Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / My first year as a financial planner - Natasha Percy Baxter

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My first year as a financial planner - Natasha Percy Baxter · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, and welcome to the Financial Planner Life Podcast, where we talk to professionals at varying stages in their career about what it's like working in the wonderful world of financial planning and financial advice.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry, so check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips, and blog articles.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: And today's guest is Natasha Percy Baxter from Percy Baxter Wealth Management.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: 18 months ago, Natasha reached out to me on the Financial Planner Life podcast asking me how to get into the financial planning profession.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: She'd read a book, What Colour is My Parachute?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: And by doing some deep digging around her personal values and behaviours and strengths, it indicated that she should become a financial planner.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: She was listening to my podcast, she reached out to me, and we had a conversation.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Eighteen months later, she's now running her own partner practice for St.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place, which is massively brave because that's a self-employed route into the profession.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: So today she shares a lot with us around why she decided to become a financial planner and her journey so far.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really great conversation.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: She's a natural communicator, and 100% she is going to do so well in the financial planning profession.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: And she's a fantastic role model to women within the profession and those keen to come on in.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: You're going to love this podcast episode.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Natasha, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Life podcast.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: How are you?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm good.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very tired.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, no, I'm not very tired.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: I feel very energized.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: You should be pumped up.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: I am pumped up.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: So we just we just smashed out a um so recruit UK today, which is my recruitment company, are doing a hundred laps of Nightingale Path in Bristol, which is we've worked it out to be the sort of height of Everest.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: And myself and Stuart, who's my fellow director, got up really early this morning.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Stuart did a marathon, which was 25 laps.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: I did just over half a marathon, which was 15 laps.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Which took us about three and a half hours between us.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: I still can't believe, no, not even between us each.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: I can't believe that he managed to do a marathon in the time it took me to do a half a marathon.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's long legs.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Just yeah, he's like a greyhound, but he is a world record runner, and he's used to running bike up Chamonet and um Le Blanc.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Was it Mont Mont Blanc?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay, yes, yeah.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Just like ultra running, but um yeah, amazing.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: So we're doing that for a charity called Talk Club, which is I've been talking about it recently, which is Talk Club Financial Planner Life, um, sort of men's mental fitness charity, um, Bristol-based guys.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: And um, we're getting behind them for their Miles for Miles campaign to raise awareness of the rise in male suicide.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we're doing that, raising some awareness, hopefully raising some money for charity.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, hopefully, you know, attracting some people to that amazing charity and and and people that feel that they need it, that support, that mental fitness support, they're gonna get it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: So feel really positive about it.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, energize anyway.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't the Sam Oakes podcast, is it?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: And how brilliant I am, and why I'm why I'm up to this is the Financial Planner Life podcast, and we've got you on the podcast today because you are now a financial planner, right?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you work within the financial planning profession.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: And what's so brilliant about that is that I knew you when you weren't.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: This is fantastic.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: We're doing like full circle.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: This is amazing, isn't it?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: This is because this is actually full circle.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you were my first ever resource when I found out that this is what I wanted to do.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: So the financial planner life was your first ever resource when you found out that you wanted to go down the route of becoming a financial planner.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: I just finished reading a book that week called Um, What Colour is Your Parachute and has all these worksheets.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I found out from that that I want to be a wealth manager slash financial planner.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, the very first thing I found when I Googled it was your podcast.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I was just kind of blitzing through the episodes, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, can't believe I'm now on it.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: That has gone full circle.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that was during lockdown, wasn't it?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was end of October 2020.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: So how many months then is that?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: My mass is totally about 18 months ago.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: So 18 months ago you were listening to podcasts, and now you are a fully qualified competent advisor status?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I um no, working on that, working towards that moment.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've got my exam coming up in just under six weeks.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Lovely.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so working towards competent advisor status, but you are running your own partner practice.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: So your own partner practice um underneath St.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: James's place.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And been running that for the last six months now.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's amazing and that's inspiring to anybody that's listening.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: That just from listening to a podcast, going through what it is that you want to do with your life within that short period of time, because it is a short period of time.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're now doing what it is you wanted to do, which was to become a financial planner.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: And you're not only doing it, but you bypass the administration, the power planner route.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: You even bypass the employed route because becoming a partner of St.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place means that you are self-employed, right?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, running my own practice.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I am the boss.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Inspiring.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we're going to talk a lot about this today and about how you got there, what the what the journey was like, because I think it'd be interesting to sort of really get your take on that journey from from start to finish and some of the things that you might well want to share to perhaps inspire or to help someone avoid some of the maybe the pitfalls or the things that slowed you down or managing people's expectations really of what to expect during during the process.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it all feels still quite fresh in that sense.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think hopefully I'll kind of have a perspective that will be different to someone who's been doing it for five, 10, 15 years.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's perfect.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's exactly what we want on the podcast.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, brilliant.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: So, Sasha, let's just go back to when you decided that you wanted to become a wealth manager.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: You read a book called What Colour is my parachute.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's um something I think any any listener right now might want to pick that book up and take a good read of it.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because Aston, you tell us what's the book about and how did you end up deciding that that was what it is you should be doing as a career?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: So actually, I got this book recommended to me um by my facialist, I'll just say.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, facialist slash business coach, I'm gonna say, because she has given me the best business advice ever.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I had it recommended to me before that that I should be an accountant.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I was actually doing my ACA and I was working through the accountancy exams and slight overlap to what I'm doing in that kind of sense of the technical knowledge you need.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I just feel like for me, accountancy is you're looking at the figures after kind of at the end of the tax year or something like that, and you're putting it together.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas for a wealth manager, it's more like you're painting the picture with the person that goes onto the jigsaw that the accountant then puts together.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of like the idea I've got to be creative and kind of work with a person to figure out what's their journey when it comes to their finances and how to make it work for them.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, the book uh she recommends to me, her name's Kat.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I work through it and there's all these worksheets in terms of what are your key skills and what are your top interests and you know, what kind of work environment suits you?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be inside?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be outside at a desk, you know, surrounded by people?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Are you self-motivated?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you need that person to kind of whip you into shape?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: All these kind of things.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, a couple of the key things I took away were that I love uh organization, I love the financial services.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I just really like the idea of money being able to help people.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um successful women was actually my third passion of what I really liked.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then my skills, it was like communication, collaboration, planning, um, and a couple others, but those kind of the main ones I remember.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it just from the page, I saw finance in terms of financial services and the planning part, and I pulled that together when I was writing it down.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how I came to financial planning.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: So in the beginning, you were thinking it was accountancy that it was that you were going to do, right?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, exactly.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I've been told was a good route to go down in finances.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like within the industry, it's probably the most recognized alongside banking in terms of what's available out there.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really know anything about being a financial planner.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: I knew nothing.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know it was an option.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: So when you did those worksheets, and fair play to you, because going through a book and actually doing some self-reflection, it takes time, it takes energy, takes discipline to do that and sit there and and go through it.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going through a book called Your Money or Your Life at the moment.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's nine steps to like financial freedom and to build a better relationship and better behaviors around money.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's worth um yeah, it's worth, it's worth having a read.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know, I have to pick it up.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm terrible on discipline-wise, I'm I'm not great with it, you know, because I have to sit and I have to do some, you know, inventory and all that kind of stuff.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll pick it up and I'll put it down.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, how long did it take you to get through that book?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: And how long did it take you to go through the work?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, let's give somebody some realistic um timescales of what it's takes to actually self-reflect, do some work, and help pick a career that is actually right for you based on your passions, values, beliefs, etc.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I will first of all say I think I'm quite unique in my approach.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know women are seen as being very risk-averse.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I took the high risk option of just handling my notice at my my current job at the time and just saying, I know as long as I have the safety net, I am not gonna do that kind of due diligence that I need to do on what I want from my life.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And they were kind of curious.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: They were like, oh, what are you doing next?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: What's you know, where's the next position?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I generally I have no idea, but I just need to have that mental space to explore it.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so yeah, within a month or two of uh stopping working there, I read this book and that took me probably about two weeks to read it and to work through the worksheets.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I only got through half the book because the second half was all about applying for jobs once you figure out what you wanted to do.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas that wasn't necessarily the next step for me.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to explore how to get into this.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so once I kind of done that two weeks and it was like take myself up to a cafe, just be somewhere you can be out of your kind of environment and just fully focus on what you're doing.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's got post-it notes and it's got notes all through it.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm someone who hates writing on books, but I was like, screw it, I'm gonna do it.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know you.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, from the back of that, I wrote, you know, I kind of was writing, I wrote everything down as well.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've mentioned this before.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a massive note taker.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually got right in front of me right now uh my notebook from the time, um, which I got from a best pod event.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got in this like our first conversation following this and all my questions at the time.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, so found your podcast, spent some time listening to the episodes and making notes on those.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then yeah, reached out to St.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place, um, went on their website, I saw they had some information about the Academy, which I'd heard about on your podcast.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm again, I can be very patient, I can be very impatient.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I instantly called them the next day when I hadn't heard back.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, guys, I'm really keen.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just get the ball rolling.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Had a great call with this guy there, Ken Kong, and he answered all my questions about two pages worth.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And from that, just started pulling all the information together um and just kind of went from there.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: You are super organized, and you still got the same notebook.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I have many.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but this is my original one.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if I I'm sorry to the podcast people, you're not gonna like recognize any of this, but I have a page on here where I wrote down literally what was my kind of plan from the beginning.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I should have earmarked it, but basically it says kind of what areas I wanted to work in in terms of what I wanted to partner up with and what I want to get out of this as a career path.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's all things like I want to do events.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like events was a really interesting space and wanted to be able to go out and talk to people.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that is for anyone who watches it.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's all my kind of information.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, exactly.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So get qualified, commit to uh continue professional development CPD, um, build a strong reputation.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: What's my brand?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: What are my keywords?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got trustworthy, time and transparency, um, and yeah, who I want to kind of talk to and all these kind of things.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: So you really did sit down and uh brainstormed everything that you felt that you needed to do to be a success within the financial planning profession.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then did you align that to your core intrinsic values?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Totally, yes.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a page on that as well.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've got um, I've got the next page is my traits that would make me a great uh financial advisor.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: You've got that there in front of you.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, that's nice.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Read out some of the traits that you believe would make you a great financial planner.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, there are about 30, so I only do a couple.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I've got highly empathetic, uh, great listener, love creating a plan, um, personality type that likes helping people.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very approachable, I'm self-motivated, um, very receptive to people's feelings, uh, passionate about ongoing learning, and there's a lot of learning in this profession.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, curious, ambitious, and yeah, a religious note-taker.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: So you really did take some time.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this, you weren't stepping into this career as just a gamble, were you?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, no, this is me for life, basically.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: What made you then change career?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: What made you at that point think, I want to become a financial?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: I know you've gone down the parachute book.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Were you let's talk about when you're in your job.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: You were in that job and you were thinking about a different career, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's quite scary, isn't it?