Matt Logan on What He Looks for When Recruiting Advisors and Why Hunger Cannot Be Taught

Anthony Codispoti (00:00)

Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories Podcast, where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome adversity. As you listen today, let one idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Codus Bodhi, and today's guest believes that people join people, not organizations. It's a simple idea, but he built an entire company around it.

After spending years building his career and leadership experience within the financial services industry, he made the decision in 2019 to create a firm centered on relationships, coaching, and serving others at a higher level. Launching a new company just before the world shutdown forced him to rethink many of the traditional ways financial advice is delivered. Today he serves as founder of Rise North Capital.

A financial services and coaching firm headquartered just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. With nearly 19 years in the industry and a Chartered Life Underwriters CLU designation, Matt Logan has grown the company into a nationwide organization serving clients across all 50 states. Rise North Capital specializes in life insurance and retirement strategies for educators, public servants, business owners, and families seeking to build and

Protect their financial future. This is a conversation about leadership growth and what it takes to build an organization that reflects your values. But before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company, Adback Benefits Agency. And you'll want to hear this because it's hurting almost every business owner you know. Health insurance costs go up every single year, and businesses are furious about it. They're paying more.

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Matt Logan (02:44)

Hey Anthony, thanks for having me. Great to be here.

Anthony Codispoti (02:47)

So Matt, back in 2007, you started out as a financial advisor at MetLife. Did you know early on that this is the kind of work that you wanted to do? Like was this a life calling for you, or was it just a job that was available?

Matt Logan (03:02)

It was one of the calls that I got that ultimately saved my life, led to my calling. But I had no no direction at that point in my life, never mind a a career path in mind. You know, went to school, came out of school and realized I spent all these years not gaining practical skills. found myself upside down in my check-in account, scrambling to find the next, you know, job ad on Craigslist where I could pick up work the next day, some form of manual labor.

and was really at a low point my life when I got that call. Again, that that saved my life but led me to my calling. So that call ended up being from my first sales manager at MattLife that introduced me to the business. so I I think I took that that interview really on a whim. I I had no clue what I probably even had signed up for or applied to. but the call sounded good and and that led me into this

unbelievable business and an unbelievable opportunity. And just again, so so blessed to, you know, be able to get that call at that point in my life.

Anthony Codispoti (04:07)

I mean you use the phrase saved my life twice. I mean that's that's pretty huge. I mean a lot of kids come out of college with debt and you know they're just scraping by. Is there a deeper part to the story here?

Matt Logan (04:21)

well that that was me. When when I say it saved my life, I mean there there's, you know, being broke money wise and then there's being broke mentally and and I think I was or I know I was both. So for me having direction for the first time in my life and and that direction being as simple as like, Hey, here's all the the hoops you have to jump through in order to get involved in in this business, it gave me for the first time a compass. that I

was always, I guess, looking for. but having that that compass, you know, gave me for the first time some some fulfillment and that I had direction, at least I had some initial purpose was like, okay, I have to do these things in order to advance and pull myself out of a place of having no control to now be in in a place where I could control

what I was willing to do and what I was willing to work for and that that point in time it was I had to get through these licenses exams licensing exams and then, you know, walk through the door, which most people can't even get through through that.

Anthony Codispoti (05:27)

What was it that you actually studied in college?

Matt Logan (05:30)

I went to school for for communications. I took some business classes along the way and I had a lot of music classes. believe it or not, I was a musician for for many years and these were some of the the easier courses to to take, right? To get through four years to obtain my bachelor's degree. I mean, if I look at my degree, it doesn't even specify a major, I believe it says live or art. So

you know, for me it was again just going through the motions, maturing along the way, and you know, I was just told that that's what you're supposed to do, right? You go to school these years and then you continue to go to, you know, to to college from there and then all everything's gonna work out. so so for me it was, you know, again, going through the motions and and trying to figure myself out, but never really had to until I had no choice. So you you come off the high of like

not having responsibility other than show up to class, turning in enough assignments right to get through through school and then you come out and you're like, now what? Right? And life slaps you in the face. So, you know, th that that was me, you know, I was a twenty two year old, still try trying to grow up and and find myself, but really lacking direction, career wise, having a path, you know, le led for you know, led to me just

you know, feeling unfulfilled and and and not having you know control of my life, which I I find, you know, for me is a real real driver for my success.

Anthony Codispoti (07:08)

And so how far into that new role at MetLife were you like, this is it. This is my thing.

Matt Logan (07:17)

I would say really early on, I I loved the the ability to to dress nice, you know, get out of dingy work clothes, work in manual labor jobs, you know, show up for success, and and really control my entire day. So the the cool thing about the opportunity was they they literally threw me into the cubicle, gave me a box of business cards and a high five, and said, you know, give it hell. And and and for me,

I I was able to embrace that because it here I was with, you know, this billion dollar company behind me, showing up with with these licensing requirements met. And it was like, okay, now it's completely up to me. I've been given this opportunity, you know, here's my shot, go and do something with it. So I did. I I looked around, I saw what some other people were doing, saw what other people weren't doing, hit the phone.

set some appointments and and started to see people who needed help. And I was confident enough to be able to to sit in front of them and figure out the help they needed and then try to put together. and they they talk about, you know, you have to fake it till you make it. and that's what I was doing. But with enough reps, enough determination and and enough of like, hey, I'm never going back to not be in a position of control.

