Ron Carson: I think, well, maybe
if I have more, more, more, more.
And I kept getting that.
Mm-hmm.
other more number.
And I felt emptier more
alone and dissatisfied.
And I think I was on my way to having a
nervous breakdown, all kinds of stuff.
People on the outside looking in,
all they could see is, oh, I'm on
this list and I've got the success.
And yes and oh, and you must have
the perfect and like, man, if
you only knew, there's a saying.
We used to have in my YPO forum,
the happiest people we know.
We don't know very.
Meaning that you're,
Stacy Havener: you're seeing the facade.
Wow.
Ron Carson: So I love working with people
to help them free themselves as I did.
Stacy Havener: Hey, my
name is Stacy Havener.
I'm obsessed with startups,
stories, and sales.
Storytelling has fueled my
success as a female founder in the
Toughest Boys Club, wall Street.
I've raised over 8 billion
that has led to 30 billion.
Follow on assets for investment boutiques.
You could say against the odds.
Yeah, understate.
I share stories of the people behind
the portfolios while teaching you
how to use story to shape outcomes.
It's real talk here, money,
authenticity, growth, setbacks, sales
and marketing are all topics we discuss.
Think of this as the capital
raising class you wish you had
in college mixed with happy hour.
Pull up a seat, grab your notebook,
and get ready to be inspired
and challenged while you learn.
This is the Billion
Dollar Backstory podcast.
Hello and welcome to the Billion
Dollar Backstory podcast.
I am your host, Stacy Havener, and
today we are joined by one of the
icons in the independent advisor
space, my friend Ron Carson.
Ron is one of the industry's most
passionate, most successful advisors.
He's the c e o and founder of a
platform that serves independent
advisors and their clients.
The 20 billion Carson Group.
They serve over 44,000 families
through their advisory network,
including 135 partner firms
and 35 Carson Wealth locations.
You might know a lot of stats and figures
about Ron and Carson, but today we're
going to dive into the stories and talk
about Ron's journey as a professional.
But also as a person, my conversations
with Ron are always magic, and I'm
thrilled to invite all of you to join us.
Ron, welcome
Ron Carson: to Oh, thank
you for having me, Stacy.
Wow,
Stacy Havener: it's a pleasure.
I mentioned stories.
And even in the green room, if you will,
we were talking about your story and, and
I've heard you tell it, it's phenomenal.
So for people who haven't heard the
journey of you as a small town farmer
into kind of the big bright lights of
finance, will you take us through that?
Yeah,
Ron Carson: I would.
Uh, it's fun.
Literally five minutes before we
started talking, I had a gentleman,
cuz I get people reaching out
to me on LinkedIn all the time.
He's like, Hey, I, I want
to come and meet you.
He is from Nebraska.
He started this business.
It just brought me back cuz
he's from Lincoln actually,
where our company started from.
Uh, I was 18 years old and
really started this business out.
Don't cold calling out of a phone book.
Uh, my college dorm room.
But the backpack story
is my mom was from Ohio.
My dad's from Nebraska.
People say, how'd you end
up in farming in Nebraska?
My father was at Patterson Air Force.
Uh, in Dayton, Ohio.
Met my mother, uh, after we did this time
they moved back, take over my grandparents
family farm and I was a farmer.
I thought I was gonna be a farmer.
I did, you know, our whole family
did everything farming and when
I was 17, and a lot of farmers
there in that time went broke.
And you know, think back in 1982,
interest rates were 21 and a half
percent, and it was scary for me.
My dad, I'm realizing this now, and this
is stuff you've not heard on previous
interviews or podcasts, but an epiphany
really just in the last few months.
And my dad operated on, I'll call
it a fear-based operating system.
He was poor growing up and he
was everything in his life.
He was, he was afraid.
Afraid of losing.
Afraid of not looking up for his
family, and then just imagine
his worst nightmare came true.
You know, you lost
everything that, that we had.
And I, one and only time
I'd ever seen my dad.
Even to this day, it was the
only time I've seen him cry.
Yeah.
And he said, Ronnie, I gave you
support the mom and your sister.
You need to find something else to do.
And shortly after there that I was sitting
in the library reading Money magazine
and said, top professions of the future,
become a financial advisor, get a cfp.
And I thought, you know what,
that's what I'm gonna do.
And I had had some interest.
I had a little bit of money.