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Although I have to admit, that was already my second career as such, because I was in corporate finance at the time.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And prior to that job, I was in children's publishing.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd already done a bit of a change already.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: You've done a bit of a change around.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: And interestingly enough, I read something recently that it's kind of expected now that people will remain in certain jobs, even sectors, uh, for anywhere as low as two to four years, and that employers see that now as a positive and should really expect that their staff are likely to move on after four years because historically we're all about stay in a firm 15 years.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it shows don't jump around on your CV.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: And for those that are looking at their CV thinking, oh, I'm a bit worried, I've been jumping around.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: It shows that you've got experience in other areas, in other sectors, in other positions, and that's what makes somebody interesting.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's what makes somebody different and expends their skill set.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think also another element to that is a lot of people stayed in jobs for quite a while, was because you were rewarded for that loyalty in the sense that you got a final salary pension, which was kind of the gold standard of pensions.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's such a rarity now that no one thinks that, oh, if I leave this company, I'm gonna lose my final salary pension.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: If I stayed there a bit longer, I could get to that level.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's just not that kind of that drive anymore.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just like, well, if I feel like I've got everything out of this job that I can and I've contributed everything I feel like I've got to give to them, why not explore what else is out there?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many kind of possibilities out there.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why limit yourself?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Were you scared?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think you know, quitting a job and not knowing what you're going to do next.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I hand on heart didn't if I'd recommend that to everyone.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: That is a hell of a step to take.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I've spoken to other people and they figured it out while they were working because, you know, for them they had families or other responsibilities.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So they couldn't just kind of stop that.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I I kind of knew it was coming.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd set up an emergency fund for myself.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: So some kind of money that was set aside to help me through a period of not working, so I could purely focus on what do I want to get out of my life.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a it is scary.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: And and and I, you know, often I speak to people that and I've got friends as well that are sat in jobs and they're not very happy about it, but and they're quite miserable and they wish they could do something else.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: But there's something stopping them from making that plunge and that step across.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I think when you hear about the financial planning profession and you hear about this this need for new financial planners to join it, to join the profession, because so many financial planners are looking to exit the industry over the next 10 years.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: They're aging out.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: Advisors are aging out and they're not being replaced quick enough.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: And already a small industry.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: And there is so much wealth out there and so much transfer of wealth.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: Billions, I think it's five billion over the next five, ten years or something ridiculous like that.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: That great transition of wealth that's being passed down.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: There's not enough advisors, there's no banks giving advice like they used to, therefore, there is an advice shortage, an advice gap.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: So the opportunity out there is absolutely huge.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: And people hear about it and they're sat in their job and they know and they can almost think, well, there's obviously a market that I can step across there and make a fantastic career out of financial planning, but I could also earn well because there isn't as many fish in that pond, but people still are nervous and worried.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things that is goes against financial planning is because it's quite a young profession, even though financial advice has been around for quite some time, there isn't this direct route in.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: There isn't this, you know, you look at accountancy, solicitors, you know, they have way, way they have so many grads that join that there's there's jobs.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: There's not enough jobs for them, right?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: But in financial planning, it's like, well, I want to be it, I want to be an advisor.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: And everyone's scratching their head thinking, well, how the hell do I do it?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: How do I get in and how do I do it?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: What's the route into doing it?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because there isn't this clear route.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, you can join a firm as an administrator, and then these, you know, there are so many firms out there that want experience to do that.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're in a if you're in a role and you're earning 50, 60, 40, 100K, right?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: And you want to be an advisor, why would you stop that job when you've got all your bills to pay, et cetera, to go and start at the bottom?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to say it's at the bottom, but it is at the entry level.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: So then work your way up over a few years to become a financial advisor where your income is never going to be matched in that period of time of say two, three, four years.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's going to be tough.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: People are nervous and anxious about making that step across into across into financial planning.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the problem that the profession has.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: There has to be a solution to get people of fantastic experience with the right quality, with the right qualities and values and um lived experience and commercial experience and two pee them across into positions and get them up and running quickly.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: It does.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's what caused people that anxiety about joining the profession over here.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what causes that fear.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it stems around how are you going to pay your bills, you know.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes better the devil, you know, I'd rather suffer over here in this job and earn my my my fat paycheck than do something that's the unknown.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: But I love what you did is that you sat and you explored all of the possibilities that might happen.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the things you did is you reached out, you reached out to me.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: I remember when you phoned me up and you said, Sam, you know, I want to be a financial planner.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: I've got some questions, you know, and you and you'd gone through it, didn't you?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: A list of questions, and I took some time out.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was really refreshing to talk to you because you were so um informed.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: You're informed about some things and uninformed about others, and we filled the gap, didn't we?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Totally, yeah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: When you ended up then having a list of questions that you took to St.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: James's place because you were like, right, I'm doing it, this is what I'm gonna do, and you took that list of questions to them.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: One, they'd have loved that.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: So anybody listening, right?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Get a list of questions and go and ask the questions because they will love it.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: Those are keen and interested.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: But let's just talk about what were the questions that were on your mind at the time?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: And let's see whether or not we can help any listener divert their own list of questions.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: See if I can quickly find them.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because again, knowing me, obviously I wrote it all down.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I found the questions I have for you.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's the page is the page dated as well.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, 19th of October 2020.
• 20:46
  unknown: There we go.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: You are organized.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's questions.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's yeah, what kind of I mean, this one was for you, but it was like, what were you sponsoring the different courses?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously there's different academy routes for it.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I was interested in the thoughts of St.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: James's place, but somewhere such as um open work or quilter in terms of those.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, best advice for someone interested in getting into the industry, what makes for a successful candidate?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, those are kind of my main ones.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've written notes down underneath.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and I've written two pages worth of stuff afterwards.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: Knowing what you know now, going through the going through the St.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place Academy, becoming a partner, up and running as a financial planner.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say to Natasha 18 months ago?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: What questions would you say to ask or anybody else coming in at that point?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess one of the things is what do you need to do in order to kind of start on this path?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so one of them was finding out that I needed to do certain exams before I could start in the academy.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: That was part of the um acceptance process.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, it changed while I was on the academy uh interview process.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when I first applied, it was only one exam you needed to be accepted.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then by the time I finished the interviews, which was a couple of months later, uh it was two exams.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just uh what do I need to kind of do before I can.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Be accepted.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Other questions that I had was how long does it take?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you want to know how long you're studying versus how long you can start earning.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it was finding out how long the academies were, what kind of support was available.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I was coming into this very green, let's say, and just kind of really lacking in terms of what I knew from the industry and from working in it as well.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I really wanted to know how much they kind of help you with A, the training side of it and developing your technical knowledge, but B, when you want to start working, how did they help you with that side of things as well?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: So what kind of support's available?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: How much does it cost?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: That was my other thought.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how much is all of this going to cost me?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Everything from training to study materials to just having to pay my weight until kind of exactly you can start earning.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I guess what kind of key things do people have that leads to success in this?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to know do my skills, do my kind of values and my kind of passions, they all correlate to what would be a successful career in this?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: So you were looking for that validation and feedback.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, this is who I am, this is what I've worked out.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: I've done the, you know, what color is my parachute?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: I've had a kind, you know, a deep dive into who I am, what my intrinsic values are, what I believe I have to bring to the table.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Does this match a successful financial planner, for example, at St.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Do I have the characteristics or the belief or the uh the emotional intelligence, even to step into a role and be a success?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I did learn a lot of that as I was going through the interview process.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: They were really helpful at just being like one of the rounds was purely just kind of ask any questions you have and like did kind of be like, okay, great.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've spoken before at the previous round, but actually, here's all my questions since I want to know, you know, what do I need to be doing?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: You had to create a business plan.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, what exactly do we need from that business plan?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was hard for me because at that time I wanted to join a practice.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was very much this the two options, you join a practice, you set yourself up.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, oh, and I want to join a practice.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's that kind of support that someone's there to help kind of guide you through it.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you've got the back office in terms of admin and paraplanners and all of that side to kind of support you.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that sounded great.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but from talking to you and talking to some other people, um, then actually on the interview process, this guy, Charlie Brown, bad name.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he read my business plan and he said, Great, so you're setting yourself up.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, Oh, Charlie, you're so funny.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know I'm not.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, No, no, no, your business plan, you should definitely set yourself up.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it really is probably one of the best things someone has said to me along this whole process because it opened my mind up to exploring that as an option when I hadn't previously.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And just knowing that they could offer the support I needed to do that has opened me up.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And looking back, oh my goodness, yeah, best decision ever made.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we will go into a little bit about the structure and how you went through St.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: James's place and how you came to that decision and what you experienced going through that.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: But what I'd what I would love to know is about what you just said there, right?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think this is hugely valuable.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: When I say to somebody, when someone says to me, I want to be a financial planner, whether or not they're employed or self-employed, sorry, whether they're employed currently within the financial planning profession and they want to go self-employed, or they want to become a, you know, they want to set up their own directly authorized firm or whatever it is, they want to go it alone, or someone from outside of the profession is coming in and they want to go straight into financial advice and perhaps set up their own business straight away, right?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Or go self-employed, which is ballsy.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, I always say you need a business plan.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: What's your business plan?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: What does your first I always say, what is your first one year, two-year, three-year plan look like?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then I say if you were to list uh A, B, C clients, what are your A clients, what are your B clients, and what are your C clients?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: A being you've got total advocates relationships, you go to you have a drink with them, you socialize with them, perhaps you're part of specific networking groups.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: B is that you kind of know of them quite well, but you can't hang your hat on it that they will do business with you.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: And C being everybody else, right?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of like my back of a fag box business idea.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: And could you could you put that up against some kind of income level, right?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: And in a perfect case scenario, I build a business plan or they build a business plan and off they pop, and it goes 100% according to plan, of course.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about the business plan that you wrote then and what somebody who has come from another profession without any experience.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: Where do you start?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Where do you begin?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: Can you give some advice around that?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, I did Google it naturally to just kind of have a look at a sense of what do I actually write for a business plan, having never done one before.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, St.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place were helpful in the sense they gave a page that had certain prompts on it.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it was things such as uh considering your name.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the name of your company.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of had uh various kind of suggestions on there, and we've actually honed it over time to what it is now, which is Percy Back to Wealth Management.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it then was, yeah, exactly who are you going to reach out to?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: So break down your kind of who your key clients.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of broke it down, not like you have, and I did do that later, but originally it was just for me in terms of how I grouped them.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I had uh close family, distant family, uh school friends, uni friends, work friends, family friends, kind of all kind of those kind of groups.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I broke it down in terms of, yeah, exactly.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: So what would I need to do my first six months, a year, uh, I think three years, and then five years.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then I broke that down even further to um, so key meetings are like you have an engagement meeting, which is like a coffee, it's get to know someone, you have uh what I call an initial client meeting, which is where we actually sit down and we start developing a plan, like kind of find out a bit about my client and what's important to them.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, then I do the research and then I do a presentation meeting, presentation meeting being, I think this is kind of what the best option is for you based on what we've discussed.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to go ahead?
