We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eddie Knezevich. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eddie below.
Eddie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
Everything we do from start to finish is different. The whole reason I got into the financial services business was to help people. I noticed that financial education was lacking, and no one taught me simple financial things like- how to balance a checkbook, what credit card to get, 15 year vs. 30 year mortgage, how much to put in my 401k, etc. I came from extremely humble beginnings and wanted to be able to make a massive impact, helping those that werent educated on financial literacy. Before covid, I like many other financial professionals ran my entire practice like other advisors in person. One cold January, I drove across town only to be stood up for an in person meeting. It was my 5th that week. It got me thinking, why cant we operate a predominately remove/virtual business? People want to meet with and know the person they are working with, but dont necessarily need to see them in person every single time. So, in late 2018-early 2019 I decided to start pushing my clients and prosepective clients to meet me virtually. It was a stiff learning curve but turned out to be better recieved than I had expected. From there, I transformed my entire practice/team to operate on a virtual basis first. This was before the age of Covid and people having to work from home. Fast forward to today, we have 10 full time advisors that see 20-30 clients each per week on average. This has built immense efficiencies in our business. We went from 8-12 meetings happening per week to more than doubling our output, and being able to do it from the comfort of our house/office. It has allowed us to help and serve more people with more resources than we ever imagined. Ultimately fulfilling my personal mission to help 1000 families become financially independent.
Eddie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into the industry back in 2013. Before I entered the business I was in corporate America, and quickly realized my output was greater than my teammates, but I wasnt financially rewarded for that. So, I quickly started seeking a position where my merit would be based on my output. I hired a career consultant, took some personality assessments and it was down to two positions- med sales or financial services. Unfortunately for me I dont like doctors offices, blood guts, etc. So I quickly ruled that out. Also, I wasnt great at complex math, but learned that I didnt need to know complex math and most of the products/tools were built for you. So I decided to take my insurance and general securites exam and see if I could do it. I passed with flying colors and the rest was history. Right now my main focus is growing the overall enterprise. We specialize in a few different lines of business. We have an institutional insurance arm where we offer a yeild product that banks acuire as a balance sheet/diversification tool. Then we have a traditional wealth management business- everything from 401k/IRA roll overs, investment management, income protection, long term care, life insurance and also alternative assets to ultra high net worth investors. We make complex financial programs simple for the everyday person to understand as well as complete transactions. Having a fully virtual practice is a game changer. What I am most proud of is being 100% self-made. I came from almost nothing and have helped thousands of families as well as set my own family/teams families up for an exceptionally bright future. My goal is to help 1000 families retire and leave a legacy behind for their second generation.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My second business started right as I was ending college. I started a pickup/delivery laundry and dry cleaning business. It was a miserable failure. I thought I would never own/operate a business again because of all the hard lessons I learned. I did however pay my investor back in full even though I almost went bankrupt. What it taught me was more than I could have ever learned. I learned valuable lessons like: 1) you dont know if you dont try, 2) always stay true/honor your word 3) fail forward. I have had many smaller business failures since then. The thing I take from it all is that I want to grow and do the best for our customers, team and family.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think honesty is the most important value you can have. Be true to yourself as well as your clients no matter the cost. If we dont have the answer, we tell people. If it isn’t our area of expertise, we bring in outside council and step aside. We are extremely resourceful and have a ton of resources that we share with our clients. At the end of the day we have a narrow lane to stay in and we drive in that lane. As long as we are the best our lane doesn’t get taken over. I have turned down a ton of prospective clients that I didnt feel like I could truly serve. I think in our business it is easy to say yes to anyone because it is a hard business, but if I truly feel like I cant add value, I dont try to. There are plenty of people to help that do fit in with the makeup of what we do. That has always been my approach.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eddieknezevich
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddieknezevich/
