MarketMate interview with Faye Sykes and Kevin Salvadori

Faye Sykes is CEO of Scarlet Oak Financial Services. Faye’s passion is educating and helping individuals and business owners design workable financial solutions. As an IAR Investment Advisor Representative, Faye is a fiduciary for her clients and works on a fee-based or fee-only basis that keeps it transparent and simple for her clients. After Faye’s mother lost her battle with cancer in 2006, she found that retirement planning is a lot more than just investing and earned her Certified Long Term Care Designation and has tirelessly learned as much as she can about Social Security and ways to help her clients maximize their options.

What you should expect working with Faye as an advisor:

• Customized financial planning and consulting
• Easy to understand education on a variety of financial topics
• Coordinate with CPA’s and estate planning attorneys make sure
• Provides integrity and honesty helping you toward your financial goals

Faye has volunteered in many organizations including Senior Connections, Life Enrichment Senior Services, Decatur Business Association, Decatur Arts Alliance, Kiwanis as a Distinguished past President and a Lt. Gov and founding member and past President of Atlanta Independent Women’s Network.

Faye is a graduate of Syracuse University- GO ORANGE and loves the Green Bay Packers. She has been in the financial services industry since 2005. Contact her at 800-871-1219 or fsykes@scarletoakfs.com.

Kevin Salvadori, an Independent Wealth Manager at Scarlet Oak Financial Services, has a mission to help you get your finances in shape! If you have ever felt lost with what to do or where to start to get your finances in order, he can help. Kevin offers a flat fee one-year consulting program – “Financial 101” He will help you create a budget, assist with plan to get out of debt, educate you on basic financial concepts, help you understand investing and insurance and much more. This program lays a foundation for a healthy financial future.

In addition, as our 401k specialist, he assists the employees of our plans to understand not only their 401k options, but other retirement planning that creates opportunities outside of the 401k, 457 or 403b retirement plans.

What you should expect working with Kevin as an advisor:

• Customized financial planning
• Education on a variety of financial topics
• Coordinate with CPA’s and estate planning attorneys to cover all important areas of your financial life
• Provides integrity and honesty helping you toward your financial goals

Kevin became passionate about retirement planning and investing after he was forced to retire from professional basketball prematurely due to a career ending injury. His belief is you need to prepare for the unexpected when you can, because you never know what the future will hold.

In his free time, Kevin volunteers as a coach with high schools and camps. He enjoys teaching life lessons that he was so fortunate to learn from his college basketball Coach Dean Smith. He is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the 1993 National Championship Basketball team. Kevin still stays very active outdoors and enjoys time with his dogs. To contact Kevin call 800-871-1219 or email him at kevin@scarletoakfs.com.

marketmateatlanta080219.mp3 Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of MarketMate Atlanta. Stone Payton and Corey Rieck here with you this afternoon. Corey, this is going to be so much fun. I have so been looking forward to this series. We're going to get a chance to continue to support and celebrate folks out there working so hard every day, just doing good work, serving the market, serving the profession, serving their community.

Stone Payton: We're going to do things a little differently in this series. We're also going to dive into that relationship, the structure, the discipline, the rigor that practitioners out in the marketplace apply when they go arm in arm to go serve their mutual client bases. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to hear those stories and maybe capture some thought leadership about how to go to market together and help more people make more money and - I don't know - have more fun. What do you think?

Corey Rieck: Hey, sounds great to me. And do more good.

Stone Payton: I love it. All right. So, who did you invite to join us today?

Corey Rieck: Well, today, we have the distinct pleasure of having the two head honchos at Scarlet Oaks Financial. Faye Sykes, who is the CEO of Scarlet Oaks Financial, and Kevin Salvadori, who is one of their wealth managers there. Faye, Kevin, welcome.

Kevin Salvadori: Thank you.

Faye Sykes: Thank you so much for having us.

Corey Rieck: They have great, great subject matter expertise in financial planning. I met Faye about a year and a half ago. She was a guest on my Tuesdays with Corey Show. And she is a national expert on Social Security planning. And that, really, is a business. And after getting to know Faye and interviewing her, I found that that's a really important thing that, many times, people overlook. Would you agree with that, Faye?

Faye Sykes: Absolutely. It was interesting when I first started in the industry 15 years ago, my former employer said, "Oh, it's not important. Don't plan on it." But for the average American, it's 40 to 60 percent of the retirement income.

Stone Payton: Wow!

Corey Rieck: I think that what you've done with that is extremely impressive. And knowing you, I know that the people that I bring to you are going to be taken care of, that they're going to be held in high regard, and that you're going to talk to them like you would talk to your own parents if you were working with them. So, that, I feel very, very grateful for.

And for me, I have a focus on long-term care since 2001, and we get asked a lot of questions about life insurance, and about disability, and about how all the pieces with financial planning fit together. And I think you and Kevin really do a good job of putting that all together for clients. And for so many years, I've searched for a market mate to help with that to really look out for clients and do the right thing. And I feel very, very good that I found your organization. So, that, I very much appreciate.

Faye Sykes: And we appreciate you, Corey. Thank you.

Corey Rieck: And Kevin has a lot of financial planning experience and wealth planning experience. And I think that those of you out there in the listenership may recognize Kevin as the guy that convinced Chris Webber to call the time out in the 1993 NCAA championship basketball game. Kevin, welcome.