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they say yes or no.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I broke, I worked backwards from okay, this is how many presentation meetings I need to get clients.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I need to times that by three for probably, you know, initial client meetings.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: I times that by maybe seven for coffees.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I was working out for how many coffees I needed to do to get to that many clients.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I've probably had like the full breakdown.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I've really thought through the mass of it all.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's partly why they were like, right, just crack on yourself.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: You clearly is like, you know how much work needs to go into it, and it is a lot of work, but the initial stages is going for coffees.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want to go for a coffee, especially with it's locked up for two and a half years?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's like, get me out for a coffee.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so I think it was quite helpful having that breakdown.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did take it a step further by doing costs.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a thing in terms of what I thought would be like software costs and uh the coffee meetings and kind of setting myself up and all the kind of costs that come with it.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I did a full kind of breakdown of what do I need um to be able to set it all up.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: When you did that and you had that costs-based analysis there, did it shock you a little bit by because obviously going self-employed, no one's sort of um, I don't I assume nobody um within St.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: James's place gave you a loan or anything like that?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Did you there is a loan facility, and I actually have been thinking about this over the past week.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's actually quite interesting to bring it up.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't tapped into it yet, but I am quite tempted so that I can get someone on board to help me with all the admin side of things is what I'm at the moment in the next six months, probably.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: So when you built that business plan, did it shock you a little bit when you saw the amount of money that you might be having to spend within it, or were you okay with that?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: Did you have savings to back you?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: How did that work out?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: So one, I'm quite a bargain hunter.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I was looking at whether websites would do discounts if I signed up and said that I was new to the industry and things like that.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it was all this kind of thing.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: So like I'm on vouch four, and that's a platform where you can leave reviews for people who don't know, and it's good for people because they can then see what the meeting has been like with other clients.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so yeah, so I signed up to that, but I I think I checked whether there was like a discount if you're new to the industry.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, okay, so I know, you know, for my first year, I can do a bit of a kind of cheaper race.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I was trying to be quite economical with how I was approaching it, but at the same time, yes, I created my what I like to call it as a thank goodness fund.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if anyone else calls it this, but I call it this.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like thank goodness I had that money set aside.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it was there, ready for an occasion like this, so I could launch my own business.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: So you had a yeah, the thank, okay.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: So the thank goodness fund was there.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: You and and was that a thank goodness fund that almost like like an emergency fund?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like an emergency fund.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Emergency fund just doesn't sound as fun.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think thank goodness.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think thank goodness that's good.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like that a lot.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: And it was and and and I suppose as well, it's like when we save money sometimes, we we don't want to touch it because we we might need it, right?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: But it was there and you chose to use it to help you propel your new career forward, right?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, lovely.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: I like it.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: So, some advice then to anybody listening who's thinking about setting up on their own is that have an emergency fund in place, have some monies set aside, regardless if you're gonna take a loan from the uh company that you might be joining, if you're setting up your own business.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of them do offer loans, you know, they are debtable.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, so there are loans you can take.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but if you have something in the back pocket that you've got some savings, and some people are saying, you know, saving 12, 24 grand, things like that is actually realistically what you need to have in the bank if you're gonna go at a loan.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because you need a good solid base, because you need to pay your bills, because like any job where you are finding your feet and there is a process that you've obviously developed there, which is coffee chats to meetings.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't, you know, you're not, it's not like a hey Chris, how you doing?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: I've got an investment.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: Do you want to buy it?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Brill, bam, yeah, deal.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's not transactional, is it?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, and that's not what I want as well.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, of course.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think it is important to have that kind of um that support for yourself, that safety net.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually um spoke with someone who was on the academy with me yesterday, and he says one of his biggest regrets, actually, was not kind of having a fun synergy to that or organizing a loan before starting the academy to have that uh support there for if we needed it.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a realistic there's a realistic expectation that someone should have by coming into the profession without any experience that it does take time because the route that you went down, you know, you weren't given a client bank, correct?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, nothing.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you weren't past leads that were sourced through St.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: James's place, correct?
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you weren't buying leads from anybody.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: No, okay.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: So you running your partner practice were literally starting from scratch, right?
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, good.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: So what I mean to want people to understand is when they come into this profession without any experience, right?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: You have to have a solid business plan from the get-go.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because no one's going to give, not everybody is going to give you something.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: Now there are firms out there, and there's firms I work with that will take somebody on self-employed and will gradually pass them clients, whether or not they've got a client book they're looking to pass on, perhaps an inherited client book, perhaps it's a deal to be done to buy the client book off of a retiring IFA, perhaps they've acquired a very large client bank and they can distribute that to new financial advisors.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: But the one thing I would always say to anybody when you're coming up against like anything like that is show me, prove to me that there is something there, because you know, I'm taking a risk here by leaving my company to do this.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_02: I need to know that there are some guarantees in place for me in respect of clients.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: And if there isn't, that's okay.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I, but even to those people that go in there and work with those firms in that way, is always have your own business plan.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is not a career path I would recommend if you're someone who's used to just being given jobs at the start of the week or the start of the day, being like, here's your to-do list for the day.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't that kind of career.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be like, this is very much on you to go out to get the business, to have the meetings, to find the clients.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, you're using the brand St.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: James's place and the amazing processes and back office functions and investment strategies that they have, their marketing, yeah, all of that.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: You're you're using it to help propel you as having um a solid business behind you that's secure, right?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: So when you walk into those client meetings, people are like, all right, St.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place, yeah, I've heard of St.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: Or yeah, St.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place, the literature you gave me looks absolutely spot on.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: Spickens Fam looks amazing, right?
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: The way I like to think of it is I'm the boutique, so I've kind of got, you know, the small company, it's me.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I get to run the business how I want, meet with clients who I want and how I want and all that kind of thing, and run it how I like.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I've got the behemoth of St.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place behind me.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And exactly I get all those kind of benefits of knowing that, yeah, for things such as investments, they do all the due diligence and they're kind of well known for how they approach investments and people now start replicating it, other companies.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's great that I've got that peace of mind that I know they're taking care of it, and I can pass it on to my clients and give them the peace of mind that St.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place is backing me.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's a great partnership in that way.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: So you yourself, right?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: You you chose uh Percy Baxter, yes, wealth management as your firm, right?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that was your brand.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: You decided to choose a brand.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: It was actually part of your business plan from the get-go, right?
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: You didn't decide to be St.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: James's place, you decided to be your your own personal brand.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about that then, because that is another hat you have to wear as a business owner, right?
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: You have to then become money, brand manager, yeah, brand manager, brand developer.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you've got to create all that stuff because no one's gonna do it for you, right?
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Plus your own marketing.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: So that's time consuming, right?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's a cost to you.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Time is a cost, and so is the cost of setting up and running those kind of behind the scenes marketing, branding, social media channels, etc.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly why why was it important to you then to have your own brand?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: Why was that so important to you?
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think for me, with the clients, they are working directly with me.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're not working directly with St.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: I am the main point of contact.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: And as I like to say in my initial meetings, you know, when we start our partnership, and again, I like to think of my relationship with clients as a partnership, we're both working towards the same goal.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is, you know, you're dealing directly with me.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to call up a chat bot, you're not calling up, you know, a call center somewhere.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: You are calling me up directly if you have any questions or anything you want to talk through.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I really wanted to incorporate my name into the company.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's just really kind of building it up in terms of we're a brand together.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm the face of the brand, but I really want to build up Percy Baxter wealth management as a strong brand on its own.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just really kind of like I quite like, I felt like quite a strong name as well.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I quite like that.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's unique as far as I'm aware in the world.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm the only Percy Baxter that I know of.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's just, I do, I feel like there's a lot I can put behind it.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I really enjoy that.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can go out with pride and be like, I work, I launched Percy Baxter wealth management.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I have St.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place behind me, but this is what I'm hoping to achieve, and I can shape it how I want.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: I can be like, right, do I want to focus on, you know, things like family planning, which is really important for me.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I can go speak to people who're starting families or they, you know, they're just about to and they're considering it and talk about that.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: If I want to talk about pensions, which randomly has now become a real passion project for me.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I love pensions crazy.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: No one's really seems to, but I'm just comes up all the time in topics.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love pensions.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just that thing if I can I can run the business how I want, and if those tend to be passions for me, then I can make that part of the Percy Brax Percy Baxter wealth management brand and really kind of focus on that.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, building your own brand and building it around who you are as a person, your own personal intrinsic values, what's important to you, your culture essentially.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_02: And what I love about that as well is what you've just said is that it's moldable, it's changeable.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: When you take on somebody else's brand and you go by what their brand is and their marketing and what they're saying, how things are, it's rigid, isn't it?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: You can't, you can, yeah, it's you, the personality, but you've always sometimes you're almost kind of like, Oh, I wish that I wish that name wasn't there.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: I go through this, right?
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: Recruit UK, there's a name on a piece of paper when I joined the business.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_02: There's a name on a piece of paper, it's an appointed representative of another company, Veridian, at the time.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: When I decided to become 50% shareholder, I took that name on a piece of paper and I went, Well, we've got a name already, let's just go with it.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I brought Recruit UK Recruit UK to life, right?
