_edited.png)
Steven Frey’s unique background in finance, information systems, real estate and human capital management has laid the foundation for his success working with businesses of all shapes and sizes. He brings 20 years of experience to help lead SDA Business Solutions. His entrepreneurial spirit has followed him from his college years and served him well throughout his 20-year career. After participating in the small business incubation program at the University of Maryland and helping one of the organizations grow from 8 employees to 35, Steve’s passion for entrepreneurship began to grow.
Steven does not look at the financial industry and see numbers and dollars, but rather he sees people and their unique needs: the individuals and the small/medium/entrepreneurial businesses. This vision is influenced from his background in helping underserved businesses with their human capital management—outsourcing human resources needs of benefit management so the business could focus on growing their clients’ potential. While the human resources outsourcing was in its infancy in the early 2000s, Steven found himself referring 401(k) business to his partners and, in turn, discovered his calling. He immersed himself into the world of retirement plans and found great joy in taking the topic of finance within the 401(k) world and translating it to clients in a way that made them feel excited about saving for retirement.
During his journey, he crossed paths with Curt Schultzberg and Scott Coopersmith; however, he did not know at the time how these meetings would impact his future business. Years later, the three of them decided to join forces and create a new offering for small & medium sized businesses, under the umbrella of SDA Wealth Strategies Business Solutions.
“Everything begins and ends with people…I love working with small and medium-sized businesses,” says Steven. “I love working on behalf of trusted advisors. I thought surely there had to be a place in the industry that could really benefit from this approach. We have the opportunity to be the advocate for those who desperately need and want this help. It’s especially relevant right now as many businesses fight to survive.” Later in the coronavirus pandemic, Steven, Curt and Scott regrouped with the idea of doing something fun together through SDA Wealth Strategies. The idea- integrate certain pieces of technology and best practices that cater to the people and their individual stories, and not be beholden to any product—a consultative force to be reckoned with.
The core of the Business Solutions offering at SDA is to play matchmaker; to connect different platforms—such as insurance programs, retirement programs, payroll, human resources, and merchant processing—and connect them to the right end-user.
“There is an excellent opportunity and forum to be a premiere provider of personal and business solutions as it relates to wealth management, insurance and banking on behalf of small and medium-size businesses,” says Steven. “I firmly believe that the HR side of things—the people business and how you treat your employees—is a direct reflection on how you treat your clients. It is important to have the ideal tools and solutions at the ready, but there is never a substitute for good people executing a tangible process together.”
An avid baseball fan, Steve likes to compare business to playing defense in the field. If you do not think before every pitch, “What will I do if the ball is hit to me?”, being caught in a reactive situation increases the chances of making wrong decisions. The same applies to finance, insurance, and business planning. Forward thinking, alongside of the right partners, is the best way to set yourself up to respond to things that happen in this life. Be sure to tune into Steven’s weekly live radio show, Always FreyDay (with Steven Frey, your SMB Guy), on TalkRadio.nyc and hear more about his expertise on small and medium sized businesses. Guests include business leaders, financial advisors, insurance brokers, CPAs, consultants, and others who play an integral role in business development and growth.
Steven can be reached at steve@sdawealthstrategies.com.