation. But you've had some heavy hitters in multiple industries come on that podcast. Right?
00:02:54 · Shannon Rosic, Brad Johnson
[00:02:54] S0: And if you haven't already, folks, please check out Brad's podcast because it's pretty incredible, and he has really unique guests on there. So if you just wanna quickly just talk about do business, do life just because I had the pleasure of being on, and I was just happy to be part of the conversation. But you've had some heavy hitters in multiple industries come on that podcast. Right? [00:03:15] S1: Yeah. I... It's... If I look way back, I had a podcast before the current iteration today started back in 2015 before it was the cool thing to do in finance. And I grew up listening to the Tim Ferriss Show. That was the first podcast I really binged, and what I loved about that show, it was a very eclectic guest list to just help you level up in something in life. And so really using a version of that framework, but applying it to finance. I I like to... I'm curious. I like to talk to different types of people from all of different industries, so we mix it up quite a bit on there. We've got authors. We've got people crushing it in finance, speakers, athletes. So it's fun to keep it fresh. [00:03:55] S0: Like I said, folks, be sure to go check it out. And you've actually spent years coaching some of the industry's most successful advisers, and one of the philosophies behind Triad is that idea of do business, do life. What were you seeing in the industry that made you realize the traditional definition of adviser success needed to change?
00:04:18 · Brad Johnson
[00:04:18] S1: The... I'm starting to turn into the old guy these days. I'm 46, so I like to hope that I've gathered a little bit of wisdom along the way. But I think especially when you're a 20 that gets into this business, it's kind of the pursuit of more. More assets under management, more revenue, more production. And what I've seen, if that is the singular pursuit, when you deal with money can consume you. And you can sacrifice things along the way that when you actually get a little bit older, hopefully a little bit wiser, you realize that wasn't worth the trade off. Because at the end of the day, your last shirt doesn't have a pocket on it, you can't take it with you, and if you sacrifice all the stuff that matters along the way, that's a lousy trade in my book. And I was fortunate. I came into this business at 26, and I was working with advisors that were twenty, thirty years older than me. So I kinda had a little peek into the future, and I was able to gain some of their wisdom. And I remember when I had my first child, they're like, dude, don't take this for granted. It's gonna go in the blink of an eye. Be at the ball games. Be at the family dinners because you can't ever get this time back. Unfortunately, listened to them. Not that I didn't miss some stuff along the way because this business can keep you busy, but now I have a 16 year old, and now it really makes sense. And I'm glad I didn't, and I think unfortunately a lot of people get sucked in to the production and finance celebrates the production. It's what they parade people across the stages for. And a business built with a proper blueprint can be done in a way you don't have to sacrifice success in business with significance in life. So that's really the pursuit here at Triad.
00:05:58 · Shannon Rosic
[00:05:58] S0: That's certainly a refreshing perspective, but you've actually had a front row seat to how advisory firms operate at different stages of growth. Right? So what's one thing you've noticed that separates firms that successfully scale from those that seem to maybe hit a ceiling regardless of how much tech or talent they add?