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: But we're working in the financial planning space.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it doesn't exactly say on the Tim what it does.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't say on the Tim what it does, does it?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it was always a bit of a bugbearer for me.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: All these years, it was always kind of a bit of a bugbearer.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't like it, you know.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't mind the brand now, it's okay, you know, it's my business, but do I love it?
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: Do I feel close to it?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to set something up for me.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the financial plan of life.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: And lo and behold, all the things that I'm passionate about run through it.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: I love talking to people.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I set up a podcast.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: I love the um, I love men's mental, I love mental health.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say mental health, let's I'd associate with you and the mental health and well-being.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I've set up the financial plan of life talk club.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm partnering with I'm partnering with firms around mental health and mental well-being.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's where I want to take this business.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_02: I want it to then become it's a recruitment, it's a it's an arm of recruit UK, it's a careers focused um brand, right?
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_02: Specific to financial planning, but it's a helpful brand.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a recruitment, used to have barriers.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you're not good enough for us, then we're not going to work with you.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: My approach is to give and in later on.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_02: And later on I get a return in some way.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: And educating, I'd say that's another thing you're doing through the podcast.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: Education, yeah, sharing, you know.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: Again, something that's not very typical of a recruiter.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: And by and by doing that and calling it the financial planner life and entwining myself within the profession, I become a key person of influence.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: As opposed to a hindrance, I become a help.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, exactly.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're like a thought leader in the space now.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where I'm trying to go with it.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then I feel comfortable and calm.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: As long as I keep my mind in check and I allow the ego to kind of keep in check because I can get overwhelmed by all these ideas.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: And like you, when you're running your own business, regardless, I've got 25 people out there in the recruit UK, it's still me on my financial plan of life.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I have all these ideas and it can be quite overwhelming, can't it?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, yes.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: You felt overwhelmed at all since your business?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: In the last few weeks.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think if things have got busier, it suddenly feels a lot more overwhelming.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I always kind of actively wanted to start slow, so I didn't feel overwhelmed from the start because I thought that would knock me.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, no, I want to spread out my coffee meetings, spread out my client meetings, presentation meetings so I can do it at a rate that I feel comfortable with and that I'm presenting the best me to my clients.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: But obviously, naturally, six months in now, things are starting to really pick up.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like, okay, there's just me.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing everything from yeah, exactly from networking to marketing to having those meetings to doing all the research behind it to chasing providers to writing everything up.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's just feels like the last two, three weeks hasn't felt as enough hours in the day.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like, oh, and I've got my exam in six weeks.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just constant kind of like studying, learning, getting out there, researching everything.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a bit why I'm like, oh, I can't wait to now bring someone on to help with some of that.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, I'm still loving it.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is still the best decision I've ever made.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: So you like that.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: You like to feel busy, you like to feel a bit stretched in the beginning.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely struggle switch off as well.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something my other heart is trying to help me with.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: He'll be like, no, it's a weekend, let's just, you know, switch off for two days.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, two days switching off.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: God.
• 41:57
  unknown: Yeah.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: And running your own businesses like that, you know, you can take a lot of the stresses and and um home with you.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, my wife would, I done many a girlfriend's heading before even my wife, where I was worried about work or stressed about work, or even if we were doing well, you know, I would still always be thinking in the back of my mind, I wonder if it's gonna go bad, if something over there doesn't work, or when's it gonna do this?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_02: When's it gonna get bigger or whatever it might well be?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it can carry over.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I can, yeah, partners and stuff can sometimes take the brunt of that.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um yes, yeah.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say tying to what you were saying earlier with the mental health thing, that's why I think it's really important to set aside some time for you.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: So actually, with the start of COVID, I now do yoga every morning and it's become my kind of new favorite thing.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's only 15 minutes and it's an app um I just set up for myself.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just knowing I've got that time in the morning for me to kind of get into the right mindset before I start the day helps to avoid that burnout because I've read so much about it.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh, if I can avoid that at all costs, don't want to go down that route.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 100%.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: And yoga's a fan.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_02: I love yoga.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yoga and meditation are two things that I absolutely love to do for self-care along with running and going to the gym.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's highly important.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I think if you can structure your day and within your day, right, is you actually mark out, right?
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, there's half an hour of me time.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's so, so important because that you you love reflecting.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: I do, yeah.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: I do a Friday meeting for myself just as a pure reflection on the week anyway.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um by journal every night.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I like to zoom out every now and then and look at how's my life, how's the business, and just kind of take that time to reflect on everything.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the journaling then, because has that been something that has been beneficial and helpful to you since starting your own financial planning business?
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'll say now it's something I was doing before.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have a five year diary, and so there's probably about four lines you can write in every day.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: What happened?
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: I write really tiny and I fill up the entire space because I just put everything out there.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: But just from the way my brain works, yes, I find it very helpful to write.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Things down because then I can go back and see if that's still aligned with what I wanted to be working towards because I think day to day it's it's easy to get swept up in what's happening.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I have, yeah, I have a tracker that I have for every month.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll go back in and I'll be like, well, did I get out everything out of everything I'm doing?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm I've joined up to a members club.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: Am I getting what I want from that members club?
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to do social media.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Am I doing what I want to be doing and achieving what I want with that?
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think reflection for me has really been key.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think I I feel happy knowing I'm on track, or if I'm not on track, I can kind of see it and then I can adjust.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something in this job as well.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be super flexible and adaptable.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've all had to be with COVID, obviously.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's brought a lot of changes with it.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, there might be clients who suddenly have their lives changed, you know, they might be divorced and they didn't expect that.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you've now suddenly got to try and help them through that stage of their life.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it can be, you know, one of a lot of change and throw up a lot of emotions, and you've got to be there to support them.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you are doing that time to reflect on yourself and get yourself into a really solid, you know, happy, comfortable position, you're in a much better position to help the clients because a lot of it can be almost like therapy with what they're sharing with you and all that process.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: And you want to make sure you're in a good enough headspace you can help someone else who might be going through a tumultuous stage or something like that.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I yeah, and I think absolutely that listing and ref doing the reflections, writing it down.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you one of the things that you pointed out was that you can go back and see where you are on track with things because there's nothing more rewarding than making a list and going and going finding a list from two weeks ago, and all those things you just threw up on a piece of paper, and you think, wow, I've done 80% of that.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, totally.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: And you might look at the 20% and think, oh yeah, that was like I was really stressing about that, but I don't need to even do it.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_02: Let it go.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the things that you did stress about that you completed, then you give yourself a pat on the back and you can say, Wow, I actually did that.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's so important that writing things down when you're setting up a business.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think in day-to-day life, anyway, if I don't get the chance to write that down, where is it?
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's up here, isn't it?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: And when it's up here, you're at the mercy of your cognitive distortions.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: You could go into a complete state of panic and fear over something which is trivial because you can't see the bigger picture, you can't see the wood through the trees because you're overloaded.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that's one of the benefits.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a really good tip there for anybody.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's a great tip for people that are searching for a new job as well, is to write down the pros and cons, write down the reasons why you're looking to leave, write down your goals.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_02: What do I want to achieve in exploring a new profession over the next three to four to five to six weeks?
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, where would be my ideal place I want to be in six weeks' time?
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: What would I like to have known by then?
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think just doing that and planning that, which is what you did exceptionally well, is gonna help anybody progress their career and get into the profession without without a shadow of a doubt.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they're gonna be days when you don't have that motivation where you're just kind of waking up and you're exhausted, you haven't slept well, or you know, if you have a family, there might be things happening with your children or something like that.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just very hard to kind of kick yourself into gear, especially if if you're a one-man band like I am.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you have it written down somewhere, so I do have a mood board that I created last year that's on the wall in my office, and it's just it's really nice to have that something that you can look at to remind you why am I doing this for the days when you might be struggling a little bit.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, love it.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: Do you uh some of the girls in the office and my wife as well are firm believers?
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I call it visualization.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_02: But um, what's it called when you you write something on a board and and um you project on it the pat the laws of attraction, that kind of thing?
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yes, yeah.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like a visual board or something different, vision board.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: Vision board, yeah, and they you know put it down and you manifest it.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, totally, yes, exactly.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_02: Do you do that?
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I started doing it again with COVID.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: I had a kind of my mantras.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: Am I saying that right?
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that I would do in the morning, and it feels a bit silly even saying this out loud because it's something at the beginning, I was like, oh, I feel ridiculous doing this.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm someone who's got a very logical brain, so I struggle with anything that's um to me feels a bit kind of fantasy, and that felt a little bit fantasy to me.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I've made it a habit now because I've been doing it for what, two years, and they're the same ones, and I don't know how much I can give away, but I was I do I do hand actions with them.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm someone who likes to associate hand movements with words because then throughout the day, I don't know if it's you know, subconsciously, if I do that hand action, it brings back what I said in my mantras that morning.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um actually, yeah, I find it's been really helpful.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I'm in a much more comfortable, confident, happy place because of what I say in the morning kind of filters throughout the day.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that's because?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what it's steeped in, isn't it?
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's a bit like gratitude, right?
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_02: You feel a bit of a I remember when someone I was miserable, I was very depressed, and then someone talked to me about gratitude, you know, and I felt really silly every day saying what I was grateful for.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_02: I felt really silly.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: Best things you can do though, and then all of a sudden, exactly, all of a sudden I got it.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I would wake up, and as soon as I opened my eyes, I went straight into gratitude.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, amazing!
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like this, oh, I'm alive, I'm breathing, even to the point of getting out of bed.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: My feet are on the floor, fantastic, they're grounded.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: I you know, yeah, my daughter's my daughter comes in, my daughter's awake, she's alive, you know, my wife next to me, on a roof over my head.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: And by the time I've gotten up and cleaned my teeth, I'm freaking flying, you know.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_02: I feel I feel fantastic, and um, it's a bit like that with visualization, isn't it?
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's a bit like that with the with the with the vision boards, etc.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_02: It feels a bit silly, but when you believe it, the power of faith is so powerful in changing your thought processes to more of a positive, um, optimistic um way.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you constantly focus on the negatives and things that might go wrong, you're gonna shoot yourself constantly, aren't you?
