06/01/2022
Celebrating 6 Years!!!
It is really hard to believe that six years have passed since I founded Blue Dot Wealth Management. I’ve been spending some time reading my past anniversary letters as well as business plans that I’ve written this spring. It’s been good to pause and look at how far we’ve come (you and me) over the last six years. When I left Merrill Lynch after twelve and a half years there was an excitement to being a “start up” and building something that reflected my and your values. My goal has always been to build a firm that is focused on the families we serve, and helping them realize their goals and aspirations no matter how big or how small. I truly believe that, through serving you, we have an opportunity to “be the change we want to see” in the world (to paraphrase Ghandi). With each passing year, this mission continues to energize me and I’m humbled by your trust and confidence in us as I reflect on what we are accomplishing together. Being a part of your journey is an honor.
As many of you know, gratitude runs through just about every thing I write in these anniversary letters. It is the foundational value of the firm. I have had a lot to be grateful for over this year. As many of you may know, a colleague of mine, Mike Pote, has been thinking about his own retirement for some time. He has been serving his clients for 37 years. We’ve spent the last few years talking and getting to know each other and one of our early connections was based on our commitment to our clients and how seriously we take our relationships with them. We reached an agreement this year and we have brought Mike’s clients into our Blue Dot family on May 1st. I am looking forward to building on the relationships that Mike has built over his long career.
None of this is possible without help. I am incredibly lucky to have amazing people in my corner. I want to take some time to recognize them and tell you a little bit about them.
First, I owe so much to my wife, Regina. Every so often, we tell the story launching the firm when she was six months pregnant and while we laugh about it now, it was a tremendous leap of faith for her. I am still in awe of her confidence in me and I am grateful for all of her support and council. My life is immeasurably better with her in it. We are celebrating our 7th Wedding anniversary next month. We have certainly packed a lot in to the time we’ve been together and I don’t think I would have it any other way.
Many of you have met Emily Kwasky. She joined the firm in January of 2020 and immediately got to work making the firm better. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her when COVID-19 changed things for us all. She has an amazing “I can figure it out” attitude and genuinely cares about all of you. Emily is a rare person and I am excited that she is growing in to more and more responsibility.
Melodie Leon is the most recent addition to our team, joining in January of 2022. We’ve known each other for a number of years and one day I had mentioned that I needed more help, she suggested herself as the perfect candidate! She’s amazingly adaptable and I value her perspective. If you haven’t had an opportunity to chat with Melodie, we need to fix that. Both Emily and I have a hard time remembering what life was like ‘pre-Melodie’ at this point.
Someone that is behind the scenes, but who has been a big help to me the last few years, is my business coach, Al Marquez. Being in his orbit has lead me to many moments of revelation and wisdom. He has challenged me to focus on the things that I am good at and think more strategically. Maybe most importantly, he’s help me get out of my own way a few times and I have really grateful for that.
Moving into the next half of 2022, we have exciting things on the horizon for Blue Dot Wealth Management. I am actively involved in adding some Financial Advisors to the firm with the intent of bring on people that can complement the things that we do well. I am excited about the prospective candidates we are looking at and hope to have an announcement or two in the near future. These Advisors will be focused on building their careers at Blue Dot but they will also occasionally collaborate with me if a client has a specific need that they have expertise in. As our industry and world becomes more complex, our goal has been and will continue to be to build a team of professionals that can serve you and help navigate the challenges that arise.
I will close by saying that I am really excited about our future. That may sound odd considering the headlines and upheaval we have seen over the last five or six months (and to be fair, the last three years) but I’d like to share why I feel this way. We have witnessed a period of amazing innovation since the beginning of 2020. The resiliency of American business is unmatched in the global marketplace and that IS exciting! Our ability to pivot - to borrow from Clint Eastwood - Adapt, Overcome, and Improvise - is alive an well. We will face some challenging market environments as we unwind stimulus and restart supply chains but we’ve illustrated that America still has “IT” - that “can do” spirit. I am going to ask you to pause a bit over the next few weeks and reflect on how business has changed or is changing. To be sure, we have challenges to fix and the exciting thing is that business and industry are finding ways to help fix them and in some cases are leading the way. That, to me, is exciting and a reason for optimism regardless of what the headlines are trying to tell us.
In Gratitude,
Rob
