Brad Johnson: Well, Keith, welcome to another episode of Do Business. Do Life. This one is special because you took the road trip from Iowa all the way from Dubuque to come do it in person. So, here at Triad Headquarters, and excited to dive in and have a fun conversation today. Welcome to the show.
Keith Leverentz: Thank you. Really excited to be here.
Brad Johnson: So, Keith Leverentz, or as we were just joking, Keith Lev-rah if you want to go with the French pronunciation of a German name.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. Much cooler.
Brad Johnson: Let’s dive in. You were sharing before we hit record here, you have a really cool journey of how you got into, first, insurance, then financial planning. And back in the day, you were a school teacher. And then one fateful day, you had somebody visit the school, and the next thing you know, you’re jumping into this business. So, I’d love to hear your version of that story.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. So, I was teaching high school science at a Christian school. And for some weird reason, $13,000 a year wasn’t quite cutting it for a wife and kid, and myself. So, I was setting up some life insurance with a guy, and I said, “So, what’s it like being in this industry?” He said, “Well, I’m coming over Saturday to explain it.” Apparently, he was also kind of a recruiter for the crew. So, he came. We had a great conversation, and after several weeks of prayer and consideration, we found that that was my last year in the classroom, and now we’re teaching adults about finances.
Brad Johnson: Wow. How long have you been a teacher at that point?
Keith Leverentz: Four years. An illustrious four-year education career.
Brad Johnson: So, you make this jump from teaching high school science. My understanding, it was a captive insurance agency. And pretty quickly, it seemed like you started to have some success. Were there some growing pains there getting in, or did you kind of naturally just jump into it?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah, I feel like early on I realized that I didn’t want to do what I would call sell. I wanted to plan. I don’t know if that’s coming from the science teacher, the old scientific method, but I really enjoyed the planning with clients. And the logic was, “Hey, if I can show you a financial outlook that’s better because of these different financial tools, why wouldn’t people want to implement?” And sure enough, turns out they do. If you can show how it benefits them, then they’re eager to implement the tools needed.
Brad Johnson: So, you were kind of running it like a science experiment. This plus that gets this outcome.
Keith Leverentz: Right.
Brad Johnson: Interesting.
Keith Leverentz: And then if you can show the plan and help them to realize that, “Hey, this is…” that transferred the belief pretty quick.
Brad Johnson: Okay. So, I want to fast forward because you shared a pretty wild story with me. So, pretty quickly, you started having some success, quickly rose to the number one producer in that organization. And this is all the way back in 2012, which I remember those days, picking up, dialing a hundred dials a day. And you got to where you were producing $6 million of annuity business a year, a million target life, which is a big number, especially way back then. And this was all in Dubuque, Iowa.
Keith Leverentz: Yep.
Brad Johnson: Town of 60,000 people. Wow. So, you’re cranking some numbers, but then there’s this conflict. You’re doing it differently than what your captive agency wanted you to do.
Keith Leverentz: Correct.
Brad Johnson: Will you share what went down?
Keith Leverentz: Worst time of my life, blessed to be number one. We were being brought around the country to show other agencies how to do things, and suddenly the board said, “Well, yeah, this guy’s doing it, but they’re using our product 1% of the time, and they’re using the permissible outside companies 99% of the time. We don’t like this.” And so, bringing that to the attention, say, “Keith, here’s what we got.” And then really a dilemma, right? A dilemma of do I do what’s best for the clients or do I do what’s best for the company? It’s really not a debate, is it? So, made it clear that we were going to do what’s best for the company. They made it clear that I needed to leave, and they fired me.
Brad Johnson: So, this is kind of wild. I mean, it’s unfortunately not surprising based on a lot of the stories I’ve heard. So, it’s 2012. You’d been in the business about nine years. The boss sits you down and says, “Hey, Keith, you’re doing a great job. You’re training our people. Your production numbers are great. The problem is you’re selling this product that’s better for the clients, but it’s not as profitable to the company.” It was literally that straight up like, “We need you to switch the flavor.”
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. One of the guys said, “You know what? I know that you’re passionate about this idea of balancing the assets with taxable and tax-free for retirement, but boy, 403(b)s are way better for our business. You really should consider this.” And I was like, “I can’t consider that. We got to do what’s best for the client.” “Hmm,” and then shortly after.
Brad Johnson: So, it really put you in this ethical dilemma.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. And again, being blessed to be the guys that we are, it wasn’t really a dilemma. It was like, okay, this is what we’re going to do. But, oh man, brought the worst pain of my life, getting booted.
Brad Johnson: So, you said you heard on a Friday.
Keith Leverentz: Friday, I heard through the grapevine that they were going to can me. Saturday, a friend, actually independent agent married to one of the captive advisors, introduced me to an FMO, and didn’t know how to spell FMO, but talked with them on Saturday. I got the boot on Monday and signed with the FMO on Tuesday.
Brad Johnson: Wow. So, a painful jump into the true independent side of the business.
Keith Leverentz: Yep. We were blessed with a niche market for those nine years, and that was proprietary to the firm, so rug was out, and we were on our own.
Brad Johnson: So, basically, went from number one with a pretty dialed-in niche market that you’d had a lot of success in to brand new business, no clients, no marketing funnel. Let’s talk about that. How did you survive? Like, what were you going through during that time period?
Keith Leverentz: Well, God’s grace, but we switched from pensions. The educator pensions were our big focus, quickly switched to the Social Security, insight and advising. We were doing workshops all along since 2003.
Brad Johnson: So, you had that skillset.
Keith Leverentz: We had that. And so, instead of advertising those in the education realm, then started advertising those broadly and just kind of started plugging, and some clients called, and that I had a non-solicit, so that was legitimate and integral. Got the referrals rolling from that, but just a slow, painful climb back.