The work I had done, I, I was, I'd
say a serial entrepreneur, even as
a kid, you know, I remember having
a, you know, a lemonade stand and
then I sold reading cards and.
Had a little popcorn.
Stacy Havener: You sold.
I did.
I love
Ron Carson: that You could, at the back
of like these magazines you could order
and I even imported fireworks when
I was and a freshman in high school
and I made a catalog and I'm importing
these from China and they're illegal.
Oh my gosh.
But I taking, gosh, oh my gosh.
Catalogs.
I mark everything up a hundred percent.
We still for.
and I'm shocked that, you know, like if
something would've gone off my locker,
I would've blown the whole school up.
And I never even once had a teacher
administrator say, what are you doing?
You know, it just shows you how
times have changed from then.
But I was like, who?
And I had bought a couple of stocks and
so I had this interest and I just knew
for certain that, you know, I wanted to
do something around finance and I was
totally an unconscious and competent.
I didn't know what I was.
. Um, and I, and I knew I didn't and
I really didn't know where to start.
And as you remember, Stacy, back
in those days, all while selling
product, everything was mm-hmm.
paid.
Mm-hmm.
, no one knew what they were paying,
uh, mutual funds in those days,
people could pay up to, if you had a
contractual plan on 20% front-end load.
Mutual fund companies didn't even
put the value on the statement cuz
it was a bear market on top of the.
And I very quickly realized that I
wanted to kind of do it differently,
and I had a clean slate to start from.
I started to realize that people
were starving to have an advocate
sit on their side of the table,
expose a lot of the stuff.
Unfortunately, this still goes
on in financial services today.
It still drives me crazy to think
we have two regulators, two sets of
rules, and I really don't believe
that the consumer's interest is being
protected at the level it should.
But that's really what
carsin fast forward to today.
Yeah.
That's why we've had our growth is,
is we really believe that people
want to find their personal freedom.
I believe that Maslow's
hierarchy of needs.
And like my father and like me
for most of my life, I operated
on fear, not abundance, not love.
And I think a lot of the
world's problems today.
You know, I'm passionate about
Jeanie and I, and our whole
family is passionate about impact.
I'd like to see, uh, in world hunger
in my lifetime doing that too.
Uh, bill hungry tile.org.
Also clean water, a few
stockers and charity.
Hence the cap.
I just, we just did a fundraiser
for the medical last week, Dr.
Love it.
And then mental wellness.
I believe if we can make
significant progress in those
areas, those are symptoms.
We're gonna always be there.
And unless we can shift from a
abundance mentality away from a
she fear-based operating system
for the world, and I really, I'm
spending a lot of my energy and time.
You know, how do, how do we do that?
How do we align the right people?
And I believe it's happening.
There's a real vibe change
going on in the world today.
People care more, you know, about
impact, about how they show up, about the
resources that, you know, that we bring
to the, the game of life or humanity.
than ever before.
Stacy Havener: Think about what the
journey you just took us on there.
Uh, you know, the fear mentality,
the product, pitching, the,
I mean gouging, really Yes.
That was happening in this industry.
And now here we are sitting here
today and we're talking about
abundance and mental wellness.
And freedom and I love on your website,
you have this call out right there.
So proudly like love your business.
We're using love in
the financial industry.
I think that's amazing.
And to your point, I think it's
pent up in the people in this
space and the broader world.
But here, this is just stuff
that's not talked about.
So I appreciate you shining a light on it.
I wanna talk about.
You've said that, you know, the,
the farming roots, and I relate to
that being sort of an odd duck in
an industry that, you know, just
I, I never envisioned myself in.
So when you started, were you,
like, was your target market farmer?
It was.
Ron Carson: Yeah, because I do
nothing about the profession,
which most people coming in don't.
You don't need a college degree, right?
You really can go do a weekend
course and pass the securities test.
There's not, you know, in my opinion,
there's not a high enough barrier still
to this day to come into the profession.
But I could talk weather,
I could talk equipment.
I would sit at the kitchen table
with farmers and I was young.
I was 18 years.
And they would give me a
little bit of money to invest.
I remember, uh, they,
they've since passed.
There was a, um, Gertrude and
Herbert McClellan, they're, they
lived in, uh, Fairmont, Nebraska.
Really?
Anybody town, they had
just sold their pharmacy.
