Transcript
The K Bella Story with Kristan Sayers
Speaker 1: Welcome to Purpose City, stories of humanity in action, sponsored by Executive Wealth Management. Guests on Purpose City do not necessarily reflect [00:00:30] an endorsement of Executive Wealth Management.
Ken: Welcome to Purpose City. Today, we're having fun so far, I hope it's going to get better? We have K Bella Hair Studio and Spa representatives with us today. Kristan Sayers, hello.
Kristan: Hi.
Ken: And Brittney Holstege, hello.
Brittney: Hello.
Ken: Brittney Holstege with two E's in most spelling. And Todd Perry from Journey... Oh, that's Steve Perry, I'm sorry. [00:01:00] From Executive Wealth Management. And it's going to be interesting, we're calling this one, the K Bella story. And I realized in my notes, I had K and B next to each other.
Kristan: K now.
Ken: It's K space Bella. Before we go into that story though, so what is K? Is that Kristan?
Kristan: Well it kind of, it is yes, but it actually is two people because we couldn't come up with a name because I had a business partner, which is another [00:01:30] story, and we both hated everything that we thought of. So the only way to finish it was, we were like, "Well, we got to find a logo. We got to get a name." So we liked Bella because beauty, and she was just like, "What about K Bella?" And it flowed and I was like, "We're both K's. So let's do it."
Ken: Nice.
Kristan: I wish there was a better story.
Ken: No, that was... No, no, that was pretty bad. I got to say. And Brittney, so what do you do [00:02:00] at K Bella?
Brittney: Well, I started as a stylist and now I eventually ended up taking over being the salon coordinator, helping Kristan with pretty much any overflow that she needs, and anything she needs.
Ken: Very nice. Like helping her set up this podcast and all of that.
Brittney: Yes, like emailing you and everything.
Ken: That's right, emailing me.
Kristan: She keeps my life under control, without her I would die.
Ken: Yeah. And Todd, what do you do?
Todd: So I am one of the wealth [00:02:30] advisors at Executive Wealth Management, and we're a registered investment advisor located here in Brighton and fast growing. I think we hired three new employees last week. So we're up to about 45 and with about 20 advisors. And we have four other locations, but again, headquartered here in Brighton. And so specifically retirement planning, investments, tax planning, Canada true wealth management.
Ken: Right.
Todd: I'm [00:03:00] involved in most of that.
Ken: And it's a growing company which is why we're launching out into podcast. So this is brought to you by Executive Wealth Management. Kristan Sayers, so you are the owner.
Kristan: I am, with my husband.
Ken: Okay, Ben.
Kristan: Yeah, you got it.
Ken: Yup. I want to dig a little into that, but I like to always talk as much about myself as possible. So I'm going to fuse myself in this conversation by saying, I know you not [00:03:30] outside of hair, it's a completely hair relationship.
Kristan: Yup.
Ken: Right. And that started at a former salon, I was getting my hair cut. And so my son just graduated and he was walking in kind of talking, so maybe...
Kristan: I think like 2006... Well actually we've been like the fall of 2005 going in 2006.
Ken: Yeah, long time ago.
Kristan: Yeah.
Ken: I could tell this, what's your memory of him coming in? When I came him with him?
Kristan: Well, he was little and I was [00:04:00] so young and he was...
Ken: You were in sex.
Kristan: It was crazy that I remember you guys very vividly.
Ken: Yeah. So he would come in, kind of hang out, which would never happen now. I'm not cool. I was cool then apparently. And you and a couple others would like to watch him. He could recite all the presidents backwards.
Kristan: Yep. I remember. I do, I remember it too with Ty. I think he did it well, because I was the assistant so I [00:04:30] would wash hair and then just watch Jean and she always kept it entertaining.
Ken: Yeah. He could barely talk and he could do that. And it'd be like William Jefferson Clinton. He knew exactly first, middle, last name. And that happened because I taught him with flashcards and I thought earlier names would be easier than 1700s names, but I didn't realize it's all backwards. So you kind of thought, George Walker [00:05:00] Bush. It was like the first president because at the time that was the first one he learned, he had it all wrong. Given a flunked history but it was cute.
Kristan: I love it.
