Episode #230: From Solo Act to Sustainable Business: William Bissett on Leadership

William Bissett, founder of Portus Wealth Advisors, joins Craig Andrews to unpack what it really takes to lead a company that survives and thrives beyond its founder. William shares how watching his father struggle in solo practice shaped his commitment to team building. His insight is simple but powerful: don’t just hire talent—hire people who fill your gaps, not mirror them.

The episode cuts through leadership myths and focuses on what makes businesses last—trust, delegation, and the willingness to let go. William shares his approach to building high-performance teams using tools like the Culture Index, but emphasizes that real success comes from empowering people to grow—even if that means they eventually leave.

For William, leadership isn’t about control—it’s about legacy. That means creating wins for your people, investing in their growth, and building a culture that celebrates progress. It’s leadership with humility and a long view.

Want to learn more about William Bissett's work? Check out their website at http://www.portusadvisors.com.

Connect with William Bissett on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/williambissett/.

Key Points with Time Stamps

00:59 – Introduction to William Bissett, founder of Portus Wealth Advisors
03:38 – William’s key leadership lesson from watching his father: build a team
05:22 – Why hiring opposites creates real value in a business
06:16 – Using Culture Index to build a high-performance team
08:20 – The danger of being too close to your own business
10:08 – Ego-free collaboration: the key to team synergy
10:31 – Business vs. practice: can it run without you?
12:25 – Helping others win is the secret to scaling your impact
13:33 – Leadership is creating lasting personal impact
14:02 – The fear of training people who leave—and why it’s worth it
15:58 – Great teams attract talent, even when someone leaves
17:03 – The legacy of creating exceptional people
21:45 – How software and angel investing shaped William’s client focus
22:32 – Why Portus Wealth Advisors works primarily with business owners
24:02 – Transparency, vulnerability, and trust in wealth advising
25:58 – “Wishing doesn’t work”—take action, get help
26:11 – How to reach William and learn more

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment in my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on this show.

00;00;51;10 - 00;00;59;07
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome William Bissett. He is the founder and president of Portus Wealth Advisors.

00;00;59;07 - 00;01;07;17
Craig Andrews
He played a role in trying to get the startup scene going in Charlotte. He has a passion for businesses and helping businesses,

00;01;07;17 - 00;01;14;20
Craig Andrews
grow and thrive. One of the things he loves, talk about is building a business that is bigger than you.

00;01;14;25 - 00;01;34;14
Craig Andrews
One that lasts beyond you. And so that's obviously a big theme in this podcast. I think it's something every business owner, at some point in their heart wants is to make something that lasts beyond them. So it should be an interesting discussion. William, welcome.

00;01;34;17 - 00;01;37;08
William Bissett
Thank you so much for having me. Craig, I'm excited to kind of,

00;01;37;08 - 00;01;39;02
William Bissett
dive into the conversation.

00;01;39;05 - 00;01;45;11
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, and, you know, it's interesting we it took us a little bit longer to hit record. We discovered that we had,

00;01;45;19 - 00;01;48;05
Craig Andrews
I started with, hey, I noticed your phone number was,

00;01;48;05 - 00;01;56;03
Craig Andrews
was a Maryland number, you know, which is where I grew up. And you had lived up there, and you said. But I really I grew up in eastern North Carolina.

00;01;56;03 - 00;02;00;23
Craig Andrews
I'm like, well, that's interesting. I used to live in eastern North Carolina.

00;02;00;25 - 00;02;02;01
William Bissett
Yeah. No, we,

00;02;02;01 - 00;02;04;19
William Bissett
we definitely have lots in common for sure.

00;02;04;22 - 00;02;15;12
Craig Andrews
So I got a question for you living in Charlotte. Now? Yes. When you go out for barbecue, what color is it?

00;02;15;14 - 00;02;16;02
William Bissett
You know,

00;02;16;02 - 00;02;20;02
William Bissett
there's the horrible thing about Charlotte, and I'm going to give Charlotte a bad rap here.

00;02;20;02 - 00;02;22;28
William Bissett
Is is barbecue has no personality.

00;02;22;28 - 00;02;28;20
William Bissett
And so what I mean by that is most barbecue shops here in Charlotte will cook it, draw,

00;02;28;20 - 00;02;34;04
William Bissett
and then give you your three different types of sauce that you can put on it at the end.

00;02;34;07 - 00;02;39;07
William Bissett
Which is a horrible way to cook barbecue, right? I mean, you're supposed to cook it in the sauce.

00;02;39;07 - 00;02;44;25
William Bissett
And, and then present the sauce as an additional, you know, add on at the end.

00;02;44;25 - 00;02;46;06
William Bissett
But they're cooked dry

00;02;46;06 - 00;02;48;01
William Bissett
so that you can choose your own,

00;02;48;01 - 00;02;49;24
William Bissett
which oftentimes,

00;02;49;24 - 00;02;52;01
William Bissett
is, is a disappointing product.

00;02;52;01 - 00;02;54;26
William Bissett
I still give I mean, but look, I lived in Charleston, South Carolina.

