Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Darryl and Alicia Pryor With DNA Financial Associates Discussing How a Financial Coach Helps Transform Your Financial Wealth

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

This is Darryl. As a financial well-being strategist, His goal is to remove the complexity of financial planning by provide coaching and mentorship, accountability, and a “let’s get it done” mindset which he gained through years of self-less service as military, government civilian and private industry servant helping the “good guys” find the “bad guys”His true passion however has always been in helping others pursue financial, personal, and professional success. This passion is fueled by the recognition that any success he has achieved in life has been through the support and mentorship of family, friends, and close associates. Although he is “just a common, hardworking ordinary guy” who like most has experienced life’s “ups” and “downs,” He attributes the successes he has had to the advice and guidance of those who have poured into me financially, personally, and professionally. It is this level of commitment He will pour into you.He has been in the financial services business for 13+ years, working primarily with families and business owners. He uses a unique approach that helps people find money they’re currently transferring away unknowingly and unnecessarily.Below are a few of the areas he enjoys coaching and advising individuals and small businesses with by offering creative and customizable 360-degree solutions tailored to fit their needs:Retirement planningWealth ManagementCollege planningAccounting/BookkeepingTax planning and consultationIncome tax resolution with IRS and StatePersonal/Business insurance consultation and product selectionLearn more: https://www.dnafinancialassociates.com/Podcast DisclaimerThis podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal, or tax advice. The views and opinions shared by the host and any guests are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect those of any organization. All investments carry risks, and past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Before making any financial decisions or implementing any strategy discussed, please consult a qualified professional who can address your specific situation. The content in this podcast is not a solicitation nor an offer to buy or sell any financial products or services.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-darryl-and-alicia-pryor-with-dna-financial-associates-discussing-how-a-financial-coach-helps-transform-your-financial-wealth

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with us, Daryl and Alicia Pryor with DNA Financial Associates, and we're going to be talking about how a financial coach helps try. transform your financial wealth. Daryl and Alicia, welcome to the program.

Hey, Mike. Thanks. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. I'm glad to be here, Mike. Hey, I'm looking forward to learning from me. I always love hearing different perspectives of how, you know, people like yourself have learned from your years of experience and then how you're guiding your clients in helping transform their lives. And I love how the topic that you chose here transforming financial wealth. It's not just, you know, getting financial wealth. It's a transformation and that means it might take a minute or two. And this is not something that you can just Google, check the box and go done. This is where you need that guidance. And I like that you guys call yourself financial coaches. So before we dive into that, give us a little bit of

your background and story. And how did you get into the financial services industry to begin with? Alicia, you want to start? Well, I'll go ahead and start with my story. Well, actually, I'm going to say that Daryl is our visionary. I went ahead and I followed his lead and we're both coaches. We started off with the John Maxwell team and we know we believe that once we can learn something, we can show something, we can teach something, we can do something, then we can show others just how to do that same very thing. And once you learn how the secrets of how money works and you try it in your own life, you're eager and able to show others the same thing. So once we were able to learn some of the various techniques, we're eager to go out and coach others and some of this some basic financial principles.

Yeah. You know, I'm just going to interject something right there, Alicia, because what you said is so true. And many times, I'm sure you've seen this in your career, when you have learned a thing or two and then you start teaching a coaching and instructing other people, it reinforces that in your life. And in fact, you might even pick up a nuance where it goes deeper. So it's kind of like a synergy there as you're working with your clients.

Absolutely. And it's exciting. You know, as you dig deeper, it's like that well. You know, you dig deeper in the well. You get richer in the information that you gather and the experience that you create. So it is a very enriching experience. Absolutely. Yep.

Very good. Absolutely. Yeah. So, you know, we both are retired military. So we spent our careers in the military and, you know, we did some time as government civilians. And then I kind of woke up one more and said, hey, it's time for me to do something different, especially, you know, from my story is that, I was in Afghanistan at the time, Rockets and Mortar going off on Christmas Eve. And I say, it's time for me to do something different.

I had always been involved in the financial service. When I was in the military, I always had great mentors that would pull me aside and say, listen, junior rookie, hey, this is what you need to do. So they really started seeding some of the principles of good financial stewardship and management in me early. I continued to grow, and then I eventually got my license while I was in the military and continue to just, could be a student of financial planning and financial management. And then like I said, that one morning decided it was time for us to do something different. So, you know, we resigned from our job and went into financial services.

And that's been almost 15 years now. So we've been doing it every day since. Our practice includes full 360 financial planning services, which really looks at the tax side, the insurance side. And then more importantly, we also. make sure that we look at the much larger financial picture relative to your savings, your investments, and all those other things that impact our clients moving forward. You know, it's really important to take a full look at, you know, like you said, a 360 degree of view because if you have one of those, you know, three-legged stool,

so to speak, out of whack, then it causes everything else not to be right. If you, you don't have a good budget, then you can't save and you can't invest. If you don't have your taxes in line, then you might be paying too much and you can invest. So let's talk about that wealth plan that you work with your clients on. Why is it so important for people to look at taking their finances to the next level? Well, Mike, you know, anytime you have a vision or a goal that you want to achieve, the best way to get there is to have some type of plan. So, you know, a customized wealth plan is essentially your role back to your success.

