Brad Johnson: Welcome back to another episode of Do Business Do Life. Really excited for this one. I have James and Kris Rea here with us today. Welcome to the show.
James Rea: Thanks for having us.
Brad Johnson: Well, we already did a podcast before the podcast, so now it’s time to dive in for part two. But one of the things I love about you both is the energy you bring to every room you’re in, every conversation you’re in. And I have to go back. As we were talking before we hit record here, Jordan on our team, he’s the lead of our new member outreach. And I know Shawn’s heavily involved in some of those early conversations. Sometimes I really don’t meet members until they join Triad. And my first memory, I have two very distinct memories of you two.
The first one that I remember is I’m in my hotel room or at the Founder’s Retreat last year and Lake Tahoe. Beautiful. And this, I would call it like a caramel apple / I mean, there were layers to this thing. I mean, this thing is I’ve had many caramel apples in my life. This is off the charts on that scale and it was layers of caramel and chocolate. And the apple I think was the size of, like, a large softball. So, this thing gets delivered to our room and there wasn’t just one. There were a couple, I believe, and it said, “Hey, so thankful to be here. The Reas.” There was a little note with it. And I honestly thought like somebody did a room drop from the hotel like it was like some over-the-top thing.
And at that point, I don’t think I had met you guys in person yet. And so, that was my very first experience of the Reas and how you show up. And, Kris, I’m going to guess. I’m going to credit that to you. I don’t think that was James. I just remember just thinking like, “Wow. That’s quite the entrance that you all made to Triad.”
Kris Rea: Thank you. He pays for everything. I make everything.
James Rea: Yeah. The main story is as I buy the product, I’m the product purchaser. So, I purchase all the product.
Kris Rea: And I make it.
Brad Johnson: It’s a good partnership there.
James Rea: It’s a great partnership.
Brad Johnson: Well, and I know Colin on our team, he came out and ran with you, James, and you were kind enough to be kind of his running buddy. And you did it there. You went over the top and he stayed at your all’s house, and then it was like the coolest room welcoming of all time with like all of his favorite candy bars. So, what I will say is you all know how to make an entrance. You know how to love on others. And it’s just so cool to be around. And so, where does that come from? Have you always been that way? Is that something that over time has just been part of who the Reas are? Love to hear that part of the story.
Kris Rea: You can go ahead.
James Rea: Great. I would say it’s always been that way since we’ve been together. So, this year, December, 29 years of marriage, consecutive years of marriage, and a couple of her odd ones but consecutively…
Brad Johnson: And Kris enjoyed most of those years.
James Rea: Yeah. And I would say so many of those years were great, but.
Kris Rea: Honesty here.
James Rea: Kris has always been just a warming, warm-welcome kind of a person. And everybody just feels like they’re the most important and only person in the room when they meet Kris. So, it’s just beautiful. She loves to host. She is the hostess with the mostest. I think that saying was crafted because of Kris, so she’s amazing and she loves to throw parties, and she’s a huge giver and just loves to give. And so, I’ve learned to do that much better and learn to be a great host, provided a place to be a host. Yeah. It’s amazing. So, we love people.
Kris Rea: We raised the family like that because you want all the kids to come to your house. You don’t want the kids going to everybody else’s house. So, I was raised that way in Ohio, Midwest. He grew up in Detroit. And that’s how my family raised us and so we just passed that on to the kids as well. So, they’re doing it now. So, it’s repeating itself from third generation.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. I heard that. Actually, I went to a Dad’s Retreat in Philadelphia probably ten years ago now. And that was one of the dads shared that he said, “There’s one environment I know I can control or at least I have influence over.” Not always control. I can tell you that much. And that’s your home. And he said, “So, I created a home that all of my kids’ friends knew that we had an open door. Everybody was welcome because I wanted them here because I could influence that experience versus going to other areas that I couldn’t.” So, was that part of your thought process?
Kris Rea: Yeah, that’s exactly it. Yep.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Well, you create quite the experience. So, I see why people want to come over a lot. Well, let’s get to – there’s so much I want to get into today. Let’s save some of the do-life stuff for a little later on because what’s been really cool, we just kind of did the timeline of your all’s business growth, and it’s quite the story, from Indianapolis to Colorado to now Florida. So, let’s go to, I don’t want to downplay the time in Indiana and Colorado but really, even in the couple short years I’ve known you through Triad, an absolute transformation has happened. And I think a lot of that, James, you were sharing was kind of your thinking of here’s what the actual business model is.
So, do you want to give us kind of the CliffsNotes version of your journey through business and maybe here more recently? You’re on pace to between triple and quadruple this year. I want to get to that part because I’m sure there’s something a lot of advisors can learn from that.
James Rea: Yeah, sure. So, the process started. It’s just going out there and meeting with people, get in front of people. And I would say, for me, it’s just been a journey because I started really going into people’s homes. And I would meet with them and I went from house to house to house to house. And I’d leave in the morning and I’d run appointments all day and get home late at night. And that was really the journey. And that seemed like the only way to do it. And then one day just connected with some folks and said, “Maybe I just need to kind of transition and get more into the office and do that and start having people come meet me there.” And that was a journey and part of a process.
But if we were to kind of look through the whole journey, I would say there’s been a lot of transformation on the way we think and the way we see it, and the way to do business, and there’s better. And so, I’ve always been in pursuit of I tell everybody that we’re not perfect but we want to be and we strive for that. So, really want to be great, want to bring great value. And really, one of the things that you guys have helped us do is just learn how to craft the message and say it and kind of articulate really what our heart is. And what I’ve noticed is one of the comments that you guys made when we first met is you said the reason we do what we do is because of you because you’ve asked for these things.
And so, there’s a demand and we want to meet the need or meet the demand that’s out there. And really, it’s the same way in this business. And I’m sure everyone can relate that’s in this industry is that there’s a demand and folks need help in five major areas. And so, we know that and we talk about it. But really, truly we were selling product. We were selling insurance products to help people and felt like this was a really big need that they had. And they did. But it was just one area. And so, for me, coming from that background, I’ve really just taken a big shift to go say, “Hey, okay, instead of helping one area, we really do need to crap this out. So, we do need to start looking at all five of the important areas and build out our own proprietary process.”
