Brett Gilliland and Tim Hammett share an exceptional bond that extends beyond their roles as business partners at Visionary Wealth Advisors, as they have become friends over nine successful years as partners. In their discussion, Tim Hammett highlights his three core values – trust, respect, and humility – and emphasizes the significance of aligning these values professionally and personally. As the conversation transitions, Brett dives into each circuit of the Circuit of Success to unravel their meanings and how to incorporate these principles into daily activities and routines. Listen in as Brett and Tim recount Brett’s lucky shot and their incredible journey as friends and colleagues.
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Tim Hammett: Big day to be hanging out in this wonderful new studio. Wow. Welcome you to the Circuit of Success Podcast. Let’s start show.
Brett Gilliland: Welcome to the Circuit of Success. I’m your host, Brett Gilliland, and today you can probably see my smile on my face if you’re watching this cuz I’ve got my good buddy Tim Hammett. Tim’s what’s going on.
Tim Hammett: Good morning.
Brett Gilliland: How are you?
Tim Hammett: Wonderful.
Brett Gilliland: Welcome to the Visionary Studio. Is this not amazing?
Tim Hammett: It looks absolutely beautiful. It’s been, uh, in the planning for a while, so it’s good to see the finished product.
Brett Gilliland: I, uh, I think we we’ll have the naming rights for a while, the Visionary Wealth Advisors Studio. For the circumstances.
Tim Hammett: So if I pay enough money, could I have my name?
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: As the Hammer.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Podcast Studio.
Brett Gilliland: We’ll do that. The Tim Hammett or Hammer podcast studio.
Tim Hammett: I think we could.
Brett Gilliland: Brought to you by the Hammer Studios. Uh, well, hey man, we are here, uh, today and, uh, it’s hard to believe that we are nine plus years in the building. Visionary Wealth Advisors. Can you believe that?
Tim Hammett: Uh, it went so fast and it does seem like it’s yesterday, but then you start to see, we’re getting older. Our kids are getting older. And then you realize it’s almost a decade.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah, it’s crazy. Long time. Your kids were little now you got one Gonna be graduating college soon.
Tim Hammett: Yeah. Yeah. 21, 19 and 16 now.
Brett Gilliland: Crazy.
Tim Hammett: All of ’em driving.
Brett Gilliland: Crazy.
Tim Hammett: Two in college.
Brett Gilliland: I got three teenagers now. I didn’t even have a fourth kid when we started the company.
Tim Hammett: I was gonna say you just had your fourth child.
Brett Gilliland: I did. At the time we were started Visionary Wealth Advisors. And then, uh, on March 24th, 2014, and then on off, uh, see, that’d be April 29th, 2014, Asher was born.
So one month into our business. So, well we could reminisce about that, but I would like to go back and, uh, we’re gonna have all sorts of things we’re gonna talk about today, but let’s go back and, uh, Do you remember the phone call when, uh, you, you looked at your screen and it said, Brett Gilliland or whatever you would’ve called me on your phone at that time. Um, do you remember the phone call, uh, when I called you to talk about business advice?
Tim Hammett: I do. Just like it was yesterday. I remember where I was standing in my office. I remember looking out my window, looking out into, uh, the parking lot of our prior business building.
Um, Just literally like it was yesterday.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: Pretty crazy. And so when you think back on that, that, that call, because if, if my mind, uh, my memory serves me correctly, I believe it was about a four hour phone call that neither one of us had planned.
Tim Hammett: That’s right. Because I think it would’ve been almost exactly at lunchtime, about 12 noon.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: And then, uh, I was in a prior meeting to that. And that meeting always adjourns about noon.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: And then you called.
Brett Gilliland: So I remember I called Tim and I, I, I was thinking to him, and again, a little bit about this, uh, the history of Visionary and then, uh, I also want to talk about values and what it means to, uh, just your own personal beliefs, but then to a culture and just, and you, you as a human being, right?
I think those are, are critically important. So, um, but when we talked for four hours, I remember I called Tim and I was like, Hey, what keeps you happy, right, in, in your practice and thinking that I would get all sorts of great, you know, news and wisdom and, and you know, it’d be a 30 minute conference call and the rest is history.
Well, that, that again turned into a four hour conference call and us starting Visionary Wealth Advisors. So for you, what was it that you wanted to take this leap? You wanted to take this step, you wanted to go out and start a company? You know, I’ve said it before, like it, it’s, it’s pretty difficult. I think you’re just gonna go start this new wealth management company, right?
A new adv and new website and new logo and name and you know, people and real estate and all the stuff right. That we’ve had to do over the years. But what was it about you that made you think, yeah, you know what, man, I can, I can pull that off.
Tim Hammett: That’s a phenomenal question. Um, I think at that stage in my professional life, I had been, uh, in the industry for 22 years at that time.
And I think there was a, a desire to take the client relationships to a higher level, to have, um, a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the clients. And I knew we could do it. Um, I knew there was opportunities in the marketplace to do that. I think culture. Is extremely important in any organization.
And I was seeking, uh, again, to expand and grow beyond the culture that I was at at that time.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Yeah. So now, fast forwarding the nine, nine plus years, and, and you’re sitting here today and you’re in our Visionary studio, what do you, what do you think? How, how do you feel you, we pulled it off.
