Hey, what's up and welcome back to another episode of The Straight Shooter Recruiter. My name is Emily Durham. I'm a senior recruiter by day and your favorite podcast host by night with the goal of helping you thrive. And you're nine to five and beyond. Today's episode slash video. Depending on where are you're watching this, you got options. Baby. I am so excited to be hanging out with my friend Brittany. Britney Castro is like the finance guru.
I'm talking entrepreneurship, I'm talking a CFP professional. We have such an amazing conversation ready to go. Whether you are a woman in business, a female entrepreneur, if you're someone who's looking to be a Certified Financial Planner professional, this is the episode for you. Don't forget to leave a rating, Subscribe, check out Britney Socials they're all in the descriptions in bio of this episode, and enjoy the show. Today's episode is proudly done in partnership with
the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standard. Thank you so much for sponsoring this episode and let's get into the fun stuff. I am super excited and honestly today's episode already know is going to be full of absolute hits, especially for people who are early in their career and trying to navigate what they're looking for, or people who have just never considered a career path. As a CFP professional, I really think today's today is going to have some heat. I'm
excited for it. Yes, always we've got to bring the heat always, you know, love to do it. That's that's our vibe. We were just comparing our coffees, so we are both like super charged up and ready to rumble. Yeah, always love it. So I know you and I are super familiar with what ACFP professional is like what they do, but for folks who maybe aren't as familiar, what is a CFP professional and what do they do? A CFP professional is a certified financial planner, So one has
to go there's a few requirements to get that designation. So usually it's people in the financial industry, right like financial advisors or professionals who want to maybe
get this designation for credibility or for more knowledge to help their clients. So there's ethics requirement, there's an education requirement, there's experience requirement, and then you have to pass the board exam requirement which takes some time to study for you know, it's a it's what I like to say, like the CPA designation is for tax professionals, I think the CFP designation is for like financial
advisors who are working with clients and financial planning type of relationship, whether it's helping them invest, save, you know, get the right insurance products, etc. So it's it's a very great designation. As you know, I have it, and I love it, and I think everybody in finance should
get it. I'm so interested by it's actually of the few friends I'm yourself included, who are CFP professionals, and one of the things that I always here helps them stand out in their career is having this certification, and this designation is a game changer, Like that's what really sets you apart from you know, your peers or your colleagues, and you know, really gives you that sense of credibility, even if it's early on in your career. Do
you feel like that's something you know that you benefited from. Was that your experience kind of having that designation in your pocket? Oh definitely. So my background, I started as a financial advisor right out of college at age twenty two, I didn't even know what a financial advisor was. I just took this job, and I really liked it. I learned I liked helping people. I liked you know, you know, you're kind of like running a business, so I liked the business element. And then you know, there's
good money potential, income potential. So I liked all the elements of the career and I soon realized, Okay, if I want to stay in this career, I want to become credible. And also I was really young at that time, so I wanted to become like I wanted the CFP designation to be like, yes, even though I'm young, I have the CFP designation. So I actually got it when I was twenty six years old, which is really young. I think it's like really rare to get it that early,
but it was just part of my career path. I wanted the expert tease and more knowledge. And it's definitely been a game changer for my career because ever since I got the CFP designation, I've leveraged it just when I'm talking to prospects and clients, like you know, I went and did a year and a half of education requirements. I sat with this board exam, I studied for like a year and a half of my life. You know, I committed to this designation, so it wasn't I'm not like taking this
career lightly, like I want to be a great financial planner. And then also once I started doing like speaking in brand partnerships and becoming more of a thought leader in the financial planning space, it helped my career take off in this whole other realm. I love having my CFP as like the badge of honor, Like, yeah, I'm a CFP, and if you're not working with a CFPRE, you're not like doing yourself a favor. Go work with
a CFP. So I often brag about it because one it's something to brag about, but then too, I want to bring awareness to people so they do I'm the right professionals to help them on their career financial journey. You said something that perfectly ties into what I wanted to ask you, because I know for me, early in my career I changed career paths Britney. I'm not kidding, like it had to be six times. I had a billion