And I will say maybe for some listening, for me, I really didn’t care about the name. I’m not a big title guy. I didn’t care about like, okay, we have a process. Well, I can look at someone else’s and go, “Hey, I like that infographic. Let’s just use that one.” And I think what was really big about the Triad team is they’re like, “Well, we could use something similar to that but we want it to be yours. We want you to own it. We want it to come from the heart.” And I’m like, “Okay. Well, I get that but I don’t know. I’m not great at creating or putting into it. Just I like that one. Let’s just use that.” They’re like, “Well, no. Actually, let’s dive or dig a little bit deeper.” That was huge for us.
So, 2020, we decided to move to Florida. Felt like we were supposed to move here, move to the Orlando area and kind of tested it out. Got a Regus office, just one office, and started doing meetings. Well, 2020 was COVID, as we all know, and there weren’t really any other advisors doing dinner events. And so, we started doing dinner events every month. Couldn’t do workshops because the libraries and the community centers, they weren’t open. So, we were just packing the room out and I just saw a huge need for people. And I just recognized I need to not just be selling a product but I need to provide a really amazing service. So, I went on the hunt to find an FMO that wasn’t just helping me to market with the next good hot marketing tip but could actually help me create a business of significance.
Brad Johnson: You touched on a couple of things. What you shared about, “Hey, that one looks good. Let’s just use that one.” You don’t know how common that is in financial services. And it’s not because you’re trying to be inauthentic. It’s because you’re so dang busy from my experience. It’s like I’m running appointments all day. I’m trying to drive revenue to keep the doors open and get the team paid and all of that. And so, there’s almost this resistance because it’s deep work. But it would be the equivalent of like if you and Kris basically said, “Hey, we’ve got some family stuff we’re doing and, yeah, let’s just borrow those families’ values or those families’ beliefs and we’ll just use theirs, right?”
But, I mean, you could and I’m sure there are some things you could pick up from other families but the truth is it wouldn’t speak to who you actually are. And that’s the thing that I’ve seen unlocked in Triad member firms when they take the time to do this deep work the right way, which can be painful. I mean, it’s like kind of you got to pull it out of you. And sometimes it’s kind of messy and it doesn’t come out perfect and it has to be refined. But when it gets there, there’s a belief. It’s like, “Here’s who we are. Here’s what we’re about.” And I’ve seen that unlocked from you all.
And, James, Kris, if either of you, you want to touch on that, I don’t want to put words in your mouth but I’ve kind of seen that transformation where it’s like, “Oh, let’s throw this on the website. Sounds good. That’ll work in the next workshop,” versus actually truly being it, and living it. So, how has that played out as you’ve gotten there?
James Rea: I would say that just in the office now there’s a passion around it. It has become really fun, running a lot of appointments and trying to crank out volume in business. That’s one aspect of it but it can lose its sense of fun. And I tell not everybody but many people that come here. And when we’re talking about the do business and do life portion, I say, “Hey, we enjoy coming to work. We really do. Like we love it. We can’t wait to come in and serve because we enjoy the people we are serving and working with.” And I said, “You know what, if you’re not a great person to be around and you’re not fun to work for or not having a good time, we’d rather not have you as a client.”
And I said, “I’m sure you feel the same way about us.” And so, it’s brought just some passion to say, “Hey, this is who we are. This is what we can do.” And I’m excited to talk about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it and how we can help. And I would say the one thing, as you describe that, that I’ve learned through this process over the last over a year now, is that process is if it was somebody else’s infographic, if it was just a nice marketing piece, I don’t really have any ownership into it. I’m not really that excited about it. I may be just trying to focus on sales versus focus on how we’re really serving and helping people. It’s really helped me to just I’m bought in and other people know it now.
And I had somebody say to me, I’ve had several people say that are like, “Wow. You’re really passionate about this.” And I said, “Well, that’s because what I found is sometimes I feel like we care more about your retirement than you do.” And that resonates with some people. They’re like, “It seems like you do.” I mean, like we really care. I mean we want to make sure that it goes well and I want to make sure that what we’re going to do, it’s going to be great and it’s going to go really well for you. So, yeah, we’re excited and I’m very, very thankful. I would recommend that anybody that hasn’t gone through this tough process, it’s almost like training. Like, it really is. I mean, because it is just waking up to go to the gym or go for a run or something, can feel some mornings like, “Man, I don’t want to do this today.”
The process can kind of feel like that a little bit and could be a little frustrating because you just want to get it done. You just want to, at least for me, for my personality, I just want to get out there and make it happen. It’s so worth going through the process.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Well, you said something. I don’t know if you said these exact words but how I would sum it up, there’s a belief that was created that wasn’t there before. Like, if you’re selling somebody else’s product, you kind of know you’re faking it. You’re like kind of, “Well, we’re selling and this kind of sounds good but it’s not truly us. It’s not authentic to us.” I truly believe sales is not a bad word. Sales is it’s a transfer of belief. And so, if you don’t actually know what you believe and what you’re about, it’s hard to transfer that belief.
So, I feel like what you’re describing is we helped you package even though it was like kind of messy and like you had to show up to a couple of training sessions but we’re pulling it out and I’m like, “What about this? What about that? Oh, that sounds good. Let’s go down that one. Okay. Yeah, let’s say it that way.” But once that belief was packaged, now you can transfer it and now it’s resonating. Do you think that’s a decent way to kind of talk?
James Rea: I do. I think you’re truly bought in to what you’re doing because you see the value and how it really can help. And it’s awesome. And it’s actually I speak differently about what we do now because I’m so confident that what we’re doing is really, really the best thing for somebody. It’s not about selling something. It really has been a huge shift. And I remember specifically when we got done speaking with Kristin Shea and we got done and she read the brand manifesto and she’s like, “That’s really good, isn’t it?” And I’m like, “That is really good.”
She’s like, “And that’s all you. All we’ve done is write down what you said. We just ask the right questions and we’ve written down what your response was. And here it is on one page. That’s you. We didn’t make this. We didn’t design it. It’s not our message. This is exactly what you want to be said. This is exactly how you feel. Now, you can articulate it to others.” And just, it’s been really, really great and people have resonated with it. And just, they’re so thankful and I hear it time and time again, “I’ve been with my financial advisor for five year or seven years, ten years, and they don’t do this. We need this. We need what you have.”
