K. Catherine Pate

I would say my most notable professional achievement is passing the Series 7 and all of that testing for financial planning the first time. I was a first generation college student, and when I fell in love with the market, it came from looking at my family - both sides were good savers, including my parents. My nana and papa had amassed about $250,000 through hard work, savings, and investing. I thought, boy, if they'd had just a little bit of market expertise, they could have tripled, at least, if not quadrupled, that amount of money. That gave me great desire and drive to help people, and help them understand, and be aware, and know what is out there, and to be a trusted advisor in a relationship like that. I'm most proud of that - I could not be more proud. People are letting you in and entrusting you with their blood, sweat, and tears, for your guidance, for your expertise, for you to lead them. Another achievement I'm particularly proud of is helping a military soldier who had a covert gambling addiction, both him and his wife. I finally said to him, as honestly as I could, 'You have got to tell your wife, because we're not going anywhere until you're open.' He had been over 6 months behind in a car payment and his wife didn't know it. She was floored, but I believe she was able to handle it somewhat because she knew she had me as an ally to help rein him in, help him understand his triggers and what he could do differently. I'm pretty proud of that too.

I have to shine a light on three men who were greatly influential in my life: my daddy, Bayard Gosh, and Jack Nichol. My daddy told me, before it was cool to say this, 'You can be anything, anything you want to be.' He never even brought up the girl thing, he just wanted me to know. He said, 'If you're gonna be a ditch digger, be a ditch digger. If you're gonna be a doctor, be a doctor, but do your best at it always.' That was foundational for me. Bayard Gosh was my first office manager at Ameriprise when I started with Ameriprise in financial planning. One of the key things he told me was, 'You know how you diversify a client's portfolio? You need to diversify your book of business.' That really stuck with me, because at the time I was a little resistant to life insurance out of my own ignorance and some beliefs I had. I didn't understand why it was so critical - I was right out of college, it was my first job, and that's where I got my Series 7 and all my licenses. Jack Nichol actually came before Bayard - he was the director of a business college and knew I had graduated and knew my long-term aspirations, but he needed a recruiter for admissions and student success. He was my first huge confidence builder. Before every class module would begin, he would give his speech, and one day he asked me, 'You think you could do it? You've been watching me for 3-4 months. Do you think you could give my speech about perseverance, and if you try and believe, you can do it?' The fact that he let me do that, and then I became a regular giving those speeches while he did the morning classes - he instilled a lot of confidence in me.

If you have that fire, follow that dream. If it's in your belly, your gut, don't be afraid. Don't let naysayers want to detour you. Depending on how you're starting out in the business, you may be cold calling and trying to get referrals. One of the things I learned is I was a little more sensitive than I needed to be, and I had to learn to have a little bit of a tougher shell - I'm not saying you have to turn into a total grump, but you have to let your shell toughen just a little bit. I remember a quote from my daddy: 'You got to let that water roll off your back, girl.' You're paddling like hell underneath the surface, but on the surface, you're gonna look calm, cool, and just let that water roll off.

I'm very concerned about the rise of gambling addiction, particularly with all of the sports betting we're able to do now. When I was living in Oklahoma, which is a rich environment for gambling addiction and abuse, I focused a lot of my time studying this - while it's supposed to be about 5% of the American population that has a gambling problem, mine was more like 35-40% of my clients presenting that issue. I fear that it's only going to be worse with all the sports betting, and I'm currently trying to study and possibly join a university's NIL programs because I feel that's going to make some of these young people much more susceptible to gambling. When they just got $2,000 from NIL money, they might think, 'Hey, I can start now.' That's why my current position with an NIL-driven organization is so important to me - I want to help these high schoolers, college students, and young professionals being drafted into the pros understand how to build a legacy and an estate so they don't have to worry when they eventually leave the sports field, because a career-ending injury could happen to anyone, anytime.

I would say ethics - be it a work ethic or personal commitment to what you do and doing it right. You want to try to do it right. That's kind of a daddy thing - he taught me to do it right the first time, but as long as you're doing your best, you don't necessarily have to repeat yourself. I love people, and I love it when other people succeed. So a big part of who I am is just the actual helping hand. I've been blessed with a certain level of intellect, and I believe you should reinvest in yourself. Continue your education. Keep learning and grabbing those certificates, or taking those workshops, doing that continuing education that's required - do it with zest, or have zeal about it. Because it is taking you one step closer to the next big success. There will be many successes if you do that. It won't just be the one big client, or the one client I solved this problem for - you get that under your belt, and then guess what? Here comes another.