Tim Hammett: It was hard.
I mean, I won’t, I won’t lie. It was.
Brett Gilliland: It was and is.
Tim Hammett: It was and is. It’s not easy to do, uh, what we had done, but I think it was worth it. Every moment of it is worth it. Because I think the culture that we have today, and it’s the people, you know, any organization that’s just made up of, of human beings, Wonderful human beings.
And I tell my friends, my family, um, from both aspects, we have the best clients in the world and we have the best teammates and associates that make up our day-to-day culture. And for me, that’s worth it. You know, even if the business aspect of, um, running, running an organization, you know, profits and growth, even if those things were average.
It was 100% worth it for culture and people.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, for me it’s having the, the trust and, and faith and attitude and action and beliefs and all those things in ourself. And I, I led with that word trust on purpose because you probably know where I’m going and people that, especially people that work in our firm know.
Uh, those words, if I ask anybody in our firm for those watching this, if, if I said, name Tim Hammett’s, three values, they would be able to spit ’em off, right? Trust, respect, humility. Okay.
Tim Hammett: Absolutely.
Brett Gilliland: So we’re gonna dive into values cuz I think that is so critically important for us as human beings and leaders and parents and, and spouses and friends, is to have that values alignment.
Right. And I think our values can either be aligned or misaligned. And thankfully for us, our values have been aligned for nine plus years. So, but when I say trust, respect, humility. Do you recall where you happened to find those three words? That now you’ve made them part of your life. Do you remember like a process or where those came about, those three words?
Tim Hammett: Absolutely. Yeah. I had a business mentor and a business coach that I work with now. It’s been over probably 25 years ago. And Ted, who is still a very close friend of mine today, and Bob was my mentor. Very wonderful people. And it’s interesting cuz Ted had asked me a question, you know what is important to me.
What’s the most important elements to my life? We would say values. And it took a long time to be able to articulate that. Um, it was a journey going back really to childhood, um, life experiences, I think through joy and tragedy that makes up the fabric of a person’s life. And we spent probably two to three years talking through that.
And there was experiences, um, That happened to me, I guess you’d say, or that impacted me as a younger person and we came up with those three core values. Trust, respect, humility. And I’ll pause there for a second cuz you made a comment a minute ago about our professional and uh, personal relationship, and I’m convinced the reason that we’ve had such a successful period of time, the last nine years is I have a deep values connection with you because I do feel respected. I do feel trust, uh, from you. I feel trusted, and then you treat me with humility. So as long as my values are being met and my needs are being met, Um, I’m fulfilled as a person and as a professional, so thank you for that.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah, absolutely. And thank you. Let, let’s elaborate on some of those. So trust, when you, again, let’s speak that word only trust. What does that mean to you? How do you, how does Tim Hammett define the word trust?
Tim Hammett: I think trust is, um, something that has to be earned over a period of time, and I think through consistency of, um, behavior.
Consistency of doing what you say you’re gonna do. Integrity. I might be able to earn someone’s trust over a period of time, but obviously it can never be commanded or demanded any of these values. Um, and I’ll go backwards, I think. Maybe the context of this. Early in my career, we’re in the financial services industry.
So, um, as a younger person, I started when I was really age 22.
Brett Gilliland: Right.
Tim Hammett: And, you know, had no knowledge, had no life wisdom, had no experience. Um, the relationships with clients were more transactional. They were, it was more of a, a commodity, the services that I was helping people with and did not feel deep sense of trust.
I hadn’t earned it.
Brett Gilliland: Right.
Tim Hammett: For my clients. And that feeling was so, um, thin or so hollow. I did not want that as a professional as I aged. That was really where it started from.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, um, which probably then leads you into the word respect because why?
Tim Hammett: Well, I think I had another good friend of mine said, you know, any relationship, it can never thrive without respect.
No relationship can thrive without a foundation of respect and…
Brett Gilliland: Two-way street. Right?
Tim Hammett: Yeah. Very much so. Yeah.
Brett Gilliland: Right.
Tim Hammett: Yeah, very much so. Yeah. Yes. And, and let’s pause there for a second because what I think I’ve learned over the last nine years is that when a relationship has not come to fruition or not been sustained, there has been a break in values.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Um, other, you know, Businesses that we have to deal with, uh, you might call it vendors or other professionals. Um, any of our team members, if there has not been trust, respect, and humility, the relationship hasn’t thrived and ultimately many times ceases.
Brett Gilliland: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So again, so trust, respect, and humility. Define humility for me from your lens.
Tim Hammett: Um, I think humility is putting another person’s needs and desires above yourself. Thinking of them first and serving them in that way. Uh, again, when people have shown me humility, it’s been the most refreshing thing I see that, you know, we see that. I think in the business world, we see it in the sports world.
Um, performing arts, even just day-to-day life, moms and dads and uh, friends. Uh, the people who usually have some of the greatest skill sets. Are the most humble.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: They don’t have to mention it. They don’t have to talk about it. They embody it. Um, and they’re humble. That’s, that’s, I’m, so that’s one of the greatest things I’m attracted to.
