Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Emmanuel Asuquo: The importance of personal branding, and educating young adults about financial literacy
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_02: Hello, 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.
- 0:15SPEAKER_02: This podcast is proudly sponsored by RecruitUK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on financial services.
- 0:23SPEAKER_02: They have a niche specialism in financial planning, so be sure to check out their website, which is www.recruitukltd.co.uk, for all the latest jobs, blogs, and industry articles.
- 0:40SPEAKER_02: I'm Sam Oakes, and I'm joined today by Emmanuel Asuko.
- 0:45SPEAKER_02: He's an independent financial advisor, motivational speaker, a TV personality, and financial coach.
- 0:54SPEAKER_02: In this podcast, we talk about his journey as a financial advisor, as well as the importance of personal branding, and how it's got him to where he is today.
- 1:04SPEAKER_02: I hope you enjoy the show.
- 1:06SPEAKER_02: So welcome to the Financial Planner Life.
- 1:08SPEAKER_02: And I'm Sam Oakes, and today I have Emmanuel Asuku.
- 1:12SPEAKER_02: Asuko, yeah.
- 1:13SPEAKER_02: Asuko, sorry.
- 1:14SPEAKER_02: No close.
- 1:15SPEAKER_02: Um as a guest.
- 1:18SPEAKER_02: Um and Emmanuel is well-known TV personality on channel for spend well.
- 1:25SPEAKER_02: What was it?
- 1:25SPEAKER_02: Save well, spend better.
- 1:27SPEAKER_02: Save well, spend better.
- 1:29SPEAKER_02: Um, and also you're a wealth manager, yes.
- 1:31SPEAKER_02: Financial advisor, yes.
- 1:32SPEAKER_02: Doing this for quite some time.
- 1:33SPEAKER_02: Yep.
- 1:34SPEAKER_02: You're a financial educator, yes, public speaker, motivational speaker.
- 1:39SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're a master of all trades.
- 1:40SPEAKER_02: We're trying, we're trying.
- 1:41SPEAKER_02: You're trying.
- 1:42SPEAKER_02: Excellent, brilliant.
- 1:43SPEAKER_02: So the key today is just to find out a little bit about you, find out about your career.
- 1:48SPEAKER_02: Yep.
- 1:48SPEAKER_02: The podcast is all about um what it's like to be a financial advisor.
- 1:53SPEAKER_02: So if someone was looking from the outside, thinking about becoming a financial advisor, hopefully get a bit of an insight.
- 1:58SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the realities of it.
- 1:59SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 1:59SPEAKER_02: Um, and also you might find financial advisors, power planners, administrators, anybody within the industry might well be listening.
- 2:05SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 2:06SPEAKER_02: And trying to learn something.
- 2:07SPEAKER_02: Okay.
- 2:07SPEAKER_02: So today is all about sharing and caring.
- 2:09SPEAKER_00: No, love it, love it, love it.
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: Cool, man.
- 2:12SPEAKER_02: So, um, how was your week?
- 2:14SPEAKER_02: You were off you were you were at Cambridge University, weren't you?
- 2:16SPEAKER_00: I was at Cambridge University over the weekend.
- 2:18SPEAKER_00: That was really good.
- 2:19SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 2:19SPEAKER_00: Um, it's just really, really nice.
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: I mean, we'll probably get into like where I come from or my background, but I I could never imagine myself, you know, walking the halls of Cambridge and there I was educating these really intelligent young people.
- 2:33SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, who a lot of them have come from a 3A star background type thing.
- 2:39SPEAKER_00: And and yet when it comes to finances, they don't have a clue.
- 2:42SPEAKER_00: And it it's just so funny how you know we just don't teach financial education, people just don't un understand finances, and we have to kind of learn the hard way.
- 2:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 2:50SPEAKER_00: Like actually make our mistakes and be like, okay, don't do that again.
- 2:52SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 2:53SPEAKER_00: Unless you've got a parent who can then spend time and tell you it.
- 2:56SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 2:56SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it was a lovely, lovely experience.
- 2:58SPEAKER_00: I love working with young people because um the energy, it's just a different energy because it's like that you can see the light bulb go off in their head.
- 3:05SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 3:05SPEAKER_00: When they get something, it's like, oh, so I can do this now.
- 3:08SPEAKER_00: I had people messaging me, they're opening up you know online accounts to start saving and start investing.
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: They open up their first ISA after our talk, and it was just like at the Cambridge University.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: At the Cambridge University.
- 3:18SPEAKER_02: Right, so how did that come about then?
- 3:20SPEAKER_02: So let's just kind of give our listeners an overview of because I've seen on social media, I mean, you're massively on board with social media.
- 3:27SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 3:27SPEAKER_02: Probably one of the best I've seen, if I'm completely honest with you.
- 3:30SPEAKER_02: Um I think a lot of financial advisors could could learn from your branding, um, you know, and your personal branding.
