There have been several stories about the initial business that I created with three other partners in the previous blogs. This now brings me to the story as it stands today. Engenuity will no longer be a public name from Salt Lake. I thought of the name years ago and really like it, but we are about to mark a powerful beginning where the Passion of G2 re-unite in an intention and powerful way.

Garrett White of The Investors Paradigm and Engenuity have been working towards a similar vision for years now. There were times where we worked together or others where it was a parallel effort. Garrett’s primary business has resulted in mortgages and for many years Engenuity’s transactions consisted of life insurance. Now with the Producer Power Hour, Freedom FastTrack, and The Accredited Network there is so much opportunity for us to unite and have a bigger impact.

The Investors Paradigm will still be the Accredited mortgage company, but Garrett White will no longer be doing mortgages. Engenuity no longer handles life insurance as Vitality Life has filled the role in the Accredited network. The primary difference will be that the Board of Directors for Engenuity will serve with the existing members of The Investors Paradigm Board or Directors and vice-versa. Garrett White will be a partner and Lead Associate. He is already leading a complimentary teleconference called “Economic Certainty in Uncertian Times” and will be the featured speaker for March’s Curriculum For Wealth. If you would like to attend the teleconference or CFW in March, e-mail gwhite@freedomfasttrack.com.

Ben Curtis is another executive from the Investors Paradigm and is serving as a special consultant to Engenuity in this merger. We are looking to work with Marv Curtis who is creating opportunitites for non-accredited investors and is part of The Accredited Network with this merger. There will be more details to come as we have our first combined meeting of the firms next week. This is an exciting development. More details to follow as the new name is decided upon and we unveil more details.

Take advantage of the opportunity to join Garrett White on the teleconferences held every Tuesday for the next three weeks. The last teleconference will include both of us have a very direct conversation of what has happened over the past four months and what to do now. We are going to be especially candid to help people that are confused, frustrated, and suffering due to losses in real estate, had been materialistic or prideful and are now struggling, or those that have learned the 7 key lessons already and how that has impacted them or allowed them to move forward with power and love.

Join me tonight on a podcast at Freedomfasttrack.com at 5pm mst as I have a panel talking about “Real and Relevant” issues people are facing- espcially the talks of recession.

More to come……..

(Read the Engenuity Blogs before this blog)

After Ray and Les died I began to commute to their office on a daily basis and made it my office. It was hectic, but I tried to pick up the pieces and charge forward with their legacy in mind and the vision we had together. So many things were happening on a daily basis plus I had some of my old workload as well. I say some because Greg Blackbourn stepped up and handled the Salt Lake office in an amazing way. Mike Isom was commuting to Provo on a regular basis to help out and keep things moving along. There were many employees, many of them confused, sad, and others overworked.

I had just decided to move forward and work as hard as necessary. The radio show was going well as I had great guest hosts, but determining how the business was going to operate and look became increasingly complex. Mike, Ray, Les, and myself had years of working together and could move forward quickly. Attempting to bring in a new partner and a new CEO proved to be increasingly difficult. I was not taking any income on tuitions and depositing all of the contract money on life insurance to keep Engenuity alive. Ultimately, the quality of service to the clients suffered without Ray managing the systems he created. Newer advisors did not understand how to apply principles and teach at the same level which added to a high degree of risk for the firm, the clients experience, and ultimately the vision we partners had in the beginning was diminishing.

Out of this difficulty and discontent came the most amazing burst of production for me. I held a meeting with all of our team where I was teaching them how to apply what we were teaching clients in their own life. At the end of the event, I sat all the employees down and notified them that I was violating the very things we teach if I continued in the same capacity any longer. I informed them to stop collecting tuitions, stop associating my name with the process, and figure out what they really wanted to contribute and how. I let them know that I was separating from the Provo office and rejoining my Salt Lake group starting in January.

This was emotional and difficult, but there were people getting paid without producing, clients that were being taught techniques without the foundational principles, and I was missing out on my family. This wasn’t me giving up, it was an opportunity to make a more massive contribution and get to the root of my Soul Purpose and happiness again. All that December I worked from my home. I began seriously writing Killing Sacred Cows. I started from the beginning in creating a unique process that Ray, Les, Mike and I had worked on for some time, but that the writings and documents were with Ray on the plane.

This was the beginning of the Freedom FastTrack. It is really a culmination of much more than what I began to organize in December, but December was the critical time. I became so excited about it that I had retreats with the advisors that were joining Greg and I in Salt Lake. I was staying up until 3am some nights just writing and creating. I would take entire days with critical relationships to formulate and think through the magnitude of what was flowing through me. I was in love with living again. I was actually moving the legacy of my partners forward again.