Ken: Yeah. Anyway, so that's kind of part of the story, I bring that up because you said at that time you're assistant.
Kristan: I was.
Ken: Washing hair. You could have washed my hair.
Kristan: I did many times.
Ken: Yeah, right, when I had more hair. It was a bigger job back then. And now, I want to have Brittney brag on a little bit. So what are all the things [00:05:30] that Kristan is today in the hair business?
Brittney: A lot. That's a lot. Well, she leads the whole United States where it came in the Italian color company. She is the founder of the MABP, which we can talk about, that's really taken off this last year. She's the owner of 25 of us crazy women. And she's also a stylist behind the chair herself. So she's got quite a few things.
Ken: She doesn't [00:06:00] have a slave trade. She doesn't own you.
Brittney: Oh no, I would work for her for free.
Ken: Oh, okay.
Kristan: Thank you.
Ken: Very nice. Yeah, so that's part of it. So let me tell you my impressions of you.
Kristan: Yeah.
Ken: Which actually haven't changed, I think. So then you were always smiling, always full of energy. [00:06:30] Very colorful, not only in personality, but what color is your hair today?
Kristan: Well, it is pretty green, pretty yellow. I think there's a little blue. A little of everything probably.
Ken: Right, yeah. And it's different almost every time I go in.
Kristan: Yup.
Ken: And same, but you were probably going to more music concerts than a little more of a single life going on. Now you had...
Kristan: Well, actually, me and my husband met 23 years ago. We have [00:07:00] been living together for almost 23 years.
Ken: There you go.
Kristan: So, but we did, we went to a lot of concerts. Life was a little different back then.
Ken: Yeah. But whatever age you are now, I'm sure it's still young.
Kristan: I'm going to be 40 this year, let's just be honest.
Ken: What?
Kristan: Yeah. It's coming.
Ken: Well, I was 41s. All right. But you still had the same energy. I was just telling the last time I was in the shop... No, that [00:07:30] was yesterday. So it wasn't yesterday. So a couple months ago, how does she have so much energy? She has energy, right, Brittney.
Brittney: Yes.
Ken: And smiling, this positive attitude. Do you have a philosophy of life or just?
Kristan: I had a great childhood. My parents... I never had to want for anything, they gave me everything and I'm the baby. So maybe that's why, but?
Ken: A little care free.
Kristan: I felt [00:08:00] I have had a very blessed life and I'm just somebody who I don't wait around for things to happen. I'm going to make it happen and I just love people. So I guess, my mom and dad just taught me that really life is just about making sure that everyone around you is happy and helping them. And if you can feel good when you go to bed at night, then I don't see any other way to live.
Ken: Right.
Kristan: So I just focused my whole life on just finding what makes me happy and just going for [00:08:30] it and doing it. And if I can't be happy when I go to bed and when I wake up, then I got to change something. So, if I'm having a bad day, I look in the mirror and I put a big old smile on my face. And it's hard some days, but that's what it's all about for me. I love life. I don't know what else you could think?
Ken: No, that's amazing. I wish I had that much energy, but I do have a similar philosophy anyway. Maybe not so much about happiness every day, but I do think life in terms of days, like you may not have it tomorrow.
Kristan: Exactly.
Ken: [00:09:00] And even if you did, what's the point of having a better or worse tomorrow when you still have today to live. And if I had a worst case scenarios, you're experiencing life and all the negative emotions with it, and it helps you appreciate the better day you have, but it's still a day, it's still a day in life.
Kristan: Exactly.
Ken: And if you can treat people in a way and live your life, that you can have a good night's sleep.
Kristan: Yeah.
Ken: I mean, your life is all the days you lived before today.
Kristan: [00:09:30] Exactly.
Ken: Right. Can you write that down Todd?
Todd: Got it, check.
Ken: Yeah. Okay. So Brittney, back to what was the big fancy initials with the M in it?
Brittney: Oh, the MABP, Michigan Association for Beauty Professionals. Kristan founded that and started that.
Ken: Founded it.