Brett Gilliland: That’s, I say that’s a big at attractor for you. Um, so, so value is obviously very important to trust, respect, humility. What advice would you have for somebody that’s listening to this that. They may not, they may know, kind of know their values, but you’ve got those things ingrained people around, you know what those are.
What advice would you have for them to kind of get those ingrained into their, into their soul, right, into their core of who they are as a human being and articulate those to people? How, what advice would you have for them?
Tim Hammett: It’s a very interesting question because I think when you ask someone what are your core values, it’s hard for people to articulate those.
You know, they will, uh, they’ll pause for a little bit and I think if you ask them to go back in their life story, uh, I think it’s in their life story. That, again, through joy and tragedy, if they reflect back on that, they will be able to define. It takes time, but they will be able to define what’s most meaningful to them.
Um, That’s what I’ve asked people and I love hearing people’s stories.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Absolutely love it. I could probably sit for, you know, an entire gathering or get together and hear somebody’s life story. Two, three hours.
Brett Gilliland: Maybe that’s the Tim, Tim Hammett podcast.
Tim Hammett: That could be the Tim Hammett podcast. Your life story.
Brett Gilliland: Tell me your story with Tim Hammett
Tim Hammett: Tell me your.
Brett Gilliland: Um, so when you think about, uh, as a business owner, as a leader, as a husband, a spouse, you know, all, all these things, husband and spouse be the same thing, wouldn’t it? Um, but as a person that you are, how do you deal with hard things? And then do you use the lens of trust, respect, humility, to make decisions when things are very difficult?
Tim Hammett: It’s funny because many times if I’m dealing with something hard, it’s probably because I’ve created it.
Brett Gilliland: Right?
Tim Hammett: It’s probably my error first.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Uh, so I think the first thing I try to do is I’ll reflect on my feelings. I have to be in tune with my feelings. You know, we can think and we can feel, we have the head and we have the heart.
So the very first thing I’ll do is I’ll push away from a situation and try to define, well what am I feeling right now?
Brett Gilliland: And can I, let’s peel that onion layer back. So is that like you sitting down, I know you carry your yellow notepad. I’ve got my journal everywhere I go, right?
Tim Hammett: Yeah.
Brett Gilliland: So is that you with your yellow notepad? Is that you with just a random piece of paper? Like what is that process? Or is it just you thinking like you’re not actually writing things down? Like what do you actually do when you say, what were my feelings? How am I feeling? What’s that process like?
Tim Hammett: I try to do it if I can in the moment.
Brett Gilliland: Okay.
Tim Hammett: So I’ll have some primary feelings, whether it’s frustration or um, sadness, you know, anger, who knows what the feeling is.
Brett Gilliland: Mm-hmm.
Tim Hammett: Sometimes it’s joy, sometimes it’s, uh, laughter, you know, uh, a lighthearted feeling. But I’ll pause in the moment, especially if it’s something that’s conflicting and I’ll try to pause in the moment. And then if not, if I can’t and I get too worked up or too fired up, then when I leave, if I’m driving in my car, if I’m at my home, if I’m back in my office, I need to take a few moments and then I will also many times journal. Make notes to it.
Brett Gilliland: And that’s why I was gonna say, I think one of your strengths is somebody that’s been able to watch this in the front row is, You always show up very prepared, and you show up with notes, right?
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: Like bullet pointed and Oh my gosh, I wish I’d have done more of that. Right? Like, I, I think that’s for people listening, it’s, it’s when, when Tim deals with something good or bad, right? Even joy, it doesn’t have to be bad, right?
Tim Hammett: That’s right.
Brett Gilliland: Something that’s joyful, something great at work happens. I think you do a very good job of slowing down and articulating exactly what happened in that moment almost. And I assume this is, again, me thinking this, um, about you is so you can almost edit copy, edit, paste, right?
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: I learned this good thing happened, write it down. Now let’s just go out and do that again. Right. And do that again.
Tim Hammett: Yeah. And it’s interesting because I will have a feeling and then if they have the feeling, then I need to be able to think about it. Can I, can I. Organize the thought, can I speak it and articulate it?
And ultimately then that fourth stage is, can I write it? And by the time I get to that stage, then I have probably gone through that cycle and I’ve thought through it. Hopefully pretty clearly.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah. When there’s power in writing, like I’m a big believer in writing down your goals every single day of, you know, of the next 90 days.
Write these goals down every single day. Because I believe if I write ’em down every day, then they’re probably gonna happen, right? So I would assume for you that writing is like that, that tattoo on the brain that remembers it and, and kind again, get more of it.
Tim Hammett: Yeah. And what it will also do, it’s, I think it’s pretty, um, therapeutic. That process lets the feeling subside or become more balanced.
Brett Gilliland: Mm-hmm. Maybe. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.
Tim Hammett: Uh, and then I can go back to the individual, or to the person, or to that event. And deal with it, I would hope, in a healthy manner.
Brett Gilliland: Right, right. So I got asked, uh, by a very smart person actually this morning.
They’re from our production team that’s here, and they’re crushing it is, uh, the 10,000 hour rule. Are you familiar with the 10,000 hour rule?
Tim Hammett: I’m familiar with that rule.
Brett Gilliland: And so what is your thoughts on the 10,000 hour rule? I thought it was a great question and I had my response, but I would, I’m curious on what your response is to somebody.
