The GOAT of advice — with Alyson Burkett

In the sports and celebrity worlds, a superstar is frequently referred to as the GOAT (greatest of all time). But it can be argued that in the animal kingdom, goats also are GOATs.

Goats are curious, clever and quick learners, able to open gates and solve puzzles. They thrive in harsh environments ranging from rocky mountains to arid deserts, and they don’t need pampering to survive. They are able to climb mountains and still find their way home. They are playful and social, forming bonds with humans. They are part of a herd but can also be independent and resourceful on their own.

All those qualities that make goats GOATs were the inspiration for 21 Goats Financial Planning in Roswell, Ga. Alyson Burkett and her husband, Brian, created 21 Goats to help clients climb to new heights and find their balance along the way — much as goats fearlessly navigate rugged terrain.

Burkett said she started 21 Goats in 2022 after spending 16 years working for a large financial advisory firm with a nationwide presence. She began her career in 2009 after graduating from Auburn University with a degree in economics.

“While I was in college, I knew I wanted to help people in some respect, but I was trying to figure out what that would look like,” she said. “I interviewed with some insurance companies and some financial planning companies, and I was very intrigued with the industry.”

Overcoming intimidation

After landing her first job with the financial advisory firm, she was intimidated by how much there was to learn about insurance and financial advising. Preparing for the life insurance licensing exam was especially “intense,” she said.

“We had two weekends where our group of about 50 people spent 20-30 hours going through the material to take the exam,” she said. “Our instructor, in the first hour of the class, looked at the 50 of us and said, ‘Twenty to forty percent of you might make it in this industry for the first two years, but only five of the 50 of you are actually going to make it in this industry and be around in 10 years.’ I thought, this guy is pretty savage. That really hit me hard. This is a really hard industry.

“This set the stage for me that I had to take this business seriously,” she said. “But you learn what you don’t know, and once you gain more skills, more certifications, more knowledge — your confidence builds. Now that I have been in the business this long, it gets a little bit easier, but it’s still intimidating sometimes. There’s so much to know and always a lot to learn.”

As a new advisor, Burkett began building her client base by working with friends and their families in the metro Atlanta area. “I worked with friends who had moved back here after college, my friends’ parents and grandparents,” she said. “I met people at networking events and through other organizations I was part of. Auburn has a large alumni group in the Atlanta area, so I was able to make some connections through that as well. 

“I built a good network of people around me, and I had some other advisors that I shared office space with. And so we would brainstorm things like what groups were we a part of and what activities were we a part of, and then clients come very naturally and organically. Once someone finds out what you do and you see the same people every week, they become intrigued. Then a life event happens and they say, ‘Hey, Alyson, what are your thoughts on this?’ And that’s how a lot of relationships start.”

Ready for a change

Eventually, the advisory firm that Burkett was affiliated with was acquired by a bigger firm. She and her husband were expecting their second child, and she was ready for a change. 

“It was really scary to make that transition to being completely independent,” she said.

One of the first orders of business? Coming up with a name for the new company.

“We had a marketing person who was redoing our website during that transition. She said, ‘We could do something really fun,’ and I was excited to do something fun. I said, ‘We have to make this different. I have to be memorable. There has to be an animal or something included in this.’”

A friend who works in marketing did some brainstorming with Burkett and her husband and asked them about their favorite numbers and other items that were special to them. The Burketts came up with the number 21, as many life events happened to them on the 21st day of the month. She and her husband both have birthdays on the 21st, their son’s birthday is on the 21st and their wedding anniversary is on the 21st.  

Goats: different and fun

As for choosing an animal to represent their brand, Burkett said she and her husband looked up different creatures on Google and decided on goats. 

“Goats became the thing that made it different and fun,” she said. “Goats are whimsical. They have a good financial planning story in that they climb the mountains and they always make it back home. They travel together as a herd. Nobody has ever told me they don’t like goats.”

Despite Burkett’s affinity for goats, she doesn’t own any. Living in a suburban community, she said, isn’t conducive to keeping the animals, although she once hired someone to bring in goats to clear some brush on their property. 

Burkett said her goal is to maintain a nonthreatening atmosphere in her practice.

“This industry can be so intimidating when you walk through a really fancy office,” she said. “Some people may want to have that experience. But I want people to walk into our office and say, ‘It feels like I’m in my home and I’m sitting across the kitchen table from someone, and I can have these very comfortable, vulnerable conversations.’

“Most of our clients are attracted to us because of who we are. We want to make sure that we can take down the walls of the seriousness of what we’re doing. There are obviously times when this needs to be serious, but we want people to feel comfortable so that they can share and be open.”

Serving clients in transition

Burkett said many of her clients are in some kind of transition in their lives. Some are recent empty nesters, others are recently divorced or have experienced the death of a spouse or other close family member.

“Most of what we do is more in the way of education than selling or financial planning,” she said. “We want to make sure people feel comfortable in their situation, and to simplify it so it feels less scary and they can take action to move forward.”

Burkett also serves many young adults, and she has learned to communicate with them in the way that makes them feel more comfortable — whether by group chat, text or email.

“Making things specific to them and making them feel special makes them sticky as a client, and I think it creates a better relationship long term for those life events that do happen,” she said.

Burkett said she and her husband have similar backgrounds and interests, so that makes it easy for the two of them to work together. But they have different roles at 21 Goats: She is the client-facing advisor, and he is director of operations, responsible for the back-end functions such as technology and paperwork.

“We are very separated in our roles, but we support each other,” she said.

In the future, Burkett said she and her husband want to eventually bring in another advisor to help grow their practice. But for right now, she wants to continue helping her clients find financial peace of mind.

“It’s really life-changing to sit in front of clients and hear them say, ‘I feel so much more at peace because of [fill in the blank], or when a client loses a spouse and they come in with a stack of papers and tell me they’re so overwhelmed because they’re grieving but they have to deal with financial issues and don’t know what to do. Then we can organize it and explain what it is and what we have to do, and we see their relief in ‘I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about that.’

“The relationships with our clients are what matter to us. Investment markets come and go and are cyclical, but the relation-
ships matter most.”

Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].