Um, they had a little bit of
money and they had give, they
had wrote me a check for $2,000.
I remember the very
first client I ever had.
I remember pulling out into the country
on a gravel road, got outta my car,
ran around my car like three or four
times, jumping up and down . Oh good.
You know, I made a total of about
$80, I think on first , my first sale.
But yeah, I mean, and it was
they, so it was farmers or people.
In farm community.
So really tied to the
farm, the farm industry.
Stacy Havener: And I think that's so
important for people to realize because
you know, I believe strongly as I know
you do in the power of people, right?
People do business with
people and the power of story.
But it's important not
just what are you saying?
What stories are you telling us?
Who are you telling them to?
And so even though you were 17,
Because you had grown up in that
space, that actually became a
superpower for you because you were
talking to someone specific Yeah.
About something specific that you
knew it wasn't, you went in and
said, I'm a expert on finance.
You're like, I'm like you, I'm a
farmer, but I, I can be a guide in
an in a space that you maybe aren't
as familiar with and need help.
That's powerful.
So now jump stop to here today.
Who would you say your target market is?
Ron Carson: So, our target market
is, and as you know, I used to teach
something called love affair marketing
and passion prospecting to other advisors.
My target market was who did
I connect with, who did I
have common interests with?
Mm-hmm.
because I didn't wanna
do business with people.
I wasn't looking forward to meeting, and
this is a touchy feely thing for Carson.
We are a family.
The people we serve are an extended part
of our family and we take care and care
about our family and it really transcends.
All kinds of occupations,
all kinds of ways of life.
The common denominator for me personally
is people that wanna leave the world
a better place than they found it.
They want to have measurable
impact, especially on some of
the humanitarian relief efforts.
They wanna be very involved in their
community and because that's how I rally
my car, my extended family here at Carson.
Is the work we do is around helping
people find their freedom so they can
feel comfortable moving from, am I
gonna have enough fear to where I'm
for sure gonna have enough abundance?
And the excess.
Let's do something really cool.
You know, what kind of
legacy do you wanna live?
Mm-hmm.
. And we actually work with high
net one families in establishing
rights of passage for future
generations family constitution.
What do you want it to stand for?
How does it be amended?
All the way down to people
just getting started?
Cause everybody needs help.
And so I would say that in even our,
we call 'em internal stakeholders,
we don't have employees here at
Carson, is that the work they do?
Like we have a end world hunger wall.
So every time we bring down a new partner,
Jeanie and I, if not the company, cuz we
want the company to focus on what they do.
We sponsor a school in Africa, you know,
so we want to time our activity to.
The impact and causes we're
passionate about, and I'd say
we want to attract clients.
They wanna find their own personal
freedom so they can buy extension
through the work we're doing, help
other people have an impact and help
them find their personal freedom.
Today we suffer from so much anxiety.
Almost weekly I have someone tell me, oh
I'm, you know, I'm not gonna have kids cuz
I don't wanna bring a kid into this world.
The truth, the truth is different.
We're at an all time
low in violence in the.
All time low, even though you would
never know that by listening to the
media standard of livings are at
an all time high in the world, and
we have plenty that we just need a
more efficient way of distributing
some of the resources we have.
So we really do live in a amazing time
in history where people are doing better.
We don't have to worry about
being attacked and losing our.
It's as low as it's ever been.
Yeah.
Worldwide.
And so I'm really optimistic.
Optimistic, Stacy.
I'm excited.
But I think it's time that,
that we help people move out
of the anxiety ridden world.
And I think media plays a lot to that.
Like our political system on
both sides play into that fear.
You know, always talking about what
could happen in the fear and scaring
people into really manipulating.
. That's well
Stacy Havener: said.
And I think what's interesting
here is that you talked about you
want to work with people that are
like-minded, that share passion.
And so when you're, whether it's a family
you're serving, and I'm extrapolating this
to, or an advisor that you're partnering
with, that alignment is important.
And what we talk about a
lot with our clients is you
can't be everything to every.
. And if you're going to attract your
target market, you have to be brave enough
in what you say, that you're going to
repel the people that are not for you.
That's what a magnet does.
Yes.
Right?
It's two sides.
You can't be like, well,
I'm not gonna repel.
I'm not, I don't wanna offend
anyone or have anyone not like me.
I wanna be for everyone because
if you try to do that, you will
actually end up being for Noah.