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be worried all the time.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember reading somewhere, something like our brain takes in, and I shouldn't know the figures and I don't, but something like 12 billion uh bits of information every second, but only six of them you register.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: And whether you are positive or whether you're negative, it will filter to that.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, exactly.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you start the day like that, it will filter into a positive light, being like, Oh, I'm so you know, glad my feet are grounded, I'm so glad my daughter's here.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you start the day in such a positive light, and it could be the complete opposite.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: You could wake up and have that negative filter on and just be like, Oh, it's raining, oh, I don't want to have to go outside in the rain, oh, I've just run out of milk, oh, I was just looking forward to, you know, having my breakfast.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: It always happens to me.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it happened to me this morning.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: But it sends you off on a different path of that entire day.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you can train your brain.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's one of the most important things.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is you can influence how you see the world.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do it in a positive way, oh my gosh, the amazing repercussions that can happen from that are so powerful.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just taking that time to make it a habit as well.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: So for you now, it's a habit because you've you spent enough time training your brain in that way that it benefits you.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_02: I bang on about it all the time, but Atomic Habits by James Clear, one of the most powerful books I've ever read.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know, all of our lives are just are just stacks of habits, right?
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that we uh the the best way to implement a positive habit is to make it small and make it uh consistent.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_02: Easy, easy to do and consistent.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_02: So that one where I open my eyes and I go straight into it is I don't say to myself, I've got to do, I've got to meditate for an hour, a bit like Yugi Yoga, right?
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 15 minutes.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like daily practice, your journal, daily practice, small incremental changes compound a bit like investments over time, don't they?
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly what happens.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: That small, significant, positive change that you do daily and you build it into a habit, which is about 90 days.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yep.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then all of a sudden it's ingrained into your thinking.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_02: Totally is a habit, it's in your subconscious.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_00: It actually reminds me of one I read this weekend and I haven't actually implemented myself yet.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was um Catherine Morgan's book.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's not about the money.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and one of the final, I literally just finished it on the weekend, one of the final pages was um, a lot of people when it comes to their professions, they don't stop to acknowledge their successes because we're so busy kind of moving on to what's the next thing we need to do.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: You don't stop to be like, actually, I've been working six months or a year, two years towards this goal, and I've just achieved it and now I've kind of let it pass a bit.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_00: And what she said was when you're brushing your teeth, because we all brush our teeth every day, just take those kind of whatever two minutes to just remind yourself of something you've achieved recently.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm cracking myself out loud as I say this because surrounded on my desk of books and stuff.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually got a trophy that I got earlier this year from being uh on the Times list of top-rated financial advisors.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't opened it yet.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's sad that I'm like, one day I will get around to unboxing that, but I haven't actually done it yet.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: So bad.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_02: Do it, get it, and get it out.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_02: Unbox it.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, get it out.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yes.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: Woo-hoo, new unboxing.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's interesting.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's the cleaning the teeth thing.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a stab, that's habit stacking.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: Positive habit is cleaning the teeth.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: And what you do is you stack, you got it, you're gonna open it up.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then you stack you stack another habit on top of it.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a good point.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, exactly.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_02: A bit like when you go for a run, you put your podcast on and learn something.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh dear, love doing that.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, look at that.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_02: There we go.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: And what's and what's that?
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: So uh top rated advisor 2022, Natasha Percy Baxter.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that was for vouch for.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to get a certain number of five-star uh reviews, and you had to get 10 by the end of the year.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: I started first November, so that was eight weeks for me.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I really kind of made sure I got out there and got the reviews and oh, well done.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: Congratulations.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: So for all the watchers out there, the listeners, you're not gonna see this.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, listeners.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, all the watchers, she's just pulled out a trophy straight away out of the box.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_02: But how long has that been sitting there for?
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh, March.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: So what's that?
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: Two months.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll tell you what, well done.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_02: Congratulations.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_02: Pop it on your desk and look at it and remind yourself of what a great job you're doing so far, eh?
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk a little bit then about your journey through St.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_02: So you you decided to join St.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_02: You went and you met with them, they rolled out the red carpet, they're exceptionally good at that.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_02: They roll out the red carpet, they give you an overview of the business, right?
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, how did you progress from having no experience to becoming a partner?
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: What was your journey when you went through the process with St.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: James's Place?
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, when I was applying, I was looking at other options.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was looking at Quilter and I was looking at open works at the same time as well, just because I was like, I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, financial planning, obviously.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so uh I wanted to keep my options open.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: And St.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: James Place for me were just heads above the rest in terms of support they gave and the way they approached it, really aligned with how I wanted to do it.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I was like, if it didn't work out with them, that wasn't the end of the path for me.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like, oh, this is the wrong career.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like I need to find a new path towards it.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: And actually ended up mentioning this in my final interview right at the end.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was like a two-hour grinning kind of dragon's den style.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I was told I was too animated at the start, I was way too excited.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm someone who's really good at feedback.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: And by the end, he actually said, Can we take a minute to just reflect?
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yes.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, How are you speaking now?
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, pretty calmly.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, How are you at the start?
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I was very excited.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Great, you're a lot calmer now.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then the final question was like, Um, what would you do if you weren't accepted onto the academy?
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I just said that, like, I would do something else.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it was hysterical, it completely flipped the interview.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Well, actually, I don't think you understand quite the level of benefits you get with us, you know.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then about a minute later, he stops himself and he's like, I don't know why I'm selling it to you.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, not gonna say anything, but that was great.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so tough when I got the call.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was around my birthday, so at the end of January, um, that I've been accepted onto the academy and it was starting the one of the first intakes after COVID, because that being the thing, when I started the application process, they said, Well, we're on hold because of COVID, but do you still want to apply?
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_00: And me being super keen was like, Yes, let's just get that train going.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and by the end, they had started up again, and there was a final intake in March that still had a couple of spaces left.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: And next one was May.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: Grand scheme of things, nothing.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, I was desperate to get on that march.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, no, I really, really want to get this train going.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: Got onto it and was accepted in the route of kind of setting myself up.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: So just super excited.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, they had said six weeks, you've got two exams to do in that time, and then you're starting.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I really lucked out with my academy.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_00: We were all virtual because it was still COVID.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh March 2021.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we only got to see each other for the first time in March this year, so full year after we started the academy, we only got to see each other, but it was great, 15 of us.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just provided such a good support network through the academy in terms of having that group of people with me, in terms of the support they give you.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got a manager, Gary, who I work with and I have the whole time, and even from the interview process, and he's great and he knows everything about how I work and all that kind of stuff, and we check in every now and then.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I got a mentor as well, Nigel, and he's been really helpful throughout the whole process.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I can just give him a quick call and be like, Nigel, you've been going a lot longer than me.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: Can I check?
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: What would you do in this circumstance?
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: How would you approach this?
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been great.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I really like the idea of they've got all the different kind of levels of support around you.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then day to day, so it's split into, well, split into two terms.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I was there, they've brought in a term three now.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: Term one is just purely exams.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: That is pretty much your entire focus.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just three months, three exams, you know, kind of power through.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: And they give you workshops and they kind of help you through and do questions and everything.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second half is all about preparing you for the actual meetings and the whole kind of what processes you need to know.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we got giving case studies, and it was like, okay, this is how you go through a meeting, this is what you need to do after the meeting, this is kind of how you pull all the research together, and this is how you present it.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just really the practical side of things.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: And again, really helpful in terms of just talking you through it.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: And me being me, I obviously wrote a 15-page script, didn't I, for the first one?
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was like, I want to know that I'm covering all my basis and I'm doing everything.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: And my manager, Gary, at the time said, okay, we need to work this down.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can't have a 15-page script.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so by the end of the week, I had one page of bullet points, and he was like, much better.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we'll work from there.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_00: But again, it's only been a week of doing uh these initial client meetings.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to know I had something there to kind of make sure I had everything ticked off.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: And just, oh, generally for me, it's been the best fruit in.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine doing it separately to them.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I love the fact that, yeah, we are a partnership.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_00: That is how I see it.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: They want me to do the best that I can with this job.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I love the fact that they're there and I can speak to people and just be like, hey guys, I'm having an issue with this.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not entirely sure how I'd approach that.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they are very kind of open to supporting me.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_02: Great.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_02: So there was a there was an intensive part in the beginning around the qualification side.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_02: It was online because of and Zoom based because of COVID, right?
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_02: So you're all in a, you know, online, you're doing it all online.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just go back.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_02: The qualifications then.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_02: You said you had to do two.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to do, depends on who knows the technical stuff.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I had to do R01 and I had to do RO5.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you hadn't had any other qualifications under your belt before you joined?
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: Minus a bit of VACA?
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing, no other financial planning qualifications.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_02: So you had to get those two qualifications in place.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_02: And how long did you have to get that done?
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: Six weeks.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_02: Six weeks.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think I probably was one of the last people to be accepted onto the that intake.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some people I've spoken to applied a couple of years before, whereas I only started the application process months before.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_02: And when you were doing those, when you sign up and you do and you say on the diadeline, I'm going to do the academy, right?
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_02: Do you did you have to leave your current job at the time and join the academy, or could you have done the academy alongside your job?
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, naturally, I wasn't working at the time, so I don't think that was a conversation.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um the other guys were in there were still working whilst they were doing it?
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because obviously you don't get paid, do you, when you're in there?
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think some of them were still working.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know one definitely was, well, two definitely were, but they were working for firms that were partnered with St.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place already.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I know that was definitely okay.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_02: So some of the Yeah, so some of the firms were supporting them with a salary, for instance, or supporting them with an income.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, right.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's worth bearing in mind, isn't it?
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_02: Because how much of your time during the the co you know, the cohort, you know, the the stages, how much of your time is dedicated to being within the academy and learning?
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so a typical week on term two, time one being training, do when you want, but term two, yeah, Mondays to Fridays, 9:30 till 4:30 p.m.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: was most days.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, how long for?
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that was for three months.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: For three months, yeah.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a full-time job, learning basically.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it but it's but it's but it's a fast tracking to get in you through those qualifications, right?
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool, excellent.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_02: But the learning that you actually had then when you were online, for instance, because I've spoken to Scott Stevens recently.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_02: They're using like VR headsets now, aren't they?
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: So jealous we missed out.
• 1:01:02
  unknown: Just ahead of them.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_02: People get Oculus quests and they're doing role plays, etc., through the Oculus Quests, aren't they?
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_02: Which I thought was very, very cool.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I love the academy in the sense that it's constantly adapting.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_00: So even when we were on it, they were constantly changing it and having updates in terms of how they approach things.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's really interesting that they've they've brought in VR now.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_02: How long?
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_02: So you may have just said this, but I might have missed it.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_02: So from start to finish in the academy, yes.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_02: How long was that?