If you had to give advice to somebody that learned about this 10,000 hour rule, what advice would you give them? Do you agree with it? Do you not agree with it? What are your thoughts on the 10,000 hour rule?
Tim Hammett: I would, I mean, I believe that there’s a lot of truth to that. I think there’s universal truths in life, right?
Mm-hmm. Whether it’s 10,000 hours or, you know, 8,000 or 12,000 hours. Um, I’ve seen a quote that, you know, successful people will do ordinary tasks day in and day out. They can be very boring, very rote, very routine.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: And they will ultimately deliver extraordinary results, which I think plays into this 10,000 hour rule.
Brett Gilliland: Right?
Tim Hammett: Philosophy. It takes. Numerous, numerous interactions of the same repetitive thing probably before you master it. We’ve seen it in great sports again, uh, performers, uh, the music industry, uh, work, moms and dads, right? You see these mothers day in and day out, potentially doing the same tasks. Fathers, blue collar laborers, white collar professionals.
Very calmly. I read a book recently on Humility. It was a phenomenal book, and it just talked about that, that day in and day out. People are serving their communities, doing things, then they’re unnoticed, they’re hidden, um, and they’re incredible at what they do. But nowadays, unfortunately, it seems as though, you know, society is seeking to be recognized for their work.
And there was an interesting definition. It said, you know, success previously used to be doing a job extremely well. Well, nowadays success might be doing the job well, but you must get public recognition for it. Um, but back to your 10,000 hour rule, I would think that’s true. Yeah. Um, and it takes long time repetitively over and over again.
Brett Gilliland: Yep. Yeah, I think it’s a great answer. And I think, um, similar to how I, I think about that rule though, is that. Somebody can hear 10,000 hours and think that’s a long time, right? I mean, the average work year they say is what, 2000 hours, right? Yep. Mm-hmm. So I mean, we’re talking five years before you can quote, unquote master something, but usually successful people wanna master something immediately, right?
That, that’s kind of how we think. Mm-hmm. And so my, my hope for people is they don’t read something like that and think, oh, I’ll never do that. Or I’m not gonna wait five years for it. So then it’s the old paralysis by analysis, right? You, you’re analyzing this thing. So much that you just don’t even go take action.
And one of the circuits on the Circuit of Success is action.
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: As you gotta go, take action and kind of build the bridge as you’re, you know, walking across the river, right? Mm-hmm. And so that’s my only point. I thought it was a great question when I was asked earlier, and, uh, so I wanted to get your perspective on it.
So, um, we talked about dealing with hard things. We talked about your, your values so important. Um, but you mentioned a word earlier too that I think that you and I both agree with is, is huge in our culture and in a, a relationship is laughter. \
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: So…
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: When you hear that laughter for anybody watching this, what, what would you talk about in the, in the work setting, you know, and just in life? How important is laughter?
Tim Hammett: Well, lightheartedness is needed in any relationship and laughter. I think that also is, it’s synergistic and it goes hand in hand. I would also say with humility, you know, you need to be able to laugh at yourself first. And as you…
Brett Gilliland: That’s right.
Tim Hammett: Would know certain tasks and things that I do, uh, and certain behaviors that are classic Tim Hammett behaviors that are as silly and as goofy as can be. You have to be able to laugh at yourself.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Um, when I think, when you see they say, you know, again, um, very successful people performing their work at a really high level, it’s joyful. Not always. Obviously there’s stressful moments, but, uh, I’ve seen that in the sporting world. You see great athletes when they’re in their zone.
Brett Gilliland: Yep.
Tim Hammett: Right? And they’re in flow. There’s a book about that. When they are in flow and in their zone, um, they’re happy. And there’s, there’s a lot of genetics that go into that, right?
Brett Gilliland: Right. Yep. I’m, I’m, I’m smiling and laughing as you’re saying it, as I was even picturing just some laughter we had recently on a golf course.
You know, you’re able to laugh at yourself.
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: You know, but we have fun.
Tim Hammett: It’s funny.
Brett Gilliland: Really fun.
Tim Hammett: I laughed about that occurrence over this weekend. So I’ll tell you a quick story. So, uh, Brett Gilliland is an extremely good golfer and, uh, I am not. So, which makes him laugh. So when you’re on the golf course, there’s golf etiquette.
Part of golf etiquette is when the other player is getting ready to hit their ball and hit a stroke, hopefully everyone around them is quiet so they can focus and hit a good stroke.
Brett Gilliland: That’s right. That’s right.
Tim Hammett: So, uh, I’m notorious, uh, as I get, uh, wound up. And start to be kind of Mr. Fun guy, silly guy. I might start talking and joking and I was joking with Brett as my own golf partner in this tournament was getting ready to hit his ball and it, you know, it’s ridiculous and it almost drives a guy like Brett just crazy cuz he’s like, what are you doing? Please be quiet while your partner is hitting his ball.
Brett Gilliland: That’s right.
Tim Hammett: So, classic Tim Hammett move right now.
Brett Gilliland: Well, and so we’re speaking of humility. I will also have some humility and say that I was the one handing cash over at the end of the day to you and your partner that me and my partner lost. We got beat.
