Transformational, Not Transactional, with Ed Cheatham

Welcome to the Athletics of Business, a podcast about how the traits and behaviors of elite athletes and remarkable business leaders frequently intersect. The real stories and hard lessons to help you level up your leadership and performance. Now your host, Ed Molotour.

Welcome back to another episode of the Athletics of Business podcast. I am your host and CEO of the Molotor Group, Ed Molitor. Our special guest today on the podcast is Ed Cheatham. And Ed and I go back a few years, a little bit over 35 to be exact. I first met Ed in the early 1980s when he played basketball for my dad at Palatine High School and always looked up to him and admired him. Unbelievable work ethic, very good athlete, great leader, and he was a great quarterback. And he went on to college and played at Drake University for the first two years where he threw for over 2,800 yards. And they stopped giving scholarship. So he transferred to Illinois State where he suffered a career ending injury. So he transferred back to Drake to get his degree.

And then after, and I won't go too much into it because we're going to talk about all this in the podcast. It's a great episode, it's a ton of value, a few laughs, some great stories. But after he graduated from Drake, he went to the trading floor where he worked for years and had a very successful run. And then as he became a father and started to raise a family, he transitioned into the financial planning, retirement planning, the financial advising arena. And that's where we'll talk about in this episode, moving from a transactional mindset to a transformational mindset. And if you've ever been in the trading arena, the trading world, so to speak, you'll get, you know what we're saying. And I think this relates to all industries going moving from a transactional to a transformational mindset.

And a little bit about Ed, before we get started being a financial advisor, he has over 30 years of experience inside the financial industry. Now, if you see a picture of Ed, you're going to think he's way too young to have that much experience, but in fact, he does. His vast knowledge in the space allows him to focus on both individual wealth and retirement plan advising. Here's what I love about Ed. Ed's approach to advising involves creating lifelong relationships with his clients before, during and after retirement. He believes that it's possible to do well by doing good. And we'll talk a lot about that inside of this podcast. And why do my wife Nancy and I call Ed our financial quarterback? Because that's exactly what he is. If you think about great quarterbacks, Right, what do they do?

Well, first of all, they're the heart and soul of your team, the heart and soul of your offense. They help you put points on the board. They help move you in the right direction. Okay. They give you confidence. And why do they give you a sense of confidence? And being comfortable is because of their ability to communicate and connect with everybody to really explain what's going on. A great quarterback knows the team strengths and how to leverage them when facing different circumstances. They're resilient. They get knocked down and they get back up. And this is something that's so huge in Ed's industry and something that he does that great quarterbacks do is develop a high level of trust with his people. And they are the go to person emotionally. In other words, they are the face that their team needs.

And Ed's been with us, you know, through some highs and lows, both in the market and both in our. In our circumstances and our needs and our goals. I really hope you get as much value and enjoyment out of this episode as I did. And I truly believe you will. Ed, I can't thank you enough for joining us today on the Athletics of Business podcast. And you and I both know this has been, and I seem to be saying this a lot lately with my guests, but it's been a long time coming. We've had many conversations wrapped around the things we're going to talk about today. So I appreciate you carving out some time to share your insight and all the value you're going to pour into us today.

Well, I appreciate you asking me on this podcast. To be honest with you, I think I've listened to almost all of them and I want to say that maybe I have the unique pleasure of having been coached by two generations of molotors, obviously with your dad as a 16 or 17 year old lump of clay. And then later on, when I made that transition off the floor, we reconnected and you've helped me. You've helped me as well. So I can't thank you both enough. I just talked to your dad the other day and I kind of accidentally had said something. Oh, you know, it's all about me. He goes. And without, you know, without hesitation, he goes, it's not about me, it's about we. Ed still to this day.

Oh, it's unbelievable. Yeah. And you know, before we even get started, I'm that note. He still to this day, hanging in his den, has that gift you guys gave him when he retired with all the. The sayings, the handouts that he gave you with all the sayings. Do you remember that?

Yeah, I do. And, you know, I mean, it just. Some of those are ingrained in, you know, they've been ingrained in me, you know, through. Through high school, college, my days on the floor, and then, you know, now. Kind of been really almost surreal for you to kind of be involved in my life personally and professionally, you know, kind of at the next phase. And again, we've known each other, you know, forever, so. And I've had that. We've had the privilege of being able to have candid conversations. You know, I've watched you build this business, and we've kind of been on the same path in terms of our transition and timing wise, and.

And I think there's a lot of importance that you kind of surround yourself with people that you want to be around and people that are going through the same thing you are. So, like I said, I'm excited, I'm glad to be here, I'm honored. I just wanted to get that kind of shout out to your dad and yourself out of the way.

Absolutely. But I appreciate that. But it's funny because it really is funny how life comes full circle, because I remember being 10, 11, 12 years old, and there were certain guys on my dad's team and my dad's program that I was attracted to in the sense that, God, I want to be like this when I'm a player. You know, when I get to put that jersey and I want to. I want to, you know, get after people like Ed Cheatham does. Right. I want to be able to. I want to be able to set back screens like Joel Cole does. I want to be able to, you know, be the point guard that makes everybody around him better, like Eddie Curtin did. Okay. You know, and you just pick up on things. But with you, we just. We just always connected.

