First Friday Feedback: November 2024

Join us for this month's First Friday Feedback as we welcome our very own Shane O'Neill, COO of Cannon Financial Institute. While our regular host Sarah Jones takes a brief hiatus, Shane offers profound insights drawn from his years of experience navigating professional transitions and personal growth. He reflects on our previous episode's themes, sharing candid perspectives on life's pivotal moments and the valuable lessons he's learned from both successes and setbacks. Together, Phil and Shane explore how embracing feedback can transform our approach to life's challenges and shape better decision-making.

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Phil Buchanan with Cannon Financial Institute. We produce the podcast series Monday Morning Mojo, The Cannon Curve, and Cannon Connect. Each of these podcasts invites listeners to email or text their feedback, comments, and questions. They are all answered right here on First Friday Feedback. If you're new to our podcast, go ahead and subscribe to all four, and get engaged by sharing your perspective.

Life is about the journey, so let's go for the ride. Greetings Cannon Nation. It is Phil here with First Friday Feedback for November 2024. You know, one of the things that you all are used to is Sarah Jones leading this. Sarah is taking a hiatus, a vacation for the month of, well, she's only taking a vacation for the past month.

Podcast of First Friday Feedback. She'll be back with us in the month of November, but today I've got a very special guest for us. It's an individual that I have known for quite some time. He has been a business partner of [00:01:00] mine since the late 1990s, got in the advisory business in the, in the early nineties, he is president and chief operating officer of Cannon Financial Institute.

I'd like to welcome Shane O'Neill to First Right of Feedback. Well, Phil, thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here. And I certainly don't think that I can fill the shoes of Sarah Jones. I can't fill the shoes of Sarah Jones as far as hosting this goes. So, but we will endeavor to persevere. So looking back on the month of October, wow, busy, busy, busy month in the wealth management industry.

We saw changes in a couple of senior leader positions within wealth management firms. We continued to see aggregation of firms and rollups occurring. We saw more investment of private equity into the wealth management channel. But at the end of the day, that's really where we try to try to keep our focus.

At the end of the day, advisors have to keep the thing, the main thing. And that is providing great advice and counsel to their end user clients and [00:02:00] ensuring that their client's financial wellness is, is secure. And so Shane, I want to, I want to go back and, and, and revisit a guest that we had this past month on Cannon Connect.

Her name is Robin Smith, senior loan officer with Prime Lending. Prime Lending is a mortgage business that works through financial advisors to offer end user solutions to their client. We see companies that are providing insurance solutions. We see companies that are providing a myriad of, of planning and solution solving products to financial advisors to deliver to their end user clients.

Much more so Then when you got started the business back in the early nineties, right? Correct. Absolutely. So what was it? Take us back to the early 1990s. What was the, what was the primary focus of the advisory business when you first got started? Well, so when I started the advisor business was, was very, very early in the stages of [00:03:00] even, even calling Themselves advisors.

It was the, the label and the title of the time was, you know, very much a stockbroker and it was very much that sort of wall street ish, kind of a smiling and dialing kind of approach to everything. It was very, very transactional in nature. And, you know, as we were kind of prepping for this and as I was thinking about it, I can tell you the last thing on my mind.

Was mortgage lending for a client? I mean, it was very much What was the stock idea? What was the municipal bond underwriting we were doing? What was the whatever? And you know as my practice evolved though You started first, it seems like we got into, you know, more holistic management or more planning type of focused.

And, and really it was the, it was moving from transaction fees to wrap accounts into fee based business. And that was the big thing. And as things have evolved, I kind of started thinking [00:04:00] about this in the context of, uh, you know, the work that Schwab did. Back in the day, which was looking at your clients or looking at the marketplace and the three different, you know, segments, which is the, the do it yourselfers, the validators, and then the delegators and many of the folks that are listening to this, I believe fall into that category of working with the folks that are truly wealthy, that want to work, you know, and be a delegator.

And in that context. What Robin has done and what they do for advisors to support their business is phenomenal, in my opinion. Yeah. And it's something that many firms have tried and throw mortgage lending into their financial advisory business and practice. And there aren't many cases of it working like they expected.

