Summary: More and more people are turning to credit unions for their banking needs, but most credit unions can’t provide the wide range of services offered by large global institutions. They lack the resources to keep up with evolving technologies. Credit unions need to become more flexible in order to remain vital and Brian Lauer, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/CUSOs-Entrepreneurs-Started-Service-Organizations/dp/154451171X/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CUSOs</a>, believes that credit union service organizations (or CUSOs) can make that happen.<br> In this episode, Brian explains the rules, risks and rewards of forming or joining a CUSO, which is a working partnership that combines the individual strengths of multiple credit unions and financial technology entrepreneurs. Brian is a partner at Messick Lauer & Smith and a thought leader in the creation of forward thinking strategies that link credit unions with private sector entrepreneurs.<br> If you work in the industry of credit unions, this is the episode for you. Brian is going to offer a bold vision to maximize your efficiency and encourage innovation, so that you can provide your members with more options in a higher level of service. Now, here is our conversation with Brian Lauer.<br> <br> <br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/CUSOs-Entrepreneurs-Started-Service-Organizations/dp/154451171X/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>Get Brian’s new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/CUSOs-Entrepreneurs-Started-Service-Organizations/dp/154451171X/%20target=" rel="noopener noreferrer">CUSOs</a> on Amazon.<br> Find out more at <a href="http://cusolaw.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CUSOLaw.com.</a><br> <br> <br> Brian Lauer: I was really interested in copyright when I went to law school because I don’t think anybody goes to law school to become a credit union or CUSO attorney. I went to law school for my love of books and interesting copyright and those sorts of things.<br> I also always had this sort of tingle of business and small businesses and how they worked and operated. In fact, when I was in college, I actually started a record company and put out records for small bands in the local market where I lived and sort of got this taste of how business worked and what you were trying to accomplish.<br> I went to undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh, and that’s where I was running this record label. Even then I was thinking about these things, how at the time, bands were getting taken advantage of by the record labels, and how could we try to combat that and support the local community. So I was only going to put out records for local bands that were from that area in Pittsburgh, and I did.<br> I put out three or four different records, and the deal I would make is that all the costs would come off the top and then all profits would be split 50/50 between the band and myself.<br> You know, 100% of what I did, what I received from it went right back into trying to put out another record. It wasn’t like I was getting rich off it.<br> <br> It introduced me to this idea of people helping people, and that community was really important. <br> <br> Back then, it was this idea that we need to support the local scene and the local bands, and the only way you can do that is to do it yourself.<br> When I came out of law school, I needed a job, and I got that job. I was hired by actually my mentor Guy Masek here at the firm, and what he had built was a business that helped credit unions and their subsidiaries called CUSOs, and that introduced me to actually a world that was very similar to what I was really interested in.<br> First of all, it’s business oriented. There’s no denying that. Everybody’s interested in doing good business and making good business transactions and so forth. But the founding of a credit union is really an industry and a culture that is people helping people and buildi...
