From Big Banks to Belief-Based Banking: Aaron Caid's Commitment to Stewardship and Faith

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When you have a strong mission and everyone's eyes are

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focused on the mission, people just naturally they're available.

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They, they want to collaborate.

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Want to help each of us be successful because we're, when we succeed

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as a, as a team, we succeed and we're helping grow the kingdom.

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And, so the mission matters.

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No, no, no, no.

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When you combine finance the banking world and faith, how does

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one lead with a mission-driven approach?

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Welcome to Seat Go Create, where today we're joined by Aaron Cade.

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I.

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Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at

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Christian Community Credit Union.

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Aaron stepped into this role with a desire to align his extensive marketing

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expertise with his faith guiding a finance institution dedicated to not just profit.

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But purpose.

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With over two decades of experience in digital transformation and brand

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loyalty across notable organizations like Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, and

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the YMCA of Metro Chicago, Aaron's journey is a blend of strategic

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innovation and principled leadership.

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Aaron, welcome to Seat Go Create.

Aaron Caid: 00:01:20

Thank you, Tim.

Aaron Caid: 00:01:20

It's a pleasure to be with you and your listeners.

Tim Winders: 00:01:23

Yeah, I am glad that you're here.

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We're gonna have a fun conversation.

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First thing let's do, let's just do a little icebreaker.

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Somebody bumps into you and say, I just ask what you do.

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What's your answer typically to people

Aaron Caid: 00:01:36

So I, I would say I, what I'm passionate about is I help

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Christ followers align their financial lives with their faith, to bring,

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to, to bring true stewardship to their lives, the gifts that God has.

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ENTRUSTED with them are, obviously they're not ours, they're

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just, God is entrusted to us.

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It all belongs to him.

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So how do we put it?

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Put our financial gifts to their best use to further the kingdom.

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So I'm just thrilled to be in a role where I can do what I love to do professionally,

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which is marketing in financial services, and align it with my own faith and

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help other Christ followers align their finances with their own Christian faith.

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So what's your, what's your personal, faith story?

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Faith journey?

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Have you, you know, Christian from birth or, has that been a journey?

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Process?

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Like most of us, what's, just, and you gimme the high points of, you

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know, when you decided that you were gonna be a follower of Christ.

Aaron Caid: 00:02:36

Yeah, I, I was raised in a Methodist family.

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so I, I have very early memories of, of being in church and going to

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Sunday school, and, but I really, I, I made my own personal commitment to

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Christ when I was a junior in high school and a very good friend of mine.

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we just had a conversation one night and, and he just.

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Shared with me his own story and asked me if that, you know, if this

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was a journey I wanted to embark upon, and we prayed together.

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I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior that night.

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And, you know, it's, it's, I can't say it's always been a smooth journey

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since, I don't think it is for anybody.

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but I can say that over the last, since I met my wife, almost eight

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years ago at this point, she, she's a true spiritual partner for me.

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and it's.

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I've really, it's really accelerated my spiritual growth and the,

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the deepening my, a deepening relationship with, with the Lord.

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And I just, you know, and it, and it makes for a very fruitful and abundant

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marriage as well, just to have, to be not just a, a, a strong married

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couple, but spiritual partners as well.

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I think it's an amazing, and, and that story is very common, amazing.

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Where we have, we'll, we'll, we'll call it hard charging, maybe

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success oriented dudes, guys like, you know, probably we are that.

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Many times seems like just my perspective, there's a strong

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faith, faith-driven woman that keeps just a lot of that stuff on track.

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That's the way it is for me.

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I don't know if that is for you.

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Sounds like it.

Aaron Caid: 00:04:11

It is.

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It's, and it's just, and it's, you know, we've become, we've grown deeper

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in our, in our local church community.

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we've become leaders in our church and it's just been

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an, it's been a good organic.

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fruitful journey together.

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so I just feel like my, my faith grows day by day and, and then being in a,

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in a, in a, in a company where I can live out my faith every day at work.

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where it's encouraged, where, where it's welcome, where, where we

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actually work together to not only to help achieve business objectives,

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not only to serve our members, but to help each other grow in faith.

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so it's just a, it's, it's just been a complete blessing for me.

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This, this, even the, the last few years of my, my spiritual journey.

Tim Winders: 00:04:56

Yeah, that is good.

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when you've got, you know, Christian in the name of your organization, it

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kinda, and we'll talk about this in a little, I probably creates a bit

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of a, a standard and a purpose and maybe, maybe also a target and all.

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We'll talk about that in just a second.

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But I, for those that are listening, for those that are watching this on YouTube,

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you'll see that Aaron has, is that.

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Is that burnt orange?

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What color is that?

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That, that, that shirt is there.

Aaron Caid: 00:05:23

It is burn orange.

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Orange?

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Yeah, orange.

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And there's a, there's a picture of a, guess a longhorn, you know, some

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kind of outdoor animal on there.

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And so my big question is, is, is it possible to, to be a Christian

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and go to the University of Texas?

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I'm, I'm just wondering about that because that's gotta be

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part of the journey, right?

Aaron Caid: 00:05:45

Absolutely.

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it's, there was a, there was a, I have to say, a strong faith community,

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at the university when I was there.

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very active, very active Christian, student groups, but

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is absolutely, and sometimes the, the longhorns do test my faith.

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But this, this last year was a particularly good year, in

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terms of football, at least.

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but I, I look back on my time at the University of Texas and

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appreciate every moment of it.

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We'll, we'll, we'll see how things go as y'all move

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over into, you know, that whatever, Southeastern Conference and all that.

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So, one other question, just a rumor I heard about, Texas, that many people

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there believe that Matthew McConaughey may be the second coming of Christ.

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Is that a true or false statement?

Aaron Caid: 00:06:27

I don't know what other people believe, but I certainly

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don't believe that he's a good actor.

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He is a funny guy.

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He is a good, he is a good, team supporter, but, no.

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Uh, I think, what's the title now?

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Mini Minister of Culture or something like that at the school.

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I don't know.

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All right.

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Well, enough, enough enough with the fun stuff here.

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Let's, let's, let's talk serious.

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I, I did.

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When you first jumped on, I said, Hey, where's your banker outfit, man?

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You're wearing like, you know this longhorn pullover here and, don't, don't

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you, bankers, don't Y'all all wear suits?

Aaron Caid: 00:07:00

Yeah, no, not us.

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And and I haven't worn a, you know, a suit on a regular basis for a long time.

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It's been a long time.

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And, so, so we're not stayed, we're not stayed bankers.

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We're, we're very, we're vibrant Christ followers.

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Very good.

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Alright, well let me do a couple things here.

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I, I want to dig a little bit in how you ended up, and it looks

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as if your journey has been.

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In a, in and around a lot of the banking world.

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And you know, there's some, yeah, you're with Christian Community

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Credit Union now, but some of these, some of these banks are the big or

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the big ones that are out there.

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Citibank, JP Morgan Chase.

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Did you, did you come outta school and go into the banking world?

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it was, is finance always been your thing?

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or did you just realize that somewhere along the way.

Aaron Caid: 00:07:48

It, it came a little later in my, career development when I first

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came out of the University of Texas.

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I was a, i, I worked for Accenture.

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Interestingly.

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I was doing, I, I was doing IT consulting and, that gave me, I.

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Great.

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I, I learned skills there, especially in project management that have served

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me well for the rest of my career, no matter what area I've been focused on.

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it was after graduate school that I, that I, I made the move into

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financial services, joining Citibank, right out of my graduate program.

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And, Got exposed to a lots of different areas of the consumer banking, business,

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operations, finance, and then marketing.

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And marketing is where I really found my passion, and that's where

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I've developed my career since.

Tim Winders: 00:08:31

So did you, did you ease into marketing or was it something

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you were like, you know, you were focused on getting into, did it,

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you know, was it the grace of God?

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Was it luck?

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Was it focus?

