About Mike Saunders, MBA

Fifteen years. One profession. Yours.

I help experienced independent financial advisors close the Authority Trust Gap™, so the expertise they've already earned is easy for prospects, referral partners and AI search to see, verify and trust before the first conversation.

1,500+ interviews hosted
5 published books
Forbes Coaches Council
MBA, marketing

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Mike Saunders, MBA, standing in his office in a navy suit

My story

Why I know what's at stake for your clients.

Where it started

When I was twelve, my father lost our family home to foreclosure. We moved into my grandparents' basement apartment, and I slept in the workshop next to the lathe and the workbench. It taught me early how much financial decisions shape a family's life.

The form I couldn't finish

Fifteen years later, five years into my first job out of college, I was sitting in a bankruptcy attorney's office, upside down on loans with $35,000 in credit card debt. While filling out the intake form, I couldn't finish it. I walked out determined to change, applied proven success and biblical principles with discipline, and was blessed to become debt free within a few short years.

Number one in the country

I spent eleven years in mortgage banking and became the #1 home equity producer in the country at JP Morgan Chase, two years running.

Rising from the ashes

Then the credit crisis hit in October 2007, and my income didn't trickle down. It disappeared. It was clear the business would never be the same, so I earned my MBA in marketing and rebuilt my career from the ground up.

"This never would have happened without the book."

The moment authority clicked

Early on, I tried to be everything to everyone: social media, SEO, email marketing, chamber of commerce meetings and leads groups. None of it moved the needle.

Then my first book came out. I handed copies to a few colleagues at a meeting, and they were impressed. The next week, one of them, a professor at a local university, invited me to guest-lecture. A few weeks after that, I was offered a $9,000 contract to teach for the university.

That was the Borrowed Trust Effect™ in my own life: third-party proof did what my own claims never could. I stopped offering everything and focused on one thing, authority positioning.

Credentials

Earned, not claimed.

1,500+interviews hosted, as host of Influential Entrepreneurs®

15+ yearsworking with financial advisors

5published books

ForbesCoaches Council member and contributor

MBAin marketing, teaching marketing as a University Adjunct Marketing Professor

#1home equity producer in the country at JP Morgan Chase, two years running

Why financial professionals

The best-kept secret isn't humble. It's expensive.

I've sat across from advisors with decades of experience and practices built on trust. The pattern never changes: the advisors who struggle to win new clients are rarely the least capable. They're the hardest to verify.

Your clients already trust you. The question is whether the next prospect can see why before the first meeting. That's the gap I close, with podcast interviews, press, TV and books that do the persuading for you, and a process that respects your time and your compliance team.

See how it works

Off the clock

Ups, downs and doing it again.

My family and I love roller coasters, and our favorite is the Manta at SeaWorld San Diego. My son Layne was white-knuckle scared the first time. He decided to move past the fear and ride it anyway, loved it, and we rode it five more times. Building a business has felt a lot like that ride. It's also how I think about helping advisors step in front of a microphone or a camera for the first time.

Faith and purpose

My faith is the foundation of this company. I'm a born-again Christian, and I believe God has guided every step of my journey, including the hard ones. It's why I run this business by the highest ethical standards. A portion of all revenue supports ministries and organizations I believe in.

Read my personal testimony

Free book for financial advisors

Authority Domination

The playbook for advisors who are tired of being the best-kept secret in their market. Get a printed copy mailed to you free, plus two digital books the moment you order. You just cover shipping.

Get the Free BookShips to U.S. addresses. Shipping and handling: $9.95.

Let's talk

Be the advisor they already trust.

Request a complimentary Clarity Call. In 30 minutes on Zoom, we'll look at what prospects see when they search your name, and I'll give you one clear recommendation, whether or not we work together.

Request a Clarity Call