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| Name: Daxs A. Stadjuhar | |
| Title: President & CEO, THE Financial Services NETWORK | |
| Started using Mindjet: 2012 | |
| Social links: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, LinkedIn |
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How did you hear about Mindjet?
I rely on Mindjet every single day. The program is always open on one of my computer screens. While I’ve been using mind mapping software since 2011 to build processes for our business, I was only recently introduced to Mindjet at a small “IPad Best Practices Meeting” in the summer of 2012. I immediately adopted the software for its unparalleled functionality across devices and user-friendly mapping technology. It has since become one of our executive team’s primary collaboration tools.
What do you primarily use it for?
The main objective of our firm is to attract financial advisors who are looking to go independent, but want support in the process of making this transition. Mindjet has become an essential part of this process, enabling our executive staff to visually entice advisors during the “Discovery Phase” as well as track completion of important action items during the “Transition and Integration Phases” of the onboarding process. Given the ever-changing life cycle of the business, we continue to leverage Mindjet with our advisors post-transition in an effort to help them achieve their goals relative to “Growth, Efficiency, Acquisition, and Succession.”
What is your favorite feature and why?
Our favorite feature currently is the rollout of ProjectDirector, which takes collaboration to a whole new level. This program enhancement has allowed our executive team to acquire input from clients and partners outside of the firm, which makes “quarterbacking” a project even more seamless. Like most firms, we rely on a variety of strategic partners to assist our clients on a day-to-day basis. Because the visual organization of Mindjet is so effective in practice, our vendors gladly defer to us to manage projects—which makes us the primary center of influence with our clients. This new role has expanded our referral base and contributed to stronger retention within the organization as a whole.
Is there anything the tool helps with that was unexpected?
One of the unanticipated consequences that we’ve encountered as a result of promoting Mindjet is the high influx of advisors who now turn to us for extensive training. They expect us to provide new techniques on how they can optimize the software with their clients. After witnessing the power of visual collaboration, tracking, and project management firsthand, many of them have become inspired to incorporate this into their own business models. As a result, our executive team has started to build training videos and templates for financial planners, CPA’s and attorneys to use during their collaboration efforts. Since we started this project in late 2012, we have seen incredible success stories emerge from our advisors who have been able to fulfill the complex financial needs of their clients by using this software.
Tell us about your map.
The attached map, known as the “Client Discovery Template,” is one of the maps that our financial advisors use with their clients during the initial “Discovery Phase.” This map allows the advisor to work closely with the client as they document background information, define objectives, and formulate goals. In turn, the advisor is able to identify key action items in the client’s financial planning process.
The beauty of Mindjet lies in its fluidity. We have created templates for our advisors to use as a starting point, but their conversations with clients are often open-ended. The flexible format of Mindjet allows an advisor to easily document anything that is pertinent to the client relationship and financial planning process. While we have developed our own coding mechanisms within Mindjet, we have been pleased to see advisors making modifications to our templates that cater to their specific niche or client market. Mindjet allows clients to understand the full scope of the financial planning process. They are actually able to “see” their financial plan come together rather than read a fifty-page binder, which is tedious and difficult to understand.
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Daxs Stadjuhar is the President and CEO of THE Financial Services NETWORK, a California- based OSJ with over 210 Advisors spanning across 80 communities and 17 states, including the District of Columbia. Outside of leading the executive team, Daxs is intricately involved in the Recruiting Process and Business Development Initiatives that occur within the organization. In addition, he has played an active role in the adoption and implementation of cutting edge technologies for advisor practices across the board.
Prior to joining THE NETWORK in 2009, Daxs held a variety of positions in the industry including his time spent as an investment advisor, OSJ, and a Chief Compliance Officer. He holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 31, 53, and 66 Registrations as well as a California Insurance License. Daxs is a graduate of Seattle University and the Reserve Officer Training Corp. In the past, he served in the US Army as an Infantry Officer.
Here at Mindjet, we know the value of sharing ideas. It’s just like philosopher Michel de Montaigne said way back in the 1500s: “It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.” The Mindjet User Spotlight series aims to help that little endeavor along by bringing your stories and experiences with Mindjet to the forefront. If you’ve got one to share, don’t be shy! Give us a shout.
