Leading by Example with Joe Eschleman

Unknown Speaker 0:00
Come on

george grombacher 0:11
one left, this is George G. And the time is right welcome. Today’s guest is strong and powerful Joe Eshelman. Joe Are you ready to do this? George let’s do it. Nice to see you. How are you? I am doing great man a plus Joe a plus we were just talking about how there’s no such thing as a plus stop. Maybe Maybe maybe in theory there is but I don’t know reality strikes may not quite be that pretty of a gray. I I am. I’m doing awesome. Joe is a CI M A certified Investment Management Analyst. He is the president of tower point wealth. Joe, I’m excited to have you on. Tell us a little about your personal life more about your work and why you do what you do. Yeah, well, it’s a pleasure to be here, George, I appreciate the opportunity to be a guest and contribute hopefully, to the content of life one. So I am a native Pennsylvania born and raised. I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan, a Phillies fan, a Sixers fan and a Penn State fan. So I like sports.

Joe Eschleman 1:14
But I’ve been in California now Sacramento in particular, which is where tower point wealth is based, since 1999. So I talked to my wife and said, it’s interesting that we’ve now lived in California longer than we’ve lived in Pennsylvania because she’s Pennsylvania as well.

Unknown Speaker 1:33
We both came out here separately. But she came out to study and I came out because I was working in New Jersey and didn’t like my job and she was out here. So I was 22 and didn’t have much to lose. So I told my job. I told my boss to get lost, packed up my 1991 Ford Explorer to the gills and drove from Redding, Pennsylvania to St. Louis, Missouri slept in a rest stop in St. Louis, Missouri that first night. And then from St. Louis. I woke up about four hours later and drove to Laramie, Wyoming, and splurged on a $20 hotel room. And from Laramie drove to Sacramento on that third day, and I’ve been in California ever since. So, it’s been an interesting and enjoyable ride. For the most part. It’s a little get used to to understand how things work in California, which is definitely different than Pennsylvania. But all in all, I’ve built a wonderful family and wonderful life and certainly wonderful practice and now a wonderful wealth management firm here at teller point well and happy to be a guest today. Nice. And your daughter’s a softball player. Daughter is a softball player, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. I was a baseball player in high school actually played ball four years at Lehigh University as well as a pitcher there, and she’s a freshman in high school. So that comes with its own set of unique responsibilities and challenges. And my son who’s 12 His name is Henry. He’s a baseball player as well. But it was fun yesterday, I know you and I were talking a little bit offline where Josephine actually had her first high school softball game, she was fortunate enough to make the varsity and drove about 45 minutes, which hopefully not all the games are that far away. But definitely five minutes is your first game yesterday. So I pretty exciting mini moment as a parent. Yeah. And were you just casually sitting watching everything go down. Joe, are you more of an active participant? Yeah, well, I It’s one of the things about being from the East Coast and now living in the West is having the East Coast edge, which I don’t think will ever go away. But as I continue to get older George and continue to slowly mellow portions of that edge get a little bit rounded out. But I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a casual observer at the games, although my commentary and opinions that have gotten a little bit quieter as I’ve participated in kids sports but funny story about yesterday as I was watching her play ball, we were in a bit more of a country town outside of Sacramento. It’s called Shingle Springs, and they were playing at a place called Ponderosa High School. And it was beautiful softball field beautiful facility. But right next to the softball field is an old kind of dilapidated country house with a concurrent dilapidated to some degree country back yard. Think rusty swing set, you know, piles of debris, and they had a junkyard dog back there as well, obviously. Yeah, I know you and I were laughing a little bit about this. So throughout the softball game, there were some foul balls that went directly back bounced off

Unknown Speaker 5:00
of the concrete that was behind the softball field and into the backyard of this this country home and the junkyard dogs residents and there’s about three foul balls that went back there and there’s probably 20 fans in the crowd. Obviously all parents everyone’s looking at each other saying we’re not gonna get those, you know, usually go out and get foul ball and throw it back in. But because of where they were located, the the fencing around there was barbed wire. It was about waist high. And again, a big dog house and a big dog, but I was eyeballing it, and I thought to myself,

Unknown Speaker 5:37
the hell with it. I’m gonna go get those softballs and, you know, get him back in. So kind of look around. Jump over the barbed wire fence, do a mad dash to pick one up no sign of the dog. mad dash to pick the second one up. And sure is, you know what?