different majors. Every time I switched into something I was like, oh, this doesn't feel right, and I just had a very difficult go at navigating and figuring out exactly what I wanted to do, and ironically, my career became careers. So what made you decide to go down this career route and what made you decide? You know, I have decided I'm going to move
forward with the CFP certification and moving forward as a CFP professional. So when I took I got a degree in business teabombics, I had no idea what a financial advisor was. I knew when I was in college I wanted to have a business. I actually thought I was gonna run a restaurant because I love the social element, you know, food brings people together. I loved it. But I worked at a restaurant and I was like a lot of
work and you don't get any weekends off. So I went to school, got a business economics degree, and I literally just got a job offer as a financial advisor. And I remember sitting with my career counselor and I said, what should I take this job? I don't know. She goes, yeah, take the job. You might like it, and if you don't like it, at least you're going to learn something and then you can move to the next one. And I actually just took her advice. I took
the job and I ended up liking it. And then the recession hit in two thousand and nine. So then two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine happened, and it was like so early in my career and I was like, Okay, I want to stay in this profession. I don't think I'm going to stay at this corporate firm. I need to go and like find a little bit more independent and like be more of a business owner entrepreneurs what we call it now. At that time, I didn't even know what
the word entrepreneur was. I was like, I just need Yeah, I was like, I just need more freedom to run my business like a business. So then I once I decided, okay, because I was going back and forth, like should I stay in finance. I'm very creative, I'd like dance. I'm a dancer. I was, But then I thought, no, this is like a good field to stay in. Again. You could help people, you could have a flexible schedule, and you could make
a lot of money. So it's like I like these components of the industry, but I need to make sure I find a new platform, so I went to the independent platform. And then at that time is when I decided, Okay, now that I'm going to stay in this industry, I'm going to get my I'm gonna be like, get this designation that we all knew CFP as a designation to get so that people think of me as credible.
I love that your long term wasn't linear as well, because I think there's something to be said for Like I think people, at least myself, like sometimes you panic when you have all of these different certifications and courses and you're terrified that you're going to get pigeonholed into now I'm going to do this one specific role for the rest of my life. But I think what's unique about your career, but also like the CFP certification as a whole, is the
foundational skills that you get. Yes, obviously are going to help you have a fantastic career in finance, you know, support your clients, but those are also life skills. Like I remember when you and I were chatting earlier, you were saying that there were some people that you studied with who had no intention of working in finance, Like, I want this certification for my own ability to manage my finances and like, that's bananas, that's so powerful.
Yeah, those people were cut through. I was like, you're doing this voluntarily. Ah, that's impressed. It is fun to you for my career, but go you Yeah, I think you nailed it. So finance is still one of the things we don't learn in school. We don't really have a good solid education around it. People still don't like to talk about
money, and yet it affects so many of our decisions in life. And so for me, I thought, Okay, one the CFP designation is going to help my career, and then I'll be more confident when helping my clients, you know, just like providing them options of what they need to do with their money. And then, like you said, and I'm like getting
it for myself. So I know all these strategies. So at every stage of my life I'm going to reflect back to the CFP curriculum and be like, oh, yeah, I remember when I studied stock options or living trust. And even though that wasn't maybe like on the radar back then, it's been so valuable throughout my life and career just to pull upon that knowledge and
expertise one hundred percent. And I think that's one of those things you also learned, at least I learned later in my career, which is just the value of having your personal brand clearly defined and how much that can just propel your career. And you know, it's not like you took a willing nilly course you found online, like the CFP certification is one that is so highly accredited, and like it's not easy, Like I can't even imagine the study
schedule alone that would be going into this. So to say that this is attached to my profile, especially earlier in your career, especially as a young woman in finance, like I would imagine your experience too, as you know, as a woman in a typically male dominated industry. Like that's one more thing to say, I know my stuff, Like, don't mess with me. I know, I know where the info is coming from. Absolutely, And I think you brought up a good point, Like I was a young
woman, I'm still a young woman in the industry. You still are.
Yeah, let's get back clear. I was and and still in Amen, there's a huge opportunity for young people coming out of college or just ambitious, you know, wanting something for their career, something different, to come into the financial planning industry and look at the CFP as a designation because one, like you said, it's going to help you in your personal financial life and then you'll be able to maybe use it as a financial planner or there's so
many different other avenues and professions within finance that you know, having a CFP designation can be useful for even if you're an fintech or you know, there's so many different things you know that the SEFP can help. But I think their career is a great career, and especially for young people who are maybe thinking about, Okay, what is it that I want for myself, Like come over and test it out. That you you won't know until you give
it a shot, you know. I think it's rare to find a career where you can help people, like, you know, helping people with their money is very it's very honorable, do you know what I'm saying? Like people are so intimate. It's so intimate. Like for all those years I help clients, I thought, Wow, I'm like it's so intimate. They trust me. I'm like in the know of their deepest you know, fears or concerns or goals in life, and that's a really you know, special
thing. And then you get to make money. You know, there's a lot of that. Yeah, there's a lot of millionaires that come from the financial world, do you know, there's good money. And then for the most part, I mean, depending on what your career position actually is. But you have flexibility. You know, I have unlimited flexibility because I run my own business. But of course it takes work and discipline. But I
like that flexibility, especially as a woman. So I actually would love to hear more about that too, because what I love about your career is, yes, it started in quote unquote like your traditional finance space, but it's evolved into something so different. So can you talk to me about that evolution? So you kick start your career in finance, you say, okay, the CFP professional route is where I am going. How on earth did you land being a brand ambassador? You know, a business owner, a public
speaker. You've got this amazing online presence, Like tell me everything, how do how does one do this? You just are creative. It's my like creative, It's yeah, it's just my personality. It's just as much as I am like analytical and can do numbers, I'm probably even more so creative. When I started my company nine years ago, it was one hundred percent virtual, and I was doing online marketing and social media in finance, which at that time was rare and still pretty much is rare. Not a lot
of finance people leverage social media and online marketing like they could be. But I remember thinking, like, what, I don't understand why everyone's so closed to this, Like why wouldn't you run virtual? Why wouldn't you do your meetings over zoom? And then when the pandemic happened three years ago, I was like, yeah, I've been running this business model for like six years now, like it was yeah, it was like yeah, you know, And so it was almost validating in a way to see that my vision of
what I wanted for myself actually was correct. I've continued to do financial planning, but then I was like, okay, I want to leverage speaking. I want to get paid to speak. I just had these other goals of what I wanted and I just slowly like worked on them, made them happen, and I still work on them and still pump out consistent content, and
a lot of things I didn't even know existed, like brand partnerships. I had no idea what that was until one company said, hey, we'll pay you to be a spokesperson for us, and I said, Okay, that sounds great, and then yeah, yeah, and then now brand partnerships are like kind of normal, like we know about them. So I think part of it is you have to be willing to go into the unknown and take
risks and not and keep doing the work. Like also, it takes work, do you know what I'm saying, Like consistent action even when nobody is looking, even when people are saying it's not going to work, or I don't understand why you would do that, speaking of growth, because I think
that's the perfect segue. Is you know, is there anything you wish you knew about being a CFP professional, you know when you had first started in your journey, or even like another spin on that, things you would tell somebody who's just kicking off this journey, but say, go get your CFP one because there's so many baby boomers, Like this is what people were telling me when I first started. There's so many baby boomers in the financial industry.
So like a lot of the financial planners and advisors that exist today are eventually going to phase out, meaning they're going to retire. You know, the next generation has to come up. So there, to me, there's such huge opportunity, Like if you're forty and under right now in finance,
there's so much opportunity because like the shift is occurring. Like just think like people who've been helping all these clients are not are gonna be phasing out, and so the wealth and people looking for advice and professionals to guide them like is only going to go up. I mean, just another like work work wise, one is just I wish I would have known, like relax a little bit more like when I first started, I was there, we relate,
you know, like just trust them more. I mean now I have a lot more relaxing and trust in my career and my work because I get it. I know that if I put in the work, It's like to me, I think of it like like gardening. You plant the seeds, you water, you nurture. If you do it right there, the bloom is going to happen. Having direction is half the battle, like it really
is. I think you have to trust like, if you are someone who is on the fence, you know about your career, you're maybe considering a career as a sort of fined financial plan or professional like, take the time to explore that, because even if you like have an inkling that you know you might like this, you might like that. I totally aligned to you, Britney, Like, my biggest piece of advice is work a little bit, day by day towards your big goals, and suddenly your big goals are
going to be very very close to you. But I think step one of that is finding a goal in their career alignment where you're like, yeah, this is what I'm supposed to be doing so And I think that's the beauty of these conversations because I know, for me, if I heard someone talking about a career as a recruiter on a podcast and I will not disclose how many years ago because I'm a young fresh spring chicken, but I would have said, like, of course, I was like I would have, you
know, really had a moment of oh wow, Like I think I would like that a lot. That might have alleviated a lot of anxiety. So I totally agree, Like it's day by day and just take the time to figure out what excites you. I do have one question I always love to ask this. It's a bit of a fun one. But imposter syndrome. Man, she lives, she breaths, she is everywhere she is with me, I may as well have it like Imposter syndrome fan club T shirt.
