In November 2016, I wrote a post after attending the inaugural EBI conference in NYC about my bullishness on the future of my profession.
Four years later my bullishness is at an all-time high; I’ve spent the last year surrounded with over 120 of the most amazing financial advisors in The AGC™ and I can assure you the firms and practices being built by these advisors will lead to more individuals and families getting higher quality financial advice.
What started out as a random idea quickly turned into a movement with momentum. When Taylor Schulte and I met in St. Louis to plan out the logistics for the community in August we hoped to have 50 advisors join us in The AGC™, but we had no idea if we could achieve that goal or how long it would take…
72 hours.
Within 72 hours we had filled our first 50 spots and had our beta group–I still shake my head when I think about it. If the excitement around the enrollment didn’t show us the community was something our profession was missing, then the immediate engagement and interaction within the community certainly did.
The unknown of whether or not advisors would join us on this journey for growth was quickly replaced by “how do we keep the advisors excited during the month of September?”
All of our planned events were scheduled to begin October 1st and there we were with 50 excited advisors and nothing planned for the month of September.
The community took over.
Members begin connecting inside the online platform. Meet-ups were occurring at conferences. Picture of the welcome kits circulated on social media. The AGC™ was alive and thriving.
In the last year the AGC™:
- Held over 80 Virtual meetings—guest speakers, member-led, open sessions, happy hours, and even a magic/music/comedy show.
- Launched a private podcast for members to listen to the replays of the guest speakers.
- Held an all-day virtual conference before virtual conferences were all the rage.
- Celebrated 4 members in the 2020 Investment News 40 Under 40 Class (I’m willing to bet we have many future members of this list).
- Listened to 6 members on The Advisor Success Podcast with Michael Kitces.
- Saw members in multiple media and guest speaking appearances.
- Celebrated 2 advisors launch their own firms, with more coming in the very near future.
- Supported 3 members launch books and the launch of multiple improved websites and podcasts.
- Welcomed guest speakers from the world of finance like–Josh Brown, Carl Richards, Dani Fava, Stephanie Bogan, Samantha Russel, and Morgan Housel
- Welcomed guest speakers from outside of finance like–Rory Sutherland, David Perell, Annie Duke, Jack Butcher, Khe Hy, and Erica Ballard
- Welcomed multiple future AGC™ members with the growth of multiple families
I could continue listing all of the successes within the community, but I think you get the point. This community is filled with special people united by the common goal of becoming better advisors/people and making a positive impact on our profession. If your financial advisor happens to be a member of The AGC™, you’re in good hands!
And speaking of making a positive impact, we have just begun working on our “Community Outreach” initiatives. The first being a YouTube channel with videos created by members covering the basics of finance. We’ll continue to build upon the fundamentals and create a library of educational resources for everyone. Stay tuned for this project…it’ll be live in the coming weeks.
I’m excited for what is in store for this community; Taylor and I have been working hard in the background to find ways to make the community more valuable for the members, spur more growth, and see the advisors in the community continue to exceed their goals.
The future is extremely bright my friends!