And, you know, there was something about you. And you brought up your sophomore year, and I remember that. And I'll never, to this day, I'll never forget the free throws you hit at wheeling to win that game, you know, and the fact that, like, that was my first introduction to Cheat. I'm like, this guy's pretty freaking good. And then, like you said, reconnecting all these years later, but there was still that whole. The way you go about doing things, which is what I'm really excited about sharing today. And so the listener knows that you're a financial advisor at Lakeside Wealth Management. But what does that you know, what does that mean to you? Because you've had a great journey to get there. Earlier you said when I was on the floor, and let's be clear, you meant the trading floor, right?

So from your playing days to the trading floor, which might is the trading floor back then, back in the day, was it as competitive or more competitive than the football field?

Well, you know, you've had a lot of guests on here that have been professional athletes. So. And I've never again I alluded to that initially when I said something, but taking it professionally, you know, the late 80s, all the 90s, I mean those trading floors in Chicago, those were comparable to any type of professional athlete you could imagine. I mean, the floor was littered with college athletes. No matter what sport it was, the competitive level was through the roof. There was a certain, you know, started at 7:20 and ended at 2:00'.

Clock.

I mean, you're walking off the floor those days just like you'd be walking out of a game or a practice. You're like, oh God, did you see what I did to that guy over there? You know, I can't believe, you know, I sold him 50 and then I sold him another hundred and he just, you know, I came back and I tried to help him out, you know, and it's the same way as you're walking off the court, you know, walking off after practice. So that piece of the puzzle was a great, you know, the trajectory that your dad set us on into college. And with athletics, it was a perfect breeding ground for my days on the floor, but very transactional. I mean, I was constantly shoving 10 pounds of dirt in a five pound bag.

I mean, all day long I had clients that I had to, I was a broker, so I had clients in New York that I had the institutional clients that I had to take care of their orders. And then I had guys in the pit that I had to make sure that these guys wanted to trade with me, that I didn't run them over. So there was a delicate balancing act, but in the end it was transactional. Certainly you had relationships with everybody, but it was transactional in a sense. That's how I got paid. And to think that somebody would have to the result of somebody not working out well, by me doing good, it didn't necessarily mean that everybody else was doing well. So for that piece of the puzzle, I didn't understand that.

And it wasn't until, honestly, until we started working together, we figured out, listen, there's an opportunity here, Ed. In the financial world, you can do well by doing good for other people.

I love that.

That was a watershed moment for me, and I think that was just a. That was pretty. Just a simple conversation that you and I had. And while it would seem so obvious that, you know, why can't you realize that? I think, you know, you kind of diving a little deeper and kind of understanding what was going on. It was a big moment for me. And I had moved around to a few firms, and the current firm I'm at now, the owner is Mark Chamberlain, who used to be a trader for 20 years on the floor. So he did that transition, but he did it in the early 2000s. But I finally had built my business to the point of where I could join a group like this.

But what really cemented the whole relationship is he sat down with me and he said, listen, you know, when I first started out, it was all about, you know, how many clients could I get and how many. How much money could I make? And this. He goes, we do well here by doing good for others. And, boom, I was sold right there. I mean, not only did that align, you know, I mean, it just aligned with the conversations that we had been having for these past few years, and then, boom. So to see it really happen and to see the results of it and that they've done it, I couldn't be happier to be where I'm at now. But it's a journey, you know, like you said.

I mean, that piece of the puzzle is I'm a big believer, you know, the past makes us who we are today. So whatever we've done in the past, it's put me in the spot that I'm in now.

So. So how do you. How do you do that, though? How do you tie all the skills and traits and the behaviors that, you know, from being a very competitive athlete, from being an ultra competitive trader? And there's still a lot. There's still a lot to be said about doing well by doing good in those. In those, too, from a leadership perspective. But how did you. What was that transition like from you stepping away to that and all of a sudden putting the suit and tie on and going and sitting in people's kitchen tables to talk to them about setting them up financially?

Well, the first part of that is it was really easy towards the end to leave the floor, because the authenticity and the genuineness of the days, you know, where, you know, my word is my bond, you know, that's kind of the old school board of Trade mantra and the Merck mantra, you know, I mean, in terms of if you had an issue, you guys, you know, the beauty of that was if there was any conflicts, boom, they were settled by.

The end of the day.

You know, there weren't people, you know, hiding from you or whatever. You had a captive audience and you had that conversation going. But, you know, towards the end there, it got to the point where, you know, you're in the pit and you're trying to find people that are making mistakes to execute orders for people. So, you know, I mean, this makes probably no sense to you, but if the market's 6, 7, they're looking for somebody that is willing to sell fives when everybody else is willing to sell sevens and those types of situations. It just got to the point where it felt very inauthentic. But making that transition. Where to go to leaving the floor wasn't difficult, but where to go to next was a difficult piece of the puzzle. Because think about it, I mean, I spent 24 years down on the floor.

