Latest / Better Planner / #11 - Surge Meetings Without Burning Out
Transcript
- Taylor Stewart: Welcome back, another episode of the Better Planner Podcast. I got Colin here today. How are you, Colin? Colin: Good Taylor. Just me today, I guess. I'm sorry to disappoint. Taylor Stewart: It's just it's just you. Yeah. We had a nice run of guests. So I'm not having as good a day as normal because I have to talk to you, but no, it's all right. Yeah, it's been a little we took a little break again. saw each other in person, XYP and live. That was fun. Colin: Yeah. We we ditched the meeting and and ditched the conference and got out on a sailboat too. Taylor Stewart: I always feel super bad when people say, what was the highlight of the trip? And it was our little two hour sailing adventure in the San Diego Bay. But it was awesome. It was awesome. That was Colin: That's hard to beat. And I didn't I didn't run us aground either. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. scared us a little bit at the beginning, but you figured it out. I mean guess I can share the story real quick. So Colin is he's a sailor. He had he's like he's like, I got a sailboat. You have a sailboat at home, right? In the Yeah. And so you're Colin: I do, yeah. Well a little yeah, a little one. Taylor Stewart: he's like, it was the last day, you know, a lot of meetings. We're having lunch and he's just like it's like right on the water, and you're just like staring at the water, daydreaming. You're like, You want to go sailing? I said, Yeah, let's do it. I've never been. And we we rounded up another advisor and we went over there, and I'm feeling confident. Colin's got it, and he they make you take this little test, and he mostly passed it. So I was like, Okay, yeah, Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: that's fine. It's you know, whatever. And then we get we get on the boat and we're like literally just in the harbor pulling out. And you're like, I was like, so where'd you learn how to sail? Thinking, you know, my grandpa when I was four years old, you're like, mostly self-taught. Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: And I was like, okay, okay. And then we get out there, and I guess now I know it's very normal. But we were at like a solid 45 degree angle pretty soon after getting in the actual bay. Right. Colin: It felt like forty-five degrees. It was probably only twenty degrees. Nobody got wet. Nobody got wet. Taylor Stewart: yeah. Okay. Nobody got wet. and then kind of subtles and you just go, Yeah, I've never flown a boat sailed a boat this big before. And so I was like, Okay, we're gonna make it and so I'm like starting to go, we got life vests in there. It's not that big of a bay, but no, it was an amazing experience, very cool. And then I might th I think the other core memory is like on the way back There's air f naval car aircraft carrier on the right, and then cruise ships were leaving the bay and we had to like what do you call tack out of the way of a cruise ship and not get yeah, it was it was cool, man. That was an awesome experience and thank you very much. Colin: Yep. Yep, yeah. Look at you. You're a sailor now. You know the lingo. Taylor Stewart: You know, the day the there's the j jig? J Jib? Jib? Colin: Jib, yeah. Taylor Stewart: crowd, I'm already forgetting some of the other names. But yeah, it's it's not this Colin: Jib and Jib and Sheet and Mansol. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. It's definitely not like it can be, it's not a relaxing afternoon. It's some work to get out there and back. In like a in like a Yeah. It was definitely nice, but I'm saying Colin: To yeah, to get out of the ho get out of the the marina and and stuff. Yeah, it's a little bit of work. Get the sails up, but Taylor Stewart: it's not you don't just sit there and do nothing. you're engaged in the experience. So very, very cool. Colin: Yeah, yeah. Taylor Stewart: And yeah, that was a good great memory. So yeah, it was awesome. Colin: Core memory. Yeah, sailing's a lot like financial I I I see that there there's a connection between all the terms you have to learn to sail, or have have to learn, Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. Colin: and that you stick out like a sore thumb as like somebody who doesn't know what they're doing if you don't know these Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: very strange terms for things. Taylor Stewart: Be like saying do you do ETFs? You're like, What? No, it's not the right way to say that. Yeah. Colin: Yeah. Yeah, the the there's so many so much jargon, which is Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: similar to our industry, for sure. Taylor Stewart: Last thing I'm gonna say on that. I cannot imagine sailing a boat across the ocean hundreds of years ago. Colin: God. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: Whoa. Even though those are bigger boats. Colin: When you yeah. When you are out of sight of land, like pre GPS, pre you know, radar to see if a storm is coming, like holy crap. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: cannot imagine. So mad respect to everybody who did that to get us to this point in the world. Colin: Ha ha ha. Taylor Stewart: but that's not what we're here to talk about today. You wanted to talk about surge meetings. Colin: Yeah, well it came up last week 'cause I'm in another I'm in a mastermind group with a bunch of folks that use the same CRM and we were supposed to have a meeting last week and everybody bailed at the last, you know, the morning of like, I can't do Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: it. We're in surge and I was the only one that was like, Well, I can meet like anybody wanna just chat and Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: finally responded in the Slack channel that you guys are just working too hard. So Taylor Stewart: Well Colin: s so that that's what that's what gave me the idea for this this topic today. Taylor Stewart: Okay, th there's a lot there. And so th yeah, so I you're mm you're very you're you've been doing it for a little while. So I I have a lot of questions for you on on surge meetings. first, I mean I think a lot of people are familiar with the concept, but can you just how do you define surge? What are surge meetings? Colin: Yeah, the basic concept, I learned about it f from reading Matthew Jarvis's book, Delivering Massive Value. I know so so he popularized it. Maybe Stephanie Bogan at at Limitless is is another proponent of this, but you know, surge is just the idea that you are going to concentrate your client meetings into a short, you know, defined period of time, whether that's like, you know, six weeks or a month or whatever, you're going to do as many as you can back to back, compress the the that like meeting season into Taylor Stewart: So now instead of the instead of like, Hey, when can you meet? You know, just kinda schedule whenever you're saying you kind of control the process and you're like, Nope, we're gonna meet during this window. What works for you is what you would tell clients. So you you you batch your meetings in a sense, right? Colin: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You've you've got a a predefined, block out a month on your calendar. We're gonna do all of our meetings in October or all of Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: them in September, October. and and if a client can't meet in that window, you try to get as many as you can. of course you're gonna have strays, Taylor Stewart: Uh-huh. Colin: but that gives you like more efficiency in the sense if you're doing basically the same things in every meeting, Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: it you can go back to back to back and you're talking you're hitting the same talking points or you're looking at the same performance report or the same, you know, Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: tax analysis or whatever, you know, your prep for each of them is is kind of it's it's like an assembly line. and so there's efficiencies there. The other positive to it is like you get the rest of your year back, the months where you're Taylor Stewart: Mm. Colin: not concentrating all those meetings. Maybe you don't work so long. maybe you go home early Taylor Stewart: Mm. Colin: or maybe you take an extended vacation, if you're getting all of this client work done in in these concentrated periods, you can give yourself some some flexibility. Taylor Stewart: Hm. Okay. That raised a couple of new questions, but I wanna ask a few more that I already had. when did you feel the pain that at what point did you feel like when did you switch to surge? And what were you doing before? And like what triggered that? Colin: Yeah, earli early on, it's been a journey. So early on I I'd I told every client this was in my proposal when when I pitched them on my services, we're gonna be quarterly. we're gonna have a quarterly check-in meeting. And w what ended up happening, I don't know how many clients I had at the time, maybe like mid twenties. Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: i it was like the first quarter meetings were blurring into the second quarter's meetings, which were blurring into the third quarter's meetings. And so it's just like I'm always meeting with clients and there's like no week where I can focus on a bigger project or And so that that was I think I was around that time I I heard about the concept. So there I've made two changes. One is like trying to set a you know a defined period now for for those meetings. And and two is I've I've cut the number of meetings per year that I'm offering to clients on like a stand standing basis. So, you know, it Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: it went from four meetings a year to three meetings per year. Now all of my clients they're We're we're meeting at we're meeting twice a year. we say we have a fall Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: meeting and a spring meeting. of course if somebody has something going on that we need to meet more than that we do, but I'm only scheduling two meetings a year. Taylor Stewart: Does does anybody complain? They don't see you enough? Exactly. Colin: No. That was that was like the and and and i i it I probably got pushed into it a little bit 'cause I would have clients that when we were still meeting quarterly, they're like, didn't we just talk? Like, why do we need to meet? I was like, I guess not. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. Where it's a natural thing, but that's one of those fallacies we come in, I think start out with is more is better. Activity is value. right, we need to meet four times a month a year until you find out they actually don't want that. And like Colin: Mm-hmm. Taylor Stewart: I I've taken the approach and I this is not about me, but like my clients paid me to meet as little as possible. Colin: Mm. Taylor Stewart: Right? why do you we're friends, but like they got other th other stuff going on. They don't want to not everybody I yeah, anyways, that just that's that's helpful for me. So that's awesome. So two times. I wanted to get like actually be tactical here. So like what does that look like when okay, you have two meetings a year. kind of just I don't know when you schedule them, when you start prepping for them, and what the prep actually looks like, and then like What the weeks of meetings work? are you done is all the prep done and you're just meeting? I I just so I wanna understand this better. So first, if you meet twice a year, what times of year are you doing that and when do you start scheduling those? Colin: Yeah, so spring meetings are generally right around tax filing, you know. So I I do it kind of mid to late March through, you know, mid May or so. so the two month window where I try to to meet with everybody. and and so that that meeting has a focus on cash flow. and that's also where we talk big picture about goals and kind of the retirement plan, you know, a check in. You know, are we still on track? and so those are the the main topics for that, as well as like any tax filing questions, that that the client has. or or I generally haven't reviewed their tax return. You know, some clients I'm meeting with them before they file, and maybe we have a few things to clean up there. most clients I'm meeting after they file, but I haven't really taken a deep dive into their tax returns yet. Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: So that's not a major focus. We're just cursorily mentioning like, maybe we should we should change our strategy a little bit for something. But so that's a spring meeting. Fall meeting is much more tax focused. kind of anything we need to get done by year end. that's also when I kind of do my investment check-in. I'm not a big like I don't deliver performance reports, I don't you know, I I don't put a whole lot into into There's plenty of thought behind the investment plan, but but by by and large there's not a h there are not a whole lot of moving pieces. We're we're generally using Yeah, yeah, and Taylor Stewart: You don't need to constantly prove it to them. Yep. Colin: I I tell them I tell them a front mostly using index funds. Like th the you don't expect I'm not gonna i i if if you want somebody to chat about the latest and greatest stock, like I'm probably not your guy. And and so I believe in doing the little things right, or getting the well, not just the little things, doing the big things right, getting the big things right and and kind of I don't I don't try to I'm not trying to beat the market or claim to claim to do that. So anyways, fall meeting is is anything tax related by year end, so Roth conversions that we want to do, Q C D's that we wanna do, charitable giving, for clients that are like making estimated payments, we're running a a tax estimate, you know, at that before that meeting. And then we're also checking in. Is our how how how is the portfolio doing, and and do we need to make any changes to our allocation there? Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: and that's that's pretty much it. Taylor Stewart: How how spread out are these meetings? Weeks? Months? Colin: Yeah. so generally send out my my my paraplanner sends out scheduling email about two weeks before we start meeting, so she sent it out, you know Yeah. Taylor Stewart: Two weeks before. That's it? Colin: Yeah, two weeks before before the calendars essentially open. and that has, you know, things that we'd like the client to send us before the meeting. And usually it's like the same thing for every client. Like if you haven't sent us your tax return, please do so. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: because that's important. or if you have some a statement from a four one K that's held away, you know, please send that to us. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: so two weeks before and then and that opens, you know, with a link to the calendar to to schedule it. And and I don't have a some people will say there's four weeks when you can schedule. You must schedule within those four weeks. I don't do that. but but generally especially retirees, you know, I I know which clients are gonna sign up like right away and they have a lot more flexibility Taylor Stewart: Yeah, a little more flexibility. Yeah. Colin: in their schedule. So Taylor Stewart: Okay. So what what is your w from a prep perspective, how long do you need to get ready for each of these per client? Colin: for each meeting. so there's it depends on what you mean by prep. So there's there's like what what I do and then also what my paraplanner does before the meetings. So paraplanner is kind of in charge of making sure the planning software is is updated. with you know their holdings, you know, I'm using Cordora, so she's, you know, if if somebody sends a a a 401k statement, like that needs to get uploaded so that we've got up-to-date holdings. she's also the one who's gonna to do the kind of preliminary tax estimate and so if a client uploads a pay stub like she's gonna put that into a list of plan. and and so she's doing the primary like the first line document document handling or or Taylor Stewart: Gotcha. Colin: so and then and then you know my I kinda where I kinda step in is and she's also doing like the back and forth emailing with the client. y you didn't send us this, could you please do that before we meet and so I generally don't start my own prep until like maybe the day before if I've got time. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: sometimes it's like, you know an hour before if we're honest. And and so Taylor Stewart: Mm. Mm-hmm. Colin: yeah, that that's kinda when I when I step in. And I like I'm not someone who likes to walk into a meeting and just have the information handed to me before, like I need to get down in the weeds a little bit to get my brain Taylor Stewart: Sure. Colin: on on working and remembering like, okay, what did we talk about last time and these this Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: is what we're doing for this client and Taylor Stewart: Uh-huh. Colin: but I think with more experience that prep time has definitely compressed Taylor Stewart: Yeah. This is a huge benefit of working with niche, even the retirement's broad. Bill you Colin: Sure. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: couldn't do that if it's like, I'm meeting with the thirty year old business owner, the sixty year old, the you know, whatever, just all the different profiles you could have. You Yeah. Colin: Yeah, you've got to switch your brain completely for the tax planning for a business owner is way different than tax planning around Roth conversions. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. So I I mean that's fascinating. So technology's obviously made all of this way easier. And it's only gonna get way better too. Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: Okay, so what what why are your friends drowning during surge? Colin: That is a good question. No and I Taylor Stewart: Not to not not to bash on other people. But I'm I don't Colin: I think everybody has their own ideas about what we're supposed to deliver as the advisor. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: And I was talking to to another advisor friend yesterday and who feels like she needs to have something tangible to put in front of the client. Otherwise Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: like she isn't earning her fee. And I I have definitely felt like that before. and I would say one of the things is like I don't put any I don't I don't bring any reports or or anything Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: to the meeting. Taylor Stewart: Mm. Colin: I don't have a printout, I don't have a PowerPoint. I know advisors that will spend a lot of time like putting together a very detailed PowerPoint. Taylor Stewart: Yep. Yep. Colin: before the meeting and I get it, that takes time, even if you're using Taylor Stewart: Uh-huh. Colin: AI tools effectively, that takes time. you know, I had put together reports like that for clients, especially early on, and I realized like they didn't care. Like the amount Taylor Stewart: Okay. See Colin: of the amount of time I spent put into that compared to like how much they valued it. It was just like it was the wrong proportion. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. I I mean, this is what we've talked about. Like I financial planning is a feeling. It's this like it's that we've talked like our make the most of your money. Do your clients feel like they're making the most of their money? Like doing everything they can? Do they feel like they understand their financial life and they know what to do next? If they have those feelings, they don't need anything. Like Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: and you're able to provide that. With all the ongoing stuff in the check-ins, but that's such a massive unlock. it's they don't care about they don't want to see the PowerPoint. They don't want to see all this. You might they you might need to show up with one or two things here, but there's no expectation to come in with an agenda, a pre formatted agenda, maybe a pre sent agenda. you don't have to do any of this. Colin: Yeah, a part of the revelation was like I prepared this report that I thought the meeting was gonna be about and the client had something totally different that was important more important to them to talk about during this meeting Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: and it was like, well, throw that report in the trash can 'cause Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: yeah, it was important, but it's not