Kristan: Yeah. So a couple of years ago... Oh gosh, when was it? I don't even [00:10:00] know how many years ago. But they were dealing with deregulation. The beauty industry has dealt with that many times and some people are for it, some people are against it. But when that was happening, there wasn't a backup plan for the State of Michigan. So it was like, you're going to deregulate us and then what's going to happen. I don't think people realize what hairdressers actually do and the chemicals we work with. Our shears are like surgical shears.
Ken: Sure.
Kristan: And I could cut your ear right off if I really wanted to. I mean, let's just be honest, right? So I think that for me, [00:10:30] there has to be a plan. There has to be something that's going to help handle it. You can't just have a bunch of people cutting hair and using these chemicals that aren't licensed.
So to fight deregulation, I thought, well, there's huge associations throughout the United States and there's national and international associations but there's not local statewide. So every other industry had one so I thought, well, I'm going to start it. So I started it with my husband. We made a website, [00:11:00] we went all in and then it kind of just sat and we got enough signatures fought deregulation. It was gone, so we thought, which is not do anything with the company, but then COVID happened and it was needed so people were reaching. I had more phone calls and more emails than the State of Michigan was getting because people were so confused on what was happening in our industry. And so people reached out to me and were like, we need an association. You already started it. Let's just do it. So we went for it.
Ken: So is that what brought [00:11:30] the media attention to you?
Kristan: Yeah. I had a lot of interviews and it was awesome because it just helped bring our industries together. Again, I just like when people are together and we're so much better together than we are alone. So it was really great because the media helped get the word out. And so we all joined kind of on Facebook, all the hairdressers and it gave them a place to help them run their business successfully during a time that was really hard. We were close for three [00:12:00] months, our industry.
Ken: Sure.
Kristan: We were dealing with a lot of stuff, and what happened at the Capitol in Maine, all that stuff. So we needed a place to come together, and so that's what it was for. And now the State of Michigan and tons of advocacy people out there and law firms, and there's so many people that have come to me and we're starting putting it on the forefront. So now it's actually going to be a real association for all industry, people that are in spas and barber barbering and hairstylists, salons, [00:12:30] everything. And we're going to all have our associations so that we can stay connected. And it's awesome, I got a lot of people helping me.
Ken: Nice.
Kristan: Yeah, it's very cool.
Ken: It's a little off topic, but you went back, I'm a little scared to go in shops now with you could cut my ear off. When I grew up, my dad was a barber and I thought my name was Nick for years. All right.
Todd: I'll write that one down too.
Ken: [00:13:00] Yeah, thanks. Yeah, my dad's barber, my mom owned a shop, and my sister owned a shop. I come from a hair family.
Kristan: I love that.
Ken: Yeah. And I'm afraid to cut in animals like pet's hair. I have no idea. It's not in my blood.
Kristan: Well, I was a dog groomer also for about six years.
Ken: Wow, I thought...
Kristan: And that me, I was actually grooming dogs.
Ken: Some fancy looking dogs.
Todd: Yeah.
Ken: All right. So I kind of creeped on your Facebook page a little bit because I wanted to see what you were like outside the hair world. [00:13:30] And if I remember right, your social media says something to the effect of family... I don't know if I get in the right order, but horses, fishing and hair. That's my life.
Kristan: That is it, really, it's true.
Todd: That sums it up.
Kristan: Yeah. I was like, "What sums up my life? Oh, well that's it." Yeah. But I do a lot of stuff. People are like, "You have way too many hobbies," and I do. But horses were something [00:14:00] that I've done since I was born. Literally, I was on a horse when I was two months old with my mom. It was pretty easy.
Ken: You're from South Lyon, right?
Kristan: No, I'm actually from Howell.
Ken: Really?
Kristan: I got my first job in South Lyon.
Ken: Oh, in South Lyon, okay. Because South Lyon was, when my family moved there in '79, it was the Horse Capital of Michigan or something. I'm sure Howell would be similar.
Kristan: We had a lot of, yeah. A lot of friends in South Lyon that had horses for sure. But yeah, horses are just huge in my life and then when I'm not riding horses or at a hair show, I'm fishing.
Ken: [00:14:30] Yup. So I saw a picture of you holding a pike that doesn't look like... I could be wrong. It doesn't look like anything in Michigan, that looks like a Canadian size.
Kristan: Wow.
