Elisabeth Dawson in Exploring Lafayette Life : simplebooklet.com

EXPLORING LAFAYETTE LIFE | 2ND EDITION 5Financial professional use only. Not for use with the public.Elisabeth’s impressive story begins with working in a luxury department store in her late teens — one well known for its “customer is always right” mantra. “I grew up in the customer service retail culture,” she fondly remembered. “I loved women’s fashion, and I thought I would be in retail for the rest of my life.”But sometimes opportunity springs from adversity, and that’s exactly what happened after Elisabeth gave birth to her son, Trevor, in 1998. Due to serious complications, Trevor required a month’s stay at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). “It was a horrible time, and I needed to ﬁnd more ﬂexibility to care for him during my very demanding work schedule,” explained the dedicated mom of two (at that point). “So I ventured out and went looking for new career opportunities.” Exit Fashion, Enter FinancialsOpportunity came in the form of a life insurance company that recognized how Elisabeth’s successful career in retail sales could translate into sales of ﬁnancial products, but the career change was not easy or instantaneous. The next year was ﬁlled with training, schooling, studying, childrearing and minimal sleep — but the driven mom persevered. She watched peers leave the ﬁnancial services industry during tough times like the dot-com crash, September 11th and market downturns. But Elisabeth’s passion for ﬁnancial services stayed steadfast, and she would not be deterred. Mix together the ingredients of conﬁdence, clarity and commitment, and you get top Lafayette Life independent producer Elisabeth Dawson. But before learning about mortality tables, she ﬁrst arranged merchandise tables. Financial professional use only. Not for use with the public.

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6 EXPLORING LAFAYETTE LIFE | 2ND EDITION Financial professional use only. Not for use with the public.“Failure was not an option,” said the Californian. “Financial survival and success were the only options.” Additionally, Elisabeth found that she had to go against the grain to rise to the top.“When I started in the industry, I struggled with embracing how other advisors would approach the client relationship,” she recalled. “So many professionals I met with took the approach of ‘I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do.’ I knew I wanted to do something different — by focusing on education, helping clients understand how their relationship with money impacts their ﬁnances, and implementing simple strategies to help them accomplish their goals.” “It was tough at ﬁrst to go against the norm and pave my own way, but I’m glad I followed my instinct,” she reﬂected. “It’s been so incredibly rewarding in the long run.” From Sacriﬁce to SuccessNowadays, Elisabeth is the founder, president and chief executive ofﬁcer of her own ﬁnancial services agency — Copia Wealth Management & Insurance Services — in San Diego, California. The successful ﬁduciary receives high praise from Lafayette Life’s leadership. “Elisabeth is successful because “When I started in the industry, I struggled with embracing how other advisors would approach the client relationship. So many professionals I met with took the approach of ‘I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do.’ I knew I wanted to do something different — by focusing on education.”she cares about people’s ﬁnancial well-being,” revealed Lafayette Life Senior Vice President Larry Silverstein. “Her comprehensive understanding of wealth accumulation, how to protect against personal and business ﬁnancial risk, along with individual retirement needs and business exit strategies, is the best in the business.” One point of proof is in Elisabeth qualifying for Lafayette Life’s top sales conference — Joint Chiefs of Staff — an exceptional eight times. Additionally, Elisabeth’s passion for her clients is as clear as those San Diego ocean waters. “My purpose is to educate as many people as possible to have a better and more comfortable relationship with money.” She explained further, “We work every day so hard for it [money], we sacriﬁce our time away from the ones we love to make it, and then we can’t wait to spend it. By the end of the week, when we don’t have a good relationship with money, we have so much anxiety about not having enough.”The successful author has also published a book titled Wealth by Design with plans for a follow-up book. Family, Finances and a FindElisabeth’s home team consists of husband Carl Scherbaum (whom she affectionately calls “the love of my life”) and their blended family of ﬁve grown children — all in their twenties: Nicolette, Ryan, Trevor, Rachael and Sarah. Nicolette, Trevor and Rachael have all worked in the family business. On a side note, Elisabeth is anxiously awaiting her ﬁrst grandchild this fall, as well! “I just love being able to share the work I’m so passionate about with my family,” said the appreciative matriarch. “Of course, my own family also helps

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8 EXPLORING LAFAYETTE LIFE | 2ND EDITION Financial professional use only. Not for use with the public.me recognize and understand many of the ﬁnancial situations my clients experience, including the need to protect income, retirement income planning, caring for aging relatives, estate planning and more.” Speaking of family, Elisabeth recently discovered some strong ﬁnancial acumen in her family tree. Her mom — a World War II immigrant from Austria — revealed in recent years that Elisabeth’s grandfather served as Austria’s minister of ﬁnance prior to the war! “When I was a child, my mother told me he was a minister, so I thought he was a minister at a church,” Elisabeth explained. “I never knew he was the minister of ﬁnance for a country. I was blown away!” Book Breaks the IceThe professional relationship between Elisabeth and Lafayette Life began 15 years ago with a book and a regional vice president, who quickly recognized Elisabeth’s value to the company. “We met at an industry symposium where I was announcing a co-authored book that I had written with one of my mentors back in 2007,” she remembered. They agreed to a follow-up meeting at Elisabeth’s San Diego ofﬁce, and it was there that the wheels began turning to get Elisabeth appointed with Lafayette Life. By early 2009, she made the decision to write the majority of her whole life business with Lafayette Life. “I feel good about the level of protection and peace of mind my clients can achieve with a policy through Lafayette Life,” shared Elisabeth. “I’ve also found their customer service to align with the standard I hold for myself and my team. I trust Lafayette Life to treat my clients in the same manner I do.” Elisabeth has blazed her own trail and shown her leadership at Lafayette Life. As of this writing, she not only holds the honor of being the longest-serving chairperson (ever) for the Field Advisory Council (FAC) — at six years — but also the ﬁrst female chairperson. “She is a natural leader, whether she’s performing her duties as CEO at Copia Wealth Management & Insurance Services, chairwoman of the FAC or simply living her daily life,” praised Lafayette Life Senior Vice President Larry Silverstein.People Are PriorityThinking about the big picture, the former retail worker comes back to her customer-centric philosophy from her retail days. “Customer service is our number-one priority,” she emphasized. “When you care about people, it shows, and this industry needs more empathy paired with expertise.” Looking ahead, Elisabeth plans to continue to tap into her compassion and dedication. “My passion is to help people achieve what is most important to them today, tomorrow and into the future,” she reﬂected. “We are in the business of helping them live the best ﬁnancial life they can live.” The views and opinions of third-party content providers are solely those of the author and not Lafayette Life Insurance Company. “My purpose is to educate as many people as possible to have a better and more comfortable relationship with money,” Elisabeth says. Here she reviews a case study with Copia associates.

Elisabeth Dawson in Exploring Lafayette Life

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