Well, and I think what you said
there is so on point, staying
with that thread and maybe just
pulling on it a little bit here.
I was gonna say, if you're an outsider,
but even if you're an insider in
the investment space, you would
look at our industry and say, oh,
well the key to succeeding in the
investment and finance world is be.
Be big and be everything to everyone
because the odds in this business favor
the largest firms who are generalists
and who do the exact opposite of
what we were just talking about.
To be frank, they try to
be everything for everyone.
And I'm wondering how you square
that because you have grown
a very big enterprise, but.
I also know that you are very specialized
and you lean into what's important to you.
So do you think there's a
place for specialists in this
world of bigs and generalists?
Wow, there's
Ron Carson: a lot there.
Let me kind of dissect this.
Stacy, first of all, you know Carson,
today we're pushing 22 billion in
assets, and I think to be relevant,
we're gonna have to be a hundred billion.
And here's why.
Okay, let me provide a little more.
The future is gonna be one by
those that can provide the most
value and the most convenience.
I don't care what kind of services
you're providing, we're on a meritocracy.
You know, back when I first got
started, it was a relationship
business, if you like people, you did
business with 'em and you had no idea.
Neither did a lot of the advisors had
no idea who was taking what, who was
making what, because disclosure was poor
as long as it was put into prospect.
And you hit a suitability requirement
and people signed and said they read
it, which no one understood you could
do it to 'em and it was terrible.
And there's still that standard today,
the difference between the brokerage
standard versus the fiduciary standard.
And I, people are becoming more
educated and they have more information
than ever before to make decisions.
And so with armed with that
knowledge, asking better questions.
I think they're making better decisions
and understand that they're gonna do
business with people that are being
proactive in anticipating their need
before they even know they have the need.
Hence, our size.
Come back to, as I started with that.
Mm-hmm.
, we have invested in Carson.
If I said a hundred million, that'd be
a dramatic understatement in data, in
data warehouse to be able to leverage.
The artificial intelligence that is coming
and a lot of people think that's bad.
There's a really beautiful side to it is
where if data is not used against you,
but used for you not used to manipulate if
it used to help you, it's a game changer.
Not only from the side of of
convenience, but also understanding
that you have this need coming.
It may be, I've got grandkids
going off to college.
Oh, you have medical power.
Automatically the system can know that.
Or this rich data that says, I can
refinance your mortgage for you
automatically because there's a $653.
Savings or you know, I could just
go on and on your legal documents.
I can, the AI has scanned them.
They're not relevant for what you're
doing today, and we have all of
that data held in this environment.
If I'm a two or three or
400 million shop by myself.
That's who I'm be competing with.
And I think of the Amazon as a way to
look forward now, love or hate Amazon.
Pretty much everybody listening
to this is an Amazon client.
And look at the Jeanie, my wife
was asking me the other day.
She goes, is Kmart still
around a shop code?
Still around ? I mean, who
does business that way?
And I think those are the
smaller firms of today.
So I believe the, our advantage is we
sit on the same side of the table as a.
We're about conscious capitalism, but
we've gotta be at a size where we can
drive an Amazon kind of experience
that people don't even question.
No one wants to pay a fee.
Who wants to pay someone
1% to make 1% u l s?
What they want is to make an investment in
their future and know that the return that
they are getting is any, is exponential.
The piece of value that someone's
asking the trade, you give me a dollar.
I want to be able to.
A dollar 50 back every
year, a dollar 20 back.
And not just in financial
terms, but I'm talking about
in value and sustainable value.
Yeah.
That transcends all parts of their life.
And that's the big bet we're making at
Carson is that people are gonna care
about impact, they're gonna care about
the work that we do with the success
that we have, and they want, we wanna be
very visible about the work that we're.
But before they even can care about
all of that, they want to know
what's it mean for them and how are
we gonna make their life better?
How are they gonna have the
peace of mind know that someone
is truly watching out for them?
Right.
It's not about how much money can I make,
but someone is being a consumer advocate
and thinking about the things I'm not
thinking about in my everyday life.
I'm tying all that together in
a very convenient, simplistic
experience that I get to have.
That's where we're going, and
you can't do that really even
over 22 billion in assets.
That's more of a hundred billion plus.
Yeah, and just because you're big
doesn't mean that you lose your culture.
