2026 – Navigating Growth and Operational Efficiency with What’s Next 4 Financial Advisors’ Tate Kerst and Ben Mossman

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1:05With us right now, it's Tate Kirst and Ben Mossman. You gentlemen are each partners and founders, co-founders of What's Next. You are found on the web at whatsnext.coach. Thank you, gentlemen, for joining us. Thanks, Josh. We're excited to be here. Thank you, Josh. Well, give us an overview of what you do with What's Next and who you work with. So what's next was really founded as a way to help business owners find their what's next. Everybody's heading towards something different and everybody needs something different in their business to continue to help it to go to the direction they want it to go.

1:43So we had worked together previously at a financial services firm and worked with mostly financial advisors who accidentally become business owners as they build their business and have helped them always identify their what's next. So as the opportunity came and our company got bought out, we decided to come together and do what we'd always done together for business owners and see what we could do. Yeah. Well, what is it about the environment? Tell me, again, most advisors getting into the space, what do they know and what do they not know? Yeah, most of the advisors that we work with, as they get into the space, they get into it to help people and help them make good financial decisions in terms of helping their clients and setting up the right structure.

2:29So they they create often a great business on their own, like all entrepreneurs do. And then they need to add staff and then then comes payroll, then comes HR and then comes understanding your numbers and all that stuff. But that's not why they got into the business. So as that as that stuff all piles on, we help them sort it out and figure out what they most need to do as we go. Yeah, well, go ahead and give us an overview of or maybe just share what are some of the best practices for, you know, some of those areas of growth that they don't teach you at financial planning school, if there is such a thing.

3:09Yeah, there's really no financial planning school. I think as business owners in general, what people tend to do is to read the bottom or top line of their financials or their numbers. What we believe is there's a story to be told in your numbers and they can help you figure out who to hire and when to hire, which is often one of the first things that we really work with our entrepreneurs that we work with on is really figuring out what's the capacity for everybody on your team and where can, you know, when do you hire and who do you need to hire to continue that growth that you're looking for?

3:46And I would imagine as a population, it does seem like financial advisors might be a little conservative with, you know, how they spend money, what they invest in. I mean, that's just my assumption. I could be completely wrong. I think, yeah, conservative is probably a nice word. I'll let Ben kind of expand on that, but they tend to be a bit frugal. Josh would be. Okay. Okay. That's another word. We're getting closer to what we'd actually like to say. It's interesting too, Josh, because the nature of frugality, I guess, for financial advisors within their business can be an advantage, but at some points, we do see that pull back a little bit.

4:26And as they expand, sometimes they revert back to old habits of when they were doing it on their own when they first started and not spending the time and resources and money to keep up with the growth of their businesses and build the infrastructure and do it the right way so they can continue that trajectory of growth, whatever that might look like. So that can be a good and a bad thing, depending on the advisor and where they are. Now, am I to understand that you both assist with kind of the operational growth components and also kind of on the sales and marketing side of things as well? or is it mainly just operations?

5:02No, we kind of go across the board in what we do. So anything from helping them to manage staff and identify new staffing, to helping them understand their financials, to marketing and growing their business, to segmenting the types of business and who they can best reach. Anything a business owner would need, we have the expertise and the ability and tools to step in and help them take those next steps. So we don't really specialize in any one thing. We specialize in helping those business owners identify what they most need and then take those actions to move to where they want to go. So what do you see working well or, you know, again, with your clients that are growing, they're building up their book of business?

5:51The most successful clients that you work with or know, what kind of activity are they doing for growth? So the most successful clients we're working on, what they're doing for growth is building out their capacity to be able to serve more without them having to do all the work themselves. They're learning to, they're delegating better. They're focusing on what they do best and like to do. And then building an infrastructure to help them to continue to do that. You know, delegating is the hardest thing for an entrepreneur to do because they often, you wear all the hats as you grow up. So you think you can do everything.

