RIA organic growth systems | Fully-managed digital marketing/lead gen | Turnkey talent/software/design/ad spend/web dev/content = dead simple | Compliance focused |🗓️Secure Your Free Exec Workshop Below ⬇️

For decades, Advisories and Wealth Management Firms have been shuttered from marketing online properly. Shackled by regulation and blinded to the true essence of a great online presence:

Activities and assets that leverage the fundamentals and align with your principles.

Your industry has been tirelessly digging for gold - sweat-riddled and panic stricken - when it was never buried to begin with.

This has birthed a strange, twisted obsession with weird silver bullets; wacky, unsustainable shiny objects; online RIA directories that only represent a competitive parity; and digital marketing fads that only burn your goodwill alive.

Ironic, given that your principles are to: 
✅ ensure comprehensive fundamentals are in place
✅ respond to market activity with equanimity
✅ leverage the magic of compounding
✅ plan over long-term horizons

Yet when it comes to digital marketing and trying to grow AUM online?

Raise your hand if you've been on a roller coaster of crackpot, digital marketing tom-foolery for two decades🎢😱

Your firm deserves to market online using a diverse array of rock-solid tools and tactics, built upon a foundation of ABSOLUTELY NAILED FUNDAMENTALS.

Without the fundamentals nailed (warning: they are actually quite boring and mundane), you're running a race against Olympians with lead in your sneakers.

I'm here to pull back the wool, and show you the "secrets" that have been hiding in plain sight all along. They are no less principled than your approach to advising your clients. 

For too long, the SEC's tight grip on marketing rules was unfair, restricting you from using the most powerful, effective, and persuasive tools in the marketing toolbelt.

In 2022, the SEC officially rolled out the new marketing rule...

...but the industry is still hypnotized by shiny objects and silver bullets, having never truly understood the fundamentals of a great online presence.

So if you're ready to finally take those marketing training wheels off... 

If you're ready to stop posting links to vanilla Broadridge articles on LinkedIn that only get punished by the algorithm and drive zero engagement...

If you're ready to quit the weird silver bullets, lackluster directories, and 3rd party lead gen and appointment setters...

If you're sick of your website's "book a free consultation" button that never gets clicked...

And if you're ready to FINALLY take your own advice and build something comprehensive and diversified, to build a better future, just like you inspire and assist so many others in doing...

DM me "fundamentals".

John Swystun

We out here. #FIS26 #FearlessInvestingSummit

Growth Systems for RIAs & WealthTech | Fully-managed digital marketing/lead gen | Turnkey talent/software/design/ad spend/web dev/content​ = dead simple | Compliance focused |🗓️Secure Your Free Exec Workshop Below ⬇️

We've heard a lot of the lore around Nitrogen's Fearless Investing Summit.

How this is a conference where the mega fans come out of the woodwork to ooze satisfaction and collaborate with leadership in real time.

How the culture this organization has built stands squarely on two feet, with a twinkle in its eye, while raising a hearty toast.

How an industry-leading, scratch that, business-leading NPS score pales in comparison to the energy and enthusiasm that fills these halls.

But now, we believe it.

We know it to be true.

We've seen, felt, and heard it in the flesh.

And we too, are beyond satisfied. 

And supremely appreciative.

Thank you so very much to everyone at Nitrogen who made this happen. The sponsors and the partners. And anyone who has spent time with us, our lenses, and our microphones this week.

Special shout outs to Callie Devaney, Rachel Cameron, Regan Murray, Bridgette Olek, Dan Zitting, Nicholas Harding, MBA, Aaron Klein and so many others.

And we ain't done yet! 

Day 3 LET'S GO!

#FIS26 #FearlessInvestingSummit

PAGING ALL SNOWBOARDERS (Alright, alright, two-plankers welcome also).

Who wants to spin some laps!?

Yes, we'll be out there at Nitrogen Fearless Investing Summit, cameras in hand.

Chasing you down with a microphone. Bustin' our butts to put your hot takes in the can.

Just be ready though, because after we get the shot? I'ma be asking you:

Wanna go? Wanna go?

