What if the biggest threat to credit union growth isn’t a new regulation—but an old one that refuses to die?
In this episode of Grow Your Credit Union, host Joshua Barclay is joined by co-host James McBride, CEO, Connects Federal Credit Union and guest Michael Powers, CEO of Garden Savings Federal Credit Union. They discuss which regulations do the most harm, how to make financial advice stick digitally, and how to spot a merger that strengthens, not swallows, a credit union.
Thanks to our sponsor, PFP Services
Which Regulation Is Holding Us Back?
After the recent NCUA board upheaval, credit union leaders are debating whether less regulation could jumpstart real growth.
Michael Powers argues that eliminating one specific regulation won’t cut it. What’s needed is a pragmatic rollback of many that have gone too far, leaving NCUA with too much say in how credit unions operate. “They’re not here to run our businesses,” he says.
James McBride agrees, but points to the chartering process as the biggest growth blocker. “The chartering rules are stuck in the Yellow Pages era,” he says. “It’s easier to close a credit union than to start one, and that should terrify us.”
Can Credit Unions Give Better Advice Digitally?
According to a JD Power survey, 7 in 10 Americans are financially unhealthy—yet only 38% recall ever receiving financial advice from their financial institution.
Michael says the best digital financial advice strategies are rooted in experimentation and repetition. “There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. You have to test what your members actually respond to,” he says.
James emphasizes clarity and consistency over complexity. “People don’t want a financial plan. They want to know if they do A, they’ll get B,” he says. “Give small, repeatable steps. That’s how you win.”
How Do You Find the Right Merger Partner?
As credit unions consolidate, leaders are rethinking what really matters when considering a merger.
Michael Powers recently led a merger with another legacy credit union and says cultural fit was more important than products or size. “Do they value their employees the same way? Do they share our purpose?” he asks. “That’s what matters most.”
James says the wrong merger can gut your mission. “Don’t chase golden parachutes. Don’t let someone bleed your credit union dry. Only merge if it strengthens your impact in the community,” he says.
Top Takeaways from This Episode
- Regulations don’t need to be eliminated—they need to be dialed back.
- The chartering process is the biggest threat to long-term CU growth.
- Financial advice works best when delivered digitally, simply, and repeatedly.
- Mergers should focus on shared values, not just balance sheets.
- The most mission-driven leaders are often the most skeptical of mergers—and that’s a good thing.
Contribute to the Conversation
Have a topic you’d like us to cover? A challenge you’re facing? A question you’d like answered? We welcome your ideas, questions, and stories. Email us at info@growyourcreditunion.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.
Full Transcript
[Joshua Barclay]: Hello Credit Union Community. Here are your three topics for today’s show. First up, if you could kill just one regulation to unlock credit union growth, what would it be? Next up, with 7 in 10 Americans financially unhealthy, how can credit unions deliver advice that actually sticks, especially on digital channels? And finally, if you’re leading a small credit union, what should you really look for in a merger partner?
Welcome to Grow Your Credit Union, the podcast where credit union leaders gather, learn, and grow. I am your host, Joshua Barclay. And I want to kick things off by saying if there’s a topic you want us to cover on the show, reach out. You can find me on LinkedIn or you can email me directly at joshua@growyourcreditunion.com. All right, today I’m joined by a very special co… I don’t know if I can call you special anymore because you’ve been on so much now, but he’s been on the show several times. Back with us is the CEO of Connex Federal Credit Union, James McBride. James, good to have you back inside the cockpit.
[James McBride]: Man, it’s fun to be here, always have great conversation. Looking forward to today, my friend.
[Joshua Barclay]: All right, let’s do it. Before we begin today’s show, I want to first mention our sponsor, PFP Services. You will hear a little bit more about them later in the show. James, you and I met for the very first time at NACUSO, which was kind of weird because you and I had done a handful of podcasts together. So, I just want to say, hey, it was great to meet you there. But I have to ask you, when you left that conference in Vegas, what was the one insight or the one lesson that maybe you learned or that you thought about, something you’ve been pondering that you feel like helped you level up?