Kevin Salvadori: Well, thank you. But it's funny because the longer time goes by, the fewer people know that because that was 25 years ago but-

Corey Rieck: Thank you for that, for reminding me that we've all gotten older.

Kevin Salvadori: It's kind of scary because I remember when I was in Carolina, and guys would come back that played 20-25 years before I did, and they'd introduce themselves, and I was like, "Oh, very nice to meet you." And they'd walk away, I'd be like, "I have no idea who the guy was." Oh, my God, no. So, you know what? That's okay though, because I'm still walking around. So, that's a good thing.

Corey Rieck: Well, I think that you bring a certain ... I know that you understand discipline. We've talked about this, and that there's blocking and tackling that has to happen every day. And that's one of the things that I certainly appreciate about Faye having the Midwestern Wisconsin work ethic and, also, about you having been a college athlete, you understand that there's things everyday you have to do to be successful.

Kevin Salvadori: Absolutely. And a lot of it comes from discipline. And I played for one of the best coaches of all time with Coach Dean Smith. And what he taught all the time is what you do today with your practice pays off for the game. And it's the same thing with this, with what we're doing and what I do today, meet as many people as I can, get in front of good quality people, it's how we got together as ourselves, just leads to good things, leading the leads down the road, leading to really help people.

And that's one of the many reasons why I got into this business because I played professionally for quite some time, saw some people really throw a lot of their money away and put themselves in bad situations. And being able to do what we do, learning from Faye, we've actually been able to really help some people out and really prepare them to have lives that they really want to live.

Corey Rieck: Well, I think that Scarlet Oaks Financial has done a very, very effective job of putting their information out in the marketplace. Your information is always educational. You do a lot of workshops, right?

Faye Sykes: Oh, absolutely. And actually, we're starting to work on our 2020 plan already, getting our whole calendar together. And one of the things that before I kind of go into our own calendar, but last week we had a meeting with Corey and his assistant, Amber, and we are looking at doing some co-branded events, kind of this whole helping each other out. But we're going to do some co-events and bring different clients, and prospects, and things like that just so we can make the introduction in a very low key kind of situation.

Corey Rieck: Yeah, you've done a very good job. The people that have gone to your workshops always come back with great feedback. And I know that you're very much taking a consultative educational approach-

Faye Sykes: 100 percent.

Corey Rieck: ... and low key. And I think that you've done an excellent job of differentiating your firm with the two of you because you're able to bring things to people in an educative, low-key way.

Faye Sykes: Well, one of the things that I'll say, for a lot of my kind of other colleagues out in the industry, they have a tendency to bring in product vendors that will help sponsor and pay, we specifically don't ever have any sponsors. And-

Corey Rieck: Why is that a big deal?

Faye Sykes: Because they don't want to pay for it. And so, if I bring in a product, if I bring in X, Y, Z insurance company or asset management company, then they're going to want to do all the talking. And so, for us, we don't bring in the sponsors, we don't get the money; we just pay for it out of our own pocket. But I've had so many people tell me that they actually learned something in our events.

Corey Rieck: Oh, there's no question about that. Well, I think the other thing that, really, is important to me, at our firm, we're neutral. We help the client, we go to the market, we find the right solution for them based on their health, and based on their wealth, and based on the kind of plan they want and the sort of nuances they want to plan. And that's pretty much the same thing that you do, right?

Faye Sykes: Yeah, we are fiduciaries. So, in our industry, the way that we are licensed, we are held to the highest legal standard in our industry. We are legally obligated to give unbiased and the best advice that we can. People that work for some of the bigger firms the broker dealer level are held to a suitability level. And that means as long as it's suitable for the consumer, even if it makes them more money, the product costs more, they legally can still sell it and not get into legal issues.

Kevin Salvadori: There's a lot of people out there that say they're fiduciaries that are not fiduciaries.

Faye Sykes: Yeah.

Corey Rieck: Well, I think, I throw compliments around like manhole covers, and I've done my research, and I know that the clients that come to me, and for years I would hear, "Well, Corey, I need a life insurance policy. Can't you do it? Can't you do it?" "No, that's not what I do." "Why not? Why can't you do it?" And it's kind of like I don't know enough about it to do it in a way that's consistent with my brand.

And so, for many years, I've said, "Okay, my clients come to me for help." And they ask me. My wife and I don't have any kids. And so, our biggest discussions often end up about where we're going to go out to eat. And so, people will call me for restaurants, they'll call me for random things. But when they call me for the life insurance and they press you or financial planning, I'm able to say, "Hey, I don't do that. But I have a market referral partner, a market mate that will help you. And I trust them, and I would expect that you would want to spend some time and learn their perspective." And so, that's been extremely helpful and, frankly, a relief with these many clients as we've accumulated over the years that ask us for these things.

Stone Payton: So, how do you handle that hand-off? Do you introduce them electronically? Do you get them together for a lunch? Because I would think that that's an important aspect of all this.

Corey Rieck: You're 100 percent right. Well, on some level - I'm really dating myself here - but you're kind of like Chuck Woolery on - I forget - the Love Connection.

Stone Payton: Kevin's not old enough to know what you're talking about.