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I started 22nd of March last year and I finished mid-September last year.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_00: So six months.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_00: So three months being the first term of exams and three months being the second part of practical.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_02: And how many people?
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_02: There was 15 of you in that cohort, right?
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_02: How many of them qualified?
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_02: How many of them actually went through and graduated from the academy?
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 13 finished um by the end of it.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh another one has recently had to change direction.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think we've we've it didn't necessarily get spoken about at the beginning, but we've realized that not everyone who starts it finishes it as such.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, which is normal, right?
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, you can't get a hundred percent pass rate or a hundred percent, you know, people always do drop out for whatever reasons it might well occur.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_02: And people might think this is just not for me.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_02: I thought it was.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, yeah.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_02: Especially when people don't do their research, right?
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_02: They don't ask the right questions, they're getting it in for the wrong reasons.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because there's like, as you said, there's a lot of hard work involved in becoming a financial planner.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_02: I great.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I love as well what you just spoke about, which is I speak about a lot, which I you know, having a mentor, you know, the very fact that you can talk to somebody, you can pick the phone up and you've got that mentor.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I also just love the fact that as you were going through that training, I assumed that they were putting you into specific scenarios, role plays of what might happen, how you would position yourself as a financial planner.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, yeah.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, is that like the soft skills side?
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_02: Did you feel that they gave you that support around the soft skills side of being a financial planner?
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there's definitely a lot of things as in like how do you position yourself, what's your why?
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really important to know that.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, exactly how to be a good listener.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_00: There was even things like how to have a good posture in a meeting and like to get into the minute, which I loved.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_00: That was just me.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think it was really interesting in terms of how they approach.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: And one guy came in and said, People are cats and people are dogs.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, I love cats, I'm clearly a cat.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked by the end of the session was like, Oh my gosh, I'm such a dog.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_00: And dogs are just like super lovable and super excitable, which I clearly am.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then just like they nod along, they're just like, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas a cat will sit back and be like, I'll take it all in.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if I like you, I like you.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_02: I like that a lot.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of interesting stuff to just kind of open your mind up to different ways of approaching it.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_00: And for some people, why am I learning this?
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't a part of what I need in my day-to-day.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_00: But the way I kind of saw it was it was like they were giving you every tool possible in the toolbox.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you use it, great.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to disregard it, fine.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_00: But we want to give you everything we possibly can to set you up wealth or your career.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_02: Was there ever a stage or a point where you thought, oh my god, I'm a bit over, I'm a bit above, it's but it's above my head, or I'm I'm I I feel like maybe I've made the wrong decision.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps I should have gone down the administration power planner route or or something like that.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_02: Did that ever occur to you?
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's the correct answer.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, I've loved it.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_00: Last year and a half has been great.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_00: Totally, yeah.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_02: So all that learning and everything like that.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, fantastic.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_02: Great.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_02: So fast forward, you know, you are this is where you are now, right?
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_02: So you come out of your you've finished the academy side.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you've got some ongoing learning.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_02: Is there always is there always Oh my gosh, yes.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_00: So that's part of the profession, basically.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's why it's now a profession as of 2012.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm a keen learner.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_00: I actually had to, I have in my Monday meeting a list of different topics for me to go over.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_00: And one of them is what do you need to do less of?
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I need to do less uh learning because I was just such a comfortable learner.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was attending all these webinars and being like, oh, fascinating.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_00: How do we apply that to clients in this particular situation?
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_00: And oh, I want to do a couple more exams in different areas, oh, investment bonds.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_00: I really want to get really like up on that.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then my manager was like, great, but you got to get out there, you've got to be doing the commercial side of this, and that's a top priority as well.
• 1:05:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I've now been putting, you know, other things on the back burner, doing one or two every now and then.
• 1:05:13
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, we do need to do 35 hours of CPD continued professional development every year.
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_00: I could probably do double that easily.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm just I'm a keen learner.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love learning.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's so much to learn, but also it's an industry that's constantly changing.
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have two budgets every year.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_00: Every year things are changing.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to be on top of it and constantly learning and want to learn.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and if you do, then brilliant, because then you'll be, you know, on top of everything.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, economy changes every day.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to get with it.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing is as well, I can understand why they're saying to you, you need to step away a little bit, like you need what can you let go of around the learning?
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because we can spend a lot of our time learning and reading and theorizing and you know, and looking at the theory, they're gonna be called a theorist, isn't it?
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_02: A reflector and a theorist, you know, and we could be brilliant and Absolutely everything about everything, but we spend less time in front of the actual client and we're not writing business, right?
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the same in any kind of sales type um client-facing income totally driven business.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_02: And yours is about bringing an income in.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if it's a female trait.
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to go too much into the male-female divide, but I have heard, you know, if people apply for jobs, a man will see like six out of ten things and he'll apply, be like, great.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_00: A woman will be like nine out of 10.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm just not quite ready to apply.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wonder if that was that part of me being like, no, I need to know so much more to be ready to go out and see people.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I had to reflect myself and be like, no, you're an expert.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_00: You've spent so much time learning the exams, doing all the kind of extra research.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_00: And when in the end, including internal exams, I did 47 exams last year.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've done probably eight already this year.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it's just being like, no, you are ready.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: Go out there, speak to people.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny because I do, I love speaking to people.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's so much fun.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can do it all the time.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_02: You're really good at you're really good at speaking to people.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_02: I love it so much.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're you are massively a natural communicator.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's a pleasure talking to you.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's a good energy and a good vibe from talking to you.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I can see you in those networking events, I can see you in a room full of women as well, like inspiring other women and getting involved in, you know, um women in business type functions, but men as well, you know.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_02: I love talking to I love talking to women because it's a different conversation to what two men can have.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's far more open.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, it's suit I find it suits me.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_02: I like talking to I like talking to women.
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_02: I had Michelle Hoskins on the podcast last week.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_02: I released it today, I think.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_02: Later.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_02: You'll like her, right?
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because she is um at international standards and they're creating a higher standard for financial planners.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_02: And they've got these different standard qualifications, um, which you love to do to obviously.
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_01: I know, right?
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_01: But they've got a weekend booked.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_02: They've got an amazing one, but it doesn't take very long to do, so you should 100% do it.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll tell you why, because it will differentiate you in the marketplace, but it will also add value and it will also help somebody genuinely change somebody's life for the better.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a financial abuse specialism.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, amazing! I mean, it sounds amazing, terrible, but actually, I've just created a master presentation.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_00: I did quite a few slides on this because it's something I'm quite passionate about.
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_02: You should definitely do it.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_02: And it's all about recognizing when somebody, a client, for instance, is sitting in front of you who could be a financial abuser, financially coercive control, that kind of thing, or being a victim of it.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 1:08:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it only got brought in into the uh domestic bill last year.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's so new as a concept, but I think it's something we need to be, as an industry, a lot more aware and perceptive of, totally.
• 1:08:47
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, at different stages within the advice process and different stages within people's lives, especially sort of when people are nearing the end of their life.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_02: It could be some coercive control and manipulation around money, wills, inheritance, that kind of thing.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but also she gave she gave a great example of a woman that was part of a relationship with a man who had lots and lots of money, right?
• 1:09:14
  SPEAKER_02: They had lots and lots of money, they were married.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yet she was controlled in every aspect of her finances.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_02: She had to ask for money every single time, even for things like uh sanitary towels or anything like that.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_02: It was she had to ask for everything.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_02: And when she went to a solicitor to talk about it, the solicitor said, like, well, wait until he sells one of his businesses and then you can do something.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_02: She spoke to somebody else.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't until and and she's and it wasn't until she spoke to a financial planner, and the financial planner had the recognition and the understanding to see what was going on that something could actually be done and to be recognized.
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um so anyone listening to this, Michelle Hoskins, Standard International, financial abuse specialist um qualification.
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I know somebody because the reason I heard about it, because a woman phone woman reached out to me and said, Sam, you should do a podcast about this episode because I've been a victim of financial abuse, and now I've done the financial abuse qualification.
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say there's one in six people in the UK have been a victim of financial abuse, so it's a really high number.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Male and female.
• 1:10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_02: And lots of men are victims of that as well, you know.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and um, I found that like really super interesting.
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where I find financial advice as a career interesting.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because you said earlier about how to position yourself.
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that you're saying like about divorce specialisms, you know, yeah.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, relationships break down, right?
• 1:10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Now, women want to talk to somebody that's going to be of an under their understanding, right?
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_02: So do they want to always sit down with a man?
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, especially when you're going through circumstances like that.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's certain things that a female is going to understand by talking to a female, but also aligning yourself to those markers around well-being allows you to be more of a specialist because that's a great way to say to you, you know, this is why I put that on your page, divorce specialist, yeah, the you know, financial abuse um qualified or whatever, and whatever the different ones are that are out there, there's loads of different things.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's the differentiator.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I always said, like, and I've been, you know, I'm gonna put this out there, but I've been speaking to a financial advisor and a power planner, and I would love to one day set up my own financial advice company, right?
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm manifest manifesting that.
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and you know, I'd be the recruitment side, marketing, I'd have a power planner, and I'd have a financial advisor.
• 1:11:35
  SPEAKER_02: And the focus and the emphasis, and I always say this to anybody, is lead with well-being.
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Totally, yes, exactly.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Just lead with lead, yeah.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's a really important side of it.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I I actually approached um Lizal.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_00: She does kind of skincare, um, and she runs her own magazine, Lizard Wellbeing.
• 1:11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I uh pitched her uh Christmas last year and just said, your magazine is fully about well-being, everything from food to beauty, all these kind of elements, but you don't do finance.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think financial well-being is majorly underrepresented.
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, I actually started writing a column for them, started this year.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the first one was just a bit of a kind of intro into the end of tax year.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I was kind of looking at ICEs and how we need to rebrand things sometimes as well.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, how would you like it if you could make more money without working any more hours?
• 1:12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and it's in a tax environment where you're not going to get taxed on it.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is an ICE.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't think that you think ICE, you're like, oh, technical work, but it's actually like, oh, I could make money without working more hours.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sign me up.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone's like, yes, we need to change our minds when we think about this kind of stuff.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the last one I did was on pensions because, again, it's a passion project for me.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, we need to know more about pensions.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke to someone at a lunch, uh networking lunch on Monday, and she works for a bank, really well up being a good bank, and clearly is a great career woman.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And she mentioned she didn't know that there was anything outside of a workplace pension.