And that is just really great to help other people because ultimately the whole point is to help them not to get a sale. The whole point is to really help them and help their family. And it’s driven us to say, “We have to find a solution in these five worlds,” not just, “We have a pretty infograph so you could become our customer and now we’re going to sell you something.” No. The process has actually helped us become better advisors because now we have to go to the next step because we said we were going to. So, now we have to grow our team so we can have the right team to be able to help them to do it.
But I will say it’s a scary step to take for folks that are in our position because you’re going to have to walk away from the way you’ve done it, your way of thinking, and you’re going to have to trust. And just like every relationship, there has to be a sense of trust. And trust is earned but you have to give it up front. You have to say, “You know what? Okay. I’m going to take what you said, and I’m going to trust that what you’re saying is really going to be right because I’m about to walk away from a relationship, and I don’t like to walk away from relationships that I’ve built.” But if I’m going to improve, if I’m going to better, if I’m going to serve better, if I’m going to build a business that has significance more than just revenue, I’m going to have to take the step and trust it and trust the process and do it. So, I’m, yeah, thankful for that.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Well, you all have put in the work. I was joking with the friend the other day and back to it was there inside of you. I love that the team pointed the finger back at you like, “Hey, don’t give us credit that you’re the one that said it. We just wrote it down.” There’s a pretty decent-selling book out there that also the author didn’t write a word down himself. It’s called the Bible. And it’s sold a few copies and impacted a few lives. And so, that’s been the biggest disconnect that I’ve seen is it’s not that the advisor out there doesn’t believe that it’s important or doesn’t actually some have some of it in them of like, “Hey, here’s why we exist, here’s what we’re about, here’s how we want to serve our clients.”
It’s just messy to pull it out and package it and distill it. And that’s where our launch plan process, that’s what we figured out. Like, at one point, I think we were handing out little sheets and saying, “Hey, write this down.” And no homework was coming back. And we’re like, “We’ve got to pull this out. We’ve got to distill this out. That’s the only way it’s truly going to get done.” So, I love like it fires me up hearing you guys praise the team and how that’s impacted your business because it was a true partnership to get that out. And I love that. Kris, one of the things I’ve loved about the two of you, husband and wife team.
I know, Kris, you’ve more recently come in full-time on the team. How has that impacted your role? And really the role you’ve, correct me if I’m wrong, you’re really the first impression of the firm. And based on the caramel apple story, you need to stay in that chair. So, how has that impacted your role as you distill, “Hey, here’s what we’re about”? Whether it’s booking appointments or greeting clients when they come in or prospects, how has that changed the conversations you’re having?
Kris Rea: I would say I am first impressions so as soon as they come to the door, they get to greet me and I have warm cookies waiting for them. Not apples but warm cookies. So, getting lots of love from that. And when he and I first started and I was taking care of the kids, I didn’t have to do much in the agency but now, with them all grown, I’ve stepped into full-time, which is a whole another role, and I book appointments and conversations with Nick. I strictly text. I do not call anybody because my armpits sweat immediately like that. I am not a caller. I’m a texter. So, that has helped even the response I think with all of the prospects, like it’s all texting and everybody is completely fine with that. Whether he wants to agree with me or not, I get responses all the time.
Brad Johnson: I bet you use a few emojis.
James Rea: Talking about me?
Kris Rea: I think, yeah.
Brad Johnson: I bet you use a few emojis in your text. Is that fair?
James Rea: So many emojis.
Kris Rea: Not a lot but professional ones.
Brad Johnson: Yeah, I like it. I like it.
Kris Rea: Yes. And I just would say bringing on Wes and Darienne for more people in the office also gives credibility and relieves a little bit of us having to do everything.
James Rea: Yeah.
Kris Rea: So, we’re looking for a COO.
James Rea: Operations.
Kris Rea: Operations. And I think that will be another great step in the team and help us grow tremendously as well because it takes more off of his plate. Again, we’re starting to divide and conquer and it’s really been coming great.
Brad Johnson: You all I told you this sooner together out in Franklin at the Michael Hyatt mastermind. Oftentimes I see in our industry, so husbands and wives where they’re partners and sometimes it’s like typically the guy. It’s not always the guy but most times the guy is the advisor, founder, or most time the spouse is kind of comes into an ops role and oftentimes almost drug there a little bit because it’s like the husband comes home, he’s like, “Honey, I need help,” and you’re like, “Okay. I guess it’s me.” But what I love about how you’ve started to intentionally grow the firm, Kris, I love the honesty. And if there’s husbands and wives out there or family-based firms, yes, there’s a job that needs to be done, and there are job descriptions in every firm.
And as you grow and start to specialize and create career tracks, that’s really important. But I mean, it’s your all’s business. This is a partnership, right, both at work and at home. And I love you said, “Hey, I don’t want that job and I’m really good at this job, Director of First Impressions, and that’s what brings me joy and that’s what I’m good at. So, I’m good here. Let’s now hire for a Director of Ops.” And oftentimes I see spouses kind of get pulled into career tracks that they don’t really enjoy. Sometimes they don’t even have the skill set but it’s kind of by default, “Well, I guess you’re doing that one, honey.” So, I just want to commend you for that. And by the way, I would never take you out of that role because you’re really, really good at it. That’s a superpower.
Kris Rea: Thank you.
Brad Johnson: So, how did you all come to that? Was that on our coaching side or was that conversations between you two as far as the dynamics in the office of who does what? Or how did you arrive at that decision?
James Rea: Yeah. Really, in the beginning, it was just okay. You’re the one that’s going to handle the problems and you’re going to be the one that meets the clients upfront. And it just kind of started off that way. In this change here, when we just open up this office here, it made sense. We made the decision, “Hey, let’s just go ahead and get new space, get new office space, and then we’ll start to look for help. But we’ll just start here. We’ll start.” And so, it all just really come together in really a short period of time. I mean, it took us about eight months to find the right space to have it built out, to set it up, but that was a big transition for us through the process and then just getting ready to…
Kris Rea: What was commitment too.