Kevin Salvadori: No, no. I watched that, "two and two."

Faye Sykes: Two and two.

Corey Rieck: I love that show. And so, you've got to match the personalities. That's something that, I think, a lot of times, isn't taken into account. And so, one of the reasons that I really like Faye and Kevin is their personalities mix very, very well with drivers, they mix very, very well with people that are sort of laid back, and they're able to adjust and be able to respond accordingly. And you know what? I know, at the end of the day, they're just going to help people. And that takes a lot of pressure off me.

And because I've worked something so complex for clients, they already trust me. And so, most of the time, they're going to, at the very least, meet with them. But what I would do is I say, "Hey." I will spend time with each of them, my client, I'll say, "Well, here's Kevin and Faye. Here's what they do. Here's their subject matter expertise," and I'll introduce them that way. And they'll have the same conversation about the client with Kevin and Faye. And they meet. The two of them will meet with the client together because I think the two of them think very similarly, but they bring some other things to the table that the other may not consider. And then, I'll introduce them virtually via email. And then, I'm out of the middle of it.

And so, we set the expectations. Then, getting together is with them. And I think Faye and Kevin, although I don't want to speak for you, I think they like to meet with people personally to see how they can be of service. And typically, what they find out is there's other things that they can help the client with, and they've been very, very helpful that way, without question.

Faye Sykes: Absolutely. And Corey does give us a call, go over the case, does the introduction, and then we just follow up. And one of our protocols is once we start working with somebody in any capacity, we do weekly updates, really kind of hold their hand. I sort of joke that I become people's financial spouse.

Kevin Salvadori: And I'm their financial coach. I don't do the spouse thing. I stick with the coach.

Faye Sykes: He's the coach. I'm the spouse.

Corey Rieck: Thank you for that.

Kevin Salvadori: No, it went a little awkward.

Faye Sykes: But when it gets down to it, people, they want to be informed, given the right information, enough so that they can make the proper decision for them and their family. And that's what we really do is go through because there's no perfect product, there's no perfect solution, but if we go through the pros and cons and help them understand why something may or may not be good, I find that people feel really happy about that. And then, the referrals because they tell everybody else.

Kevin Salvadori: Well, the other thing is it's not a cookie cutter thing. Everybody's different. So, what we're going to go over with them, what we're going to educate them with, what we're going to offer them as options for them might be different from one person you send us to the next. And I think that's how we really build that comfort level with them because we make it personal. We really get to know them and make sure that what we're going to do for them and how we're going to help them is going to really be the best thing for them.

Corey Rieck: Yeah, I think that the fact that you're very much conversational, in any business, I think you've really arrived when you can just have a conversation with people, and you're not using any sort of company or industry collateral, and you can just talk. I mean, I was having a conversation with somebody yesterday, and they were saying, "Well, this other person brought their company collateral, and they were talking about this, and pointing to this, and pointing to that."

And I said, "Let me ask you something. If you go to the dentist because you need a root canal, how would you feel if he or she pulled out a PowerPoint presentation or a document that said, 'Okay, the first thing we're going to do is we're going to apply the nerve block. And here's where we're going to apply it on the tooth. And here are the instruments we're going to use.'" You probably wouldn't like that. And she just kind of looked at me and said, "Yeah, I wouldn't like that. You just want the pain to go away."

Kevin Salvadori: Yeah.

Corey Rieck: And I think that people want things succinct. They want to be consulted. I don't think people want to be sold. I mean, I don't want to be sold.

Kevin Salvadori: Nobody wants to be sold.

Faye Sykes: Well, I think, just to kind of sort of layer on what Corey is saying is that when somebody comes in, sometimes they're not really looking for us. They might be looking for a CPA. They might be looking for an attorney. We do tons of introductions to other trusted folks out there. And just like Corey. I get calls from, "Who's a good pest control?" To I had a client last week who is doing a light retail commercial build-out and was like, "The person we were originally looking at, they can't do it." And so, I got her like three people instantaneously to, at least, talk to.

Corey Rieck: Well, I think the the advantage of having been in the business as long as the three of us have, I mean, you build these contacts, you know when your client comes to you, you’ve got to have an answer. You’ve got to find somebody. And that's the advantage of having been in this 15, 18, 20 years is you build up these contacts and people that you can send business to that will actually help the people that need them.

Stone Payton: But some of that too, though, I think is the discipline to continue to cultivate those contacts because I got to tell you-

Corey Rieck: You're right about that.

Stone Payton: I failed in that as recently as this morning. I have a studio partner here in the Metro Atlanta area who runs a studio, they just have a brand new client who is underwriting a show, and the way our our thing is structured, either the studio partner or their client designs the graphics. We have some placeholder graphics, but they're the ones.

And so, this guy came to me this morning or maybe was late last night asking for a go-to graphics person to design the album cover and the banner. And I have not invested the time and energy that I should have to this point. I mean, we've been doing this for over 12 years, so that I could just really say, "Yeah, absolutely. You want to talk to Suzy or John." And it's because I haven't invested the time to cultivate that. And that does take time, and energy, and all that, right?