Brad Johnson: So, looking back, and we’ll get into where we are today because you’ve continued to have incredible success and grown the team, built a business much bigger than just Keith. But I had a business coach tell me one time, he said, “When you face adversity in life or business or both,” he said, “Ask yourself this question. What does this make possible?” And would you say, looking back, based on what you know today and the business, the incredible business you built today, it was kind of a bit of a blessing, wasn’t it?
Keith Leverentz: It really was. Yeah.
Brad Johnson: I mean, it didn’t feel like it at the time.
Keith Leverentz: Did not feel like it, Brad. I felt like a failure. I felt like I must have done something wrong to get canned. I had never gotten fired in my life. What did I do wrong? But to your point, getting outside of that, being able to look back, it’s 100% the very best thing that could have happened to us, no question.
Brad Johnson: As an entrepreneur, sometimes it’s called the entrepreneurial rollercoaster, for a reason, the ups and the downs, the highest highs, the lowest lows. How was that first year or two? Psychologically, was it a lot to deal with? Were you going through tough times? If you were talking out there to an advisor that’s maybe going through something similar, a big transition, what advice would you give them?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah, I felt very isolated. And so, what really helped was when I could connect with some others that could lend some perspective, some insight. That’s what really shifted it. So, the way I was let out the door, of course, it’s not good enough to just leave a successful producer there. Then, of course, you got to try and make life miserable for them. And so, there was all of that stress, and then there’s the financial. And so, finding a team, finding others that could support me and help me, and even encourage me was the major turning point. And not surprisingly, I’m getting ahead of us, but I’ll have similar things to share, find, and Triad, you know? So, I just feel like we’re wired for that community. We have to have it.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Well, humans are communal creatures. It’s funny, I was talking with my trainer. I’m like, when you’re in the wild, like back our caveman ancestors, how did they survive? They had to use their brain, and they had to use each other. That’s how it happened. And so, I think that’s wired into all of us. And I’ve seen that be super, I mean, that has been one of the biggest differentiating factors of the most successful advisors I’ve seen over the years. They are open to peer-to-peer learning, and they don’t let their ego get in the way. Because guess what? You can have a guy right next to you like you that could share a lot of advice, but if you already know it all, it’s kind of tough to absorb that information, right? So, I love that. So, who was that early crew that you were connecting with and learning from?
Keith Leverentz: It was some others in the industry. A guy out of Madison, Wisconsin. Really, it was my first company trip as an independent and started meeting some of these other people in the industry. And I was kind of nervous about sharing my story again because I had a lot of the embarrassment wrongly. But as I was vulnerable and open and really met people, they started coming alongside and encouraging and helping and redirecting here and there.
Brad Johnson: Very cool. So, in the early days, it was just your wife, Christy. That was kind of the other team member. And since then, you’ve grown 25 team members today, which is wild. And if I look just to give everybody a snapshot, because I know everybody likes to kind of put their self, where are they at on their journey compared to yours, this year as we record this, we’re mid-November 2025, 24.5 million on the annuity side. Over a million target life, and approximately 40 million of AUM, so a lot of balance. Obviously, when you’re building plans for clients, retirees, you want the best tool to get the job done. But those are some pretty big numbers, like a million target life, I mean, a lot of firms that I’ve met, like they never even touched that.
And you’re doing that along with great annuity production, great AUM, and most importantly, helping people have great plans, to your point. So, give us a little bit of the journey. What are some mile markers along the way? It went from you and your wife, Christy, 25 team members, 6 million of annuities, 1 million. I guess you’ve always been doing a lot of life along the way. 1 million target life to now. Exponential growth here, about 10 years later, a little over a decade later.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. And sincerely, I think two, well, three really big right out of the gate, realizing that planning as opposed to peddling with clients, that was huge, transformational versus transactional. Second point was adding AUM. It’s great building a plan, but if it’s fixed only, that’s a partial plan, and so really being able to see the full big picture. And then sincerely joining Triad was the third huge catapult lever that just brought these dreams and aspirations of scaling. Because everybody, I think, well, a lot of entrepreneurs want to scale, but 20-some years in and you’re not scaling, finding Triad was such a huge blessing to feel like I really feel like put the rails under me to run on to truly scale. So, those were probably my three big ones.
Brad Johnson: So, what’s interesting, if I look at those three, planning versus peddling, I’ve never heard it put that way. I like that. You’re like, “Okay, let’s focus on the outcome for the clients, not the products.” I mean, that was the path that took you to independence, right? It’s like I’m worried about the best outcome for the client, not selling the most profitable product. Added AUM because that was a tool you needed to better serve your clients.
Keith Leverentz: Yep. Full picture.
Brad Johnson: And then if I look at Triad, I don’t want to be self-promotional here, but you said it earlier, you said, “I wanted some peers I could learn from.” And we were just talking before you hit record. You said, “Hey, I want to build this bigger than me. I want to add additional team members that can serve clients besides just myself.” It actually goes back to the origin of your story, like if there’s more people on your team, you can serve more clients and build better plans, right? So, it’s kind of this flywheel effect that I see going. So, what was it about Triad, specifically? Was it, “Hey, there’s peers here I can learn from. Hey, there’s a blueprint”? Like, what was that, out of sheer curiosity? Because I want to know.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah, sure. Well, so many different impactful things. I mean, literally, from the first phone call I received was different. So, Colin calls me up, cold calls me, and one of, how many cold calls do people in my chair get, right? And for whatever weird reason, I answered. And instead of giving the brush off, this guy was so kind, so nice, so genuine that he sincerely wanted to help us. I stuck and had a great conversation. Brought in Jordan, brought in Shawn, and just eyes open. Now, little backstory, because I’m a big loyalty guy. Big loyalty guy. I did not want to leave my FMO. I’d been with them for 12 years, and I just, well, the thought of that was just… And it became because of what I was being shown. I couldn’t stay. I had to be blessed by this community and by this process that triad has brought us through.