Right. Well, actually, that's, um, that's a jumping off point I want to go to with you because, you know, I think about our business at, at Cannon. Yeah. A lot of the work that we've been doing over the [00:05:00] last 18 to 24 months has actually been focused on helping it visors and helping firms take their, their stack of solutions.

They're, they're, they're, planning resources, their, their tools that are available for high net worth individuals and not teach them so much about the product or the service itself, but how to integrate that into a conversation with a client. And so, you know, Put your hat on now as, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, as a husband, as the leader of a family and father of, uh, of four kids, you know, do you have a lot of time to focus on the various aspects of your financial life or does that, that, that comprehensive approach, does that, does that feel right for you?

It does. And I, I think that as I matured and things have grown in my life and in my world, I've grown or learned to [00:06:00] appreciate how much a holistic approach, how much value there is in that. And in this day and age, there is so much complication and there is so much just white noise and just clutter. And there are so many ways to help clients with.

Navigating that and with calming them down and making it clear, making it consistent. And I, I just think that there's tremendous value to be added there and true advisors, it's becoming more and more and more difficult to separate yourself and add value in client relationships. And I think that this is, you know, certainly a place to add significant value to a relationship.

Well, so let's, let's talk a little bit about that because identifying a gap and then having the creativity and the, the passion to pursue the opportunities are brought on by that gap. That was part of the conversation that I had this month with Michelle Danos. Now, Michelle is [00:07:00] an entrepreneur. She is the CEO of GoBattery.

For those of you that may not have heard our, The Cannon curve that launched yesterday. It's go battery. It's a battery pack that allows you to charge your portable devices on the go. And Michelle is a professional pilot by training flew for one of the majors, and she noticed early on in her career. And again, this is back in the late nineties and early parts of the two thousands that there were a lot of folks that they would run out of battery power.

Right. And she saw that as an opportunity and created this company. So she saw a need and passionately pursued that opportunity. Talk about the mindset that you've observed throughout your career, both as a producer, working for Schwab Institutional, being part of Cannon. What's the gap that separates those men and women that see opportunity and seize opportunity versus the ones that [00:08:00] continue to do what they've always done because that's the way they've always done it.

What, what do you see? So, so I, I think the, the magic in what Michelle is doing and what, the reason I love the story and I love her story Is that it's, it's kind of along the lines of a lot of things we do around here at Cannon, and that is to, you know, simplify the complicated and to get hyper focused on providing a solution that people need.

And keeping it that simple, there's just so many ways to get distracted, to get pulled into other opportunities and you know, all of those kinds of things and, and you, you tend to lose efficiency. You tend to be, it might be fun and exciting to do different things, but if you're not careful, you end up with just a mismatched potpourri of a business.

And what I love about Michelle's. Business is, it's [00:09:00] very, very clear and focused and very easy to provide that solution and understand her clients and the people that are buying that solution. And it, I mean, it's not, as some would say, it's not rocket surgery, you know, it's just understanding what people need, solving a problem, and getting really hyper focused and just being the best at providing that solution I think is, is much, much easier to say than it is to do.

But man, when you do it, it's just. It's, it's great. It really is, you know, within, I don't know, 2030 minutes of that interview having launched yesterday. Well, I guess it was a bit more than that because it was taking that long to listen to it. But within an hour, certainly of that having launched, I was hearing from individuals about how much they loved Michelle's passion and enthusiasm.

You could, you could hear it over the podcast, right? And that tied back to another Monday morning mojo that we had in the month of October entitled What are you for? And in [00:10:00] that I examined that, you know, it's very easy to be against things. Only thing you have to do if you're against something is to say I'm against it.

But when you are for something, you not only have to be supportive of it, but you, you, you have to be part of that solution. You have to be part of that plan. You know, Michelle certainly, certainly takes that on. What advice, what counsel you You have, of course, you're still in the process of raising kids. I guess, you know, we, as parents, they're, they're always our children.

We're always trying to provide influence. But, you know, when, when I watch your kids, and this is a compliment to you and your wife, Amy, when I watch your kids, they, they do have that, that positive mental attitude. They do have the things that they are, are passionate about. How, how do you instill that? How do you coach that in others?

How do you, how do you lead that with that, that positive framework? Well, It is, it's not easy and it doesn't work. There's not, there's not a playbook for this whole thing. You know, when you're [00:11:00] talking about your children, you certainly have to deal with, you know, and work with each of them, uh, individually, because I can tell you from experience, the same playbook doesn't work for all of your children.