And I think people
associate big with that.
It really, we charge everybody here
at Carson to be an a culture agent.
Everybody here at Carson
be an innovation agent.
How do we continue to
look at everything we do?
I just in Houston a couple days
ago and I got to visit the.
Space Station that's being built and
it's gonna be deployed, and NASA is
actually contracted with Axiom to do this.
And because of their, I mean, they've
got 800 I think, and they call 'em
employees, internal stakeholders.
They're doing things 10 times faster for
20th of the price that NASA is assuming.
Because they have a different
culture and the culture is beautiful.
If you ever get a chance
to go down there mm-hmm.
and see what's going on, 800 people
and they have a watch out for each
other, culture, how they collaborate,
culture, how do input, how you figure
out a quicker, faster, better way.
To deliver an outcome
versus doing it the old way.
The big is Wow, that
Stacy Havener: yeah, big is not bad.
I like that.
I'm gonna challenge a little, because
what I think is true about Carson,
and maybe it's just, you know, sort
of what I want to be true is that.
Your culture support.
So if I'm an advisor and I plug
into the platform at Carson,
can I still have my culture too?
Can I still have my specialization?
Like let's say I serve.
I don't know, females in
finance, and that's my niche.
Can I keep that niche?
And are you gonna support me in that?
Because then what you're
saying is yes, you're Amazon.
I'm using quotes which no one can see.
Yeah, but you're actually a
collection of specialists.
And you're helping them be better
together than they could ever be
apart.
Ron Carson: That's exactly what we are,
Stacy, is we give the breadth and depth
of being on a, a battleship, you know,
if you think the analogy of mm-hmm.
of, of business, but for you to have the.
Local personality to focus on
the area you wanna focus on.
And that has been why our
growth has been really good.
And this isn't to brag, but it's
to be, to give people some context.
You know, this is our, I think
our sixth year on the Inc.
5,000 lists.
Bain came in a private equity firm.
People think private equity's bad too.
Bain Capital came in and invested.
They've been amazing.
And what people don't know, like
Bain, some of their portfolio
companies, they've held for 20.
And they have been just amazing, amazing
partners around, and this, they saw
something like our organic growth rate was
three times faster than industry average.
Reason I share that stat is that
is validation of how the end
client is feeling about what we're
doing and how we're showing up.
And our partners, so often
they've been stuck in a.
That was around how can
we make the most money?
Yeah, we gotta be profitable.
We owe it to our internal
stakeholders, people we serve.
But it's number three on the list.
The first is taking care of the client.
Number two is taking
care of our community.
And part of that is having
people's essence shine through to
where they can deliver the most
value to the people they serve.
Cuz once you, I can trust someone, you
can help them up nozzles, hierarchy
to find their personal freedom.
And that's what living
and being human is all.
Stacy Havener: Gosh.
I love that, and that is such a
perfect dovetail to my next question.
I love that you even kind of wove
in the Bain piece because one of
the things that jumps out to me as
so rare about Carson, I mean here
you are, it's a massive business.
You have private equity, you've
got this a hundred year, a hundred
billion kind of target, right?
You're building something big
with a collection of these
specialists as your partners, but.
Ron Carson have stayed the face, the
heart, the soul of that business,
and I think that's super rare at
your size and scale and even rarer.
Is rare your word.
Now, if we say it's a when, when
private , I mean, I'm saying it even more
rare when private equity is involved.
And so why is that so important to you?
Because you, you don't have to do it.
Ron Carson: It's my, yeah, we're,
I've been very public about this.
Stacy is, we are gonna, Lee's
gonna be a hundred year.
And when you are, and I, there's a
book out there, I'd love any business
owner or if you're interviewing a
company to do business with them.
Um, it's called The Infinite Game and
Simon Sinek talks about, um, and I
would listen to it cuz he does such
a beautiful job narrating the book.
Is when you're playing a game that's
tonight, you make really different
decisions than if you're making,
if you're playing an infinite game.
And a good example of that, we've
made enormous investments here at
Carson and training the next gen.
There's like, who's training the next gen?
They come, they're trained on
our systems within our culture.
So I can tell a family, we're gonna
be here for the next seven Generat.
Of your family.
This isn't someplace that's gonna
get acquired by somebody else, and
then all of a sudden you don't know
who you're doing business with.
And so we get to make investments.
