IAM2654 – Founder Provides The Tools to Live a More Transformational Life

In this throwback episode, we have Katherine Liola, founder and CEO of Concentric Private Wealth, where they differentiate from traditional firms by centering every client interaction around the question “why?” and aligning financial strategy with each person’s intrinsic drivers—core values, unique abilities, and passions that define who they truly are.

Rather than merely managing assets, Katherine’s team helps clients pause, reflect deeply, and make decisions that serve their broader life purpose.

This approach extends to a novel pricing model that ties fees to the scope and value of work, not just the amount of assets under management, reinforcing the firm’s focus on holistic, purpose‑driven wealth planning.

Katherine urged listeners to trust their intuition and invest in self‑exploration, noting that financial fitness is attainable even amid setbacks.

Website: concentricpw.com

LinkedIn: katherineliola
Facebook: Concentric-Private-Wealth

Previous Episode: iam393-founder-provides-the-tools-to-live-a-more-transformational-life

Transcription:

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Katherine Liola Teaser 00:00
At the end of the day, what we really help our clients do is help them ask the question, why? And apply the answers to that question to their life. We ultimately are wanting to help people live their best life. And we do that by helping our clients center on their intrinsic driver.

Intro 00:22
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 00:49
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Katherine Liola of Concentric Private Wealth. Katherine, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Katherine Liola 00:58
It's awesome to be here, thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 01:00
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Katherine so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Katherine is the founder and CEO of Concentric Private Wealth, where she and her team stick firmly to the belief that financial management isn't just about markets and algorithms.

It's about people, their values, their goals, and their life. Katherine started a movement to change the way others think about money, mindset, and health, providing the tools they need to live a more transformational life.

Through her own life experience and professional expertise, she has taken the lead in experiencing the power of investing in you. Katherine, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Katherine Liola 01:38
I am.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 01:39
Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Katherine Liola 01:46
Well, for me, honestly, it really goes back to when I was a little kid. I was the oldest of five kids. My family was initially a single income household. And my mom went back to law school, actually, when she was 38 and had a six month old baby, my youngest sister.

And for me, it really was something that was defining as far as how you can really create a new identity and do something that other people are not doing, what is just outside of the norm. And that stayed with me.

For me, as a family, we did not have a lot of financial resources growing up. My family did a ton to expose us to the world and different types of learning.

But for me, I had some financial street smarts at a very early age. I worked through middle school, high school, but it was really when I went to college where I was outside of my normal comfort zone, outside and away from my family, where I started realizing how different the world was, especially from a financial perspective.

And having the experience of financing and working and paying my way through college really began shaping what was ahead for me. And while I didn't necessarily know at that time that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I did know that I could do things that were not necessarily easy.

And that, I think, has been a big, big piece that I've been able to lean on as I have become an entrepreneur.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 03:15
Yeah, absolutely. I always say like a lot of times when you go through sometimes difficult times or difficult processes or whatever that might be, it kind of strengthens you, strengthens those muscles so that the next challenge and the next thing you have to go through, you're prepared for, you're able to kind of look back on that, those previous challenges that you were able to kind of, to conquer and then, you know, conquer the next one.

Katherine Liola 03:37
100%. To me, adversity is one of the most important pieces of our learning, both as a child as well as an adult. Now, of course, there's adversity that can be traumatic for people, and that's not necessarily something that I'm advocating to put children or young adults into a situation that's creating trauma, but we absolutely need pressure points.

To help us grow and to cultivate who we are so that we can be actually who we are.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 04:09
Absolutely. Absolutely. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper here a little bit more about everything you're doing. Can you tell us a little bit more on how you serve in the clients that you're working with?

Katherine Liola 04:19
Yeah. So big picture from someone who's just looking outside in and sees like our name out there. We look like a comprehensive wealth management firm. So yes, we manage money.

And we help people with financial strategy. But we're very different than the typical financial services firm. At the end of the day, what we really help our clients do is help them ask the question, why, and apply the answers to that question to their life. We ultimately are wanting to help people live their best life.