I was able to advance in a very quick amount of time. So I would say certainly there there's seasons of of doubt and there's days and there's weeks where you're like is this for me. but I had early success in the first couple months, big success in the first year, and at that point I knew I wasn't quick.

Anthony Codispoti (09:02)

Why do you think,

why, why do you think you were having so much success? Because I mean, for a lot of people, starting out in a new role like that, especially with all that cold calling that's involved, like, and it's it's brutal. What what was either different about your personality makeup or what was different about your approach that was allowing you to find success early?

Matt Logan (09:22)

I think because I had no choice. You know, the the the challenge in finding, you know, people to to do this or or to win in life is that, you know, everyone's got a full stomach. And and I was hungry. And that's the one thing I think is is very tougher or tougher than other skill sets to develop inside of people is that hunger. So I I was hungry to get after it. I was, you know, hungry to learn. I was I was coachable. And and and for me it was just

you know, doing what I was supposed to do and doing it consistently. And, you know, whatever that foundation I had going into it, I think, you know, that foundation of of discipline was a big part of the overall foundation it takes in into, you know, any level of success in business and life. So to answer your question, it was, you know, having a foundation of discipline, having, you know, crazy amount of hunger.

and and being coachable and really just, you know, having a a student mentality and and finally feeling like, Hey, this is something that I can succeed in and and here's the direction, here's the path. Let's go.

Anthony Codispoti (10:30)

So you were at MetLife for a few years, you had another stop along the way at a wealth management firm, and then 2019 you decide to start Rise North Capital. Walk me through the thought process there.

Matt Logan (10:43)

Yeah, so at at the time, you know, I had evolved as a person, as a financial advisor, as as a leader, and the cool thing about this this whole business is you can do whatever you want with who you want, where you want. And I do over the years, you know, taken up lots of learnings, lots of skills acquired.

lots relationships that I could put it all together and replicate what had worked and and do it even better. So Rise North Capital started with with the the mindset of hey, we're gonna build something big here in New England. We're gonna take the traditional agency system of finding talent, developing talent, you know, finding clients, helping clients and and build distribution as wise we could spread amongst New England with

brick and mortar offices and took a lot of you know processes practices that had always been tested you know proven proven to be successful and and and replicated that and and had some some early success right out of the gates and then about six months into our our brand new lease the world shut down so that whole thought process that whole initial vision went right out the window

Anthony Codispoti (12:13)

And so in March of twenty twenty, you're probably licking your wounds, trying to your head spinning, trying to figure out what's next, how do we pivot given what's going on in the world and the uncertainty that goes with it? And what did you come up with?

Matt Logan (12:30)

Yeah, again, the the cool thing is how in this space you can be so if you're adaptable, you can pivot in so many different ways, so many different directions. So I went back to to my roots right right away. I I I know for me, being in the right environment puts me in the right state. So I didn't sulk at home. I continued to show up in the office every single day. You know, at that point there was no one in here. some days I worked with just

you know, a small desk light on on the desk and, you know, flipped the switch and went virtual and and I said again sort of get back to my roots and and that was helping a a lot of individuals, families and business owners figure out their finances, figure out how they're gonna get through a period of uncertainty, put as much certainty into their financial life as I possibly could. certainly helped a lot of people with life decisions.

Life insurance planning was it was the highest you know SEO search as you can imagine during that time. So was able to to help clients, you know, again, just like you know, going back to to day one, which felt really good. And at the same time, I'm like, if we can operate this way with with clients digitally, we we can do this now in all 50 states. We can we can build an army.

of of financial professionals and and give them opportunities whether they're in their office or not. So it was a blessing from a business standpoint going through that disruption and and we took disruption and we just you know utilized it to our advantage and and the whole you know story and the and the whole you know chapter two of Rise North Capital came together and it came together really fast and

I don't think would have came together as fast without that pandemic.

Anthony Codispoti (14:30)

So the pandemic showed you that, hey, we don't have to be in person to do this work, right? We can help people all over the country. So what specifically changed about the way that you operated your business then going forward? Like you you're just sort of figuring it out on your own, right? In the office there by yourself. And then the light bulb starts to come on. And the tell us about the big changes that you made.