Duck out quick to spin some night laps at Echo? Or Keystone?

So if you're lookin' for a boardin' buddy. Or Skiier-tolerant activity compatriot.

I'm your guy. 

Let's do this 👊

Autobots assemble!

(Decepticons get nervous when Wasif Haseeb and I hit the scene!)

Fearless Investing Summit starts today.

And I keep coming back to the name Nitrogen chose for the conference.

What the heck does it mean to be fearless?

What are the tools you need?
Who are the folks you should surround yourself with?
And what should your philosophical bedrock be?

I love it. The name calls to me.

Not that I'm sure how to be fearless.

But I know what you need to arm yourself with in order to try.

And it's the trying that really matters.

Now, the agenda this week reflects the theme perfectly - talk about the people and ideas you want to be around!

Michael Kitces on what actually drives adviser productivity, not in theory, in practice.

Aaron Klein asking a simple question with uncomfortable implications: we’ve got to start meeting like this.

Joshua Brown Brown making the case that after all the noise, the human advisor is still the point of the spear.

And an AI panel moderated by Craig Iskowitz with Eric Clarke, Dan Zitting, Parker Ence, and Mark Gilbert, digging into the real issue: where automation helps, and where the human signal cannot be outsourced.

Fearless, in other words, is just competence under pressure.

We’ll be around all week.

And after the indoor experiments… we’re going to go test gravity for real.

HMU if you wanna do some snow slidin' after the big show!

I’m 5’4 on a good day.
Small man syndrome? Never heard of it.

When you’re the smallest guy in the room, you learn early:
you can disappear,
or grow teeth.

I chose the latter. Let's just say the elementary school bullies did not enjoy me.

Twelve years ago I spent a summer in Estevan, Saskatchewan working overhaul at a coal power plant.

12 hour days.
12 on, 2 off, repeat.

Most of the BC snowboard crowd got "observation".
Easy summer cash to fund the season.
Sit, read, count boilermakers in and out.

Someone saw my construction and concrete resume.
They put me on "heavy maintenance" instead.

Turbine casing top half removed.
Half joint gets descaled by hand. No machines.
That was me, honing steel for 12 hours a day.

I slept in my RV.
In the trailer park.
Posted up in front of my friends trailer.

The days off land on Canada Day.

Big dance at the community center.
Then a trailer park after party.
Across the street from my RV.

Around 2 AM, a posse of local boilermakers rolls in.
Big guys. Home turf.

Well known they weren't thrilled about the BC crew making summer cash in their town.

As they arrive, the hosts start a wet towel fight in their underwear.

Hilarious.

The ringleader doesn’t think so.

So he starts:
“Homos.”
“Some kind of gay thing?”
“Faggots.”

That’s when the teeth show up.
5'4" or 6'3", doesn't matter.
The wiring trips.

Like a breaker.

So I let it carry.
All the way to the back of the trailer.

I diagnose the motive for the tease…
...likely repressed sexual tendencies.

In an instant,
the towels didn’t matter.
Crosshairs on me.

We chirped a while.
Kitchen to deck. Deck to railing.
Him puffing up. Me barely looking up,
while sliding razors under his nails.

Finally:
“Cut it out, you’re going to get punched.”

I guess I didn’t cut it out.

Haymaker to the dome.

I stumble back. Deck goes quiet.
Rub my jaw, look up at him and say,
“Did you just throw a muffin at me?”

Like a match to a jerry can.

Tackles me into the railing.
Knees on my shoulders. 
Fist like a hammer on my forehead.
Expecting blood. Tears...

...Instead, I start laughing. Hysterically.

Not because it didn’t hurt.
Because the outcome he sought was simply not available.

He jumps off and storms to the kitchen.
Drawers flying. Metal clanking.
We all knew what he was looking for.

That was my cue. Outtie 9000.

I disappear into the trailer park and let the night cool off.

Next morning, proper shiner.

I ask around who he is.
Everyone thinks I’m hunting.

I’m not. I want to apologize.

Later that day, smoke break.
He walks out. We lock eyes.

“Yo.”