And that's coming from a man who has twins. And so it didn't work that way either. Yeah. So, no, but I, I think being for something and against, and not just Against something really leads to having a solid foundation and who you are and what you believe and what drives you. And I know we're going to talk about this a little bit more, but it's sort of that maturity and self awareness of, of knowing what you're about, what matters to you, what's important.

And I think in this day and age, we get so easily persuaded. Or you hear words like gaslighting and all of this. And we get so manipulated from every angle, every possible angle. And I think it's just so important and more important now than ever to be for something and not just against it. [00:12:00] Now, being against it, though, I mean, let's be honest, you could make a, probably a pretty good career at it.

I mean, look, I mean, Jerry Seinfeld, I mean, built his entire career being at a, taking a clever take on everyday mundane things, right. And making it funny. I mean, That's sort of like he's, he's against it. And if you see it, it's, it's hysterical and he's Terry Seinfeld, but I mean, you know, professional boxers, I mean, counter punchers there by definition, they're waiting on the action of someone else to then act.

So I think being for something requires you to understand who you are, what you're about, and then being able to really believe in it. And every, every part of your being and fight for it. And I think that that is just a much stronger position to be in. Well, I completely agree with you. And you know, that ties into the comment that you made on the self awareness issue.

And I think that [00:13:00] was one of the early podcasts I had in the month. Just to refresh listeners minds on this, I was traveling a ton and the month of September, early part of October, there was a day at Hartsville Jackson airport in Atlanta, when the trains were not running, you've been there and it's not a short walk.

But they've got. the moving sidewalks that connect the concourses. And I was amazed at the number of people that were either texting or they were doing video chats on their phone, blissfully unaware that they were impeding hundreds of people that were trying to get down the walkway. And I continued to see, of course, it kind of got my hackles up a little bit, but I continued to look around and see how many people And I hate to even use the term, but we're almost self absorbed in their own world and not realizing that they were part of a bigger universe.

You know, you and I have talked about that with regard to our children and with regard to the way that we try to lead the companies that we're involved [00:14:00] in is to, is to be self aware. And, and to. to make sure that people always understand that, you know, you're, you're a cog in the machine. You're not, not the machine again from a, from a leadership standpoint, from a coaching standpoint, maybe from a mentoring standpoint, what have you seen that that has been really impactful to you to help people with this issue of self awareness?

Yeah. So it, man, it can be difficult. Very, very, very difficult because I think a lot of the things that you were speaking of awareness in the airport and the, it, it seems to me, to me, that's slightly different. That is distraction. And people are so distracted these days. And just so and it comes across as just belligerent or it could be just just completely clueless as to the room.

You know, they're not reading the room. They're just being completely self absorbed and all that. But I think of self awareness and kind of in it [00:15:00] in it. In a deeper sense. And it's along the lines, same lines of being for something is to be self aware. You have to have a certain level of understanding of who you are, what you're about, but the more important thing, and I think the most important thing is knowing who you are and how you come across to people and being dialed in.

To your limitations, your strengths, your weaknesses, and in respecting that, and it puts you in a position to, well, just to, just to control your own destiny and your own success. And it takes a long time to get there and people don't do a good job of being honest with themselves about what they're good at, what they're not good at.

And when you reach that point, there's a certain level of, um, Just sort of comfort and confidence in who you are, you know, and knowing where you're good knowing [00:16:00] what you're not good at Well, I can think of dozens and dozens and we could go on and on and on about this But you really don't have to think much more than how painful it is to be around someone who is not self aware Who doesn't read the room and to see those people, you know, not be as successful as they could be because they are detached or unobservant or just not aware of the room or not aware of their own limitations of their strengths and weaknesses.

I think that is helpful to, you know, to grow yourself completely agree. You know that Kind of wraps to the, to the final point, the final podcast we had in the month of October, it was entitled nice jacket. It went back to something that I just observed again, it involved a Delta flight, a gentleman got on the plane and he was wearing, obviously it was a, I would assume a custom jacket and you know, he, he was, was dressed very [00:17:00] nicely and he was on the inside and I was seated by the aisle and so he.