I've got five kids. I mean, for the bulk of them, I mean, I'm home every day at 3 o', clock, I'm in their lives, I'm present. I mean, seven o' clock at night, I'm ready to put the kids to bed. Other guys are coming home down the street. Again, that's not to begrudge other people. That was just the lifestyle that my wife and I had chosen. I met my wife on the floor, tremendously supportive. We understood the industry together and we kind of grew up that way, raising our kids in our relationship. So what can I do next that will still help me maintain that work life balance that I've become so accustomed to and that I think is really vital to my and my wife's emotional needs. I mean, other people might feel differently, and that's fine.

But I'm just telling you my story, our story. And, you know, so this wasn't a good opportunity. My days at Drake, a couple guys had played football with there. They had worked their way up in the, you know, into the C level suite at principal. And they had me say, listen, Ed, come take a look at us. We do some different things here. We work with small business owners, you know, 401k plans, insurance, just some things that kind of would help me kind of transition into that space where I wasn't immediately going up and asking people for their personal assets, which, you know, as you come into any type of industry as, you know, I mean, you know, other people have Other relationships. So I'm not in the.

I don't want to be in the business of trying to displace those relationships, at least initially. I want to try to be a value add to them. So I felt that this was a good. A good. A good place for me to be. And plus, with the demographics, quite honestly, 10,000 people a day turning 65, it just seemed to make sense for me.

You know, you just said something asking people for their assets, and you're talking about. You didn't say it in so many words. But getting outside your comfort zone, you think about it, when you're a college football quarterback, right, you're with the guys, you're in your comfort zone. You're in your zone. The comfort zone. Getting outside that comfort zone was physical and mental. At practice, at games, in the off season. Then all of a sudden you go to the floor and you bring that competitiveness there. Now you get into the financial world and you have to develop a whole different skill set. It's almost like you lose a piece of your identity. What was that like for you?

Like, how big of a challenge was that to get outside the comfort zone where you might not have had a lot confidence in your ability to do that?

Well, I think that's. That's. You're spot on in terms of that piece of the puzzle. I mean, in terms of, you know, you had a captive audience. No matter what, athletically, professionally, down on the floor, people, you know, people needed to use the pit. They needed to go, you know, they needed. They needed you. And again, any conflicts that would arise, they were taken out, taken care of by the end of the day. So there was that kind of. There was kind of that certainty to everything. And, you know, the biggest piece of the puzzle when we're switching that transition is, you know, you have to feel confident in yourself in terms of being able to present yourself as a value add. But at the same time, it's difficult. That's the hardest part.

I mean, there's times you still struggle with that piece of the puzzle, but you get to the point where if you don't let people know what you're doing and that you can be a resource for them, either just giving them some information or making a simple connection. That was probably one of the few mistakes I made early on, is that I wasn't a good connector. I wasn't a good communicator with everybody to let them know what I was doing. So that was a difficult transition. And as you know, making a transition like that there's people that will surprise you and be supportive and there's other people that won't. And you know what? And you can't take it personally.

You really can't, because everybody's got their own set of circumstances, everybody's got their own set of relationships, and everybody's going through their own, you know, their own journey as well. So that piece of the puzzle I wasn't prepared for, I got over it pretty quickly in terms of, you know, you and I are. Have that commonality amongst us. I think we like what we see when we look in the mirror. And, you know, if something doesn't. If something doesn't work out for them, that's their issue, that's not ours. And I say that tongue in cheek, but you have to be somewhat resilient.

That way.

To be able to kind of move forward with that.

Well, and that's just that you just said something that really hit home. So you go from being on the field, and I had this conversation with the previous guest, and I'll bring that up in a second, but you go. You go from being on the field, being in the locker room, being on the floor where people need you, people look to you, right? And people want. They want almost a piece of you and a piece of your mind and what you're doing now you go into this industry and let's say you go to a networking. Hi, I met Cheatham, and here's what I do. People kind of run from you like, oh, it's another. It's another financial advisor, right? It's another. It's another person that wants to know more about me because they want my. It's.

You're almost on the other side of the fence now. Does that make sense?

Oh, it does. And you could tell. I mean, and the networking events, they didn't last long for me. I didn't really find much value in there. I think it's important to try to grow. I've tried to grow my business organically.

Right. And that's what I meant. But even that, because I can remember when we got fired at Texas A and M and I get in the mortgage business and it's a refi boom. And everyone's like, man, you should be killing it. Just call up all your teaching buddies, call up your coaching buddies, you know, start refining the snot out of them. And I just would stare at the phone. I mean, I would just. I would just look at that phone. I'd be like, yeah, it's conversation. I don't really want to have. Because if I pick up the phone and I call Ed, we're going to talk about the NCAA tournament, right? I don't really want to ask them, hey, what's your social? I'm going to run your credit.

You know, let's, you know, it was just, to me, that was a real, that was a whole different thing. All of a sudden I was the person. Like, it went from people calling me wanting to know scoops and wanting to get tickets to me calling them because I really want your business, because I want to eat right.

