Being born and raised in Grand Prairie, TX, Doug opened his first business—a photography studio—on Main St. when he was only 25 years old. Over twenty years later in January of 2009, Doug transitioned into his second successful business with his college planning practice. This second venture was partially born out of the idea that he needed to know how to play the college “game” for his own two daughters.
Doug refers to college planning as a “game” in his public workshop in order to convey the concept that the advantage of any game goes to the player who more fully understands the rules and strategies. Over the past decade, he has not only studied the rules, but has to keep up with the countless changes to those rules in order to keep the playing field level for his clients. Doug’s college knowledge helps families pay wholesale instead of retail for college regardless of income. (Most of his clients do NOT qualify for income-based grants or scholarships.)
As he says, his job is not to play the game for his clients, but to show them how the game is played so they can play it to their advantage. Strategy is the key. That’s also his financial philosophy. Doug believes that there’s more opportunity in avoiding losses than there is picking winners. It’s not about hitting home-runs but minimizing strikeouts.
Since beginning his practice, Doug has given his INSIGHTS to over 9,000 families through his public workshops on how the college “game” works. He has personally helped more than 425 families through the college financial journey showing them how they CAN fund college without blindly taking out student/parent loans or draining their savings or investments when they believed those were their only options.
Civically, Doug has been active in the Grand Prairie Metro Rotary Club for 30 years, Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce for 29 years and is a life long member and elder at First Presbyterian Church, Grand Prairie.
On the personal side, he and his wife Sue are enjoying life as empty nesters. Their oldest daughter graduated (on time) from Southwestern University in 2017. That same year, their youngest daughter started at Oklahoma City University and also finished on time. (For the record, the Bryans paid “wholesale” for these two private universities—less than the cost of a state school.)