Matt Logan (14:55)

Yeah, the some of the bigger changes were, you know, how could we we multiply versus add and subtract and add and subtract? So multiplication came in the form of different ways of marketing our services to clients going digital versus more, you know, traditional you know, business to consumer. It was more, you know, a business to business mindset. it was, you know, whatever we can do in an hour with one individual, can we do in an hour with thirty?

fifty with sixty. So from a recruiting standpoint, you know, we started to attract people virtually in in big group environments to introduce them to this career path that as I I mentioned earlier changed my entire life and will change my kids' kids' life one day. So I wanted people to to know about this opportunity. certainly during that time where you know people lost

you know, hopes and dreams, businesses, jobs, certainly, and and and and lots of hope and opportunity. So we wanted to get into the marketplace, we wanted to hit it hard, and we we thought the best way to do that was a group environment and going digital to do that. So we hosted these group sessions over Zoom and then we did the same with with client outreach. You know, before a a good day might be seeing, you know, four to six people out on the road max.

or how many meetings could we we get into the office if we're all competing to reserve the conference room. So the scalability w went went insane. It went right through the roof. And that was doing the same approach with clients, just getting them, you know, over a link and and having a conversation just like this to figure out what their problem were what their problems were, if we could help them solve it, and then how efficient we could be

with that process and being able to help more people. Like I said, it was just night and day when we we went digital on on both fronts.

Anthony Codispoti (17:00)

So package it up for us, Matt, present day. What does Rise North Capital do and who do you do it for?

Matt Logan (17:07)

So we help individuals, families, and businesses really as a quarterback in all their financial life decisions. So most people they don't plan to fail in anything, right? Whether it's their health, whether it's their family, whether it's their job, their business. But most people I know fail to plan. And and just like you know, most people know to get in shape, there's only two things you have to do, right? You have to eat better and you have to exercise.

But most people don't do that, right? Most people need not only the gym membership, they need the accountability, they need to hire a personal trainer, a health coach, and and someone that can give them the plan, help them work the plan, do it with them, even, right? Or do it in a group setting. So it's the same thing with the financial services business, it's same thing with you know, people's money and and financial decisions. People need to be given a plan. People need to have a financial coach.

and and people need really the map, right? And someone to walk them through it all, right? So it it's really being the the the tour guide, not the travel agent. Travel agent tells people where to go, tour guide actually goes with them. So, you know, for us, we are really loving that we sometimes we work with people in their twenties and we'll work with them the rest of their life. we'll work with people, you know, in their sixties and like I wish I met you forty years ago, but we're gonna work with them, you know, the next twenty, thirty years of their life. So

we're in it for life and and that's the journey we take with every single client. so whatever the financial decision that has to be made, it's one stop shop, it's it's one call. we're huge in the service. You're not gonna deal with an eight hundred number. And you got a team that can handle anything. and and that's the benefit of working with a team. Like a team's always gonna be an individual and and you know you can come to us and there's gonna be an expert in whatever you need behind the scenes or or even front of the scenes.

with that client on that journey.

Anthony Codispoti (19:09)

G give me some examples of the areas of expertise that you guys have.

Matt Logan (19:14)

Yeah, sure. So life insurance is a huge part of what we do. It's the foundation. I mean, if we don't have income coming in, breadwinner goes down or breadwinner becomes sick or or injured or even disabled, you know, all the planning decisions, right, in terms of saving or investing goes right out the window. the the first thing to go with medical

you know, bills are stacking up is, you know, the amount of money that you're putting away for your future self. So life insurance today can be used while you're alive, not just when you're dead. So there's some major advances that have come about in our industry. and for us it's educating people on all the benefits that they can have with with life insurance. And and we wanna be the the go fund me like prevention team, honestly. it it's never enough.

And you know, no one wants to, you know, go public with like asking for help, you know, and and it's like people need help and and I get it. And I always support those that need it. You know, I contribute to GoFundMe, but like like we can put a plan in place where people can go fund themselves. If they realize like how cheap a a dollar of life insurance is, everybody would have it. They're just not educated on it.

And and certainly all all the plans that are available today are nothing like what most people have, which is just a user or loser thing. It pays when you die. That's not what we offer. So we do some sophisticated planning with life insurance, whether it's for for tax benefits, whether it's for savings, whether it's to to pay your future self you know free and clear of taxation, right? So one thing you can control is like, well, you know what the taxes are today, pay them so you never pay again.

Or it's just protecting yourself, right? If you become sick or injured, you're going through cancer treatment, your health insurance doesn't pay for it. So there is amazing things you can do. So life insurance is the foundation. Then we go into saving, then we look at your retirement planning, then we have a team of investment advisors. So again, we can really bring a full circle of team to service, whatever your need is, wherever you want to go, and it has to be complete.

And and I see that's a big miss in the industry is that like people don't have the full picture of the puzzle that you're trying to build, or they don't have the puzzle pieces that you've probably put in place. We need to get the picture right first and then we bring in the experts.

Anthony Codispoti (21:47)

I don't want to get too nerdy and going down a rabbit hole of the life insurance options because there are many, right? And and it can get to be sort of confusing without the, you know, the physical models to show. And I and I really want to tell more of the story of how you're building the team. But I think maybe if we could pull out one example of life insurance in a way that most people don't think about it. Like you made the point, like most people think it's user or lo like you

You know, the it gets paid out after you pass away. And there's so many other like iterations that are available. Can you just explore one of them real quickly for the audience just to kind of pique their interest?