Ken: And I'm going to hand this old conversation with Todd, he's a fisherman. Speaking about her secrets.
Kristan: Yeah, I was actually in Michigan. I was at my special spot.
Ken: I'm never going in Michigan again. [crosstalk 00:14:53]
Kristan: I wonder if you all know, but I'm a big uber. I love being in UP. I want to retire there. It's like my life....
Ken: Well, like I said, it wasn't really in Michigan.
Kristan: [00:15:00] Yeah.
Todd: Right.
Kristan: See. But no, I liked that you say that because UP is, it should have its own place. It should be its own, just everything. It's amazing.
Todd: It is a special place.
Kristan: It's a special place. I get over that bridge and I'm like, you can breathe.
Todd: You would love where we were at, Kristan. We are so vibrant public area, Ishpiming in there.
Kristan: Yeah.
Todd: And where we were, you drive three miles back in and that's where we have a friend who lives up there right on a lake. And then [00:15:30] you drive from there, we fish on that lake, but go back another mile in this area where it's just absolutely beautiful, rocks and you're just in a different world.
Kristan: It is.
Todd: But I probably should ask you, you catch the pike on because I didn't, but who we were with...
Kristan: Like secrets.
Todd: ... caught a lot of pike?
Kristan: Yeah.
Todd: It's a different world up there and it's nice to just get away. And it is, it's absolutely stunning.
Kristan: Yeah. We're actually members of the Hiawatha Sportsman's Club. I don't know if you ever heard [00:16:00] of it. I've been a member since I was a kid and it is biggest, I think on the East Coast, I think it's the largest Sportsman's club on the East Coast in the United States. And it's like 39,000 acres. It's a hunt and fish club. So I was on Lake Milliken on that one and I was using maps.
Todd: Okay.
Kristan: I think it was number five, and a spinner.
Ken: I know dare devil for pike, right? Do they still do that?
Todd: Yeah.
Ken: They still do that?
Kristan: Yeah. I was actually going for muskie, but [00:16:30] I'll take the pike.
Ken: Take that one too.
Kristan: He was a monster.
Ken: He's a monster. How many pounds was that?
Kristan: We actually did not have any... I wasn't prepared because it was a thunderstorm was coming and we were just bringing the boat in.
Todd: Perfect fishing by the way.
Kristan: Yeah, I was like, "Oh, this looks too good. I got to throw one out." And so when I caught him, I didn't even have anything so I didn't even measure him or anything. But he was, I mean, he was my biggest one I've caught. My biggest pike for sure. Not bigger than my salmon, but big salmon fishing.
Ken: Yeah, I don't know if there's pike experts, fish experts. There's something about that could be, [00:17:00] as mentioned by Todd earlier, if those had the personality of piranha, nobody would go swimming ever.
Kristan: No.
Ken: Their teeth are ridiculous.
Kristan: Yeah. His teeth were pretty big.
Ken: Yeah. Why does a fish need that many teeth? What's he doing? Well, you got to get through those dare devils. You do.
Kristan: Yeah, I'm fishing anytime I can. We just actually sold my house just so I could be on a lake. So we just moved to a lake and it's amazing. So I get to fish all the time now.
Ken: There we [00:17:30] go.
Kristan: Yeah.
Ken: Brittney, what do you do? You look like a fisherman to me. Deep sea laughing and fishing.
Kristan: Do you want to go fishing with me Britt?
Brittney: Hey, I'll hang out on the boat all day, but.
Todd: Yeah.
Ken: With tanning lotion.
Brittney: Yeah, fishing is not for me, but I have two little ones. So they take up my time and not much in the outdoors right now. They're young.
Ken: [00:18:00] How young?
Brittney: I have a kindergartener, a virtual kindergartener, he's five and I have a little one that's going to be two on Thursday.
Ken: Perfect. What a strange world to start school in.
Brittney: Yes.
Kristan: Oh yeah, that would be weird.
Ken: It's going to be. Interesting generation coming up.
Brittney: Absolutely.
Ken: Total virtual.
Todd: Yes it is.
Ken: So at K Bella, you have expanded it to a spa.
Kristan: I did.
Ken: So what [00:18:30] makes it a spa?