Unknown Speaker 5:56
Lassie

Unknown Speaker 5:58
comes running out the door barking because I’m encroaching on your territory. So I picked the second ball up, not the third jumped over the barbed wire fence and return the ball to the softball field. My daughter Josephine did comment. Why did you have to make a scene at my first high school softball game? I said, well, at least it wasn’t a scene where I was telling the umpires they were doing a bad job or telling her she was doing or getting mauled by Lassie because it could have gotten a lot worse. Daughter, I could have got a lot worse. But you know, I got the blood flow and during a slow part of the game. And so yeah, let’s let’s have a little bit of fun. It reminds me the time of one of the softballs got stuck in the fencing about 25 feet up, and I climbed all the way to the top of the fence. Got the ball brought up. Yeah. Have you ever heard the phrase how you do one thing is how you do everything. Joe?

Unknown Speaker 6:48
I you know, it certainly resonates to some degree where I definitely wouldn’t say I’m a type B personality.

Unknown Speaker 6:57
I think that that’s awesome. You know, you see, and I’m sorry for the tangent, but it was entertaining. No, that’s awesome. And I really I mean it. I think it’s, I think it ties in nicely to the fact that you are a driven, hard working person. And I think you probably you shared that you got that from your dad, but you are an early morning person.

Unknown Speaker 7:20
Yes, a member, I don’t know proud is the right adjective to use but a member of the 4am Club.

Unknown Speaker 7:27
When I launched teller point wealth, it was a bit of a goat rodeo. As we separated from our former employer and decided to hang our shingle and go fully independent. Looking back on that I do not regret it at all and wish it would happen sooner. And we’re ecstatic and happy where we are. And certainly working hard to be the premier wealth management firm here in Sacramento. But with that being the case and being an entrepreneur, getting up early, it seems to be the only time I have for peace and quiet. from about 4am to seven 645 When the kids alarms go off, and then all hell breaks loose again. But yeah, definitely proud member that 4am Club no doubt. Yeah, yeah, I two. I’ve never referred to it as a club because it gets pretty crappy club that I’m also a member of, but it just kind of is what it is. And it sounds like we have pretty similar schedules.

Unknown Speaker 8:21
Because my kids also get up at 645 ish. So it does give you a give you a little bit of time. Yeah, well and again to I can’t go to go to the softball games, go to baseball practice. And as much as I love what I do, you know, being dad and husband, you know, obviously comes first and you know, if we’re going to get out of work at three or four o’clock then works got to get done. And that seems the best time to do it. Yeah. Funny side story. Yeah. I for Christmas, I don’t know how much you’re into wearables or not. But I got this whoop, which are pretty popular, Steph Curry wears one that I’m professing to be anywhere near him. And one of the things that the whoop measures is the quantity of sleep and the quality of sleep and then measures all these different aspects of your body and then brings recommendations to you. And I’m excited about wearing that excited about all the analytics and metrics. One small frustration point is when I was wearing my whoop for the first time for about a week, and it recommended that my ideal bedtime was 6:19pm. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Currently looks not quite familiar what the schedule looks like, but you can find a way for me to get my ideal amount of sleep based on 619 bedtime, George, I’m all ears. Yeah, yeah, I’ll circle back on you with that.

Unknown Speaker 9:47
So I do not happily jump out of bed when my alarm goes off, and it goes off at 345 and I’m boy and it hurts and it hurts every time. And I say to myself

Unknown Speaker 10:00
everything I want in life is on the other side of this alarm. And I stand up and I leave my room. Tell me about how you feel when your alarm goes off and what that looks like. Yeah, yeah, it’s funny. I don’t recall who told me but, you know, if you want to get ahead in life, and to, you know, we all define success differently, needless to say.