00;02;54;26 - 00;02;56;05
William Bissett
I've lived in the mountains.

00;02;56;05 - 00;02;58;16
William Bissett
And obviously I grew up in East North Carolina.

00;02;58;16 - 00;03;06;17
William Bissett
I can eat any of the three. I think they're all phenomenal. Right? I love a mustard base to obviously love a vinegar base. And, I mean, who doesn't like ketchup, right? Yeah.

00;03;06;17 - 00;03;10;04
William Bissett
So it all depends on my mood for the day.

00;03;10;07 - 00;03;20;16
Craig Andrews
Yeah. There there was a time when I thought King's barbecue was good, but that was early in my barbecue journey, and I started discovering places like Wilbur's in Goldsboro and,

00;03;21;01 - 00;03;25;15
Craig Andrews
stages in Greensboro when I lived in Greensboro. Jamie's had pretty decent barbecue.

00;03;25;18 - 00;03;30;03
William Bissett
Yeah, no, Wilson's got a couple good spots. Rocky Mount Greenville has a good spot, too.

00;03;30;03 - 00;03;38;01
William Bissett
So there's. I mean, yeah. No, we again, we can devolve into a barbecue conversation for the next 30 minutes. If you want to, Craig.

00;03;38;03 - 00;04;02;04
Craig Andrews
Well, that that would be fun, but I think you have, I think you have something really interesting to say. One of the things that you told me in the green room was one of your lessons was for you to be successful, you had to have a team around you. And and that that was kind of an observation that you made from your, your dad.

00;04;02;06 - 00;04;03;23
Craig Andrews
Yeah. No.

00;04;03;25 - 00;04;08;10
William Bissett
So I, I, as I was saying, my dad started off in this business,

00;04;08;10 - 00;04;10;06
William Bissett
we started off with the idea putting,

00;04;10;06 - 00;04;19;26
William Bissett
moved up really. First securities opened up the number of securities offices in East North Carolina. Ultimately, my underlying suspicion is probably,

00;04;19;26 - 00;04;23;21
William Bissett
pushed out of wheat for securities in 1991.

00;04;23;21 - 00;04;33;12
William Bissett
And went over to LPL and was an independent advisor there for a number of years and basically was forced out of LPL in 2011.

00;04;33;14 - 00;04;39;15
William Bissett
And started doing tax returns from 2011 until the time he passed away in 2018. Dad,

00;04;39;15 - 00;04;42;10
William Bissett
always said, you know, dad can sell ice or could sell ice to a nest,

00;04;42;10 - 00;04;43;13
William Bissett
to an Eskimo.

00;04;43;13 - 00;04;48;09
William Bissett
He just would usually not deliver the ice to said Eskimo after he sold it to him.

00;04;48;09 - 00;04;52;05
William Bissett
And so watching dad kind of struggle throughout life,

00;04;52;05 - 00;05;00;16
William Bissett
it was fairly apparent to me that if he had had somebody that sat next to him that made sure the ice was delivered to the Eskimo.

00;05;00;19 - 00;05;05;27
William Bissett
So the Eskimo was not only had a good selling experience, but a good product in hand, too.

00;05;05;27 - 00;05;22;03
William Bissett
He would have been much more successful. So when I started pulling his wealth advisors in 2019, I knew I needed a team around me so that all the things that we need to do from a farm perspective get delivered by people that are really good at it.

00;05;22;05 - 00;05;27;01
William Bissett
And so, yeah, no, absolutely. It was a very crucial lesson. And,

00;05;27;01 - 00;05;36;23
William Bissett
it what I needed to, to, to do in order to be successful and what I needed to do to make sure that the clients who we work with,

00;05;36;23 - 00;05;41;13
William Bissett
were successful in, in what we were doing on their behalf.

00;05;41;16 - 00;05;57;16
Craig Andrews
You know, you know, and it's it's interesting when I've gone on to add people to my team. You know, if I'm looking for somebody who's going to work closely with me, I'm looking for the opposite of me. And,

00;05;57;16 - 00;06;06;06
Craig Andrews
because I believe that's where you get the best performance. You know, if your dad had just found another great salesperson.

00;06;06;08 - 00;06;11;25
Craig Andrews
Well, delivery that would just accelerate the problem. The speed of which delivery imploded.

00;06;11;27 - 00;06;15;18
William Bissett
Yeah. Now you're right. So now you said,

00;06;15;18 - 00;06;16;09
William Bissett
so we use,

00;06;16;09 - 00;06;18;02
William Bissett
we use culture index.

00;06;18;02 - 00;06;20;19
William Bissett
To kind of source our people, our,

00;06;20;19 - 00;06;22;11
William Bissett
from a hiring perspective.

00;06;22;11 - 00;06;30;09
William Bissett
But I always say the reality is, look, I'm just looking for smart people because I'm not right. I just want really smart people around me.

00;06;30;09 - 00;06;31;06
William Bissett
To make up for,

00;06;31;06 - 00;06;33;04
William Bissett
for for what I lack in that area.