And we do that by helping our clients center on their intrinsic drivers. And when they can center on their intrinsic drivers, that then leads them to really look at what they've got going on in their life personally, professionally, and recognizing that maybe some of the decisions that they've been making are not completely aligned with what's most important to them.

Sometimes they are, but so often they're not. And what we have to remember is that every single decision that we make has a financial consequence, positive or negative.

And for most people with planning, it's just kind of whatever happens, partly because that's how we've been taught. So we like to really put on the brakes. and help people first really reflect and reflect deeply, and to help them understand how to do that on an ongoing basis, so that the decisions that they are making are really about what's most important to them.

And so therefore, when they are planning, or when we're looking at managing money, it's not just about how much do you need, it's really about who are you, and then what do you need to be whom you are.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 06:06
Nice, I definitely appreciate that. And a lot of times, you know, wealth is not necessarily seen as like a vehicle.

But I think that I love the kind of like the strategic approach you're talking about, because it kind of begins with you. And then whatever your values are, is going to determine how you use whatever you have at your disposal or planning to have at your disposal in the way that you want it to be done.

Katherine Liola 06:28
Totally. You know, and it's not comfortable. You know, these are conversations that are really hard to have. And so We're not the right fit for a lot of people because sometimes they just want to know what the numbers are But if we all just individually think about like what is it that?

We need and start with that as opposed to well, how much do I need? We're gonna have often very different responses

Gresham Harkless Jr. 06:53
Absolutely. Absolutely. You talked about intrinsic drivers. Could you give us some examples of like what those are that people might be able to tap into?

Katherine Liola 07:01
Absolutely, so there's a lot of different resources that we take clients through but at a kind of high picture of looking at things in some ways you could look at core values being part of what intrinsic drivers are so I'm not talking about just saying things that might sound good.

So for example Someone might say health. Well health is yes something that could be someone's intrinsic driver But we're talking about intrinsic drivers We're talking about things that are at the core of who that person is If they are not focusing their time and energy in that area.

They are not going to be who they are and that's going to create stress or anxiety in ways that are not going to be beneficial to them So a lot of times, people might think that they know what they highly value or what they need from a certainty perspective or what their unique ability is.

But when they actually get down and really focus in on these things, often really unique pieces come out. So for example, if I look at myself, there's things that I'm really excellent at doing. And the same thing would be for you.

There's also things that I'm competent at doing. there's only a few things that are really unique about me. So understanding, for example, what are the things that we most value? What are the things that make us truly unique?

What are the things that we're passionate about? And aligning these things together, that's really where we're getting those intrinsic drivers.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 08:35
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. Appreciate you for expounding upon that a little bit more because I think a lot of times you have to create that space in order to do that work, that, that deep work, get in those weeds and really understand who you are as a person.

Cause I think kind of as you touched on with finances, but also in a lot of aspects of life, we never sometimes have a delegated time where we're supposed to be able to understand exactly who we are and continue to kind of work on that.

And I appreciate you for, for helping people to find that.

Katherine Liola 09:02
No problem. And to me, it's something that is really near and dear to my heart because I have three little kids and they of course mean the world to me. But I already see that the tracks around their learning in terms of how we teach children have already started.

You know, when someone graduates, whether it be from high school or from college, often our world pretty much is focused on that person getting a job and They even talk about saving for retirement when people first are graduating from school, but no one's talking about investing in themselves in a way that's helping people know how to explore.

So I would suggest that most people, especially in the U S I can't speak necessarily for other countries, but in the U S we really don't know how to explore who we are because we actually haven't been taught nor have our parents been taught how to explore who we are. And as a result, we just follow step after step after step because that's what habits are.

So to really be able to help people stop and begin to understand how to explore, be a little bit more creative with what is in front of them can really create a unique place forward, but it's not necessarily comfortable. So it takes a lot of work.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 10:25
Yeah, definitely. And a lot of courage, I imagine, as well, too, to be able to kind of do that. Definitely. Yeah.

And you might have already touched on this. Is that what you consider to be like your secret sauce and what you feel kind of makes you guys unique?