He comes over.
“Yeah, I heard you were looking for me.”

We sit.

I apologize for egging him on.
He apologizes for being so aggressive.
Turns out he’s from Brandon. My home province.

We chat. Finish the smokes.

“Alright. Back to work."

Teeth matter.

So does knowing when to sit on the bench the next day.

Simplifying Wealth Management for Advisors & Clients. 40M+ client interactions delivered. | Founder Blueleaf | Host of The Augmented Advisor 🎙️

I love to help financial advisors who love their clients and put them first. 

But there's more to it.

The longer story ...

When I was little I wanted to know everything.

Literally.

→ And I'm further away now than I was then.
→ I called it knowing the mind of god.
→ What can I say, I was a weird kid.

I knew it wasn't possible but I did everything and anything to learn.

→ Was an engineering student who took dance classes.
→ Worked as a financial advisor and owned restaurants.
→ Completed $billions in transactions as an Investment Banker.

And I built 5 startups.

→ All that learning and diverse experience taught me
→ Communication and engaging others 
→ Is at the heart of everything.

Especially financial advice. Then 2008 hit and I put it all together to help financial advisors.

My company is called Blueleaf Wealth.

Since then:
→ Worked with 1,000s of advisors
→ Supported 100,000s of their clients
→ Deliver 1,000,000s of messages to clients
→ Created 10,000,000s of client engagements for advisory firms

→ We took communication and engagement 
→ And built it as the foundation of our 
→ Wealth management platform.

Reporting | Billing
Rebalancing | Practice Management
And the most engaging client experience available

All of it helps wealth managers automate and communicate.

If I can help you ...

WORK WITH MY COMPANY ↓
Visit our website: www.blueleaf.com

or drop me a DM

John Prendergast

6 mo. ago "We're building our own CRM." $11B RIA CTO
We just reconnected... Wow. Just wow.

Working prototype in weeks. Custom fields. Automated workflows.
"This is going to save us $200K a year."

Leadership was electric. The team was all in.
Version one? Magic.

5 advisors testing, loved it.

Then they tried to build the production version.

They updated password reset. Broke login entirely. 
Nobody could log in for a day.

They added access controls. 
One advisor got locked out of their own book. 
Another could see accounts that weren't hers.

They Loaded their full client data. 
System slowed to a crawl. Barely usable.

Every fix created two new problems.

Three months in, the CTO I'd talked to was barely sleeping.
That's when he called a consultant.

The consultant's estimate to fix it?
$200K. Just to start.

The same $200K they thought they were saving.

"We didn't build a product," he told me. "We built a liability."

They went from prototyping to building. Then from building to firefighting. 

Then from firefighting to shopping for vendors again.

I've watched this play out four times in the 6 months.

Here's what gets me. This CTO had built software before. Talented team. Sharp leadership. These aren't people who make dumb decisions.

But AI and the pundits who have never built real software make the first 20% feel so easy that even experienced technologists misjudge the other 80%.

The prototype is never the product.

Your advantage doesn't come from owning a codebase.
It comes from how well you serve clients.

What mirages have you found in all the AI washing out there?

PS "𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗱." 
-Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

CEO Blueleaf Wealth - Tech & Services for Advisors. | Host of The Augmented Advisor 🎙️| Blueleaf delivers wealth managers an all-in-one platform with an exceptional experience at an exceptional value.

I never had a resume this beautiful and impressive. And certainly not at 22 coming out of college. I'm so proud of Fiona Prendergast

If you're looking for a 4.0 GPA double major in CS and Robotics Engineering who already has commercial applications in production and knows agentic engineering inside and out, reach out to her.

Software and Robotic Systems Engineer | CS & Robotics Student at WPI

I've been spending a lot of time building out my portfolio site lately and I'm really happy with where it's at. It covers some of my projects from internships, coursework, and personal builds, including robotics, mobile apps, and full-stack web work. There's also a web version of my resume that's easy to browse (and download, if you know someone who should see it 😄). 

Take a look if you're curious: https://lnkd.in/e9diDASm

I've got a few more things to share soon too.

taplio

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