Above is the current roadmap for PRST. I’ve removed future parts of the brand since they are not active and as much as I love sharing the entire vision, I want to focus on the present and allow the brand to grow into the missing components. I’ve been diving into Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now and I am focusing on creating/building for the enjoyment of the process and allowing PRST BE what it is supposed to be…grow as it is supposed to grow.

When the time is right I’ll update the image and reveal the next component of the brand. I’ll also add the mission statement…for now it gives away too much of the bigger picture. And if I’m being honest, the mission statement is not refined yet. I’m still discovering exactly what PRST will become, who it will be for, and how to explain it all in concise way.

I will tell you this…the mission for PRST ties into my personal mission statement of **“Impact” **and will align with my passion for helping others.

Why A Lifestyle Brand?

You might notice the first component of PRST is a “lifestyle brand”. I’ve always been a brand person--at one point I even created a shirt for myself that said “brand enthusiast”. Finding brands that create products and services I enjoy AND have a story that I can get behind and support has been something I’ve done since I was young. It started with Nike and Michael Jordan and continued throughout my life showing up in my support of clothing brands like No Bull, creators like Jack Butcher and Visualize Value, writers like Morgan Housel, and advisor technology like Altruist, YCharts, Riskalyze, and others.

In 2020, I came up with the idea of establishing a lifestyle brand that would act as an extension of RLS Wealth, my wealth management firm. The vision was to take the RLS Wealth Circle and use it as the standalone logo for the lifestyle brand.

At the time, I didn’t have a name for the brand, just the idea that I wanted to create my own hoodies, hats, T-shirts, and other merch that would align with the RLS Wealth brand; RLS Wealth’s mission was (I say “was” because it’s evolved) to help clients align their values and dollars--- to create a life they really wanted to live, not the one they were told to live. Through storytelling I planned to create a brand that spoke to risk-takers, entrepreneurs, trailblazers, and individuals living life on their own terms. I didn’t know it then but PRST was beginning to form back then. The challenge I presented to myself was to take the brand to a level where it would not only help individuals express themselves but also lead to new clients at RLS Wealth.

Could I help supporters of the brand transition to RLS Wealth clients--they would have been ideal clients for the growth of the firm?

We’ll never know…

Eventually, I realized I did not want to grow RLS Wealth but I also did not want to stop being a financial advisor. Somewhere along my Pursuit I realized I wanted to dedicate more time for the inner creator I had discovered--if I kept my firm at the size it was I would have time to explore my creativity and create more content, which I knew I loved to do.

It was during this time I decided to call the brand Pursuit--I vividly remember telling my go-to web designer Andy that I was thinking about calling the brand Pursuit but that I wasn’t sure if I really liked the name. As soon as I actually spoke the name “Pursuit” to him my mind immediately changed. Until that moment I had never actually said Pursuit out loud…it was just living in my head. Once my ears heard it, I knew I had my brand name. In an effort to be trendy, I later dropped the vowels (for some reason I like doing this) and committed to PRST.

A Media Company?

**All About Your Benjamins **was the blog I started shortly after I launched RLS Wealth. I added a podcast under the same name and had been creating under the AAYB brand for almost five years before PRST was born.

The only way I know how to grow a business is through content--I’m not an aggressive salesman. I prefer to educate, create content, and let people find their way to me. All About Your Benjamins started as a personal finance blog and over time morphed into a personal finance blog that focused more on the emotional and psychological side of money. I tried doing the heavy research and analytical writing but that wasn’t me. I am better at writing about concepts, sharing ideas, and encouraging others through my content.

My journey as a content creator led me down a path where I wanted to help readers/listeners/clients to understand better what their values were, what was most important to them, what they really wanted out of life, and create a financial plan that would take them there--not just to the milestones that we’ve been taught to focus on (think retirement, home ownership, college, etc.).

I started recording a podcast on All About Your Benjamins called The Pursuit. The new “show” was less about finances and more about life planning. I was recording Pursuit episodes weekly and really enjoying myself but for some reason, I can’t remember what, I stopped recording the show.

Eventually, my desire to help others pursue a better life grew and I brought the show back every Friday. I started to think about the lifestyle brand and The Pursuit podcast as a separate brand from All About Your Benjamins and decided to give them the space to grow on their own. I think I could have kept them under the All About Your Benjamins brand but I know it would have limited their growth and ultimately impact. On their own they were free to grow, along with what I would do with the brand…

For now, my focus is to clarify the message of PRST, create tons of content to allow the individuals who need to find it to do so, enjoy the process of building, and allow PRST to grow into the brand and company it is supposed to be.

And when the time is right, update the roadmap above.

Keep Pursuing,

JC