[James McBride]: I really think the thing that was most impactful for me and the thing that I’ve thought about a lot, there were some very young students from MIT and Brown Harvard on a stage there on that last day. They were creating solutions in their dorm room in a weekend that people in this industry have spent millions of dollars in decades trying to build still, haven’t done it. They did it in the weekend. It brought me to my feet. It brought tears to my eyes. They care about our industry in a way that’s palpable and impactful and it makes me think that this industry has legs when I see people like that doing impactful things like they are doing right now.
[Joshua Barclay]: Yeah, I would say the same thing, James, and I would say that when I walked away from that conference, we had some of that I guess you could call it bad news with some of the NCUA board firings, but it made me feel like we need adversity. I used to be in the movie industry. I did some terrible movies back in the day for Lifetime namely, terrible television movies, but the one thing that is consistent across all movies is the inciting incident. You need to have some type of conflict to create a solution or to be better as an individual. And I feel like with some of the headwinds we’re facing as an industry, we shouldn’t be scared or cower. I feel like it’s an opportunity to get better and to make the improvements that, quite frankly, we probably should have made in this industry decades ago.
So, that’s what I took from that conference. Great to meet you there, James, and I’m sure I’ll see you at a lot more conferences coming up. Today’s guest is brought to you by our sponsor, PFP Services. Joining us is the president and CEO of Garden Savings Federal Credit Union, Michael Powers. Michael, Welcome to the show.
[Michael Powers]: Thank you, and it’s great to be here. Thanks for having me on.
[Joshua Barclay]: After the sudden removal of NCUA board members, Harper and Otsuka, by the Trump administration, the credit union world has been buzzing with speculation. Now, it’s especially true when it comes to the possibility of sweeping de-regulation. Now, this is a topic that we kind of covered in Vegas, but I want to look at it with a new lens because it’s an important question.
If there are some red tape that disappears I want to know what would the real impact be on credit union growth. So Mike, here’s the question. If you could eliminate just one regulation that you think is holding credit unions back, what would it be and why?
[Michael Powers]: I think it’s a situation where it’s not one regulation, and I don’t want to skirt your question there, but it’s not one regulation. It’s probably less of many regulations, truth be told. There’s the field of membership stuff. There’s the overdraft stuff. There’s a lot of different regulations out there right now that can be looked at as limiting. But with most things, the best solution lies in the middle somewhere. And lying in the middle means dialing back on regulations as opposed to eliminating them entirely.
When I think about that question, I don’t necessarily believe that there’s any one regulation that holds credit unions back, but NCUA is essentially a regulator and an oversight committee. I mean, they’re there to make sure that credit unions are following general rules and provide oversight. They’re not there to run the business. My concern is that some of the regulations that are out there, when they go to an extreme, wind up… they leave you with a situation where NCUA is essentially, potentially running your business for you.
And I think that’s what we want to try and avoid and is to find some middles. We want to find some middles where there’s maybe a dialed back version of many regulations as opposed to eliminating any regulation entirely. They’re all grounded in something. And so, if they’re grounded in something, there’s a reason why it came up in the first place, but you don’t necessarily have to go to extremes. I think that, unfortunately, in the country right now, there’s a lot of extreme on both sides of the aisle, and you’re seeing the removal of the board members. So it’s just a matter of finding that middle.
[Joshua Barclay]: Finding that middle ground, being a little more pragmatic. James, what is your take on this? Is there a particular regulation that you cannot stand that makes you want to pull your hair out? Or do you stand by Mike and just say, “Hey, it’s a combination of things?”
[James McBride]: I mean, first of all, I think what Mike said has a lot of validity to it. When you talk about the lack of regulation in and of itself, that could create a lot of voids. We have a void of leadership, a void of leadership thinking, especially in the smaller asset size credit union space. So I think a void of regulation could be a problem. But the thing that really gets me going, man, it’s the chartering process, so field of membership adjacent, but the chartering process.