Matt Logan (22:28)

Yeah, sure. So, you know, we have a situation right now there's three business partners, they're going through a major liquidation event. and they want to make sure that there was some protection you know, for their family, of course, but there was also some protection around the business needs that they had. And, you know, one of the the business partners, late late thirties,

Health all checked out, so went through, you know, the underwriting process, the screening. the only, you know, one one thing that and they were gonna pay the the surcharge for was that they were a smoker. but other than that, you know, great shape, 39 years old, three kids, was gonna go through this liquidation and have have millions of dollars you know coming to the business. And you know, they the advisor gets a phone call.

from this business partner and and says that they just had a major heart attack. So there's no you know premium tied to the policy, which means that it's not active. they didn't secure it yet with with a payment. And because of the actual planning that was involved prior to to this policy that they were trying to secure.

they did have life insurance in place. So the advisor had put a a personal plan in place for for this individual business owner. and that plan was roughly around a million dollars of of life insurance coverage. And the plan had a benefit inside of it where if someone went through a a major event like that, in this case it was a significant heart attack, it would trigger what we call a living benefit claim. So we work with

insurance partners that have key benefits built inside of a life insurance plan that you can file a claim against and pull money out of that death benefit protection. So in this situation this person is going to be able to access capital from the policy. The policy happens to be a term insurance policy and term insurance is basically another word for renting insurance for a certain period of time. So it can be able to pull cash out of it.

Right by filing a claim against it. Cash is 100% tax-free. in this case, they're gonna pull out half of the available benefits, or roughly around a half a million dollars. And they're gonna take the half a million dollars and they're gonna use that to convert their term policy to now a million dollar permanent policy. So they're gonna be able to get the insurance regardless of this trigger and event, and they're gonna be able to fund it without even using the the cash for liquidation because the cash inside that term policy was available to them.

So when you have a term policy through the right insurance partner, despite the triggering event that happens, whether it's heart disease, cancer, stroke, you can be grandfathered in where you can automatically get a new policy that can extend the rest of your life and you can carry those living benefits over to that new plan for the rest of your life. so again, this is a scenario

Anthony Codispoti (25:34)

That's unbelievable.

Matt Logan (25:35)

where someone needs more life insurance, they're they're on top of the world, and then boom, life life hits them, right?

and because they did some previous planning and they did it with the right advisor and had the right plan, they were able to get the transaction done regardless and they're you utilize the cash, which they didn't pay a half million is that policy, not not even close. You know, their their their premium for a term policy was roughly fifty dollars a week. So, you know, some of the things that that you can do like that, if again, if you have the right the right insurance company, you have the right advisor, you have the right team, the right plan.

are truly amazing.

Anthony Codispoti (26:15)

It's an awesome example. I appreciate you sharing that. Certainly not awesome that, you know, this individual had that heart attack, but awesome that there was this kind of product with all these different mechanisms built inside of the life insurance policy that was able to help them out. but I now I I'd like to spend some time exploring the unusual way, it seems unusual to me that that you've built the team here. you know, you're

serving folks in all 50 states, you know, virtual first kind of a a model. you know, and most firms, you know, even after COVID still lean heavily on the in-person relationships. You clearly were learning something there in March of 2020, April 2020, you know, when you were sitting there in your office by yourself doing this virtually, but what

Is it about this model that's allowed you to do it one at scale and two, still be able to deliver a high level of service to your clients?

Matt Logan (27:13)

Yeah, great question. for us, the first client is the financial professional. And we're always looking for the right people to join our team that we can bring into this business, develop as better humans, teach them a trade, and have them be able to service more people in the marketplace. There's more demand than people helping people with financial advice than there ever has been before. this anomaly has been happening now.

for the past couple of years is going to keep happening where it's the largest wealth transfer the United States have has ever experienced. And at the same time, yeah,

Anthony Codispoti (27:51)

The silver tsunami, right.

Matt Logan (27:53)

at the same time, Anthony, the the average financial advisor is fifty nine, sixty years old, depending on where you get the stat from, but they're retiring with these baby boomers. The boom for the financial services industry was the eighties. And so, you know, people would come in and and and this is what they would do for their career path and they started in their twenties. So

You know, fast forward, here we are 40 years later, they're in their 60s, right? so they're not actively out hunting new clients, building new relationships, providing advice at the pace the demand is calling for. So for us, our first client is finding the right people to build this team with, and that team can then go and service more people. So to answer your question, like how can we do that scale? we can unless we scale our team.

and that's what we're dedicated to doing. And if we scale the team and we accelerate their career path, which we do, I mean, we we are very prideful in the fact that we can give someone 36 months, what it would normally take someone 36 months of experience, we can compress that in 12 months because of the the training development systems we have, the ecosystem for growth. being a a transformation company has been the evolution for us.