Corey Rieck: Well, I mean, you have a pretty good database of people that you can call and-

Stone Payton: Right. But now, I got to go. That's what I'm doing. When this show is over, I'm going back to the house. I'm going to work from the house for the rest of the day. And the very first thing at the top of my list, I got to go dig through the people I know in the graphics business, and have a conversation with them, and see about getting them connected with this guy.

Corey Rieck: You can do that after you buy us lunch.

Stone Payton: You got it.

Kevin Salvadori: Oh, we're getting lunch?

Corey Rieck: Yes.

Kevin Salvadori: Okay, okay.

Stone Payton: I didn't know lunch was included. That is fantastic.

Corey Rieck: Well, now, you know.

Stone Payton: Are you a steak and seafood guy like me?

Kevin Salvadori: Oh, yeah. I got high-end taste, so I'm going to cost you some money.

Stone Payton: All right. Nice.

Corey Rieck: So, how do you guys go about putting on your workshops? Tell us about that a little bit.

Faye Sykes: Well, basically, by October of the prior year, we get the whole schedule set out.

Corey Rieck: How do you do that?

Faye Sykes: Well, because I've been doing this for years, there are certain topics that just people really engage in. Earlier this year, we had fear around money. And we talked about what are the things that I look at. There's the avoider, the spender, the saver and the martyr are kind of the four things around fear. So, we go through and, literally, people get really engaged in these kind of things. They're asking questions. There's dialogue. But we have our next one coming up August 21st. Actually, we do have one this coming Saturday that Kevin's hosting. It's just-.

Corey Rieck: What's that called?

Faye Sykes: Financial 101.

Kevin Salvadori: Yeah.

Faye Sykes: But I affectionately call it my Adulting Class.

Kevin Salvadori: She likes to come up with some interesting names. That's for sure.

Faye Sykes: Yeah. That's got a-.

Corey Rieck: She is good for that, of course.

Faye Sykes: Well, you got to make it fun. I read once an article that the average person would rather clean their toilet than sit down with a financial planner.

Corey Rieck: Not me, just for the record.

Faye Sykes: Except for Cory. But August 21st, we've got a Retirement 3, 2, 1 Blastoff. And that is going to cover a little five minutes on Medicare, Social Security, life insurance, long-term care, all these different things, budgeting, kind of all the things you need to think about for retirement. On our website, scarletoakfs.com, has the full events and you can actually sign up.

Faye Sykes: But for my specialty, October 30th, we do have a Lunch and Learn that's going to be going over Social Security and Medicare. But we basically kind of look at what are the topics. And when we have each of our events, we ask the attendees like, "Hey, what are some other topics that might be of interest?" and get input from them. And then, we did a book club, a virtual book club earlier this year. We are looking at doing another one on financial literacy. It actually really hurt my heart to see when the government shutdown happened for three weeks that the new statistic came out that 70 percent of Americans have less than $400 of emergency savings.

Corey Rieck: Isn't that shocking?

Kevin Salvadori: It's ridiculous. That is ridiculous.

Faye Sykes: So, anyway, for financial literacy. And just for a very quick background, I used to be a fashion designer. I went to Syracuse, was a fashion designer, knew nothing about money. My parents taught me nothing about money. And I had an epiphany, they can't teach you what they don't know. So, I made the shift and change. I'm an artist in a financial world. And so, the financial literacy was a huge part of why I came in this industry was not only to educate myself but as many other people as possible.

Corey Rieck: And certainly, you've done a great job with that. I think that your personality, certainly, your knowledge, the fact that you have Kevin involved to help with some of the wealth and some of the things that allow you to kind of be out there and do it, you've done as good a job as anybody I've seen in the industry to bring about education to people that could be clients or prospective clients. So, for that, well done.

Faye Sykes: Thank you.

Kevin Salvadori: We find that if people are educated, they can make better decisions for themselves.

Corey Rieck: Well, don't you think, though, Kevin, that people ... don't you think that this like, know, trust thing, there is something to that. I mean, I personally can't do anything with anybody if I don't like them. I'm not wired that way. And if I don't like them, I don't have the interest in getting to know them. And if I don't know them, I'm certainly not going to trust them. And so, those three things have really served me well over the years. And I think that you guys are certainly eminently likable. You got great, great knowledge. And I think you guys have no problems fulfilling those three things.

Kevin Salvadori: Without a doubt. I think that's why we hit it off the way we did when we first got together, we’re like-minded in that way. And I get along with most people, but there's always somebody that you just aren't going to like, and there's going to be people that just aren't going to like us. And that's fine. That's the way the world goes.

But you want to work with people that you're going to enjoy meeting with because when we're working with a client, that's not like we sit down with them once, and we figure out what kind of products or what kind of process we're going to go through, and then we're done with them. This is a lifelong thing. We're going to be reaching out to, and we're going to have a lot of interaction for many, many years. So, you have to be able to enjoy spending time with them. You have to be able to communicate with them. And that is imperative for what we do.

Corey Rieck: Well, I think because of the success the two of you have enjoyed in the industry, it lends itself to being more laid back, it lends itself to be more consultative because I think I've had this theory for a while that I think people can smell fear a mile away.

Faye Sykes: It's true.

Corey Rieck: And if you're needing a sale, this might not be the right business. And I think that, in my opinion, you guys go about this the right way.