If anybody’s done the math, if we continue to lose credit unions at the pace that we’re losing them today, there will be one left in about 50 years. That causes me a lot of stress and anxiety at night, not because I’m going to be running a credit union then, but because the chartering process today looks back to the Yellow Pages. Let’s go to the Yellow Pages and make sure that we have people that can join this credit. Come on, man. The reality is, taking that back, looking at it from a really practical way, how do we get credit unions charted, funded, and profitable in this country in today’s world and how do we put them in a position to be competitive all the way across the board?
Consumers today do not care if you’re Chase, if you’re Wells Fargo or you’re Connex Federal Credit Union here in Richmond, Virginia. They want you to be competitive and have competitive solutions. I believe we can do that at every level, and we’ve got to get credit unions in a position to get off the ground and to get moving. And it’s easier to get rid of credit unions today, frankly, than it is to build new ones. And that does cause me a lot of grief.
[Joshua Barclay]: I’m passing the mic over to you, Michael. That was a hot take. What do you feel about what James just brought to the table there?
[Michael Powers]: I don’t disagree with any of it. There’s obviously a lot more credit unions that are merging now, and there’s not nearly as many that are getting new charters. There’s not nearly as many that are quite frankly getting the support they need to grow to become sustainable for a lot more years to come. So I’m totally in line with what James said because we need to make sure that the landscape for credit unions is in a situation where we’re built to grow for years to come instead of remaining stagnant and or shrinking. And there is way too much of the shrinking going on now. And it is difficult to grow the credit union.
So that kind of goes to my earlier comment that field of membership is one of the things and that’s a field of membership issue/chartering issue. And we need to make sure credit unions are around to serve the needs of the members that choose to bank with them for years to come. And that does require making sure that the NCUA makes this process as easy as possible.
[Joshua Barclay]: Excuse my ignorance here, James, on the chartering, but what specifically is holding the industry back when it comes to that? Just high level, what is it about chartering right now that makes it so nearly impossible to grow the way we need to grow as an industry?
[James McBride]: I think the biggest thing with the chartering process, I mean just to keep it at a high level, is if you look at it, the chartering process was written decades ago. Our industry has far surpassed and our society has far surpassed where we were when that was being derived and written back in the day and it just hasn’t got the same love and attention that other things have as the society has changed, as we’ve become more digital.
Communities have evolved in such different ways. We’re doing a podcast now from three different locations across the country at the same time. And that wouldn’t have been a thought back when this was being done. And when I when I hearken back to Yellow Pages, that’s literally part of the process. They want you to look up and make sure there are people in your community that can do business with you. They’re working on changing that regulation and updating it.
I believe there’s work being done on that, but it’s not being done as quickly as it needs to be. It needs to continue to get further evolution. We need to be able to put chartered credit unions in place. And NCUA recognizes that. It’s not that they don’t recognize that. It’s more work needs to be done. We need to make it easier and we need to get frankly all of our butts to make it happen.
[Joshua Barclay]: According to a JD Power research study, nearly 7 in 10 Americans are financially unhealthy. Okay, that feels accurate given today’s economic climate, but here was kind of the kicker for me. Only 38% of banking customers in the study could recall ever receiving financial advice from their FI. So there’s a huge problem there.
So for credit unions looking to stand out, it seems like the future is all about offering real financial guidance to the member. Now, here’s the challenge, guys, because I know some people will come on the show and say, “Hey, we do a lot of stuff in the community with financial literacy,” and I love all of that stuff. The issue here is there’s a lot of people that, quite frankly, are digital first.
I have a busy life. I’d love to go to my credit union’s events and go to the financial literacy community drives that they have, but I don’t have time. So Mike, my question for you is, as more members expect the digital first communication, what is the most effective way for credit unions to deliver meaningful financial advice via digital channels?