Unknown Speaker 10:26
But if we want to accomplish things that other people aren’t able or willing to accomplish, we have to do things that other people aren’t willing or able to do so. And certainly that’s inclusive of an early morning alarm. And my in love with that. No, do I enjoy Sunday, where we’re sleeping in until six or 630? Absolutely. When I was 25, what I say sleep until 630 is sleeping in I’d probably laugh at that, perhaps only getting in at 630 Some evenings.

Unknown Speaker 11:01
But yeah, it’s just depressing. But yeah, it’s different seasons of life too. Right?

Unknown Speaker 11:07
So sure, George

Unknown Speaker 11:11
different seasons of life. So moving out, you know, packing everything into the Ford Explorer, heading out to a new part of the world, a new city, a new state, where you don’t know anybody at all, except for your, your your girlfriend, to be soon to be wife and getting into or keeping keeping going with financial services. I can’t quite remember that point.

Unknown Speaker 11:36
How did how did you start? How did you actually make it all happen?

Unknown Speaker 11:42
monster.com.

Unknown Speaker 11:45
So I came out and was equipped with about $600 in my bank account, and a college degree. And like you said, I you know, I didn’t know anyone other than Megan, I didn’t have a lot to lose by making the decision to drive 3000 miles and move westward. But uh, you know, again, I figured what the heck, let’s, let’s take the opportunity and make it happen. And so once I moved out and moved in with her,

Unknown Speaker 12:11
I sold dog food for a while for what was called Dr. Ballard’s. It was a weird new line of dog food. And obviously, that’s a difficult market to penetrate. But that was a stopgap until I could obviously put my degree to some use, and saw an advertisement on monster.com for what was called a financial advisor in training program, through what was then Prudential securities. And I’m still friends with them to this day went in and interviewed with a gentleman by the name of Ron toll, who was the manager at the time for Prudential securities as a

Unknown Speaker 12:46
semi ignorant but bright eyed and bushy tailed not going to take no for an answer. 23 year old and fortunately, I was hired by Ron after telling him that I wasn’t going to fail, because I was gonna outwork him. He got to the office at six, and he left at seven in the evening. And he told me that as long as you’re here before me, and you are here, when I leave, I won’t fire you, Joe.

Unknown Speaker 13:10
Deal. That was doable. Yeah. So now I didn’t know so in Sacramento, but I was fortunate enough to be hired as a financial advisor and training, went through credentials training program.

Unknown Speaker 13:22
And proceeded to make at that time, it was early 2000s. Cold calling was still in vogue. And I made 202 150 300 calls cold calls a day, to build my practice, build pipeline build clientele.

Unknown Speaker 13:40
Nice for punishment. Yeah, well, amen. And now fast forward, Gosh, 20 to 23 years, 24 years or so, plus or minus. And you are the president of one of the preeminent wealth management firms in Sacramento, and you’re a fully independent

Unknown Speaker 14:01
firm, doing Integrated Financial Planning and Investment Management. And you’re waking up at four o’clock in the morning and still working super hard. And I imagine you don’t have to necessarily or maybe you do is that just is it? Is it in your DNA? This is a story of commitment, Joe? Well, I mean, Short answer, yes. There are plenty of days where you always want we don’t got right, that being a traditional eight to four, eight to five type job or, you know, whatever the case might be and those type of jobs and positions are important, wonderful and fit the right type person and fit the right type of personality. But

Unknown Speaker 14:45
you know, we have a vision here at Tower point, George of being the premier wealth management firm in the greater capital region.

Unknown Speaker 14:58
So

Unknown Speaker 15:00
We’re not there yet. But we’ve certainly made a lot of important strides in the almost five years that we’ve now officially been launched as a firm,

Unknown Speaker 15:10
we feel we’ve got a tremendous amount of competitive advantage over some of our financial advisor peers here in the area for reasons we can touch upon if we’d like. And