00;06;33;05 - 00;06;34;18
William Bissett
If we've been fortunate, you know,

00;06;34;18 - 00;06;36;14
William Bissett
I mean, as, you know, as a business owner,

00;06;36;14 - 00;06;44;00
William Bissett
as you start to build and, create momentum. You know, the fortunate thing is, is really smart people want to be part of momentum.

00;06;44;00 - 00;06;48;23
William Bissett
And so they come out of the woodwork. So we've got some really smart people that are here helping us.

00;06;48;26 - 00;06;51;11
Craig Andrews
Now, now, what's culture index?

00;06;51;14 - 00;06;53;17
William Bissett
It's a personality profile.

00;06;53;17 - 00;06;54;11
William Bissett
So,

00;06;54;11 - 00;06;58;19
William Bissett
it's a more accurate personality profile.

00;06;58;19 - 00;07;01;06
William Bissett
Based on all the studies that I've seen.

00;07;01;06 - 00;07;13;14
William Bissett
Their licenses across the country that you can tap into that kind of help you understand, you know, what your personality is, and then the licenses work with business owners, which is great for this, you know, group here.

00;07;13;16 - 00;07;30;20
William Bissett
They work with business owners to help them understand, you know, exactly you know, what they need in a particular position. And then to start to you know, find out what personalities would fit within that. And then, you know, they give the personality profile of it to potential job candidates.

00;07;30;20 - 00;07;34;07
William Bissett
And those job candidates, you know, either fit the personality or they don't.

00;07;34;07 - 00;07;38;14
William Bissett
They try to figure out, well, if we hire them and they don't will fit or will or not.

00;07;38;14 - 00;07;42;03
William Bissett
So anyways, it's just another tool in the toolkit, right?

00;07;42;06 - 00;07;49;03
Craig Andrews
You know. Yeah. And that's and I think that's so valuable because, you know, one of the things I use,

00;07;49;03 - 00;08;04;22
Craig Andrews
so people sometimes look at my marketing and try to copy it, I'm like, don't copy my marketing, copy my clients. If you're going to copy something, client copy my client's marketing. My marketing sucks. And and the reason is it's hard to do surgery on yourself.

00;08;04;27 - 00;08;07;03
William Bissett
It really is. No.

00;08;07;03 - 00;08;08;09
William Bissett
No, I mean, you're right. I mean,

00;08;08;09 - 00;08;09;23
William Bissett
it goes back to,

00;08;09;23 - 00;08;11;26
William Bissett
you know, we've talked we talked a little bit about it,

00;08;11;26 - 00;08;13;29
William Bissett
in the green, in the green room. It's,

00;08;13;29 - 00;08;20;23
William Bissett
it's hard to diagnose kind of where you are and where you're trying to get to because you're constantly,

00;08;20;23 - 00;08;21;24
William Bissett
you're constantly in your way.

00;08;21;24 - 00;08;49;10
William Bissett
Right? There's so many things swirling around. And just to be, just sit back and verbalize it with somebody else really helps you, helps them see the picture that you're trying to create without all the noise. Right? You've got all the noise internally and what's going on, or what the business can do or what the right. You see all the you see all the dirty and wonderful aspects of the business and being able to verbalize that with somebody else and have them help you dissect it and, and,

00;08;49;10 - 00;08;58;09
William Bissett
and find out where it sits and wherever they're ranges, whether this is CFO or CMO or whoever it ends up being to drive that business forward.

00;08;58;09 - 00;08;59;01
William Bissett
So,

00;08;59;01 - 00;09;02;12
William Bissett
it is hard to do it on yourself 100%, I get it, yes.

00;09;02;14 - 00;09;05;07
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, somebody who works for me is,

00;09;05;07 - 00;09;09;13
Craig Andrews
lady named Laina. She's worked for me a long time. Worked for five years, then,

00;09;09;13 - 00;09;22;04
Craig Andrews
stepped away for five years and then came back. And she's amazing. And she's all the time finding little detail errors in my work. And every time that happens, I don't get upset. I'm like, thank you.

00;09;22;04 - 00;09;33;17
Craig Andrews
I'm so glad. That's why I hired you, you know, is I need somebody around me that's really, really good at those details to make sure those, those small things don't fall through the cracks.

00;09;33;19 - 00;09;36;20
William Bissett
Man, checking your ego at the door every morning, right?

00;09;36;20 - 00;09;38;00
William Bissett
Right. Like you're great.

00;09;38;00 - 00;09;40;11
William Bissett
You're great at what you do.

00;09;40;11 - 00;09;42;16
William Bissett
But you're not created everything.

00;09;42;16 - 00;09;54;16
William Bissett
And having somebody come in and look at you, look at what you've put together and give their perspective and their spin on it right there. She's greater detail. Somebody else might be,

00;09;54;16 - 00;09;55;13
William Bissett
graded color.

00;09;55;13 - 00;09;58;23
William Bissett
And you're colorblind. I mean, who knows? Right. And so,

00;09;58;23 - 00;10;06;12
William Bissett
yeah, having that team around you where everybody excels in different areas,

00;10;06;12 - 00;10;08;28
William Bissett
and they check their egos at the door.

