Tell me about the types of clients you work with.
My clients are typically highly successful entrepreneurial families who have either exited, or are still operating, their businesses. They tend to value deep knowledge, trust and advice, all of which I work hard to provide. Additionally, my clients prioritize their families, contribute to their communities and scale their talents and values to create utility. To help clients experience and most importantly, create a direct impact with their chosen cause, I encourage them to flex their creative muscles. This is especially true when they are working with nonprofits, B-corps and impact-focused new ventures. My clients are not the type of people to write a passive check but rather, are gung-ho to effect real change in the world. This is my way of being, too.
Tell me about an example of how you helped someone find purpose in their wealth.
I help people gain perspective on their wealth and find meaning in it. My clients and I figure out their personal attachment to their wealth by thinking through the real utility of their assets. We can spend wealth, invest it or give it away—and that’s about it. Once someone really believes in their financial security, they are free to think creatively about how to drive purpose in terms of their wealth, time and energy. As they are now unencumbered by traditional financial constraints, they are liberated to find meaning in their wealth. This is where I find my real purpose as their advisor: to help them realize they are financially stable and therefore, liberated to spend their wealth in a way that will make them proud and leave a lasting family legacy.
Who has been the most influential person in your life?
My father has, and continues to have, a tremendous influence on my life. He is an entrepreneur, inventor and adventurer. I too am a father, husband and businessman, and I learned how to be all three from him. Through my father, I witnessed firsthand the life cycle of creating a business, the immense personal commitment of managing a company through its inevitable growth and challenges and, ultimately, how to have a successful business exit. This experience led to me where I am today, helping entrepreneurs navigate their evolving challenges and priorities. Practical advice like my father gave to me can be hard to hear but sometimes inspiring. My father, a pragmatist, taught me to deliver the ‘harder to hear’ kind of advice.