A Big Change for Sound Stewardship – We’re Moving!
After nearly 20 years at Lighton Plaza, the Sound Stewardship team is moving! Over the next couple months, we are excited to unveil our new location just down the road in the beautiful Corporate Woods office park. Our new address is 9101 W. 110th St, Suite 150, Overland Park, KS 66210.
Our approach to any big decision is always based on the Sound Stewardship principles and planning for the future. We knew that April 2023 would mark the end of our lease at our current office space. After much research, planning, and negotiating, we decided that moving to a new location was the best decision for us. Our company has experienced many major milestones, and we believe the best is yet to come!
Why are we moving?
Since we moved into our last Lighton office in 2012, we’ve doubled our comprehensive planning clients. The team stayed efficient and utilized the space well as we’ve added new employees, but we’ve outgrown that office. The new, larger location allows us to provide a number of wonderful upgrades for clients, better efficiency for our team, and at an even better rental rate in today’s office market.
A “living room” feel. Many of you may have noticed Matt’s office looking a little different when attending an in-person client meeting recently. Six months ago we transitioned his space from a traditional desk-and-chairs setup to a living room format. We decided to experiment with this furniture change because of research one of our lead advisors, Joel Reimer, participated in at Kansas State University. While there, his research investigated ways to reduce the stress related to important financial conversations, including the optimal interior design for client meetings. Since we integrated the new feel into Matt’s office, clients have resoundingly preferred it to the old options. We just didn’t have to room to implement it within that office space.
The new office will provide a number of these “living room” meeting spaces. We will also have traditional desk arrangements when needed, such as for signing documents.
Expanded options. In addition to better meeting spaces, the expanded office will provide a larger reception area. But the new location is not just to serve in-person clients. Sound Stewardship has clients from coast-to-coast, so we were using Zoom before the pandemic. Since then, remote connections have even become more common, with a video-call happening almost every hour throughout the work-week with one of the nearly 200 families we serve.
Our service team is excited about “Zoom rooms” our designers have built into the layout. Open office space is great for collaboration with co-workers, but it can be too noisy for great video calls. These Zoom rooms are private areas designed for video calls for team members who don’t have a private office of their own.
In addition to the great reception area and Zoom rooms, the larger kitchen and more private offices give us room to grow as the Sound Stewardship team grows!
Green space. We chose a smaller 2-story building in the outskirts of the Corporate Woods office park to meet the needs of this next phase of growth. Nestled in a beautifully wooded area, we like that the building is owned and occupied by local law firm Duggan Shadwick Doerr & Kurlbaum LLC.
Money is a stressful topic. Our passion is to help every client be able to face their finances with utmost confidence and contentment in their decisions. Our goal in designing the financial planning process is to reduce stress along the way and help clients breathe deeply.
Many studies have shown the benefits of being immersed in nature. Green space lowers stress and helps you feel additional peace. Having trees outside the office won’t change your financial situation, but we believe embedding financial planning in a calming environment will contribute to better contentment. We wanted to lean into this forest setting, combined with the “living room” style interior, to provide our clients with a peaceful experience when discussing and planning for their financial future.
How this will impact you?
Our team is virtual this summer as we build out the new office space. Client meetings will continue over Zoom. Please call or email if you need to arrange to meet in-person to deliver or pick up documents. Because we have so much practice being fully remote, we anticipate little disruption to our clients. Phone numbers for your Wealth Advisors and service teams will remain the same, providing you full access during the transition.
We will keep you up-to-date throughout the moving process via this page and our Newsletter. Our anticipated completion date is currently September 2023, which is when we expect to resume in-person meetings.
Sound Stewardship is excited about these upcoming changes, and we have a lot of work ahead of us! As always, we want to hear from you if you have any questions or comments for the team.