So, that’s where it started. Just eyes opened the Ray Kroc story early on with the Big Mac, and yeah, just this idea of scaling something I dreamed about doing for the first time. Here was a team that was going to coach me and lead me to that. But what I didn’t expect was here’s a community that was going to nurture my family and I and motivate me to pursue that. And I think it was those two. I think it was the coaching, and it was the community.
Brad Johnson: I’ve never heard it put so succinctly. I love that. The name of this show is Do Business Do Life, and one of the things that was really important to Shawn and myself as this kind of idea became a reality was, “Let’s not just do business to do business.” It’s kind of very similar to your story. It’s like, let’s build a business that blesses people’s lives, blesses their lives, doesn’t become their lives, and also let’s bring people in this community that we want to surround our families with. And you’ve been in finance long enough. I’ve been in finance long enough. Oftentimes, there are very big numbers that are put out, but you’re like, “Eh, I’m not sure that this is who I want to surround my family with.
And I’m not here to judge anybody, but we wanted to build a community that I would have people over and break bread at my family dinner table with, and my kids could be around and learn from. And so, it’s been really cool to see that come together and attract people like your family.
Keith Leverentz: And not because we all think alike. The power of the Triad community is that there’s enormous diversity and perspective and thought and philosophy, and you name it. But the way you guys have cultivated the community to where there’s an acceptance, there’s a camaraderie, there’s a care, I think that’s really been pivotal. How many times in life do we gravitate to people just like us, think like us? You guys have somehow caught the lightning in the bottle of how do we bring a community together as diverse and different, and still rally around doing life together in an impactful, transformational way has been life-changing.
Brad Johnson: Well, it hasn’t been perfect along the way, but I do look back. We just turned five years old, and one of the big inflection points for me, there’s a Triad member named Billy out of California. I don’t know. Have you met Billy yet?
Keith Leverentz: Yep.
Brad Johnson: Cool. And we don’t do this very often, but we were at a point where we’d had a couple of phone calls with Billy, and he was like, he was right there, but he’s like, “I don’t know, this kind of sounds too good to be true.” And so, we’re like, “Okay. Well, why don’t you come out to one of our Triad experiences?” So, he came out to launch, him and his wife. And at the end of it, after a couple of days, I went up to him, and I said, “How’s it going so far?” I didn’t lead it. I wanted to know. I was really curious like, “What are you feeling?” And he goes, “This is…” and he’s been in finance for a long time. He goes, “This is the first place I’ve ever been where everybody is here for the same reason.”
And so, what’s cool is the diversity, but if you look at Do Business Do Life as Simon Sinek says, The Infinite Game, play a game, you can never win. At what point is business too good or life too good, as long as you build them to complement each other, not compete with each other, right? And that’s what’s been so fun is just seeing that message kind of grab hold in our community of like you said in here, one of the things I want to get to is, it’s been cool, the branding we helped you with, start to hear your clients repeat it. And we started hearing Triad members say, “Yeah, I’m here DBDLing.” I went on this trip with my family, and it’s just been really cool to see that kind of play out in our community as well.
Keith Leverentz: Well, it’s so true, and one of the reasons I’m so excited to be here and on this podcast is because the podcast has impacted my life significantly at least three times. And they have been on the doing business side, and then they’ve also been on the doing life side. So, first one ever was Anthony Pellegrino talking about the white t-shirt days, where his son wanted the white t-shirt days where dad was home. And that was right after having this great training from Colin, Jordan, Shawn, the team. Listen to this. I haven’t been on the hamster wheel like he was. I didn’t have the production but feel that hamster wheel. And so, that was impactful. That was life-changing. That podcast was a major push to say, “Hey, this is for real. Let’s roll with this.”
Brad Johnson: Yeah. The white t-shirt story. What’s wild about that, that story our team clipped out, it was a marathon episode. It was like a two-hour episode in Anthony’s office. And you know Anthony. He just flows, and one of my favorite conversations, but that little story they clipped out, and it went viral because I think it’s such a timeless story of like nobody wants to build a business that they feel guilty about, “Oh, I’m doing this for my family.” Your family just wants you. That’s what they want at the end of the day. So, what other episodes hit you?
Keith Leverentz: The second one was do life. It was where you encouraging that, “You know what, founders need to be in counseling. Founders need to have someone they can talk to.” And it’s so true, being a leader of a church, being a leader of a business, being a leader of a family, a lot of times you don’t get to talk about everything. You don’t get to lay it all on the table. And that’s been life-changing for me. And then for my wife and I, I feel like we had a great marriage, but it’s just so much better now being able to have that. So, that was a huge impactful point where out of your vulnerability, sharing was life-changing on that.
Brad Johnson: I appreciate that. Transparently, that was a scary episode to put out, because I shared a bit of my story where Sarah and I, in the early days of Triad, we were struggling. It was a lot. It was a lot of pressure. And what I think about is I had a gift that was given to me. I had a mentor in Michael Hyatt that gave me the gift of saying it’s the healthy people that go talk to someone. And I think a lot of us, especially guys, bottle it up, ignore it, medicate it in different ways that aren’t typically good. And I look at therapy, it’s just a form of coaching. You just mentioned it earlier, “Hey, in business, I learned from all these other advisors, and it accelerated my growth.”