00;10;08;28 - 00;10;13;06
William Bissett
Right now you're starting to build a pretty powerful entity right there. So,

00;10;13;06 - 00;10;14;08
William Bissett
so, yeah, no,

00;10;14;08 - 00;10;23;12
William Bissett
culture index, whatever it is. Right. Just hiring some people that are different than you and then understanding and appreciating what they bring to the table.

00;10;23;14 - 00;10;25;19
William Bissett
Right. That starts to create,

00;10;25;19 - 00;10;28;12
William Bissett
synergy in a powerful business for sure.

00;10;28;14 - 00;10;31;22
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, I had,

00;10;31;22 - 00;10;50;29
Craig Andrews
there's a mentor in my life who said. He said, you need to know if you're if you have a business or if you have a practice. And he said the easiest way to check is if you have a practice, if you step away and business stops.

00;10;51;01 - 00;10;52;06
William Bissett
Yeah. No.

00;10;52;06 - 00;10;53;27
William Bissett
You found out you had a business when,

00;10;53;27 - 00;10;59;17
William Bissett
when you were going through your struggles, right? The the fact that your, your team and so many other people,

00;10;59;17 - 00;11;02;14
William Bissett
kept running as a smooth operating entity,

00;11;02;14 - 00;11;05;22
William Bissett
really validated your your work over the years. So,

00;11;05;22 - 00;11;08;24
William Bissett
no, I mean, it's so true. I mean, business owners get,

00;11;08;24 - 00;11;10;03
William Bissett
you know, I mean,

00;11;10;03 - 00;11;12;08
William Bissett
specifically early on, right?

00;11;12;08 - 00;11;12;21
William Bissett
We all,

00;11;12;21 - 00;11;16;23
William Bissett
It's so much our baby,

00;11;16;23 - 00;11;21;21
William Bissett
right, that we just won't need our hands in every aspect of it.

00;11;21;21 - 00;11;27;23
William Bissett
And some people never are able to let go of it, right? Like, they they stay in the business forever.

00;11;27;23 - 00;11;34;26
William Bissett
And then, you know, there are others that recognize that in order for it to flourish and to allow other people to flourish,

00;11;34;26 - 00;11;38;22
William Bissett
that they've got to step out and let other people excel and win.

00;11;38;24 - 00;11;41;29
William Bissett
Right? Like, I mean, you think about,

00;11;41;29 - 00;11;48;05
William Bissett
people want to create wins, right? Like we all want to create wins. And God knows, you go back to Little League,

00;11;48;05 - 00;11;50;02
William Bissett
Little League baseball and,

00;11;50;02 - 00;11;53;17
William Bissett
everybody want to get on base, right? Everybody wanted to score, run.

00;11;53;17 - 00;11;58;03
William Bissett
They, they wanted to create that success, that feeling of I did something

00;11;58;03 - 00;12;07;18
William Bissett
and as a business owner, if you if you don't recognize that, then you hold people back and it's, you know, and it's, it's your thing.

00;12;07;18 - 00;12;10;11
William Bissett
You're not allowing them to grow.

00;12;10;11 - 00;12;21;21
William Bissett
But if you recognize that, hey, man, this person wants to get on first base and then they want to move from second, third and fourth as well, like, what can I do to help them be successful and help them thrive and learn and grow?

00;12;21;21 - 00;12;25;04
William Bissett
And then that comes back and it two things, right?

00;12;25;04 - 00;12;27;08
William Bissett
That person is going to love you forever.

00;12;27;08 - 00;12;41;20
William Bissett
And then second of all, it's going to help your business continue to grow and flourish as well, because you now have somebody that's invested in in creating wins. And those wins or for them is the Windsor for the client and the wins or for you as the business owner as well.

00;12;41;20 - 00;12;42;20
William Bissett
So,

00;12;42;20 - 00;12;46;26
William Bissett
and then you and and then that person will get married and you'll go to the wedding and,

00;12;46;26 - 00;12;47;10
William Bissett
you'll,

00;12;47;10 - 00;12;53;26
William Bissett
give birthday presents on the first birthday and the 16th birthday, whether or not that person is with you or not. I mean, I always remember,

00;12;53;26 - 00;12;55;28
William Bissett
one of my mentors, Dwight Michaelis, at that,

00;12;55;28 - 00;12;57;23
William Bissett
at pinnacle.

00;12;57;26 - 00;13;02;12
William Bissett
Their first investment analyst that they hired ended up leaving the firm,

00;13;02;12 - 00;13;05;15
William Bissett
to go to a larger firm for, you know, great opportunity.

00;13;05;15 - 00;13;07;15
William Bissett
She loved the area.

00;13;07;15 - 00;13;14;07
William Bissett
But as a result of being in the Columbia DC market, she came back on a regular basis. And every time she came back, she,

00;13;14;07 - 00;13;16;22
William Bissett
she went grab lunch with Dwight.

00;13;16;24 - 00;13;23;25
William Bissett
And so. Right, like, that's that's impactful. Ryan. It's ten, 15 years later that she was still coming back to have lunch.

