Message from the CEO to Our Clients - Thank You!
Dear FinGym Fam,
7 years ago this month, I left Merrill Lynch because I was consumed with the idea that people of all financial shapes and sizes should have access to another human being just like the wealthy have access to financial advisors. I literally couldn’t sleep at night thinking about this idea of The Financial Gym; and for months I fought the pull of it because I’d never wanted to start a business and I had a successful and growing Merrill Lynch practice. Why would I leave?
That was the exact question my ex-husband Bill asked me. He didn’t want me to leave. He thought I was crazy. My family thought I was crazy. My co-workers thought I was crazy. One of them said to me “Good luck building a business without the Merrill Lynch brand.”
Two years into my journey, when I had gone through my $250,000 Rollover IRA and all I had left to my name was a life insurance policy, which meant I was literally worth more dead than alive, I began to believe everyone...I was crazy.
In this particular low moment of my entrepreneurial journey, I got a text from Jillian, client #1, she was excited that her savings account had hit $10,000 for the first time ever and her credit score had gone up 60 points; and she wanted to know when we were going to have our next check in meeting. I remember thinking, “How can I leave Jillian and go back to a career at Merrill Lynch?” Thankfully, my ex-husband at this point agreed. He was witnessing the transformations of my early clients and stopped believing I was crazy and started believing in the mission so much that he contributed his retirement savings to keep it going.
Over the past 7 years, I’ve experienced numerous dark times where I’ve thought about just throwing in the towel and giving up this dream. As many of you can imagine, I’ve experienced a number of them just in the past five months alone. But literally every single time I think about quitting, I think about you, our Financial Gym clients, my family.
Starting with Jillian and going to the person who joined yesterday, every single one of you holds a special place in my heart. You are not another number, you are not a nameless face in the crowd. You are part of a community of people investing in a better life for themselves, their families and the next generation.
Your identities are kept private, but your stories are told by our trainers on calls and in Slack channels. The work that you put into your financial journeys and the results that you get, big and small are celebrated by our team; but truly felt deep down in my soul. Whenever I hear about a success someone has had just in the past 6 months, I think to myself, “Thank goodness I didn’t quit last year.”
These last five months have been gruesome, and you know that we’ve taken a hit as a company. And I have moments where I don’t know if I have the energy to push forward, but then I read a review one of you has written or see a new note from a trainer in our “Gym Magic” Slack channel about what someone has overcome, and my gas tank is refueled.
So, I wanted to send this note to you on my 7 year founder anniversary to say “Thank you.” Thank you for trusting The Financial Gym with your financial health journey. Thank you for believing in us as much as we believe in you. Thank you for your kind words, your thoughts and your prayers you’ve sent our way over the past few months and years. Thank you for always being the fuel that I need to keep me pushing through the difficult times.
We have a tough road ahead, but I assure you, my tank is full, and I’m looking forward to the next chapter of this journey and seeing where we all go together.
Much love,
Shannon
PS: I shared this on my Instagram account, but just to give you perspective, to the left is what my son Will looked like when I started on this journey and this is what he looks like now. He’s officially taller than me and growing by the minute.