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What strategy, what, what was the path?

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Because it, you know, from the, it truthfully, let me just say that's.

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That's a tough leap if one really is looking at it from what the world would

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say would be like that traditional path.

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So how did, how did that come to be?

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I'm always, I'm fascinated with Journey.

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We love the journey here on See go, create.

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So how, what was that journey like?

Aaron Caid: 00:09:05

I mean it, I joined, at Citibank, I joined an intentional

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management development program.

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So it was intentionally designed to, to provide.

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Three very different experiences in the consumer bank over three years.

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And I, so I started in a role that was in finance and then in operations.

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I, I, I worked in a call center for, for a, a period of time, and then

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took on a rotation in marketing.

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And just marketing was something I had never really.

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Done before.

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So a lot of it was learning, understanding how to connect with consumers, how to

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find, how to connect with them on, on, on solving problems or, or meeting needs.

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And I just loved it.

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I just, I just found that the whole process of, of, of connecting

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with consumers was just so fun.

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and you get instant feedback so you can, you can learn and adapt

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and improve and do new things with.

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With real life feedback from real life people.

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And, so I just loved it.

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So that's, that's the direction I chose to go from that moment on.

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both at Citibank and then later, with JP Morgan Chase.

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and at Sears as well.

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I worked in the, I was the chief marketing officer in the financial

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services business at Sears.

Tim Winders: 00:10:22

So you moved after the consulting roles.

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You, it seems like you did move into that, that retail banking industry, and,

Tim Winders: 00:10:29

and Sears, was that in their credit area?

Aaron Caid: 00:10:32

It was, it was in the financial services business,

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which was, you know, the Sears card is the biggest part of that.

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But

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there were many different products that were meant to help facilitate sales, help,

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help consumers to be able to, to, to make.

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Whether it's a big appliance purchase, to be able to finance that over time or

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to be able to get, you know, the apparel and back to school items for their kids.

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it ran the gamut and it covered Sears and Kmart.

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and Land's End at that time was part of, a part of the Sears universe too.

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Are they still around?

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Sears?

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I know Kmart.

Tim Winders: 00:11:05

They're not quite, are they gone?

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All gone?

Aaron Caid: 00:11:08

almost all gone.

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Almo.

Aaron Caid: 00:11:10

They're still there.

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there's still a few stores.

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There's still an online presence, but, no.

Aaron Caid: 00:11:14

It's, it's, it's, it's not the, it's not the place it was when

Aaron Caid: 00:11:17

I was there, unfortunately.

Tim Winders: 00:11:19

I, I am, I'm of the age that still remembers all the Sears stores.

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Kmarts too.

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All of those.

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And it's, I think that's the nature of business, that things ebb and flow.

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But you, you know, we, we have Amazon delivering at our doorstep even though

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we're in an RV almost every day.

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But it, and that's a reflection on that.

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Industry going by the wayside.

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E Aaron, when when I asked you at the beginning kinda what you do, you brought

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up that communicating stewardship to, to, to the people you interact with

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and how they could be stewards with their finances and all was important

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to what you do now, if you back up to, you know, JP Morgan, Citibank and

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then into that Sears arena, was that.

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Stewardship focus present then, or did that grow over time?

Tim Winders: 00:12:12

Did it, did it come to a head when you came with the credit union?

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what?

Tim Winders: 00:12:16

Talk about that process because I, that process has been interesting for me.

Tim Winders: 00:12:22

What's that been like for you going through those type organizations?

Aaron Caid: 00:12:27

Yeah, I.

Aaron Caid: 00:12:28

It was present back then, it was, it would be a more, the more secular version of

Aaron Caid: 00:12:33

stewardship, which is financial health or, financial fitness, or investing for the

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future, you know, saving for the future.

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Those things aren't specifically stewardship.

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They are part of, they can be part of stewardship, but it's

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the secular version of that.

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and so taking that and taking it to its, To, to where God intends us to to be has

Aaron Caid: 00:12:55

been very much interwoven with the, the role that I currently have at Christian

Aaron Caid: 00:12:59

Community Credit Union and really being able to take practices that were effective

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in helping consumers and businesses, achieve better financial health, but then

Aaron Caid: 00:13:10

turn that toward, eternal gain, not just, not just, financial gain in this world.

Tim Winders: 00:13:16

Hmm.

Tim Winders: 00:13:17

I, I, I, I'm one that I could do some, I don't say bashing, complaining

Tim Winders: 00:13:22

about some of the big banks out there.

Tim Winders: 00:13:25

I.

Tim Winders: 00:13:26

but I don't want us to do that here.

Tim Winders: 00:13:27

I'd rather not.

Tim Winders: 00:13:28

We'll talk a little bit about the differences between credit unions and

Tim Winders: 00:13:31

banks, in just a moment, but I, I think the thing I'd love to know is, did you

Tim Winders: 00:13:36

have any, when there are often people that are in what we'll call a marketplace.

Tim Winders: 00:13:42

That, that their, their faith is growing, they're moving through the

Tim Winders: 00:13:47

corporate, either the ladder or they're just moving and, you know, trying to

Tim Winders: 00:13:51

attempt to do the things they need to do there, that, that conflicts will

Tim Winders: 00:13:56

arise between their faith and either what they're asked to do or who they're

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interacting with or anything like that.

Tim Winders: 00:14:03

Without bashing, were, were you ever faced with some conflicts?

Tim Winders: 00:14:09

Were there things where your faith was stretched or strained where

Tim Winders: 00:14:13

you felt, I, I'll use the word compromise, if that makes sense, where

Tim Winders: 00:14:17

you said, Ooh, this is something I would rather not, anything like that

Tim Winders: 00:14:22

come to mind when I bring that up?

Tim Winders: 00:14:23

Because those are some really profit driven big organizations

Tim Winders: 00:14:29

that you were a part of.

Tim Winders: 00:14:31

I could see the possibility for conflict.

Aaron Caid: 00:14:35

And, and I, and without being specific or using names, which I, I

Aaron Caid: 00:14:39

think you're asking me to do, I, I have been in situations where I've

Aaron Caid: 00:14:42

been asked to undertake a, a, a, a, the development of a product or a project.

Aaron Caid: 00:14:48

That didn't have, in my mind, the right focus.

Aaron Caid: 00:14:51

It was focused on maximizing profits for the company as opposed to

Aaron Caid: 00:14:56

maximizing value for the consumer.

Aaron Caid: 00:14:59

And I think you, you know, I, I, I think it, it can be very easy to, for

Aaron Caid: 00:15:03

those paths to diverge, but ultimately the best profits and the ones that

Aaron Caid: 00:15:07

are sustainable are the ones that are derived from generating value for the

Aaron Caid: 00:15:11

consumer, for the end consumer, when they are getting value for their money.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:15

They will remain, they will be loyal, to your product and to your company,

Aaron Caid: 00:15:20

and they will buy more from you.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:22

They will take on more products.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:23

So, oftentimes it's, you know, it's, I, and I did find myself, you know, being

Aaron Caid: 00:15:28

asked to do things that I thought, Hmm, this seems like we're trying to trick.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:33

People.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:34

I see how this generates profit in the short term, but it's done through tricking

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people or not being entirely forthright.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:43

and I don't agree with that.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:44

So, I, and, and, and I, you know, I, did, I did, I did argue for, my position

Aaron Caid: 00:15:51

when, when these things came up.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:52

and in many cases I was successful.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:55

in other cases, I wasn't as successful.

Aaron Caid: 00:15:58

I, I, you know, I, there's, there's at least one job that I left because,

Aaron Caid: 00:16:03

there were too many instances of, of, the the company making a decision that

Aaron Caid: 00:16:09

what might be good for the short term, for short term profitability, but not

Aaron Caid: 00:16:13

good for, not good for consumer value, and not good for long-term health

Aaron Caid: 00:16:18

and profitability of the company.

