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What’s next for Kate? Scroll down to find out!

Kate Holmes: An interview with co-authors Hope Katz Gibbs & Cynthia de Lorenzi

 Hope & Cynthia: Tell us about your business/industry and where it was before the pandemic hit in March 2020, and what you were thinking about the future at the time.

Kate: I’ve been in the financial planning business for 16 years and have spent half that time speaking, coaching, and consulting other financial planners on evolving their businesses. More broadly, financial planning and financial services have been slow to adopt new business and fee models and technology, among other things. This often leads to inefficiencies and inconveniences for both the financial planner and the client – e.g., completing paperwork manually and driving to an office, and having long meetings to justify the drive. It also continues a system that excludes millions of people from receiving competent and ethical financial planning in a manner and price that suits them.

 In 2013, I started one of the first completely virtual, monthly-subscription financial planning businesses before a blueprint on how to do so. I didn’t manage assets or sell financial products, so it was more accessible and affordable to all. In essence, I flipped the whole model on its head. And it worked.

Since then, I’ve been helping financial planners worldwide think beyond the traditional systems and processes. But many have continued to make great money, so why change? Why evolve?

Then the pandemic hit. They weren’t equipped to run virtual meetings, access documents electronically, or engage with clients in this tech-savvy world. They all wondered how I managed to do it seven years prior and found themselves scrambling.

Hope & Cynthia: What were short-term and long-term goals at the time? How has your perspective changed, and what have you learned?

Kate: I’m fortunate that the pandemic came at a perfect time. I had recently left my prior role and was on a career break, so the world slowing down allowed me more time to focus on myself, health and wellness.

There are often many things that we can do and even lots of things that we’re good at, but I was giving myself grace and space to find the things I want to do and that I truly enjoy.

I leveraged my unique background of working with financial planners in over 30 countries to launch the first globally-focused podcast for financial planners just before the pandemic. That gave me a purpose and exponentially expanded my global network once everyone went into lockdown.

With no specific goals, I left myself open to the universe. And I’m glad I did. Everything I’m doing, and loving, now is a direct result of conversations and collaborations that came from the podcast and the world being in lockdown.

I met many wonderful, inspiring people and decided in late 2020 that I would only work with people who give me energy as we advance. This, coupled with my ‘max of 3’ motto, where I will only work on three projects or initiatives at a time (and try to only focus on completing three key things in a day), has made it wonderfully easy to know what to say yes or no to and keeps my life in balance.

Note, I recently declined what would have been a lucrative consulting agreement because the process would have sucked my energy and because I would have had to drop something for this to fit in my ‘max of 3’, and I’d prefer to build my own business than someone else’s.

Hope & Cynthia: What are your thoughts now about your industry, business, and personal life?

Kate: It’s all about who and what you surround yourself with. If you read negative things and surround yourself with negative people, the world can seem bleak. But it’s just the opposite. In every industry, in every corner of the world, there are incredible people doing incredible things.

To bring these people together in financial planning, I started the Innovating Advice Community. It’s for all forward-thinking people in financial services with collaboration over competition mindset. We come together through fun and wild initiatives to propel this profession forward.

For all the devastation, a lot of good has come out of the pandemic. The rat race paused, and people found out what was truly important to them.

It turns out we love owning a single-family home in Southwest Florida (a surprise development entirely pandemic inspired), spending time in the yard, listening to the birds, and watching the turtles in our canal.

And while I’ve worked virtually throughout my career, I’m finally doing it with boundaries, balance, and only awesome people.

Hope & Cynthia: Now the big question — What do you see coming next? 

Kate:

• For your industry: My motto for financial services for a while has been: Evolve or dissolve.
• For your company: Continuing to build my wonderful Innovating Advice Community of financial planners worldwide, having fun running my Video Creation Masterclass, and speaking and coaching where it’s a good fit.
• For yourself: Staying true to my max of 3 mottoes to maintain balance and stay healthy. At the moment, that means pausing my podcast while I work on obtaining my private pilot license.
• For the country: I can only hope for more kindness and open-mindedness. Division and hatred have never accomplished anything good.
• For the world: Continued remote working allows people to live and work where they wish and fit their work around their lives rather than squeezing their lives around their work.
• For women: Growing confidence and success, personally and professionally.

Hope & Cynthia: One more question — tell us the one question we didn’t ask you — and please give us your response.

Kate: What is your personal motto? Why not.

When making decisions, especially big ones, people often justify by asking “why.” This naturally creates a defensive response. Instead, my husband and I always ask “why not?” Turns out, the answers usually revolve around fear and it’s been said that everything great is on the other side of fear.

Learn more about Kate Holmes at Innovating Advice!