Scott Lask on The Art of Monetizing What You Love

Scott Lask -Founder and Managing Director of Scott Lask Wealth Management LLC

Can you begin by telling our audience a little about yourself, your business, and what led you to pursue your particular passion as a profession?

I grew up typical middle-class kid in the 5 boroughs in NYC. Been working since I am 13. I was working in the textile market. My wife invited an old friend over for dinner. Her husband says to me after knowing me for 10 minutes" Scott you're in the wrong business. you should be financial advisor like me". And I never looked back.

I am a wealth advisor on a mission: to help people achieve a work optional life! This is my passion. When you can give people a plan that takes away all the stress & worry about their money, knowing they can live "a work-optional life" it is just the greatest feeling. And I am also a die-hard Led Zeppelin fan and love playing their songs on guitar.

I'm curious to know, what was the defining moment that made you realize that this passion could actually become a business? How did you identify the unique value it could bring to others?

Well, I saw it was a business immediately. The defining moment for me was actually a venture gone bad. And that experience shaped the core values of our practice. Specifically, a focus on real risk management across the board of my clients' personal balance sheets and emphasis on balancing protected money with the traditional unprotected money investments. Using solutions that provide lifetime liquidity and having smaller losses in the years the stock market falls, is what everyone really wants. And that is what we strive to achieve. To give that much to people and get paid & create jobs is the ultimate win win.

Every entrepreneur faces obstacles, especially when turning a passion into a business. Can you share some of the initial challenges you encountered and how you overcame them?

I had to learn to run a business. I knew how to invest and create lifetime plans but had very little hands-on experience running a business. I had to learn about HR, marketing, the art of managing people to bring out the best in them. I also had to learn how to select vendors for services I never had to bother with working for an investment firm. And the biggest challenge was the idea of advisors going independent; you know away from the mother ship, was new. This was a new thing. There was a lot skepticism; You're not Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley. Is my money safe?. I addressed that by building relationships through education and service. In other words, I let people come to me at their pace. So, I earned their trust and confidence first and they'd made the decision to hire me. We still do it this way.

Monetizing a passion requires a solid business model. Can you walk us through how you developed yours, and the key factors that make it successful?

Sure. Essentially, we are a fee based advisory. It is more cost effective for our clients and our fortunes are tied together. They do well we do well. They don't do well, we don't either. So now it is about the deliverables. It is our process that let us monetize my passion. Two specific values: EER and Unprotected Money/Protected Money. Look, we are hired to reduce stress and give our clients back time; time to grow their business and more play time with family! And that is where we focus all our efforts.

Many people worry that monetizing their passion may take the joy out of it. How have you managed to balance the business aspects with staying true to what you love?

The short answer is NO. It hasn't taken the joy out of it. Life is life. Every day we have to deal with things. To me it doesn't matter whether it is the business, my vacation time. Something comes up, handle it, cure it and on to the next. I still love going to work.

As your business grew, what strategies did you employ to scale it while maintaining the core values and essence of what made it special in the first place?

Delegating. Having staff that only provide customer service and keep operations running smoothly. We are about to open our associate training program. Importantly that to whomever you delegate a responsibility to, knows that excellence and maximum effort is expected at all times. And continually improving our solution sets.

Your journey is truly inspiring. What key insights or pieces of advice would you offer to someone looking to turn their passion into profit?

Believe! Believe! Believe! Never give up! Take care of yourself mentally, physically and spiritually. Keep feeding your mind! Embrace gratitude. Stay humble!

Reflecting on your journey so far, what are you most proud of? What future developments or projects are you excited about in your business?

The experience we have given our clients. Seeing their light-heartedness, not stressing about their futures and the deep bonds we mutually have with each other. It's like a family.

I am excited to start our training program in 2024. Also, we are adding two new strategies to our solution set that I believe will make a big difference for a lot of clients.

For those interested in learning more about your journey or connecting with your business, how can they get in touch or follow your work?

Our number is 845-774-2745; email is scott.lask@wedbush.com, www.scottlask.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlask/