Latest / Only Fee-Only / #157 - From Furlough to Founder of a Fee-Only RIA - Ryan Johnson

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#157 - From Furlough to Founder of a Fee-Only RIA - Ryan Johnson · Only Fee-Only

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: How's it going, everyone?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to the Only Fee Only Podcast, and thanks for being here.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: In this episode, we talked to Ryan Johnson, the founder of 100 Financial Planning.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: He joins us to talk about building a fee-only firm from the ground up.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: He shares how a backup plan, PowerPoint, turned into his actual business plan, what the first two years of firm ownership have really looked like, and how he structures his intro calls to make clients feel heard before anything else.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: We also get into serving high-earning young families, why LinkedIn finally clicked after a year of just working on it, and his take on why human advisors still win in an AI world.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: So we were all over the place.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: I love it when we get to have conversations about different things and kind of touch on a bunch of different stuff, and the conversation really just flowed.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: Great episode.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: So enjoy this episode with Ryan Johnson on the OnlyFee Only Podcast.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: How's it going, everyone?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only Podcast.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Peter Tirovolo.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here with my co-host Brock Buckles.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: And today we're very excited to have Ryan Johnson on from 100 Financial Planning.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Really excited to have him on and share his story about how he's building his firm.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, Ryan, welcome to the show.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me on, guys.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Excited to be here.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, likewise.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: So for those who don't know who you are, let's do a quick little background and then we'll dive a little deeper.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So uh been in the industry for going on five years, launched my own firm two years ago.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was a career changer.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I started in marketing primarily at like graphic design branding firms.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't like going out and doing social media stuff as much as it was trying to help help companies build brands, all that kind of stuff.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: The whole time I was like a project manager and I was like trying to do a bunch of things, but um I had more fun answering my coworkers' questions about their 401ks the whole time.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: COVID was great because I was working for a hotel company and no one was seeing hotels.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So revenues tanked, and it gave me an opportunity while I was furloughed to rethink what I wanted to do with my life.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so my wife encouraged me down this path, and here I am almost six late years later.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So there's my short intro.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's crazy.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: So have the six years gone pretty fast, man, or has it felt like the first two years were like ramping up trying to figure it all out?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: I know that it uh Yeah.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I just launched, and I'll be two years in like two weeks, which is pretty fun.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for me it's a good sign though, because I always was like one of those employees who was like looking for a new job six months later because I was like, eh, there's something about this I didn't like.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Turns out it was just the wrong career, right?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: But now I'm like, this is fun.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm still iterating constantly, processes are improving, and every time I get a new client, I'm like, oh sweet, I get to dig into the data again.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's a good sign that I found something that's a good fit.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so how did you find the fee-only space?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when I was exploring the industry, I connected with as many people as possible.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've been a big fan of cold outreach my my whole life.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Even when I was in college, I was trying to get jobs at agencies.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I sent like 50 cold emails.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I will just, you know, I'll serve the coffee and like stand in the corner with a smile as long as I can tell people it was an internship so I can get a job.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, like that's worked for me a big time.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I sent this, I did the same thing.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I want something, I just reach out to as many people as I can.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so I connected with probably 15 to 20 advisors and just got their stories and perspectives.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And there are a number of folks who were recommending Michael Kitsus.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so his kind of space um in the the Nerd's IV blog, you know, talk a lot about the differences.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was listening to the Financial Advisor Success podcast before I understood what a lot of the acronyms were.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh ironically, a lot of that podcast is more about practice management than it is about like the intricacies of financial planning.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so they would talk.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: There was so many stories of people who like leave broker dealers and launch their own firms, and they're all talking about the conviction behind Fee only.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting, like, hmm, this is fascinating.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that conviction grew as I heard those stories.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of my introduction.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:33
