Bill Cates: Welcome to the Top Advisor Podcast, brought to you by ProudMouth’s PodRocket Academy. I’m your host, Bill Cate’s, creator of the Cate’s Academy for Relationship Marketing. In each episode, I interview one of our industry’s top performers, getting them to pass on their secrets to success to you so that you can impact more lives and generate more income. Now onto the show.
Bill: Welcome, welcome. Before we get going, I want to let you know about some free resources that I invite you to retrieve after you’ve listened to today’s interview, you’ll find checklists, guides, videos, other tools. Simply go to ReferralCoach.com/resources. While you’re there, make sure you sign up for our weekly tips. We’re always sharing best practices, and we’ll notify you of our newest podcast interviews as they go live. And while these are free for you, I think you’ll find them quite valuable.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know that the women in our society are gaining an increasing share of the wealth. At this moment in time, women control one third of total US. household financial assets, representing more than $10 trillion. By 2030, women in the US. Are projected to control much of the 30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will possess. Women are also the largest beneficiaries of the current transfer of wealth. Since women are living an average age of five years longer than men, 90% of all women will be managing their own finances during the financial years of their life.
In top advisor episode number 36, I interviewed Russ Thornton, who has built a highly successful practice focusing on affluent women. And on his website, he writes “Lifestyle retirement planning for women age 55 plus”. Then, in episode 37, I interviewed Adri Miller Heckman, who coaches advisors on how to attract affluent women, as well as helping firms hire more women advisors.
So in this episode, we’re at it again. My featured guest today is Craig Richman. I love that name, by the way, for someone involved in financial services. Rich man. Let me tell you just a little bit about Craig, and then we’ll dive into some good discussions that I believe you’ll find helpful. So Craig Richmond, CLU ChFC aifa C-D-F-A-M-O-U-S-E is the founder of Richman capital management, a boutique investment advisory firm located in Boca Raton, Florida. Craig’s wife, Janice is a registered radiographer and pilates teacher. They’ve been married for 30 years and have two wonderful children and a granddaughter. If you visit Craig’s website, the first words you’ll see in the banner are Intentional Wealth Practice for women. So he states it just like Russ Thornton does. He states it right in the banner, empowering you to live life on purpose. Part of his website bio reads, craig has always worked closely with his clients, and he started to notice a trend a lot of women were coming to him facing financial upheaval as a result of divorce or other transition to help his clients. He became a certified divorce financial analyst CDFA in 2014. That’s enough for me. Now let’s hear from Craig. Craig Richmond, Welcome to Top Advisor Podcast.
Craig Richman: Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me on. I’ve been a big fan of yours for most of my career, and I’ve read most of your books, for sure. I also would like to shout out to Adri Heckman Miller, who did refer me to you. She actually has been my coach for many years and frankly, has had the most impact with my work with women.
Bill: Yeah, that’s great. In my interview with her that I said, okay, I got to know who this guy Craig is. And so we’ve had some nice conversations. Took us a while to finally get to this place, mostly on me.
So your path into this business has been a little different than most. You were a professional dancer, a dance instructor before coming into this industry. I don’t hear that very often, if at all. So I want to take just a couple of minutes to share your journey into this business. I don’t often ask my guests to do that. Sometimes it’s kind of ho hum. Yours is anything but ho hum. And so your journey into the business and then how you eventually came to focus on women.
Craig: Well, thank you so much. The fabulous question. I like to tell you that my path has been somewhat organic. It wasn’t preordained. My parents owned a jewelry store in Connecticut when I was growing up, and when I was 16, my dad put me in charge of selling charm bracelets and charms in particular. I don’t know if you remember that my first array was essentially helping women find charms for their charm bracelets. So if your wife happened to have two dogs, hypothetically, and one was a Dachshund and she didn’t have a Dachshund charm, I would call her and say, by the way, I have this Dachshund charm, and why don’t you come in and take a look at it? So that was really unbeknownst to me. That was my first way of serving women.