Unknown Speaker 15:24
that in and of itself leads to, you know, enough motivation and fire to want to continue to compete on a daily basis. And I love to compete and love the battle and love to get after it every day, George. So that’s, that’s what makes it fun. And, you know, trying to help the kids understand that, you know, some days you do, all right, and some days you get your butt kicked. But that’s all part of the fun, if you will, yeah, some days you get the ball, and some days Lassie gets gets gets you for lack of a better example. Yeah, well, and the word grit, you know, is one that I take some pride in, and certainly is a value I want to instill in both Henry and Josephine. And, you know, I think if you do want to be a successful entrepreneur, and you don’t have grit, then good luck to you. Yeah, no, I 1,000% agree. It’s, you know, it’s, it’s, there’s huge, there’s immense responsibility that you have taken on as at founding this firm, and now you’re an employer, and you’re obviously responsible for all of your clients, and you’ve got a family and you’re leading yourself, you’re minding your, your own health on a daily basis. And in in all these things.

Unknown Speaker 16:39
How do you think about that? Is it Do you think a lot about leading by example, is that how often is that on your mind?

Unknown Speaker 16:48
Yeah, I mean, it’s gotten to the point now, and it’s interesting, because I mean, you know, I guess that’s, that’s what’s made me a full fledged adult, that kind of took takes a little bit of time to work your way into obviously, entering into the world of parenthood accelerates the process of being full fledged adult. And, you know, i semi jokingly say I really only want to be an adult when I have to,

Unknown Speaker 17:13
which obviously occupies most of my time, although there are times when you can let your veritable hair down. And those are enjoyable as well. But, you know, I think the beautiful thing about where we are as a firm at Tower point in I don’t know if I want to say I hate to be cliched, but the fact that Laurie and Nathan were part of the family came with me, when we broke from our former employer to launch PowerPoint, and now also have Steve and Jonathan and Michelle, as we continue to build out this boutique firm.

Unknown Speaker 17:56
You know, is, is a close second, obviously, to the family that I go home home, too, every evening. But it’s not. And I was just talking with a client about this literally 45 minutes ago, that, you know, you come to work and you spend more of your time, obviously, with your colleagues than you do with your family, on what days and, you know, to be able to sit and really feel like I would take a bullet for any one of these people here. And I care extremely about all of them. And they’re fun people to hang out with and we’re building an awesome culture and, you know, it’s just good. It’s a great environment where we’re all gonna, you know, go to battle with each other every day, then you better like you. It’s it’s with and you know, with that with, with PowerPoint, we all have our issues as well. But for the most part, we’re pretty darn happy family. That’s great. I like it.

Unknown Speaker 18:48
I like it. Well, Joe, people are ready for that difference making tip, what do you have for them?

Unknown Speaker 18:53
Well, we’re, and the best word that all uses is unsettled.

Unknown Speaker 19:02
We’re an unsettled times people are feeling unsettled. Clients are feeling unsettled, investors are feeling unsettled. Pretty much across the globe, things are unsettled. And

Unknown Speaker 19:16
what we try to focus on here at the firm, myself personally, is trying to focus energy on controllables. And it’s not rocket science, George, but we certainly have to have an awareness and a sensitivity to and be attuned to what’s happening in the world around us. Be it politics, be it economy, be it markets, be sports, whatever. But a lot of that’s out of our control. And so what we try to do within working with our clients, helping them to build and protect their wealth and net worth, as well as what I’m trying to do at home with both Henry and Josephine is help focus on control.

Unknown Speaker 20:00
audibles and focus on process. And day to day week to week will be a question mark. What happens or doesn’t happen or takes place that is out of our control. But if you continue to focus energy on controllables on process, I’m a firm believer that over time, good things will continue to happen. So don’t worry about what you don’t have control over and sink your energy into what you do.

Unknown Speaker 20:27
Well, I think that that is great stuff that definitely gets come up. Joe, thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? How can they engage with you and tower point wealth? We have focused a lot of energy and time on building out a robust website which is a good digital storefront WWW dot tower point wealth, t o w e RP o i NT tower point wealth.com. Excellent. If you enjoyed this as much as I did, show your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas go to tower point wealth calm to to W E RPO IMT wealth.com. And check out other great resources that Joe and the rest of his team are working on. And if there’s an opportunity, then absolutely get in touch. Thanks. Good Joe. George. It’s a pleasure. Thanks for let me contribute to that. Thank you, brother. And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai