Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephan Dickens. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Stephan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.
Raised by a single mother, with 2 siblings; I’ve come to see what life is like living from paycheck to paycheck. However, I saw there is a life of abundance that exists. I’ve never been one to settle for mediocracy.
I graduated as the top student male athlete in my class from Colorado State University – Pueblo with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. Selected as an All-American and captain on the 2014 National Championship football team; I’ve embraced the opportunity of leadership. With the vision to continue my path of success I plunged into the financial world to learn the way of wealth creation. I believe growth is a continuous process ventured only by those open to it. Therefore, as a minority small business owner, I have come to find there is a significant lack of education provided by financial professionals. I have found that small business owners are the ones who benefit the most from the services I provide. I have acquired substantial expertise in complex retirement planning that is beneficial for small business owners.
My mission is to maximize the opportunity of others by empowerment. By providing valuable information to the ones in need, I believe I will help increase financial literacy; resulting in knowledgeable decision making. I aim to help resolve financial problems by focusing on strategically driven solutions.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up very competitive minded given the fact I had the opportunity to play many sports. Initially I had the dream to go to the NFL. Everyone has their opinion about this dream but statistically a very small percentage of collegiate football players get the opportunity to play on Sunday. I was raised by a single mother so, the means of everyday life had different level of luxury. My mother worked extremely hard to provide for our family because by no means can the role of a provider be deemed “easy”. I learned from a young age if I want something it is certainly possible to obtain with one requirement hard work; even then I may not get it right away. Therefore, I brought this type of mentality to the practice field every time I went to train. I was fortunate to continue my athletic career into the collegiate level in which I learned that football is no longer an activity done for “fun”. Football has now become a full-time job in which provided means to acquire an education. Wise words from a wise woman always told me that, “You won’t be able to play football forever, what else are you going to do?” I found now that football had become a means of leverage to also acquire a degree or two in this case. I won’t forget the significant moment is the time I had to hold the honor of asking for a scholarship increase. I had not read any manuals or received any type of direction on how to accomplish this successfully. I knew one thing that I was terribly nervous; many times, I acted out the conversation in my head repeatedly thinking how to validate this request. At this moment I realized the situation I was in was the same one most every working adult comes to face. The fact of the matter I felt I was not being compensated in comparison to the value that I was bringing through my service. This is the case of many regardless of the industry they may be in medical, education, construction services etc. The truth is the average individual is content to settle at this point as if there is no better option. I’m not the average person nor am I willing to settle because other options do exists. The lack of resources or access to these recourses has been the belt of restraint holding back the less fortunate. The education system is designed to assist and help grow literacy for our students but who teaches financial literacy? Thus we see a vast gap between the wealthy and the poor yet disregarding the color of our skin or the place we were raised we are still the same, people. So what has created this vast gap – our financial behaviors. Though psychologist favor that all behaviors are learned behaviors, how can the poor learn the behaviors of the wealthy without ever being exposed? This is the topic that has inspired my work profession to focus on the education service in a product driven industry. I’ve come to realize the financial industry has become transaction based, sales oriented, and product driven. As a result people have also not invested the time themselves to acquire adequate information to make a knowledgeable decision. Even then when the information is accessed without proper application the solution may not reach anticipated prosperity. Therefore I am willing to collaborate with existing/new professionals because that is what is best in perspective interest of the each an every client. Let us bridge the financial prosperity gap!
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
The first lesson I learned in regard to reckless words that burn bridges. One should always be careful of what they say because it will never be taken back. More importantly it’s not always about what is said but rather what is heard by the ear of others. In high school there was a group of friends that would always gather at one’s residence and spend time outside of school. One evening I needed to use the restroom and on the way, I passed a gentleman that was wise. Nervously greeting I blurted hoping to spark conversation, “How ya doing ol’ man?” I wanted to break the ice and could not thing of anything clever at the moment. At the time I simply received a humble response. Moments later after I returned, I received word from one of my dear friends he whispered in my ear, ” You have to leave, I’m sorry you can’t be here any longer unless you go apologize.” At that moment I learned many lessons that I still carry with me today; the power of words especially an apology. I faced him, apologized though my intent was to create conversation with a lacks tongue I actually inflicted insult. Through the humble correction I learned we should always hold words with integrity because they all have a sharp edge depending not how it was used but rather received.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
“The Go Giver” by Bob Burg – In sales if you don’t sell there are 2 things that are apparent. First you do not get paid which does not end well when you have bills to pay. What is secondary and may cause even more damage is the internal perspective of oneself. I’m not doing well so: self-confidence, doubt, envy etc. all these types of thought may pollute the mind of each individual. Which this type of occurrence is not uncommon in today’s society. I chose this book because its based upon covering the concepts of principles or laws. These laws are pillars providing structure, which proper foundational structure is required to build anything sustainable. Burg uses the Law of Influence brought to light the concept that everyone is not out for your best interest regardless if you are looking our for theirs. Your circle should be composed of those who simply want to see you succeed without any expectation in return. This law allowed me to reflect and analyze who I want to be as a business man and they type of service I want to provide being based on aid. I want to help because its the right thing to do not because I get paid for it.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-dickens-32b6a9139/
- Other: [email protected]