00;13;23;25 - 00;13;26;10
William Bissett
Because of the impact that he had on her.

00;13;26;10 - 00;13;31;27
William Bissett
And he was always so excited to see her. And they were always talking about her kids and her family and everything else. And,

00;13;31;27 - 00;13;33;02
William Bissett
you know, it's just a good lesson.

00;13;33;02 - 00;13;35;15
William Bissett
And, you know, I always say, do the right thing,

00;13;35;15 - 00;13;38;05
William Bissett
you know, do the right thing by your employees, do the right thing by your,

00;13;38;05 - 00;13;43;14
William Bissett
your clients and most of the time, the rest of it will take care of itself.

00;13;43;16 - 00;14;02;23
Craig Andrews
You know, I think one of the fears, though, is, hey, if I really train this person, I make them really good at what I do or what my business does, they may leave and start competing against me, may get hired by somebody else and compete against me, and I would. How do you process that?

00;14;02;25 - 00;14;10;20
William Bissett
Yeah. So from a so we work as a wealth management group. We work primarily with business owners. Right.

00;14;10;20 - 00;14;15;26
William Bissett
And so I always talk about what we do and why we do it,

00;14;15;26 - 00;14;28;23
William Bissett
with our potential clients that are coming on board. And it's kind of in the same vein. Right. Which is our goal with business owners is to educate them around the things that they don't understand around personal finance,

00;14;28;23 - 00;14;31;09
William Bissett
as well as things around the execution of their business.

00;14;31;09 - 00;14;42;14
William Bissett
Right. Like we before they go update their state documents, we want to update them on what estate planning is, why wills function this way, why trust wildlife insurers? Why these different components,

00;14;42;14 - 00;14;51;13
William Bissett
so that when they sit down and talk to the state attorney, they can actually have an engaging conversation, right? Because otherwise, if you go talk to an estate attorney, the state attorney's going to talk to you.

00;14;51;15 - 00;14;54;06
William Bissett
You don't have any idea with the estate attorney saying,

00;14;54;06 - 00;15;01;14
William Bissett
because that's not your world. You just nod your head and agree. So, like, we want to educate them on estate planning, taxes,

00;15;01;14 - 00;15;02;15
William Bissett
insurance,

00;15;02;15 - 00;15;05;06
William Bissett
you know, the underlying operations of their business,

00;15;05;06 - 00;15;12;25
William Bissett
how businesses get sold, how many people were all of those different things, right. Like, we want to educate the crap out of them.

00;15;12;28 - 00;15;15;01
William Bissett
So much so that they don't need us.

00;15;15;01 - 00;15;21;11
William Bissett
Right. Like our goal would be if we were educated around estate planning. They don't need us in estate planning anymore.

00;15;21;11 - 00;15;25;03
William Bissett
If we've educated around taxes and they can converse with their CPA.

00;15;25;03 - 00;15;28;04
William Bissett
But if we do a really good job at educating our clients,

00;15;28;04 - 00;15;33;13
William Bissett
they're not going to leave us because they continue to want more out of us.

00;15;33;16 - 00;15;58;09
William Bissett
Right. They've grown as individuals. They've grown as in their own financial world. And I think about it the same thing with employees, right? Like if we if we invest that much into our employees, it's really hard for somebody else to come and say, well, you know, come work with me. This is what we do, right? Like they've create you've created that growth and energy and passion within that person.

00;15;58;11 - 00;16;08;23
William Bissett
And it's not going to be a complete and total handcuff. Right? I mean, somebody comes and offers to double their salary. It's hard to kind of turn that up or turn away from that.

00;16;08;23 - 00;16;17;23
William Bissett
But I think if you do a great job, it it training and educating your employees, it's a difficult place from the leap from,

00;16;17;23 - 00;16;26;28
William Bissett
and if you've done a great job at training and educating your employees, it's going to make hiring their replacement if they do go away that much easier.

00;16;27;00 - 00;16;27;25
William Bissett
Because,

00;16;27;25 - 00;16;32;02
William Bissett
you know what you need. You know, the personality is, you know, the skill set is,

00;16;32;02 - 00;16;39;17
William Bissett
and then that person's created a role this desirable, more desirable for somebody else to come in and fill. Right. So,

00;16;39;17 - 00;16;42;26
William Bissett
you I mean, life's all about challenges and opportunities, right? Correct.

00;16;42;26 - 00;16;45;17
William Bissett
Yeah. And so that,

00;16;45;17 - 00;16;50;11
William Bissett
you know, the challenges is if they leave, then it sucks.

00;16;50;14 - 00;16;58;22
William Bissett
But the cool thing is, is there's now an opportunity to bring somebody else on board that wouldn't have been there otherwise. And that person could very well,

00;16;58;22 - 00;17;03;03
William Bissett
put the business into a different place that you weren't really thinking about.