versus the traditional financial services company. You know, we fully believe that if people aren't getting better, you're not gonna be a better financial advisor. Period. if if you don't you don't truly care about yourself and your health and your family, like how could you care about someone else's family and their finances? So we are totally different than the typical financial services company that just focuses on products, features and benefits and services. We're all in on people development. And we know as we attract better people,

Right. Because listen, you you attract who you are, not you want. So we're getting better every single day. We're attracting better people. And then we can help our clients become better in their finances. And that's a big part of people's mental health today, right? Is that they need financial security. They need financial peace of mind. They need a path to succeed. and it often takes money, right? So we're doing the best we can to coach people up as better humans so they can coach their clients up.

on on how to live better, how to pr how to build their wealth, how to protect their wealth, and and how to save where where they can. But a a lot of it, honestly, Anthony, for us comes down to just the mindset that why why not? Like why why wouldn't we want to help more people? Why wouldn't we get better at servicing every single day? And and we believe we can do it, you know, through through our systems efficiency. yeah, we didn't have AI incorporated into our business until a couple years ago. So

It's really cool in in you know we think about service where we can get more of the stuff done, right? That is not being in front of our clients, not helping them through these emotional decisions, these financial roadblocks, through these triggering events that are you know emotionally, sometimes physically devastating. So for us now, like we can really be with our clients on the journey, like you know, riding shotgun versus behind the scenes like crunching numbers. So

super bullish on the future. And and for us as we continue to evolve and and get better with just human improvement, there really is no sky. Like people say sky the limit. It's like there isn't one in our minds.

Anthony Codispoti (31:20)

There's no ceiling for you guys.

Matt Logan (31:22)

Nothing.

Anthony Codispoti (31:23)

I'm curious, Matt, what is Rise North Capital looking for as they're recruiting advisors?

Matt Logan (31:31)

We're always looking for people that have a hunger. Like I said earlier, like what was the difference between me and and people that just don't make it in this business? I had a hunger. I wasn't going back. I I wanted to just, you know, have more and more control over my my time, my my financial, you know, freedom. I wanted as much of that as I could get, right? It gives me more choices. I wanted control over the contributions I made.

I want to control over my my my family's future. So I always wanted more of that. So we look for people that have that same type of hunger. We also look for people that are coachable because there's people that have that hunger but are not coachable. They they like to, you know, operate on an island and and we we operate as a team. So are they coachable? And and I would say, you know, lastly, like if I looked at just like three key ingredients that we can't

Or it would be tougher, right, to really develop that skill set. It it would be resilience, you know, like have they overcome some adversity in their life? Because if this is their first, you know, bout of it, you know, it it might be the setback that they don't come back from versus, you know, for for me and for other, you know, successful people that I run with.

The setbacks are opportunities for comebacks. And I don't know any successful people, people at the top of their game that haven't had to overcome significant hardships to get them to where they are. So if if we see that in people's previous work experiences, life experiences, we really embrace that. We want to know that they've overcome some certain types of adversity and they are resilient.

Anthony Codispoti (33:24)

I I love that that you're looking for that resiliency. Are there other filters that you look for during that interview process that tells you green flag, red flag?

Matt Logan (33:36)

Yeah, I mean, if if people are looking to just try it out, it it's tough to just try out anything and have big success. So we really need that all in mentality. it's not something where you know it's a it's a business, right? So people don't just say I'm gonna try out start my own company for for six months or gain some experience. I'm just gonna try out open up a brand new business. so

This is that. Like it it's it's really going all in on yourself. you know, really being adaptable. and and and ultimately, like if if I can find people that are just leading in some places in their life or have led some place in their life, that's really attractive. It's really attractive because we have to we have to lead ourselves every single day. We have to lead clients every single day. If you're building a team, you have to lead your teammates every single day. So

we love people that have had leadership experience or or want to aspire to lead. There there's just such a demand for for people that are being the mentor, being the example. I mean, you look around and you're like, where are these people? Where are the examples? Where are the mentors? So when when we find those types of people or people that want to become that person in their community, in their circle, for their family, for their clients.

They do exceptionally well here.

Anthony Codispoti (35:03)

So you've scaled relatively quickly, Matt. You know, we talk about 2019 when you founded Rise North Capital. It's just you. Now, you know, many dozens of employees, culture-driven firm. I'm curious along the way, what was the hardest leadership lesson that you had to learn?