Tim Hammett: In the history of our relationship, I’ve seen Brett Gilliland do some of the most amazing things on the golf course. I’ve seen him, I’ve filmed him hitting a hole in one, his first hole in one, maybe your only hole in one…
Brett Gilliland: It’s right there.
Tim Hammett: …in your entire life. Is that right?
Brett Gilliland: That’s right.
Tim Hammett: Okay. And, uh, it was absolutely dumb luck. I’ve seen him, uh, shoot the course record at, um, Red Tiger World Famous Golf course in Florida.
He shot the course record. I have witnessed that. But last week I also witnessed for the first time in my career beating Brett Gilliland, my team, and I cannot take any credit for this. I had an excellent partner. Excellent partner. Uh, that’s why we beat him. So..
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: It felt good to take your money.
Brett Gilliland: I’m sure it did. That’s good. That’s great.
Tim Hammett: Excellent.
Brett Gilliland: Congratulations. We’re all real happy for you. Um, books, the Power of Reading. So, you know, I like to talk about 10 pages a day. I know you are a reader.
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: It’s, I saw something. Was it, uh, I can’t remember who said it, but he said, all, all readers are not leaders, but all leaders are readers.
Tim Hammett: Hmm. great quote.
Brett Gilliland: And it is. And uh, so when you hear that and you, you think about your reading, uh, discipline, uh, how important is that to you?
Tim Hammett: It’s incredibly important. Um, I’ll also go backwards really, in the career. As a student. Uh, in college, I didn’t really, I think, know how to truly academically study and read.
Until I became a professional and, uh, it was one of the most life-changing things for me. It helped me with, um, growing my career and growing my academic knowledge. And then as an adult, a series of key books. And I’m just amazed at how many great authors there are in the world. Yeah. And so many words of wisdom.
Um, unbelievably helpful for me though. So I I do have a question for you.
Brett Gilliland: Let’s do it.
Tim Hammett: So the Circuit of Success, it’s a philosophy.
Brett Gilliland: Mm-hmm.
Tim Hammett: And then this has evolved into a very successful podcast. So I’ll, I’ll let you brag about yourself a little bit.
Brett Gilliland: Huh?
Tim Hammett: Do you know how many followers you have?
Brett Gilliland: I have no idea. I try not to track the numbers. Okay. Uh, because then I think you can get caught up with that. I, I mean, I have a somewhat of a sense of how many people listen every single week and watch on whether it’s listen or watch. I have a pretty good sense of it, but I don’t, I don’t follow it.
Tim Hammett: Did you get, I think, um, A type of a ranking at the end of the year, they are able to rank different podcasts I think. Did I hear something like that?
Brett Gilliland: We, yeah. We’ve been, uh, the podcast, uh, I, and again, I don’t know what exactly I should, but it’s like, uh, top entrepreneurial podcast and, and business leader podcast.
Tim Hammett: I think I remember that.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Yeah. So I’ll brag about you for a little bit. Is running a podcast is incredibly hard. And I’ve said this to you numerous times. Yeah. And I’ll say it again today, to be able to deliver, uh, weekly content and to be able to do it consistently, you have a passion about that. So, you know, you couldn’t force me to do this. I am not a podcaster.
Brett Gilliland: Right.
Tim Hammett: Right. Um, at all. But you have a passion for it.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: So where did that passion come from and, and I’ll start with that and I’ll have my secondary question about maybe the history of the philosophy of the Circuit of Success.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah, it’s a, it’s a great question. I like being, uh, the flip the script here. Now you’re the host. Um, but I think the passion comes from, uh, you said earlier you love hearing people’s stories, and I love hearing people’s stories.
I love learning how people, what makes them tick. I, I, I want to know. You know about your values, I want to know whatever. Right? Any of the, I think you’re the 300. No, we’ve had numerous interviews, but, you know, 339th interview.
Tim Hammett: Wow.
Brett Gilliland: In, in six years, the wealth of knowledge that I’ve been given, right, by other people I is why I continue to do it, right. To your point, it’s, it’s not easy, but at the same time it’s, it’s not, um, as difficult maybe as it seems when you’re passionate about something.
Tim Hammett: That’s right.
Brett Gilliland: So whether that’s podcasting, wealth management, you and I have that passion of helping clients.
It, it’s, it’s not work when you’re, when you love what you do, like I, I was excited. I couldn’t wait to get to interview, even though we’ve talked 5 million times. Yeah. I couldn’t wait for this podcast because I truly love hearing the nuggets that people share, the wisdom that they share, that they give, um, on this podcast every single week.
And then I get to take that information. And share it with the world, right. Through my platform. And then I get to share it more importantly with my kids, right. I think that’s important With four boys, I come home all the time and say, guess what I learned today? And, and share that with people. Cuz I also like to learn of what has somebody done.
I think you, you’ve been in the business 30 years now. Yep. If I can learn from somebody for 30 years and then add that to my life, well, I’ve been doing it 22 years. If you’re 30 plus year, I can just, I can shave 10 years off. Yeah. Of learning, right? Just by learning from you. And so that’s why I love it.
That’s why I do it week in and week out, is to hear stories and then share ’em with others. Our clients, I share stuff all the time in client meetings that I’ve learned from this podcast.
Tim Hammett: What is that philosophy about that circle of Success?
