SPEAKER_00 0:00

But I would say just the fact that when you network and you get to meet with other people, the fact that you can be a resource to all those other businesses is the best.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter, where we tell the stories of Northern Colorado's best networkers. Today I have one of the best, Deanna Ortiz from New York Live. Deanna, thanks for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Well, I know you are just such a presence. I've seen you at lots of networking events. But if people haven't met you yet, uh share a little bit more about what you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

My name is Diana Ortiz. I'm a financial advisor with New York Life. So this is one of the companies I've been very happy to work for and to run my own financial business with them.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Awesome. Well, I, you know, it's been so awesome getting to know you, watching the way you show up. Financial advisor, you're not the only one in town. Yeah. Uh, but what are some things you do to stand out uh from all the other people that are in your field? Ooh, that's always good questions, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

I think for myself, it's the fact that I have gone through a lot of financial issues with since I was young. We're really not taught about financials and how to set up for retirement. What does a 401k look like? What is a 401k? How does life insurance work? You know, we don't talk about the stuff that we need to invest for ourselves. So that's I think what makes me a little bit different. So I have many stories that I can say that can relate to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

And I first met you, you came to one of my networking events. But uh, how has networking been a strategy of how you've grown your practice?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Oh gosh, where where to start on that? I would say just the fact that when you network and you get to meet with other people, and the fact that you can be a resource to all those other businesses is the best. Not even just for yourself, but just to understand the people that you're dealing with, people that you trust. And it's been great because some of the people I got to network have actually got to uh spread their business to others as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Well it's been great. A lot of people network. Some people do it as like, hey, I know I need a network to grow my business, but you can tell like the the events take a lot out of their their energy, right? Like it brings them down. But for whenever time I'm around you, it looks like the networking really gives you energy and you thrive in that social environment as an extrovert. So where does that come from and how have you been able to cultivate that?

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Oh, I've been like that since I was two years old. I would go and meet people randomly. Um, my kind of energy is just the fact that if I can help other businesses grow internally, right? I come from a family with small businesses. I really truly believe in the small business world, not as much as the corporate, but the small business. So when I do go to these networking events, it's great to see. And I'm always constantly like, hey, have you met this person in this year? Hey, this person does roofing, hey, this person does this. They're helping me with my business as well as I am to them. But I want to make sure I'm that asset to the company or to them to help them promote where they're at.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Awesome. So well, as so you're talking about like the people that you're seeing and introducing and being a resource for others. Absolutely. Um, how did you develop that and highlight some of the people that um you're able to recommend?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I would say that way I developed it was um actually before I got into New York life, I was a chef for 17 years. So, me, I've always loved customer service. My favorite thing is to make anyone happy and be able to do whatever I can to make the client happy, you know, or the guest happy. So when I used to be a chef, I was very big about going and talking to all my customers. Hey, how was the food? Is there any way I can improve? I mean, there were times I would take quarters, cook the food, and deliver it because that was just my passion of it. Just to be able to connect with people and to be a resource for them is the biggest opportunity I can have, right? Or that I can give to others.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Well, let's let's dive into that because that's a big pivot, right? Yeah, right. Um if you haven't had some of Dionis cooking, you gotta get you some of that. But um, you know, you so you build a network in it as a chef, and then you make this commitment to become a financial advisor. So what what has what has translated? Like what has been part of the old network that's in there, and then what have been some new things that you've had to adopt?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