Tim Winders: 00:16:20

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:16:21

You know, I, I, I feel confident, Aaron, that.

Tim Winders: 00:16:24

Anyone who's been in the marketplace has probably faced something like that.

Tim Winders: 00:16:29

I, I, I think when we're faced with those things, I think

Tim Winders: 00:16:32

there's a couple things happen.

Tim Winders: 00:16:33

Number one, we grow because we learn and, and I think that at times when

Tim Winders: 00:16:39

we're in a compromise position for too long, I think it could impact our soul.

Tim Winders: 00:16:46

And, you know, you just mentioned that you left a, a job or anything like that,

Tim Winders: 00:16:51

but one of the things we love to do here is if there's a quote unquote ministry

Tim Winders: 00:16:56

opportunity, is there, is there anything that you might say to someone who's in a.

Tim Winders: 00:17:02

In a tough spot right now that they're, maybe they're in a bigger organization

Tim Winders: 00:17:06

or something and they're just trying to, trying to live by that faith too.

Tim Winders: 00:17:11

I don't, and if nothing comes to mind, that's fine, but just any,

Tim Winders: 00:17:13

anything that you learned while navigating that process yourself.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:19

I mean, I think you can advocate for what's right and you

Aaron Caid: 00:17:23

can, and you can do the right thing and set a good example and others

Aaron Caid: 00:17:28

and, and encourage others to follow.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:30

And I, I think that's, we can all do that no matter where we work.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:35

and, you know, I've been, I've been very fortunate that it's, it's,

Aaron Caid: 00:17:38

it hasn't been, this has not been something I've had to address.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:44

Much in my career.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:46

There was that one instance a long time ago.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:48

that, but you know, ultimately a lot of, I do find that, there

Aaron Caid: 00:17:53

is a lot of good in this world.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:55

and there are a lot of people who want to do the right thing.

Aaron Caid: 00:17:57

Sometimes people can get distracted by.

Aaron Caid: 00:18:03

Short term gain by short term profits.

Aaron Caid: 00:18:07

But if you can just, if you can advocate for the right thing, model the right

Aaron Caid: 00:18:12

behavior, and encourage others to follow.

Aaron Caid: 00:18:15

A lot of times you can, you can get, you can get others to follow you

Aaron Caid: 00:18:18

and, and, and, and do what's right.

Tim Winders: 00:18:22

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:18:22

What's interesting is we've had this conversation a lot here at Seek Go Create.

Tim Winders: 00:18:26

There are many people that would say that.

Tim Winders: 00:18:30

A ministry role is where everybody needs to be.

Tim Winders: 00:18:33

That's a follower of Christ.

Tim Winders: 00:18:35

And you see what you just said to me highlights the need for people of faith

Tim Winders: 00:18:41

to be in the marketplace because you and you may have known about it and

Tim Winders: 00:18:47

you may not even know where, had to be an example to some other people.

Tim Winders: 00:18:52

And it sounds like it was positive.

Tim Winders: 00:18:55

You know, we mess up.

Tim Winders: 00:18:56

But, anyway, sounds like it.

Tim Winders: 00:18:58

It was, there, there was something you mentioned just a few minutes

Tim Winders: 00:19:01

ago that before I go into the differences between the organizations

Tim Winders: 00:19:06

you were with and now the, the organization you're currently with.

Tim Winders: 00:19:10

I, I'd like you brought up the word, I think tricking people, which is, which

Tim Winders: 00:19:15

is interesting I think in the, capitalist free enterprise, which I love by the way.

Tim Winders: 00:19:22

I'm.

Tim Winders: 00:19:23

I'm a business consultant.

Tim Winders: 00:19:24

I'm an entrepreneur, and started my first business way back in

Tim Winders: 00:19:28

the mid eighties in college and have had companies and all that.

Tim Winders: 00:19:31

However, I do notice.

Tim Winders: 00:19:35

And I'm a marketing guy too.

Tim Winders: 00:19:36

I love doing marketing things and I, I do notice it's very easy to go from,

Tim Winders: 00:19:43

uh, promoting maybe persuasion to somewhere along the line we can often

Tim Winders: 00:19:50

cross over into manipulation, deception.

Tim Winders: 00:19:56

It's, and it sounds like you have seen maybe some of that, and that might have

Tim Winders: 00:20:01

been part of what you were just talking about, but you talk a little bit about

Tim Winders: 00:20:06

that and, and I've got a follow up question that might help us lead into

Tim Winders: 00:20:10

the, talking about where you are now, but to, to me, with all that is going on.

Tim Winders: 00:20:17

And, and I, you know, my feed shows it in social media.

Tim Winders: 00:20:20

My, I see it if I turn on, you know, YouTube or something like that for,

Tim Winders: 00:20:24

for those, you know, there was a couple football games yesterday.

Tim Winders: 00:20:27

There's commercials and things going on.

Tim Winders: 00:20:31

How do we stay on that promotion side?

Tim Winders: 00:20:34

Maybe a little bit of persuasion and not step over into the

Tim Winders: 00:20:37

manipulation and deception.

Aaron Caid: 00:20:39

Well, I think, and it's e and it, and it can come

Aaron Caid: 00:20:42

from actually a good place too.

Aaron Caid: 00:20:44

It can come from passion and exuberance and you, you really believe in what

Aaron Caid: 00:20:48

you're, what you're selling and the, the product and you get into it.

Aaron Caid: 00:20:52

It, sometimes it can overflow into exaggeration and or glossing

Aaron Caid: 00:20:56

over the, over the, the negative.

Aaron Caid: 00:20:57

And so, you know, it, it isn't always coming from a bad place, but

Aaron Caid: 00:21:01

it can just be an, it can be a, a.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:03

An extension of, of something that started and is ultimately a good, a good thing.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:09

And I think where you, where you can help yourself there is to surround yourself

Aaron Caid: 00:21:13

with other perspectives and voices.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:15

So people who are not afraid to say no or to say, Hey, I, I see what you're saying.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:22

But, so I think it's, I think it's, I, I love being in a culture that

Aaron Caid: 00:21:27

promotes that diversity of thought and diversity of perspective, because

Aaron Caid: 00:21:31

everyone just keeps each other.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:33

On the, on the, on the, on the right path.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:35

because people aren't afraid to say, but did you think about that?

Aaron Caid: 00:21:39

Or How about this?

Aaron Caid: 00:21:40

Or maybe we could, maybe we could say it better this way.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:43

so I think that's important.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:44

You have to, it has to be an intentional approach because it's, you know, it,

Aaron Caid: 00:21:48

it can be very easy to get into a command and control kind of environment.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:51

Where, where, People do what they're told and that's not good.

Aaron Caid: 00:21:57

It's, it ultimately is not good for them, not good for the leader, and it's not

Aaron Caid: 00:22:02

good for the culture or for the consumer.

Aaron Caid: 00:22:03

So I, I, I love environments that promote that.

Aaron Caid: 00:22:06

And I've worked, I've worked in many places that do, and it's just fun.

Aaron Caid: 00:22:11

It's fun and creative and you just, you, you keep things on

Aaron Caid: 00:22:15

the, on the right path that way.

Tim Winders: 00:22:18

Hmm.

Tim Winders: 00:22:19

I lo I love what you said about diverse thought and, and things like that.

Tim Winders: 00:22:25

And listen.

Tim Winders: 00:22:26

D, diversity, I wanna say this loud and clear.

Tim Winders: 00:22:29

Diversity is not a bad word.

Tim Winders: 00:22:30

A lot of people in today's world.

Tim Winders: 00:22:32

It, it becomes political.

Tim Winders: 00:22:34

Diversity's a great word, but it goes all the way around.

Tim Winders: 00:22:38

My wife worked for a Silicon Valley company and, and they were heavy into

Tim Winders: 00:22:43

diversity and, and, and all of that, but not really the type of diversity that

Tim Winders: 00:22:49

she brought to the table, which was a conservative southern Christian woman.