  unknown: Yeah.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: All doors lead to Michael Kitts', I feel like.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the amount of times that we've heard people say that has been really interesting.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: So, but you I mean, you were always kind of interested in numbers.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: Was it always something that kind of like you knew that you liked, or you kind of liked it, the thought of financial thing, or no, I I like to joke that I I I'm not good at math, and um I recently learned that that's not true.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I always, you know, you always compare yourself with the person who's higher above and better than you, and they could always do that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then I realized like I do math in my head really fast, and financial things and money doesn't stress me out, which is also not true for most people, which was news to me, right?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like, I don't want to do this, money's not that hard.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And my wife was like, No, you need to do this because you just said money is not hard, which is not true for a lot of people.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, okay.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's kind of like a lack of aware social awareness, so to speak, even though for me it was like, I don't even think of myself as like a type A person or like a big numbers guy.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because I like when I hear numbers guy, I think of like accountant, bean counter.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, let's just hang out, guys.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's just have a good time.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no big deal.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but at the same time, when I'm looking at the specifics of somebody's health care plan or even just like a budget like I was this morning, I'm just kind of sit sitting there, kind of ruminating on it for a while.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, okay, I see what they're trying to do.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's a fascinating mental exercise for me that probably isn't true for most people.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, how long um was it kind of from listening from you know, Kitsus and the podcast that when you decided to finally launch your firm in 2024?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what was like that kind of brainstorm period and then registration and things like that?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a great question.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um there was kind of several important points.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: One guy told me I should launch my firm right off the bat.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that I wanted to have a book of business, and there's a lot of different ways you can go.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be firm ownership, but um if you can sell, you'll be compensated better no matter what, right?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a lot of financial planners in the space who just they just want to do financial planning, they don't want to deal with client service or client acquisition for that matter.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's paths for them, and you can have a solid salary and join a great company.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: But in the end, like that's the opportunity to own a book.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I really enjoy the relationship development component too.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I would never, in my mind, I wouldn't hire someone who was just getting started.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, well, I wouldn't hire me, so I would ask someone else to hire me.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so my idea was to like join a firm and you know, have a succession path that everyone was rumoring about that me and a lot of my colleagues weren't experiencing.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I did join another firm for a couple years.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was through a broker dealer.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a lot of like, I felt like we I wanted to make all these crazy changes and move really fast because of all this exciting stuff that's happening in the space, and because of, you know, a lot of the practice management content I consumed for the last few years.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it's important for legacy firms to not move as quickly because they're gonna throw things off and there's systems that have been in place.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that's important is the right word, but part of what keeps them stable as a giant ship is like you know, they can keep moving and they can carry a lot of people and they have a lot of things in place that supports that.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that was like my appetite was not getting satisfied.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so I was like, man, this is really like I just want to try to do things like faster.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I actually started to do was created this, it was like a PowerPoint deck of like Ryan's ideal firm.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Here are all the things I want to be true about, you know, advisor-owned relationships and client service and fee structures and marketing.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And lo and behold, it slowly turned into like a business plan.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I was interviewing with another you know, billion dollar RIA and really loved the organization.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember I was mowing my lawn and I was like, man, it'd be awesome if they figured if they you know decide it's not a good fit because then I could launch my own firm, my backup plan.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oops, I just realized that my backup plan was like what I actually wanted to do.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I ran inside and told my wife, and she's like, I like the other idea because that has health insurance.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this one, so you know, we talked about it for a few months and I kept running numbers, and it was one of those things where it would make sense if it worked, right?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: So um I'm kind of coming up now, like my revenue is past like what I made before, but there are a lot of expenses that exist.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I haven't gotten to the point where like my take-home pay is the same as you know my corporate job, but I can very clearly see like the I mean I'm I'm coming down, I'm coming, I'm closing in on 25 clients in two years.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So then I was just like, whoa, like the first two years are the hardest.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm getting more kind of leads now than I had at any point.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all these seeds that were planted a long time ago.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, if it just stays this way for the next two years, like there's a reality that I'm at 108 years, right?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm hoping it's sooner than that, but that's kind of what the goal was.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, geez, like it's kind of working, and like now every new client is just pure revenue, right?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like you know, there are gonna be costs that come in down the road, but you know, so much of it is like bamboo where you're spending all this time and it's just the roots and there's no fruit yet, and it's like planting seeds and pushing it down, and then boom, it shoots up overnight, and you're like, geez, this is amazing.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's the classic fallacy of an overnight success, right?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like fine, it seems like everything's going really well for you.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, should have called me at 2 a.m.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: 18 months ago.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, what have been some of the key lessons or maybe some key ideas that we're no longer implementing?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember my first plan presentation was like two hours and 15 minutes and had 14 action items, and that was like so bad.