Washington State University alumnus Brian Evans (’84 BS Accounting) knows a few things about building and managing wealth. It’s something he’s been doing quite well — both for himself and countless others — over the course of his 40-year career.
As the owner of Madrona Financial & CPAs, an Everett-based accounting and investment firm, he oversees a 35-person team that collectively manages more than $1 billion in private wealth and investments. He’s written books, made guest appearances on TV news programs, and hosted a weekly radio show on the topic since 2015. He even got to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange in 2011 — a time-honored rite of passage for many prominent business leaders.
“I’ve had the opportunity to do things that most people in my profession never experience,” he said.
While Evans has seen firsthand the many branching pathways that can lead to financial independence, almost every success story, he says, tends to share one common trait: They begin with a college education.
“Statistically, you make, over a million dollars more over your lifetime with a four-year degree than you would without,” Evans said.
It’s one of the reasons why he proudly supports and recommends his alma mater to any prospective college student, including through his financial giving and volunteer work as a member of the WSU Everett Advisory Council, for which he currently serves as chair. With convenience and affordability at the top of mind for so many students and families, he says, there’s a lot to recommend about a campus like WSU Everett.
“The opportunity’s there,” he said.
From farms to firms
Reflecting on his own higher education journey, Evans said his college search was likewise motivated by the need to save money, meaning private or out-of-state schools were out of the question. He chose an accounting major because of his skill in math and the prospect of a stable, lucrative career as a certified public accountant, or CPA.
While the WSU Everett campus didn’t exist as a close-to-home option for the Mount Vernon native, Evans recalls being attracted to WSU for other reasons.
“I kind of wanted the full experience,” he said. “I wanted the football games and the intramural sports.”
He still fondly remembers the warm, fortuitous welcome he received during his first visit to the Pullman campus in 1980. Having arrived in town after a long cross-state drive, Evans stopped at the first building he came to, planning to ask for directions. The building was a dorm.
“When I walked onto the first floor, I saw three guys who had just graduated from my high school in Mount Vernon the year before, and they were like, ‘Hey, come on in!’” Evans said. “I was like, ‘Man, I feel at home here,’ and it was a good fit for a Mount Vernon kid, because I wasn’t a city person.”
Evans paid his way through college by working summer farm jobs back home, but also with the help of a certain financial boost that, in retrospect, offered a glimpse of greater things to come. It all came about one day when he saw an on-campus posting for an entrepreneurial scholarship that promised to cover two years of tuition.
“At the time, I didn’t really know what an entrepreneur was,” Evans said. “I grew up in a teacher’s household around farmers, and nobody owned a stock.”
Still, the prospect of such a hefty financial award was hard to pass up. After spending considerable time on his application essay, proofed with the help of some English major dormmates, he submitted his application on the last possible day. Expecting stiff competition, he instead discovered he was the second of only two applicants.
“I said, ‘Aren’t they giving out two of these scholarships?’” Evans recalled. “The lady I was talking to goes, ‘Yes, they are, and I like your chances.’”
Looking back, he says, it’s safe to say they picked the right person for the award.
“Fast forward, I’m a total entrepreneur,” he said.
Getting down to business
Evans graduated at the top of his class, and despite entering the job market during a brutal economic downturn, he soon landed his first accounting job at a Bellevue, Washington, firm.
“I went from the pea fields to CPA world and three-piece suits,” Evans said.
After a few years spent learning the ropes at a handful of different firms, he earned an opportunity to become partner in what had previously been a sole practitioner’s business — the same business he owns and manages today. That’s when Evans’ entrepreneurial mindset, first sparked by the WSU scholarship application years earlier, began to take over.
“I knew I could do the accounting work well, but I also realized I needed clients if I wanted to grow the business,” Evans said. That change didn’t happen overnight. Instead, little by little, Evans worked at growing his skillset and expanding his business portfolio, eventually obtaining his financial advising certification.
“Becoming an investment advisor required me to become much more visible through writing, public speaking, educational seminars, and eventually my radio program,” Evans said.
Once again, Evans points to his WSU education for laying the groundwork for his outward growth into other areas beyond his core major studies.
“Public speaking didn’t come naturally to me,” he said. “I took public speaking at WSU to try to start the process of improving that skill, and now it’s probably the thing I do best.”
Not every venture succeeded — at least not right away.
“I remember in 2009 when I had a six-figure taxable income. Problem is … there was a negative sign in front of the number,” Evans said, noting his employees were still being paid throughout that period. “That’s the world of entrepreneurs. You will have stretches where it’s bad.”
With every major gain, however, Evans poured his earnings back into the business, creating more jobs and opportunity within the company. And it usually paid off. When Evans first bought into his company in 1995, annual gross revenue was around $350,000 annually. Today, he says, Madrona Financial grosses $13 million per year.
Foundations matter
When asked about advice for young people just starting on their college paths, Evans says it’s best to look for work that aligns with your natural strengths, offers something you enjoy, and provides long-term opportunity.
“If it’s a struggle to do, you’re probably not going to be great,” he said.
Of course, not all struggles should be avoided. Especially if you’re a budding entrepreneur, he says, you may need to get good at things that don’t come naturally. Those secondary skills, on the other hand — such as writing and public speaking, in Evans’ case — can be honed and nurtured over time.
And don’t be afraid to level up.
“Things change,” Evans said. “I was an accounting major, and I haven’t billed an hour for accounting in 20 years, because I’ve elevated to be the financial advisor helping hundreds of families make decisions about the assets they’ve spent a lifetime building.”
Long-term returns
Going back to his Coug experience, Evans speaks just as enthusiastically about the social connections he formed at WSU as he does about his professional skills. Even today, he says, many of his long-term friends are fellow Cougs.
“The smaller campus allowed me to know my professors, know the other students, and be involved in activities — things that I wouldn’t have necessarily done at a larger campus,” Evans said.
At WSU Everett, students can expect to multiply that opportunity for involvement even further.
“You can’t be invisible if you go there,” he said.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of all, he points out, is the campus’ proximity to jobs, internships, and other career-building opportunities. For those looking for a direct line from school to profession, WSU Everett is hard to beat.
“By nature of where it’s located, it’s the best of all the campuses for opportunity and convenience,” he said. “You could change your life and have a career, and it’s right here in your backyard.”