as important as they wanted to come in and Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: talk to, or hey, we decided we want to buy a house. okay, well that throws Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: you know, I'm gonna throw the other stuff in the dumpster. Let's talk about this. And so what I started doing was we'll just pull up like we'll just pull up your your planned snapshot. You know, now I do it in Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: Cordora, let's just Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: pull up the the basic overview. Here's here's Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: your here's your cash flow, here's you know where it comes from, where it's going, here's Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. Colin: your accounts and and you know their tax types and whatnot. Here's Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: like a snapshot of your investments, how much is in stocks, how much is in bonds, how much is in you know US versus international. It like probably ninety percent of their questions can, be answered with just those basic data points. And so yeah, like at the prep time is make sure those data points are accurate. Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: make sure like we've updated them to to the latest available numbers that they've provided us or, you know, so that we're prepared to like talk about anything that you know, because you know, everything we do touches either cash flow or investments or assets or debt, you know, that so so make sure Taylor Stewart: Sure. Yeah. Colin: we have those details. But that's like that's the prep, is just making sure we we know what's going on. Taylor Stewart: Man, yeah, that's fascinating. I think what you described sounds like a dream. I hear everybody, it's like it's it's what's I don't have a good analogy, but it's like people who like slogging through surge, like I swear I'm happy, I love this, but I can't do anything because I'm in surge right now. I'm like, golly, you're Colin: Yeah, hmm Taylor Stewart: always in surge. But I mean, what you described Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: sounds great. And okay, so I in no way, shape, or form do I think you do nothing in between these meetings. I know that's not what goes on, but I am curious, this is just the trade offs. What you you could work with more people. Colin: Sure. Yeah, you could extend your the time you're willing to work Yeah, I mean and I will say and this is this is something that I that also probably came from reading Jarvis's book. is like those other touch points throughout the year, like in between the meetings. So like you said, we're we're not just on the beach in between the meetings, although we could be and and and are for a portion yeah, he is. He's got a big he's got a big he's got a big team behind him too. I and I have I have I have one person helping me. Yeah. Sure. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. He is. It it depends what you optimize for, right? You can optimize optim Yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying he talked about taking how many days he optimizes for how many days he can take off a year, which which is totally, totally a reasonable thing you can do. Colin: Yeah. I wonder how many of those days though he's he's not glued to his phone on answering people on LinkedIn and Facebook. Taylor Stewart: Well, not to make this about him, but according to him, he doesn't have any of that on his phone. So but that he's his own he's his Colin: Good for him, yeah. Taylor Stewart: own thing. But yeah, so what okay, w what what do you do during the rest of the year at a high level and then like you said you still will handle the one off conversations. Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: you're not gonna be like, Nope, sorry, I'll talk to you in October Colin: Yeah, yeah, exactly. so yeah, the the follow kind of a service calendar and so what do we deliver Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: in each season and like let's have different touch points. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: so in the spring I'll just walk through the year, the first thing we send out is generally like their tax letter, which has all the all the important data points that they or their tax preparer will need to file their taxes or at least for our piece of it. so that's a touch point and and sometimes clients will have questions or, you know, and they'll email me back about it. the next touch point is is kind of later in in the winter months, you know, maybe February. send out like a cash flow projection for the year or like a distribution plan. You know, here's here's your income sources that we know of, here's how much we're distributing from each account. And here's our like initial Roth conversion plan. you know, based on, what what income sources we know and where we're where I think you'll be in the tax bracket, like, you know, if we want to fill the twenty four percent bracket, it's gonna be about a hundred K Roth conversion. So that's our initial cash flow plan. that that goes out, February. then there's meetings. and so oftentimes those spring meetings, like those those two pieces come up, like cash flow and and goals in in any last minute or tax tax questions. then over the summer, so or or late spring after taxes have been filed, clients we send out an email, hey upload your tax return. We'll run it through Holista Plan or or now maybe next year Cordora and send the clients a that tax report, the client facing tax report that Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: shows, you know, lots of great graphics and I will record a video w of me just scrolling down through Taylor Stewart: Mm. Colin: it and calling out things I see, giving them just a high level overview. Like it's like the Taylor Stewart: Yeah. I love that. Colin: video's usually five minutes long. Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: And the good thing about doing these kinds of like deliverables asynchronously is you can bang out a whole bunch of them back to back to back. Like Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. Colin: you get in a flow state almost, like looking at one tax return or tax report after another and you're like boom boom boom boom boom. You're just in you're in the zone. and again here it helps where you've got a niche and and you know people are Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: generally not they're they're thinking about the same kinds of things and so that's That that helps for sure. but the idea of batching Taylor Stewart: Yeah. I'm Colin: those kinds of deliverables too has been a huge unlock. Taylor Stewart: I the the thing I'm struck about with like all of your efficiencies and we've you we've touched on it over different episodes, like a niche helps tremendously. And you you've defined what you do for people. I mean you could make this work with a totally different what you do. It's not just the Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: what you but like you have a defined process. Here it is. Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: I don't think most advisors most of us out there have that. We're kinda like, Well, I don't know. What do they need? What do they need? It's like, boom, here's what I do. That's great. Colin: Yeah. And and yeah, I don't know if you want me to finish the calendar, but the so that's fine. No, just I I don't and Taylor Stewart: sorry. Colin: I don't the other the other deliverables are like a every other year we'll send an insurance snapshot like Here's all your policies, h here's maybe a few things you should look into. Or these all look good to us. Or send us your Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: update update them if if you if you want us to take a look at your new policy. And then Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: you know, the other years we'll send out an estate plan summary. But it's a similar idea where we're like batching these so so it can be done more efficiently. It's not a one off. Taylor Stewart: How much easier has your repair planner made your life for this? Colin: Hm. I mean a ton. The fact that like Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: I can think about those kinds of bigger picture processes. Taylor Stewart: the fact that you you get to skip I wanna be respectful like but all of the stuff that sucks. I'm sorry to say it that way. I know she is, that's what I'm saying. She's a and she's a Colin: Yeah, she's she's listening too, so we gotta watch what we say. Taylor Stewart: beast and anyways, yeah. That's all right. I know you I know you're I know you're listening, but like that's amazing. Everybody should have one. Everybody should have one. Colin: Yeah, no, I I hate I hate data entry, and I hate like having to stop what I'm doing to like deal with a document a client updo uploaded. And everybody's got their own thing that they really don't want to do. you know, some people they hate compliance. That's not one of my things that I outsource because I don't yeah. I don't know how to outsource that. Yeah, well that's another that's another podcast. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: You're freaking weirdo. You like compliance but what, compliance? Okay, okay, but wait, wait what what did you say about document uploads you don't like? Colin: I don't like having to stop what I'm working on to deal with something a client uploaded. And so she's like my triage. if she knows what to do with it or we've we've already talked Taylor Stewart: Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Colin: about here's what we do with tax returns that get uploaded, I don't have to stop what I'm doing to do that. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. Colin: and that's like the biggest, the biggest one of the biggest unlocks. Taylor Stewart: Dude, and also that tech that's those pain points are going away. The uploaded in a different like that's yeah, anyways. yeah, I mean that's Colin: Yeah, we should have her on the podcast too, 'cause I think and I think we will maybe. May maybe next week. but but yeah, I think I think her Taylor Stewart: Well, we were going to, but I blew that one last week. That was on me. So yeah. I my my point is Colin: job's changing too. Taylor Stewart: but well to if for sure, and and she's exceptional and should and maybe will be an advisor herself. But I think okay, so you've got a niche, you've defined what you do, and you've hired help for it though. that's why that's that's amazing. And that's why you're you can meet during surge. Or you or you you're not you know, you got time. So Colin: That's where I can meet during surge. I I had our you know, I had our I had our meeting blocked out, just like I have our podcast blocked out every week. You know, here I am during surge. We're we're recording. Taylor Stewart: Yeah, you can make time for it. Yeah, 'cause this is this has been great because I I I I'm not I'm trying to be very upfront, like, you know, I don't serve that many clients at Adderoke anymore. I don't consider myself a full time advisor, so I don't wanna I always qualify that when I talk about how I do things. But like I've heard the surge thing and I've just normally see people slogging through it. I'm like, this you're like accountants. You're like, We love our life but we hate it for like four months out of the year. Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: and and so this has been really helpful just to hear it in actual practice. See, I thought for some reason I thought you were scheduling things like months in advance and there was like, you know, two months of prep for two weeks of meetings. I'm like, that's it's very manageable what you're talking about. Colin: Yeah, yeah. I don't even send the link we don't send the link to schedule it un until like two weeks before we start meeting. And i some clients wanna schedule it, you know, they wanna meet in the spring and then put a date on the calendar for the fall and sure, Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: that's fine. Like we can put a date on the calendar. That's I would also say like I I feel I'd I do what's called surge light, you know. I'm not trying to stack back to back meetings. I set like a max of Taylor Stewart: that's I didn't ask that how many Colin: I said a max of three per day, and only four days a Taylor Stewart: Okay. I I wanna talk this. Colin: week. Taylor Stewart: Okay. This is an is and I don't know if this is an introvert or extrovert thing. I would love nothing more than eight hours of client meetings. Colin: Mm. Taylor Stewart: It gets me going. I hate spreading them out. I don't like I I want just back to back, keep it going. I'm having super fun. But like is that because there's prep time in between or the meetings themselves are tiring? I mean just th there's I don't think there's a right answer here, but Colin: Yeah. I think the answer is yes. I mean spe Taylor Stewart: Why to both of those? Yeah. Colin: if if representative introvert, like it I I I can turn it on for a for an hour. I can turn it on for the podcast, Taylor Stewart: That's enough for today. Colin: but then it's like, I need to I need to Taylor Stewart: it it happens to me every time like I I I I I get out of a client medium. Where's the next one? Where's the next one? crap, it's not for you know, like I like it. So Colin: Yeah. Well and I d I don't have a team to help with all the follow up tasks after the meeting. So I'm the one sending the follow up email. And actually like I want to Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: be the one doing that 'cause like that's that's kind of the where the value is, like. And it does. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: Yeah, well look we know AI can help with that, but it can't do it can't replace it. And I don't think it needs to. you still need to digest what happened for your own brain. it doesn't mat Colin: Yeah. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: r summarizing what happened and reading a summary three months later isn't how you learn and retain stuff. So it it's Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: better than nothing. But yes, there is absolutely still that follow up. that's fascinating. Colin: Yeah, making sure, anything any changes we need to make that I've either usually I try to do it on the spot if I can right after the meeting while I'm thinking about it. Otherwise I gotta create a task so I don't I don't I don't lose Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: track of it. But I need that I need an hour in between meetings, you know, to Taylor Stewart: Uh-huh. Colin: follow up from the one before and and get my head right for the next one, you know. So Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: so yeah, max of three a day. I don't go back to back. Taylor Stewart: It's good. Nice. Hmm. I I have a an unrelated question that'll probably just distract us, so I won't ask it. But nice. This is really good. Now you're curious. Okay, fine. I I I keep thinking about doctors. You know, people always talk about like Colin: Mm. Taylor Stewart: how doctors run their practices and your your wife's a doctor and it's like I don't know if how much Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: this applies to her, but like I had my fifteen month my fifteen month olds checkup yesterday and they handed us a card for the next one in six months. Like it's already scheduled. And it's just Colin: Mm-hmm. Taylor Stewart: go ahead and go that's a assembly line and how do they Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: do it? I don't know if I don't think I think d Doctors aren't trying to prove themselves to you. They have a captive audience in a lot of ways. And I think about this all Colin: Hmm. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: the time. some are better than others. And I'm actually pleased with ours, but There's not client service. This is not ideal. It's just like get in, get out. Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Next one. Yeah. And like standing by the door Colin: No. Yeah. Yeah, like fifteen minute appointments back to back to back all day. Taylor Stewart: and doors on the handle and you're like, Can I ask but like but I just think of like Colin: Yeah. My wife has a a a tech whose job is to come get her out of the patient's room 'cause she could just talk. And she's the extrovert in our marriage, so it's like she could just talk. but she Taylor Stewart: Yeah, see Yeah. Colin: actually has somebody who's supposed to come grab her if it's going over time. Taylor Stewart: Yeah, yeah. Aga I I I I that's so funny. but do you think like yeah, so like what are your thoughts on that like could an advisor operate that way? Or like how are they able to? 'Cause they just kinda read the notes as they go Colin: Could you do it? Yeah. Taylor Stewart: in or like I don't know. Are there parallels there? Colin: Yeah. I think there's so many parallels. I mean Taylor Stewart: Well well first of all, hold on, hold on. How many people support one doctor in an office? Is there's always four or five front desks n yeah. Colin: Yeah. there's there's three doctors in her f four yeah, four doctors in her office and about twenty staff. So it's like yeah, that's how you can do it. Yeah. Taylor Stewart: So that's how you can do it. So yeah. Yeah. okay. Yeah. Fascinating. Colin: but there's so many yeah, there's so many such a similar business and I feel like practices are arranged, financial planning or or wealth management practices are s the the way that they're run, owned and run is so similar to like the medical world as well. Taylor Stewart: Yes, but advisors have the like masochistic side of like I need to do the maximum amount of work Whatever you want. I want to please you. I don't Colin: Mm-hmm. Taylor Stewart: know. I just think we we get we get in our own way. So, so Colin: Yeah. Taylor Stewart: so much of thinking I need to always be doing something. I need to meet more. I haven't met in three months. That means I'm not doing anything. No, that doesn't mean that. and I think like Colin: Yeah. Well it's it's it's true in the medical field too. Like you you You I would rather have a doctor that stops and listens to me and that now I feel heard and understood, like if I'm dealing with something painful or chronic or whatever. I I would ru much rather have a doctor that's listening and in and obviously the the technical medical expertise is is very valuable also, but there's so many doctors that have all the expertise and technical skills who just don't listen to you, or they're like, Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: you know, just trying to get out of your room and into the next. Next and it's a terrible experience for the patient. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Colin: But yeah. I mean think people love my wife because she does stay and talk to Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: them, you know, and they feel heard and and understood. Taylor Stewart: Yeah. Colin: but then she does need somebody to come drag her out of the room so she can not run, you know, an hour and a half behind all day. Taylor Stewart: definitely I yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well awesome man. very enlightening. Well done. Anything you would tweak to your process? Colin: Yeah, I f the Marie and I just sit down after every search season that we've been to, like what worked, what didn't work. Taylor Stewart: Mm-hmm. Colin: you know, I and it's kind of an open question, like how how do you best utilize the support? for for prep, you know, and and like trying to think about it from her perspective. You know, I'm the one that has the relationship with the clients and knows just off the top of my head that, you know, this happened to them last year in their past and that's why this is an issue. And she doesn't have all that knowledge. And so, yeah, how do we how do we both how do we both be efficient in communicating the needs and So that's very much like an open I've got ideas for Taylor Stewart: Yes. Colin: what we're gonna talk about after after this search season, but Taylor Stewart: Nice. How much longer do you have left? Colin: We're we're winding down, the the I think the heavy weeks are behind us. now now I'm just catching up on stragglers. Taylor Stewart: The sur the surge is over. You've survived. Nice. Colin: Yeah, we're on the we're on the we're on the back side of the wave. Taylor Stewart: Awesome. Well, thank you as always. Colin: Yeah, it was fun. Taylor Stewart: See you next time. Colin: See you next time.