We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tommy Doerfler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tommy, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about growing your team – how did you recruit the first few people, what was the process like, how’d you go about training and if you were to start over today would you have done anything differently?
Yes, our practice had the lead advisor, me and one client service associate. We were very early in building our business at this stage and it seemed like the three of us were the jack of all trades but king of nothing. We were all in survival mode in the very beginning, just making sure we were going to have a business the next day. But as things worked out and we started growing our team, we realized that we didn’t have any formal training on how to hire someone. I was fortunate that my partner had a little experience interviewing in his former career but neither one of us were experts on how to hire someone. The only thing unusual about our training process was that we were figuring it out as we grew. I was fortunate to lean on my sister who was a recruiter here in town and so every once in a while, I’d pick her brain on questions I should be asking and as time went on, I think we got better at asking good questions and knowing what to look for in certain candidates.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Well, to start with, I had no idea growing up that I’d be doing what I do today (being a Wealth Advisor). School was always boring to me so I never really applied myself but I always loved music, specifically playing the drums. So when I finished school, I went to school for “music performance”. Neither me nor my family really had any idea or picture of where this would lead me but after two years of formal education I dropped out and moved to Nashville, TN to cut my teeth as a musician. I was able to work full-time as a musician for about 2 1/2 years before realizing how tough of an industry it is. So at that point I became very curious about money and what to do with it, if you ever had it (not that I had any at this point). So I went back to school and majored in finance but still unsure of where I wanted to go with it. Then I took my first accounting class and was intrigued by it and thought it would be cool to get my CPA license, still unsure of what to do with it. Then my sister introduced me to someone at a local investment firm who was just getting started and asked if I would help him in the office, and he would pay me for helping him. So I took him on this offer and was a fly on the wall as I listened to him talk with his clients on the phone. I fell in love with the idea that I could learn all of this information so I could help people with money and finance that didn’t have the same passion I had for learning about it. From that point, I finished my degree, got my CPA and started to work at the firm full time with a mentor/partner. After ten years of working together, my partner retired and I purchased the other half of the book from him which led me to where I am today. The things I’m most proud of, when it comes to my unconventional journey, is that I constantly followed my passions. It didn’t always go where I thought it would go, but I ended up exactly where I was meant to be. So when it comes to serving our clients, it’s about helping them on their financial journey, wherever they want to go.
When we ask our prospective clients, what does retirement look like for you, they typically respond with how much money they want to have or they have a number in mind that they want to get to. Our mindset is, what do you want to accomplish with the resources (money) you have? Money is only a resource but it’s how people use that resource that determines the journey they want to take. This completely changes how they think in terms of their resources and I don’t think I would have that mindset of investing and wealth planning in this way unless I would have had my own life experiences that I went through.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In 2016 I decided to embark on an endurance event that would test me emotionally, physically, mentally, and, at times, spiritually. At that time in my life, I was single, had a pretty set career path for me but wanted something else in my life. So I signed up for an endurance camp that was held in San Diego, CA that was 50 hrs long with no sleep. It was lead by a group of former and current Navy SEALs that tested you in things like, resilience, followership, leadership, and mental toughness. I couldn’t convince anyone to do it with me so I decided to go out there, alone, not knowing anyone else who came to the event. I was able to finish the event (not everyone does) and I look back at that event as something that changed what I thought I was capable of. Most people don’t, intentionally, challenge themselves like this but it certainly changed my belief system. It’s one thing to learn about things like leadership and followership by reading a book but it’s another thing to be challenged in those areas in the worst possible conditions. I had a great mentor who was a retired 23 year Navy SEAL veteran who helped me prepare for nine months prior to the event. The biggest lessons learned were preparation, controlling your attitude, going into the unknown, leadership/followership and I’m sure many more!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
In my first ten years working in my industry, I was really motivated, passionate, and expected others to share in my enthusiasm for growth and making a difference in the world. I just couldn’t understand why others didn’t wake up in the morning with the attitude of wanting to rule the world. So it made it hard for me to relate to team members especially when I was managing them. I was frustrated most of the time, I certainly didn’t win any popularity contests on my team and I didn’t really didn’t want to work with the people around me. The problem were my expectations that I had on other people. I saw opportunity within our industry to create a wonderful business but I had to realize that not everyone sees, or even sometimes, wants opportunity to grow. People have different motivations, whether it’s spending time with their family, or providing for their family or simply enjoying what they currently do so I had to dive into other people’s motivations, not put my motivations on other people. When our team started to grow then I realized that I had to work through other people, which means understanding what drives them. My partner once told me a good quote, which was, “If you want to fast, go by yourself, but if you want to go far, go with a team”.
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