[Michael Powers]: Yeah. I think this is one of those questions where it really does go back to the field of membership of the credit union and who builds your member base. Is your membership primarily comprised of very tech savvy people and younger people? Is your average age of your member 67 years old where people might be a little less inclined for that?
So the first step I think is really to analyze your own membership and to figure out what’s going to work for your membership. And then as somebody who has a marketing background, marketing was what I did most of my career before my current job. And so, I would say that you kind of go back to the basics of marketing, which is repetition, repetition, repetition, and continuing to market whatever digital channel, you do some test subjects. Try different things for your credit union because I don’t think this is a one size fits all answer for credit unions.
I think you need to know who your member base is, try a few things, but it’s got to be repetition. You’ve got to put this out in your digital channels. You’ve got to do a lot of whether it be emailing or SMS, texting or whatever else. You need to figure out what’s going to work, eliminate the stuff that’s not working, and then just continue to pound home the stuff that is working and get your members the message in the way they want to receive it. I think that is the key point here is get them the message in a way they want to receive it because if you keep trying to force a square peg in a round hole, you’re just going to frustrate your membership and they’re going to look elsewhere for their financial advice.
[Joshua Barclay]: Great answer when it comes to experimentation. As a growth marketer myself, anytime someone mentions experimentation, I love it because you’re right. There is not one size fits all approaches to this. James, I’m a member at your credit union. I need some financial advice. How do we work that out? How do we execute that from your lens?
[James McBride]: So I think traditionally when credit union people hear that, the first thought, especially retail people, is, “Oh, we’re not licensed financial advisors. We can’t do that.” When I hear that question, the first thing that comes to my mind, though, is John Cena and the Purple Cow, so Experian Boost. And what’s happening with consumers in today’s world is they’re getting optionality, they’re getting it from every possible vertical they can, and people are telling, “Here’s how you can do X. Here’s how you can do Y. Here’s how you can do Z.”
For us, it’s pushing solutions to our consumer that will improve their financial life. How do we give them access to that on a rapid pace, on a consistent pace that’s easy to consume? If you do X, Y happens. If you do A, B happens. If you add A plus B, you get C. And that’s where we get so messed up is we’re thinking, “Oh gosh, we’ve got to give a defined financial plan.” No, no, no, that’s not what that means. The consumer wants to know how they can improve one thing. Give them that, give that in small bites and give it to them consistently through your digital channels and that’s how you’re going to win with that audience.
[Joshua Barclay]: I like the answer. One thing that comes to mind that I wanted to ask you guys about, let’s say there are some applications out there. I’m not going to drop any names because they don’t sponsor the show, quite frankly, but there’s a credit card app that is embedded in my credit union’s online banking platform. It’s got my credit score, giving me tips and suggestions on how I, as Joshua Barclay, can improve his credit score.
As you said, James, gives me the steps, gives me what I need to do. I want to know is it possible for credit unions to deliver that kind of information or are you guys just going to have a bunch of fintech platforms to give me that? Do you know what I’m saying? Meaning, you can give broad financial advice or you can give the advice that Joshua Barclay needs where he is right now in his life with my debt, with my income. And that’s what I think that the member is looking for. So, James, is that possible to deliver or are we just going to string together a bunch of fintechs to do that? I mean, there’s no problem with doing that, by the way.
[James McBride]: I don’t have a problem with the fintech solutions, and that’s where I leaned in based on the question with the digital aspect to it. But if you think about what we do here every single day, when somebody comes to us and they want an account, so we want a loan account, a credit card, an auto loan, what are we looking for? How do we improve your financial life is what we’re looking for.
So if the answer is, “Well, we’re not going to do this loan,” we don’t just decline the loan. We tell the member, “We’re not able to do this right now. Here’s what you need to do to be in a position to get that loan in the future.” So that’s adjacent to what you’re asking and if more credit unions were doing that on a consistent basis, that’s low tech. That’s non digital. That’s consumer to their credit union.