Kristan: So back in 2013, I bought my business partner out and which was the plan all along. So when I bought her out, I added on because girls like one-stop shop. Ladies like to go get everything done at once. So we added the spa and what that has was adding nails, massage, facials, aestheticians and so forth and gave us more room for makeup.
Ken: Aestheticians is a big word, they do well.
Kristan: Yeah. So aestheticians are the [00:19:00] ones that are licensed to do waxing, facials, skin.
Ken: Microblading?
Kristan: Nope. Actually they're different. They have certifications. But I like that you know this fancy word.
Ken: I'm embarrassed I knew that word. I'm impress yeah.
Kristan: I really liked that you know those fancy words, yeah. I don't know wax though.
Ken: I do think I have these luscious eyebrows. [inaudible 00:19:20].
Kristan: Nice. We do that too though. We do.
Ken: So microblading is what, since I brought it up?
Kristan: So microblading is a tattoo.
Ken: For me, [00:19:30] it would be like very small people ice skating, but probably not.
Kristan: Nice. So it is a tattoo for your eyebrows, but what it is is they do manual manipulation. So instead of using a machine... Well, you can use a machine, I have a machine brow done on my eyebrows. But it's a manual manipulation where they actually use their hands and they actually, I guess, potentially they cut you and put the ink in and then...
Ken: So it was a tattoo.
Kristan: Yeah. At the end of the day, it's a tattoo and it gives you a line strokes to make it look really natural. Brittney, [00:20:00] I mean, you probably have more and that's pretty much it. You have anything else to add to that?
Brittney: Yeah, just single-bladed hair strokes and they basically cut you right there.
Ken: So a very glamorous woman could say, I wouldn't never have a tattoo and their whole eyebrows are tattoos, right?
Kristan: I mean, yeah.
Brittney: Yeah.
Ken: Essentially. Can we talk about your tattoos.
Kristan: We can.
Ken: The ones you're willing to talk about, right. So how many did you have?
Kristan: There's not much that I hide and I'm pretty open book. I don't even know. I don't have that many, but probably I think one time I counted, I think it's [00:20:30] 20, maybe 22.
Ken: But does that includes... You have like large tattoos?
Kristan: Yeah, I know I kind of just put them all in one. I guess, I don't know, they're not that big. I just have random [crosstalk 00:20:42].
Ken: And it kind of goes with your... I saw on your website, your mission, right? Well, you can tell me the theme. What I'm thinking of is letting the people you work or employed by you express their creativity, be themselves, enjoy their lives and their work and [00:21:00] not be a cookie cutter place where you go in and everyone has the same haircut. You can be as unique as you want to be just as your employees are as unique as they want to be, right?
Kristan: Yeah, I remember when I went and got in my first interview when I got out of school, right? So, you're out of school and you go to your first interview for what you want to do for life. And let me just tell you, it was not fun. People would be like, "Well, do you have a clientele?" They were so rude. And I said to myself, "If I ever own a salon. I will not be that salon." [00:21:30] So I want people to walk into my salon and feel comfortable. I don't care who you are. You know when you walk into a tattoo shop and you feel almost awkward because they're looking at you and you don't have enough tattoos maybe.
Ken: Brittney, do you know that feeling?
Brittney: Yeah. I do have one small tattoo.
Kristan: I hate that feeling. I hate when a business makes you feel awkward when you walk in.
Ken: Right sure.
Kristan: And I've experienced that a lot. I mean, I've experienced a lot. When you met me, I looked a lot crazier than I do now. I'm pretty [00:22:00] tame now, or at least I think I am. But when he met me, I was pretty bad.
Ken: I would say the difference is...
Kristan: So I was more of like two feet still...
Ken: ... you're very colorful person. Back then you more colorful, but edgier.
Kristan: Yeah. I've really tamed down.
Ken: Yeah.
Kristan: But yeah, I didn't want that. So I try to make it just relaxed atmosphere. Everybody be you, at the end of the day, that's what I'm always about. Be you. [00:22:30] You have to express yourself. I have a very traditional thinking and he would look at me and think I'm not the way I am, but I don't know, conservative, I guess. I'm very conservative personality wise. So my whole life I've been like that, so when I was a little girl like, "How do you express yourself if you're very conservative?" And so it was always my look, my parents always were great about letting me be me. So I started dying my hair when I was seventh grade. So instead of being bad, doing drugs, I was doing crazy...