• 1:12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, no, no, you can sign up for a personal pension alongside that too.
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And she was like, didn't know that was a thing.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Her husband has a financial planner, but she she's not a part of that conversation.
• 1:13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not just like, oh my gosh, you and I need to have a coffee.
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's very that's very common, isn't it?
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_02: That somebody my wife deals with all the money.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or my husband deals, you know, my husband deals with all the money.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't get involved in that.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it works well for the relationship.
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_02: But what happens if someone dies?
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, oh my gosh, yeah, exactly.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or exactly divorce, so divorce a widow to kind of be into situations where one person might have to deal with all the finances when they didn't before.
• 1:13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like you're already going through such a stressful, you know, situation.
• 1:13:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's so horrible to go through losing someone or a relationship breaking down, you know, it might be the last thing in your mind is being like, well, what do I do if I can't afford to keep living where I'm living, or I don't have access to money for six months while we're going through probate?
• 1:13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I pay the bills?
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just knowing someone's in your corner that can help you through that.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I really want to help people through that because it can be such a kind of stigma.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, I should know this by this age, you know, I should have learned this sooner.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, we're not taught it in school.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_00: No one's meeting up at the weekends and chatting, going, hey guys, how's your mortgage?
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how are your pensions?
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's have a bit of a conversation.
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I want to be doing.
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be like, no, let's have a chat about your pensions, let's just make it fun, let's go for a coffee.
• 1:14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, let's simplify it.
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Let's have a chat, let's make it simple, let's not make it scary, let's make it simple.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because as soon as you start mentioning money to people, they get very anxious because it's like, oh, they're gonna find out that I don't have as much as I think they think I have, or you know, and people clam up, don't they?
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they think money is like a mirror, it's a reflection of who they are.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, if I'm doing well, I'm successful, that's great, that reflects who I am.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_00: But it can also have so much shame around it because what I'm doing with my money or how I'm earning it, how I'm spending it, that doesn't reflect my values.
• 1:14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel really out of kilter and I feel really uncomfortable talking about it.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's almost a last taboo.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_02: I agree.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_02: It is a last taboo.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I like what you're doing there and the approach that you're it's so early on in your career of piggyback marketing with that.
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Did you say it was a magazine?
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, again.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry for all the podcast people, but I do have it next to me.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that was my last one.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if one is on the podcast, sorry, you can't see it.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I did, I know.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry for them.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_00: I know it is a podcast originally.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did a little spread on pensions and just did a breakdown in terms of what do you actually need in this box?
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was like, so many of us don't know what we need.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I broke it down into basic retirement, stable, and comfortable.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just like, this is what you need in the actual pension pot, and this is what it'll provide for you as an income.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_02: So get your financial abuse specialist certification, and there's your next article in there.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I bet that would go down an absolute storm in a magazine like that.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the thing, isn't it?
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's just looking for those unique ways that you can build partnerships and piggyback market.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_02: What value can I add a magazine such as that to their readers?
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I think again, that's something that women are doing really well.
• 1:15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Women are doing it really well.
• 1:15:54
  SPEAKER_02: And this is why, like when I say in like, you know, as a profession, financial planning is so suited towards women, because you have those, you're able to delve a bit deeper than the making money part.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, what's the added value that I can offer to someone?
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if I write, you know, an article, I'm not benefiting from it.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's not going to help my business necessarily, but it's just I'm sharing some of my information that it might help someone to be like, oh, I didn't realize that that was a thing.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know economic abuse, you know, existed.
• 1:16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now I do.
• 1:16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know who to reach out to.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I can reach these, you know, charities or agencies, or I can reach a financial planner, or I can you can even go into a bank and you can speak to someone in a bank and just say, I'm not feeling comfortable in my relationship with money.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Can I talk to someone?
• 1:16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's so many people you can reach out to with this.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's not part of the conversation, if you don't see it, it's a lot harder to engage with it.
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_02: So things like networking, things like building relationships with third parties, has that something that's been quite easy for you?
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's obviously part of your business plan.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's part of any financial planner's plan, is to get yourself out there in as many ways as you possibly can.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's going to hopefully be seen by the types of people that would then use your services, right?
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Historically, people link up with accountants, they link up with um solicitors, for example, right?
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_02: But now people are doing different things like you're doing.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I said we're doing a mixture.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to create what I would call my power team.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm meeting up with people in those professions.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I met with a family lawyer last week, the week before, I wrote with uh met with a will writer um the before that.
• 1:17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I'm saying, you know, I really want to create that team around me that's the added value sense again.
• 1:17:31
  SPEAKER_00: That if I have a client and they need help with, you know, a legal matter, or I want to expand it further than that.
• 1:17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I want to do like art.
• 1:17:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want to have someone who's an art expert, jewelry, or kind of like maybe fast cars or something.
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And just whatever you need, you know, here's my team around me.
• 1:17:47
  SPEAKER_00: We want to make your life the best it can be.
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I might not be able to help you with finding a certain work of art, but actually, here's someone I've got on speed dial, I can pass, you know, connect you to, and we can kind of build that relationship.
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I just really want to be that point of contact that someone can reach out to and be like, great, I know you can help me with this, but I also need help with this legal matter.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be like, great, not my kind of field, but I have a couple of people I can refer you on to.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I just really, yeah, want to have that power team alongside, like you just said, the networking and the marketing as well, and getting myself out there and being, yeah, doing articles, doing podcasts.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Once I build my confidence a bit further, this is all about um one of my favorite tips in the academy was BBQ, be brave quicker.
• 1:18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So push yourself out of your comfort zone because when you push against it, you're gonna stretch it and you're gonna make it bigger.
• 1:18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I'm trying to do at the moment.
• 1:18:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, goal in the future would be, yeah, to be able to go on TV and be able to talk about these things.
• 1:18:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if I'm there yet.
• 1:18:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is my first podcast.
• 1:18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm easing myself in.
• 1:18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but eventually, yeah, I would I would like to be able to do that and be a face for women who A, want to speak with a financial planner to be like, you know, yes, there's only 16% of us at the moment.
• 1:18:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're tiny in a comparison to what's out there in the wealth management space, but we are here.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And also, you know, people who want to consider it as a career.
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_00: There are women also from that perspective doing it.
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Really consider it for yourself.
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great opportunity.
• 1:19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Give it a go.
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_02: No, you're absolutely spot on, and you're positioned really well to do that.
• 1:19:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're at the beginning of your career.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, six months in.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, six months in.
• 1:19:18
  SPEAKER_02: You've got so many years ahead of you.
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like you're kind of burnt yourself out.
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_02: You're coming in at a point where it's perfect.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, social media is kicking off.
• 1:19:26
  SPEAKER_02: You can get on top of social media, you know.
• 1:19:28
  SPEAKER_02: More financial advisors I'm seeing use Instagram and TikTok these days.
• 1:19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I love it.
• 1:19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I haven't done TikTok.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok, I think it's a bit beyond me.
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not TikTok.
• 1:19:37
  SPEAKER_02: But LinkedIn, you know, so powerful.
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Now, again, how can you stand out on LinkedIn different from the crowd?
• 1:19:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think in a pretty stale profession such as financial planning, when it comes to marketing, just you talking on camera, on video about something for a minute, once or twice a week, I guarantee you you will absolutely attract the right people.
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need to build up that.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but 10 minutes a week, I promise you, right?
• 1:20:05
  SPEAKER_02: You you will you will attract the right people because you are just naturally that type of person.
• 1:20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about the things you care about.
• 1:20:11
  SPEAKER_02: I love the fact that you want to connect with these people as well, that are also talking to the types of people that you want to talk to.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_02: Create that circle and become that key person of influence when it comes to financial advice.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the financial advisor in my circle, but I've created an amazing circle because I know the clients that I'm dealing with would love to talk to her about jewelry, would love to talk to him over there or her about luxury holidays when it comes to retirement.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's a nice area.
• 1:20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Totally, yeah.
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Interior design.
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, yes.
• 1:20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I love that.
• 1:20:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a brilliant approach to networking, which is forward-thinking and very different to what I've heard from the traditional sense.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think anybody coming into the profession, be disruptive.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's a bit like you, you're being disruptive, you're looking at ways to do it, you're adapting the new world to this old world of financial planning.
• 1:21:04
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have to be stuffy.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I kind of like the idea of the dinosaurs dying out a little bit because it's bringing so many more interesting people into the profession.
• 1:21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really exciting the way it can go now.
• 1:21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I feel I've come in at a really good time.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So anyone who's interested, go for it.
• 1:21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like, yeah, it's totally ripe for that kind of like, let's try social media, let's try different approaches, you know, let's let's bring a fresh approach to it.
• 1:21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember when I started the academy, I mentioned a couple of people and it didn't go down too well.
• 1:21:31
  SPEAKER_00: But when I started it, I don't know if it's changed since then.
• 1:21:33
  SPEAKER_00: The average wealth manager was a 55-year-old white male in a pinstripe suit.
• 1:21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't say that, madding that one.
• 1:21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but who knows?
• 1:21:40
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I quite like the fact that we can bring people in and, you know, all these different people can enter it as a space.
• 1:21:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's so for me, welcoming.
• 1:21:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's the one thing I feel like I need to say.
• 1:21:50
  SPEAKER_00: I have found it to be such a wonderful space to enter.
• 1:21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's been super helpful, even you know, my colleagues at St.
• 1:21:56
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place, really helpful.
• 1:21:58
  SPEAKER_00: If I want to pick up the phone, I've emailed quite a few people.
• 1:22:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this is woman gay, who is the biggest one-woman band at St.
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place.
• 1:22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I reached out to her, I just sent her an email saying, you know, I think you're awesome.
• 1:22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't know if I was quite that suck off.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I am inspired by her and I just thought I'd love to have a quick chat.
• 1:22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we had like a 10 to 20 minute uh phone call, and she was wonderful and really kind of like open to talking to me and everything, someone who's brand new.
• 1:22:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I'm doing yet.
• 1:22:23
  SPEAKER_00: This was back in kind of before I think I'd even launch the business.
• 1:22:26
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just such a nice space that everyone's really welcoming.
• 1:22:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then I feel like I've connected with people outside of the space as well.
• 1:22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So there's other financial planners that I follow on LinkedIn and Instagram, and we're commenting and liking on each other's stuff.