And, you know, you know, you listen to podcasts, you read books, and you hear all the things that people will say, you know, oh, you know, people say, well, don't worry about the money. You know, do this and do that. Those are people that have, it's almost, those returns are almost asymmetric for them because they've already, they are successful. They've done all these things. Certainly it's easier for them to say. And as you mentioned, kind of in that context, of course, you think, oh, well, just do these things. But empirically those things, the reality is you do, you are fearful of that. And everybody goes at their own pace in terms of what they're doing.

And I have kind of come full circle in a sense that I'm trying to, when I try to communicate with people, I try to do it on a social level. And if I do have something for them, you know, business wise, I'm not apprehensive about asking about it. But I also do kind of come to the table and, you know, what can I do for them? We've talked about that many times. You know, not coming to, you know, to somebody with a, you know, with your hand out, you know, coming to, you know, reciprocation is key. So, you know, that's been, you know, that's been, We've talked about this before. That's been the hardest journey, I think, is the words.

You know, I see these young kids, a lot of my nieces and nephews and my friends that have kids that have graduated colleges and they get their first job and it's a sales job and they're on the phone all day long and they're hearing no from everybody. And I think that's a great, you know, like, my friends will say, gosh, you know, do you think this is, I said, you do that for 18 months to two years. You hear the word no every day when you're trying, you know, I mean, the successful people say Try to get to know as fast as you can. When you're 22 or 23 years old, that's a great gift, you know, I mean, When I was 23, 24 years old, I was, you know, I had that captive audience.

So to teach yourself that trait, it's obviously possible, but it's a work in progress. I'm not going to lie to you. But it gets better every day.

Well, it's funny, you say when you started that little bit there, you talked about people who are already successful tell you all these things to do, and at the end of the day, it's about getting reps. And part of the reps you have to get is people saying no to you. But you think about what was harder for you. Was it harder for you to be in the pit and someone calling you every single name in a book and saying no to you and telling you what to do with what you wanted? Or is it harder to sit at the kitchen table or sit at a restaurant, wherever you'd meet with people and go through your presentation, then have them say no when you genuinely knew you were doing them a service?

Was that because, like, for me, you can say, don't take it personal all you want. I took a personal because I thought there was something I would. I screwed up in the conversation, right?

Well, you know, I mean, it's two different dynamics. I mean, in terms of apples and oranges. I mean, when you're in the pit and again, we go back to that transactional journey, right? I mean, okay, somebody tells me, you know, calls me a name or something because I've got an order and I didn't do with him, you know, about 30 seconds later, there's another order in there. So I've got one of two choices. I could, you know, I could maybe trade with them or I could not trade with him again. And that would only entice him to, you know, at some point there's a little dance that you play, you know, whereas opposed to nowadays, I mean, we're going, we're putting together, we're taking time.

We know that we can add value to somebody, but maybe we're not on there, you know, maybe we're just not. The timing's not right for them, or maybe they don't quite understand it, or maybe we haven't done a good enough job of explaining that to them. Or, you know, so of course it hurts more now. But again, I look for that resiliency that I had on the floor or, you know, hey, listen, second and ten you know, they're covered, throw it out of bounds, it's third, you know, go back and you know, it's third down, you know, I mean, it's, there's those pieces of the puzzle. That's what was very similar to the floor and you know, athletically was you had those opportunities. You talked about it there.

I mean, you know, we just, our job, my job essentially is to get, sit in front of people and see how I can help them and see what bother, you know, what's their pain point? I mean, I'm as much of a financial therapist as I am a financial advisor.

Love that. Yeah.

And I mean, that's really where the difference lies, I think.

Well, and it's funny because as you get older and you realize how the whole, and we talked about this a lot, the transactional versus transformational. And to me, when I realized that it was about serving people, you know, and I've told you this a thousand times, when I was in a mortgage business, you know, my why as a college basketball coach was to make a positive impact on a young man's life so they can maximize their potential on and off the floor. That was real easy, you know, and I pulled that from my dad, obviously, and you know, his circle of friends, that's just what I was around. It's what I knew when I got in the mortgage business. It was, here's a phone, here's your financial calculator. No laptop, that's how old we are. Okay. Okay. And now go fit.

Here's yellow pages too, by the way. And there's, you know, there's a real estate office to the north.

Yeah.

There's a real estate office to the south. You go figure it out. Right. But to me, it was a very transactional. And I never realized that I was helping the first time home buyers with probably the single biggest financial decision they had made up to that point of their life. And then people who were, you know, in the refi boom mix, those people were freeing up equity that they worked hard to earn, to do something, to pay down bills, to get a vacation home, maybe to get some investment property. I never saw the transformational side of it in the mortgage world. And as I got older and I realized the significance of the servant mindset and being authentic, I mean, because let's be honest, in college athletics, the level I was at, the level of authenticity with some folks wasn't the best. Right.

It was a little bit challenged, to say it mildly. But when I realized that it felt like the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders because all of a sudden, the nose didn't get easier. But they were. I viewed him as an opportunity. Right. It was like watching game film. I viewed him as an opportunity to learn. Like you said, maybe I wasn't as prepared as I thought it was. Maybe I didn't communicate it in the way. Maybe I missed something they said. Maybe there's a cue where they said something that I could have picked up on, but I was too. In too big of a hurry to try to close the deal, you know, and. And that to me, when.