My parents were great dancers, and then I love dancing. I actually went through the disco error, if you remember. I don’t want to date myself, just have but I also asked my mom if my dad’s, my real dad, because no white guy should dance the way I danced. I turned pro very young, and when I moved to Florida, I actually had a flourishing I was a dance entertainer. I had a dance company. I had my own condo show where the condos were Jackie Gleason used to be involved with. I had a nightclub act. It was a model. I did choreography. So I really had quite a dance career. But it was really there where when I was working with the women. We were both physically and figuratively naked. And I really learned about women very deeply during that phase, and again, didn’t really understand that until a later part.
I then got into the financial business, did not concentrate on women individually. I actually concentrated in the commercial construction field, believe it or not, and I was the investment advisor to CEOs and senior executives. But over years of doing that, I was not happy and I couldn’t figure out why. So after years of lamenting, I stumbled into a yoga class that happened to be hot yoga. I had gained a lot of weight, very distressed. I was making money, so money really wasn’t the issue. And I went through the class and of course, I quit a thousand times. I shouldn’t be here. And this yoga teacher came up to me, put her arms around me and said, “Craig, I think you’re here for a reason.” I said, Well, I don’t know what the reason is. She goes, Well, I’ll tell you what, I can see your distress. Would you mind just taking yoga three days a week for the next month and then let’s have a conversation?
So I had nothing to lose. I did that and Bill, during that time period, my real life changed after that being as anal as I am, I want to learn more about yoga. I went to a teacher training program that she recommended and which, frankly, of all my certifications and degrees, the yoga experience was perhaps the most enlightening. It was during that time that I learned in my career that at the current market, I was serving them, but they weren’t serving me. And it hit me over like a ton of bricks. That was not my natural market. And then when I started to peel the onion further, I really saw that, oh, my God, hit me on the head, Women really was my tribe, as Audrey puts it. So I started working with women. I saw a lot of them were distressed going through divorce. I became a certified divorce analyst, as you mentioned, and that’s when I really took a more holistic approach to finance and put all my tools together to serve women.
Bill: Wow, it’s quite a journey. And I get the obviously the yoga kind of broke you down a little bit in the sense of you just had a chance to reflect on yourself, and isn’t it nice that you had time to do that? Some of us just move so fast. I was talking to an advisor just the other day and he just said, he’s moving so fast he actually felt guilty talking with me and having me coach him a little bit to take that step back to kind of assess. He says what? I should be doing this, I should be doing this. And I said, yeah, but the activity you’re going to do right now to be strategic about your business, you’ll pass where you would have been otherwise just by being reactive and busy. Busy, right.
So I tried hot yoga once. Didn’t care for it. I guess the heat didn’t agree with me. And I think I told you I took a dance class at the University of Maryland when I think I was a junior. I did it mostly just to meet women. I thought it’d be a great way to meet women.
Craig: I met my not the worst thing.
Bill: I met my college sweetheart that way. In fact, she told me later, she says when I told her I was taking a dance class, that’s what did it for her. She just thought this guy could take a dance class. That was really cool. So I can’t say that I was any good.
But Craig, when you made this shift to focus on women, did you tell your male clients? If so, how did they react? Are you still taking on male clients? How does that transition happen for you?
Craig: No, I technically did not tell them because A, I wouldn’t want any male client to feel less than as a client. I treat every client the same. But frankly, with my male clients, there’s a huge difference between women and men when it comes to money. Men are more performance oriented, women are more relationship based in general. And frankly, as long as I’m making money from my male clients, I don’t think they care what I do. But I like to say that I’m women-focused and men-friendly.
Bill: So you work with women and a few smart men. I think this is an important lesson because a lot of folks, when they think about targeting a niche, going narrower as you have, they wonder, what about my other clients? I mean, do I have to stop serving those people? And of course, the answer is no, you don’t. And you can certainly let most of them know that it’s not women instead of them, it’s them and you’re also helping a lot of women. And I suspect some of those men over the years have probably introduced you to a few women clients.
Craig: Well, the reality is just the opposite, okay? Of all my male clients, 50% of them were referred by women.
Bill: Interesting. And women are known to refer more generally speaking. Again, these are generalizations, but it’s true.