So coming from a chef and going into kind of like a sales role, right? When I first was talking about New York life, I'm like, I'll be honest, I'm like, I know I hate salespeople. I don't like salespeople. They sell, they do this, and it's yes, yeah, we'll say yes to everything. And I have personally been burnt through uh things in the past from sales opportunities or whatever it may be, right? So I said when I get into this, I want to make sure I am not that person. I am going to be able to create an opportunity for people. I love being straight up and very blunt. Like, let's see how I can be a resource to you or help you financially. And when I was a chef, I worked, you know, 10, 15 hour shifts, six days a week. I lived in Loveland, drove to Denver every day, downtown, over there at the Ritz. So I was definitely committed. And when I was committed, I wasn't making the money I was. And at that time, especially being a chef and being a single mom and my son with autism, I never made enough money to even think about retirement. I was paycheck to paycheck, getting behind on bills. I didn't know where to financially start. So when I got into New York life, and the reason I even got into New York life is because I used to caregive to my grandmother too. And she had dementia, she had diabetes, she had to be watched 24-7. And I was her caretaker. And when she was on Medicaid and we had to put her in a home because she couldn't physically be mobile anymore, Medicaid liquidated all of her assets. And a lot of people think they could depend on Medicaid or Medicare to take care of them, which is almost the opposite. So it kind of made me think about okay, I want to plan something financially for myself because I was never taught or understand the concept of it. I need to set something else up for my son because I know he can't take care of me, but I also don't want to put that burden or that financial burden on him, understanding that when I was taking care of my grandmother, it's a lot mentally, physically, and as well as, you know, the person that you're caregiving for. You know, so that's kind of what got me into New York life. And it was nice because going from a chef who had barely a day off to having any days I want off, and now I can be with my son, and I've seen him extremely grow from where he was at, you know, and now I can be a part of his life where I can create my own schedule. I can meet whoever I need to meet with my clients, you know, I can go to them. And that's been the beauty about it is be able to have time with my son now and have and be a family again.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Well, I always love those obstacles to the opportunity. You know, some people uh go into the trade because that's how they were raised. They were going, it's like a family business, so they they do that. But I love when somebody is like had something that's an impact and then is a part of the solution.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

How um what was that like to be in like this is not something that I've had, or this has been something that's hard to I'm gonna make sure others don't have to deal with those kind of things.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yeah, that's a good question. That's a that's a good thing to think about. Um I think it's coming from like going into that transition was a little different. I want to say difficult, but just mind-blowing because I didn't know and the resources that New York life offered, right? I always thought it was like, oh, it's insurance, life insurance. And for me, forever, I was like, I don't need it. And then when I had my son, I was like, okay, I need it. I didn't understand the concept of it, right? And also too, because it's like a whole nother language that you're learning about. So when I am here, like when I love to meet with my clients, I'm like, let me just be a resource to show you what's out there. Let's get you thinking about things that I never thought about. If I would, if I would have known what I knew today, started 10 years ago, I could have put my my money on a down payment on a house. Or I could have been completely finished with my debt. Or I could have, you know, I could have done this or I could have done that. But if I knew, if somebody would have shown me what I knew now, it would have been a huge difference and a different opportunity than what I have.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Sure. So well, one thing I think you do, like that I've seen in the networking, is you're so great at building rapport. I I would imagine that would translate to your clients because sometimes these things aren't easy to talk about, like, hey, I should be more financially well off than I am, or there's fear or guilt or anything that you have. But uh give some somebody who's watching this episode some tips on how to build rapport, not just with your clients, but maybe in a networking uh situation as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