Tim Winders: 00:22:54

I.

Tim Winders: 00:22:54

You know, it was more other, I, I love having a wide variety around the table,

Tim Winders: 00:22:59

but the, the thought that came to me, and, and this is where I want us to

Tim Winders: 00:23:03

start migrating towards talking about the, Christian Community Credit Union.

Tim Winders: 00:23:08

When you were in the roles, you, you talked about they were, they were

Tim Winders: 00:23:12

consumer driven, with your previous, we'll call 'em the retail banking industry.

Tim Winders: 00:23:20

did those organizations serve?

Tim Winders: 00:23:23

And when I say serve, I, I don't necessarily necessarily mean customers.

Tim Winders: 00:23:27

who were they in servant to?

Tim Winders: 00:23:31

and, and I, and I think this is gonna lead us into the question about

Tim Winders: 00:23:34

Christian Community Credit Union.

Tim Winders: 00:23:36

I think you're smiling.

Tim Winders: 00:23:36

I think you know where I'm going here.

Tim Winders: 00:23:38

So talk to me about who those organizations serve.

Tim Winders: 00:23:43

And then I'll see if there's a follow up before we bridge into the next area.

Aaron Caid: 00:23:46

Yeah, for the most part, you're serving, you're

Aaron Caid: 00:23:50

serving investors, right?

Aaron Caid: 00:23:52

You're helping deliver a, a return to shareholders, a

Aaron Caid: 00:23:57

return on their investment.

Aaron Caid: 00:23:58

and I.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:01

There's, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:03

it's, it's, it's how we've, it's how we have built this incredible economy.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:08

It's how we've built this comp country.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:10

so that's, that's good.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:11

It has to, you know, you have to be doing that in the, delivering those

Aaron Caid: 00:24:15

returns to shareholders because you're meeting needs for end consumers.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:20

You're solving problems for them.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:21

You're helping make their lives better.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:23

but yeah, ultimately you're serving, you're serving shareholders.

Tim Winders: 00:24:27

And, and the challenge going back to the

Tim Winders: 00:24:29

potential conflicts is at times.

Tim Winders: 00:24:33

There can be a built in, built in conflict between what we were talking

Tim Winders: 00:24:39

about, you know, maybe manipulation, tricker, whatever word you want to use.

Tim Winders: 00:24:44

And, and that is that, is that, is that a true statement?

Aaron Caid: 00:24:50

I mean there, there can, you know.

Aaron Caid: 00:24:52

That, that's why, and that's then when you talk about ministry not being the

Aaron Caid: 00:24:56

only way you can serve faithfully, I think that's why we need, you know,

Aaron Caid: 00:25:01

we need Christian, we need Christ followers throughout our economy

Aaron Caid: 00:25:06

who are, yes, they're, they're working hard to deliver value for

Aaron Caid: 00:25:09

shareholders, but they're doing it by serving customers, by doing

Aaron Caid: 00:25:15

the right thing, earning profits in the right way, in a sustainable way.

Aaron Caid: 00:25:19

And so I, I, you know, I want to see.

Aaron Caid: 00:25:22

I wouldn't wanna see every Christ follower in a, in a ministry role.

Aaron Caid: 00:25:25

It would just, we, the impact would be, would be diluted.

Aaron Caid: 00:25:28

we wanna see Christians, believers in every aspect of, of our economy

Aaron Caid: 00:25:33

and our society having an impact.

Aaron Caid: 00:25:36

Because anything you, many aspects of life can be ministry.

Aaron Caid: 00:25:40

They don't have to be served teaching in a, in on Sunday at church.

Aaron Caid: 00:25:45

you can minister in many ways.

Tim Winders: 00:25:47

Yeah, and I, and I wanna say this sort of as a follow up, is that there

Tim Winders: 00:25:53

are probably some ministries in churches.

Tim Winders: 00:25:55

I'm on the board of a few ministries and you know, churches that they

Tim Winders: 00:25:59

may not be serving the proper thing.

Tim Winders: 00:26:01

Also, they might be in it for something different than is pure.

Tim Winders: 00:26:06

So I don't, this is not just a,

Aaron Caid: 00:26:08

Because humans are fallible,

Aaron Caid: 00:26:09

right?

Tim Winders: 00:26:10

Yeah, it's like, it's, it's more of a human thing, not

Tim Winders: 00:26:13

just, not just, but I, but I do think sometimes we can structure things to

Tim Winders: 00:26:18

where they have the higher likelihood of moving into that stewardship

Tim Winders: 00:26:25

role that you brought up earlier.

Tim Winders: 00:26:26

So having said all that, somewhere along the way, you left the, the

Tim Winders: 00:26:31

bigger banks I bank at Wells Fargo.

Tim Winders: 00:26:33

And let me, let me just say I.

Tim Winders: 00:26:37

I, I loathe them at times.

Tim Winders: 00:26:39

Right now I'm in a situation where they, it's, it's related.

Tim Winders: 00:26:43

I'll share this.

Tim Winders: 00:26:43

It's related to the Patriot Act.

Tim Winders: 00:26:45

They need a physical address.

Tim Winders: 00:26:47

Well, I don't have one.

Tim Winders: 00:26:48

I am a nomad homeless, and they are needing that to conform.

Tim Winders: 00:26:52

You probably know it in your industry, and, and they finally got one.

Tim Winders: 00:26:56

But there's a relative of ours that's in similar situation.

Tim Winders: 00:26:59

They shut down an account.

Tim Winders: 00:27:00

Because they didn't have it.

Tim Winders: 00:27:02

So anyway.

Tim Winders: 00:27:02

Alright, rant over.

Tim Winders: 00:27:04

Somewhere along the way you moved into a credit union situation.

Tim Winders: 00:27:11

And to put a capper on that Christian community Credit Union.

Tim Winders: 00:27:17

So talk about that transition and then in a little while, I wanna, I want to,

Tim Winders: 00:27:22

I want it for someone who may not know, we're gonna talk about the difference

Tim Winders: 00:27:25

between credit union and that retail bank and all that, but talk about your

Tim Winders: 00:27:29

transition and what that looked like.

Aaron Caid: 00:27:32

I really consider it providential, that I became aware of

Aaron Caid: 00:27:34

the, of the role that I have today.

Aaron Caid: 00:27:36

I frankly didn't know that there was even such a thing as a Christian credit union.

Aaron Caid: 00:27:41

I did not know that you could, you could, that there were faith-based organizations

Aaron Caid: 00:27:48

that collect deposits, lend money.

Aaron Caid: 00:27:51

I didn't know, until I, until I, I learned about it from a recruiter, and

Aaron Caid: 00:27:56

I, at that moment, I, I, I really felt God gr grabbing me by the lapels and

Aaron Caid: 00:28:01

saying, this is what you need to do.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:03

This is, this is for you.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:04

And I'm so, I'm so thankful for that.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:06

and, you know, and, and credit unions, I, they explicitly align your.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:13

incentives with what's right for members.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:16

So just a, any credit union.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:18

your credit unions are owned by the members.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:20

so I, I'm a, I'm a member of Christian Community Credit Union.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:23

I'm a, I'm a part owner of the credit union.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:26

you credit unions exist to serve their members.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:31

Their board of directors is elected from among their members,

Aaron Caid: 00:28:34

and the profits you earn.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:37

Go back to members in the form of better rates and lower fees.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:43

and in the case of Christian Community Credit Union, we also give back to

Aaron Caid: 00:28:47

ministries who are serving to spread the gospel, to protect vulnerable

Aaron Caid: 00:28:52

children, to combat human trafficking.

Aaron Caid: 00:28:54

So we, we do, we take up, we intentionally take a portion of,

Aaron Caid: 00:28:58

of, our prophets and donate them to, to expanding the kingdom and.

Tim Winders: 00:29:04

how long have you been with them?