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I always joke about it with my clients because, like, oh, we just remember being overwhelmed by gratitude because, like, oh, there's so many opportunities for us to do things better.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so now I have a different approach where um we kind of address one to two items at a time.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I also then learned that some clients want it all.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So then I'll ask clients their preference.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, there's two ways we can do this.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: I can give you everything, or I can kind of work through a couple at a time.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Most people end up preferring this.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's not true for all of them.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: So um the client service is kind of evolving, but I'm not just a new firm serving new clients now.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I'm trying to kind of flesh out more is my ongoing client service model.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what does year three and four look like?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm trying to get feedback from clients on that.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of them are like honestly, what you have right now, it's like three structured meetings a year with you know, a fourth that's like life event dependent.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're having a kid, we're buying a car, I'm changing jobs, you know, that kind of thing.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that would be one thing.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing I've I've changed since I'm beginning, which I think was just a time issue, was marketing strategies.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was like video, blog, LinkedIn, you know, short form video, YouTube.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like doing everything.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so the more that I've kind of run out of time as the business has grown, but also just kind of like sick of having to be like every people at once.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've kind of honed in on LinkedIn.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm finally getting leads from there after two years.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, was that just because you found out that it worked better for you, or was it like, I feel like this is the way that I come across, like people understand me better this way.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: This is a good platform for me because I know there are a lot of advisors out there asking the same question.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like, where do I spend my time?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: And where's my time?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: Where is it worthwhile, right?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: Where am I gonna see ROI?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: How am I gonna make the best of it?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so for me it was an energy question.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I found that I got good feedback from the videos that I made, and I'm not uncomfortable on camera per se.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I just hated the process of writing, recording, and distributing.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And now I'm gonna get a bunch of DMs from people.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: I do this for you, you know.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't want to invest in those services at the time.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that answer for me was like, I was already on there.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I find it to be a fascinating space.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I go in there curious, like I open LinkedIn.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I wonder what the people of the world have to say that might be interesting to me.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that was kind of a light bulb moment that that's probably a good space for me.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I after about a year, I had people who I like knew in my life who never interacted with me on LinkedIn who were like, hey dude, I love your LinkedIn stuff.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: I read every one.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, really?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, Yeah, I don't really like or comment, I just kind of lurk on there, but keep it up.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, there's probably more people like that personality.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: The first couple um kind of cold reach outs, like, hey Ryan, I've been following you for a while, really appreciate your perspective.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, we could use some help financially, were from those types of folks who were they were followers, they weren't, you know, they weren't interacting, so to speak.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so after that happened, I was like, oh, sweet, like there's a real opportunity here.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um the other thing I had to remember is my feed is filled with financial planners and people who are connected to them.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, ah, this is just noise.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: But like my potential clients' feeds and my clients' feeds are not.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's filled with their circles, and I might be one of either the only one or one of the only few financial planners that they're connected to.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so you know, there's a real possibility that like I'm the only person talking to them about things that are important to them, and I don't really have to differentiate myself so much apart from maybe the occasional viral posts that they see.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I was like, oh, so that's kind of a long-winded way of saying I like the space, it's interesting to me.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so if I'm gonna hang out there, I might as well try to kind of put throw my voice into the mix.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: So of the you know, a couple dozen clients, you know, what's kind of been your niche and like what kind of um introductions are you getting?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um, I don't have like a professional niche.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've really kind of honed in on hiring young families.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like a common pain point I hear from parents is they just don't have the time that they had.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the classic, what did I do with my time before kids showed up?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've heard this version of I used to be really proactive with my finances, but now it's been six months since I actually sat down and looked at it.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when I have the free time, the last thing I want to do is this, even if it shows up.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, I kind of lean into that.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um, to that end, um, because I serve high-earning young families, there are a lot of professions that fit that pretty quickly.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like your classic tech employee, um, lawyers, um, engineers, and uh medical professionals, those or business owners.