Dan Schuster, Director and Co-Founder

Fjell Capital

I am a Fargo-native, born and raised in South Fargo where my parents still live. My first job out of college was working with my now-business partner, Tom Stadum, at UBS in Fargo. Tom and I then launched Fjell Capital in August of 2020 to bring a new level of wealth management services to the Fargo-Moorhead community. Today we serve entrepreneurs and business owners with our portfolio management and financial planning services, helping implement strategies for business succession, investment management, and tax & estate efficiency.

2. If your business disappeared tomorrow, what problem in your industry or community would go unsolved?

Proper investment management & retirement planning for business owners whose assets are often tied up in their business.

3. What’s one “business rule” you follow religiously, no matter what?

“Clear, not clever.” Your message must be clear to whomever you are speaking. If not, the listener will see no value in what you say. This is true from marketing collateral to one-on-one interactions with clients and prospects.

4. What’s one “business rule” you tend to ignore—or break—because it just doesn’t fit reality for you?

“Quality over quantity.” Quality AND Quantity. For a business, the magic lies in the execution of both.

5. What’s something your business had to stop doing in order to actually move forward?

Overcomplicating things. Keep it stupid simple (i.e. clear, not clever).

6. Think about your blind spots. Which one challenged you the most, or are you still working on today?

Forgetting that the best things take time. The most successful businesses in the world aren’t built over weeks, months, or even years – they’re built over decades. The sooner you recognize that, the sooner you can start building a better business.

7. What’s a lesson you learned the hard way—something no book or mentor could have prepared you for?

No book, video, or workshop will fully prepare you for leading people. It’s just like Mike Tyson said, “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”. Especially ou just have to take the punch, own it and learn from it, then commit to getting back up and LEADING YOUR TEAM.

8. Which early belief about leadership or business turned out to be completely wrong, in your experience?

A mistake we made was thinking that we understood our target market on day 1. What we value may not actually be what they value. Allowing ourselves to explore different service and to have our market tell us what they value is one of the best decisions our business has ever made.