When you move from transactional, transformational, when you focus on the authenticity piece, all of a sudden it became a competitive advantage for me.

Well, let's not. And let's not, you know, let's not reign all over the transactional businesses. Right? I mean.

Right. Absolutely not.

There's a certain. There's a certain innate qualities about each industry, and some are not. Let's. Some are not transformational, some are not emotional. All right? And some, the ones that I think are successful or can bring a little bit of emotion to that. But I mean, look at what we're doing. I mean, in terms of, you know, when I say we, you're coaching. You know, I'm coaching in a sense, you know, from a financial perspective. I mean, the opportunity. We're there for a reason now, whether or not we're both sons of teachers and coaches, you know, is that, you know, kind of innate in who we are. But this is what's led us to where we're at, and this is how we're doing it. And for me, the biggest change has been, you know, financial advising, kind of the financial planning process.

There's a certain part with the efficiencies that have been created electronically and with everything that we can do, you know, it's become more commoditized. Well, what's going to differentiate you? I mean, nowadays? I mean, it's going to be that emotional piece of the puzzle, you know, like I said, getting back to that financial therapist. I mean, I spend more time with people, you know, that are in my retirement red zone, I call it, you know, five years before, middle and after. I mean, I spend more time with them, deciding what they're going to do. I mean, what, you know, when there's no more Sunday nights, so to speak, in terms of what's Monday morning look like for you, and it's different for everybody. But that's an emotional.

That's an emotional journey that I'm you know, that I've committed to go on with them, you know, other industries, you know, maybe not so much. So that's been a natural segue for me.

Well, and you know, you talk about the transaction. There absolutely are transactional industries. And even in a transformational industry like yours, though, at the end of the day, there is a winner and a loser. You know, there is a need to go to battle every single day. Either you're going to get someone's business or somebody else is going to get it. And if you look at a transactional business, let's take trading for instance, where I see the transformational value inside the transaction in terms of relationships you're going to war with, okay, the people that you're going to battle with, the people that you're alongside every single day in the office, you know, who's, you know, who do you share the walls with in the office space with?

That's to me where the transformational part, like, how do you people, you know, what's the culture like? What makes you guys so successful?

I think that's, I think that's a great point for me personally because that's, you know, with the firm that I've joined now, I mean, I can't be an expert in all things. And you know, now I'm back in the huddle, you know, one knee, I'm looking at 10 other people and I've got somebody that can handle a qualified plan space. I've got three people that will help me onboard. People, you know, I've got somebody that's going to be able to talk to the compliance piece of the puzzle. And then they're looking back at me. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm as I have the luxury of being a part of their partner network, meaning that I'm kind of, I can kill kind of still.

I can't operate, you know, as an independent contractor, but I still have the ability and to use everybody in there. So that's a, that's a perfect blend for me in terms of, it keeps some of my autonomy. But at the same time, I've got a support staff. I've got, I've got 10 other people in the huddle with me and no.

And that's it right there. So we talk about authenticity in which you and I know, I break it down into three things, honesty, integrity and vulnerability. And when you are, you increase your level of self awareness and you that gap of what you know and what you need to know. To serve your client. And you have the ability to go to someone with compliance, to go. Someone who might know a product better to you. Because if you. If you didn't have that ability to make yourself vulnerable, you're not serving your client to the best of your ability. And you're not really strengthening the culture inside the walls. Because when you make yourself vulnerable to someone else, and vulnerability doesn't make you powerless, it makes you poor, more powerful, because, you know, it increases your level of trust and increases your effectiveness.

But what you're doing with the people that you're getting to know as you work at Lakeside Wealth Management, you know, they realize that, number one, you have a respect for them. Right. Number two, they realize you respect their skills, their abilities, and their experiences. And finally, they realize that you trust them because you're opening up to them and saying, hey, you know, listen, can I ask you for your input there? So to me, sitting here and full disclosure, you know, Nancy and I are clients of yours. That's why I want to work with someone like Ed Sheetum. Because you had that ability to do. Was that hard for you to get to that point?

Yeah. I mean, you have to again, you know, win, learn, never lose. Right. I mean. I mean, you're. You're always trying. You're always trying to. If you think you make a mistake, well, let's rename that as something as a learning opportunity. Right. And on my journey, it's been important that you surround yourself with those types of people. Because there is people, when you're sitting across the table from somebody and they've spent their entire life putting, you know, certain amount of money away, and they push that statement over across the table from you, and they're like, you know, they are. That is such a. That is such an. Ask for them.

And if you're not, you know, if they don't sense your vulnerability, if they don't sense your honesty, and if they don't sense your integrity, I mean, you know, full disclosure, I've moved twice in the last three years. I've moved to two different firms, and that's been involving me trying to find the right place. But I've lost. Of my 78 clients, two have not gone with me on those two journeys. And what I hear repeatedly from them is, ed, please, let's not do this again anytime soon.

But, you know, wherever it's more important that we're with you and that we trust that you're making the right decision, that you're teaming up with the right people, and you Know, to hear that's, you know, that's when you know that you've helped empower people and that they're engaged in not only their journey, but yours as well and that you're on it together. So, you know, that's.