I see the biggest is being open and honest. You know, that's the hard part is when you talk about finances. You know, people can be open and talk about anything they want, but when it comes to finances, it's kind of like, oh, it's very personal. But the moment you can get in to talk about finances and feel comfortable and see the opportunity behind it, that's what helps, right? So, like, I mean, I've I've set up a gentleman who was 70 years old, didn't have a retirement plan at all. And I'm like, the best day is now. And again, it's just you go from somebody who doesn't know anything about retirement, what is it gonna look like? What is our future gonna look like? To like, let's go ahead and educate yourself. Let's educate you to be able to know what the future may bring, the opportunities. And that's the thing I say is I just want to be able to sit with you, give you the opportunity, show you what's out there. What can you do? You know, can you look at a children's education? We can do that. We talk about unfortunately a lot of job losses. You know, what do we do in the 401k? Can we help you out there? Um, do you need a career opportunity? We can help you out there. Uh, there's so many different ways of, you know, protecting your income. I I never thought about that, even if it was a chef. Even when I worked for corporate, I figured I was like, well, if something happens to me, maybe I'll use short term. But even in the short term, you're getting 30% of what you're making, right? Out of that hundred. So you learn about how to protect your income versus just to protect your family, because the moment you lose your income, how are you going to protect your family? So it's like those little things that we start opening up eyes to to a lot of our clients.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Well, that sounds like it's more than just a one-off conversation. Yeah, like we're creating content, shout out to the team, Chelsea and Brian. But we create all this content and then we have these little reels or shorts that comes in. But a lot of people are getting financial advice through not a relationship, not a trusted advisor, but a little one-off piece of advice, and maybe it's good advice or not good advice. So, how do you cut through the noise uh to help your clients know what they should do versus maybe what they heard on TikTok or Yeah, that's always it, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Or Dr. Google or TikTok or Facebook or Instagram. Not saying they're bad resources, because it's good to get information, but it's good to get into somebody who is in the financial field, right? Because anybody can post anything on Instagram, social media, uh, TikTok, any of those. But when you really want to look at more details, what is the worst that can happen? And this is what I do with my clients. If the worst happens, it's not that you fail to plan, it's just you plan to fail, or excuse me, let me repeat that. You don't plan to fail, you just fail to plan. And nobody wants to be that way, but you never know, you know, from certain emergency or circumstances that come up. So what I like to say is, okay, well, tell me what you know. What do you want to learn? That's the first thing I'll sit down with. My clients, what do you want to learn out of today? And usually when we sit with clients, it's one, we talk about the business and then let's talk about you. And it's like several sittings. This isn't like we sit down, I'm gonna tell you this is what you need, and I want to get to know you. What are your goals? Is there something you want to do? Hey, I want to travel every year with the family. Hey, I want to buy a few homes. Hey, maybe at business solutions, right? You have a small business. Hey, did you know we can give you some employee benefits without the cost on the employer? Like, no. And that's even great, right? Because a lot of people, even this time, can't even get a life insurance policy because of their health. Well, we can do that through businesses, and it's guaranteed when we go under the depending on how many of the people they have in the business itself.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Sure. So Well, we we have a lot of entrepreneurs that watch the show, and entrepreneurs are a different breed. We we we like risk, you know, we we'll go all in on an idea and a vision or look really hard. But as a financial advisor, when you work with entrepreneurs, how is that different than working with somebody with maybe a stable W-2 income and uh you know consistent paycheck where maybe you have good months and bad months, maybe you have the big, big dreams and goals, and maybe you hit it, maybe you don't, maybe you do. So uh, what have you seen from entrepreneurs, the people who are planning their financial situation?

SPEAKER_00 12:11

I love them. I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this. I love anybody and anybody because when you're especially when you're younger, you're willing to take that risk. And we like to tell you the younger that you are, the more that you're gonna be able to take uh financial risk, right? Because when you're younger, you're able to make up for that money because you're younger and you're healthier. So there are uh products or solutions that we have to be able to help them. They're like, okay, I'm gonna be a little bit more risky, then we're like, okay, then we can help you out. This is what this outcome would look like. Um, what are you looking for out of this? What's the benefit? What are the things that stand out that you as an entrepreneur want? Do you want to have more of a safe net? Do you want to be a little bit more aggressive? Do you want to be a little bit more into the market? What does that look like? And when we do that, we're like, okay, then that we're that's the way that we can diverse and look into your portfolio and be able to help you out on that. Sure. So we can help everybody and anybody.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Well, you have you you highlighted some job transitions and having a son, it makes you think about your financial situation differently. Oh, yeah. Um, I would imagine there's a lot of people that deal with the different uh situations of growing families, changing jobs. Um, who do you collaborate with best as another professional that you're getting referrals from or you're sending referrals to that are in those same case situations?