Tim Winders: 00:29:05

What was the timeframe?

Tim Winders: 00:29:06

I saw it somewhere.

Tim Winders: 00:29:07

I don't have it in front of me here.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:08

It is been a little over three years, and those

Aaron Caid: 00:29:11

three years have flown by.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:12

That's, I still feel like the new guy at the, at the credit union, but I've,

Aaron Caid: 00:29:16

it's been three years and it's just, it's been, it's just been an incredible

Tim Winders: 00:29:21

So you made that transition in the midst of,

Tim Winders: 00:29:24

what I guess worldwide pandemic?

Tim Winders: 00:29:25

Correct.

Tim Winders: 00:29:26

How, how, how was that changed during that we're, I'm hopeful that we're getting

Tim Winders: 00:29:30

away from having the discussion, but I'm always intrigued by changes that people

Tim Winders: 00:29:36

went through during that timeframe.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:39

I, didn't even meet my team face to face until I had

Aaron Caid: 00:29:43

been on the job for six months.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:45

So it wasn't possible to travel and to go into the office for the

Aaron Caid: 00:29:50

first six months I was on the job.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:52

and, you know, we really didn't skip a beat.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:54

I.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:55

I.

Aaron Caid: 00:29:56

wondered how this would be, get onboarding, taking on a new job, getting

Aaron Caid: 00:30:01

to know, you know, my peers, my boss, getting to know my team purely on Zoom.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:07

And it worked.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:09

It worked.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:09

And I think a lot of that has to do with the culture of the, of the credit union.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:13

People are just.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:14

Collaborative.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:15

when you have a strong mission and everyone's eyes are focused

Aaron Caid: 00:30:19

on the mission, people just naturally they're available.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:22

They, they want to collaborate.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:24

Want to help each of us be successful because we're, when we succeed

Aaron Caid: 00:30:29

as a, as a team, we succeed.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:31

We're helping members become.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:33

Better stewards helping members succeed financially, and we're

Aaron Caid: 00:30:37

helping grow the kingdom.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:38

And, so the mission matters.

Aaron Caid: 00:30:41

Having a good, strong, and in our case, Christ-centered mission is, is so

Aaron Caid: 00:30:48

critical for, for our, our culture, so critical for how we work together, so

Aaron Caid: 00:30:53

critical for the successes we're able to achieve, and in my case, so critical

Aaron Caid: 00:30:57

for being able to join a new company.

Aaron Caid: 00:31:00

And get to know everyone virtually.

Tim Winders: 00:31:03

What's interesting, you brought this up and I'm, I'm

Tim Winders: 00:31:05

thinking the same thing on my end.

Tim Winders: 00:31:08

I'd like to think I'm pretty familiar with businesses, business models

Tim Winders: 00:31:12

in my, you know, 60 years here 'cause I've studied it and all that.

Tim Winders: 00:31:17

I.

Tim Winders: 00:31:17

I was not aware of an organization, a credit union that was a,

Tim Winders: 00:31:24

a banking organization that, what's, was faith, faith based.

Tim Winders: 00:31:30

I, I was aware of the insurance, the health insurance.

Tim Winders: 00:31:34

That's kinda like the, you know, the medical share and things like that.

Tim Winders: 00:31:37

I was somewhat aware of those things.

Tim Winders: 00:31:40

I did not know it existed in the banking world.

Tim Winders: 00:31:44

But before we go too much farther into that, what I'd let you, you did it a

Tim Winders: 00:31:48

little bit, and I know this is probably a question you answer a good bit.

Tim Winders: 00:31:52

So this is almost like if, if you've got pitch mode, this might

Tim Winders: 00:31:56

be the pitch mode to go into.

Tim Winders: 00:31:57

I'm giving you permission.

Tim Winders: 00:32:01

Why a credit union over a, a traditional retail bank.

Tim Winders: 00:32:05

You mentioned members and things like that, so if there's some

Tim Winders: 00:32:07

repetitiveness, that's okay, but give me the reason or the contrast.

Tim Winders: 00:32:12

What's the difference between the two that, I'm a Wells Fargo guy.

Tim Winders: 00:32:15

Go ahead and sell me.

Tim Winders: 00:32:16

Tell me why I should leave and take all my accounts, business and all and come

Tim Winders: 00:32:21

over to Christian Community Credit Union.

Tim Winders: 00:32:23

I'm okay with you selling me.

Aaron Caid: 00:32:25

Okay, great.

Aaron Caid: 00:32:27

Well, you can, you can bank just about anywhere.

Aaron Caid: 00:32:32

you can bank with an organization that uses your money to fund questionable

Aaron Caid: 00:32:38

practices, may invest your money in questionable or, or, or, or.

Aaron Caid: 00:32:42

The things that you don't agree with morally or spiritually, or you can

Aaron Caid: 00:32:46

take your money and, and and and put it on deposit with Christian Community

Aaron Caid: 00:32:51

Credit Union, where you know that that money, the money you put on deposit,

Aaron Caid: 00:32:55

helps us provide affordable financing to build new churches, to help ministries

Aaron Caid: 00:33:00

grow, to help impact the kingdom.

Aaron Caid: 00:33:03

And it's.

Aaron Caid: 00:33:06

Ultimately going to further the gospel, not in support of an organization

Aaron Caid: 00:33:11

that might be trying to suppress the gospel like, like many of the big

Aaron Caid: 00:33:14

banks seem to be doing these days.

Aaron Caid: 00:33:16

and in the process, because we exist to serve members, not to earn profits for

Aaron Caid: 00:33:24

shareholders, you're getting better rates.

Aaron Caid: 00:33:28

Most of you know, often you're getting better rates than you could at a, at

Aaron Caid: 00:33:31

a, at a, at a secular bank, lower fees.

Aaron Caid: 00:33:34

And you, you've got products that are designed with your needs in mind,

Aaron Caid: 00:33:39

transparent, providing you value, serving, serving your needs, helping you steward

Aaron Caid: 00:33:46

God's resources in the best way you can.

Tim Winders: 00:33:50

wanna, I wanna drill down on that word transparent, because

Tim Winders: 00:33:53

as a member driven organization, my guess is that transparency is I.

Tim Winders: 00:34:01

The members have access to, I don't wanna say all the financials,

Tim Winders: 00:34:07

it's, it's, it's available.

Tim Winders: 00:34:09

We used to be the members of a, co-op that was a power company

Tim Winders: 00:34:14

and you know, they would actually.

Tim Winders: 00:34:17

Pay money now that, we're years ago.

Tim Winders: 00:34:19

We lived there.

Tim Winders: 00:34:20

I still get a check every few years because there was, there was funds

Tim Winders: 00:34:24

that were made while we were members, quote unquote paying, and we're

Tim Winders: 00:34:28

still getting some of that back.

Tim Winders: 00:34:29

But anyway, that I, I do think I.

Tim Winders: 00:34:32

There's a higher level of transparency in a member driven credit union than,

Tim Winders: 00:34:38

let's say, one of the big retail bank.

Tim Winders: 00:34:40

I don't know that much about Wells Fargo.

Tim Winders: 00:34:41

I could probably study their shareholder reports, but hey, I

Tim Winders: 00:34:44

don't, I don't dig in much there.

Tim Winders: 00:34:46

So, transparency.

Tim Winders: 00:34:47

Good thing.

Aaron Caid: 00:34:49

Very good thing.

Aaron Caid: 00:34:49

And we, we publish our financials, our audited financials every year.