Well, and it's like, and we jokingly, were talking about that awesome family picture for your 30 year anniversary. Right. But the thing is, I know as your client, forget, you know, how far back we go, but I know as your client, you're not going to make a decision to put those people in jeopardy. You know, you're making decisions for the right reasons and your ability to communicate that to your clients is pretty significant.

Well, and I think I share that a lot and I think you do too. You know, again, I know you and I know Nancy and my wife Liz there, you know, I think I can't think of two more supportive spouses to have followed us in terms of, you know, the support that they've given, you know, and our tolerance. We might want to say something at some point in time, but honestly, without,

You know, which is, I guess it is important tolerance. Right. Especially with us.

But without that, though, I mean, you know, you talk about, that's been my team, you know, she's been a member of my team for 30 years. I mean, from the floor. And there's been some times when I've tried to take on more than I should by myself and I haven't really communicated well with her, you know, during this transition. And you forget that they're involved in it more than probably. We are actively, we know what's going on with our business. We are actively involved in it. We're doing things. And, you know, for them to kind of sit there and blindly trust us, I mean, that's a tremendous gift. And, you know, I share that.

I sent that picture, you know, to my clients and just, you know, just a side note and said, you know, hey, thanks for letting me, you know, be on this journey with you. And you know, here I'm 30 years with my wife and I hope to spend 30 more years with you guys. So, I mean, you know, there's an authenticity there that I think is important, but it's got to be reciprocal. And I think when people are, like I said, they shove that statement or pass that statement gingerly across the table and say, how did I do? They're asking you more than just really, how did I do it? Help me, what does this look like? And make sure that whatever fears I have in retirement are going to be met.

Let's talk a little bit about that. Lakeside wealth management and what you do, who you work with and how you grow your business.

Yeah, the majority, you know, because I, because, you know, I have a ton of friends that have been in the financial advising world, you know, as long as I was on the floor. So they built up entirely big books of business. Great books of business. And you know, so for me to enter it seven years ago, it was interesting to see where would I fit in. And initially, just like anybody starting out, you know, you're gonna help people with everything, you know. Oh yeah. Yes, I can do this, I can do that. And that's the reality.

And you know, anybody that tells you differently, I don't think either they've got an incredible support staff write off and a network of people that are willing to just blindly write them checks, which I think is few and far between, or you've kind of, you have to walk through that journey. And what I've seen to resonate with are people that are probably, you know, like on the north side of 50 maybe they've got a couple 401ks somewhere else, they've changed jobs and now the point of the money is getting to the point where it's a little bit more than they want to handle or they want to know, what does this mean to me? What does this look like, you know, in 12 years when I, you know, when I retire, can I retire? Will I run out of money?

What should I do with Social Security? When should I file? You know, what are these different things? So that's the retirement income planning piece and that's why I did go. And it's not a huge designation, but it's a retirement income certified professional ricp focusing on just that. The retirement income planning is entirely different process than the accumulation of assets. So it's more about asset location as opposed to allocation. And again, those are the things that I've joined Lakeside to help me with those pieces of the puzzle, the asset allocation piece, the compliance piece of the puzzle, making sure that I'm compliant, you know, with FINRA and everything like that. And just the everyday administrative work that's just been crucial for me so I can sit down and get, you know, and sit down and listen and meet with people.

That's really what I enjoy doing.

So what if you have someone that's younger, right, in their 30s, and they say, hey, listen, I really want to focus on the accumulation of assets right now. But I love what you're saying and I love the way you do things at that stage of the game. Can we work together now or do I need to pick up and call you?

Absolutely. Again, that piece of the puzzle, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to not discount that segment of it. I'm just explaining to you where my opportunities have, you know, where they've kind of transitioned to in terms of people have grip, have gravitated towards me in that regards. It's been people that are in very similar situations. And to be quite honest with you, I do help quite a few younger traders down on the floor because I've seen the boom and the bust and I've been quite literally, I've been a part of it. I mean there was. I wish I would have had somebody when I was on the floor. I wish I would have had an advisor that I was at least talking to or at least felt that I thought I knew better.

And I think that resonates with some of these younger guys too that are doing very well. But it's all about the planning process and it's all about, listen, I can speak to this, I can speak to when things are going really well and what we need to do and then when things aren't, you want to make sure that you've done some things that don't strap your decision making. So that piece of the puzzle, I don't mean that it's simple, but it's a little bit more straightforward in terms of, you know, doing a risk assessment, doing a, you know, you kind of aggregate everything that they have together. And here's what we do. You know, I put three kids through college. I've got one in college right now, I've got one getting ready. So I mean, I can speak about, you know, planning for that.

I mean that's one of the better things that I've done personally throughout the years. Back in the day, that was one of the few things, was throwing money at a lot of different things. But I was fortunate enough to do some different things with the kids college. So I can speak to that. There's just a lot of different circumstances that people with young kids, there's a lot of knowledge and I don't want to sound boastful, but there's some wisdom there. I think having raised my wife and I have raised these five kids and you know, like I said, it's been the joy of my life. But at the same time, you've got to put Food on the table.