And by the way, we’re looking at ways to put that inside the digital experience as well right now. But the reality for us is, okay, so if the consumer comes to us and asks for something, we can’t deliver it. Okay, that’s fine. What can we do? Or what do they need to do to get to that next level? And again, I think it’s that one or two things. If you can just give the consumer that in small bites, I think that’s how you win. And without saying any more national names, that’s what those players do too. They’re telling you one thing at a time. Do this and this will happen for you.
[Michael Powers]: I would just add that I think for a lot of credit unions out there to deliver that experience, there’s always going to be a price tag to it that is not necessarily as affordable for a lot of credit unions out there than it is for banks. And so this goes back to the other point again, which is you need to know your member base, survey them ahead of time, ask them what’s going to work, find out what’s going to work because the financial investment to deliver that completely seamless financial digital picture is going to be too costly for some credit unions.
And that can backfire on you if you don’t have a membership base that is going to use it, so you want to be very careful. Like with everything, you just have to be very careful about what’s going to work. So people that just launched things without doing a lot of testing with their member base first as to what’s going to work, it invites itself to trouble.
[Joshua Barclay]: Now, I want to give a little shout out to our sponsor for today’s show, PFP Services. For more than 50 years, PFP has worked exclusively with credit unions to grow membership, drive loan and deposit product growth, as well as non-interest income to the bottom line for their partners. That’s why they are announcing their groundbreaking 2025 seminar series, Access, Your Credit Union’s Currency for Organic Growth.
This dynamic seminar is set to take place in select regions across the country. It’s designed to challenge and transform how credit unions think about their most vital resource, access. With the evolving landscape of financial services, credit unions must assess and elevate their reach and engagement with members. Whether through physical branches, digital avenues, or over the phone, true value is measured by how effectively you connect with the communities you serve.
In this seminar, industry leaders will guide attendees through an in depth personal assessment of their credit union’s access points. From broadening your reach to enhancing member experiences, this seminar will empower you with the tools to elevate your credit union’s impact, expand your member base and enhance your connection with the communities you serve. Visit familysecurityplan.com/creditunions to learn more. That’s familysecurityplan.com/creditunions slash to learn more.
Two of New Jersey’s oldest credit unions, Garden Savings and Pinnacle, are merging, creating a six branch network serving over 40,000 members. Full integration is set for 2025, but the real challenge starts now, merging teams, systems, cultures. Mike, you know a little bit about this because you’re leading this merger from the larger credit union side, but I want to flip the script on you for a minute. If you were running a smaller credit union today, what would you look for in a merger partner?
[Michael Powers]: Yeah, it’s a great question. And I believe the answer is you don’t necessarily look for what you would think is the obvious. Because depending on the credit union, you could have a larger credit union, the emerging credit union ranging anywhere from 100 million in assets to 10 billion. Most of them are going to have the same products and services. They can probably handle the needs of your members and they can probably handle them quite well.
So I think the answer is really looking for things that are a cultural fit for your credit union. Does the credit union have the same core values as your credit union? Is there some membership overlap in the field of membership? Do they value their employees the same way you value your employees? I think asking the nontraditional questions goes a long way and we just went through that experience.
And quite frankly, it was really, that was what sold the deal for us is that we have a good familiarity with that credit union, they had a good familiarity with us, and we had very similar core values. Our core values were very much aligned with them. We wanted to maintain their employees, we wanted to maintain their branches. And I think it’s important to keep a spotlight on the legacy of the credit union that is folding itself in. If you can keep a spotlight on that legacy and honor the values they had, not just to their employees, but also to their members, that it’s going to go a long way in making sure that the flow is seamless and that you value members the same, you value employees the same, and you can build it from there.
[Joshua Barclay]: I’m glad you mentioned the familiarity because clearly in that question set up, it said two of the oldest credit unions in New Jersey, right? So you both have those traditional Jersey roots. It’s not like you don’t understand the culture and the member base. It’s almost one in the same, given the history.