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: So those tend to be kind of like the main areas, but I'm not like, hello, I learn I serve lawyers, tech employees, business professionals, and medical professionals.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like a way of saying you serve everyone if you have enough money, you know.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's uh not the real solution.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's kind of how it's done.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: I thought about honing in on those even further, but I'm at a point in my life and knowing myself where all of the improvements for efficiency's sake, well, if you just serve the same type of person, you could be even more efficient.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't attract me.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: I am more in I more enjoy novelty and like, ooh, this is a new one.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I uh I like that kind of being able to bounce back and forth.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: So kind of keeps you sharp, right?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like you have a new challenge, you're you're staying engaged with your work, you like what you're doing, you're able to kind of get into things that are different all the time.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: Because yeah, when you're doing things that are the same all the time, it can definitely get a little bit monotonous, even though I will say, even if you are doing the same thing and you own a business and you have freedom, I would still say that's better than what the vast majority of people after are doing.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one of those questions that Carl Richards has posed before.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: He talks about look, what are you optimizing for?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I often think about that um in the context of my business.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got pretty specific around, you know, revenue goals, but also like hours a week goals, you know, like I don't want to be doing 50.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even want to be doing 40, you know, it's like um I've got a take home that I want to get to, um, but there's a point where I'd be willing to reinvest into you know, paraplanners or assistants where maybe my you know, maybe earlier than what would feel rational.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if it's like, hey, I'm living the lifestyle I want, I get to spend the time with my wife and kids that I want.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um for now I'm I'm kind of leaning towards that lifestyle business practice kind of who knows if a hundred clients happens in five years instead of eight, I could probably change that conversation, but we'll see.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: But right now, the the thing that's most important to you would say is like just being able to spend time with family, have your time and and control that aspect of your life.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my wife had was uh she was out of town this weekend for like an old friend's baby shower, and I was just really glad that she got to go.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: But then there was tons of flight changes with all of the weather that was happening.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so she had to fly home yesterday.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just, you know, I couldn't work, but I wasn't like stressed about my boss being upset or getting things done, you know.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, all right, kids, here's what we're gonna do today instead, you know.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we went to the library and we went to the gym and we had pizza for dinner, which they loved, and my wife didn't love.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a great, it was a great day.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, you don't have to be an owner to have the flexibility, but it's just been so profound.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I posed this question to my wife.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I said, hey babe, how much money would I need to make for me to go work for another company where it's like three weeks of PTO a year, and I have to like be in the office at like you know, nine to five every day.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, every day, three weeks?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, five hundred, seven hundred thousand dollars a year.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like I and nothing?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I'd want, I don't know that it even is a money thing for me.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I just want the flexibility that you have.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so like that helps me.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we'll go to, you know, she's from Minnesota, we'll go there for a week four times a year, and I'll just work there, you know.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um, again, that's true of anyone with a remote job, but there's so many components of it where you know it's worth the risk if it if it works, you know, having a business that that works.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: So um I'm excited about the the future and the foundation that we've got going.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: So Brock, you're muted.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was gonna say something.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: You must have tapped the mic.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'm back.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Am I back?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can jump right into it.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: You guys can cut that part out.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, maybe we'll just leave it in so people know real mistakes happen.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, no, but I was just gonna say, you know, early on you talked about uh how there's like 14 action items, and then, you know, now you're down to like I'll let you choose.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: But like, what does that original like you meet somebody for the first time, right?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: What does that conversation actually look like?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: How are you talking to them?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I know for some advisors, they're getting into the numbers a little bit.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: Some advisors, it's like we don't even talk about the numbers our first conversation.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: We just talk about where you want to be, what you want to do.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: Then I send them like kind of an intake form, if you will, of like gather all these statements for me.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: What does that look like for you?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you're saying first person reaches out saying, hey, in the very first conversation before very first conversation.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like somebody either refers them to you or you're meeting them for the first time.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got about a 45-minute meeting called intro call, uh, and I spend 30 minutes of that asking questions.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a series of questions I ask as I try to get to know somebody, things around um, you know, hey, in your own words, like most people don't wake up and say, hey, I want to work with a financial guy.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's going on?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: What's top of mind for you?