James Rea: And a big commitment, right? You know, it’s just saying, “Hey, because I think a lot of times in our career as advisor, there’s different paths, there’s different directions but you kind of get to a point where it’s like, “Okay. Do I want to coast or do I want to really grow? Do I want to build? Do I want to help a lot of people? And what does that look like?” So, for us, we got married young. We had kids young.
Kris Rea: Sexy grandpa.
James Rea: Thank you, honey. Yeah. We have grandkids now so it’s kind of like what do you want to do? But we found that we love spending time together. I mean, for some people, that probably feel over the top. And I hear when you meet so many people, they’re like, “Man, if my husband gets ready to retire, I don’t know if I can handle home all day.” I’m like, well, we’re at home together. We work together. We play together. We do all kinds of stuff together, stuff I won’t share on this but amazing stuff.
Brad Johnson: Well, we’ll transition.
James Rea: Pickleball, Brad.
Kris Rea: That’s what we’re talking about, Brad.
Brad Johnson: I love it. Hey, that’s where I was going too. Lots of pickleball in Florida. So, let’s go to the roadmap because as we were prepping, there’s like a massive inflection point here. And so, I’m just going to give the numbers since you all got to Florida. And so, 2021, which was your first full year in business down there, you moved in 2020, kind of open shop, 8 million primarily I think really grew up on the insurance side. Obviously, you’ve added a UM as the business has evolved. So, these are just total assets. Eight million in 2021. Eight million in 2022. 2023, 8 to 10 mil. This year, 2024, you’re pacing for around 36 mil, which is between a 3X and a 4X. So, 8, 8, 8 to 10, boom, it pops.
You shared one other thing that I just want to kind of seed the conversation, and I want to get your all’s thoughts. You grew up on the FMO side of the business, same side of the business I grew up on, the insurance side. At one point, James, you were kind of recruiting for an FMO, trying to stack advisors underneath of you. You had mentioned, “Hey, there’s a lot of shiny objects out there. There’s a lot of TV and radio programs.” And in fact, I believe you had close to a 250K marketing budget that was kind of paid for with one group where they were like paying for seminars as long as you helped write the business through them. And you walked away from that.
Because you said, “I was kind of stuck. I was kind of selling, selling, selling, and I wasn’t able to build a business that was bigger than me that created significance.” Let’s talk about that impact because it’s rare in this business. I see 8, 8, 8 to 10, 36. Can you give me the, if you were coaching an advisor and saying, “These are the two or three things that we’ve done that changed the game for us,” what would that be? It obviously wasn’t tied to free marketing.
James Rea: No, it’s not. And in the next marketing shiny object and that’s what a lot of us have been programmed to look for as like, “Oh, if you just do this marketing, you’re going to make so much, you’re going to do this much more business. You just have to do this. You should do TV. You should do radio. You should do this workshop. You should use this system.” Not that some of those aren’t really good but there’s only so much time in the day. And what’s your priority? I mean, you’re going to work seven hours a week? You can only do so much. And so, to me, it was a mindset. It was a mindset shift. And so, I would say for like a stand-alone producer who might even have two or three or four office staff but they’re meeting with everybody.
They’re like, they think the sun rises and falls on them. They have to make the sale so nobody can sell as good as them. That’s just not true. You need to surround yourself with A players. You need to make the investment and having a solid team, and just getting with the right community and around the right people. If you’re going into insurance events that are about selling more annuities, then you’re going to be around other people that think similar to that. And that’s just kind of a repeated cycle. And I just recognized that we needed to make a big change, and we needed to step back and say, “Okay. Maybe we should go and play in a different pond. Maybe we should have some different influences in our lives.”
Maybe we should just humbly submit to saying, “Okay, teach me,” because it can be really easy to say, “Oh, how long you’ve been in the business?” “Well, I’ve only been in this almost 25 years.” “Well, that sounds so great.” But if you have been in the business for 25 years but you really only have one year’s experience 25 times over and over year after year, it didn’t really change much. Well, so what? Who cares? I mean, to me, I wanted to learn how to be better and serve better. And I knew if I kept doing the same thing I’d been doing, I’m just going to keep getting the same results. And as you share the numbers, that’s really what it was. And I was ready for a change.
And I actually spoke with other FMOs and they said, “I don’t know. Do you really believe going there that there’s a person doing 30 million a year? I mean, how is that even possible?” Maybe they have five advisors over there and, you know.” No, it’s really that possible that you could have a really solid team that you could build it. But we only know what we know. And so, if you’re at a firm, they only know what they know. And again, it’s not a bad or a good thing. I mean, the place that we were with that there are awesome people. I mean, they’re amazing people. And it was really hard to say, “You know what, we’re going to have to make a decision to leave,” because you have a relationship with them. They’re great folks.
They just don’t know how to do this or they’re just doing something different. Maybe they do or they don’t. I don’t know, but they’re just trying to focus on marketing, not on holistic planning. That has been a game-changer. And I knew it would be. I just felt it in my heart. I’m like, “I know we have to make a change, which means it’s going to cost. We’re going to have to have some skin in the game. We’re going to have to maybe do less business for a little bit to ramp up and build this up.” And that’s exactly what happened. I mean, we kind of went down a little bit and it’s like nobody wants that. None of us. But that’s okay. You got to keep the big picture. You got to look down the road.
And we are so excited about this year. The second piece I would add to that is building out a really solid team, changing the way you think. All those combined or where we’re having success now is because we’ve connected with people that have been there and done it, and we’ve connected with some amazing advisors through this process with you guys. We’ve been able to collaborate. One of the greatest things I think that Triad does is they bring other awesome folks that are like-minded and that’s been awesome.
Brad Johnson: I didn’t want to interrupt there. That is so much wisdom. I’ve never heard it said that way. You have 25 years’ experience but maybe you just have one year’s experience 25 times. And that is the most eloquent way I’ve ever heard a lot of what I’ve seen in this industry. And here’s the deal, like you said, there are so many great companies out there, so many great people. I love this industry. I love human relationships and that’s one of the reasons I love this business. But there is a lot of false playbooks advertised. And oftentimes what I see as the playbook is more designed for the FMO, the BD, the RIA, than it is the advisor because it’s like, “Oh, here’s my program. Fill in the blank: TV, radio, seminar.”