[Michael Powers]: Yeah, sure. And the other fun fact here is that I actually worked at that credit union for the first 16 years of my career, and now I’m at this credit union for the next 16 years, and so I knew their values were similar going into this. I was very familiar having worked there. It was one of the reasons why I moved to the current credit union I’m at is because everything was very similar, and I valued both credit unions.
So yeah, I think the familiarity is a huge piece, and just making sure everything aligns to move forward. And when you have that, it makes the transition more seamless, everybody seems to like each other. You just already know there’s a fit. I’ve heard of some stories that aren’t so great on the other end where people go into a fit where the culture is just so completely different than the culture they’re used to that their employees are uncomfortable, the members are like, “What happened?” So finding somebody that’s really aligned with you, I just can’t emphasize that enough.
[Joshua Barclay]: James, I know you’re not looking for a merger partner because you are growing your credit union at a pretty impressive clip, so entertain me here. I know this is not even something you probably want to think about, but coming from the smaller credit union side as CEO, if you did have to look for a merger partner, how would you evaluate that process or even how would you advise other small credit union leaders to go about finding that right partner?
[James McBride]: The first thing I would say is I have been improperly labeled in my circles as the anti-merger guy. That’s not true. I’m anti-mergers that don’t make sense, which is kind of what we’re talking about right now. So I was once approached by a credit union in Ohio. I was working in North Carolina at the time and they’re like, “Hey, there’s this large credit union in Ohio that’s looking for a merger partner.” And the answer to that is they want to consume your organization and bleed it of everything but its assets and value and take all that and leave you with nothing. That was the actual thing that was going on.
So I think the important thing, if I were going to look for a merger partner, I would be looking for somebody that does indeed agree with or believe in the same things that we do? Are we trying to accomplish the same things in the communities that we serve? Are we trying to reach the same types of audiences? Are we trying to make the same types of impacts in our communities? And does coming together make us stronger in doing that collectively as opposed to doing it independently? I think that’s so important.
If you think about, can you exist, can you thrive as a smaller credit union, the answer is, yeah. You just have to know what your lane is and what you want to be good at. And by the way, depending on what type of credit union asset size you sit in, small has a different characterization to it. So you got to be thinking about it from that lens too. We’re not sitting at Navy Federal Credit Union. That’s not what we’re talking about, not in this conversation. So you got to be think about who are the partners at play. Does it actually make sense for your mission? I think that’s the key.
Don’t chase paychecks and golden parachutes in this thing. That’s what I would tell my friends. Don’t do that. That’s a bad decision. You’re not taking care of your membership. You’re not taking care of your community. Be active in thinking about does this actually make a stronger impact to the community you are chartered to serve? If the answer is yes, then it’s worth considering.
[Joshua Barclay]: You said a lot of really interesting things there, but the one thing that I kind of wrote down here is you mentioned, without mentioning names, there was a credit union in Ohio that wanted to partner, and clearly they didn’t really have any business doing it. They just wanted the book value, essentially. Is that a common thing, Mike? Have you gotten offers to partner where you know it’s like, “Dude, you’ve done no research on my credit union whatsoever. This is a balance sheet consumption move here.”?
[Michael Powers]: No. Luckily, I have not, but it might be that I’ve pretty much put ourselves out there as we’re looking to be the larger of the credit unions if there’s any mergers. So I don’t get approached by too many large credit unions on that. I’ve certainly heard of it, people from other states reaching out to some of the credit unions in New Jersey, including some of the bigger ones about doing a merger.
So not to me directly, but from my peers in the industry. And they say, “I don’t know why they’re contacting me.” And you can kind of gauge who’s doing it just by your LinkedIn invitations. I mean, you start getting LinkedIn invitations from people you’ve never met from really big credit unions throughout the country and you wonder when the phone call is coming. Now, I know my predecessor a few years back, he did get a few calls from some credit unions that were out of state and larger and like I said, thankfully that hasn’t happened to me yet.