Ken: Crazy hair.
Kristan: ... [00:23:00] Crazy hair and crazy clothes. And I truly think that it was funny because the parents that always had their kids making sure that they were like, they weren't allowed to color their hair. They weren't allowed to wear this. They were very strict. They were actually bad. I had some good friends that were naughty and I was the good girl. So I just feel like everyone needs to express themselves and be who they are and whatever you want to do.
Ken: So what would you look like if you're expressing your true self Todd?
Todd: You wouldn't believe this, Ken, but in high school. So [00:23:30] I did have the hockey hair, so kind of a little short at front and long in the back.
Ken: Mullet.
Todd: Somewhat of a mullet, I would say, yeah. And I always remember it's funny, my stepdad would be, "You need to cut your hair and all these." And I said, "No, I like it long." But I guess looking back, he was probably right just because I look ridiculous with long hair. So that was me with the hockey kind of mullet.
Ken: Hockey mullet.
Kristan: I like that. And mullets are back, man. They're back right now.
Ken: [00:24:00] I actually might bring it back, let's see.
Kristan: We've been cutting forming to mullets.
Ken: There's a difference between back and back in style.
Todd: Right.
Ken: Some things were never in style, but they were there.
Todd: All right. Although I do have an appointment tomorrow, so maybe I should cancel that and just.
Ken: Yeah.
Brittney: Just cut in sides.
Ken: Yeah, just trim it up on the sides. So it'd be scary.
Brittney: Take off the side, burns off the back row.
Todd: Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah.
Ken: No, that's a bad look altogether. So [00:24:30] in your shop, last time I was... I keep saying last time, yesterday, but similar. I like to be truthful, a month ago I was in your shop.
Kristan: Yeah.
Ken: And you have a box collecting shoes. So it appears you're helping your community by various continue to different things.
Kristan: Yeah.
Ken: What are they, what are a couple and then how do you choose?
Kristan: I'll let Brittney kind of take this one because we do so much. Pretty much anyone who reaches out to me, I try to give [00:25:00] them something. And that's when I take the email and I just forward it to Brittney, give them something. That's how I roll. But no, we love helping people so we do what we can. So, Brittney, what all we've been doing lately? There's been so many, I don't even know.
Brittney: So like most things, everything we don't write to usually has a story of how they're connected to us or our staff. The shoe box, the shoe drive, you've mentioned is from the Michigan Foster Closet of Livingston County, we did a fundraiser [00:25:30] for them in 2019. Every year we do our holiday basket raffle and then we give the proceeds to whatever we choose. Usually the staff comes together and thinks of something to give it to. That year, one of our staff was fostering to adopt and she mentioned how much that particular organization personally was helping her. And so we started with them and then when they did the shoe drive this year, because of our contribution previously, [00:26:00] they asked us if we'd be willing to be a drop-off site for their shoe drive. And yeah, so we had that going on and I have to say our girls and our clients killed it. I think they had to come empty that box five or six times.
Kristan: A week.
Brittney: Yeah.
Kristan: They were emptying it almost felt like every day, it was crazy.
Brittney: Yeah, I felt like every time I came in, I was like, "Oh, should we call her and tell her to come and pick this up because it's overflowing again." So yeah, that's been our most recent thing. And then we also have people reaching out to us. So we just did one for [00:26:30] Michigan Blood Cancer Foundation. They did a walk at the Detroit Zoo. We put together...
Kristan: You put together the best basket, it was so cool.
Brittney: We put together a basket and bunch of gift cards. Because of the way our salon is, each of the girls are technically their own business, so usually I'll reach out to them, ask them what they want to do. And usually it's an overwhelming response. And so I put together all of that and give that to them for their silent auction [00:27:00] and then we recently just did another one for Michigan Humane. That was the most recent one.
But then, I mean, our girls are always giving to Brighton schools and little league teams and everything like that. And it's just great to give back to our immediate society, music community. I think that was the greatest thing with the Foster Closet of Livingston County for many of our clients and stuff. They could be kids [00:27:30] in your own child's class that you don't know what they're going through. And I feel as a mom, myself, if you knew that someone was in need, you would want to give back so this is a way that you can do that and be there. So yeah, it's been great. Like I said, if someone asks for help, we're always there in some way.