Aaron Caid: 00:34:53

We have an annual meeting of members,

Aaron Caid: 00:34:55

um, where, they can bring questions, they can ask us questions about the financials.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:00

We, and we actually publish our financials more frequently than once a year.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:03

but we make a big push to members, in that annual meeting.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:07

and, and the transparency also comes in the way products are designed.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:10

you know, some financial institutions, the way they.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:13

The way they make money is they create complicated products that have catches

Aaron Caid: 00:35:17

and hooks and, you know, and, you know, hidden fees and things like that.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:21

you know, with us and with many credit unions, you just want to, you want

Aaron Caid: 00:35:25

to provide, you want to create a product that is serving a need, a, a

Aaron Caid: 00:35:28

defined financial need that members have in the simplest way possible.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:33

So, it's not, you know, you're not looking to create all these.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:36

Fees that, that, that maybe in the short term help the bottom line, but

Aaron Caid: 00:35:41

in the long term, aren't serving, aren't serving the end consumer well.

Aaron Caid: 00:35:45

So I think the transparency comes in many ways, and all the way down to, to

Aaron Caid: 00:35:50

how products are designed and marketed.

Tim Winders: 00:35:52

Now a lot of people traditionally, the, their bank, they

Tim Winders: 00:35:56

wanted it on the, you know, corner of, you know, main Street and third Avenue.

Tim Winders: 00:36:01

So I guess they could go down and check their money or something.

Tim Winders: 00:36:04

I'm not sure.

Tim Winders: 00:36:04

I can't, I can't tell you the last time I've actually been in

Tim Winders: 00:36:07

a physical bank, but, but a lot of people feel the need for that.

Tim Winders: 00:36:12

Has the banking industry moved?

Tim Winders: 00:36:15

To primarily virtual or are, are y'all still specifically

Tim Winders: 00:36:21

even with Christian community?

Tim Winders: 00:36:22

Is it, is it location driven?

Tim Winders: 00:36:24

I know, I know there's some regulations with where you can do business.

Tim Winders: 00:36:28

Right?

Aaron Caid: 00:36:29

Well, so we serve Christians in all 50

Aaron Caid: 00:36:32

states.

Aaron Caid: 00:36:32

We serve Christian ministries in all 50 states.

Aaron Caid: 00:36:35

we, because we're a credit union, we're part of the co-op

Aaron Caid: 00:36:38

network of shared branches.

Aaron Caid: 00:36:39

So the branch, the shared branch network is over 5,600 branches across the country.

Aaron Caid: 00:36:44

That's more than Chase or Wells Fargo have.

Aaron Caid: 00:36:48

so.

Aaron Caid: 00:36:49

But most of our, most of our members, the vast majority of our members

Aaron Caid: 00:36:52

do business with us digitally from the convenience of their phone.

Aaron Caid: 00:36:55

And, and just like you, I can't remember the last time I was in a branch,

Aaron Caid: 00:36:58

or needed to do something there.

Aaron Caid: 00:37:00

But if, if a, if a member does need to do branch banking of some sort,

Aaron Caid: 00:37:04

they can go to their, the, their neighborhood credit union and, and,

Aaron Caid: 00:37:07

and conduct and conduct business.

Aaron Caid: 00:37:09

And there's over 30,000 surcharge free ATMs as well that you can

Aaron Caid: 00:37:13

take out money without paying fees.

Tim Winders: 00:37:15

And one of the things that I, way back when I had heard you

Tim Winders: 00:37:20

need to be part of a credit union, it's just a better banking experience.

Tim Winders: 00:37:23

That was in general, I.

Tim Winders: 00:37:25

However, because I was not necessarily, you know, in a

Tim Winders: 00:37:31

community we've been, my wife and I have been traveling for 10 years.

Tim Winders: 00:37:34

I, I wasn't necessarily a former military person or I, I didn't believe

Tim Winders: 00:37:40

I was part of a community that was a credit union because it is, you know,

Tim Winders: 00:37:47

the people that are in the community.

Tim Winders: 00:37:50

Share something they share either as an a, I hate saying alumni,

Tim Winders: 00:37:54

but, and, and the one that keeps popping to mind is the Navy federal.

Tim Winders: 00:37:57

I guess those are people that served in military or family or anything like that.

Tim Winders: 00:38:01

Is the, is the requirement strict for membership?

Tim Winders: 00:38:05

This is not where I want to ask for a profession of faith.

Tim Winders: 00:38:08

We'll talk about that in just a moment.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:09

Okay.

Tim Winders: 00:38:10

But is the membership requirement strict that people

Tim Winders: 00:38:15

need to be part of that group?

Aaron Caid: 00:38:19

Yeah, we, we, you can be, you can become a member in one

Aaron Caid: 00:38:22

of three ways, or you can qualify for membership in one of three ways.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:25

One is through your church, school, or, or, or ministry.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:30

You, you might work for one of them.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:31

You might be a, A member of

Aaron Caid: 00:38:35

a, of a, of a ministry, or you might be a regular attendee.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:38

that's one way, you can qualify is just by virtue of, of the, of the church, school,

Aaron Caid: 00:38:43

or ministry that you're affiliated with.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:46

Another way is you could be related to a, a a, an existing

Aaron Caid: 00:38:49

member of the credit union.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:50

So, and the third way is, you can join our partner.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:56

Charity.

Aaron Caid: 00:38:56

So we, we are, we are partnered with Christian Alliance for Orphans, and

Aaron Caid: 00:39:00

they just do incredible work to, to, to lift up the widows and the, and

Aaron Caid: 00:39:05

the fatherless, both here domestically and, and, and across the globe.

Aaron Caid: 00:39:09

and, you can join Christian Alliance for Orphans at the same time you

Aaron Caid: 00:39:13

join the credit union and be, and be eligible for membership that way.

Aaron Caid: 00:39:18

so.

Tim Winders: 00:39:19

so in credit unions in general, there is that membership.

Tim Winders: 00:39:25

Component and you just went through.

Tim Winders: 00:39:27

I think for, for y'all's, gimme, I, I think I saw it somewhere on the site

Tim Winders: 00:39:31

and, and I'm sure you could probably do this fairly easily, it wasn't always

Tim Winders: 00:39:36

Christian community and this organization has been around, this isn't something

Tim Winders: 00:39:40

that just popped up here a few years ago.

Tim Winders: 00:39:43

I think I saw it was 50, 60 years or something.

Tim Winders: 00:39:45

Maybe I might be wrong on that, but.

Aaron Caid: 00:39:47

years ago.

Tim Winders: 00:39:48

Yeah, gimme, gimme.

Tim Winders: 00:39:49

Quick, quick history and then I've got a couple other things here that I want

Tim Winders: 00:39:53

us to hit before we start wrapping up.

Aaron Caid: 00:39:55

So, 66 years ago, a handful of American Baptist ministers

Aaron Caid: 00:40:01

got together and were comparing notes about how hard it was to get.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:06

Financing to build a church or to expand their ministry because

Aaron Caid: 00:40:11

banks just didn't understand them.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:13

it's, they said they don't understand an organization that lives off

Aaron Caid: 00:40:17

of the generosity of its members.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:20

and they don't know how to read a giving statement.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:22

They, so they found it very difficult to do that.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:24

But they said, what if we pool our resources together, we could then

Aaron Caid: 00:40:30

help others in our same position?

Aaron Caid: 00:40:32

So help other.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:34

American Baptist Ministers.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:35

And that's how it got started.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:36

It got started in the back of a church, one day and started with

Aaron Caid: 00:40:40

I think four or five ministers.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:42

It was, originally the American Baptist Minister's Credit Union.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:46

And then over time, the, grew to serve the entire American Baptist

Aaron Caid: 00:40:50

community, became the American Baptist Credit Union, and then about

Aaron Caid: 00:40:53

25 years ago expanded to include.

Aaron Caid: 00:40:57

to become the Christian Christian Community Credit Union.

Aaron Caid: 00:41:00

so, and we're now the largest faith-based credit union in

Aaron Caid: 00:41:03

the country in terms of assets.

Tim Winders: 00:41:06

Yeah, so this is a slightly, I I sometimes just give a warning.

Tim Winders: 00:41:11

This is a slightly cynical question, so I'll just go ahead and prepare you when

Tim Winders: 00:41:16

we attach the name Christian to Things.

