We recently had the pleasure of visiting Zach Bloemen in Littleton, Colorado. Our goal was twofold: to get to know Zach better and to discover what makes him so effective at helping financial professionals reach new heights in their careers. Our conversation with Zach was insightful and engaging, and we believe you'll find it just as enjoyable. You might even leave with a new favorite quote!

How long have you worked in financial services, and what made you decide to join the financial services industry?
I’ve been working in financial services for 10 years now. I grew up in a low income environment; my family was on Section 8 and food stamps my entire childhood. I know what it’s like to struggle financially. I learned to contribute at a very young age, picking weeds, cleaning gutters, helping with landscaping, anything I could do to help until I went into the Marine Corps. When I started making money, I knew I needed to get myself into a more financially stable situation; and help get my whole family get there too.

But what really kicked it into gear was when I was deployed. I started receiving a good income with no expenses. I started building up as much savings as I could. After serving in the military, my wife and I both transitioned into the oil and gas industry, and a buddy of mine introduced me to a financial advisor. He started us on a plan to save a significant amount of our income, and I quickly realized the value of paying for financial advice and planning guidance.

Initially, I thought, “I don’t need to know this stuff because he knows it”, but then I saw what happens to people when they get laid off and have nothing but debt and payments. I’ve seen how financial discipline and the right planning can change lives.

After working with our financial advisor for several years we had integrated some insurance and substantial investment planning; we had a better awareness on how to manage our money. But in 2014, the oil and gas industry took a dive in 2014, and there was chaos at work. My team went from 10 to three people overnight.

Several of my friends who had been laid-off were really struggling. They had mortgage payments, car payments, but they also had kids in private school, boat payments, Harley's, but now they didn't have paychecks. They had very little savings, and it was sad watching our friends go through all of that uncertainty and fear. My wife and I … we certainly weren't wealthy, but we had a financial strategy that protected us against that kind of chaos. I saw the impact of financial stability, and I knew I wanted to help people build that same security for themselves.

I knew that, if I could share my story with people, I could help them do what I did, and they would be much better off!

That experience was also a crash course in leadership for me. During that downturn in oil and gas, my company’s leadership was non-existent. It was silent. There were no words of encouragement, no visibility or outlook for the future, and no plans to combat those challenges. There was just a void against all of that negativity.

What does your firm offer that others don’t? What makes you stand out?
Our leadership team works for financial professionals, not the other way around. Leadership is interesting. In many companies, the higher up you go on the leadership ladder, the less day-to-day work you do. People have this impression that once you hit a leadership role, you can kick your feet up and relax. But it’s the opposite here. Michael Kane, Scott Francis, Chris Andrews, Jim Cooney, and myself, we’ve truly adopted the philosophy that our client is the financial professional. That’s who we work for. We work hard to provide everything the financial professional needs to take the best care of their clients.

     |   The financial professional is the focus of our organization.

Describe your ideal recruit prospect:
That’s easy; we ask two simple questions:

• “Is this someone we will enjoy working with?”
• “Do they have a business plan that we can rally business resources around?”

The ideal candidate isn’t someone who is only focused on asset management. The ideal candidate isn’t someone who is focused on life insurance or risk management exclusively. The right prospect is going to be someone who has an integrated approach to financial planning, a holistic planner. They’ve built a well-rounded, successful practice. They know what it will take to build to the next level, but they don’t have access at their current firm to the resources they need to get there.

     |     Recruiting people we can rally resources behind.

We’re not recruiting everyone. We know what we are building, and because that is so well defined, we can be very selective about who we partner with. We partner with financial professionals who have a clear vision about what they want to build … and that needs to be closely aligned with our business goals.

We are clear about what we want, and our ideal recruit candidates are clear about what they want. Those ideal recruit candidates know what it will take to get to their goals and which resources they need but do not currently have. We help them find and implement the resources they need to grow, aligning strengths and resources so everyone wins.

     |     Recruiting the right people builds credibility very quickly; it makes us referable!

How have you seen first-hand how financial products and financial guidance have helped clients?
Early in my career, I was working with a business owner. We had already done some planning together on the investment side. We had already done a little bit of planning on some life insurance and disability insurance, as well. And then his situation had evolved a lot, and there was a need for much more life insurance. After we spent some time together, we came to a really strong solution to address that additional life insurance need. The plan made sense for him, and he agreed it was a good solution; but he said, “let me run this by my wife, and I'll get back to you tomorrow.”

Unfortunately, he was involved in a car accident on the way home and ended up passing away before we could get the new life insurance coverage issued. After something like that happens, you realize how serious and important this work really is. We are really adding value and making an impact. And sometimes you don't realize how much an impact you're making until something like that happens.

Another, more positive, first-hand account is something I experienced on the investment side of our business and involves a woman who is the mother of a good friend of mine. Before she was a client of mine and near the end of the financial crash of 2008, she moved all of her investments to cash. She was simply scared and didn’t want to keep losing money. After the financial crisis of 2008 we’ve seen an incredible recovery in equities, but she missed out on most of those gains because she was still in cash.

Finally, after some discussion, she was able to move back into equities, but that was just a year before the pandemic. But this time, when the market crashed, she had the understanding to manage the human behavior aspects of investing to stay largely invested during that crash. What went down eventually came back up and has enjoyed a significant gain from that time.

It’s incredibly rewarding to see her learn from a previous challenge and adapt to improve her situation.

What has been your biggest success in your career?
The biggest win of my career was being recruited by Michael Kane’s Firm, and, as a financial professional, having Michael Keane realize and uncover the leader in me … to see what I could grow into as a leader, given the right opportunity and resources. He’s empowered me, all of 1847Financial has empowered me to grow and to grow the organization. That’s huge, and it impacts more than business.

My wife has said to me many times that I am a better version of myself now. That’s at work, at home and in the community as well. And that's a direct reflection of my work. I have more energy, more happiness and less stress.

     |     A better version of myself, at work, at home and in my community.

If you're miserable at work. It's going to be really hard to be the best version of yourself at home. But if you're at work and you're the best version of yourself, and you're having fun, that’s going to carry over. Sure, there's still some ups and downs and some fire fights. But if you're motivated and have the energy to do it, that positivity rolls back into your household, into the community

I’ve actually had a teammate tell me that his wife has said the same thing to him. He is just a better version of himself. He's more productive at work. You could see it in the numbers, but at home, his family enjoys being around him more. It’s hard to top that! Making real impact like that is what life is all about.

Is there a specific quote or saying that you like to live by?
I have several, but there are two that I’m fully committed to:

Be a Leader: My goal every day is to be a leader, regardless where I am or what I’m doing. Going into every day, that’s what I’m thinking about. I have it tattooed to my wrist. So every morning when I put my watch on, I read that. It’s a personal reminder to me.

Crush Everything: Don’t just be awesome at work and go home and fail to meaningfully engage your family. Also, don’t be a great mom or dad, and then underperform at work. We can crush everything! That’s my goal, to crush everything and to help the people around me crush everything. I still fail all the time, but I’m much better with that goal than I am without it!

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