Well, why wouldn’t you do the same thing for you, for yourself, for your own mindset, for the best the most important relationships in your life, with your spouse? And I really encourage everybody that’s struggling like go talk to somebody and work through your stuff. So, that’s awesome to hear that.
Keith Leverentz: And if you wouldn’t have been doing life and vulnerably sharing, we wouldn’t have had that blessing to the level that we’re now enjoying it and can now share it with others.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. It is a gift. It really is when you encourage others in that.
Keith Leverentz: The third one is a hybrid. It’s a doing business that had enormous life impact. And if you allow me, it’s a little backstory because the Lord works in mysterious ways. So, I’m serving at a Bible camp, and my son’s camp counselor and I invited a buddy from church to come, and he’s serving as a counselor with me and just sharing thoughts, “Hey, how’s your wife doing? How’s your family doing?” It’s like, “Well. Allie’s looking for another job. She’s not being challenged enough. She’s very administrative, loves to solve problems, which just not challenged. So, she’s looking for another job, you know?” Okay. Just kind of put that in my mind. I’m literally driving away from bible camp. I tee up the podcast, and Brad says, “You need to answer the question, would the next best hire be an executive assistant?”
I literally paused the podcast, called Connor, and said, “Can I talk to Halle? I think I need to talk with her about this.” And now, a year and a half, two years into having an executive assistant, and I’m just so incredibly grateful. I think my stress level was down 40% and we’re cranking out more and bigger and better, and that was transformational. And so, there you’ve got the doing business, just smart business that you taught us, but then the doing life is 40% root stress reduction and just been so helpful.
Brad Johnson: Give me the before and after on that, Keith, because that is the thing that I’ve encouraged so many advisors and Triad members that because running a business is stressful. You’re getting pulled 50 different directions. You’re also trying to show up at home and get to family dinner on time and make sure you’re not missing ball games and all the stuff to be a good husband and dad. What was the, like if you said, here was the before Keith EA, and here was the after Keith EA.
Keith Leverentz: So, Jordan could tell you because signing day, February 13th, 2024, coming on board with Triad, they could see my desk in the Zoom and say, “Keith, we need a picture of that desk.” Literally a mound, 6 inch to a foot in some places of piles. Sometimes not piles, just sometimes not stacks, just piles. And so, that picture to the desk now cleared off, one working pile systematically, emails being replied to timely, business being submitted. We got to a point, and this is embarrassing to say, we got in a point where we were getting so many clients to say, “Yeah, I’m in. Yeah, I’m in. Yeah, I’m in,” but getting the processing and the business written, right? And so, now EA later, just feeling so much more strategic and systematic, feeling like I can balance this CEO and lead advisor role, and keep my nose above water.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Well, I heard from a business coach, what if procrastination was a source of wisdom? And that little nugget has stuck with me. So, you look before the stacks of paper. Well, what was it? You didn’t have time, and you probably didn’t enjoy it.
Keith Leverentz: Not at all.
Brad Johnson: And so, it got procrastinated. Well, what’s the wisdom out of that? What if I didn’t do that job anymore? Right? And so, I think in business, if you continue to see things you delay or put off, it’s like, “Wait, why am I the one in charge?” And I would assume your clients are better off now because stuff is going quicker.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. And this is amazing. But even to the family point. So, Halle called my wife. They go to church together, say, “Christy, I don’t know you well yet, but you’re someone I would love to get to know because Keith talks about you all the time, and you sound incredible.” And so, now that connection for Christy and Halle to be able to forge a deeper relationship where they can encourage each other, it’s just amazing when you do business do life, and the Lord blesses just everything that can come from it is astounding.
Brad Johnson: What is Christy’s side of the, if she was here, which she’s not, so this is dangerous asking you to…
Keith Leverentz: I get to speak. This is great.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. So, what would Christy’s version of the before and after be like, “Here’s how Keith showed up before an EA versus after an EA”?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. She had gotten very worried about my mental condition, and when I talk to my therapist, I talk about water level. The water level up to my upper lip, I can handle that. But when the wave comes, and it goes over my nose, that’s where I feel like I’m drowning. And the waves were coming more and more and more and more. And the EA was the opportunity to reduce the water level by 40%, take literally 40% off of my plate, and for Christy to frankly feel like she has her sane husband back.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Because I’m sure you were getting home, you’re at family dinner, but you’re not at family dinner. Is that fair? Like where the mind was just racing of all the stuff you weren’t able to get to.
Keith Leverentz: Yep. And if I was compartmentalizing, the stress load was impacting. My kids used to tease me that my phrase was, “Oh, no biggie, no biggie. Let it roll off.” The no biggie went to the side because the stress level just was so high that it didn’t matter what it was. It felt like a biggie. And because of that, now Christy and the kids were getting the brunt of, “It’s okay, Keith. It’s not a huge deal.” “Well, it feels like such a mountain right now.” And so, just having that water level come down where I can breathe, a wave comes, and it’s now up to my neck instead of over my mouth and nose. And I would hope and believe you can ask them, but I would hope and believe that the family feels like they have a little bit more of their dad and husband back.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. We’ll ask them tonight. We’ll be at dinner. This’ll work out great.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah, that’s right. We’ll match up the stories.
Brad Johnson: Hey, we’ll make sure it’s a truthful one, right?
Keith Leverentz: Got you. That’s right.
Brad Johnson: Well, no, I love that. I still think to this day, the EA role is the most underutilized role in finance. And there’s a lot of underutilized roles in finance, paraplanner, service advisor. But I would put EA up there for a founder because there are so many ways you get pulled as a founder to where you come in, you’re like, “Oh, cool. I’ve got four or five appointments today.” And then the seven things you weren’t planning on right at your desk, right? And having somebody help you organize your time, which is your most limited resource as a founder is a necessity if you want to build a business bigger than you.
Keith Leverentz: Well, and wise advisors schedule 4 to 5. I got 7 to 10 a day because I bite off more than I can chew. I want to help more people. And so, it’s just been a lifesaver. Lifesaver.
Brad Johnson: Well, that’s the next thing we’re working on, which is how do we start to replicate Keith so there’s more advisors that can meet with clients and help more people. So, you mentioned a little bit that Triad had helped with a blueprint. If you were to give advice out there to an advisor, a founder, that’s maybe a little bit where you were, which is, “Hey, I feel like the water’s slapping over my head. There’s not enough of me to go around. I can’t unplug. I’ve got all these appointments stacking and paperwork stacking,” what would be some of the first pieces of advice you would give them?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. Well, what you’ve told me from the beginning, check my ego at the door and adapt the process. Learn, do what I’m told to do, build the steps in, and just follow the plan that Triad lays out, ask questions, learn, and just follow the path. The other top 1% of all advisors in the industry have forged this path before me. Follow the plan. Got the best coaches in the industry showing me how to do it, follow the plan.
Brad Johnson: Have there been any lessons or frameworks that you’re like, wow, that was a breakthrough?
Keith Leverentz: Yes. So, Ryan is a wonderful man, fantastic coach.
Brad Johnson: A fellow Enneagram 8.
Keith Leverentz: Yes. He’s the best, obviously, but his first view of our org chart was priceless. On a coaching call, looks at our org chart and goes, oh, oh, well, okay. Yeah. And you could just tell he’s like, this is a disaster. I said, well, say what you really think, Ryan. He said, this is a mile wide and an inch deep. That was huge. We had a lot of team members, but we didn’t have the scaling structure to really mobilizing that team. So, that was a major breakthrough.
Brad Johnson: Which I’m guessing that caused everybody to go to Keith when it’s that flat because– and how many team members did you have at this point?
Keith Leverentz: We had 23 at that point.
Brad Johnson: So, you had 23 that are all probably waiting in a line outside of your door. Hey Keith, I need your answer on this.
Keith Leverentz: Oh, yeah. When we came for our intensive and Nick drew the, here’s the advisor and here’s all, this is an advisor centered model, that’s Keith with 22 other voices around coming to Keith bottleneck. And we’re still growing, we’re still working, but the coaches to help us with that org chart and to better mobilize, one of the key hires on that was a chief operating officer to come in and follow the coach’s implementation, and so, it’s coming.
Brad Johnson: Well, cool. Well, being a guy that’s gone from 0 to 110 in five years, I will say it’s never done when you’re looking at the org chart because the moment, you’re like, oh, we got this figured out, then you hit that next inflection point where something breaks. And so, I’ve just kind of embraced, we are always kind of adapting the organization to make sure it’s structured in the way that serves the team and the clients.
Keith Leverentz: Yep. The second huge breakthrough, at my previous FMO since 2003, Christy and I have said, “Nope, we’re bringing our family. We’re family. This is who we are. It’s going to be part.” And it was slightly tolerated for the first nine years. It was somewhat tolerated the second 12 years. Triad has embraced that. That’s been life changing for life, but for business. Being able to say no, my business, my life, they’re intertwined. This is my family. These are my kids. They want to be involved in the business. They’re going to be involved in the business and help me scale it, help me build it, help me frame it out, that was huge.
Brad Johnson: That was huge for me too. Part of Do Business, Do Life, every organization has a different vision for who they want to be. And Sarah and I have always, small town Kansas, we’re like, we want those deep roots that you get from small town, but we also want those wings where you’re traveling. And we wanted to expose our kids to just different cultures, different thought processes, to be a little more worldly. And I truly believe that’s one of the biggest ways to break down biases and prejudice is just exposure. And I remember it, there would be certain trips, oh, sorry, your wife can’t come. Oh, sorry, your kids can’t come. And I was like, that sounds like a complete focus on business and not enough on life.
And there’s business conferences where it doesn’t always make sense, but you shared your son, he made a comment. Let me find it here. So, Aaron said, “They make me believe I can be somebody.” That’s cool for me to hear. That reinforces why Triad exists. So, what did that mean to you as a dad? How did that play out?
Keith Leverentz: I mean, the beauty is, you know exactly what it meant. It’s life changing, it’s impactful, it’s a breath of needed air. So, Aaron is one of the most incredible human beings I’ve ever met. He has such incredible abilities and skills, but he doesn’t fit inside the box. Doesn’t fit inside the box educationally. Doesn’t fit inside the box. And so, he was being beat down emotionally, psychologically because he didn’t fit into a box. He’s an Enneagram 4, I’m learning. I love that. And we came for a second intensive. I just love being around here so much. We ask, “Can we come back the after the year anniversary?” And of course, your team said, “Yeah.” We came, we walk in, and every member of the team, meaning my family, six family, had a name placed, had resources. We’re involved in the conversation, we’re asked to do preparation ahead of time.
So, now, my out-of-the-box son who’s been beat down because he doesn’t fit now is embraced in a model for who he is. The first session Kenzie’s teaching us about our unique fit with Enneagram. And you’ve got my unique son being built up to say, you’re someone special, you’re meaningful, you have value not only to life, but to this company that you and your dad are building and your mom building together. For him to come away from that and say, dad, these people make me feel I can be somebody. Wow, I was so grateful.
Brad Johnson: That’s cool. Who doesn’t want that? I mean, we all do. As a 45-year-old, I want that. So, that’s cool. And by the way, Kenzie on our team is an absolute rock star. She makes everybody feel that way. We call her the culture queen, but that’s cool. Thanks for sharing that. Well, as we follow the track that Keith has blazed in finance, I think one of the other things that you shared is as you added AUM, that really changed the game. So, now, 120 million under management and quickly growing, added another 40 this year so far. Year isn’t over yet. You said one of the things and you just recently joined Triad Wealth, they taught you that you were undercharging.