And now they can do the same playbook 25 times, or 50 times or 100 times or a thousand times in some organization but it’s not built for you. It’s built for them. Mass manufacturing, right? And so, that’s why like going back full circle as you distill like what makes you all distinct and unique, that’s hard. Like, to pull that out, like you said, it was like going to training but once we got there, now we’ve got your distinct brand and now that’s scalable. Back to talent and growing the team, the team shared this with me so I hope you don’t mind that I share it. So, originally, it was the two of you. And that was, was that pretty much the whole team?
James Rea: One of our daughters, Brittany. She was the first.
Brad Johnson: Okay. So, Brittany. And Kris was also part-time at this time, right?
Kris Rea: Yes.
James Rea: Yes.
Brad Johnson: So, it was James full-time or more than full-time some days.
Kris Rea: Was like two-time.
Brad Johnson: So, James was two, he was doing double. He was doing two people’s work. And then we had Kris and Brittany both part-time. And that was probably that 8 million, 8 million, 8 to 10 million time period. And the team shared. So, you mentioned Wes on the team who’s a rock star. I’ve had the chance to meet him. And you were just I think the light switch was just coming on. So, it was somewhere in this time period you’re like, “Hey, I think we do need to hire.” And oftentimes what I’ve seen from a lot of advisors over the years it’s looking at their team and their talent on the wrong side of the equation, and they’re looking at it as an expense, like, “Okay. Well, if I hire this person for 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or 60, what’s the least I can kind of fill that role to make sure I take this off my plate?”
And there was a switch there where I think at one point, James, you were trying to hire one person to fill two roles, and the team challenged you a little bit and said, “Well, first off, those are two very different roles, and the budget that you have is not going to hire anybody that’s any good.” And I think to your credit, you were super coachable. You were humble and like, “Okay. Well, help me understand.” And so, we said, “Well, flip the equation. Let’s look at it as an investment into your company and the talent and who’s going to deliver on those promises you’re making to your clients.” And I feel like you’re like, “Oh, I’ve never thought that way or been coached that way before.”
And now you look at Wes. How much has West taken off your plate by hiring great talent and bringing in A player into the game? Just talk through maybe if you’re talking to your old self or an advisor out there that’s maybe stuck in that mindset, how has that shifted for you? And, Kris, feel free to like if you’ve got thoughts there too, jump in.
Kris Rea: I would say, personally, we probably wouldn’t have waited that long because he’s such an asset to our team and an asset to James, and it makes life more doable.
James Rea: And to explain more doable, maybe just expound on that a little bit too, I agree with Kris that the more doable part is as it’s more fun, right? So, Wes is servicing and pure planner kind of combo here for us right now. He sits in with all the meetings that we have. Wes had really good background, graduated, went into this industry from college straight away, and has some good background. And we gel really well. Wes is a great guy, family guy, has a couple of young girls, one and five. And so, he’s funny. He’s great to be with. We’re really, really thankful to have him as part of the team and his wife, Amanda, as well. Like, we invite her to our company events because we’re a small organization and we want her to feel part of the family love as well.
So, it’s just been a game-changer and just a win-win. I think part of what our messaging is, is we want to help people live long and finish strong. And what we mean by that is not just about living a long time but living a life of meaning and purpose. And then the finishing strong part is helping people create a multi-generational impact that’s bigger than money. Well, we don’t want to only do that for clients. We want to do that for our team as well. So, we want to help our team. We want Wes and Darienne and Brittany and Kris and I. Like, we want to live long and finish strong too as well. So, it’s really shifted the dynamics. So, all the thought process that went into have client acquisition actually has turned into team acquisition, right?
So, now we want to see our team thrive and we really do care more about just having somebody who’s doing a job. So, Wes shows up into the meetings. He’s sending all the meeting recaps. He’s bringing the structure to that. And really, frankly, I wouldn’t have time to do all those things to free up. And so, we talk about the things we enjoy doing or maybe things that are in the drudgery zone. Some of the Michael Hyatt languaging and some of the languaging that you guys have and that we have incorporated is like there are some things that he can fly through that’s not necessarily a drudgery zone but for me, it’s like I don’t enjoy it at all nor do I really have time to go through all that. So, it’s shifted the mindset but, yeah, Wes is a great part of the team. Really thankful to have him as part of the team.
Brad Johnson: I heard it said in a coaching session one time. A-players are free. And I thought about that. I’m like, “Wait, A-players are pretty expensive,” if you look at their salary because the best people I found in this industry typically already have a job. They’re not just out there surfing Indeed. They’re working somewhere and probably pretty well taken care of. But then this business coach kind of unpacked it and he said, “Well, here’s the thing. An A player, they do like 3X of the work of a C player. And so, yeah, you might pay a C player 20K less annually but an A player is doing 3X the work and they care and they’re passionate about it. And you don’t have to do all this follow-up and say, “Hey, where’s that email I asked you to answer two weeks ago?” And Wes is that type of guy.
And the other thing you hit also, James, is and I’ve found this to be very true. Most founding advisors are great salespeople, great relationship people. That’s how they grew the firm in the first place. They tend to be pretty not great at service. No offense. Like, you’re not passionate about it and you’ve got 500 other things going on. And so, if it’s a resistance of, “Well I’ve got to do that or I’ve got to do that.” Dan Sullivan talks about what if procrastination was a source of wisdom. And so, here’s all the stuff I’m putting off, which probably means it’s drudgery zone, which probably means I’m not doing a very good job at it anyway, which probably means I shouldn’t be doing it and I should fire myself from that job.
And the cool thing is when you do that now, that’s somebody else’s desire zone. They’re crushing it. Your clients are getting loved on more. They’re getting taken care of better. And now you’re over here making more sales because you’re not getting bogged down with all the stuff you’re not good at anyway. Like, it’s not that complicated. But once you unlock that, it’s like you have a superpower in business. It’s like, “Where’s this been hiding the last 20 years?” So, I’m just starting to see you go down that and I feel like you’re in the first or second inning of that, so I can only imagine where you’re headed. But the results are obviously there, 3X to 4X over any prior year. So, any other thoughts around that, just if you’re coaching up advisors out there like, “Oh, here’s another breakthrough I’ve had from a mindset perspective”?