And you've got to figure out what you want to do when these kids are gone because, you know, I mean, you know how involved you are in your kids lives and you're going to be that way for the next 15, 20 years. But what's that look like when they're gone? And I'm getting to that point where, you know, they're, we're sending them away and they go out and they do their own thing.

So, so let's, I want to hold on to that thought because before we come back to my last question for you, it's gonna have everything to do with the five kids and what were just talking about. Where can folks find Ed Cheatham on social media? Where can they find out more about Lakeside wealth management? Go ahead and give us everything.

Yeah, the financial world's funny. You know, LinkedIn is probably the best way to find me. So I'm happy to, you know, we connect that way. I've been a little bit, per your advice, I've been a little bit more proactive when people just finally say, which.

Is ironic coming from me too.

Well, it's, you know, don't just click it. And you know, oh, let's, you know, let's connect. I mean, let's have a little bit of thought. Let's have a little bit. And it's not in a, I don't mean it in a derogatory way. It just, you know, LinkedIn's there to meet and I'm not utilizing it enough or I'm not using it, I think the right way. And again, I think that when you reach out, you try to reach out in the context of, hey, how can we help each other? How can we connect each other? And then lakeside wealth.com, you know, and.

That's, yeah, I think LinkedIn is awesome, especially when people do it for the right reasons and it's really easy. That's what I like about, you know, you and I have this conversation in my space. Social media is such a big thing. But I want to be authentic and true to who I am. Right. And that's why I love LinkedIn because it's so easy to decipher who's using that platform for the wrong reasons. And you can really develop some great relationships on it then. Well, Lakeside wealth dot com.

Yes.

Okay. Okay. So my last question for you, we're going to go back to it before we get away from it. You raise five kids. You have three college graduates. Okay, you have one in college and you have one in high school. You have said some things over the years that really stuck with me now as a parent with my kids being, you know, 6 and 4. And one of the things you did, you said you journaled, right? When you had your first little one, right? You journaled all the time, every single day. But then the second thing that you did that I absolutely loved. And correct me, I might have this story wrong, but I love this. Okay, you had a fishbowl or a bowl with positive sayings in it inside the bowl, like on pieces of paper, right?

And they would reach in and they would pull it out and they would read it, and that was kind of their positive thought for the day. Am I correct in that?

Yeah, I think, you know, that did. That didn't last as long as I as. That didn't. Sorry. That didn't last as long. I mean, maybe a good three or four months. I'd be, you know, it's.

You know, just. Just remember that when we're on the golf course at the inaugural Alley Drill Open. I say, eddie, I think you buried that hole. No, really, I got a double bogey. No, I think you birdied that hole.

All right, well, you know, we're gonna. We're gonna speak of authenticity, and I know my kids are gonna listen to this and they're gonna be on me.

Hey, but. But my point being is you. And you talked about mentoring younger folks, you know, that are in the trading industry. You have an innate ability to dispense great advice. So let's just say you're back at Drake commencement ceremony, right? And Ed Cheatham is giving the commencement address, which you would look awesome in a cap and gown with the, you know, all that stuff on you. But anyways, what would be the advice that you would give folks that are going out, you know, into. Let's. Let's even get more specific. Into your industry, into the financial industry. Younger people that are looking or, you know, are moving from one industry into your industry, but people new to your industry. What advice would you give?

Well, at first, I would say I think the industry is in dire need of younger advisors. So I think, you know, I think it'd be a great place to go. But I think you have to be realistic in terms of your expectations. I think, you know, you've. You utilize. You utilize the efficiencies out there through social media, through finance, you know, fintech tools and situations like that. I think, again, I reiterate what I said earlier. I think one of the greatest lessons I see, like My nephews and my friends, kids go through is they're in a position where they've got to, you know, they've got to hear the word no. I mean, so much of today's youth in society, it's all about, you know, the fear of missing out social media. What everybody has, what everybody doesn't have.

You know, everybody's kind of being told what they want to hear and not what they should hear. You know, I look at that, I look at my own kids and then the path they've chosen. You know, my daughter was, she was, she graduated from college and she went into a very transactional oriented business which was staffing and you know, it was chaotic. It built a ton of resiliency in her. I think she was so, you know, wrapped up in it that she didn't realize that the school, the skill set that she's developed and now she's transitioned into the real estate industry and the human resource world.

She's done great.

My second son's out in la, he's in the film industry. So you understand how chaotic that can be. And you know, so I mean, I think that there's some things there that you, there's certain innate abilities. Maybe, you know, maybe they picked up on that chaotic lifestyle that my wife and I had for those 24 years when they were younger. You know, we look at my other three and they've kind of transitioned to different things. Not quite, I don't know, who knows what they're going to be.

So, so back to, you know, obviously be able to hear the word no, right. And then what they do with it, what else, what other advice would you.