Keith Leverentz: Yep.
Brad Johnson: And what’s interesting, I think there’s a lot of advisors out there, like worried about fee compression. Like, oh, we’ve got to reduce the fees. You actually bumped your fees up and you didn’t have any issues as far as losing clients or anything like that. So, I’m sure there’s a lot of advisors can learn from that. Well, how’d that come to be?
Keith Leverentz: Well, it’s got to be the same pattern. It’s like trust the process, trust the team, trust the community. And so, Triad Wealth just became a clear, clear path and a win. And then just trusting the team to say, hey, you know what? You’re grossly underpaying. This isn’t doing your clients a service. This is doing them a disservice because if you’re spread too thin and you can’t hire enough, clients are going to suffer. You need to charge a reasonable amount, not for your own pocket, but so that you can bless your clients with better service, better help, better resources. And that was a light bulb, that was a revelation. And so, to not have a single client say, what? I’m not going to pay more. But instead to say, you’re adding this, you’re adding this additional platform, you’re adding these different services. This is a bargain. Let’s roll. It’s been wonderful.
Brad Johnson: I think that is one of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen advisors make. They don’t share the why behind the change. And number one, it needs to be authentic, which I know it is in your case, but hey, here is a change we’re making, but most importantly, here’s what that means to you. I think, unintentionally, a lot of times, advisors don’t show their work and you being able to say, hey, we’re making this move because we want to expand this for you, and this, I know like the unified planning team was a big part of that and we want to have a CFA on the team. We want CFPs helping on our bench helping build the plans because as your net worth goes up, guess what? It becomes more complicated. There’s more planning that’s required, more taxes. And we want to make sure we have a team that can grow and take care of you as your assets grow with us. So, I just think who would push back at that?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. Well, yesterday was such a fun part of that. I had met with a gentleman four years ago and he thanked us and went his way. Came to another seminar and I met with him yesterday. And the fun and the confidence and the expertise that I was able to pass with him because of Triad Wealth was night and day, and so, you have this high-net-worth guy that before, oh, this is a nice group. It’s kind of cute that they’re doing this. Now, he’s like, Keith, this is serious stuff. That was pretty cool, Brad, to go from 0 to now 60 with the same guy was a pretty cool test case. It’s like, wow.
Brad Johnson: What level of assets were they coming in with?
Keith Leverentz: So, they were coming in with about $3 to $4 million a net worth, some investible, some real estate that he’s looking to sell to make it investible. And it was fun.
Brad Johnson: Well, and you hit something. I was just having this conversation with another Triad member that’s been with us coming up on a year. Real story. Can’t make this one up. So, I won’t share who it was because he hasn’t given me permission, but when he hears this, he’s going to know. So, he came in and he’s really embraced. A lot of people grew up like selling product, right? Just like you were talking about. He’s done a lot of work. He’s worked with the coaching team and he really has embraced planning. I want to build a true financial plan, CFP standard, income investments, taxes, healthcare, legacy estate. That’s complicated. It takes a team, especially when you’re a small business.
So, he does a seminar. He has an $11 million prospect come in and he goes, Brad, he goes, I told him I wasn’t qualified to work with him, and I’d find another advisor for him. And I said, you did what? I said, you did what? No, you didn’t. And I go, first off, never say that again. And I meant it, like, it was pretty direct feedback, but I was like, dude, you have a team. And that’s what’s different now is you have a team of professionals that have built plans for $40, $50, $60 million net worth clients. You have the ability. So, now, you just need to have the confidence that goes along with it because you can serve that client better than anybody else that’s just sitting there themselves trying to piece together a plan. So, it was really cool. And I love to see, you’re like, I’ve got the confidence now where I have a team that I can plug into this. Is there anything specific, like certain things that the team added or planning strategies that have really unlocked the opportunity to work with higher net worth?
Keith Leverentz: Yep. I’ll try and isolate the top three, going from eight models to a hundred models. Tactical models was a huge help with Triad Wealth. The second one was the better perspective of how to serve as an advisor. Mitch and the team showing, here’s how I’ve done it for a lot of years, Brent, Scott, here’s how we’ve done it, given me what I feel like is a true framework that I can even step someone through being their advisor and how to help them. And then the third has been some innovation, whether it’s the tax-loss harvesting, in this case, it was the 1031 land exchange.
Brad Johnson: Yeah, that one’s been big for higher net worth.
Keith Leverentz: How do you take 770,000 of rental property and not get walloped with taxes, but get it into the Delaware trust and leverage that? So, that kind of innovation. So, those three aspects of it have been huge.
Brad Johnson: That’s awesome. Well, I know you’re just getting plugged in, so I can’t wait to see where that goes as you continue to leverage the team there. Okay, I want to go to, you’ve done a lot of work with the company you founded, which back to 2012, so we’re a decade in change now in. I can tell there’s always been a big heart behind your business just from even knowing you and then everything you’ve shared to this point. But I feel like you started to have the messaging that actually transfers that belief to the people you’re meeting with. You mentioned a couple phrases. Peace of mind in present because you’re prepared for the future. Dream bigger, have a purpose behind that. I might be butchering this. So, how has that changed the game for you now that you’ve started infusing that into how you communicate with clients?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah, so I’d say three reasons. Forgive me, I’m a preacher, so always three points. Ask Nick, he’ll tell you. But the three ways are, one, I didn’t know we had a culture as a firm. And so, Kenzie and the whole coaching team showing us, no, you have a culture and your culture needs to be developed and your organization needs to start breathing with the culture that you bring as a heart with a founder. And so, getting that alignment where you always tend to try and hire team members that you think will fit into that but given voice to it, giving it a pattern, giving it a name, giving it a structure. and making sure that everything we do is moving towards that consistent culture. That’s been huge. I think the second point is the language. So, was it Michael Hyatt says that when you’re sick of talking about it, you’re about halfway there.
