Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Leung.
Hi Joshua, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I pursued a business degree with a double emphasis in finance and marketing at Chapman University but had no actual love for corporate finance. I was considering switching to a different career when an alumni mentor strongly suggested trying a financial service internship. I gave it a shot during my senior spring semester and haven’t looked back since.
I finished a majority of my formal industry licensing while in school, allowing me to fully pursue and concentrate on building my client-focused business right after.
While COVID created many headwinds, it also proved to be the “wind in my sails” to create an even more efficient practice by normalizing and emphasizing virtual meetings as a concrete method in meeting/servicing and engaging with clients.
As my practice evolved with key partnerships with tax preparers (CPAs/EAs), we have continued to have a client-focused holistic approach to dealing with our community’s financial goals. We also needed to scale, and I now have two staff with me who help ensure that all my processes/systems are up to date to ensure the best quality service to our clients.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not.
This career, entrepreneurship, and life in general is rarely a straight lineup.
The biggest struggle for me was to accept any level of “people rejection”. Learning how to understand that objections and “no”s were hardly personal and had everything to do with other factors was key for my emotional health/stress levels and to trust that the ups and downs of this business were natural.
I also struggled with the willingness to scale once I got to a key point in my business where everything was stable, but my time was full. It took many mentors/seminars and patience from my management team to shift my mindset from “self-employed” to truly a “business owner” and to embrace delegation.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Modern Woodmen of America?
When it comes to financial services, they are a dime and a dozen. What I love best about hanging my license with Modern Woodmen is that they are a “not-for-profit organization”. Not a non profit, but a type of organization that is considered a 501C8. What this means is that we get to invest a portion of our profits back into the community through matching fundraisers, scholarships, donations, and volunteer hours. Every advisor gets to work with their local community and identify different needs and help impact through financial giving as well as volunteering their time.
Having this “community first” mindset is shown not just with our words but with our finances. In 2022, we were able to raise/give with local partners $46.3M back into the communities across the country.
This gives our firm a “small town/family feel” but with big service. I am most proud that my service continues to pursue financial planning through a holistic lens. We work closely with client’s tax advisors to make sure their financial plan is congruent with all the other parts of their lives.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I see more and more people embracing a hybrid model of working with advisors. Using the financial products that they offer, but leaning more and more on the relationship to get connected to multiple resources and industries.
With rising inflation, taxes, and headwinds in the market, I think now more than ever, people want a “sounding board” to discuss their future/goals with.
Everyone has a plan, but not everyone knows where to get a sound second opinion for that plan.
I see a continued embrace of the “virtual advisor role”, where more and more people continue to like the flexibility of online meetings rather than the traditional meet-in-the-office requirements.
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Jon Haverstick