• 1:22:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Dame Helena Morrissey is like amazing for me as a woman in the space.
• 1:22:43
  SPEAKER_00: She's been in it for quite a while.
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, she was CEO of uh Newton Investment Management and is now chair of AJ Bell.
• 1:22:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I've actually been connecting with her on Instagram over the last year and a half.
• 1:22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I saw her at an AJ Bell event earlier this year, and she just came over and said, How's it all going?
• 1:22:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so nice that it feels like such a welcome space that we were all there to help each other out, to check in and be like, How are you doing?
• 1:23:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's let's have a conversation, let's see where we can kind of support each other in this space.
• 1:23:11
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, that's a great time.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Another example why women don't struggle to reach to network it's a good job for for a woman because you don't see yourself as competition, you see yourself as supporting each other.
• 1:23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 1:23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:23:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that and that's only helping you because it's giving you power.
• 1:23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:23:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's giving you power, it's giving you support, and you are all in it together because there's a massive pool of clients out there, you're not fighting each other, right?
• 1:23:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you just need to- Oh my gosh, yeah.
• 1:23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I think women within the profession need to support them each other, same as men do, support each other, because especially women, because distinct lack of women within the profession.
• 1:23:46
  SPEAKER_02: If you're all supporting each other, you're all commenting on each other's stuff, you're all liking each other's stuff, you're sharing each other's stuff, right?
• 1:23:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, who's gonna see that?
• 1:23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, some girls, some, yeah, and if they see that and they see that idea of wow, what does she do?
• 1:24:01
  SPEAKER_02: She looks so happy and she's talking about well-being and she's talking about money, which I'm interested in.
• 1:24:05
  SPEAKER_02: She looks really successful, and all of a sudden, boom, it inspires somebody to want to join the profession.
• 1:24:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because why is a little, you know, why is a girl gonna look into a world of men or a world of just boring jargon, right?
• 1:24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Which is why it's been and get inspired by that.
• 1:24:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's no wonder no one gives a shit about it because no one sees good positive people within it.
• 1:24:26
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a duty, I think, for women within the profession to step up, to stand up and be seen, because it's going to influence the next generation coming through.
• 1:24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Totally agree with that.
• 1:24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually did uh talking about all my love qualifications, I did uh financial education towards the end of last year, start of this year, both workplace and school, separate ones.
• 1:24:46
  SPEAKER_00: And in both senses, I want to get out there and be a face for this kind of role.
• 1:24:50
  SPEAKER_00: And in schools, exactly.
• 1:24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it'd be so helpful to go in and just be like, there are women in this space.
• 1:24:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's great, it's super like open.
• 1:24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And also, this is what it is, because I think that's the other side of it.
• 1:25:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to know what it is.
• 1:25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then it's like, oh, but I don't really like maths.
• 1:25:03
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't for me.
• 1:25:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, you don't need to be good at maths to do that.
• 1:25:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's such a kind of common assumption is well, I'm not good at maths, I can't do this.
• 1:25:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'd say probably the most important thing is relationships, that kind of communication, being able to collaborate with people and be like, let's work together, whether that's colleagues, whether that's clients, you know, it's just like let's all kind of help each other out.
• 1:25:23
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I'd love to work towards being a face within the space to kind of help make that a real thing for other people.
• 1:25:31
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 1:25:31
  SPEAKER_02: I love what you just said there as well, because that's exactly what it's about, isn't it?
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and you're right there to say it's not because this and that's the beautiful thing about how the profession's evolving.
• 1:25:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've all got calculators, you know, there are specific sums and things that we just do on our calculators, can do it in our heads.
• 1:25:45
  SPEAKER_02: But what you also have in your back pocket, and you're starting to build that within your own business, but I'm sure that you can tap into it at St.
• 1:25:51
  SPEAKER_02: James's place if you need it, is power planners.
• 1:25:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, you know, administrators, analysts, investment managers, investment committees.
• 1:25:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there are people in the background, compliance managers checking your work.
• 1:26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, yes.
• 1:26:03
  SPEAKER_02: T and C, training, development.
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, there is so much support in areas where you may lack confidence.
• 1:26:11
  SPEAKER_02: And if something does uh drop through the net, it's going to get picked up by somebody else.
• 1:26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, yeah.
• 1:26:18
  SPEAKER_02: So you're right.
• 1:26:18
  SPEAKER_02: The area where you know you could spend your whole life being the most brain of Britton and doing those qualifications, but if you do lack on the other side, people skills, understanding of human behavior, an interest in what makes people tick, an interest in others.
• 1:26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Curiosity.
• 1:26:35
  SPEAKER_02: Curiosity.
• 1:26:37
  SPEAKER_02: But curiosity is powerful.
• 1:26:39
  SPEAKER_02: I learned so much from just asking questions and sitting and listening.
• 1:26:42
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 1:26:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:26:44
  SPEAKER_02: And if you've got the ability to be inquisitive and ask the right questions, you get a deep connection with somebody.
• 1:26:52
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, yeah.
• 1:26:53
  SPEAKER_02: And the next thing I'm going is someone walks away after a cup of coffee and goes, I bloody love that person.
• 1:26:57
  SPEAKER_02: She actually cared about me.
• 1:26:58
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
• 1:26:59
  SPEAKER_02: I walked away.
• 1:26:59
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't give her any money, I didn't give her anything.
• 1:27:02
  SPEAKER_02: She just we just had a good chat and gave me some time.
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_02: And she possibly identified an area of weakness and she normalized it.
• 1:27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 1:27:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I want to normalize the whole conversation.
• 1:27:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want it to be like, oh, I can't tell someone about this because I'm actually a bit embarrassed and oh, I should have figured this out.
• 1:27:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm gonna hear everything, I feel like, in the course of this job.
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be like a doctor.
• 1:27:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen everything.
• 1:27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't have that shame.
• 1:27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just chat it through.
• 1:27:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just if you can overcome that hurdle of being like, oh, I don't really want to tell someone about that, and you do tell someone about it, they might put you in such a better position than if you hadn't.
• 1:27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And something I keep reminding myself on this on my vision board is where you are a year from now is down to the steps you took today.
• 1:27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, totally, if you can, you know, have that confidence to speak to someone who, you know, can relate to you or not, but can kind of understand it from your sense and just really kind of guide you because there's, yeah.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: financial advice what I do but there's also guidance and education which is a whole separate thing and that's what I'm working on as well is being able to guide and educate people and just really kind of help where I can.
• 1:28:11
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 1:28:12
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the future.
• 1:28:14
  SPEAKER_02: What does the next year look like for you then?
• 1:28:16
  SPEAKER_02: Where are you?
• 1:28:17
  SPEAKER_02: You've got yourself to this stage, right?
• 1:28:19
  SPEAKER_02: What does the next year look like for you?
• 1:28:21
  SPEAKER_02: What are you excited about?
• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_02: Where are you where are you heading?
• 1:28:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I really want to build up my client bank.
• 1:28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously being six months in I'm super green comparative to other people in this industry.
• 1:28:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to really kind of work on you know expanding the people that I'm working with and just yeah curiosity of meeting all these different characters and getting to know them.
• 1:28:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then I guess it's things like I'd like to do more of the marketing stuff of what I'm doing.
• 1:28:43
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe reach out to a couple of other publications and start doing columns with them and just really getting the message out there.
• 1:28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Develop a couple of corporate partnerships.
• 1:28:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I've just partnered up with um Douglas and Gordon the estate agents.
• 1:28:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping to go in there and speak to their employees about kind of what possibilities are out there and just start reaching out to a couple of other firms and really start kind of building up that connection that I can come in, I can speak to employees.
• 1:29:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's an additional benefit for them and just really educate them on their finances and really help with them.
• 1:29:11
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, podcast love to get on a couple more podcasts this has been a great I've actually really enjoyed this.
• 1:29:17
  SPEAKER_02: I've loved it yourself on some podcasts that that's a short term goal right because it's easy as well you can just you know contact some people get on some podcasts and that'll build that confidence up for you as well.
• 1:29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Once you have sort of five five of those under your belt you're you're great and you start to build your pitch a little bit you know you and you're naturally you're you're a good guest.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_02: So people will enjoy having you on the podcast.
• 1:29:39
  SPEAKER_02: So you know do that follow that through that's one thing which is simple that you can do and that's just simply by researching and reaching out to podcasts because they're looking for guests and if you just list a few things that you can talk about that could be interesting for their listeners they'll be like yeah brill let's have a chat totally a chat is a chat you never know whether person and the beautiful thing about podcast hosts right I already want to say to you have you spoken to Michaela Green yet at St.
• 1:30:04
  SPEAKER_00: James's place oh um we've connected on uh Instagram but I haven't actually like had a proper reach out to her because yeah talking about TV you're talking about PR she's on TV now yes yeah oh she is amazing because she wrote a book she's on television yes yeah yeah she's got a great obviously someone in the background as well she's actually the last podcast I listened to that you did was the one you did with her from last year I think it was that was the last one I listened to.
• 1:30:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and she's done so much since then you know so reach out to her and speak to her.
• 1:30:35
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about Michelle Hoskins and Standards International.
• 1:30:38
  SPEAKER_02: So what you get from guests so what you get from hosts of financial of podcasts is somebody who's well connected and can introduce you to other people totally yes yeah think about the people that's podcasts you want to get on with too and think about that 15 minutes before and that 15 minutes after all that build up to it like you and I yeah we've built a relationship.
• 1:31:00
  SPEAKER_02: Totally it's gonna serve you in some respect, you know?
• 1:31:04
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 1:31:05
  SPEAKER_02: All right fantastic well listen so pleased to have you on the podcast today.
• 1:31:09
  SPEAKER_02: I really really enjoyed our conversation I was really anxious because I ran about 30 kilometers I thought I was going to die.
• 1:31:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um but you've just kept me awake kept me interested and you've got an infectious lovely personality and I so pleased that I helped you on your journey.
• 1:31:25
  SPEAKER_02: Really have and um it makes it all worthwhile for me and what I do.
• 1:31:29
  SPEAKER_02: And um I just wish you all the best and let's keep in contact.
• 1:31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely gotta say it's been a joy being my first ever podcast I've you feel very welcome so I appreciate that.
• 1:31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you and yeah exactly you were my first as I said resource into this so yeah I can't wait to see the next one two three years by beyond of this because I think yes such a great podcast brilliant thank you so much nice one have a great day you too bye