SPEAKER_00 13:27

That's good. That's a good one. I say people with it when it comes into families, anyone who is mid-career, uh later career, early career, even with kids, because we like to sit down with them to be able to talk about what does your future look like? How about your children? Do you have something in place for them for their education? How about thinking about their retirement and building and building that you know generation wealth? Yeah. That's another thing is trying to figure out those goals. Things that maybe our folks didn't tell us or we did not know about, let's start building with that. So I love seeing that. I love working with even younger entrepreneurs because you're talking about 25, 35-year-olds who are in the market now. They are the most aggressive. You're seeing them where they're like, hey, I don't want to be like the, you know, our generation, right? Where you guys have the debt. Like they're ready to buy homes, they're ready to invest, they're a little bit more serious about trying to look into the retirement, trying to figure out all the things that we possibly did wrong that they want to be better at. And you see that in the younger market. So those are my markets itself.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Aaron Powell Do you see a lot of separating themselves from their parents' generation or generation to different, or or is it like, I'm just I'm guess I'm asking, is it like nature versus nurture? Like some people, I would imagine their parents use financial advisors and they and it's just super normal to them, where others, their parents have maybe never used a financial advisor. So reaching out to one would feel, I don't know, out of their comfort zone, but maybe not. So um what do you see as far as like keeping a a foundational of financial literacy within the family or generations versus carving your own path and being the first one to do it?

SPEAKER_00 15:03

You you see it a lot with the younger generation, right? They get a lot of their information, like I said, social media, TikTok, number one. Uh the greatest thing is like when they do come with that, I'm like, I'd like to challenge it. Just like I would love to see what did you get out of it? What are some things that you feel that is different from what I'm going to say? What is something that you want for your future? Like, let me know what you have learned. Let's talk about it. Let's get into a little bit more depth. Um, when you do have other families, there's a lot of people that you'll meet actually don't have financial advisors, just like myself. Like, I was just like one, I was like, I can't afford it. It's too much money, I can't, you know, and it and everything nowadays, it's so tight with money. And that's the beautiful thing that I love is being a advisor to people, is it's not gonna cost you anything for me. I can give you my time for free. All I want to do is be able to educate you and be that resource. So if I can help you do that and be that resource, and let's just say you're ready, you're not ready now, you're like, hey, I either lost my job or I'm just financially not set. Um, okay, I'll follow up with you. And that's the beauty I love about it is I'm able to follow up with you. Let's come back, things have changed, you know, and that's one thing I love about my clients.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Yeah, awesome. How do you how do you get new clients? Because like a lot of the banks, um, you know, they're recommending their in-house financial advisor. Uh I got a credit card, and they're like, here's an office if you talk if you open a brokerage account, it's all these built-in funnels, and here you are, a local business owner trying to stand out. So what are some ways that you've been able to get new clients or build those relationships?

SPEAKER_00 16:32

That's good too, is referrals. We are based upon referrals. I'm based upon referrals. I am also having a LinkedIn, so that does help. I would say the best one I love is when I'm just going out and networking with people, even if it's simple conf uh conversations. Like I ended up going to an event, it was boots, not suits. And it was nice because I was able to talk to some of the ladies, some of the vendors got their information because we talked about our kids, and I'm like, well, let's sit down, let's talk about this, you know. And then on the way back, I was talking to my Uber driver, and we just happened to start talking, and I was able to get, you know, her information. We were able to connect. But also, too, I like to know what people do for their business. So that way I would love to see what they do and I can help them as well. So it's just a conversation that I have with anybody I run into, right? Or just talking about those things and hey, let's just sit for coffee. Let's just talk. Like I would love to get to know you. That's my first thing is I want to get to know you and your family. And what do you like to do? What do you do? You know, even if it doesn't correlate to going to, let's just say, New York life or financially with me. It's just nice to get to know people in general. And I feel like we miss that quite a bit because that's everybody's like this, right? On the phones, or, you know, I make sure when I'm in a door, I'm holding a door, I'm saying hello to people. You know, I teach my son, even with that, like, hey, come here, hold the door. And people walk by. I'm like, nope, he's learning. Walk by. And they're always like, oh, thank you. You know, it's just having that human connection. And I'm not afraid to talk to people. Like I I truly enjoy it. And I truly enjoy meeting people and hearing their stories. I hear so many stories through so many lives, even before I was not with New York Life, right? It's just I love hearing people's stories. That's my biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Well, a lot of people they they they struggle with how do I turn my best clients into not just clients, but a referral source. Um, because that's a different conversation. Somebody who loves what you do, but is also advocating from you, sending you additional business and referrals. So, how do you set those up with your clients where you're getting consistent referrals?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