Kevin Salvadori: Well, we come from a background too where we worked for another company that was just sell, sell, sell, sell and close, close, close, and I just didn't feel like we were helping people properly the way it was. And it's nice to be able to really consult people and really know that we're going be able to help them.

Corey Rieck: Well, I think you're able to bring the business to people in a manner that's consistent with your brand, right?

Faye Sykes: Exactly.

Corey Rieck: So, Kevin, what do you like best about what you do?

Kevin Salvadori: For me, the best thing I like is I know ... I had a friend come to me a couple of weeks ago and she asked me how do I sleep at night? And I'm like, "What are you talking about?" She goes, "You have all these people's money, and you've got such important decisions for these people's lives. How do you go to sleep at night and not just worry and be upset?" I know what we're doing. We're truly helping people. And that has been something that's very important to me.

Different jobs I've had in the past, the jobs I've enjoyed the most truly is helping people, knowing that I'm helping people. And I have utmost faith that we really get to know them, we really know what we're doing, we really do what's best for them, and that we are setting them up to succeed for whatever it is they want.

And I love that. I love the response when you're done with helping somebody, we're never really done, but when we really start that process, and they see which direction we're going to go and how happy they are, and knowing that they are going to be able to relax and not have to worry about these things anymore, I know that we improved their lives, that is by far the thing I like the most.

Corey Rieck: Yeah. That comes through loud and clear. What about you, Faye? What do you like? What gives you the most satisfaction in what you do on a day-to-day basis?

Faye Sykes: Well, just the general helping people, but there's nothing more exciting to tell somebody that they can retire and they don't have to worry. And-

Stone Payton: Would you tell my wife that, please?

Faye Sykes: We will have a chat soon.

Corey Rieck: After you buy lunch.

Faye Sykes: But I have one story that was interesting. This gentleman had work like 27 years for the same company, only had one job. And he was like, "I am so burnt on working here." So, we had a one-year exit strategy plan. And two weeks later, he got a one-year severance and we're like, "Woo hoo!"

Corey Rieck: Nice.

Faye Sykes: And he was interesting. He was a referral from a bank, a community bank, because they didn't have financial advisors, and he was widowed. And so, he had received a huge chunk of money and kind of went through and did long-term care, did his assets under management, all of this kind of stuff. And that man, when he comes in twice a year, the look of peace on his face because he knows that he doesn't have to worry, it's really huge.

Corey Rieck: Yeah. And you've been a part of making sure that he's got a plan, followed it, and you've made sure that he's in the best position to be golden to, in fact, enjoy his golden years.

Faye Sykes: Exactly. I don't worry about him at all.

Corey Rieck: So, you guys have a workshop tomorrow. Can the listenership participate in that, do you think?

Kevin Salvadori: Yeah. We still have some open seats for that. We do, absolutely.

Corey Rieck: How would they go about-

Kevin Salvadori: They can go online through our website, scarletoakfs.com, and go to the events page. And then, they can sign up for it. It's a free ticket.

Faye Sykes: Free ticket or I would also say just since it's last minute, they can also email Kevin at-

Kevin Salvadori: Yes.

Faye Sykes: Go ahead.

Kevin Salvadori: I don't know my own e-mail address.

Faye Sykes: You sure?

Kevin Salvadori: You can email me at Kevin@scarletoakfs.com. And if you want to call him, just let me know because we do have a couple of open seats.

Corey Rieck: And your offices are located where?

Kevin Salvadori: 1708 Peachtree Street NW, Office #201, 30309.

Corey Rieck: And the workshop tomorrow is?

Kevin Salvadori: Financial 101. Just going over the financial basics, different ways to invest different accounts, the flow of money, just the basics of investments. As Faye likes to call it, the Adulting Class. You're going to walk out of there, when you go in, you're going to learn a lot. There's no proprietary stuff. It's strictly teaching. And when you walk out of there, you're going to know more than about 90 percent of the people in the country.

Corey Rieck: And it starts about 11:00 a.m., right?

Kevin Salvadori: It's 11 a.m. It goes for an hour. Light snacks. You can always come in and have a light snack. And then, you get to listen to me and you get to see me tower over you as we talk and interact.

Corey Rieck: Well, that's great. I think you've certainly done a great job of putting out the educational events for folks. And if people wanted to get up to speed on what other events you have, how would they figure that out, Faye?

Faye Sykes: Well, we do have a newsletter, weekly newsletter where we can add folks on there. And they can email at info@scarletoakfs.com. We can add them on to that. Our website, scarletoakfs.com, has an event page where people can log in, sign up. Also, we have a Facebook page where they can go on and see all the events and all of that. But, yeah, we try to make it extremely easy. And our newsletter that comes out, we have a lot of really great educational information. Again, there's nothing salesy about it. It's all good information for people to know. And one of our recent things we just decided is to have a definition of the week because a lot of times, people don't understand basic terminology of our industry.

Corey Rieck: Interesting. So, what's this week's definition of the week?

Faye Sykes: I believe it's going to be in-kind transfer, which in-kind transfer is where-

Corey Rieck: That sounds technical.

Faye Sykes: I know. It's a basic, but it's like in-kind transfers, you can move your CocaCola stock from Charles Schwab to Scarlet Oak - we use TD Ameritrade - but we don't actually have to sell or buy the product, it just shifts over.

Corey Rieck: You get control of it, right?