So I know that you talk to your clients, that you help them with more than just the money, right? That you bring more to the conversation than money. Am I saying that right? Tell us more about that.
Craig: Yeah, that’s a fair statement. Again, it goes back to my yoga and learning to be present, which I think what you were trying to do with that other gentleman, the past is history and the future has not yet been written. So that leaves us with the present, which is a gift. And the reality is what I have seen is people they’re worried about what’s going to happen next and really don’t live in a moment and they’re not happy. So money is just a tool to help you get what you want. And I like to say your money habits have to work in concert with your ability to build your life.
So, as you mentioned, I have an intentional wealth practice. Well, the intention is what is your intention? Let’s take a step back to really understand what is it we want to do with our life. I’m sure you and I are probably in the same age bracket, but I’m sure you’ve seen many people where their health has failed at some point and they were not able to do things on our bucket list or things they had in mind. Or maybe people just living the way they always did and never even took a step to question what it is their life should look like. And I think that’s a major issue with the financial planning business is I don’t use these calculated financial plans. I think they’re worthless. They’re all based on these assumptions which pretty much go out the door in a few days. So to me, after my over 40 years of experience, it’s really a function of forgetting the money for a moment, let’s take a step back and understand what it is that we’re trying to accomplish here. And what do you want your life to look like moving forward?
Bill: This fits within kind of the trend in the industry, right, to be more holistic and take in the whole person. I guess, just like a physician should take in the whole person. I believe that a Financial advisor should take in the whole person because money intersects every aspect of one’s life, right? So how can you really serve your clients if you just focus on returns or other things like that? And I think a lot of folks are getting the message. Certainly the people that I interview on the Top Advisor podcast and that I coach seem to be getting that message. I guess the others maybe I don’t attract into my world.
Craig, in just a minute, I want to cover two very important topics. First, how is this intentional focus on women, mostly women, how does it bring more value to your clients and then, of course, to you and your business more than if you were a generalist?
And second, I’d like to tell us more about your decision to build a business lifestyle or a lifestyle business, as you said to me, what it looks like for you.
But first, let’s take a brief pause to listen to a word from our Sponsor, PodRocket Influence Academy, brought to you by ProudMouth. First, they make this podcast possible, and their core business is helping financial advisors accelerate their influence through marketing activities like Podcasting.
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Craig, please talk to us about the benefits of focusing on this very clear, specific target market. Both the benefits to you, your business, of course, and also the benefits to your clients. How is this a win win by you narrowing your focus like this?
Craig: Great question, Bill. The first thing is when you’re able to identify who you want to serve, what I like to call your tribe, because in your tribe, it’s really a function of how you hold yourself out. You essentially naturally attract the kind of client you’re looking for, and that sets you apart from your competition.
You would mention being a generalist. Well, a generalist, it’s like to me, throwing the spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. And yeah, you’ll make it that way. But to me, if you’re lean and you know exactly who you want to serve and all your education and services essentially are tailored for that type of person, why wouldn’t a woman prospect go to you for help? It’s pretty natural, right?
That really helps you take the 800-pound gorilla off your shoulders, because when you wake up in the morning, you don’t have to say, “Well, who’s going to be my next client?”. Now you know exactly who you serve, and actually, it creates a lot of inner peace for you. Mine happens to be women, mostly after age 50, who have experienced some type of transition, but it could be anything for any advisor based on their life experience.
The advantage to the client A is, again, part of taking Adri’s course over a year. That helped well train me to work with women. Specifically, by the way, her book The Keys to the Ladies Room, perhaps the most influential book I’ve ever read on marketing to a tribe.
Bill: I’ve read that. Let’s mention that. The Keys to the Ladies Room by Adri Miller Heckman. Easy to read book, not too thick, but very helpful. So I’m sure she’ll appreciate that plug.
Craig: No, I’ve read it many times. Whenever you get off course, I reread the book.
Bill: Nice.