I will sit with them. What we'd like to do is when I sit with my clients, is we just talk about New York life. We talk about solutions that we have, we get clients thinking about things they never thought about. Right. So when it comes to either like business solutions, I had a uh business owner after they sat with me and we're like, hey, we don't have any kind of like a disability in our company, maybe we can offer that, you know. And then I start talking about employee whole life. Hey, you can offer this to your employees. It's not gonna cost you anything. And it's portable. You know, when I worked for corporate, I remember having a whole life or um insurance policy, funded all this money all these years, and once I left, it was done. You know, and I always think about a lot of COVID back right in 2020 when everyone got laid off and the companies laid them off. What happened to those policies? They went away and all those people passed away. And how did their family survive financially? And so when I sit with people, I just give them, hey, this is the reason why I got into New York life. This is my story, this is what I've had to go through. You know, I've I've lost a best friend of cancer last year, uh, very rare, very unexpectedly. And I don't know how many go and fund meetings I've had to do. I don't know how many funerals I've been to where that's the first thing is financials, and people can't even mourn for their own family because finances. And that's the last thing you should ever have to worry about, but it happens. So it's just showing people these are the opportunities that we have. These are some solutions, these are some ideas. You know, we like to let people know, hey, have you ever thought about this? And if they're like, I don't know where to start, well, that's when I sit with you and we have a presentation that we show you. These are things to think about, you know, because a lot of people are like, even with children's education, let's just say that kiddo doesn't go to college, but later on maybe they want to get married. Okay, you can use that money to be able to fund for a wedding or for a ring, whatever it may be. But it's just providing those solutions and kind of opening up the doors. So it's just sitting with them for the first 15, 20 minutes to showing them what New York life can offer.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Okay. Well, you've been showing up to my events, networking, meeting a whole bunch of new people, but with your strategy, what are some connections that you're looking for in northern Colorado specifically that uh you feel like you could collaborate with?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Oh gosh, everybody. That's always a tough one. Um, I really love to, I my next journey is to really talk to some estate lawyers. Those are some big ones, right? And where to start. Um, just personally, I would need to get an estate lawyer for myself and get it more situated, especially with my son with his autism. But just to have a source, so when I do talk to people and they're like, hey, we need an estate lawyer, what does that look like? What's the process? Well, then I can be able to tell them, right? That's another way. Um, small businesses itself trying to protect your business. You know, what does that look like? Key person and uh, you know, when you have one of those kind of people is is if that person were to pass away, are you financially going to be able to cover them when you have the key person? How do what does that look like? Is it affordable? You always get the misconception of people are saying life insurance is too expensive, which it's not. You know, I've had clients too where they're just like, hey, I have $20, $15, great. We can use that, we can help you. And I've been able to help out clients with even just $20 a month. Like, let's get something started versus having nothing in the worst situation comes out of it, right? So trying to find um, I would say more of even small businesses, more of people in their mid careers are a big one.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Awesome. Awesome. Well, I I'm sure there's people going to watch this episode and like just really resonate with you or another business owner that sees some opportunity to collaborate. So for those who haven't met you yet, what's the best way to get a hold of you, contact you, maybe meet for coffee?

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Oh, cell phone, LinkedIn, Facebook. I mean, my Facebook's even a little bit more personal, but I would say LinkedIn or just um be able to see on this podcast, you know? Yeah. Be able to contact me anytime. I'll make numbers 970-581-0404. It's the easy phone number, Dion Ortiz. All right.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Well, De Gotta thanks so much for coming on the show. This is awesome. Wishing you the best of success and best of luck. And uh enjoy the positive energy that you bring every time you come out and network.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Thank you. And thank you for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado. I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh go in the podcast description. There's a way so you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.