Faye Sykes: Yeah. It's just it's like moving furniture. I'm all about making stuff simple. Let's say you sold your condo and bought a townhouse. Does it mean you have to sell your furniture? You can just move that furniture from the one place to the other. So, if you use that same analogy for investments, it's just shifting it from one place to another but without actually selling and buying new stuff.

Corey Rieck: So, it's better for the client to do that, right?

Faye Sykes: Yeah. In most cases, yeah, especially if it's a non-retirement account because it can put tax consequences out there that they might not be aware of.

Corey Rieck: Yeah.

Faye Sykes: People hate supertax surprises.

Corey Rieck: Yes.

Faye Sykes: I'll just say that.

Kevin Salvadori: I thought everybody loves taxes.

Stone Payton: For the universe. All right. Let's talk about me some more, yeah?

Corey Rieck: Let's do that.

Stone Payton: All right. So, I will share with you-

Corey Rieck: I was hoping we get to that.

Stone Payton: Yeah, exactly. So, I will share with you that Holly and I were talking, and she's retiring in 18 months and that kind of thing. But I was kind of saying it in jest., but she really does worry more about retirement. Are we going to have enough? And I really don't worry at all. And I think part of it is just the way we both ... we keep track of our network and all that stuff, but I mean, I think we're just wired differently. So, you guys got to play like marriage counselors, therapists. There's a lot to your job.

Corey Rieck: Hold on. Do we have enough time for this?

Faye Sykes: I will say we when it comes around that fear in money, you get couples like she's the spender, he's the saver, or vice versa. There's a lot of the ... I love the, "Oh, well, I buy all this extra stuff, but I hide it from my spouse." It's like, "No, this is not good." But we use, of course, software that can go through and take people's assets, insurance, look at ways to maximize the Social Security, but it can give people real-time look on what that would look like and project it out for many years.

Stone Payton: And so, somebody besides me, like even if I knew how to do that and I don't, it's a lot better for Faye and her software or Kevin to do that, right, and walk it through for her? So, I want to ask about that. Also, to continue to talk about me a little bit, I'm quite serious, I've got to get better, I think. It's one of the reasons I'm doing the show, I think. I've got to get better at this whole market mate idea, right? Cultivating relationships and building a structure for handing them off and that kind of stuff. What insight can any of the three of you, I'd like all of you to kind of chime in on this, offer me on finding, vetting, onboarding someone that you're willing to bring into your circle because, I mean, man, you're handing over you-

Corey Rieck: I will start off. I think, first, for me personally, it's like, know, trust. And I drive my executive coaches, past coaches nuts because I don't do anything right away. And I think you have to vet somebody, you have to be comfortable. I think situationally, in your head, you have to run through, all right, how is this person going to do with this kind of person? How is this person going to do with somebody that asks a million questions? How is this person going to do with somebody that doesn't have any patience? Or how is this person going to do with somebody that has no knowledge?

Because a lot of times, there are people out there that you send business to but unless the money is ready to jump into their pocket, they don't want to talk to the person. And so, you have to put them in position to get to the right person. So, for me, I try to get experience with the person first. Then, my clients train me. My clients are trained to say, "Corey, what is your history with this person? Have you done business with this person? And what's been the response?"

And so, the like, know, trust thing, I think, is really important. But I think everybody's got to go through their own vetting process because, ultimately, if I send somebody, if I refer somebody to someone and their experience is unsatisfactory, that can adversely affect my relationship, which I don't want to do. Long answer to a short question.

Stone Payton: No, that's the kind of detail that I'm asking for. Yeah, okay.

Faye Sykes: Well, for me, when I started back in the industry in 2005, I have been on nine nonprofit boards, I've been the member chair for the Decatur Business Association, I'm a former distinguished past president for Kiwanis and a lieutenant governor. I was about 25 years younger than everybody else. My first four or five years in the business, I gave out about 5000 to 6000 business cards. So, when I say I got out into the community, I also volunteered a ton. I lived in Decatur at the time. Decatur Book Festival, art festival, wine festival, beer festival, beach party, all these different things.

Well, all of a sudden, you've met the same people 15, 20, 25 times. You've seen them volunteer. They volunteered on a board or what have you. And that has solidified relationships long term where I know if I'm in that case of the late retail buildout, the builder who was on a networking group with me, which I was also in PowerCore and B&I, I know that when I refer somebody to him, he will take care of that person.

Corey Rieck: Yeah, you have to be clear that after you're going through your vetting process or whatever, and being comfortable, and liking, and knowing, and trusting the person, but whoever you refer the business to has got to follow through it. I mean, there's nothing worse than telling a client, "Hey, call X," and X doesn't do anything because the client comes back to you and says, "Well, Kevin, why did you send me to this guy? Your guy never called me.”

Kevin Salvadori: A big thing for me is the follow through. And when I get referrals, like when we get referrals, the biggest thing for me in my mind is I am, now, representing you. And that is huge because I know you've built years and years to build your brand up, and I'm not going to be that person to turn the show.

Corey Rieck: I appreciate that.

Kevin Salvadori: And then, I'm looking for the exact same thing. And as Faye said, you get out there, you meet people, somebody messes with one of my clients one time - and it only takes one time - then, I'm going to look somewhere else because your reflection on me, you've already let up on that. And I want to make sure that when I send somebody somewhere, I want them to get the best. And when somebody sends me somebody, they're going to get my best every time.