Matt Logan (35:25)

Lots of them. I I mean I think every every day I'm learning and if I'm not then it's it's not gonna work. So there's different types of leadership that you know are required to go to grow from yourself to to ten. there's different types of leadership that you need to grow from ten to fifty, from fifty to five hundred. So leadership skill sets are always

gonna evolve. There's always room to grow. And in trying to not just lead, you know, people in your organization, you know, whether that's staff, whether it's your leadership team, but lead yourself to always be ahead of them, you know, to outgrow everyone that's around you. To also lead your family. And, you know, as your your kids grow, as your relationship, you know, with with my case, your wife grows, like

You also need to be blending that into the whole growth model. I I don't believe in in a balanced life. I believe in a blended life. I don't think you just have X amount of time for yourself, X amount of time for your family, X amount of time for your business. You know, for me, it it's a complete myth. It's it's about knowing where to be and when to be there and being as present as you can. So I I would say, you know, the hardest thing for me always.

is to be future focused, but living and breathing with each hour of every single day and and being the best I can within that each hour of every single day. And knowing that if I stay the course, if I continue to grow and stretch and get better in every year of my life, that all this will compound. And I gotta embrace this journey along the way because the destination is gonna change. Once I get there, I realize it's not the destination. It's all about the pursuit, it's all about the journey.

And that's where I find my fulfillment.

Anthony Codispoti (37:22)

So let's say I'm listening to this right now, I'm thinking about a possible career change, or I'm just coming out of school looking for a career opportunity. And this sounds interesting to me, but I don't know, I'm not fully sold. Sell me on it. Sell me on coming to work for Rise North Capital.

Matt Logan (37:40)

Yeah, I I don't know if if if anyone should unless they are truly looking to bet on themselves, unless they are truly looking to become a better individual, the best version of themselves. If if they don't have that mentality, then they probably shouldn't come here. Like I wouldn't want to sell them. So they have to sell me on on why they want to improve, why they want to get better, what's it all for?

And I'm not saying that people necessarily need this big why. And I I think people get stuck there. But your why can be simply like mine, which is like, I want to have more control of my life. I don't want to be mentally and financially broke anymore. I want to pursue something that I can learn new skills. I can better people around me. I can change lives. I can have financial freedom. I can have control of my time. I can have location independence. So

I you know, I never want to sell people. I want them to sell me on on whatever their definition of their why is. and and a big part of that has to be that they wanna improve as a human being.

Anthony Codispoti (38:51)

You mentioned AI before and you guys, you know, weren't using it a couple years ago, pretty common. sounds like you're using it more heavily now. Walk us through the ways in which you've incorporated it into your business.

Matt Logan (39:04)

Yeah, so a a lot on the marketing front, you know, really leveraging AI to to target the people that we feel we can help the most, whether that's individuals that fall into certain you know age demographics or occupations. And certainly from a you know, research standpoint, you know, leveraging a lot of a lot of tools to explore you know different

products and services that you know we would be licensed to offer and making sure that we're we're first in class and and whatever the service, product or you know, advice our our clients need over and above you know our own thinking tank. So it it's been able to really help us for on on both ends. One, you know, reach more people, more the right people that are really, you know, in the marketplace that we know we can we can do exceptionally

do exceptional service for and you know be able to to speed up you know that whole process of developing the right resources to help them reach their goals and solve their problems.

Anthony Codispoti (40:17)

Do you have any concern, Matt, that AI will eventually affect your business in a negative way?

Matt Logan (40:26)

I I think people will will die quickly in business if they're not using AI. However, I feel at the same time those businesses that are using AI are are really gonna explode. and and that's, you know, really what we saw I think back when when the internet, right? People were were scared about it. it certainly had a lot of disruption, took out some businesses, but those that, you know, got on the horse, you know, were able to take off. and and the economy really bloomed with

with that. So I I think that's happening now. There's this new technology revolution that's happening. we're part of it. We're embracing it. we're getting better because of it every single day. So I don't think that you know AI is gonna, you know, replace leadership. I I think that's really a a key thing for us as an organization. I think there's always gonna be a human element

when it comes to emotional conversations, emotional decisions, you know, empath empathy is a big part of of what we need to help people through their financial journey. So it's just really how do we incorporate AI and taking care of all the other stuff that's not people facing. So for for us, like, you know, is there a part of this team in the in the future that

is robot based, very likely, but i I think it's still gonna take the the leadership to maybe have a team of program developers and engineers to be able to to calculate these things to to service more people.

Anthony Codispoti (42:09)

Hmm. As you think about what Rise North Capital could look like, what you want it to look like and call it the next two to four years, what are you working towards? What are you building towards behind the scenes?

Matt Logan (42:24)

Yeah, great question. So as I mentioned earlier, we have evolved and evolved and evolved. And and really like the goal is to look nothing like what we did previously in time. Because if we're developing ourselves and becoming better versions of ourselves, we don't recognize the old self. And for us, one of the major you know, shifts has been, you know, really a development company, like developing our people, and and putting a big

heavy focus on becoming better as you know individuals, better as parents, better as leaders, better as, you know, spouses, partners. how can we just be the examples that that people need in life to look up to? And we just happen to be in the financial advice space. So it it's a it's a really, you know, great time to be coaching people. you know, coaching is just

It's great. Like, you know, everyone needs to coach for for something, like if they want to perform, you know, at a higher level. So the shift that we've made, Anthony, is we've become this transformation company that happens to be in the financial advice base. and as we, you know, go down the road further here, it's more about not just financial coaching, but but life coaching. So in the next couple of years, I I see us being able to to service people in that capacity.

and it's obviously really important for people to have a strong foundation with their finances in order to be able to reinvest in themselves. we truly

Anthony Codispoti (43:58)

Interesting.