6:27and really identifying and starting to segment, hey, what do I do best? And what can I hire somebody else to do that can do it better that allows me to focus on where I can best participate in the business? That's where we spend a lot of time, especially with newer business owners that haven't built, don't have any staffing or anything. And you'd be surprised how big businesses can get. And maybe you wouldn't. You do this a lot, how big they can get before people start to build the infrastructure. So we spend a lot of time around that. I would say too, Josh, just to add to that a little bit, the advisors that are really doing some neat things in terms of growth are taking the steps to really understand their business intricately and not growing the same way that they did from the start, but understanding they can't be everything to everyone from the client base.

7:19So who can they serve really, really well based upon their style, their characteristics, their product set, their strategies, and really taking the time to dive into how do they deliver that service to that specific market. So not necessarily being narrowed in on one target market or two, but really starting to focus in on what an ideal client looks like and how can they structure their services to get there. And that's where we're seeing many of those advisors start to take off in terms of growth once they realize that. Yeah. What's the normal life cycle of an advisor? How do they get into it?

7:52How do they typically start? And what are usually that first year, what are they focused on? Yeah. So it's an interesting question because that has morphed over time like it has in all businesses. So typical life cycle of an advisor is you get in because you want to help people and have an interest in finance. It used to be you would build your own book. You'd find friends and family and people you could help that didn't really understand it and do financial planning and help them move forward. Now what it's become because the capability and portability of businesses, most advisors that are getting in are buying a book of business and taking over from an existing owner and then growing it.

8:33But the interesting thing about a life cycle we're finding, it's really difficult for business owners that are ready to retire to step out. So it's not unusual to see advisors work into their 70s because they've got those relationships with the clients. They've built it up and this has become such a big part of both their personal life and their business life. It's really hard for them to let that go. So when you say lifestyle, they kind of smile because they tend to, especially in the advisor space, have a very difficult time stepping away from their business. So that life cycle can be pretty long in a lot of cases.

9:10Yeah. And what are some trends that you are seeing now that, you know, if you were to get on the soapbox, you would kind of wave your fist in the air and say, listen, every single person working in our space, you ought to be paying attention to this, this and this. Anything come to mind? Yeah. So probably for me, it's really, really identifying what's unique about you. I think not just in our space with financial advisors, but in all businesses, there's all kinds of programs and systems that promise if you follow this, you're going to be successful. And people do business with every entrepreneur because of their uniqueness, what they do differently, what they bring to the table.

9:54So if I'm getting on my soapbox today, it's say, understand that uniqueness and don't try to be like everybody else. Your customers work with you because of who you are. So how can you continue to accentuate that while meeting the needs of those customers you're serving? That's what makes you unique and what you can continue to grow your business with. I want to also say too, understanding where do you compete and where are you winning? And you go back 20, 30 years, and that was probably a different answer to that question where it was more about performance and product and strategy. And everyone in the advisor space primarily is dealing with the same stuff.

10:33So they're not competing on that level. They're competing on the level of client service, of client experience, and really understanding how do they deliver something to a client that capitalizes on their uniqueness, to echo Tate's point. And focusing on competing in those areas. And that's an area that I think, too, we're trying to make sure advisors understand that and take time to deliver upon that. Yeah. All right. Right. And so when you let's say that a financial advisor is listening to us right now and they're like, look, I I'm working way too many hours. I just feel like, you know, I'm so good at A, B and C, but X, Y and Z.

11:14It's frustrating. Like I just, you know, I feel like I'm wearing too many hats and doing too many things. But then I can't really take the time to hire and staff the people that I need to. like I don't know if you get see people kind of caught in that loop yeah we see that yeah we see that all the time so the place to start is to really identify what you what you want your business to look like five years from today ideally if you could wave a magic wand what would your business look like and likely you can't get there tomorrow but once you can identify what you want your business to look like to begin to set an action plan to take the first three steps to get there.

11:52We're big believers in doing things in threes. Start doing things, figure out the top three things you can do today that get you closer to that and begin to work towards that. So don't try to eat the elephant all at once. Begin to take those bite-sized pieces and truly identify what are the three things today you can do that get you closer to that type of business you want. And oftentimes that's beginning to build some kind of an infrastructure that allows you to enjoy some of that, you know, some of everything you're working for from that standpoint. Gosh, I would add to that as well. I think advisor, and sorry to cut you off.

