When imagining a remarkably cool place to work, a financial advising firm might not be the first type of business that comes to mind. But to Larry Witzel, it’s not much of a stretch. And while he said he’s thrilled that the company he founded, Strategic Financial Solutions, has been named the Corridor Business Journal’s […]
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When imagining a remarkably cool place to work, a financial advising firm might not be the first type of business that comes to mind.
But to Larry Witzel, it’s not much of a stretch. And while he said he’s thrilled that the company he founded, Strategic Financial Solutions, has been named the Corridor Business Journal’s Coolest Place to Work among small businesses for 2022, as well as winning the overall “Coolest of the Cool” award for all business categories, he’s not overly surprised.
The credit for achievements like this, he says, goes directly to the SFS team.
“It comes back to having really talented people that we get to spend everyday with,” Mr. Witzel said. “We think the financial services industry is a really cool place to be, and we get very excited about the mission that we're serving, helping people retire confidently, securely and on time, and giving them a good roadmap to get there. I was able to turn a hobby into a career.”
Strategic Financial Solutions primarily provides corporate retirement planning and individual wealth management financial planning services. The firm works with nearly 90 local employers and an estimated 12,000 retirement plan participants overall, charting a path to financial security and stability.
SFS formally began operations in 2002, but Mr. Witzel brings more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. His father introduced him to a financial advisor in his teens, and he said he “almost” entered the financial services sector directly after graduating from Iowa State University with a major in agricultural business and a minor in business administration.
“Someone pulled me aside and said, ‘maybe you need a little more gray above your temples,’” Mr. Witzel recalled. “‘Go get some experience somewhere else, and then when you're having a midlife crisis in your 40s, you can get into this business.’”
So, he launched his career as a marketing representative with the Dow Chemical Company before an organizational “transition” led him to answer an ad in the Cedar Rapids Gazette seeking financial planners.
“I wanted to go through the exercise and not have buyer’s remorse when I took a job somewhere else,” he said. “I met an individual who was in the business for a number of years, but he got started when he was 21, and he convinced me that 25 was not too young to get started.”
He then joined Principal Financial Group, and after a company reorganization, he was named as one of the company’s 33 business consultants nationwide at the time. In his own words, this is how his career path evolved from there.
“I became positioned as a resource for other advisors as they were working with ownership of closely held businesses,” he said. “We were working with those businesses (on) corporate retirement plans, succession plans, exit strategies and executive compensations. Those are not one-time events; they’re development of long-term relationships and delivery of services. It became very important to have an independent entity that we could hire staff back to, so we had enough hands on deck to support all the promises we were making. We also wanted to bring an independent face to the marketplace.”
Collaboration key to success
SFS has 16 employees, all of whom work collaboratively to achieve success for the company’s clients, Mr. Witzel said.
“There are very few deliverables we provide that don't have multiple sets of fingerprints,” he said. “Everybody's got a role in the process. It’s important that if we've got seven advisors, those seven advisors have a consistent message. It's not seven advisors with seven different business models for delivery of services. We work in teams quite often, maybe doubling up on an appointment here or there. But it’s important that we have consistency in messaging.”
The team approach is more than lip service, Mr. Witzel said.
“We’re a very close-knit group,” he said. “Everything stays tightly within these walls, but it’s important that we all know what's going on and people can pick up the load if somebody's not here.”
That teamwork is forged, Mr. Witzel says, by having the entire SFS staff working in the office daily. The office closed for five weeks at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then, the focus has been working safely on-site.
The collaborative focus is also boosted by regular team-building activities, both inside and outside the workplace, Mr. Witzel said.
“We celebrate our accomplishments on a regular basis as an entire organization,” he said. “We get together the first Monday of every month, and one of the first things that we do to open those meetings is what we call our positive focus. Everybody gets to share their biggest individual accomplishment from the prior month, and where they're going to take that in the months ahead. We do that again every quarter as a team, where we provide some updates on what's happening with the firm as a whole.
“And then we go have some fun,” he added. “We have some great team-building exercises – everything from boating to bowling to golfing, curling, ceramics or cooking – but we always have some sort of collaborative team event after every one of our quarterly meetings. Then at the end of every month, we get together for a celebration of what happened in the prior 30 days. That’s close to 30 family reunions every single year.”
Employees stress positive culture, support
Surveys submitted by SFS employees painted a vivid picture of the office culture that makes Strategic Financial a cool place to work.
“The sense of 'family' when you walk through the door,” one employee wrote. “My colleagues are all so approachable and a true joy to work with. From leadership, to our newest teammates, everyone is committed to helping our clients with a servant heart. I couldn't ask for a better place to work at. Not only is it fun to celebrate our victories, but also learn and grow together in our failures.”
Another employee highlighted the company’s attention to key touchpoints, both in employees’ careers and their personal lives.
“We celebrate milestones at both a personal and business level,” the employee wrote. “This past year we had an employee celebrate 20 years with our firm by customizing her celebration with an afternoon trip to a llama farm because it is her favorite animal (besides her dogs)... We truly celebrate like a family those moments and milestones that are meaningful to each of us.”
A festive atmosphere is meaningful to another SFS employee.
“We celebrate big!” the employee wrote. “We hit our stretch company goal and we were rewarded with a trip to Arizona with our whole team. When we came back, we wanted to plan another trip, because it was like we were celebrating with family. We just moved into a new location to allow our team space to grow, collaborate, and to bring our clients into a place they can plan for retirement and enjoy the scenery…”
For another employee, a smaller staff helps create a tight-knit community at SFS.
“Here at SFS, because we’re a smaller company, we don’t have managers or supervisors,” the employee wrote. “That is one of the reasons it’s such a great place to work. We expect everyone to act like a professional, show up, do what you do best and be accountable. We’re all adults and we don’t need to be managed or supervised to do our best. However, the leadership team is always there for us to ask questions, suggest new processes / procedures and to get their feedback…If everyone had a place like SFS as an employer, there wouldn’t be a Great Resignation.”
Bright future for SFS, clients
In an ever-growing market for financial planning services, Mr. Witzel points to four guiding principles that distinguish Strategic Financial Services: Showing up on time, saying please and thank you, doing what you say you’ll do and finishing what you start.
“Those have really been core components for us, making sure that we’ve got consistent processes in place so we can stay in touch with our clients and keep each other accountable to the goals and objectives we’ve outlined,” Mr. Witzel said.
As with other segments of the economy, there have been ups and downs in the financial services sector in recent years, but Mr. Witzel said SFS’ approach provides confidence to its clients.
“I firmly believe our clients understand that we've got a dedicated process for monitoring those things, and we've put ourselves in a position so that we can respond if necessary,” he said. “But most importantly, confidence in knowing that we have a process helps take a lot of the emotion out of the ups and downs. And if people have a plan for the next 30 years, then the past six months aren't quite as unnerving.”
It’s that consistency and sense of mission, Mr. Witzel said, that keeps SFS employees happy about their work and the services they provide.
“We’re excited about the deliverable that we're bringing to our clients,” he said. “People do get excited about retiring. People like to work as well, but they’re working so that someday they can retire. If we can help deliver on making all those goals achievable, that's a big winner and something we can come back and celebrate every day.”