(If you have not read the previous two posts, it would be useful to start with those before reading this)

The original Engenuity was composed of four partners: Ray Hooper, Les McGuire, Mike Isom and myself. Mike had been key in my massive commitment to financial education, espcially the first two years where I had traveled somewhere each month to enhance the amount of value I could create. It became common for all of us to travel to symposiums and events together. People actually teased Les and I because we would attend an event from 7 am to 10 pm and still talk for hours afterward. Really, Engenuity was a name, a common branding among for people with a similar vision and commitment. Mike and I didn’t even share expenses or revenues with Ray and Les, but we did speak on a weekly basis, hold each other accountable, and share concepts, materials, forms, standards and philosophies.

It wasn’t until a few years later when Les and I were traveling to Strategic Coach together that we actually had a formal business with this partnership. I had the idea to do one day symposiums called the Curriculum for Wealth and shared this vision with Les. He was a master at developing content and articulating complex topics in a very precise and simple manner. We worked on the concept for a few weeks and then when Ray had the idea for the four of us to get away and do a retreat, Les and I invited the other partners to be part of this idea.

The story continues…..more to come.

In the last post I got to the point of mentioning Mike Isom. He was the final partner to come on board. I had actually met him before Ray and Les. I was selling Life Insurance for Guardian Life and he was also licensed with them. We would see each other at trainings in Salt Lake, but I actually lived in Cedar City and Mike in St. George. So Mike traveled up and we started doing some studying together. He was always going to events and educational venues, plus making friends with people that were having great success in the same industry. Mike actually initiated my commitment to attend one event per month in the LEAP system for two years.

Mike and I traveled together and became good friends. Interestingly though, I was not the one that extended the partnership to Mike. It was Ray and Les going to work in the same ways they had with me.

More to come.

One of the first companies I ws involved with and continue to run from the time I finished college is Engenuity. It began as a financial services firm that educated people on how to properly integrate and utilize life insurance in their overall portfolio. We positioned ourselves a macroeconomic advisors as we based the financial decisions with our clients based upon economics vs. many of the philosophies promoting tax incentives or special loopholes.

Ray Hooper was really the first person that intiated Engenuity. He didn’t refer to the company as Engenuity at the time (since I am the one who came up with the name), but Ray was the first in the financial services business. He then met and convinced Les McGuire to join him. They were dedicated to education and bringing more value then what Ray was taught when he entered the industry.

I met Les first. He was in an economic seminar with me while I was still attending college. He was wearing flip flops and a Harley-Davidson t-shirt. He might have spoke more than the intructor with his insights and stories- frankly he brought a refreshing and raw view that resonated with me. We began to have conversations on the breaks and found out that we were up to very similar things.

It was shortly after that I had met Ray Hooper. It was at another educational event. Ray did quite a bit of talking as well, but mostly to the people around him and not to the instructor and all participants. It was then the instructor began to yell at Ray. I chose to tease Ray on the break and we began to talk about what we were up to. It was then that I figured out that he and Les were partners. Ray and I spoke for about three hours after the event just talking about the purpose of what we were up to and I was even more compelled to spend time with he and Les.

Just a few weeks later I was attending a symposium (you get the idea that I am serious about education) and saw the two of them together. They were having a lot of fun and joking around. It was contageous and I ended up spend the day and attending the rest of the breakout sessions with them. At the end of the day they invited me to come meet with them at their office.

When I showed up the next Monday, I was greeted by the receptionist saying “Oh you must be the new partner”!!!!!

I will share how I met the final original partner Mike Isom and the state of Engenuity today. There are two of three offices standing today. I am a partner in Engeuity SLC, the 19th fastest growing company in Utah for the past 5 years and it is 10 times the size as when we started, but with the same personal feel.

More to come.

Just when I was getting on track to blog daily I went to Chicago. The internet was down at the hotel the three days I was there. That is just an excuse, so lets focus on the result.

Engenuity Salt Lake was awarded the number 19th slot for fastest growing company in Utah over the last five years. Greg Blackbourn, my business partner in Engenuity SLC, and many of the advisors attended a luncheon and also had a chance to meet the governor of Utah. I handed Governor Huntsman a copy of Killing Sacred Cows and he committed to reading it.

There is more going on now than ever. I plan on some better updates and insights by this weekend.

Today I led a Mission Driven Forum call with Steve D’Annunzio. This is a call where we have people in the financial services arena on a conference call where we discuss principles and teach advisors to elevate their business. I am excited for this weekend where all the partners in The Prosperity Paradigm will use the same things we teach these participants to do in their practice to expand ours. The Prosperity Paradigm is a company that facilitates The Mission Driven Forum and also the Spiritual FastTrack.

We will have a retreat this weekend to elevate the value proposition of the company and to refine the back stage operations of the firm. I am using some forms that I created for the next Mental FastTrack that begins Nov. 2 to make this retreat as productive as possible. It will allow for accountability, timelines and to breakdown and brainstorm the projects that we are working on.

Oh, one more thing, Engenuity made the Utah 100. Today the DVD that Engenuity created to introduce the advisors, managers, and Accredited Network was delivered to the office. It is a great way for everyone to be introduced to the philosophy and people that are behind Engenuity Salt Lake. If you would like a copy, send me an e-mail. Garrett@freedomfasttrack.com

Plenty going on!