It's somewhat ironic that Jason Geisz describes himself as a pretty simple person, considering everything he does.
Geisz, 44, is, first and foremost, a family man. He's an adoring father to Burke, 8; Julia,12; Marja, 14; and husband to Brooke. He's the CEO and founder of Famiglia Wealth, a boutique wealth-management firm focusing on family wealth planning, tax-efficient investment management, liquidity event planning and generational wealth transfer. In 2021, he was recognized as a Forbes Best in State Wealth Advisor.
Geisz is also a fierce competitor who has raced thousands of miles on sailboats and tasted victory twice in the Port Huron-to-Mackinac sailboat race. He's earned medals in marathons and triathlons.
He's been an active board member and fundraiser for several organizations, including the Karmanos Cancer Center and the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan, helping these nonprofits raise millions.
Geisz, who lives in Birmingham and works in Bloomfield Hills, sat down with Birmingham City Lifestyle to discuss why and how he accomplishes so much.
The “why” is the easy part.
“I'm so fortunate and blessed to be where I am,” Geisz says. “I feel like I have to give back. It’s not even a question. It's part of my faith. It's part of what I believe. It's part of how I was raised and what Brooke and I are teaching our children.”
Regarding his athleticism, some of it traces back to the pandemic. Covid forced him, like many, to work from home, which he didn't enjoy — he likes having the separation between home and office. Feeling somewhat trapped, he decided to make a point of getting outside for an hour each day to exercise. This evolved into finding a group of friends to join him and taking turns planning the day's workout regimen.
“I was also launching the business, and I wanted to have clarity of mind and focus, and be in the best shape of my life spiritually and physically,” he says.
The “how” part is a little more complicated — but it starts with the same morning rituals. Each day, Geisz sets the foundation for what matters most in his life, which always comes back to family, faith and physical health. Before Geisz leaves his room in the morning, he does a daily bible reading and recites a handful of meaningful mantras. “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail” is one of them.
Push-ups are also incorporated into his daily routine. His physical goals constantly change depending on what event he's training for. But exercise has been a constant in his life for the last three years. There's no lapsing, he says. Discipline means being 100-percent consistent.
His rituals spill over into his business as well. Geisz uses an accountability score sheet daily, listing business-related tasks, including “client activities, prospecting activities, community and charity activities, giving introductions, marketing, learning, leading and developing and organization.
Each one is assigned a number of points. For example, he gets points when he meets a client face-to-face. When he supports a charity, he gets points. If he has a good or bad month with the business, he can go back and look at his point tally and see a correlation.
“I can tell you how many points I scored two weeks ago or last January. That's a big part of my success,” Geisz says. “I'm not the most successful guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I think, relatively speaking, I've done well, and I think a lot of it is probably just that consistency. I'm not the smartest guy in the room. I'm not the fastest guy, but I'm going to work. I'm going to outwork people, and I'm going to care.
“It's more than just work ethic,” he says. “It's caring. And I care enough to put the time in to create that spreadsheet, analyze it and change it. In my industry, there's a lot of opportunity. If you can be a good human being, listen to people, show you care about them, and deliver, you will succeed. That's not a difficult equation."