You know, what we like to do is we like to meet with our clients and not like to. It's imperative that we meet with our clients to really sit down and have a conversation with him. You know, like to gather their detailed information about their income expenses, short-term needs, long-term needs. We like to refer to them as their goals, passions, and struggles or GPS. And what that then does is we can go back now and really work to put together some good strategies. We like to refer to it as a tailored plan, which is based on, their goals, our strategy is what we like to say because we realize that each person's financial story is unique and they have a unique DNA when it comes to their financial picture.

Alicia, you want to add to that? Oh, absolutely, because just as unique as your DNA, so too should your financial plan and strategy be. And the cool thing about what we do is it doesn't matter where you are in life. You know, whether you're young, old, retired, just coming into the workforce, whether you have thousands of dollars or you're just getting started with your income, you just need to get started. And so we take you right at your entry point. We meet you right where you are and help you cultivate and develop that plan so that now

you can crawl, walk, run through life to ensure that you're meeting your financial goals. Yeah, I'll stand. And as you know, Mike, the real power of a customized plan is that, you know, we have the ability to make sure it evolves with a client or with, you know, each one of our individual clients. As their income, career, and family situations changes, we should be meeting with them on a regular basis to make sure that they're on track to achieve their financial dreams. You know, you bring up such an important point there, guys. This is not something you can just go Google and go how I can transform my financial wealth. You know what I'm saying? And so that financial coach is so important.

And it's making sure that things are set the right way for you, that customized plan. And also I would venture to say, and this is a question for you, how often do you meet with your clients? Because if you put a nice customized plan in place, you all high five. And it's like, okay, let's put this into place. it might need to be updated, tweaked slightly once a year or every six months. What is the process that way to help making sure that they get those consistent results over time? Right. That's a good question. Now, we, at a minimum, we like to meet with them twice a year to go over their plan. But we also remind them that, you know, life happens, right? So you have things that happen in life that may cause you to,

we need to meet you sooner or more often because those life plans will maybe require adjustments to the plan. So it's important that we know when there's major changes that they come back to the table and we discuss those major changes in life so that we can now look at how the plan may need to be adjusted or tweaked based on those major changes. So at a minimum, twice a year. But whenever there's major activities going on in life, we want to be able to come to the table and make those tweaks and adjustments that's necessary.

Yeah, 100%. And it might not mean that, oh, we did something wrong when we met before. It might just mean that, oh, the markets change. Your circumstances change. So it's just always good to be double checking and making sure that they, that everything that you put into place is set the right way. Absolutely. You can have a birth, birth of a new one, a new family member, you know, get married, you know, get divorced. You have a new job, making more money. you know, lose a job. I mean, any of these things could be major life-impacting activities or events that you want to come back to the table and this kind of reassess where you are so we can make sure that

you know now how to move forward. Yeah. The foundation of our relationship with our clients really is our tax practice, you know, because we believe the further stuff that you can get to saving money in this country is really reducing your tax liability. And so, you know, we like to meet with them during the tax season. And that tax return really becomes the foundation of their financial plan, because from there, we begin to look at their overall finances.

If you look at the tax situation or tax return, you can really see their level of wealth and how they're doing with their money. And then once we come up with the plan after the tax season, we like to meet with them about midway through the season, and just to have a discussion about whether or not they're doing the things that we recommend that they do. And then at the end of the year, we'd like to meet with them one more time to say, hey, we've given you some marching orders and some homework. You've been implementing. Let's take a review now and see how well you've done for the year.

And then also take advantage of any of things that we can do to help them reduce their tax liability for the end of that year. but more importantly, to help them look forward and set a plan for the upcoming year, too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it sounds to me like you guys are really keying in on the word coach, not dictator as an example. You know, you're not saying, do this, do this, do this. You're going, hey, here's what is going to work for you. How do you feel about that? And let's move ahead and let's see if this is working and let's make sure that it's being done.

So that includes financial literacy. In other words, you're not just saying to people do this and they walk out. scratching their head. So talk a little bit about making how you guys make sure that your clients are understanding financial concepts. Alish, did you want to take that one? Well, we take the time to ensure that they do understand financial concepts because we don't want to assume that they understand and know some of the things that we are proposing. So financial literacy is first and foremost. So as we determine which might be the best way for a client to go, the next step is, to educate and inform them on the options that they have.