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: There’s different quadrants to that.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Talk about that.
Brett Gilliland: So the first one is your attitude. Uh, I believe that your attitude is everything. And I always say your attitude decides where you go. Your discipline will decide how fast you get there. And I have yet, in 22 years, seen anybody that’s had a really bad attitude have long-term su sustainable success. And so if I want to have long-term sustainable success, and you do, and so does the man or woman listening to this, well, I believe it’s your attitude and who is in control of your attitude is, is you, me.
Right? I’m in control of my attitude. Like my alarm clock went off this morning just like yours did, right? And when it went off this morning, I could have said, oh wow. I think I had, you know, a whopping three hours of awake time at home this weekend, right? Kids events and track meets and soccer games and baseball and golf and you name it, right?
All the things. Uh, we’re all busy in life, but I also could get up and have a great attitude and think about the blessings I’ve been given today. I can think about the people I get to surround myself with today and think about how lucky I am to live the life that I’m living.
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: That’s my choice. That’s my attitude.
So that’s the first one. Second is your belief system, right? So your belief system is important because from attitude to belief, there’s this thing called rejection. We all get it. Everybody listens to this podcast. We get rejection every single day. Your attitude decides how you’re gonna react to that.
But your belief system, like something to your core, decides what you do with it from there. So I have a deep belief in God, there’s a higher power. Okay. I have a belief in myself. There’s the humble humility side, but you also have to believe in yourself. You wouldn’t be where you are if you didn’t.
Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Believe in goal planning and goal achievement. Okay? Believe in a process, whatever that process is. We have our process at Visionary. Somebody else listens to this, has their process. You have to be believe in that to your core, or that rejection will just. It’ll take you out.
It will. You’ll buckle your knees and you’re done. It’s over with. Then from your belief system down to actions, there’s this thing called faith. Not just faith in the higher power, but when you start in the business, they told you what? Go make 40 phone calls. Go get five referrals. You can build a financial planning practice.
You had no idea you were a 22 year old punk kid, right? You had no idea, but you went and you did those things and you did more of it. And you had faith, and you continue to build your faith. And if you and I are having discussions today, you may say, Hey, we need to do this, this, and this. And if I don’t see it from that lens, but I trust you, I respect you, I’m gonna have faith that what Tim Hammett is saying is going to work.
Tim Hammett: Yep.
Brett Gilliland: And then I have to go take action, right? Action. 10,000 hours or do I take action today? Minute one, minute two, and then eventually I will get to 10,000 hours. Then you get courage, pers perseverance and discipline. Yeah, there’s there, it takes those three things to go out and get the ultimate one, which is the last quadrant of the Circuit of Success is results.
And I always, I always put it this way for the St. Louis Cardinals, if you walk into the Cardinal game, the thing you look at the most is what the jumbotron. Yep. How many times did I get out? What’s my batting average? What’s the score? How many errors, you know, how many hits do I have? A runners in scoring position?
There’s all the results you would ever want, and they’re not getting good results right now, but all the results you would ever want are right there in a jumbotron. In life, we don’t have that. There’s not a visionary jumbotron when you walk in the office to see how is Tim Hammett doing? Right? But your attitude, your belief, your actions ultimately get the results that you want, and then that creates a new vision.
So I share all the time that I’ve got these journals and it goes back to 2005, July of oh five. That from those, those results have created a new vision. Things I wanted to do when I was 23 are different than I said here at 45, right? Vision’s way different, and so then I go back. That vision then carries me to my attitude, what’s my attitude, my beliefs, my actions in my results.
Tim Hammett: So, so I’ll say back.
Brett Gilliland: Tim Hammock classic. Lemme classic tell you back.
Tim Hammett: I’ll say back what I hear you say. So for the Circuit of Success, attitude starts with attitude.
Brett Gilliland: Yep.
Tim Hammett: You have beliefs, part of those beliefs. Faith, one of the most important again, faith in God. Faith in yourself. Action, action.. Ultimately action then will deliver results.
Brett Gilliland: That’s right.
Tim Hammett: And I think you have a, a symbol really, or almost an insignia. And it’s a circle, right?
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Obviously the circle of success. Yeah. And there’s four quadrants inside that circle.
Brett Gilliland: That’s right.
Tim Hammett: And I know you quite well, really probably housed and protected by a belief in God.
Tell me about this journal then, because you, in the past, Really, I think, you know, 90 to 120 days have printed and developed a journal that is, I believe, for sale on Amazon.
Brett Gilliland: That’s right.
Tim Hammett: Uh, for the public to buy. And how did that come to fruition?
Brett Gilliland: Well, I didn’t know. This wasn’t part of my planning, so I didn’t know you were gonna ask me questions.
So, uh, it’s a nice surprise, but I, I would just say it’s been 20, you know, plus years of, of things coming together that I wanted to have in one spot. And I think, you know, whether it’s your phone or your iPad and computer to a piece of paper, um, I wanted to have a game plan for me that it took all the emotion out of my day.
And, and so, okay, I need to do this or I need to do that. And for, you know, and so when I look at my, you know, the daily, the daily planner from my water intake to what I’m grateful for, my goals, what I’m most proud of, my biggest challenge, my try something new, who did I help? You know, writing down my goals every single day that are the next 90 day goals.