Tim Winders: 00:41:18

Now, many times in our culture, it unfortunately has almost become a little

Tim Winders: 00:41:23

more divisive than it has welcoming.

Tim Winders: 00:41:27

And and to, to even do another layer of cynicism, people will start trying to say,

Tim Winders: 00:41:35

this denomination, that denomination, I, you could tell by the question, I'm not.

Tim Winders: 00:41:39

For all that.

Tim Winders: 00:41:41

But how do you, how do you address that?

Tim Winders: 00:41:45

How do you either prevent that?

Tim Winders: 00:41:47

How do you, how do you open up but yet have members, you

Tim Winders: 00:41:51

mentioned the requirements earlier.

Tim Winders: 00:41:56

how do you determine if someone's a Christian?

Aaron Caid: 00:42:00

Well,

Tim Winders: 00:42:02

That's a bigger question there.

Tim Winders: 00:42:03

If you, if you don't.

Aaron Caid: 00:42:07

part of part of the membership process is reviewing and

Aaron Caid: 00:42:10

agreeing with our statement of faith, which, which would be familiar to, to,

Aaron Caid: 00:42:14

to many, to many Christians and, and, and our beliefs of the Trinity and the,

Aaron Caid: 00:42:19

and, it that is part of the process.

Aaron Caid: 00:42:20

So, somebody could.

Aaron Caid: 00:42:22

Lie, But we're trusting that, that they wouldn't do that.

Aaron Caid: 00:42:27

that you want to associate yourself with other Christians.

Aaron Caid: 00:42:30

you want to build God's kingdom.

Aaron Caid: 00:42:32

and, and if you're, you know, if, if you're demonstrating your eligibility

Aaron Caid: 00:42:40

for membership, agreeing to the statement of faith, you know, we,

Aaron Caid: 00:42:44

we welcome you into the family.

Tim Winders: 00:42:46

Right.

Tim Winders: 00:42:47

And other than just being like on really cool podcast and talking

Tim Winders: 00:42:52

about what you're doing, what, what are some of the roles that you are

Tim Winders: 00:42:56

filling with you and your team?

Tim Winders: 00:42:59

this is I'll probably ask for some business.

Tim Winders: 00:43:01

I.

Tim Winders: 00:43:01

Tips on this, but, what, tell me what your specific role is

Tim Winders: 00:43:05

currently with the organization.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:08

We, so in addition to leading marketing across really any channel, and

Aaron Caid: 00:43:13

we don't, we don't play in every channel.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:15

You know, we're not, we're not advertising on television.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:19

You're not gonna see a Super Bowl ad with Christian Community Credit Union.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:22

You're not gonna see a, a stadium named after us.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:25

But we are, we're, we are very active in the digital space.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:29

So, digital marketing is a, is, has proven to be a very effective way to reach

Aaron Caid: 00:43:33

Christ followers, across this country and make, and make known who we are and

Aaron Caid: 00:43:38

who we serve and how we, how we serve God, and, and, and building the kingdom.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:43

But we do a lot of, we do a lot of other things, internally and, and

Aaron Caid: 00:43:45

something I love about being in, at Christian Community Credit Union, being

Aaron Caid: 00:43:50

in a, you know, we are the largest faith-based credit union, but we're

Aaron Caid: 00:43:53

small in comparison to, to even, you know, you mentioned Navy Federal.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:57

They're much larger than us.

Aaron Caid: 00:43:58

so it's a small team and we, we all jump in to help each other,

Aaron Caid: 00:44:03

whether we're in operations or in our ministry development team or finance.

Aaron Caid: 00:44:07

You really don't find people saying, that's not part of my job,

Aaron Caid: 00:44:10

or drawing strong distinctions.

Aaron Caid: 00:44:12

So people jump in on business development.

Aaron Caid: 00:44:14

If we're, if we have an opportunity to serve a large ministry, we'll jump in as

Aaron Caid: 00:44:19

marketing, others will jump in as well, to help serve that ministry's needs and,

Aaron Caid: 00:44:23

and serve the members of that ministry.

Aaron Caid: 00:44:26

so I, I, I, that's something that is just, I, I, I love about our culture

Aaron Caid: 00:44:30

and a and, and a lot of it comes to.

Aaron Caid: 00:44:33

Comes down to the, the mission that we profess to and who we serve, and,

Aaron Caid: 00:44:39

and, and the, and the, the size, the, the size of the, of the staff.

Aaron Caid: 00:44:43

People just

Aaron Caid: 00:44:43

very willing to help.

Tim Winders: 00:44:45

What is, what is something, there's a lot of listeners

Tim Winders: 00:44:47

and myself included, that do things in that digital space and you know, you

Tim Winders: 00:44:54

don't have to gimme away any of your trade secrets or anything like that.

Tim Winders: 00:44:57

However, in the, in the spirit of good Christian sharing, what are, what are some

Tim Winders: 00:45:03

things that are working well for y'all now to, to get to your target audiences?

Tim Winders: 00:45:08

What are some either.

Tim Winders: 00:45:10

Techniques, tactics, you know, strategies.

Tim Winders: 00:45:13

What are some things that you're seeing?

Tim Winders: 00:45:15

This is working well and we're excited about this as

Tim Winders: 00:45:18

we, you know, head into this.

Tim Winders: 00:45:19

We're recording in early-ish 2024 as we head into 2024, what

Tim Winders: 00:45:24

are some things you're liking?

Tim Winders: 00:45:25

I.

Aaron Caid: 00:45:26

So a lot of the work that we do to, to drive organic traffic.

Aaron Caid: 00:45:30

So a lot of the search engine optimization work we do, is, is one, it's inexpensive,

Aaron Caid: 00:45:36

and two, it can be very effective.

Aaron Caid: 00:45:37

A lot of the work we, we do a lot of testing with, our user experience.

Aaron Caid: 00:45:41

So we have a, we have, some tools in place that allow us to test one.

Aaron Caid: 00:45:45

Presentation versus another one to find which one is going to resonate

Aaron Caid: 00:45:50

most with, with website visitors.

Aaron Caid: 00:45:53

and we have found some, we've found some tactics that work very

Aaron Caid: 00:45:56

effectively in, in, in attracting.

Aaron Caid: 00:45:59

New prospects and helping them discover our products and get through

Aaron Caid: 00:46:03

the application process more easily.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:06

And that's, that's also relatively inexpensive to do.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:09

So, we do have, we do have good success with paid search, although, you know,

Aaron Caid: 00:46:13

it's, we have to, it's, it is a daily.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:16

Battle.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:17

because, you know, big tech is not friendly to, to faith-based institutions.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:24

And so we, we find that we have to continuously, and daily we have to, we

Aaron Caid: 00:46:28

have to refine our, our strategies, our creative, because we will have creative

Aaron Caid: 00:46:34

just get, you know, it maybe it mentioned, faith or was too faith-based, and it gets.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:40

It doesn't get shown.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:41

so it's, we have good success there, but it's, it's very, we have to be

Aaron Caid: 00:46:45

very vigilant, in managing that.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:47

And then we implemented a marketing automation solution, about a

Aaron Caid: 00:46:50

year and a half ago, and that's been very good at helping us, to.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:55

Connect with folks who may have started an application but didn't complete it.

Aaron Caid: 00:46:58

Help encourage them to come back and, and, and pick up where they left off.

Aaron Caid: 00:47:02

you know, we'll even connect, prospects with a, with a human being

Aaron Caid: 00:47:05

to help 'em through the process.

Aaron Caid: 00:47:07

so if, if, if it was something about the application that was too daunting,

Aaron Caid: 00:47:11

we've got a, we've got somebody who is available on chat or even by

Aaron Caid: 00:47:15

phone who can help them with that.

Tim Winders: 00:47:17

Very good.