Yesterday we had our board meeting with
Bain, and we're looking at investments
that have a four or five, a six,
seven, sometimes 10 year payback.
If you're playing a finite game,
then you're looking at it totally
differently if you're playing.
And the other thing Simon
talks about is a just.
We have a powerful just cause
we're attracting people from
all over the country that want
to come and be part of this.
Cuz they believe in the mission, they
believe in the Just cause helping the
people we serve find their freedom.
Doing it a higher level and then the
just cause on top of the just cause.
It's really solving issues within our
own communities and beyond that mm-hmm.
. And so the hundred year firm, me being
here, if you said, Juan, what do you love
doing the most is exactly what I'm doing.
It's this, and I've surrounded myself
with really great people to allow
me to do the things I love to do.
Uh, not the thing.
I don't, there's nothing in
my day that I have to do.
I really look forward to everything
I do, and I solve the farmer hours.
I get up at four in the
morning pretty much every day.
I have my little routine
and I'm loving my life.
I, I like to say my, I love my life.
My life loves me, and I'm like
a nine year old on Christmas
Eve pretty much every day.
I want that same feeling for every
human out there because a lot of
people don't love their life, and
it's because of the fear operating
system versus the abundance operating.
Stacy Havener: So what's interesting
about what you said, there was a
lot of interesting things, but the
fact that you still love it and that
you're still you, so I mean, we, our
friendship grew on LinkedIn during Covid.
Yes.
And one of the things I loved about.
Watching you there was like, you would
just take a camera or something and
just like point it at yourself and do
your little rensen videos and I'm like,
it's amazing that a, that you do it.
and you do it with such authenticity.
It's not scripted.
You're just talking.
And that the business you've built
is supportive of that because you are
putting a face to a business that at
this size and scale could lose it.
It could lose its soul very easily
if you weren't there to be, you
know, that heart and soul of the biz.
And I wonder when, cuz so many
founders are afraid to do that.
They're terrified.
And what advice do you have for
Ron Carson: them?
Well, first of all, you can't
comment on my videos without me
comment on yours, , I You do.
You're, and that's, I think why we
connected is I love yeah, your take
on life, your take on just things and
people wanna connect and they just wanna
connect with the person and the soul.
I'm selling something, you know,
or manipul, like something, I'm
just trying to speak my truth.
That's where I, where I coach.
and I do still coach and mentor
other entrepreneurs that are stuck
in this hedonistic treadmill.
This was me.
I wanna go back because up until about
a decade ago, Stacy, I was miserable.
I had all kinds of material stuff.
There's a gentleman who
spoke at a conference.
I was just, that I, we were both speaking
at, uh, I guess name's Jess, Jesse Isk.
I get the same, right?
He's called the, um, spiritual billion.
And, uh, he's very wealthy, but
he says, if you don't have that
side, I'm not gonna define what
spiritual is, but I had zero of that.
I grew up in an atheist
household and no spirituality
whatsoever in our, in our house.
And when I met my, one of
my wife, she was Lutheran.
I became baptized before we got
married, but I still didn't connect.
I mean, it was, uh, we went to
the Lutheran, it was Missouri sin.
It was very structured and they lost
me when my father-in-law passed away
was very close to, they wouldn't
let me speak at his funeral because
it was against their Missouri rule.
Oh, wow.
I'm like, okay, now it
pushed me even further away.
Mm-hmm.
. And then my mom passed away and I am.
There's no joy.
I'm getting up every day.
I'm working.
I'm sprinting.
I think, well, maybe if I
have more, more, more, more.
And I kept getting that.
Mm-hmm.
other more number.
And I felt emptier more
alone and dissatisfied.
And I think I was on my way to having a
nervous breakdown, all kinds of stuff.
People on the outside looking in, all
they could see is, oh, I'm on this
list and I've got the success and this.
And oh, you must have the
perfect and like, man, if you
only knew, there's a saying.
We used to have in my YPO forum,
the happiest people we know.
We don't know very.
Meaning that you're seeing the facade.
Wow.
So I love working with people
to help them free themselves.
As I did.
I worked with a therapist and I
think the, and I had had a, you know,
ZUS from a good therapist and a bad
therapist, but his name's Korosh.
I spent a week out in Venice.
California.