Brad Johnson: He is the guy that says that.
Keith Leverentz: Okay, and that’s been so true. So, the branding team early on helping us to really put again, language to why we do this. My favorite part of this work is to watch someone scared in an appointment, go, oh, okay, I’m going to be okay. Well, that’s peace of mind. So, the branding team giving voice to, okay, that’s peace of mind, Keith. Now, you need to say peace of mind until you get so sick of it, and then you’re about halfway there. And then coming in where someone starts scared to death that they’re going to run out of money in retirement, and at the end of the meeting, realizing that they’re not only okay, but they need to be dreaming big about how to bless others and talking about paying for their grandkids’ college and blessing these organizations and finding a purpose for the retirement bigger than what they ever thought possible doesn’t get any better than that. And so, then the branding team helping us realize that’s peace of mind because you’re prepared for the future. That’s finding a purpose for your retirement bigger than what you ever thought possible.
Brad Johnson: So, you literally, I want to make sure I pick this up. You’ll see a client, you said, hey, one of the favorite things you love about this business is when their shoulders drop and they’re like, oh, I’m going to be okay. When you see that cue, are you saying, like, that’s peace of mind right there. That’s what we’re here to deliver. Like, are you starting to infuse that when you see the body language?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. So, what are you feeling right now? Oh, I just feel so much better. And you got Kleenex there. It’s needed sometimes because they just feel such relief, some better peace of mind. Oh, so much peace of mind. I just feel like I can breathe again on this. I’m going to be okay. And then the third point of the transformation of what we’ve learned is, okay, it’s not the end point when a client signs on. That’s really the starting point of that relationship. And so, now, continuing to cultivate that understanding of the peace of mind, continuing to help them dream big.
Brad Johnson: Well, and to your final point there, hey, you thought at this level, let’s challenge you. What if we did this or that? So, now, you’re starting to infuse excitement into that retirement. Do you have some real life stories where you’ve done that?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. Three weeks ago, a guy getting choked up by seeing that came in so scared, frustrated from a great family of savers, but family of savers are not always good at feeling like, okay, I’ve got enough, right? Savers often just got to keep saving.
Brad Johnson: The broke millionaire.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. So, came in as feeling like a broke millionaire, and then welling up towards the end of the time because he’s going to give the last mortgage payment to his buddy who owns a farm and he’s going to help these nieces and nephews pay for their college.
Brad Johnson: How cool. So, part of his plan, he’s going to pay the last mortgage payment for one of his friends that owns a farm?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah.
Brad Johnson: How cool is that?
Keith Leverentz: So, the broke millionaire now is dreaming big about how to bless others.
Brad Johnson: Wow.
Keith Leverentz: And it was particularly meaningful to him because he’s had a hard road and he’s estranged from his ex-wife and kids and just feels alone. And Amanda, actually, my daughter was the one to say, “Can I just share something here, Brian, I know you feel beat up, but you’re an incredible individual? And can we focus on these ideas that you have of blessing others?” And turning the conversation to that. And now, the three of us in the meeting are, okay, so what does that look like and getting excited? And it’s like, what if I paid my buddy’s last mortgage? I mean, is that legit? Yep, we’ll work with the attorneys on the gifting laws and then just literally seeing him well up, going like, man, I can still contribute. My kids won’t talk to me, but there’s people that I can pour into. There’s people I can show care. That was powerful.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. I know you were at this training, but one of the coolest things I heard when you start to examine the power you have as an advisor, sitting in that chair is, don’t think like an advisor. Think like a leader. Like, how could I lead this person? Because it’s like therapy, oftentimes they see things in you, you don’t see in yourself. These blind spots, right? And I know how many times have you been sitting across the table from a client or a couple and they’re like. oh, there’s a path forward. They just don’t see it. And how cool is that? You can lead them in a way that extracts that, where they can put that tool, which is money to a use that serves them. That’s what it’s there for. At the end of the day, you can’t take it with you.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. And I’m just kind of realizing this now, but another testimony of the shadow, reverse shadow, so you’ve got young Amanda training, learning under me. But because she was observing, her mind wasn’t so full with the numbers like mine. She could say, dad, can I share something? Brian, can I share something? And it changed the course of the conversation to, in a more meaningful, meaningful way.
Brad Johnson: So cool. And how fun is that as a dad?
Keith Leverentz: It was pretty cool.
Brad Johnson: Did you give her a high five after that meeting?
Keith Leverentz: That was a big hug, say, thank you, Mandy. Thanks for caring for him more than the numbers and leading us in that.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. That’s so cool. My son, Nash, we had a Triad experience and I think we were flying home and he said, dad, he goes, how much do you get paid at Triad? And I go, well, Nash, it depends on what your job is at Triad. And he goes, I think I might want to work there someday. And like that has to be so cool as a dad too, bring your family into it. So, right now, you have, obviously, your wife’s been there from the beginning. And then how many of your children are involved in the business currently?
Keith Leverentz: Yep. So, three and a half.