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then it translates into things like, well, why now?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which help helps me understand some of the urgencies.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about their current approach, like, well, what are some things that you've tried?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: What are you currently doing?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of my favorite questions are if you had a magic wand, like what would be one thing you'd want to look differently?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's sometimes can be redundant.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like oftentimes, like, well, like I said, I've got this issue.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: I need to be better at budgeting, Ryan.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: I already said that.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes they're like, oh, you know, honestly, if I have a magic wand, I'd just love to like not be stressed about this anymore.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, interesting.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's very good to hear you say.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then lastly, not lastly, but kind of the Trump all is like, hey, think, imagine one year from now that this is a success.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, February 2027, we started working together, and you look back on the relationship, and you're like, wow, I'm really glad we did that.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: What would what happened?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: What would need to be true for you to say that that's the case?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and every now and then people will be like, well, you know, better outcomes financially, market performance.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, well, you know.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: But mostly they're just kidding about that.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times they'll say, confidence that we're making the right decisions, progress along, you know, these pain points that I that I made, and then kind of mental clarity, piece of mind.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really fast.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: So um then I asked them about their experience with the financial profession, which is very important.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, have you ever worked with someone before?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh they try to sell you whole life.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I've got a lot of graduates of you know, insurance salesmen.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um graduates.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they've uh they've they've they've moved on.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so um that's that's helpful.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: But then also if they haven't, I try to do two things.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: A affirm their decision because it's really stressful.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be like, hey, great job for reaching out.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know it can be stressful, and there's a lot of me out there, and it's hard to know who to trust.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And they're always like, yes, oh my gosh, it's so hard.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I try to shift that into tell me about your expectations.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you've never worked with someone before, like, how do you think it's gonna go?
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really interesting to hear what they say.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, they're like, Well, I don't know, you tell me.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, great.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but sometimes they're like, Well, I don't know, like checking in like like once a year, maybe once every other year, and I'm like, whoa, I can outperform your expectations.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, right.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so then what I really try to do, oh, then we talk a little bit about their kind of income asset level financial situation.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that helps me understand through those conversations, hey, is this gonna be a good fit for me?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd say like two to five percent of the time, I'm like, I see, like, I actually don't think I'm gonna be the best fit for you before I would even go into how I serve clients and doing all that kind of stuff.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like what you need is this.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound right?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's exactly right.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, great.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I just had one of these last week, and she was talking about being from Canada and living in the US and having all these forms that she needed to do.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, are you looking for an accountant?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that fine?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't do that.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but also just like giving them a summary of what they just said back to me as part of the science of feeling heard.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like you're struggling with this, you've tried this, you really want this, and ideally, this would be the outcome you want.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's exactly right.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good news is you're in the right place.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Would it be helpful if I talked about my process, my framework, some of the technology I use and client experience?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So then I go through my big framework that I developed primarily for high-earning young families.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: I talk about a little bit about the technology I can see just to kind of give them a taste for pretty pictures and dashboards and numbers.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I go, I'd really like something like that for me, you know.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then we talk about the onboarding process and the client experience and what they can experience in years one and two and three and all that kind of stuff.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then we talk about pricing.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of the yeah.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: So it sounds like you're you're really going through like all the questions, repeating it back to them, understanding where they're coming from, going through some of the numbers, and then you talk about pricing.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: Is that is that what I'm hearing you say?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: See what it's like, Caroline?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: I repeated it back to you, what you just repeated.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: You did it.