James Rea: Yeah. I would say that if we just talking down that line about bringing in a service advisor, if you’re a sales advisor oriented, I mean, the way our industry is, is there’s the paraplanner, there’s the service advisor, and there’s the sales advisor, and they’re all really, really important. And so, for me, being the more sales advisor driven, I need a service advisor who can make sure we’re getting good service so we can increase our referrals. I mean, I want to increase our referrals, and I have to come to the understanding that better services are going to do that naturally. So, one of the things that Triad coaches too is, “Hey, what is the standard of pay out there for each role?”
So, right now we’re going through looking for our operations manager, and I’ll just use that as the example. Same thing with the advisor. So, if you’re looking to bring somebody on to do that, it’s recommended, maybe you’re paying at least 10% above what the going rate is. And I know there’s a range. And it’s not that you’re just wasting money or wanting to overpay to buy somebody. No, you just want to make sure they’re taken care of. You want to make sure that they’re happy and they’re going to not be looking if they’re compensated well. I mean, because I think at the core of it, we all just want to know that feel good about ourselves and know that we’re taken care of. And we want to bring value.
The right players, the A players, if they didn’t do a great job, I think that’s going to hit them hard. They want to be great. And we strive for that. I would say, “Look, we want to be great. Let’s finish strong. Let’s do the right thing.” And if we didn’t, then let’s have extreme ownership and say, “You know what? I let you down. I got the ball on that one but not going to do it again.” And so, right, Kris?
Kris Rea: Be better.
James Rea: Be better. That’s what we say around here.
Brad Johnson: Just better.
James Rea: Be better.
Kris Rea: Be better.
Brad Johnson: But you say it with a smile on your face, right?
James Rea: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Kris Rea: If it hurts your feelings, you have to say ‘shiplap’ first because that’s the safe word, shiplap.
James Rea: Darienne and I in our office put up some shiplap. We were changing some rebranding and had to change it kind of the front wall and everything. And everybody decided on, “Let’s go with some shiplap.” So, we were putting it up one day and it was a long day. We were getting to the end of the day and I’m kind of a hands-on guy. And so, Darienne really likes that. So, we’re spending time together. We have a few boards to go and attitudes are getting high, some of us were getting hungry and I said, “Now, Darienne, I’m about to say something, and if I do, I think our keywords are going to be ‘shiplap.’ So, that just means it’s going to be encouraging and it’s going to be good but brace yourself.” So, shiplap’s our word.
Brad Johnson: I like it. Then that’s the thing. You guys have fun and you don’t take yourselves too seriously. It’s just like your nickname, J2H, you know Jimmy too hot. I knew we’d find a way to work it in here somewhere.
Kris Rea: You like that one. Don’t you?
Brad Johnson: I do. That’s one of my favorite nicknames that I’ve heard in the industry. We’re going to hit do life before we’re done here. So, I’m watching the clock. We’re going to get to it. But you hit one other thing there, James, that I think is really important. So, when you said, “Hey, we want A players only,” and now you’ve unlocked like, “Hey, we’re willing to pay for an A player because they’re worth it.” You hit one other thing and this is just like simple human psychology but let’s just say I’m making 100,000 a year and I’m working for another firm. I’m just in round numbers here. And now I look at your Indeed ad and it’s at 80,000 or 90,000 or 100,000. One of the things I know about human psychology is we all resist change.
You know, it’s like, “Well, I’m not like super excited about the job I’m in. I don’t love where I work. But this is a for sure, that’s a maybe, and it’s a neutral move or a negative move if it’s below the current salary.” But I’ll tell you what. If that same person is making 100,000 and they see a 110,000, I promise, now they’re at least if they’re not super excited where they’re at, they’re willing to dip their toe in the water and click submit and say, “Oh, it’s worth the conversation.” And that’s all you need. Because the truth is you get in a conversation and now you’re saying things like what you just said, “Hey, we want to live long and finish strong both for our clients and for our team. And what we’re known for is helping our clients realize their capacity to do great things and things bigger than themselves.”
Now they’re like, “Wait, I’ve never heard this before.” And so, some of this stuff we overcomplicate it in finance, I feel like, because when you step back and just observe, you’re like, “Well, that’s a no-brainer. Why haven’t I been doing that for the last 25 years?” All right, I’ll get off my soapbox. But anything else before? I want to spend the last 20 or so. You guys have an incredible personal story and we would not be doing you justice if we didn’t dive into some of that. That was why I immediately fell in love with the two of you when I met you guys the first time. So, anything on the business front that you’re like, “Hey, we think this could really help some advisors out there, some offices out there,” that we haven’t covered on that front?
Kris Rea: I would say the leap is worth it, to hire when you’re thinking you can’t hire or get the office when you don’t think you can get the office. It’s good.
James Rea: Yeah, I think so too. I agree with Kris. And I think just setting the vision and just kind of determining what you want to do and not to just kind of have status quo. But one of the things that we tell our clients and we tell our team, and I guess I would tell you is that we think you can do more than you think you can do, and you can be more than you think you can be. We tell our clients, “Retirement is just the beginning of that. We don’t want to see yourself fading into the sunset. We want to see you rising.”
We tell our team, “Look, this isn’t like, ‘Oh, great. I have a job now.’ No, we’re going to grow. We can be more than we think we can be. We can do more than we think we can do. And together we’re going to do it. And this is the vision and this is what we’re looking at. And I would say for you guys, I think you can be more than you think you can be. You know, you might even be a big thinker. You might even see big visions. But I think you can do more. And so, when you line yourself up with the right people, you will do it. You will do more than you think.
And you just have to be brave enough and bold enough in your own security to say, “You know what? I’m going to do this,” and then be a man or woman of your word to say, “Okay, I’m going to do it. Write it down. Okay, guys, what’s the goal? It’s this. And what’s the stretch goal? It’s this?” It’s like, “Wow. We can do it.” But to do it, well, now we have to hire a team. Now, we need to do this. So, it’s almost like if you if you’re the kind of folks that your word means something you want to do, say what you do and do what you say kind of thing, you’re going to have an uncomfortable moment to do it but then the great part is, is you’re going to do it. It’s going to happen.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Language creates, right?