00;17;03;05 - 00;17;26;20
Craig Andrews
Well, have you ever seen those companies where somebody says, oh, I just hired so-and-so from this company, and everybody cheered. Since like, wow, that that was a good pick. Yeah. I want won't be one of those companies that people celebrate and their friends like, wow, you hired somebody away from Craig. That's. You got a gem. Yeah, I think I think you only rise to the top.

00;17;26;23 - 00;17;36;00
Craig Andrews
Yeah, I, I don't think there's those type of companies. I mean, eventually over enough time, you know, Motorola used to be one of those companies. Yeah.

00;17;36;00 - 00;17;36;26
William Bissett
And IBM here in,

00;17;36;26 - 00;17;38;06
William Bissett
North Carolina, right.

00;17;38;08 - 00;17;38;29
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;17;39;01 - 00;17;39;23
William Bissett
Yeah.

00;17;39;26 - 00;17;49;03
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And that's I think that's nothing to fear. I think it's something to celebrate. And sure, some good people are going to leave.

00;17;49;03 - 00;17;52;13
Craig Andrews
But I think it only bolsters your reputation,

00;17;52;13 - 00;17;56;21
Craig Andrews
when, you know, when the people they poach from you are really exceptional people.

00;17;56;23 - 00;18;06;29
William Bissett
Yeah, no, I agree, I mean, look, I mean, people come and go in your life all the time too, though, right? Like, I mean, gosh knows, we lived in Baltimore for six years. We made really good friends there.

00;18;06;29 - 00;18;13;09
William Bissett
I don't talk to most of those people who were really good friends in Baltimore and, gosh knows, at least ten years.

00;18;13;09 - 00;18;14;04
William Bissett
Right.

00;18;14;04 - 00;18;18;19
William Bissett
And I mean, the same thing is true in business, right? Like good people come and go.

00;18;18;19 - 00;18;23;09
William Bissett
And that doesn't make it a bad thing. It just makes it life.

00;18;23;09 - 00;18;38;07
William Bissett
And we've just got to, Look, if you fear that if you educate and train and whatnot, really good people, they're going to leave. The alternative is you don't train of the head people, right?

00;18;38;10 - 00;18;40;09
William Bissett
They're not good at their job.

00;18;40;09 - 00;18;48;14
William Bissett
Well, that's not good for the business either. That means in order for the job to get done, that you stick your hand down in there, do it, and we're all the way back into. You have a,

00;18;48;14 - 00;18;50;09
William Bissett
you have a practice, not a company.

00;18;50;09 - 00;18;52;03
William Bissett
That's not the result that you pull right?

00;18;52;03 - 00;18;52;26
William Bissett
So,

00;18;52;26 - 00;19;00;12
William Bissett
yeah, sure. Grow the heck out of them. And, and, you know, if they leave and grow the heck out on the next person.

00;19;00;14 - 00;19;00;28
Craig Andrews
You know?

00;19;00;28 - 00;19;05;05
William Bissett
But, I mean, it goes back to like, your, your podcast, right? Legacies.

00;19;05;05 - 00;19;08;21
William Bissett
You want to legacy of creating fantastic people,

00;19;08;21 - 00;19;13;24
William Bissett
that you know, I mean, none of us necessarily want to depart this earth.

00;19;13;24 - 00;19;27;17
William Bissett
But who come to that ceremony or celebration of life or whatever you want to call it, and they tell the story about how you change the direction of their life based on, you know, what you did for them, right?

00;19;27;21 - 00;19;29;16
William Bissett
That's pretty damn cool.

00;19;29;16 - 00;19;35;15
William Bissett
Get your employees to to speak at that. Right. Line up the microphone for 30 deep.

00;19;35;15 - 00;19;38;14
William Bissett
And let that be the lasting memory.

00;19;38;16 - 00;19;52;10
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. So, so you work primarily with businesses. You you're not taking your clients tend to be business owners.

00;19;52;12 - 00;19;53;29
William Bissett
Correct.

00;19;54;02 - 00;20;02;14
Craig Andrews
And what's kind of what was your goal in choosing that versus just anybody with money?

00;20;02;16 - 00;20;02;28
William Bissett
You know,

00;20;02;28 - 00;20;05;24
William Bissett
it's like life. It just happened. Right? Correct.

00;20;05;24 - 00;20;08;21
William Bissett
So I actually started when I was with,

00;20;08;21 - 00;20;09;18
William Bissett
a previous firm,

00;20;09;18 - 00;20;23;24
William Bissett
in Columbia in 2008, from 2005 to 2015. In 2011, when we moved down here to Charlotte, had a client that got me to build a spreadsheet. Numbers around estate administration, planning or whatnot.

00;20;23;27 - 00;20;29;01
William Bissett
And so I started that spreadsheet. I turned it into a software,

00;20;29;01 - 00;20;30;17
William Bissett
with my wife's permission.

00;20;30;17 - 00;20;35;03
William Bissett
I told her I needed to spend X dollars. It ended up being that I spent X plus dollars,

00;20;35;03 - 00;20;37;13
William Bissett
because that's the way business goes, right?

00;20;37;13 - 00;20;42;05
William Bissett
Wrote a lot in peer reviewed journal articles, which is a whole different story.