Craig: She’s been incredible. And a huge benefit to me personally. What it provides me is to the clients. The benefit to the clients a, I am better suited to serve them because I’m in their wheelhouse. I work with women who have experienced what they have experienced. That puts me in a completely different light versus my competition. Honestly, and I don’t mean to be bodacious, but the reality is, because of my financial training, my women training, my yoga training, I feel I really stand at a level on my own as a result of that. And that’s because of I’ve geared all my education, training, and work in this area.
To the clients, yes, I can specifically handle their situations. More specifically, I’ve learned to offer more empathy, patience, understanding. A lot of guys do not have the patience to deal with women. Give me the Cliff Notes mentality. And women love to tell stories. They really want to share their feelings. You have to be a patient person, and you truly want to serve this market. I love every one of my women clients, and frankly, whenever we have any kind of conversation, they bear their soul. Tell me what’s going on, and to the extent I can, including my assistant, we’re there to serve.
Bill: And we know that not all women are attracted to working with men. Some would rather work with a woman. It’s fine. We live in a big country. There’s plenty of opportunity out there. And how you talk about your business will attract the folks that you want to attract. Right. And the ones that aren’t interested in that focus or aren’t interested in a more holistic approach, my wife would be one of those, for instance. They’re not attracted to that, and that’s perfect. That’s good marketing.
I have a quick question. It wasn’t on my list to ask you.
Bill: But have you ever done any client events where you’ve done dance lessons or dance demo? Are you getting some of these women who also dance disco when they were younger, and any of that activity happened.
Craig: Not so much of dancing, but I actually have integrated yoga. As a matter of fact, I’m speaking in a couple of months. I had double knee replacement surgery back in December. So my yoga is not there yet. I’m still trying to walk without pain, but I’m getting there. But typically every woman I meet gets a little gold Buddha. So it’s just a little it’s only, I don’t know, $5 a piece. But you think I give him a million dollars. But what this does is I say, look, if you’re having a rough day, rub his belly and I’ll make you feel better.
Bill: I like it.
Craig: But I am having an event where it’s talking about the intentional woman, your guide to financial abundance and happiness. And I’m integrating yoga into that presentation.
Bill: Interesting. You’ve built what you call a lifestyle business. Other folks have done that. What does that mean to you? Why did you do it? And I guess, how did you make that happen?
Craig: Well, lifestyle. It’s funny when you say the lifestyle. I think it’s fairly self explanatory, but maybe it’s not. I’m 66 years old, not a kid anymore. I had have offers to buy the practice. I’m just not really there because I don’t know if anybody could really serve our clients the way we do. And that’s from a place of my heart. It’s not a financial transaction.
But to your question, we just built a new home in a age 55 and older community, active lifestyle. Now, although I can’t do anything yet. They have a major pickleball facility, tennis, they have a nice pool. They have a huge gym, restaurant. They have poker. They have a billiards. They’re pretty much bocce ball. Got a little bit of everything and everybody’s very social. So when I say lifestyle, I do have a robust practice at this point, I really don’t need to add new clients, although I do bring on new clients, but not at the pace that I used to. So I’m enjoying my lifestyle. I built out a trick patio, what I call my little cigar lounge barbecue overlooking a lake. So I’m able to relax out there, play music. So it’s really about integrating things for me. Not this year because of my surgery, but we are planning on having maybe two or three cruises a year next year. We already have two planned, one to the western Caribbean and one to Japan for three weeks, actually.
So it’s about enjoying yourself at this point. Like I talked about, you don’t know what the future is going to hold. So I’m talking the talk and letting you know that I’m living in the present.
Bill: Beautiful. I love it. You’ve actually inspired me. After this show, this interview, I’m going to go to my patio. I live in Maryland. The weather is perfect today. I’m going to go out there and do the rest of my work. I got a couple of coaching calls. I’m going to do it outside, so thanks for that inspiration.
My featured guest on today’s show has been Craig Richman, the founder of Richmond Capital Management, a boutique investment advisory firm located in Boca Raton, Florida, where there does happen to be a fair amount of money. Craig Richman, thank you for being a guest on today’s show.
Craig: My pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity, and God bless.
Bill: Thank you so much.
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This is Bill Cates reminding you that ideas do not make you more successful. Only acting on those ideas will bring you the success you desire. Thanks for listening today.