Um, my reading, my exercise, it’s all in one spot. Right. And so it takes the emotion out of did I do this, did I do that? Because I think as humans, especially people that, you know, uh, wanting, wanting to achieve a future greater than their past, hence the name of the, of the journal, um, is there’s a lot of things that we gotta go do, right?
And, and you’re a busy, busy business leader and you have a, you know, wife and three kids. And I wanted a, a, a person that’s busy that could go to this and, and have one spot, some pre-work do 90 days. Post work, ask yourself some really challenging questions. Go through a gratitude worksheet, and then regroup and do the next 90 days, right?
So this is a game plan that will take you, you know, quarter after quarter, after quarter after quarter through a successful, uh, life that I think that I’ve learned from other people. I’ve learned from you, I’ve learned from my clients, and I’ve put it all in one spot so you can go out and achieve the success that you wanna have.
Tim Hammett: It’s interesting to talk again about these universal truths. And again, a recent book that I had read it talked about the need for us to have, um, self-reflection, right? And accountability, self-assessment. And I know you’re big on that, and I think that’s what this book will help as a tool.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: And then my last interview question is I pirate the interview today.
Uh, welcome to the Tim Hammett. Uh, Trust, humility, respect Podcast is we’re sitting in a podcast studio in the Visionary building in O’Fallon, Illinois.
Brett Gilliland: Yep.
Tim Hammett: And so to watch you develop this from, you know, purchasing microphones and purchasing, um, lights and a soundboard or an editing board and software, To doing this in your office, to doing it in, um, your home.
And now we’re sitting in a podcast studio.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah.
Tim Hammett: So what does this feel like?
Brett Gilliland: Well, it’s funny, so I’m gonna tell a little story and, uh, so one, it feels amazing. It, it’s, it’s kind of unreal. And, uh, you know, you…
Tim Hammett: And I think today is the first day of utilizing the podcast. Mm-hmm. Can I say, I’m the first guest in…
Brett Gilliland: You are the first podcast guest.
Tim Hammett: …guest in the studio.
Brett Gilliland: We did a Facebook Live, uh, event in here with Elizabeth and Katie.
Tim Hammett: That’s exactly right. That’s right.
Brett Gilliland: And um, and so it wasn’t totally complete at the time, but this is the first official podcast interview. In this studio, and you’re gonna take this sharpie and you’re gonna write on the wall, you’re gonna be the first one to write on the wall.
Uh, but I want, if I can, I wanna tell a story that I think, uh, uh, it’s kind of full circle and I believe in manifesting things in your life. If you put things out there and you go public and you share your goals, you share your dreams with people. That doesn’t mean you’re gonna hit every single goal right in life, but I have just seen it for decades of sharing goals with people and then things happen, how they happen.
I have no idea how they happen. So what people don’t see right now is a three. They see three amazing dudes sitting here. Uh, I have a dream that is, uh, I don’t listen to the full interviews and I, I won’t say the name cuz I’m sure some people would be pissed off if I listen to this guy or don’t listen to guy.
But a, a big podcaster. How’s a guy? That he can always say his name and they’ll pull stuff on the screen and they do production and they do video. I have a dream to have my own team one day. Okay. I just put it out there. I tell people my goal is to have this person, cuz then I’m, I’m usually the guy that’s doing the buttons and doing the cameras and all while I’m trying to interview people and have fun.
And now we’ve got three dudes sitting here that are amazing. You got all this equipment in our studio that we’ve invested in, and you know how that happened. It happened on a plane ride. And you know how it happened when a plane ride, I didn’t fly for eight years because of fear. I got on an airplane and I watched these dudes, especially that dude right there.
He happened to sit right next to me. He, you know, he had no clue. He told me this morning that I was, you know, I was scared of death and praying and, well, no, I was praying to God that we’re not gonna crash, you know, like all these things, right? And, but I watched him work and then I see this guy on the window seat, he’s working and uh, and they’re pulling up this guy named Tim Grover.
Tim Grover, for people like me in my world is a big deal. Like that’s Michael Jordan made the statement without Tim Grover, I wouldn’t have been Michael Jordan. Do you need any more endorsement of your Tim Grover? No, you don’t. And so these dudes are working their magic and I’m like, holy crap, that’s Tim Grover.
But people don’t like to talk on airplanes. I didn’t want to bother ’em. They’re working and, and then you know, you gotta put everything away. We’re getting ready to land. And, uh, I said, Tim Grover, I said something to him, what do you guys do? And he starts talking and I’m thinking, oh, these are some big shots from like Chicago or LA or something that they’re working with Tim Grover and, and blah, blah, blah.
We start talking for the next 30 minutes. And…
Tim Hammett: Because you’re flying to Florida this
Brett Gilliland: time?
I’m flying to Florida to our office. To meet you.
Tim Hammett: From O’Fallon to Florida.
Brett Gilliland: Yes. And, and here these guys are working and uh, and so they’re like, yeah, we, we live in St. Louis and you know, he comes down and films some stuff and we’re heading to a conference.
We’re gonna film some people. I’m like, Holy smokes, and we keep talking and you know, they’re one of their other guys is not here. He is pretty passionate, wouldn’t you say?