Matt Logan (43:59)

believe that, you know, the SP me is worth more than the SP 500. You know, the first place to to put money, and I'm saying this as a financial services company, should be yourself, should be into your self-development, should be into your skill sets.

because if you can produce more top line revenue, then you have more to invest, right? So, we're big believers in, you know, invest in you and then we can take that next step and invest in all the things you need to do to put a financial fence around yourself and your family.

Anthony Codispoti (44:31)

W that's really interesting. When do you see kind of this approach unfolding?

Matt Logan (44:38)

you know, every single day we we lead more into again attracting the people that want to improve their lives with learning this trade and helping other people. And the more help you can provide other people, the more you can help yourself return. So it's a win-win-win. And as we do that and and we scale up the right, you know, leaders, you know, we can help detract more clients that want

Services beyond just the scope of of financial services.

Anthony Codispoti (45:10)

Have you looked I I'm just kind of curious where you are in sort of the thought process of this because it sounds really fascinating. interesting way to kind of grow those services that you guys offer. Is there like you know, cause you know, currently there's licensure that, you know, folks go through to be able to work with Rise North Capital. Is there additional training or licensure that they might go through as you guys kind of grow in in this direction?

Matt Logan (45:34)

Well, w the last couple of years we've been heavily focused on investing in self development programs, learn from some the top experts, advisors, consultants out there, in that coaching space of of human improvement. So we invest heavily into programs. So we're always doing something, you know, whether it's you know bringing in you know, trainers, whether it's you know going to

their locations in different parts of the country, to learn, you know, from from their example. So that's been happening now. And again, you know, for us, the the scaling part is what's coming next. And that again comes down to you know who we're attracting. You know, for us to attract the right people, we need to continuously become these people. And as we we grow our name in the marketplace

it will be easier and easier to to get people into the ecosystem where they're like, hey, yes, money's important. You know, having these products and services, I I need these. But so isn't being a better father. So isn't being a better husband. So isn't being a better, you know, leader in in my company. so we we think it's all again, if we're saying that blended life versus balanced life is the way.

We want to make sure our clients, you know, feel that and and know that's part of our value system.

Anthony Codispoti (47:02)

No, fascinating. longtime listeners of the show will recognize this next question tends to be one of my favorites. And I wonder if maybe we already scratched the surface on this at the beginning of the interview, but you'll certainly let me know. Matt, what's the hardest thing you've ever had to overcome personally? And what did going through that teach you?

Matt Logan (47:27)

Yeah, I mean the first thing that comes to mind, I mean, there's been lots of struggles along the way for sure. it's it's maybe who I am and it makes, you know, the next one a little easier, right? I and I I tell people all the time, it's not like these things aren't gonna come. It's how quickly you're able to get over them. And and that takes this muscle building, right? Of of going through difficult times. And I think without tension, there's no growth. So

Sometimes these things are we have to look at it as a blessing. But but for me, you know, without having these skills developed, without having these life experiences, you know, I go back to what I mentioned earlier. You know, I came out of college, you know, I was upside down, over a hundred thousand dollars owed owed to federal government from all these government loans. interest rates were were through the roof at that time. It was 2007.

there was a lot of contraction happening in the economy. There wasn't a lot of hiring going on, certainly for, you know, entry level even, you know, for a a college kid that didn't have any internships and, you know, barely graduated. So, you know, I was just at a low point. You know, I had what I thought were all the boxes checked, right? In terms of okay, you go to college and then it all works out. And then realized like I didn't really have a plan. I didn't have a job. I was working odds and ends jobs by

you figuring out where I was gonna show up the next day by you know scrolling Craigslist and and for those that are listening that don't know what Craigslist were, it's like we're I don't know, it was like everything that was like a city, right? Like of of wherever you wanted to find. Yeah. Yeah, I I I I'm

Anthony Codispoti (49:06)

I was gonna say online classifies, but if they don't know what Craigslist was, they don't know what the classifies were either.

Matt Logan (49:11)

I'm probably doing a terrible job explaining what what Craigslist were was, but you could have it anything you wanted, right? Like there it was kind of like an online newspaper.

And so I would look for for jobs and you know, people would advertise, hey, they need someone to, you know, clean up, you know, you know, a couple like, you know, backyards or like I was doing landscaping or it was yeah, it

Anthony Codispoti (49:31)

You could find some odd jobs on there, yeah.

