- May 15, 2024
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When David Holland decided to launch his company in 1997, he said he didn't have a concrete plan. But he had ambition, desire to succeed and a determination to build something for his family's future.
And he did. Holland Financial, located at 700 W. Granada Blvd., celebrated its 25th anniversary on Sunday, July 10. A son of two educators, Holland is passionate about helping others learn more about finance. The Ormond Beach resident has written two books to help educate the public of financial planning, and currently hosts "PlanStrongerTV," which airs daily at 6 p.m. on WSDC Channel 15.
His advice for others wanting to be an entrepreneur or start their own business? Build a plan, and then double it.
"Starting a business is going to take twice as much cash, it's going to take twice as much time, and it's going to be twice as hard than what you expect," Holland said. "... So you need to have a really clear picture of where you're going. You have to be willing to adapt."
The Ormond Beach Observer sat down with the Holland Financial CEO to speak about his experiences over the past 25 years.
Looking back at the last 25 years, what are some things you implemented to ensure your business succeeded?
When I started, I wasn't really clear on how I was going to get clients. I just said, "Look, now's the time to do it." If I had to do it over, I would have built up more cash, I would have developed more of a plan. But, sometimes naivete is a good thing because if you know everything that can go wrong with something, then you may never do it. So I ambitiously and aggressively pursued my naivete.
I finally found I gravitated toward education, meaning financial seminars were starting to become popular, and so I started doing those and they worked very well for me, and for the attendees, the clients because I was giving people true education. I can't tell you how many people come up to me after I do a talk and say, "You didn't sell us anything." I say, "That's not what I'm here for." So I did a lot of education and we started building our clients.
Number two, I got an opportunity to be on a couple of radio shows, locally by other people that brought me on, and I found that really interesting.
Then, I decided to do my own show, and so I started doing it on a couple of the local stations. We built a little studio here where I could produce it and then send it to multiple stations. I ended up doing 1,000 radio shows. It's where I learned to talk [he laughs].
You've been producing your own show, "PlanStrongerTV" for nine seasons. What has been the most rewarding part of doing that?
In one respect, it's just kind of continuing this educational track. We answer viewer questions, I get to have on really interesting guests and hit a lot of the topics that people are interested in.
One of the things that is a little bit of a personal reward for me is that each of these steps I took, I wanted to reach a larger audience. So as I went from seminars, you might have 40 or 50 people. In radio, hundreds, maybe thousands. Now TV, even more than that. So it was an opportunity to reach more people.
It also has allowed us as a company to set ourselves apart.
The last time I checked, the show had been carried on at 80 stations nationally.
On financial planning, what's the best piece of advice that someone gave you?
I've always been hyper and a little bit impulsive, and a little bit aggressive, and so it's a funny answer. My dad has always been very conservative. Along the way, he's said, "David, maybe you need to slow down a little bit." Of course, that went in one ear and out the other.
There's been a few times where I've gotten ahead of myself. When we've had a couple of difficult periods for the markets and the economy over the year, if I would have embraced that, maybe I would have been a little better prepared. So I do tell clients the same thing — I repeat my dad's message: Make sure you've got plenty of cash on hand, make sure that you're prepared for downturns because they will come.
Even if my dad didn't say that exactly, I've definitely echoed that message for people to have a plan.
What are some hurdles you've overcome over the years, and how have you overcome them?
The number one thing for us has been to adapt to the changing environment, and the way we've done that has been to be flexible and adapt, and be willing to step back, and say, "OK, what would I do now if I were starting a company?" So that's been my magic little solution that, if I'm facing a difficult decision or some of the obstacles that the financial services industry has thrown my way, what I do is I literally get out a blank piece of paper and say, "OK, what would I do today, based on where we are, not attached to what I'm doing?"
My role has gone from being the primary person working with the client to now being the CEO of the company, and so my role has evolved to where I don't typically meet with clients to provide their advice and planning and to bring them on board. I have a whole that does that — a great team. So my role has gotten more to where I'm at 50,000 feet instead of 500 feet. My team pretty much told me that I had to do that in order for us to navigate. I might be really good at rowing the boat, but they said, "We'll row the boat. Get up there in the crow's nest." Because some of these challenges that came along in the financial services industry were things you couldn't see if you're looking at the person in front of you rowing. I had to get up to where I could see so we could navigate through treacherous waters.
If you were to look back at your 25 years in business and sum it up in one word, what word would you use?
Determination. You've got to be determined. That is the beginning and the end. You can make mistakes. You can get away with what I will admit are some shortcomings in my own work in terms of maybe not having the best plan when I started and not having enough maybe backup resources, and that made it harder.
It didn't make it impossible — it made it harder. But if you really believe in doing it, and it's your passion, and you're willing to not give up, you can make it happen.