Kris Rea: Yep.
James Rea: Yeah.
Brad Johnson: You guys are prime examples of that. Well, on that front, the second memory that I didn’t get to, so the first memory was the massive caramel apple memory. The second one was we all had a chance to go to the New York Stock Exchange together, and we had a dinner. I believe it was Delmonico’s, wasn’t it?
James Rea: Yeah.
Kris Rea: It was something fabulous.
James Rea: First steakhouse in America.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. The very cool little property. It’s been there a long time. And so, we were down in the basement and you had a rowdy table from what I remember. And so, we had a chance to grab a conversation that night. I think I was a table over and you shared a really cool story. And faith has been obviously a big part of both of your lives but you shared kind of, James, the inflection point. And I believe it was a late night of poker. And you shared that with me. And I remember you were real and raw, and I immediately was like, man, the level of respect I had for both of you. But, James, like when you sat down and made that decision, that was a really cool conversation. And so, if you wouldn’t mind, I would love if you would share it here because I think there are so many life lessons that come out of that decision that you made that night.
James Rea: Okay. Well, I will but as long as Kris doesn’t cry because not too many people get me to cry but Kris is one of them.
Brad Johnson: Okay. I think we’re too late, James.
James Rea: Dang it. Well, Kris and I got married young and we got married because I always say there are two decisions I made in my life that were the best decisions I ever made.
Kris Rea: Number two.
James Rea: And actually, in the proper order of when I made them, the number one decision was that I was dating this girl who was so good-looking and so much fun and just this little tiny athlete. And I was like, “Gosh, this girl was different. There’s something about her.” And she got pregnant. And that was like when my world, like, stopped for a minute. And I just turned 21. It was just like a few weeks after I turned 21 and I’m just like, “Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?” And I really, I believe for the first time in my life, I thought about all the ramifications of my decisions. I didn’t do that very often at that time in my life. And this, for a moment, I thought, “Well, the right thing to do is to stand up and be a solid man and ask her to marry me and raise my own kid,” but I had a lot of other thoughts, too.
But that’s the decision I came to as I was like, “I got to ask her to marry me. I mean, like, she’s amazing.” I want to, anyways. And so, I asked her and it was tough but she said yes. And that’s sort of our journey. And so, the first few years of marriage were really tough and 18 months later we had our second child. And then I found myself just kind of working a lot and we had a lot of fun together but we also had some really hard times together, too. It was kind of just kind of like an emotional roller coaster and relationally. And I think both of us just wished the other one would just say, “I’m done with you,” and that would have made it easier on the other one.
But what I will say is, because of God, we were kept together. And I would also say because of commitment and having our parents teach us what commitment looked like, that we knew that like we’re committed like even though this is tough, we’re committed to it. And one day I was playing poker. I was out in the garage because I smoked at that time. I was a heavy smoker for quite a few years and I smoked in the garage. And we were having a poker night. And about 1:00, 2:00 in the morning, somebody got up to leave. They’re like, “Man, I got to go to church tomorrow with my family.” And I said, “You know what? I think I’m going to go to church tomorrow too.” And the whole table laughed. They’re like, “No way, you go to church?” I’m like, “What?”
And it was like I always used to say I hate hypocrites. And at that moment, I just kind of looked up when I was like, “You guys are idiots,” and I had some choice words, and I saw the face of Christ as like he was up in my attic looking at me and I was just rocked. I felt like a total hypocrite and a total loser, frankly. And I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I’m not a Christian. I don’t live my life for the Lord.” I grew up in a Christian home, asked the Lord into my heart as a young boy, but I wasn’t serving God. I was not a disciple of the Lord at all. And it was very clear because nobody could even believe I would go to church. The next two weeks, I mean, I was pretty much rocked and I thought, “You know what? I’m not going to be a lukewarm Christian. I’m not going to pretend. I’m either all in or I’m all out, one of the two.”
And a few weeks later, we went to church and we were together and our little kids were in the little kids’ church, and we were sitting in the service and a gal named Marilyn Hickey, she’s still alive, I think she’s 93 years old, this little evangelist from Denver, Colorado, sweet little red-haired lady, she was preaching. And when I was a boy going to school, my mom played her tapes or cassette tapes in the car. And so, I knew who she was. And she said, “Some of you sitting here today,” she’s like, “You’re just living a life that’s yuck, yuck, yuck.” And she’s like, “You just need to recommit your heart to the Lord.” And she said, “Some of you need to recommit your marriage to the Lord too.”
Kris Rea: Darn it!
James Rea: I almost made it. Oh, thank you. I need to do this. She deserves… My kids deserves this. So, I said, “I’m going up and I’m going to live my life for the Lord. I’m going to serve you. I’m going to love you.” And that was like a pivotal moment in my life and in our marriage. And it just like wasn’t an instant thing. It was in my heart. And then my actions were going to catch up to my heart. And I realized one day that I didn’t actually love Kris. I said it. We were in a relationship. We were married. We had a family. But I didn’t know the definition of love. And it wasn’t until I got to know God and I found out that God, like we have the verb, the action of love, right? But God is the noun. He is love. And the definition of love is patience, kind, not self-seeking, not easily angered.
And so, I started to understand what love was and I’m like, “Wait a second. I’m getting angry with you. I don’t know. That’s not love. I’m easily angered. That’s not love. I’m not being patient with you. That’s not love. I’m not being kind. That’s not love.” So, I thought, I need to learn. I need a relationship with love himself, with the creator of heaven and earth, so that I can then now love others the way he’s called me to love. And so, there are different definitions of love and I started to like really just go all in to learn who love is so that I can then love others the way that I love myself as a disciple of Christ. That’s what we’re taught to do, right? Love others as we would love ourselves. And so, that has been my process.
And from there, our marriage has taken an amazing turn. Our family, we had two other children. We have four now. We have three grandchildren. And sometimes I just think I’m so thankful. So thankful.
Brad Johnson: That’s beautiful.
Kris Rea: He’s got you crying now, too.