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was beautiful.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: I felt heard now.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: I want what are you selling?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'll buy it now.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: No, you know what we do, man.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I'm I've I've got, I don't know, 10 plus clients headed your way and with.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: But um the second meeting is always the non-financial.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is a discovery meeting.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is a talk about your relationship with money, that's it tell me about money, money wasn't an issue, all that kind of stuff.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I get a lot of amazing feedback from people.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's always a requirement before they become a client, too.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: So a person who's a hardcore business development person be like, Why are you creating more friction for someone to start on?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: But whenever I get reviews from clients, it's like over and over again, they're saying, Ryan really understands me.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like he really gets our values, and like that's the point.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so the values become the summary.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do an exercise where you go from like 100 down to five.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I ask six questions, and then at the end, I'm just like, here's what I heard, the values that came through.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's more powerful because again, it's like super active listening from my end, and they're like, geez, we never had that happen.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I just got an email yesterday from someone who was like, if only you knew how helpful this has been for us.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: This conversation sparked incredible additional conversations, uh, just with one another, and has given us hope for the future.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's just like, yeah, I'm like, I added that to my Stoke folder on my little Yeah, can't get better than that.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm feeling down, I just gotta go read people complimenting me.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh, okay, maybe I maybe I don't suck as much as I think I do.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: So it feels good to hear though.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: It feels good to hear.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: After that discovery meeting, that's when uh they'd kind of raise their hand to to move forward.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I love it.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Ryan, any other golden nuggets you're thinking of before jumping on the podcast today?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see here.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I don't know.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like everywhere I go, everything is AI this, AI that and uh it's fascinating because I talked to a lot of clients who are afraid of their jobs, and I've got talked to a lot of you know other financial advisors who are afraid of theirs.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: My most recent intro call last week Wednesday um was like a software engineer who said he wasn't looking for financial advice um until he realized that ChatGBT had given him a wrong number from like 2025.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And like he realized in that moment, like, oh yeah, I understand it's just a fallacy of prompting.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like I should have said use the updated numbers, but like how many times am I not gonna know which question to ask this thing?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that really made me realize like, uh, I think that the ramifications of trusting this and getting it wrong are not worth the cheap amount of money it costs to me.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: So um there's always the classic fallacy, like the current level of the technology is how it's always gonna be, um, and it's gonna evolve.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I know I'm someone who would pay more for an in-person service uh and for a human.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I don't need to convince everybody, I just need to convince 50 to 100 that like working with a human is gonna be better for them.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that's gonna be true for the rest of our lives.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like Gen Z might be like, I hate humans, they're the worst.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, humans sometimes don't agree with me, and I don't want to have that be the case.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: So um actually, you know, that's generational meanness to Gen Z.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: So just kidding.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a reality of growing up with certain technologies that you're more comfortable with that.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm that's kind of more what I'm speaking to.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that my last golden nugget is like if you treat people well, uh put them first, um, are relentless about utilizing technology and making sure the outcome is best for them.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a place for you in this world, even as technology evolves.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: So absolutely.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's my two cents.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, that's my that's my five cents.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can't get two cents anymore.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: So there you go, man.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I love it.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: Well, hey, great insights, a lot of good golden nuggets in there.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: For people that do want to follow along with what you're doing.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, would I be right in assuming, based on what you said earlier, that LinkedIn is the best place for that?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I uh that would be great.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've gotten a lot of kind of folks in the industry who've reached out, which has been fun, and I've reached out to others there too.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's a fun, it's a fun little professional playground that we get to all.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: That it is.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: That it is and the XY Facebook group.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's another playground.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but Ryan, thank you so much for your time today.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate it.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Peter, Brock, good to see you guys.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good week, likewise.