- 3:35SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
- 3:36SPEAKER_02: Um, so I obviously picked up the fact you went to Cambridge University, and part of what you do is financial education.
- 3:41SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 3:42SPEAKER_02: So, how did that trip to Cambridge University come about?
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: So basically, they contacted me so that um they've got the um Afro-Caribbean Society, okay, um, and they contacted um one of my representatives to say that you know, wanted you to come down and and speak because they've heard me speak at other places, and for me it was just a great opportunity to go out and speak and share, share the wisdom, share the knowledge.
- 4:06SPEAKER_00: But I've talked to other universities, talked at schools and so forth.
- 4:09SPEAKER_00: Some of some of one of the members at there has been to one of my events.
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 4:14SPEAKER_00: Um, so again, so she's seen my seminar, and so she was like, they're doing events, this this would be a great one to do, and the turnout was good, and people really enjoyed it.
- 4:22SPEAKER_02: So you network quite well, really, don't you?
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: You have to.
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: I think I know we always say your network is is your net worth and so forth, but I think that's one thing about being a financial advisor, it's all about networking, even with our clients.
- 4:33SPEAKER_00: I mean, our clients almost become our introducers.
- 4:35SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you go in, you have a great meeting at the end of that meeting, you say, Oh, how did you find this?
- 4:39SPEAKER_00: Do you think anyone else you know could benefit from what we do?
- 4:42SPEAKER_00: That's how I grow my business, and a lot of the time you will get referrals from your clients, so that's always ingrained in you.
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: It's always ingrained in you, yeah.
- 4:49SPEAKER_02: Your network is your net worth.
- 4:50SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm gonna use that one.
- 4:52SPEAKER_02: Yeah, never read that.
- 4:54SPEAKER_02: I'm taking that one.
- 4:55SPEAKER_02: No, you got it.
- 4:56SPEAKER_02: Um, all right, fantastic.
- 4:57SPEAKER_02: So, what I'd really like to know, first of all, is um when why did you become a financial advisor?
- 5:05SPEAKER_02: When did you start thinking about financial advice as a career?
- 5:07SPEAKER_02: And when did you actually become a financial advisor?
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I mean, I didn't even know the job it ever existed.
- 5:13SPEAKER_00: So I grew up in East London, um, Tower Hamlet, so Canary Wolf, and I just saw all the big buildings from my from my house from my from the estate, and I looked out and I said to myself, I want to be in one of those buildings.
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um I got a I was working in Mark Suspense's as a 5 a.m.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: in the morning, just doing the normal normal job, but I used that experience to get me myself a job at Barclays as a cashier.
- 5:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then it was as a cashier that um I developed and got really good.
- 5:42SPEAKER_00: I had a really good manager who you know taught me to be early, not to be on time, being on time was late.
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: Um, made me take home the booklets in the banking hall to read and learn about the different products that Barclays offered, um, made me you know get leads, talk to c talk to customers as they come in, don't just serve them, don't just do what they they want, but actually build rapport and so forth.
- 6:02SPEAKER_00: And so I was doing really, really well.
- 6:04SPEAKER_00: And so because I was doing well, Barclays, once I finished my degree, they were like, What do you want to become?
- 6:09SPEAKER_00: And so I looked, I spoke with a manager, and they basically explained all the different jobs that were out there, and I was like, I want I want to be a financial advisor.
- 6:16SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there was at that time it was relationship manager, mortgage advisor, financial advisor, or assistant branch manager.
- 6:22SPEAKER_00: They were the kind of things that options to me, but I I wanted the financial advisor because to me, I number one, I didn't see many, many financial advisors that look like me or came from my background.
- 6:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah, true.
- 6:33SPEAKER_00: Number two, I could tell that you know, in the community, it's just something that's needed.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: People need to know about it.
- 6:40SPEAKER_00: So I felt like it was a different type of role because you're really educating people.
- 6:43SPEAKER_00: I feel like with mortgage advisors, although mortgage advisors are great and very useful, people know they need to they want to buy a house, they need a mortgage, yeah.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: But people don't know that you know they need to open an ice and start investing for their future or the importance of a pension, how that can help them retire early.
- 6:56SPEAKER_00: They might have heard of these things, but they don't know them.
- 6:58SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so I felt like it was really a job where I could really help and be personable and and help people, but still have a good time and have more flexibility because you know you you didn't have to sit in a branch, you could go to clients' houses and so forth.
- 7:10SPEAKER_00: It was much more freedom interactive, much more freedom.
- 7:12SPEAKER_00: And so for me, it was a job that I thought I would enjoy.
- 7:15SPEAKER_02: Did you have so talk about freedom then?
- 7:17SPEAKER_02: You know, so you were a cashier at Barclays and you were doing your degree at the same time.
- 7:21SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 7:21SPEAKER_02: Now when you were up, what what year was that?
