Issue 12 2021

6 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 12 2021 , The Financial Advisor Whisperer Evenfinancial advisors need advice, andwhen they do, they turn to Advisorist®. Led by founder and CEO JeremiahDesmarais, the Advisoristmission is to help 10,000 insurance andfinancial advisors double their businesses and take 100 days off per year. It’s thismission, and the company’s compelling culture, that’s led toDesmarais being named the 2021 CEOof the Year. Today’s business landscape doesn’t look anything like it did 15 or 20 years ago. The growth of digital platforms and technology means businesses can move more agilely than ever before. Geographical borders are no longer limiting factors. Virtual is the new normal, and the team at Advisorist is helping insurance and financial advisors shift into this new world order using modern methods to acquire and retain clients. CEO Jeremiah Desmarais is more than the company’s founder or figurehead. He’s a hands- on innovator and leader who works tirelessly to make those around him better professionals, advisors, husbands, wives, friends, and people. While the kind and gregarious Desmarais isn’t one to tout his accolades, he has them in spades. He’s been referred to as “one of the greatest marketing minds in the financial industry,” is a valued contributor to Forbes, NASDAQ, and Financial Advisor Magazine, TED Speaker, and a philanthropist with ongoing projects in Haiti, Ecuador and other countries. Desmarais founded Advisorist® on the heels of helping an Inc. 500 insurance software company hit a record 1503% growth in less than three years. He was also one of the first employees at a multinational insurance automation firm and helped increase their sales by $26 million in just nine months. After effectively tripling their revenue, the firm went on to be sold for $1.2 billion. Desmarais had seen enough to know that he could build his own business teaching advisors how to generate leads and experience similar growth. When Desmarais started Advisorist, he did so with a singular mission: To be a force for good. And it’s his passion for helping advisors, as well as his knowledge of the financial industry, that have allowed the young company to achieve overwhelming success in a 100% virtual environment. He and his wife founded the company together and it has now grown to over 20 people across the globe. Always On the Bleeding Edge Desmarais was one of the first insiders in the financial services industry to sound the bell on the need for changing to a virtual business model. His Amazon best-selling book SHIFT was published in 2018, well before the pandemic catalyzed a movement away from brick and mortar firms and toward 100% remote practices. Since publishing SHIFT, Desmarais has stressed the importance of advisors being agile and nimble. His systems are built on the backs of digital marketing and use scalable strategies to help insurance and financial advisors generate qualified appointments that turn leads into clients. In a sector that is typically reticent to change, many advisors spent years resisting this inevitable shift. Today, Desmarais is seen as a pioneer of the movement. Through his company, Advisorist, he’s able to teach, coach, and train advisors to build their own appointment engines so they can grow lifestyle businesses on their own terms. Leading From the Front Desmarais has always been a hands-on manager. He believes specificity, clarity, and leading by example are critically Aug21044