Came up and he said he was on the inside and I stood up and I just looked and I said, man, that's a nice jacket. And he got this huge smile on his face and he said, well, thank you and sat down and we got into just a great conversation, just a wonderful individual. And as we were getting ready to get off the plane, of course, the flight attendant brought the jacket back and he's slipping it on.

He said, Really appreciate you noticing the jacket. And it was just, it was clear to me that, you know, this is something that he had given some attention to, that he had a bit of pride in it. Just recognizing that seemed to put him in a pretty good mood. And as I followed him down the concourse that day in Atlanta, I watched him speak and nod and smile to others.

And it, it reminded me that. Our actions manifest themselves in others because we can, we can, with our actions, create a certain mood that other [00:18:00] people pick up on and they can then take that mood forward. And that could be for good or not so much for good, right? And so what's that, what's that theme that you would encourage everybody to remember about their actions taking the, the totality of this podcast today?

What do people need to need to remember? Yeah, so we spend so much of our lives being transactional, you know, in keeping score. And I, I just believe that that is a very, just an empty existence and the difference that it makes to me to get positive feedback versus, I'm thinking of, of a, of a situation just recently where I was applying for a permit at a, at a government.

Or, or county city type of thing. Oh boy. Yes. And, and it was one comment that completely broke down kind of the barrier and the permit was, well, [00:19:00] anyway, it's a complicated permit and it's going to be, you know, there's some other things involved in it, you know, it's just a complicated world. And this individual is in the line of fire for all the permits for all of this area, for all of, in this case, North Georgia.

And I said, look. I understand that you've got a lot going on and I said, but you know, I don't know how many of these requests you've received today and he said, well, it's actually about 40 and, and I was stunned and it completely changed the whole conversation because I just simply asked, you know, just got more involved and then the transaction, everybody else was just coming to him and pounding on him about getting their permit approved.

And I mean, I was just having kind of idle chit chat and there's nothing magical in what I was saying, but I was trying to take it from this transactional kind of thing and understand what's going on in this world because he was a, he, you know, he was not a wreck, but he [00:20:00] was pretty stressed. Right. And after all of that got done.

And I, I didn't want to do this beforehand because I didn't want it to be transactional. I didn't want him to think that I was doing something to get a favorable response or any of that kind of stuff. After he issued my permit, approved everything, everything's good, I sent him back a couple of days later.

I said, Hey, I, I think I've perfected. a smoked chili recipe and I want to bring it, you know, I want to bring a pot to your office and get y'all's opinion. We hadn't talked about chili. We hadn't talked about anything, but here's a 35, 40 year old guy in North Georgia. And I was just thinking, I'm going to assume he likes chili.

I don't know. And so I, uh, I've smoked a pot of chili. And took it to his office and the response because it wasn't transactional. It, well, I wasn't trying to get anything [00:21:00] from it. I mean, it was a genuine, Hey man, y'all are, y'all see the worst side of everybody applying for the permit. They think they're entitled.

They think they're all of this stuff. And I appreciate what y'all do. Here with no strings attached and it just that kind words, positive emotions, just doing something just out of the goodness to kind of feed your soul. is so much more impactful than the transactional world we live in. And so that's what I would encourage.

Well, silly little things like that, that, that, that ties this month of October that we've just finished that ties it up perfectly because again, it's that positive mental attitude. It's human relationships versus transactions. You know, it's, it's doing the things that are memorable. My gut says the next, I hope you don't have to do that.

Do that permit again. But if you do have to do that permit again and he's still there, something tells me that he'll remember you. So awesome. Shane, I want to thank you for being on [00:22:00] First Friday Feedback. This is uh, it is exactly what I thought it would be. It would be a heck of a lot of fun. Your wit, wisdom and insight is always appreciated.

Well, Phil, thanks for having me and uh, You know, I know that I've fallen short of again, fill in Sarah's shoes, but I'll, I'll try harder next time. There we go. So with that, we'll call it to a close for first Friday feedback for the month of October, 2024. First Friday feedback is production of Cannon financial Institute.

Sarah Jones is executive director. McCall Chamberlain is managing producer editing and mixing is done by. Danny Bruner. And so until we talk again next month, I'm Phil Buchanan. Thanking you for being part of the Cannon community.