Tim Winders: 00:47:17

So yeah, I heard, I, I and I like that SEO is a, is a strong source for you

Tim Winders: 00:47:23

and because those are obviously lower cost, but takes work over a long time.

Tim Winders: 00:47:28

And then I, I was wondering if y'all were doing.

Tim Winders: 00:47:30

Anything paid, and if y'all are seeing any positives or negatives, and I, I just,

Tim Winders: 00:47:36

it is an interesting world out there.

Tim Winders: 00:47:39

is Christian Community Credit Union, that is your website, is that kind of a

Tim Winders: 00:47:43

focal point that you would want to drive people to if they want more info for you?

Aaron Caid: 00:47:47

Absolutely it's, it's my ccc.com and there you

Aaron Caid: 00:47:53

can see, you can discover the products that we have to offer.

Aaron Caid: 00:47:56

We've got a full range of banking and lending products for consumers,

Aaron Caid: 00:48:00

as well as a full range of banking and lending products for churches

Aaron Caid: 00:48:03

and ministries and business.

Aaron Caid: 00:48:05

And then we have an entire section of resources.

Aaron Caid: 00:48:08

Which, contains budgeting tools, stewardship tips.

Aaron Caid: 00:48:13

we have a whole blog series on, on, raising your, helping your

Aaron Caid: 00:48:17

children learn good financial habits, learn good stewardship habits,

Aaron Caid: 00:48:21

learn, you know, giving back to, to the kingdom at an early age.

Aaron Caid: 00:48:26

so a whole full set of resources there you can find as well.

Tim Winders: 00:48:29

Is this, and I'm actually scrolling down the site now, and

Tim Winders: 00:48:32

I like, this is, this is probably a good, marketing question that,

Tim Winders: 00:48:37

welcome CD five months, 5.25% a PY.

Tim Winders: 00:48:40

got my attention.

Tim Winders: 00:48:41

I'm sure that's, y'all are aware of that, right?

Aaron Caid: 00:48:44

Mm-Hmm.

Tim Winders: 00:48:47

Compared to the, you know, the 0.001, I asked the guy, Wells Fargo,

Tim Winders: 00:48:52

I said, are you embarrassed even saying that rate that you're paying right now?

Tim Winders: 00:48:58

And he, he, he didn't know what to say.

Tim Winders: 00:48:59

He had no answer for that.

Tim Winders: 00:49:00

Sorry.

Tim Winders: 00:49:01

That was, that was probably me not being Christ-like to him is, and

Tim Winders: 00:49:04

if I need, I need to work on that.

Tim Winders: 00:49:06

And yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:49:07

I'm scrolling down through here.

Tim Winders: 00:49:08

So, so, business, is it possible for a business to have an

Tim Winders: 00:49:11

account outside of a ministry?

Aaron Caid: 00:49:13

It is, yes, we have, a full range of business pro,

Aaron Caid: 00:49:15

business products and services.

Aaron Caid: 00:49:17

and, and, and now that's an area we're really looking to,

Aaron Caid: 00:49:21

to have a greater impact on.

Aaron Caid: 00:49:22

so we're really looking to expand the, the number of businesses we're able to serve.

Aaron Caid: 00:49:28

so it's a big area of focus for this, this year, to not to continue serving

Aaron Caid: 00:49:32

ministry, well continue serving consumers well, but we wanna be able to serve

Aaron Caid: 00:49:36

Christian business owners as well.

Tim Winders: 00:49:37

Okay.

Tim Winders: 00:49:38

Very good.

Tim Winders: 00:49:38

All right, well, Aaron, I appreciate it.

Tim Winders: 00:49:41

I'm scrolling through here actually looking at things very intriguing to me.

Tim Winders: 00:49:44

So what else, what else would you like to say for someone to connect

Tim Winders: 00:49:48

with you or get together with you?

Tim Winders: 00:49:50

Where, where can they find you?

Tim Winders: 00:49:52

And just get more info.

Tim Winders: 00:49:53

And this is, this could be either you personally, or through the

Tim Winders: 00:49:57

credit union you gave the website, and we'll make sure we include

Tim Winders: 00:49:59

all those links and all the notes.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:01

Beyond the website, my ccc.com.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:04

you can find me on LinkedIn, Aaron Cade.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:06

You can email me, a cid@myccc.com.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:12

I'd be happy to hear from you and answer questions and help you discover, what

Aaron Caid: 00:50:16

we have to offer at the credit union.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:18

So, and we've got a whole, whole team who can, who can jump in and assist as well.

Tim Winders: 00:50:23

Good.

Tim Winders: 00:50:23

Yeah, I've had had fun with the conversation.

Tim Winders: 00:50:26

My final question, Aaron, we are seek, go create those three words.

Tim Winders: 00:50:32

Definitely have some spiritual meaning to them, but if I allowed you to choose

Tim Winders: 00:50:36

one of those over the other two and why, which word would you choose?

Tim Winders: 00:50:39

Seek, go, or create.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:42

I would choose, create.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:43

and I, and there's one, that's what I love doing.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:47

I love building, I love making things.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:51

so it's, I've had a great time doing that at the, at the, at

Aaron Caid: 00:50:55

the credit union coming and just.

Aaron Caid: 00:50:57

With my team, just building new things with the, with

Aaron Caid: 00:51:00

the larger credit union team.

Aaron Caid: 00:51:01

But it's taking, for me, it's, it's, it, it connotes taking the

Aaron Caid: 00:51:07

resources God has given you and use them to create something bigger, in,

Aaron Caid: 00:51:13

in, in his glory, in his service.

Aaron Caid: 00:51:16

And so I, it just, I get excited thinking about, about creating new

Aaron Caid: 00:51:20

things that are, to the glory of God.

Tim Winders: 00:51:24

Very cool.

Tim Winders: 00:51:25

Aaron.

Tim Winders: 00:51:26

I appreciate the conversation.

Tim Winders: 00:51:28

And for those that are listening in, go, go check out Christian Community

Tim Winders: 00:51:33

Credit Union, my CCU dot, was it or do

Aaron Caid: 00:51:38

My ccc,

Aaron Caid: 00:51:40

my ccc.com.

Tim Winders: 00:51:41

My ccu.com.

Tim Winders: 00:51:43

Yeah, very good.

Tim Winders: 00:51:44

And I'll tell you that one of the reasons that I even wanted to have this

Tim Winders: 00:51:48

conversation, 'cause I'm intrigued by the model and things like that, but it's

Tim Winders: 00:51:53

just something that's always nagging at me is, where's my money going?

Tim Winders: 00:51:56

Who is it supporting?

Tim Winders: 00:51:58

I.

Tim Winders: 00:51:58

You know, what degree of control and transparency do I have with it?

Tim Winders: 00:52:02

So I appreciate it.

Tim Winders: 00:52:03

This has almost been a little bit of me just checking it out to

Tim Winders: 00:52:05

see if it makes sense for, for me and my companies and businesses

Tim Winders: 00:52:09

and ministries that we have too.

Tim Winders: 00:52:10

So I appreciate it.

Tim Winders: 00:52:12

Go check out all that Aaron has and connect with him over on

Tim Winders: 00:52:16

LinkedIn if you wanna do that.

Tim Winders: 00:52:17

We are seek, go create.

Tim Winders: 00:52:19

We're releasing new episodes every Monday here.

Tim Winders: 00:52:21

Your support means the world to us.

Tim Winders: 00:52:23

Now you can tip us, buy me a coffee, or offer financial support@seekgocreate.com

Tim Winders: 00:52:30

slash support contribution.

Tim Winders: 00:52:33

Start at just $1, and if you leave a comment, your comment could

Tim Winders: 00:52:37

be featured in a future episode.

Tim Winders: 00:52:39

Once again, visit seek, go create.com/support.

Tim Winders: 00:52:45

Until next time.

Tim Winders: 00:52:46

Continue being all that you were created to be.