I do think there's a certain mantra, you know, I love the mantra. It's win, learn, never lose. I mean, I am constantly repeating that to people, repeating it to myself. You know, I think so much, you just can't take it personally. The beauty of, the beauty of the floor being on the floor at such a young age is it did build up a certain resiliency in that sense. I mean, you know, I wasn't really concerned with what people thought or if somebody said something, there's that piece of the puzzle. And then when there's bad news, this is something that I've kind of really focused on lately. And then if there's bad news, or let's say you're in a situation where something happens that's not to your liking, respond. But take 24 hours to think about it. That's not even for today's youth.

There's a 24 hour rule that's really helped me a lot because there's been times when I wanted to fire off an email to a client that was upset or whatever it was. And I take that 24 hours, you gather some perspective. You know, you take kind of the emotional piece of the puzzle out of it. You need to be even keel. You know, I've shared that with you before in terms of, you know, don't let the bad breaks go to your heart and don't let the good breaks go to your head. I mean, there's a certain, to me that means that there's a certain amount of kind of even keelness that I think is important because it can be so emotional. So that's, you know, that would be kind of my piece of advice to them.

Say, listen, in the event that something bad happens or, you know, unless it requires an immediate response in terms of life or death, take 24 hours. You know, think about what you're doing, think about what you're saying, think about really how is this going to impact you? And the response is usually a little bit more calculated. It's going to seem a little bit more mature and it's going to seem a little less emotional. Which I think on a certain level, I think when you're looking at somebody that's younger, I think to see that. Maturity out of somebody like that, I think that would go a long way. I mean, it would.

If I saw something, if I saw something come back at me in a more calculated, thought out approach as opposed to somebody just firing something back at me or a text, you know, a text back at me, I'm like, you know, this. I don't know. I don't know if that answers your question or not.

No, it does. And the thing that, I think one of the things I've always admired about you is your ability to connect and just develop really, I mean, unbelievable relationships. And, and you know, when I was recruiting in college basketball, I always, I thought one of the best ways to judge a young man's character was about how he treated people that were going to have no impact on his goals. Right. So how he treated the cafeteria worker when we took him, how he treated, you know, did he hold the door for a lady in the business building when were walking around campus? But when you give advice, if you were to give advice in terms of the value of, you know, other people and the value of relationships, can you talk to that a little.

Bit about, oh, that's. So you hit. You hit that on the head. I mean, you know, and we're segueing from, like you said, the five kids and being a parent. I mean, you understand what. What being a parent is. Everybody out there does. I mean, you do things purely from your heart. You don't expect anything in return. And I have found in these last, literally last two and a half years that doing that from a business perspective, you know, all things being equal, I mean, I'm not saying you just go around and give free advice to people, but the ability to just either make a connection or give a piece of advice and honestly, truly in your heart, not expect anything in return and be okay with it and move on. And you know what?

Obviously you can't go around doing that with everybody, but at the same time, I am shocked. And I know it sounds cliche, but I am shocked how much it comes back to you. And it comes back to you in so many different ways. People told me that when I first got into the industry. And your focus is, you know what? I've got to put food on the table. I've got to build a business. I've got to take whatever I can get. And on some level, it might compromise the way you want to run your business. I think once you get over that hurdle and you've tried to build it organically and you see the fruits of your labor, I think there's nothing more powerful than that. Because, again, you'll do anything for Maddie and ej, right?

Yep, absolutely.

And your wife. And, you know, and you don't expect anything in return. Maybe just a little respect or, you know, but at the same time, it's. It's a selfless. It's the truly the art of giving in that way. And I think, you know, the. The principals at Lakeside, they've done that. I, you know, I've seen the fruits of their labor in terms of how they built their business. And I think that's a tremendous. I think that's a great point. And that's truly been the eye opener for me. And it did. And a lot of it started with our conversation, you know, talking about that transactional versus transformational and what I used to do and what's really important. So I think that's a. This is a great opportunity. Again, say thanks.

And the beautiful thing about you, though, is that doesn't mean that you lose your competitive edge. It doesn't mean you lose your work ethic, doesn't mean you're touchy feely. Because getting after things and working hard is not mutually exclusive.

Listen, that's the easy part, right? I mean, you know, denying the ball, getting in the passing room.

First of all, I watch you play basketball. That whole denying the ball thing, all right, you know, you still haven't figured out that you didn't want to let teams reverse the ball. But anyways, that's a whole lot. That's a whole other conversation.

But you know the analogy. And again, thanks for not bringing up the missed free throw against St. Joe's in the super sectionals.

I appreciate that. Don't open it. First of all, you knew my thoughts on that whole thing because you, you put us in position to be able to shoot free throws at the end of the game. That wasn't the missed free throw that I'm still ticked off about. But anyways, no. Hey, Ed, this was awesome. I appreciate your time, man. And this was another incredible guest. And to hear more episodes of the Athletics of business podcast, you can go to itunes. The Athletics of Business, you can go to Stitcher, Google play, go to our website, the molotour group.com. There's a tab right up there, the right hand side for the podcast. And you can go to theathleticsofbusiness.com, which is the podcast website.

Appreciate any ratings and reviews you can make because what that does is that helps our reach and to add value to more people. Right now we have been downloaded, are being downloaded in 17 countries. So it's pretty cool. And it's because of people like you. So, Ed, thanks a lot.

Thanks, Ed. Appreciate it.

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