Brad Johnson: Three and a half.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. Aaron wants to find his own path. I support him 100% on that. So, he’s exploring some things on that, but he’s been a big encouragement. He’ll be here with me this weekend and he’s got great insights. The other three girls have been really, really helpful, instrumental. Allie or Allison, I just found out a month ago she preferred to be called Allison. So, Allison loves the culture and loves Kenzie and has learned like crazy and is really helping with our experiences and our gifts to our staff and to our clients and our gatherings. We hadn’t done any client appreciation events to my shame. And so, she was empowered to plan an entire client appreciation event, and I showed up 15 minutes early and it ran like clockwork. And that’s all because of the Triad team empowering her and helping her, and her using her natural ability. Christmas parties and gifts, and we just love what she’s doing. So, she’s very important to the organization on a cultural level.
Anna is a numbers guru, technology guru, and while she’s working hard at college right now, there’s been so many different times where her mind for numbers and her help in that, she innovated a process for bookkeeping receipts. So, old dad’s shoebox got replaced with a…
Brad Johnson: That helped clean off the desk a little bit.
Keith Leverentz: Exactly.
Brad Johnson: Nice.
Keith Leverentz: And then Amanda is being honed and shaped into kind of our review specialist and Triad is helping a ton with that.
Brad Johnson: Very cool. Well, before we get to the Do Business, Do Life section, is there anything else over, call it looking back that you could share for an advisor out there that might be watching or listening that has helped you get where you want to go? Like, a mistake to avoid or something that you added that could accelerate their growth.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. I would say I’ve been guilty through the decades. I’ve been in the industry 22 years now. I’ve been guilty of blind loyalty. So, as part of the captive, I should have seen the writing on the wall far sooner, but being Mr. Blind, loyalty, head down, right? The second 12 years, loyal, loyal, loyal. But if it would’ve been a blind loyalty that didn’t let me pursue Triad, I would’ve missed out dramatically. So, that’s something I’m learning. The scripture talks about being harmless as a dove, but wise as a serpent. There’s got to be a degree of kind shrewdness and kind expertise and being wise, and I would say I definitely don’t want to make that mistake. But I would also say the other side is true and that don’t be afraid to take a leap, the leap of faith. And Triad was that for me.
And I look back and I literally tell anybody who asks that there hasn’t been anything that Triad has said that they would do for me that they haven’t come true. There hasn’t been a promise made that they haven’t met or exceeded. And if I wouldn’t have taken that leap, what would I have missed out on? So, it’s contradictory, it would sound, but it’s be wise and be shrewd. Don’t be blindly loyal, but take the leap of faith. Don’t be afraid to find the next leading.
Brad Johnson: Well, I can relate to that one because it was a big leap of faith to start Triad. Shawn and I had an incredible run in this business and left an organization that really blessed our lives. And it was kind of like, hey, we kept hearing from a lot of advisors, like, I just can’t get to that next level. And it was typically, because it was always based on them and they hadn’t figured out that next level to unlock and build a business of significance that was bigger than them and could outlast them. And so, we had always gravitated towards those sort of conversations and done right. The business should bless the life. It shouldn’t become the life. And so, it’s been really cool looking back, like how that’s changed my life, the people that I’m now surrounded by. My man, Austin, over here behind the video, what a rockstar. And it’s been really, really cool. So, I love to hear your version of that too.
Keith Leverentz: Yeah.
Brad Johnson: Well, I would love to hear Keith’s version of what is your definition– we’ve jumped all around it here, but what’s your definition of Do Business, Do Life as we wrap here?
Keith Leverentz: Yeah. Well, can I talk about it for a couple of minutes, and then maybe you can help me be succinct on it?
Brad Johnson: Of course.
Keith Leverentz: The integration of my family, not just as a permissive ride along, but as a key, embracing life together in the business has been so foundational. The alignment of who God’s made me to be, I love teaching at church and I think I would’ve in the past life, segmented out what I learned in the business world, what I learned from the word of God. As Ryan will tell you, there’s enormous connectivity between those two. And so, not being afraid to bring what I’m learning from Triad into my sermons. That’s been huge. Having my family rally around and at the first experience, having the better haves. Say, you know what? We’re going to do some service here for the Tim Tebow Foundation.
And then using that as a catapult to say, hey, what’s extreme generosity that we can do as a family? What can we do to take this generosity to the next level? How can this business be built and stoked so that we can blow the doors off of generosity and just bless people’s lives with millions and millions of dollars collectively? How do we integrate our calling to be generous and our calling as a family to see something built bigger than we ever dreamt possible? So, how would you summarize that? What’s my definition?
Brad Johnson: Well, that’s kind of the definition of Do Business, Do Life. Like, you’re building a business that can bless other people’s lives is kind of what I’m hearing. And you’re doing it with your family alongside you.
Keith Leverentz: There you go. Yes. My family, my church family, the relationships I’ve built here in the Triad community, life changing there. Doing bible study with friends that, oh, by the way, they work with this firm or that firm or they work with Triad. I mean, it’s just a fully integrated, holistic view of life. It’s not compartmentalized, it’s living life and including business to the fullness in that.
Brad Johnson: Yeah. Well, I love it, my man. One thing that I always get every time we have a conversation is just this authentic, just here to serve others. And what I love is like we were just chatting before, like none of us are perfect. We all have our stuff, whether it’s growing a business and the stuff that hits you that you’re not ready for the stuff on the life side, but I’ve just always loved your vulnerability to share and grow. And I know others in our community love that too because you always just show up and you don’t have all the answers, but you’re willing to share your mistakes and how you’ve grown from them and lean in when others need someone to lean on. So, it’s been awesome having you at Triad, Keith, and I’m looking forward to everything we have in front of us.
Keith Leverentz: Thanks, Brad. Me too. Appreciate you.
Brad Johnson: Thanks for the conversation. And we get you have a great dinner tonight, so that’s what’s next for us.
Keith Leverentz: I bet you.
Brad Johnson: All right, my man.