Oh yeah, yeah. He’s a pretty passionate guy. They’re shaking their heads and laughing and now he’s in, right. He sees, he sees Visionary Wealth Advisors, a, a successful wealth management firm.
He sees the podcast, he’s, he’s locked in on what I’m doing. Right. And now we’re, we’re walking to the baggage claims and I’m seeing all this equipment and. You know, this is a long story, but I, I believe in manifesting in life, and I don’t even remember what your original question was, but, uh oh, the, the coolness of this, it’s even cooler to think, to have these guys sitting here for our first interview and to think that’s a dream.
And then it happens and you don’t really even know how it happens. Right. And so it’s just amazing. And, uh, so I thank you guys for being here. It’s pretty cool. And Joey reached out to me and he is like, Hey man, we wanna work with you. We wanna work with some guys in St. Louis. You’re one of ’em. Can we make it happen?
I’m like, let’s give it a shot, man. Let’s go. And, and now here we are. And that was like Thursday and this is a Monday, and now we got a whole crew of guys here and cameras and lights and all this stuff. So I just, I think again, for people listening, man, it’s like share your goals, share your dreams, share your aspirations.
Share ’em with the business partner and then that trust, respect, humility that we talked about earlier. Mm-hmm. You could, I shouldn’t say care less. You do care. You were very supportive of me doing this, but why did you, because you had to invest money in this too, right? Mm-hmm. And so he invests money in somebody else’s dream and, and I just think it’s cool.
The whole thing comes full circle and it’s just, it’s amazing to sit here and you know, to think I had to call you and say, Hey, we’re gonna buy this really expensive table. You cool with that? Yep. I trust you. Right. I respect you. Right. We’re gonna make this happen. We’re gonna figure it out. And, uh, it’s just really cool, man.
Tim Hammett: Well, I’ll, I’ll comment a little bit on that is another classic line I always talk about is everyone has a brilliance. Mm-hmm. Not that I have by any means, created that. Right? There’s great philosophers and, um, authors who have spoken about that, but this clearly is your brilliance. You have passion for it.
Um, you’re talented at it. Uh, Passion, right? And so when you see someone working in their billions, it’s, it’s inspiring. And I think that’s part of your word, I think for your, uh, inspiring podcast.
Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Hammett: Um, I have no desire for that. And my wife and I were just talking about this a week ago, um, and I was bragging to my wife about you, and I said, you know what?
If I needed to hire someone or invest in an entity like these professional men and women who do this for a living. You know, it costs hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, even more than that, I’m sure.
Brett Gilliland: Right, right. Yep.
Tim Hammett: Um, so I’m glad you’re doing it and, uh, to see it come to fruition, it’s, it’s awesome.
Brett Gilliland: Well, thank you and I appreciate your support, man. It’s been, uh, it’s been awesome. And so we’re gonna turn this back to the Circuit of Success hosted by Brett Gilliland. And I’m gonna ask you one final question.
Tim Hammett: Yes.
Brett Gilliland: If you had to go back and tell Tim Hammett give him some advice, let’s, let’s go. You got a 10 year advice you gotta give him.
So Right when we’re thinking about starting Visionary, give that Tim Hammett some advice, and then just give Tim Hammett the younger version some advice just for life. Right. What, what advice would you have for Tim?
Tim Hammett: That’s, it’s interesting because each year, and I’ve, I’ve, I’ve actually been laxed on this for a couple years, but then this year I’ve, I’ve started the process again.
You’ve heard people say they might choose a word for the year. Mm-hmm. Right? Yep. And it’s a theme. And, uh, my wife is excellent about that. She has, uh, a group of women that, uh, she’s very close with, and they’ve done this for years. So the word for this year is grace. Uh, I have, uh, a psychologist that I work with and he and I talked through this and my wife and I talked through this, you know, what was the definition of grace. And it’s to maybe show someone, uh, really love and support That’s unmerited.
It’s unstated, right? Unmerited. Unstated. Mm-hmm. And so, um, and Unrequested, that was the third element to it. And so what I had done, I had gotten a picture of myself as a third grade child. So it’s funny you’re asking this question because, uh, Roger, Roger Hall, uh, unbelievably good person. So as Roger and I talked about this, You know, I said, well, I think we all have a child within, so what would I say or how would I show grace to that child within as a third grader?
And I think all of us could do that, you know? So what advice, you say, what I do? Well, if I go back to say Tim Hammett, or on those days everybody would call me Timmy. Um, I’d show him Grace.
Show you grace, you know, show myself grace today. Um, that’d be the first thing I do. And I would also say, uh, trust your feelings. Feelings are generally correct 99% of the time. Yep. Good or bad. Trust feelings and be yourself. Be your genuine, authentic self. I think that’s one reason why this works now because I think I can be my genuine, authentic self with our business partnership, our friendship, the firm, the culture, um, and then define your values.
Spend time. They say in the classroom of silence. Think, define your values, trust your feelings. Show yourself grace.
Brett Gilliland: Love it man. Thanks so much for being with me on the first podcast edition with these three amazing dudes. We got a team here.
Tim Hammett: Thank you.
Brett Gilliland: And uh, it’s been awesome having you on The Circuit of Success, my man.
Tim Hammett: Be good. Love you.