It was intense, and it was after my
mom died, I went into a deeper level of
depression and despair, and even though
felt like I shouldn't be there, I just
couldn't explain why I was there, and
he really helped me understand that I
didn't need to run from scarcity anymore.
That even if I did lose everything,
is that really the end of the world.
The end of the world is
living the life you're living.
He helped me see and understand at the
level, wow, you're already in help.
You're already living.
So you Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Get any worse than where you're at.
And he helped me feel that.
And then, and this is a little
controversial, but I am a big believer
and I have personally done ayahuasca.
I have done some of the, and I, and
you talk about a spiritual awakening.
I know it's kind of like popular.
Everybody's doing it back when I mm-hmm.
did it.
It was the first time I knew
for certain that God existed.
It was a first you talk.
Power, and I had this epiphany during
one of my sessions that, and this gave
to, to this day, gives me so much power
of understanding power of faith is that
we think of all the disagreements, all
the arguments, all the hate, all the
killing around the religious beliefs,
but we all have the same source.
There's nobody out there that can argue.
We came from a different source.
We all argue about how it all.
But this allowed me to become spiritual.
This allowed me to understand my
purpose on this Earth is for a
reason, and it really is to help
people live a higher, better life
where they have an advocate and that
ascension, you know, to that level.
And so I do it now for other people.
Nothing gives me greater joy, you
know, to be able to take someone from,
and I, last year I was responsible
for a handful of people quitting
their jobs cuz they hated 'em.
Mm-hmm.
, they were there cause of the money.
Yeah.
And every one of those, right, they
quit, walked away from something
they'd never envisioned they could
ever walk away from or living the,
they're happier than they've ever been.
And they're making many cases way
more, but in a couple cases way less.
But they didn't need.
Stacy Havener: Wow.
Thank you so much for sharing that.
What I would call kind
of the messy middle.
Yeah.
In some ways.
And I think that's a part of our journeys
that people are very reluctant to share.
So that was 10 years ago, and
you kind of alluded to this
with the people you've helped.
I'm wondering 10 years ago, uh, when you
were in it, Verse now, after doing all
of this work and really leaning into more
of who you are and what's important to
you, and finding this, these other sides
that, you know, the day-to-day nine to
five wasn't supporting, after doing all
of that, are you more successful now
than you ever imagined you would be?
Ron Carson: That that's,
that's the crazy thing.
Like I was worried about scarcity,
worried about all, as soon as I started.
Yeah.
As soon as I moved from fear to abundance.
All of a sudden I started
attracting people into my life.
Stacy, from all kinds of places,
unexpected, the universe keeps score.
You know, as I book, the Body Keeps
Score, the universe set right?
It does reward those that trust
in its power and our success
has accelerated exponentially.
But with that, and I believe
this into the center of my.
It was divine intervention because
of the impact that I, that I wanna
have, need to have am having.
Stacy Havener: That's amazing.
Thank you for sharing that.
And I hope that as people listen to
this, they don't only kind of get to know
maybe some other sides of you and some
other parts of your story, but I think
when we hear someone share their story,
it helps us have touchpoints to our.
Because maybe there's something
similar that we went through, right?
Maybe, maybe people listening to this
say, gosh, I'm in that place right now,
or, I, I hate my job and I don't know
what I'm doing, and I, I don't have this.
Or they listen to your story and say, if
Ron can do this, if Ron can lean into this
and share his story and look at what he's.
Built and is building.
If he can do it, so can I.
And that's
Ron Carson: incredibly entire,
that's really the message now
is I have been where you're at.
I know what you're feeling.
I know that sometimes it's a
perceived perception that what we,
how people want to think about us,
but it's not true to how we feel.
But I'm on the other side.
Mm-hmm.
and I can pull you through to the other
side and I, in this journey and it's safe.
I'll grab your hand.
You're on the side.
You don't want to be, there's a cliff.
There's a massive chasm to chart.
Come.
I can help you.
Yeah.
Get to the other side of this
Stacy Havener: and that right there.
Everyone listening.
That is the difference between being the
hero and the guide because Ron just took
the story and said, I am not the hero.
I'm the guide to the hero
and that is brilliant.
Well, I wanna end with
something that I love.
Um, I hope you do, and this is sort
of my version of proof's questionnaire
and this questionnaire, I don't know,
I should probably know what year dates
back to, but the idea was that there were
these questions that you can ask people.