Matt Logan (49:33)

was od jobs and so I was doing that and at the same time I you know, I remember one job I I was doing the hardest thing I've ever done actually was tree work. And I've been

I'm in Massachusetts, so we have these these big oak trees. And if you wanted to to pick up the heaviest thing you could possibly pick up, it's like an oak tree stump. And so I had to do that and I think I was making like you know ten, twelve bucks an hour cash. And you know, here was this college degree and if friends had gone off and and had, you know, at least a job or or they had gotten to a union and then like here I was, you know, doing this grunt work. And

at one like after doing this for you know like a week, I I had saved up a couple hundred bucks from the job and I end up covered, covered. Not poison ivy, like po poison ivy times ten is poison oak. It was just like all over me, you know, itchy as hell. and I I go to to the ER God so bad. I I tried everything. I go to ER and of course I don't have health insurance. So I come out of ER you know, fixed up

But with a bill, that was more than what I got paid for the week. So at that same time, I had about fifteen hundred bucks in the bank. mentioned earlier, I was a professional musician for a long time. So I I had a Craigslist ad where I was like, you know, I can teach your kid drums. So I had someone from England send over their kid to the United States. They they wired me, you know, three thousand bucks. And they're like, you know, you keep.

Right, fifteen hundred, you send fifteen hundred back. Long story short, it was an internet scam. So there was no three thousand the check bounced two weeks later. I was upside down fi I owed the bank fifteen hundred bucks. So here I was I got the ER bill from our over over and above the work the week work the work we of week that I did. I have my last fifteen hundred bucks lost in this internet scam. I wasn't

sharp enough and and it was like a new one back then, right? It wasn't as as you know relevant as like getting scammed every single day today. And you know, here I was like and unfortunately, like the saving grace of this whole thing, Anthony, was like I had gotten that call that was like, hey Matt, like if you get all these licenses, like we'll be here waiting for you. But you gotta go through hell and like we'll see in six months. So I was studying at at that point for for one of my licenses. And you know

Again, lowest of my low, but I had some type of hope, which was like, hey, if I can get through this and then get to the next one, then the door's gonna open. And at least I have a a career path in front of me. So that was definitely something that sticks out. And you know, I was fortunate to just again have at least the book in my hand and and that gave me control where it's like, Hey, if I can just

get through this test, then I can get to the next one and then I can get in the door.

Anthony Codispoti (52:45)

It's interesting. Those hardships that you went through, sort of one right after another, almost sound like they were like another log, like more fuel for the fire, right? To to help keep you on track for this new opportunity that had presented itself. It wasn't fun studying for that stuff, right? I mean, you're heads down getting nerdy in the weeds on it. But it sounds like I really, really want to get away from all this hardship that's been going on.

over here and I see the way to do that. And so one was kind of pushing you towards the other.

Matt Logan (53:21)

Yeah, you know, it was it was pick your hard. And I had experienced you know the hardship that I was going through and I'm like, you know, studying's hard and and I didn't do a lot you know, didn't study as much as I had to study during all the years of school than I had to during those six months to to get through all these exams and I you know, I took some lumps along the way. It wasn't like I passed it all the first time, but I just I kept going because you know, that hard

was better than the hard that it was in and do it well.

Anthony Codispoti (53:55)

As you think about the work that you're doing now, Matt, what do you most want to be remembered for?

Matt Logan (54:01)

Yeah, for me it's making sure that anyone I touch in any way is better, because I was around them. whether I heard the message, whether it was a colleague, a friend, certainly my my family. you know, for for me it's like can my my kids, you know, become better than I was in in every every arena of life and I already see that they're they're doing that. So

I heard recently like the de definition of success is if your kids are successful. So I I really am leaning into that. And yeah, for for me it's like, you know, when people think of me, they I I want them to think that because of me, they're in a better position and and they're achieving what they want in in some some area or capitalizing some opportunity because of a conversation or because of our relationship.

Anthony Codispoti (54:58)

Matt, I just have one more question for you today, but before I ask it, I want to do three quick things for the audience. First of all, anybody who wants to get in touch with Matt Logan and what they're doing at Rise North Capital, go to their website, Risenorth Capital.com, and I'm gonna point you to a specific page here because they're growing fast and they're really looking to build this great team that they have. Lots of opportunity here. So go to RisenorthCapital.com slash.

join our team. That's Rise North Capital slash join our team. We'll put the link in the show notes, but one more time, you're looking for an opportunity, you liked what Matt had to say today, Risenorth Capital.com slash join our team. And if you're enjoying our show today, please take a moment to subscribe wherever you're listening. It also sends a signal that helps others discover our podcast. So thank you for taking a quick moment to do that right now.

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So last question for you, Matt, a year from now, what is one very specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?

Matt Logan (56:33)

I would say more than anything it's it's the health of my family, right? My health. I I think with without that you can't do anything. So I I look to turn back the clock every single day I can and you know, teach myself all all the things that I don't know and continue to grow and be able to to teach others you know the same. So I I would say if I have my health, my family has my health, then we're gonna be unsolved.

Anthony Codispoti (57:04)

Love that. Matt Logan from Rise North Capital. I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. Really appreciate you being here.

Matt Logan (57:13)

Thanks, Anthony. Thanks everyone.

Anthony Codispoti (57:16)

Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us. And if one thing stood out, put that into action today.

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