Katherine Liola 10:36
100%. I mean, there's a combination of a few different things. I think what our offering is, is very unique because it's not just about managing money. Our pricing platform aligns with that.

So we kind of took the assets under management model, which is what the traditional pricing model is in the financial services industry and said, You know what? That's pretty outdated. And maybe there's a component piece of that that makes sense, but it really needs to be revamped.

And so, we're unique in that we have a very unique pricing model that's aligned with value and scope of work as opposed to just how much someone has because that's just not any reflection of the scope of work or complexity or value that that one individual needs compared to someone else.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 11:22
So I definitely appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be a book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Katherine Liola 11:34
Wow. That's a good question. Well, there's a lot of books. I love reading books, but two that have been really pivotal for me in the last couple of years.

One is, which I'm sure most of your listeners have heard of, is called The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins. That one has just been, to me, what I love about it is it's so simple.

So yes, you could read the book, watch her TED Talk, or just kind of read a blurb on her website about it. But that has made a really big difference for me because at the end of the day, it's, yes, we do have to reflect.

But it's also about action. We have to take action, but it's not that we have to take this giant, huge leap forward. And as a runner, I can very much understand that when I've trained for marathons or other races, it's not like on the first day of training that I am ready to run the race. You know, it's really that training plan that goes in.

So the five-second rule has been really instrumental for me as I've wanted to do some things that are outside of my comfort zone for the business, but also just needing to have a little reminder, if you've got this girl, just go to it and whatever that little step is. And then another one is called Attention Pays by Neen James.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 12:57
Exactly, exactly. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, and this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Katherine Liola 13:07
I would tell my younger self to give more respect to my intuition. Listen to my gut.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 13:17
Nice. I appreciate that. And I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show.

So Katherine, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Katherine Liola 13:29
Cool. So to me, being a CEO is really about creating the vision and the roadmap for how you believe you can affect positive impact. Now, what that positive impact is, is going to vary for each person and each company.

But at the end of the day, to me, creating that vision and the roadmap specifically is really what's all about being a CEO and then creating that bridge of leadership.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 14:03
Absolutely. I love that definition and I love that perspective. And a lot of times, you know, sometimes we write those plans and expect it to happen, you know, A, B, C, D. Sometimes it goes A, B, C, Z, then comes back to D.

Katherine Liola 14:15
For sure.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 14:15
But there's a lot to be said about having that energy like you talked about and starting to build that momentum and then the energy starts to flow and just kind of understanding that that's part of the process. And sometimes that's how it goes.

Katherine Liola 14:27
Yes.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 14:28
Nice. Well, Katherine, I truly appreciate all the awesome things you're doing. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see anything additional you can let the readers and listeners know. And then, of course, how they can find out about all the awesome things you're doing.

Katherine Liola 14:42
Sure. So, a few things that I would just put out there, and I think I put this out there because I am someone who didn't grow up with money. And now being in the financial services world, I think sometimes people think that if you're in that world, that just means that you're only working with people who have money or that the problems are just around strategy with money.

But the big message for me is really that we can have the life that we want even if our finances are not where they are at that moment.

Even at this point in my life, there's gonna be times where there's gonna be financial setbacks and so forth, but for all of your listeners, it's really key that they focus on who they are as a person and give that attention and also be reality-based.

From just overall in terms of following, there is a thing, as I mentioned earlier, I put out Financial Fitness Friday on LinkedIn every single Friday. The one for today went up earlier today. That also goes on Twitter, so you can follow it at Katherine Liola.

And then our website, concentricpw.com, we'll be soon having some downloads that people will be able to check out. By the end of August, early September, your listeners could absolutely check into that and be able to get a few things that could help them as they're looking for steps forward with their own financial strategy as well as with their pursuit of who they are as the best selves.

Gresham Harkless Jr. 16:21
Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. I appreciate, you know, the message definitely as well. Of course, appreciate your time. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Katherine Liola 16:29
You too. Thanks so much.

Outro 16:30
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase.
It's a community.

Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at Blue16media.com. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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