00;20;42;05 - 00;20;45;27
William Bissett
If anybody ever wants to write peer reviewed journal articles, my advice is don't,

00;20;45;27 - 00;20;47;15
William Bissett
that's a big learning curve.

00;20;47;15 - 00;20;48;15
William Bissett
But anyways, got,

00;20;48;15 - 00;20;52;17
William Bissett
as a result of those articles that I wrote, I got picked up in the New York Times,

00;20;52;17 - 00;20;59;08
William Bissett
and the Wall Street Journal. We ended up having about a thousand 1500 users on our platform.

00;20;59;10 - 00;21;04;01
William Bissett
After that New York Times article dropped, most of them fell off because,

00;21;04;01 - 00;21;11;08
William Bissett
I thought that was all it was going to take. And that made for a pretty crappy business. I shut that business down in 2015.

00;21;11;08 - 00;21;15;05
William Bissett
And as we were talking about earlier, I joined the Charlotte Angel fund,

00;21;15;05 - 00;21;19;23
William Bissett
launched my own podcast that we ran until two years ago.

00;21;19;25 - 00;21;25;16
William Bissett
But as a result of being part of the Charlotte Angel fund and getting to know people in that community,

00;21;25;16 - 00;21;33;19
William Bissett
I learned a boatload more about business. Right? As you see, a bunch of startups come and talk about growth and positioning their business.

00;21;33;19 - 00;21;37;20
William Bissett
But it also just put me around more people that work with business owners.

00;21;37;22 - 00;21;42;23
William Bissett
And as you do good work and people appreciate, see what you do.

00;21;42;23 - 00;21;45;03
William Bissett
Referrals just started coming in the door.

00;21;45;03 - 00;21;47;29
William Bissett
And those referrals just happened to be other business owners.

00;21;47;29 - 00;22;05;00
William Bissett
And so the next thing we knew, we woke up one day and over 50% of our clients were small business owners, and something like 80% of the clients that came to us from 2001 or 2021 since have been small business owners and say, well, what are we doing with small business owners that's causing this to happen?

00;22;05;00 - 00;22;11;27
William Bissett
And then so we just kind of really started developing our process around the business owner,

00;22;11;27 - 00;22;18;06
William Bissett
and the business owners needs their family, the business, the exit, all of those different things.

00;22;18;06 - 00;22;24;07
William Bissett
So it goes all the way back, like I wanted that software to be really cool and to be a huge success.

00;22;24;07 - 00;22;28;05
William Bissett
But it completely changed my life in so many different ways.

00;22;28;07 - 00;22;32;17
William Bissett
One of which being the types of clients we ended up working with.

00;22;32;19 - 00;22;46;28
Craig Andrews
Very cool. Now, one of the things, one of the challenges about working with a wealth advisor is, you know, you're kind of opening up the kimono and,

00;22;46;28 - 00;22;59;26
Craig Andrews
you know, most of us have things that we're not terribly proud of, you know, maybe decisions we made or the speed at which we've been working be to.

00;22;59;28 - 00;23;03;12
William Bissett
Yeah. Now I get it. So,

00;23;03;12 - 00;23;05;23
William Bissett
No, I mean, we do, right? I mean,

00;23;05;23 - 00;23;13;17
William Bissett
But the same thing can be about, I mean, we were talking about earlier, right? When same thing be said about our health,

00;23;13;17 - 00;23;15;02
William Bissett
our fitness. Right.

00;23;15;02 - 00;23;17;07
William Bissett
You know, decisions that we've made.

00;23;17;07 - 00;23;21;08
William Bissett
But ignoring that, does it make it go away, right.

00;23;21;08 - 00;23;23;01
William Bissett
Like I've got a knee problem.

00;23;23;01 - 00;23;26;09
William Bissett
I was running last year and ended up hard money, and,

00;23;26;09 - 00;23;28;23
William Bissett
I ended up not going to the doctor,

00;23;28;23 - 00;23;32;07
William Bissett
for eight weeks, which was a horribly stupid decision.

00;23;32;07 - 00;23;37;05
William Bissett
I just hope that I was 16 again and that the knee problem would eventually go away.

00;23;37;05 - 00;23;44;16
William Bissett
And it didn't enough. I finally ended up going to a physical therapist and had some work done on it and made it a little bit better.

00;23;44;18 - 00;23;46;25
William Bissett
But it didn't make it completely better.

00;23;46;25 - 00;23;51;20
William Bissett
So I ended up going to the doctor and got an x ray, a couple, I don't know, two months ago.

00;23;51;20 - 00;23;54;20
William Bissett
And he said it's either arthritis or you've torn your meniscus.

00;23;54;20 - 00;23;56;26
William Bissett
So I'm gonna give you a cortisone shot, and,

00;23;56;26 - 00;23;59;11
William Bissett
if that doesn't work, then come back, we'll do an MRI.

00;23;59;13 - 00;24;02;14
William Bissett
We'll figure out what you need to do from a surgery perspective.