[James McBride]: The only thing I would say is, again, if you’re mission centric in this, stay to stay key to that. Just be mission centric. If you stay mission centric whether you’re emerging or you’re staying independent, if you stay there, you’ve got a good chance to serve your community. That’s what I would advise everybody to do. Regardless of your decision, mission centric.
[Michael Powers]: Good advice.
[Joshua Barclay]: Very good advice. Mike, you were brought here today by PFP Services and I got to ask you, in your opinion, what have they done for your credit union? What value have you seen, and what makes them kind of a special partner?
[Michael Powers]: I’ve worked with PFP going all the way back to my earliest days. I was telling some of their employees here today when I was taking the tour that I came up as a teller in 1993, and then I was doing business development in 1994. And PFP used to go out with me on the road to do business development at the supermarket. That was our core SEG. So I’ve been working with them all the way back since ’94, ’95, somewhere around there.
And then when I came over to Garden Savings, we weren’t working with them at the time and I said PFP could help us. They do some great things with creating revenue sources, and they also do some great things with re-inspiring, I will say, your SEG base, your select employer group base. So they’ve been a valued partner for a lot of years as far as connecting with our members. We have about 88 employees, but we don’t have a tremendously large call center where we can have somebody call all our SEGs all the time and stay in touch and let them know we’re here. And PFP has done a great job being an ambassador for us. I’ve known the principals here for an awfully long time and they’re just a great group to work with.
[Joshua Barclay]: Any parting words for our listeners today, Mike, based on our conversation? Any advice that you want to dispense? Remember, we talked about the after-hours truth. Any after-hours truth you want to bring to our listeners?
[Michael Powers]: Just be nimble, really. I mean, I think you need to be nimble more than ever in this industry. There’s so much changing around us that you can seemingly make your predictions one week as far as financial stuff and regulations and all of the stuff we talked about today. And you can make a decision one week and you could have a totally different decision the next.
Don’t feel like you need to stick to your guns and dig your feet in the sand. Be ready to change on a moment’s notice and pivot your plans because the world’s pivoting around you. And together, I think the industry will be fine and we’re going to be a very strong part of the financial picture for a lot of years to come. And you just got to be ready to change because change is one thing that is guaranteed.
[Joshua Barclay]: If listeners want to get in touch with you, Mike, what is the best way they can go about that?
[Michael Powers]: Probably email from me directly, which is mpowers@gardensavingsfcu.com. Or if you’d like to get ahold of just our website and check out how we offer the PFP product suite in our own suite, it’s gardensavingsfcu.org.
[Joshua Barclay]: Awesome. James, final thoughts.
[James McBride]: The one thing that I want to talk about based on this conversation that we’ve had today is so many people in our industry will always say to me, “This is what we cannot do. We can’t do X, Y, or Z,” and that just drives me nuts. Impossible only lasts until you do it. So get out there, start doing the things you think you can’t do and find the success that you dream of. Impossible only lasts until you do it. And so, that’s what I want to leave people with.
[Joshua Barclay]: James, if somebody wants to get in touch with you, what is the best way they can do that?
[James McBride]: Man, I post on LinkedIn Monday through Friday every single day. You can find me out there. I’m posting some type of crazy, off the wall subject or topic and some of it’s good, some of it’s probably not, but I’m out there every single day putting stuff out there. That’s the best way to find me. Connex Federal Credit Union, connectsfcu.org. Just come find us.
[Joshua Barclay]: Awesome. I want to thank you, Mike, for today’s show. Obviously, James, thank you for being one of the best co-hosts in the game. I want to thank our sponsor, PFP Services, and I want to thank our listeners for continuing to support and listen to another episode of Grow Your Credit Union. If you like the show, please follow us on your podcast player of choice. And if you want to be a guest or would like to talk about sponsorship opportunities, head to Growyourcreditunion.com to learn more. I will see you next time. Take care, bye-bye.