What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone or even like your younger self on how to overcome imposter syndrome? Like, especially in the world of finance, where it's it can be intimidating, it can be competitive, it can be all of these things like how did you or how would you have pushed through? You know, if you could do it all over again. No one has it figured out, Like, that's what I would just give her mind, Like, no one has life figured out. We
literally are all just doing life and we're doing our best. And what we think someone has it figured out? They maybe they have more experience. So I think experience definitely helps you gain confidence in whatever area you're in, relationships, finance, your career, family, experience definitely helps I know that in
my life. But with the imposter syndrome, I think you really just have to realize nobody really knows more than you, Like, I mean, yes they do, but I'm just trying to say, like we're all literally figuring it out as we go, and we were all there once too, like everyone had a day one. All of us have had a day one, and we we're all equally terrified on day one. You know what's good for me? Which I think I love this part about myself. I am a
learner. I love learning and I love putting myself into new, unknown things where I constantly have to like learn something like last year I danced before, but last year I committed to learning salsa, and I remember in the beginning, I was like, oh, going all these salsa clubs and like classes, and I felt like, oh, okay, this is unknown, like I'm not you know, I got to learn, and it's the beginner mindset, like we all got to start somewhere. It's not a big deal,
you like. And then recently I went out salsa dancing and a woman came up to me. She's like, oh my god, you're so good. How do how do I become like you? I was like, oh my god. Last year I was like you asking a girl, you're so good? How do I become like you, and I just committed. I committed to learning the craft of the dance, and I enjoyed the process. It wasn't like a serious thing like I have to get good. I just was
like, Oh, I want to learn a new hobby. And I think that's good for all of us to constantly learn new things and get in that beginner mindset because it keeps you more in that like childlike mind of learning improving. It's so true that learner mindset. Hey, there's so many studies that proved that's what keeps your mind young and healthy. But it also alleviates a
lot of pressure at work. So if you're someone who's like, oh, this career sounds fulfilling, I love the idea of helping people frankly live their best lives. Like money is personal, money is emotional, and like if that is something where you're like, oh, I would love to do this, but what if I suck at it? Like what if I'm not going to be good? Refrain your mind. No one is going to be good
on day one. Anything we have not said to the people. I need to come up with like a name for the listeners, because the podcast name is too long for me to like, yeah, right, like we need like a thing. So I know you're an entrepreneur. I'll leave that and you're the back of your mind if it ever pops up. But anything we haven't told, you know, our listeners or anything you'd like to leave them with that we haven't touched on. Yeah, when I would just say,
really consider this as a career. It's a great career. You've helped people with something that is scary, maybe overwhelming for them. I just you know, worked on a brand partnership yesterday and the studies are still the same. A lot of people still don't talk about money, feel a lot of emotions, negative emotions, shane, guilt, embarrassment, avoidance with money. So it is. It is a beautiful career and the fact that you can really
help people with something make it less scary. You know, have a lot of opportunities, just the different roles you can have in the financial world of career. But yeah, I would definitely say tested out, you might really like it. Like me, I just took the job and here I am, and I love that. I could not agree more. Brittany, I had such a good time recording with you. I cannot thank you enough.
There's so many good tidbits here, like both for people interested in finance, but also just like general career advice, like if everyone is walking away, you know with one thing, I think it's take the risk say yes to things that scare you. Also, I know you're nervous about starting your career as a CFP professional. Give it a Google. I've got great resources on linked in the description, both on YouTube and on the podcast platforms wherever you're
listening, check them out. I am a big believer in if it scares you, that's usually a sign you should be. But right I can't take all the credit for that. That's very much a my dad is um but I'm just going to rebrand it so it's fine. But thank you all so much for listening. Excited to hear what you have to say in the comments. Don't forget to have some conversations with us down below, and I will see you next Sunday,