12:27I think advisors, they, you know, the answer to that question is different for every advisor. And it's a great point that you bring up because many of them come to us because they're struggling with something and they can't quite put their finger on what it is. But they know that, you know, the excitement, the joy out of what they're getting in the practice is starting to diminish because they are working too hard. They're too busy. They're taking on too much. And that's, we believe in a process in working with advisors that allows us to really dive in and understand what's going on before we answer that question, because it could be five or six different, you know, ways to handle that based upon what's happening.

13:01But that advisor is unique. We've got to understand what's going on in their situation. And then to Tate's point, really start to narrow in on the things that will have the greatest impact. Yeah. So again, so let's say someone books a call. What do you typically talk about on that call? Like, how do you decide if this is a great match together? Yeah. So what we do is, as part of our process has been pointed out, is just have an introductory call, figure out what are your pain points? What's most concerning you? Why did you want to have this conversation. How, what kind of relationship are you looking for?

13:42You know, that's the conversation that we begin with from the engagement side to just see if there's a fit between what we do and what they're looking for. Most often there is because we believe in helping everybody go from where they are to where they want to be. Our job is to figure out exactly where they are and meet them where they're at to help them take those steps. And we run into business owners of all types at all different levels. And they all have their own unique circumstances that it's our job to figure out if we can help them move forward and if they're really willing to do the work.

14:17It's not enough to know you need to do it. You got to be willing to put the work in to move forward. Yeah. So it's got to be, I would say, emotionally. I mean, I think anyone working with Coach to be able to kind of lean into your leadership and experience a bit, your wisdom. You've been there, done that. And, you know, sometimes that mentorship, you know, again, I don't know what the typical life cycle is like, you know, how often we have great mentors that know everything about everything. You know, you were talking about buying a book of business. Well, that doesn't always come with great business advice.

15:00Yeah, no, that's true. I mean, that's what, you know, combined, we have 80 some years of experience on our team, not just in financial service, but across the business space. It's nice to be able to plug into that. And oftentimes people over overcomplicate what the solutions are. Oftentimes it's the simplest solution that's easiest to implement that will help them move forward. You know, it doesn't have to be complicated. It just has to help them take that next step. But, you know, having somebody with experience and that talks to people and entrepreneurs and business owners all the time, you can pull from that well and say, hey, have you thought of this?

15:37Or have you thought of that? Or let us connect you with somebody that's done that. You know, we do a lot of peer to peer work where we find that's where we get the best steps because now they're talking to somebody that's done that and can they can really bounce those ideas off each other. And that's been tremendous for us from that standpoint. Love it. So your website is what's next.coach. When our friend who's listening goes to the website, what would you recommend they click on? What should they do? I think when they go to our website, they should look, they should look first at, you know, we work with climbers, not campers.

16:13We're looking for those people that want to make a difference, but take a look at our process. And we have a few testimonials out there for people that we've worked with, but really just dive into how we go about doing what we do. What is our process and what makes us different there? That's really kind of what we lean on is we have a process, but we don't have a program. Our program is different for every client we walk through that with. Yeah. And you've got some great resources here, right? I see that you've produced some video content, some audio content. Is that right? Do you have a podcast?

16:55Yeah, a little bit of both. I would not consider us the video or podcast experts yet, but we certainly have a lot of fun on those. We try to get the message out in a way that reaches our audience. And it's content that's really built by what we're hearing from advisors and business owners out there. Yeah. I've just one little idea that I love is I think a lot of us, if we are producing content, you're going to make mistakes. I love that you took your mistakes and you put it into a blooper reel. That's like people love blooper reels. That's just, that's genius. That just shows, you know, a sense of humility.

17:33It's, it's, it's, that is just one little thing there that I picked up on. I think it's just great. So good on you guys for doing that. All right. So what's next on coach? Again, Tate Kurz, Ben Mossman, you're each co-founders and partners. It's been a great conversation, gentlemen. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Josh. Appreciate it.

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