Give you an insight into who they
are and I think you've done a,
just a, a wonderful job of sharing
who you are today in general.
But we're still gonna do the questions
cuz they're also kind of fun.
Okay.
So you can answer the questions
in one word, you can do a couple
sentences, whatever the first
question is, what book inspires you?
Ron Carson: Outwitting The
Devil by Napoleon Hill.
Okay, now I wanna say just
Stacy Havener: me.
I'm like writing them all down.
Start,
Ron Carson: it's a original book.
Think and Grow Rich.
Stacy Havener: I'm,
Ron Carson: yeah.
Which everyone talks
about a success early on.
It gave me the ability to
believe in myself and my mind.
And then I recently, cuz they,
they'd only released it I
think in like 2017, maybe 13.
Outwitting the Devil.
It's really.
Stacy Havener: Okay, love that.
Staying with inspiration,
what place inspires you?
Ron Carson: Wherever I'm at.
Stacy Havener: Oh God,
that's a great answer.
And I believe that that's, it is true.
Yeah.
Wow.
That is good.
Okay, switching gears.
Let's pretend, let me paint
a little picture here.
Okay.
You're, and maybe you've already
done this, but I'm still gonna paint
anyway, so you're at a stadium.
And this is like the Ron Carson concert.
and you're about to walk out into
this, you know, 20, 30,000 of your
true fans, , or fans, and what song
do they play as you're walking?
Dream Weaver them.
Ron Carson: Ooh, . And by
the way, I got a dream.
We started this foundation 11 years ago.
We provide end of life dreams for
the terminally ill elderly in.
and we called it Dream
Weaver because of the lyric.
That's the play.
Absolute favorite song.
Stacy Havener: That is so great.
Okay.
What profession, other than
your own, would you like to
Ron Carson: attempt a singer?
Rock?
I like a sing.
I like to be able to sing, you
Stacy Havener: know?
That's amazing.
And I mean, hi, I already told you
you're gonna have a concert, so we're
putting that out as the universe.
There we
Ron Carson: go.
I work for a year and I.
Sang to my daughter and
my kids are like, oh.
So I, I, uh, it was way outta my
comfort zone and my daughter about
had a nervous breakdown, and then , I
practiced enough that it sounded okay.
. That's
Stacy Havener: amazing.
Okay.
Well, okay, so staying with professions,
what profession would you not like
Ron Carson: to do?
Oh, man, I can't, I don't think
anything, I don't think I would like any.
not like to do is probably all of them.
But what I'm doing, because I'm at a point
in my life, Stacy, is that I get to do
what I want to do and I'm choosing to do.
So anything else would be less desirable.
Yeah, that's
Stacy Havener: great.
Anything else besides what
you're doing right now?
Love that.
Okay.
Now this is an interesting one because,
because we just talked about legacy in the
hundred year firm and all of these things,
but let's say, I'm not gonna use the word,
the R word, I'm not gonna use retire.
, but what do you want
people to say about you?
After you've left the
Ron Carson: industry,
he made my life better.
That
Stacy Havener: was amazing.
Perfect.
Well, you make my life
better every time we talk.
Ron, thank you for being so
candid and sharing with us today.
Um, if people wanna connect with you
and follow your, your work, , what
are the best ways to do that?
I know you're on
Ron Carson: LinkedIn.
I really, I mean, I'm on Instagram's
and Twitter, but my team does that.
LinkedIn, I do all my own stuff.
So if you send me a message on LinkedIn.
Okay.
I'm on LinkedIn every day and I, and
I little, if you enjoy the videos,
I cut a couple of, uh, a week and
there are a couple of minutes and, uh,
but yeah, you can reach out to me on
Stacy Havener: LinkedIn.
Thank you for
Ron Carson: being here, Laura.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate.
Stacy Havener: This
Ron Carson: podcast is for informational
Stacy Havener: purposes only and
should not be relied upon as a
basis for investment decisions.
The information is not an offer,
solicitation, or recommendation of any
of the funds, services, or products,
or to adopt any investment strategy.
Investment values may fluctuate and past
performance is not a guide to future
Ron Carson: performance.
All opinions expressed by guests on the
show are solely their own opinion and do
not necessarily reflect those at their
Stacy Havener: firm.
Manager's appearance on the show does
not constitute an endorsement by Stacey
Havener or Haven or Capital Partners.