00;24;02;14 - 00;24;20;18
William Bissett
And my knee still hurt, is still swelled, but I kept hoping that it was going to like it was going to go away. Right. And not surprisingly, Craig, it has it gone away. Right. So just because we had these things that if we ignore them, they're just not going to make them better, right.

00;24;20;18 - 00;24;21;10
William Bissett
Like,

00;24;24;14 - 00;24;29;21
Craig Andrews
Well, I think it's probably a little bit like what we were talking about in the green room for me going to Camp Gladiator.

00;24;29;23 - 00;24;31;18
William Bissett
Yeah.

00;24;31;20 - 00;24;34;22
Craig Andrews
You know, I'm where I'm out at Camp Gladiator.

00;24;34;22 - 00;24;39;29
Craig Andrews
If you don't know my backstory, I seem kind of slow and get out of breath easily.

00;24;39;29 - 00;24;49;01
Craig Andrews
And so easy for me to worry about how people are looking at me. But the people that know my story, they're like, dude, you're working and you're you're you're improving every day.

00;24;49;03 - 00;24;50;03
William Bissett
Yeah.

00;24;50;03 - 00;24;55;13
William Bissett
No, I mean it. Look, we we all have things that we wish were better.

00;24;55;13 - 00;24;58;04
William Bissett
But wishing they were better is not going to make them that way.

00;24;58;04 - 00;25;07;26
William Bissett
So partnering with the right people, whether or not as people can't. Gladiator to help you in your progress, whether or not or so you know both advisor helping

00;25;07;26 - 00;25;18;23
William Bissett
you in the progress around your personal wealth whether or not it's your company that needs additional marketing support and you want it to be right, you need more clients, and marketing is going to be a way to help generate that, right?

00;25;18;23 - 00;25;21;08
William Bissett
Like, I mean, you're right there, right? There's,

00;25;21;08 - 00;25;24;05
William Bissett
wishing it to be better doesn't make it that way.

00;25;24;05 - 00;25;27;25
William Bissett
And yeah, we get in there and we see a lot of things,

00;25;27;25 - 00;25;29;03
William Bissett
and,

00;25;29;03 - 00;25;32;02
William Bissett
but I promise, most of us are fairly nice.

00;25;32;02 - 00;25;33;00
William Bissett
We're funny.

00;25;33;00 - 00;25;36;03
William Bissett
I think that's our key advantage. Writers were freaking hilarious.

00;25;36;03 - 00;25;39;05
William Bissett
And so we're at least we try to take the load off.

00;25;39;05 - 00;25;41;28
Craig Andrews
A little bit in some of those conversations.

00;25;42;00 - 00;25;43;10
William Bissett
So, yeah, no,

00;25;43;10 - 00;25;45;29
William Bissett
we're going to find out some things that you,

00;25;45;29 - 00;25;54;00
William Bissett
did or, or whatnot. And I mean, like I said, I mean, I've made plenty of bad decisions, right? I mean, you want to have bad decision conversations.

00;25;54;00 - 00;25;58;12
William Bissett
Let's let's giddy up and go, right? I mean, and we'll share those with our clients as well.

00;25;58;12 - 00;25;59;05
William Bissett
So,

00;25;59;05 - 00;26;01;09
William Bissett
so, yeah. No, it's it's a,

00;26;01;09 - 00;26;06;00
William Bissett
it is a it becomes an open book and that's okay.

00;26;06;03 - 00;26;11;14
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, good. Well, William, how can people reach you?

00;26;11;16 - 00;26;12;11
William Bissett
Yeah. No. So,

00;26;12;11 - 00;26;13;22
William Bissett
fairly easily.

00;26;13;22 - 00;26;14;04
William Bissett
Yeah.

00;26;14;11 - 00;26;16;03
William Bissett
Somewhat active on LinkedIn.

00;26;16;03 - 00;26;17;18
William Bissett
So LinkedIn is a fairly decent,

00;26;17;18 - 00;26;19;09
William Bissett
place or website.

00;26;19;09 - 00;26;26;18
William Bissett
WW advisors.com, and then my email address is fairly simple. It's William at Portis advisors.com as well. So

00;26;26;18 - 00;26;27;16
William Bissett
fairly simple.

00;26;27;16 - 00;26;30;04
William Bissett
No complexity in that email address.

00;26;30;06 - 00;26;32;19
Craig Andrews
Well excellent. Well thanks for coming on Leaders and Legacies.

00;26;32;25 - 00;26;36;28
William Bissett
Thanks so much for having me, Greg. And I enjoyed our conversation now, as well as the,

00;26;36;28 - 00;26;40;01
William Bissett
as the lead into the green room. As we found out, all of our,

00;26;40;01 - 00;26;42;10
William Bissett
twists and turns and paths. Right?

00;26;42;12 - 00;26;45;22
Craig Andrews
Yep. And spin. Good.

00;26;45;22 - 00;27;12;18
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Ally's for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this

00;27;12;18 - 00;27;14;13
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.

00;27;14;15 - 00;27;37;25
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest. Tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;27;37;27 - 00;27;46;02
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up. Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.

00;27;46;02 - 00;29;48;07
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Ally's for me.com. Or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.