Corey Rieck: Yeah, I think that that's paramount and, certainly, being low key. And "Hey, how can I be of service to you?" that's usually the first words that come out of my mouth when somebody gets referred to me because you really have no idea how they got to you. And they may need a CPA, they may need out-of-the-box ways to promote their business, like Business RadioX. I mean, they may come to you for a reason that's not related to your expertise.

Faye Sykes: Absolutely. Well, and I will say, yeah, building that relationship, that trust is paramount. And one of the other things that we do is a lot of social media, blog posts, the newsletters, and we have a full-time marketing person on staff. And we had asked for a little input for her for this radio show, but she said for those of you that are trying to build because people do look at your online presence-

Corey Rieck: Yes.

Faye Sykes: Absolutely, it's your online resume. But her top three things were consistency. If you start a weekly newsletter, then you got to keep doing a weekly newsletter. Have a content plan. She does a monthly theme. So, August right now is back to school. And so, all these things are going to be helpful for kids in that. And then, scheduling a lot of stuff ahead of time. So, she might schedule things out two or three months ahead of time. But again, just like our event planning we schedule for the whole year, our whole marketing content, marketing is also scheduled out the entire year ahead by October-November of the prior year.

Corey Rieck: Yeah, I know you're very, very detailed, and you've got an excellent game plan put out there to put the information out there, at least, from where I sit. You've done a great job with that.

Faye Sykes: We try very hard, but it's-.

Corey Rieck: Well, you don't do that, you succeed. You've done more than try. Trying is dying. Nobody cares.

Faye Sykes: Trying is dying. Well, the last little thing I wanted to touch on was the ... So, Corey and I, obviously, I had gone on his radio show about a year and a half ago, and that was fantastic. And then, he and I belong to another little networking event called Corporate Connections. And it's interesting. So, Corey, and I, and Kevin have a very strategic alliance, but because of some of these other things we're doing, have a divorce team. So, there's myself and a few other people had gone through a divorce training class called Divorce This House back in 2012. So, we meet with people. Actually, this week, we've met with a divorce attorney. Next Friday, we're meeting with a divorce mediator. And so, it's like a realtor, a home inspector, a mortgage and the financial. For Kevin, we have a sports and entertainment group.

Kevin Salvadori: Oh, you said that right.

Faye Sykes: I did. Where we've got CPAs, attorneys, sports and entertainment CPAs, sports and entertainment attorneys, and the financial. And of course, we're going to bring Corey in for any of the long-term care stuff on that piece. But kind of taking these people that you've known over the years and putting strategic alliances together that are divorce-focused, or financial-planning-focused, or sports-and-entertainment-focused, I find that's a great way to leverage people that you know and trust and that you can be presented as a team.

Corey Rieck: Isn't it fun to be able to help somebody else and to give them something that they maybe couldn't get on their own? I mean, isn't that part of this?

Faye Sykes: Absolutely.

Kevin Salvadori: And what's nice too, and Faye has put a lot of these teams together because she's known these people for quite some time, but she's done an excellent job of putting people together that will get along-

Corey Rieck: Yes.

Kevin Salvadori: ... that are very knowledgeable. Like when we have our lunches, we're still launching a sports and entertainment group, we're still putting all that together, we get together for lunch. It's just a fantastic time. We're throwing around great ideas back and forth with each other, but we really enjoy working together. And everybody has the expertise that we know we all need with our team and being there. So, she's done a fantastic job making sure that it's not a group to get together and you go, "Okay, we're going to be able to help people. But man, I just really don't want to sit down and talk to these people or part of the group." We really have a really good time together. We're looking forward to having this thing work for many, many years and enjoy working together.

Corey Rieck: Well, I think that that's part of building this whole Market Mate concept is there's a statement that we've had in our family for years, and it goes something like this, "I'm riding with that person," or "I ain't riding with that person." And I think that you line up with the people you want to ride with that will return your phone calls in a timely fashion and respond a text, or be grateful when you put them into something that they couldn't have gotten into on their own, or that will handle your referrals right, or that will do the right thing by people and actually follow through and in a way that's consistent with your brand.

Faye Sykes: Absolutely.

Stone Payton: Well, the lesson that I'm taking from this today, I think, for me, personally, is I need to invest more consistently. I think that was a good reminder from the person on your team. Just to consistently cultivate those relationships out in the marketplace, get to know, like, trust them or not. And the ones who make the cut, just stay cognizant of that.

And then, I think the other discipline that I need to engage in is when I am out in the marketplace, don't just look for studio partners in other markets, don't just look for clients out of this studio that we might be able to help, but also be looking for people who provide these other services.

And then, the third thing, I guess, as a part of that is not just services that are sort of related to what we do. Like the graphic designer thing, it's kind of related to what we do, right? If you're going to have a nice video show-

Corey Rieck: I actually have somebody for that.

Stone Payton: All right. Fantastic.

Corey Rieck: She is a past guest on the show.

Stone Payton: Well, see? I should ask more tip. I should just ask for help more when I need it. Well, that's good. So, when Kevin buys the steak and lobster, we'll go through that.

Corey Rieck: You like how he worked that in there, right?

Kevin Salvadori: You know what though? I'm okay with that because we're going to have a talk after the show.

Stone Payton: But what I was going to say is not only those things that are related to the craft, our craft, but also, like you said, a homebuilder. Well, I should get to know maybe your homebuilder. But if somebody's going to come to me at some point, and they're going to say, "Look-"

Corey Rieck: Yes.

Stone Payton: And I don't want to be scrambling. I want to ... yeah.

Corey Rieck: I think that there is a great thing to be able to help somebody with something that they were not able to get on their own. And I wanted to finish that thought. And there was one group, one organization I was trying to get into for 15 years. And Faye made a phone call and made it happen. And I mean-

Kevin Salvadori: Oh, there-

Corey Rieck: So, I mean, that. And what's funny is I didn't really even asked her for it. I think I may have mentioned it in passing that I was trying to get into this group. And then, there was just an email saying, "Hey, call this person. You can talk. You can get into this group." And I was like, "Wow! Cool." And I think that part of developing the people that you ride with is people that will genuinely look out for you.

Now, everybody to a person is going to say, "Oh, yes, Stone, I'm going to send you a business." But let's be honest, does that really happen? I think we all know the answer to that. And you can't line up with people that always have their hand out. I'm not a scorekeeper, but at some point, you got to say, "All right, how are we doing here in this relationship?" I mean, I would expect you guys to say that with me. And I always want to be on the side of, "Wow, Corey's been really helpful. He helps us with our business. He helps us with client referrals. He helps us with wholesale referrals."

And I think one word really shines through with this whole thing, and that's resource. Because everybody, at some point ... I've got an electrician that I mean, he has money, he does a great job, he shows up on time, he's done three or four jobs in our in our home, he's honest, he's got a huge business, but he just gets stuff done. Think about how many people you call to do work and they don't show up. They don't show up. And then, they're indignant when you call them and say, "Hey, are you going to show?" "Well, no, I'm running late." It's like, "What about my time?"

And so, just finding people that will follow through can sometimes be a significant act. And I mean, if there was somebody that I needed that I didn't know, I'd probably call these guys and ask them, "Hey, do you know? Here's what I'm trying to do here. Do you guys know anybody?" And that becomes very, very ... it can relieve a lot of stress if somebody has had a very good experience as somebody. And I will say to somebody, "Hey, I tried this guy. Here's kind of what happened. I don't know if this is of interest to you, but here is my experience with this person." And then, that person can make a decision. And if I feel strongly about someone, I can say, "My clients know and my friends know that when I say I trust someone, they go, 'Oh, okay. I'll call this guy.'"

Faye Sykes: Well, it's just the value of those relationships, it's priceless. It really is.

Corey Rieck: Well, and being able to say, "Hey, Stone, I'm trying to do this. Do you have anybody or do you have any experience?" And chances are if you find the right people, they're going to say, "Well, yeah, I tried that 10 years ago, Corey. It didn't really work the way I wanted it to. But here's what I would have done differently."

Stone Payton: Right.

Corey Rieck: A lot of people have difficulty admitting, "Geez, I failed," or "I should have done this differently." And that's kind of disarming when somebody can say, "I tried that. It didn't work. And here's what I would have done differently." So, I mentioned to a friend of mine the other day another really good referral source. He said, "Yeah, I'm looking for a full-time person," blah, blah, blah. And he said, "I just really am not sure exactly how to go about hiring the right person." I said, "Well, I have a lot of experience on hiring the wrong ones. Do you want some help with that?" And right now, I found the right person.

Stone Payton: Right.

Corey Rieck: But I listen to somebody else lead me down a path, build a job description to do the testing, to do the interviewing, and I followed a process in order to get that. Just kind of like when developing our Market Mates here that we have on the show. I mean, these guys, they're friends of mine, they're excellent at what they do, they treat people the right way, and they're reliable.

Stone Payton: Well, it has been an absolute delight having all three of you on the show. As we wrap, I'd like to go around the table if we could, have you share your coordinates, let folks know how they can reach out, get in touch with you, have a more substantive conversation. But again, this has been fantastic. Let's start with you, Faye.

Faye Sykes: Sure. Well, Faye Sykes. My two companies are Scarlet Oak Financial Services, and then for my specialty, Social Security, its Social Security Benefit Planners. My phone number is 404-354-1039. And my email is fsykes@scarletoakfs.com.

Corey Rieck: My name is Corey Rieck. And my website is www.thelongtermcareplanninggroup.com. Phone number is 678-814-5088. And email address is corey@thelongtermcareplanninggroup.com.

Kevin Salvadori: Kevin Salvadori, also with Scarlet Oak Financial Services. You can find me exactly like you do with Faye on scarletoakfs.com. My email address is kevin@scarletoakfs.com.

Stone Payton: Fantastic. Corey, nice job putting this thing together, man. This was every bit as much fun as I thought it would be.

Corey Rieck: Thank you, sir. I really appreciate the opportunity to do this with you.

Kevin Salvadori: Thank you for having us, by the way.

Faye Sykes: Yeah, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Stone Payton: Absolutely. Our pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for Corey Rieck, our guests today, and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we'll see you next time on MarketMate Atlanta.