Brad Johnson: I know. Well, here’s the thing. I created this podcast to have real conversations, not surface-level. That’s real. And thanks for sharing that. I promise right now somebody is listening or watching that that hit them deep. Pieces of that hit me deep. I don’t think anybody goes into a marriage or goes into parenthood and this feels like, “Hey, I really plan to lose it on my spouse or kids.” But what happens, it’s like sometimes those closest to us we treat the worst. And without working on yourself. And really like what I heard there, James, also was like you went deep into here’s how I’m showing up, and I don’t really like how I’m showing up. And you made the choice to commit yourself to a different path and a different action. And I love that, man.
And you didn’t share that in depth of it so I’m glad you did here that I remember when you shared it, I was like, “Wow. That’s powerful.” And you shared a little bit of a story of when you were in Indianapolis, how you were running a basketball league, and you created a community of those that needed it. Many from the streets, right?
James Rea: Yeah, yeah.
Brad Johnson: And their ticket to admission was what? A Bible verse. It was a Bible verse or a couple of bucks. That was the option, right?
Kris Rea: $9.
James Rea: Well, at the time, it was $2. Yeah. When I first started, it was $2 they could pay to play, open gym, two courts, loser court, winner court. It was awesome. We had, well, at one point I was texting about 1,000 guys a week just this Bible verse so they could come. And that’s one of the best seasons. About six years I did that, and every week we had 50, 60 guys show up every single week, sometimes up to 100. But, yeah, just open gym but competitive, score clock running, ton of fun. Love the community and seeing God do just a lot of amazing things in their lives and got to connect with them and that was amazing.
Brad Johnson: Well, that little red-haired evangelist, I promise you, there’s a couple of guys roaming around Indianapolis right now. They’re like, “There was this guy, Jimmy James,” whatever you went by back then and I promise they’re still telling stories about you, so that’s cool. Well, I know we’re about to the stop here. The other thing I’ve loved about both of you, I mean, we talked about just the energy you bring into the room, the positivity, you’re always pushing yourselves. So, James, you were just, the Boston Marathon was not too long ago.
Kris Rea: Yeah.
Brad Johnson: What, a handful of months ago?
James Rea: Yeah.
Kris Rea: Yeah.
Brad Johnson: And you didn’t get one of those provisional qualifications. You actually qualified.
James Rea: I then got accepted.
Brad Johnson: What is the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon?
James Rea: It depends on your age. So, it changes. It starts at if you’re 18 to 34, you have to break three hours and then for the next five years, every five years after that, they add some extra five minutes. So, for me, I was 49 when I ran it. And so, I had to break 3, 20 but they turned 12,000 people away this year because that many had qualified so they eliminated. So, this year, for my time, I would have had to have ran 3, 14, three hours and 14 minutes and 30s to actually get accepted to it. And my time was three hours and ten minutes. So, I qualify, I got accepted, and so it was a pretty long journey to do that. I mean, in the scope of things, it was a pretty short journey but for me, it felt pretty long.
But I kind of set out. I said, “You know what? I just started running during COVID,” put on a few pounds. I thought, “Man, I better have exercise,” and I always thought it’d be cool to run the Boston Marathon. And so, I told Kris. I said, “I think I’m going to run a marathon.” She said, “I think you’re going to get hurt.”
Kris Rea: Honesty, honesty.
Brad Johnson: She was picturing the guy that was smoking cigarettes in her garage back in the day. It was probably what she was thinking.
Kris Rea: Every eight minutes, baby. Every eight minutes.
James Rea: Yeah. She was. Well, and now, I mean, amazingly, I have not smoked since 2003. So, it’s been 21 years. I’m thankful for that. And I was told that I had sports-induced asthma because of it. God has completely restored me to the point where, yeah, I was able to qualify and run the Boston Marathon and fulfill just a cool dream. And really, for me, the highlight of that, it was a tough day. It was hot. It wasn’t my best race at all. And I probably think it was my slowest and worst. It was really tough from just that part of it but my walk away and my highlight was, again, I tell people I want to do what I say. I tell people we can do more than we think we can do and be more than we think we can be.
And when it comes to our spiritual health and our physical health and that type of thing, for me, it was a journey. And I’ve always wanted to be an inspiration to my family and then to others after that. And I thought, “You know what? I’m going to try to do more than I think I can do.” And so, it’s been a journey. And when I started it, I couldn’t even run a 5K at the pace that I’ve been trying to achieve. So, it’s really been awesome. I’m thankful. But my family was there and we got to spend a week in Boston, learn about our nation’s history, and part of it there and got to do this dream. And we were all there. And, to me, that was the highlight, having them all there, seeing me run down Boylston and cross the finish line was pretty awesome.
Kris Rea: It was amazing.
Brad Johnson: I saw a lot of the pictures, which, by the way, Kris, let’s get some. I think the team has some but you are rocking the DBDL jersey, which was awesome.
Kris Rea: Yeah.
James Rea: Actually, yeah. Actually, yup. My singlet, it was DBDL.
Brad Johnson: We’ve officially made it Triad. The DBDL jersey has been worn in the Boston Marathon.
James Rea: It has. And I just want you to know all those people when I was running because they drive you in buses all the way out of town and you run back. So, you’re running through all these towns to run all the way back to downtown Boston. And I heard it so many times, “Go DBDL!” Like, from the crowd because they could see it on the singlet. So, they’re just like, “DBDL!” They didn’t know what it means and probably drunk, I don’t know, but just having a blast. And so, I heard it all through the race. It was really cool.
Brad Johnson: That’s awesome. Well, and I know Kris went all out. I saw all the signs and everything all along the way. So, that’s an awesome memory. Well, this has been just a stellar conversation. I knew it would be. Every conversation I always have with y’all is just I always learn something new and I’m inspired. So, check all of that today and a few tears along the way. So, thank you so much for sharing so openly being who you are. I love having you as a part of Triad and happy Friday. Enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy the weekend.
Kris Rea: We do love being with you.
James Rea: Thanks for having us and thanks for all you and what the team does.
Kris Rea: Yeah.
James Rea: It’s been an amazing blessing.
Kris Rea: See you.
Brad Johnson: Appreciate, y’all.
Kris Rea: See you soon.
James Rea: Founders Retreat, we’ll see you.
Brad Johnson: On a pinch, let’s go. All right. See you all.
Kris Rea: Bye.