So we spend a lot of time in educating and informing them on the various options and speaking in terms that they understand, right? Meeting them in a level where they are. You know, oftentimes in financial literacy and sometimes you, I know I've experienced it over the years in my younger years, you're sitting there and you're listening and this stuff is kind of going over your head and it could be daunting. It could be confusing and it could be even scary. And so the main thing is to explain it and communicate.

in a manner where it's digestible, it's understandable, and that the client understands it enough so that they can make a decision and not only make a decision that they can regurgitate that thing that you just explain to them. So we spend time to make sure that they can understand it. And then that way now they can make an informed decision about what they want to do. Because again, we're just coaching. But it's their decision as to what strategy they want to implement. Absolutely. That informed decision is so critical that they have to become a part of the process, own it, and be able to master it themselves. Most people just want you to put together something once or twice a year or whatever it is and tell them what to do. But our goal really is

to make them to draw them into the process because I think it's one of your terms. We like to begin our relationship with the client by opening up that relationship and not just having a single transaction once or twice a year. We would like to be a part of their thought process throughout the year as they make major money decisions. Hey, let's give Darrell and Lisa call to see how this is going to impact our overall financial plan. You know, so we'd like to have conversations with them throughout the year, not just the once or twice that we're scheduled to meet with them. And it gets down to a concept I know you guys are familiar with like the Simon Sidney begin with why. Like you're not saying do this and they're like, I will.

do it. You're saying, okay, because of what we've talked about and learned about it where you want to transform your financial wealth, you know, you really want to achieve these things so that, and then you're tying into their why so that they do what you just said, guys, so that they take ownership. People don't want to feel pushed to do something. They want to feel pulled toward their why and their ultimate outcome. So I think it's really such a powerful mindset that you're explaining that you're instilling with your clients that, look, we're all on the same side of the table. We're all on the same team. I'm your coach. I'm helping you understand the things due to get to that ultimate destination. So talk a little bit about that, you know, mindset shift

of you being the coach working with them to do things that are for their own good. Lisa. Right. I think that people appreciate, I think people appreciate that approach because, you know, people don't like to be told what to do, you know. They just want to be given options of how to do what they need to do. And it's like a coach, you know, in a sports. You know, we got the Super Bowl coming up. We got different activities going on. You kind of huddle up together and the coach has the layout, the plays ready to go.

And then now the team's ready to go in and they break. And the ultimate goal is to win. So we want to lay out strategies so that ultimately it's the customers, they lay the plays and they go out to win. And so when they win, we win also. And so we just want to be able to have that mindset, share that mindset with them so they know that they are the owners of the process. Absolutely. Absolutely, because it's their financial plan. And so by taking ownership, it becomes a personal to them.

And as you mentioned, they have to tie it to their wives. And there's going to be some emotions and other beliefs associated with it, but they have to be able to internalize it for their lifestyle, the quality of life that they want and how they do their business. And so we've seen a lot of people come in, very resistant, initially. And over the years, you know, they finally start getting it. And next thing you know, they're actually coming to us. And to me, I think that's the most rewarding part is when they come back and they're bringing to you things that they are looking at implementing or have

already implemented. And they're glowing because they've implemented and they've made the right decision. And you guys are look at them like proud parents. Exactly. That's what I was going to think. You know, one of our clients, you know, it's very timid. You know, it's almost like you had to kind of talk her off the edge. I used to say, you know, is this really timid and it's so worried and concerned and, you know, just didn't know what to do. And now, you know, two years later, she's walking with a whole new confidence, a whole new tone, her whole situation has just turned around.

And she's coming in with confidence, okay, now I'm ready to do this piece. because she started off she had to crawl, walk, and now she's at the running phase. And I mean, what a turnaround. I think that there's a principle there that you just described, which I want to zero in on because I feel like when you sit down with someone and you say, oh, you want to transform your financial wealth. Let's do this customized wealth plan, holistic 360 degree view of everything. And you lay this thing out and they look at it going, oh, my word, that's a lot. I can't do all that, but it's baby steps.

And I, when I'm hearing you guys talk about this, the thought came to my mind of the compound effect, which is a concept, but it's also a book by Darren Hardy, which is wonderful. But basically, if you can make a one percent change in this one area and then a one percent change in that area, now all of a sudden, it's like, oh, that's easy. I can do that. But the compound effect of all of that consistently over time, wow, you look back a year or two and it's like, what a huge transformation that was. It's funny that you mention that because that's often the case with a lot of clients to come in and yeah they have this overwhelming thing that they're trying to resolve from a financial perspective and so we look at it. We have a conversation and we may just kind of spoon feed, just tackle one aspect. And sometimes it's really hard because you have to keep asking a lot of questions to pull all the information, get all the information that you need. But then you start putting together and you just kind of over time just gradually helped them walk toward.

then you really expose the bigger picture, the bigger solution. So you're absolutely correct. You can't do it all at once. Sometimes you just have to do it bit by bit. Right. How do you eat the elephant? One by the majority of a thousand miles starts with the first step. I love it.

Well, guys, that you guys exemplify being wonderful financial coaches. And when you work with your clients to help them transform their financial wealth, I can just tell it's a fun experience. So if someone is listening to this thinking maybe I need to have a second look or second opinion, what's the best way that they can reach out and learn more from you guys and reach out and connect? Well, they can go to our website at www. www.d.DNAfinancial and Associates.com. Excellent. And I will make sure to have that link in the show notes too. So they can go and visit your website and see all the things that you're doing.

So dNA Financial Associates.com. Thank you guys so much for coming on. Yes. Then it can also reach us at 301, 381, 1040. Excellent. Just like a tax document, 1040. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Thank you for having us. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.com.

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