3 Lessons Learned on My Journey to Personal Development and Freedom
Exiting the wirehouse can be intimidating. Financial professionals need support to take this monumental step in their careers. At Kestra Private Wealth Services, we have the honor of providing individuals with the necessary tools and guidance to find freedom as entrepreneurs.
This mission to create opportunities for escaping captive environments was fueled by both the events of my childhood and professional experience in the wirehouse. I recently spoke with Diana Britton, host of WealthManagement.com’s Transparency with Diana B, to discuss a few key lessons that shaped my career path and the founding of Kestra Private Wealth Services.
- Lesson #1: Life’s trials can build resiliency. My childhood had many ups and downs; moving to new towns, changing schools, and always being the new kid didn’t lead to many smooth transitions. Violence wasn’t always relegated to the playground - we had it at home, too. As a teenager, I used rebellion and violence to cope with my surroundings. Military school provided me with the structure and the positive examples I needed to move forward.
During this time, I began to realize my potential. I channeled my past experiences and embraced the resilience they had cultivated in me. However unpleasant they were, they’d shaped me in a way that gave me strength. I stopped allowing myself to be defined by my past and was motivated to do something meaningful with my future.
- Lesson #2: Challenging experiences can cultivate self-awareness. While serving in the Army, I was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart defect after collapsing during a run. The doctor told me I would never be able to serve in the military again due to the severity of the defect. Not only was my career in the Army over, but the corrective surgery had a low survival rate. I had to not only face my mortality, but my life as it was to that point.
In all, I spent six months in a VA hospital. Three months prior to the surgery, and three more recovering from it. My physical weakness left me with little else to do than confront myself and my past. Somehow, I was blessed with the strength to take inventory of who I was and examine what my life could become. I focused on the many positive role models I’d come across. I was determined to live a life worthy of the second chance I’d been given. I didn’t know it, but I’d begun to take charge of my life, and my outcomes.
- Lesson #3: When one door closes, another door opens. I was familiar with the financial services industry from a young age because my father was an institutional bond broker. When I was forced to make a career change, I was drawn to the freedom the field offered me. I could control my upside and downside by how hard I worked. After working at a regional financial services firm, I pursued my dream of going to law school.
After law school, I made my way back to financial services. During a day of interviews alongside professionals from some of the most prestigious universities in the country, I found myself reflecting on who I was. I paused for a moment and realized that I was worthy of the position. I embraced my past experiences and the leaps I had taken, and then the confidence came naturally. I realized, no one is coming to save me, if this is going to go well, I have to make it go well.
As you navigate your personal and professional journey, I encourage you to find ways to convert your challenges into confidence, and your victories into resilience. Once we accept the cold truth of our responsibility for ourselves and our outcomes, we can start shaping our lives into the dreams we have for ourselves in our minds. That’s the path to freedom, and to independence.
At Kestra Private Wealth Services, it's our pleasure to assist you on your path to freedom. Tune in here for my full conversation with Diana.