Kristan: Yeah. And if we can't donate money, we'll donate services, like whatever we can donate.
Brittney: Yeah.
Kristan: Products, [00:28:00] but yeah, we're pretty giving. We like it. I love it, if you can give back, why not?
Ken: Right.
Kristan: I mean, yeah. It's awesome.
Ken: And where does that come from you? I always say, even if it's part of a business model, it's good because somebody's benefiting, but for me I can tell it's not, right?
Kristan: You mean like why do I do it?
Ken: Yeah, why you it?
Kristan: I guess for me, I just like helping people. I really do. I think too, [00:28:30] it's more of if you can, why not? So I feel like when someone asks, it's just like part of me, I just want to help people. I don't think there's any other reason. It's just how I was raised and it's just all I know really.
Ken: Yeah.
Kristan: And I think that because I guess deep down, I know that so many people are always there for me. And when I see all the love that people give me like, my girls, they just are so good to me. When we leave, they always [00:29:00] tell me they love me. Every night we're like, "Bye guys. I love you." We tell I love you to every single person.
Ken: I've never told the boss I love you.
Kristan: We tell every time someone leaves, Brittney's the witness.
Brittney: Yes.
Kristan: When we leave at night, we tell everybody I love you like everybody.
Ken: What?
Kristan: We do. Every girl that leaves my spa...
Brittney: I also said the same thing.
Kristan: ... we're like, "I love you." But I just bring that up because I get gifted with so much love, my clients, it's all over me. So it's like, I mean, how do I not give that back? That's [00:29:30] the big picture, and it just gets more the older I get. I think because I see it from others so you can't not replicate it.
Ken: This has been a good talk. And I love all of you, frankly.
Todd: Okay, I'm expecting that from you [inaudible 00:29:47].
Ken: Can we all just express our love? I don't know how it works. I won't discard this.
Kristan: Well, in all girls. I mean, not that we mean we would love to bring a guy, but no one's ever come by, and it is because we're all girls.
Ken: Would that be weird at the end of every podcast, if I just start telling people I love them.
Kristan: [00:30:00] That would be a little weird, a little bit.
Ken: I just want to spread kindness. That's very nice.
Kristan: Yeah, I think kindness though comes together.
Ken: Yeah. All right. Well thank you ladies for being here.
Kristan: Thank you for having me. It was fun.
Ken: It was fun and thank you, Todd.
Todd: Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me.
Ken: Yeah, it was good. And we're going to close out, learn a little more about what Todd does at Executive Wealth Management. Bye everyone.
Todd: Hi, I'm Todd [00:30:30] Perry, certified financial planner and private wealth advisor here at Executive Wealth Management. When I graduated from school, I started in the supply chain management industry, but quickly realized it was more of a job and not a career. I knew I wanted to help people and have an impact on their lives. I've always had an interest in the financial markets and was always fascinated with how they worked. And it really started back in high school when I would monitor and buy individual stocks. When I first started off in the industry in 2005, I started [00:31:00] working for at the time a small independent wealth management firm. And one of the nice things about working for a smaller company is you can have your hands in a lot of different areas. And so it wasn't just the investment piece of it. It was the retirement planning and the tax planning, and really at the end of the day, just let us give better advice.
I started at EWM because you have the support and resources of a larger firm, but it's still a team environment that I enjoy. The values and the mission here in the whole build defend and advance, [00:31:30] not only client's portfolios but their financial plans going forward. With the background I have, I'm passionate about really taking that holistic view of a client's financial situation and adding simplicity, adding efficiencies throughout their financial life. And example that I can think of is a client comes to us and they may have accounts all over the place. Nobody's helped simplify their life and add efficiencies where we can. And I think once clients see that [00:32:00] they really have a sense of relief and a confidence in working with an advisor that is going to be transparent with them and really look at the holistic picture. Proactively be there for clients that they know we have their best interests in mind, it's a win-win. Feel free to give me a call or you can contact us at ewmadvisors.com.