- 7:24SPEAKER_02: That was 2007, I think I'll believe.
- 7:27SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 2007.
- 7:28SPEAKER_02: Again, a great time to enter into a trainee financial advice position.
- 7:35SPEAKER_02: Because essentially what they've done is take you on as a cashier, yeah, and they've said, Do you want to become an advisor?
- 7:40SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're gonna show you the route how to do it.
- 7:42SPEAKER_02: Pick what you want to do.
- 7:43SPEAKER_02: I mean, what amazing opportunity that was presented to you.
- 7:47SPEAKER_00: Sure, because at that time there weren't enough, there weren't enough advisors.
- 7:51SPEAKER_00: They they needed more, um, it was making making the bank's money retention-wise.
- 7:56SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 7:56SPEAKER_00: Um because we they used to train us and they used to show us that a customer is much more likely to stay if they have a financial advice product than any other product in the bank.
- 8:05SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 8:05SPEAKER_00: So for banks, it was almost like a retention tool as well.
- 8:09SPEAKER_02: So they had an investment product with the bank, they're much likely to stay with the bank.
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: And so it was just something that they needed, they had different areas, and they wanted to get some more young people into it as well, because obviously, financial advice, the average age of a financial advisor, late 50s, I mean I mean late 40s, early 50s, and it's only getting older now.
- 8:26SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's only getting older.
- 8:28SPEAKER_00: Um 55 now, so it's it's it's it's getting older.
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: So it was one of those things where they could bring you in plus cost-wise.
- 8:35SPEAKER_00: I didn't realise because for me, from a cashier's salary to a financial advisor's salary was a it was a big jump.
- 8:41SPEAKER_00: But compared to hiring someone else outside, they were on a lot more.
- 8:44SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 8:45SPEAKER_00: And so again, it helped the bank, it helped me.
- 8:47SPEAKER_00: And um, for me, the for them, they were big.
- 8:49SPEAKER_00: What was big was the fact that I just finished doing my degree, yeah.
- 8:52SPEAKER_00: So they were confident I could pass the tests and the exams that were required.
- 8:55SPEAKER_02: Interesting, the guest I just had on, um J said one of the biggest tips for somebody to passing their going through our exams was don't stop.
- 9:03SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 9:03SPEAKER_02: So they've obviously caught you, thought, well, he's in education mode, he's just passed his degree, you chuck another load of stuff at him and get him going.
- 9:10SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 9:10SPEAKER_02: What would your advice be to passing your exams then?
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think now it's changed.
- 9:17SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm a big because I help a lot of people.
- 9:19SPEAKER_00: This is one of my big things as well.
- 9:20SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 9:20SPEAKER_00: Um, I help a lot of people with their with their exams.
- 9:23SPEAKER_00: Um as in financial planning exams.
- 9:25SPEAKER_00: Exams, yeah, so just cool.
- 9:26SPEAKER_00: Just need to know what route to go and and and the different ways.
- 9:29SPEAKER_00: And I think you have to know what type of learner you are.
- 9:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 9:32SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 9:32SPEAKER_00: So let's be honest, in financial advice, the most respected is the CIA.
- 9:37SPEAKER_00: That's the one.
- 9:37SPEAKER_00: If you've been qualified through the CII, you've done their exams, 99% of companies will take you.
- 9:43SPEAKER_00: It's the most known known and also it's the most thorough because you've got an exam in each different area.
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: So it's the most respected that way.
- 9:50SPEAKER_00: But for some people, you just you haven't got the energy to do six exams.
- 9:54SPEAKER_00: No.
- 9:54SPEAKER_00: So you're not, you're not, you're gonna do one or two, and then you're just gonna fall off a cliff.
- 9:57SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 9:58SPEAKER_00: So then you've got you know the CISI and you know the London Institute of Banking and Finance, yeah, which are more coursework and exam-based.
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: And I think even the the L IBF have gone just straight exam, not even a coursework now.
- 10:09SPEAKER_00: So so again, these are these are ways to get into the industry and it might be more suited to to you and work out your style.
- 10:17SPEAKER_00: Because if you can do you know 30%, 30% coursework, 70% on the exam, yeah, and you can do that within a year, you've got your trainer, tutor, and and so forth.
- 10:25SPEAKER_00: That might be better for how you're gonna learn rather than you know the CII where you're doing modules and it's all by yourself, or you're gonna have to pay per exam, which is very expensive.
- 10:35SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is expensive.
- 10:36SPEAKER_00: So, did Barclays pay for your exams?
- 10:37SPEAKER_00: Oh, Barclays paid for our exams.
- 10:39SPEAKER_00: It was just amazing.
- 10:40SPEAKER_00: It was amazing, it's completely different.
- 10:42SPEAKER_00: So they took us off, we we they hired a tutor for us in Milton Keynes.
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the way it worked is we'd give us the book, we spend one week at home studying the book, yeah, making notes, then we'll spend another week with a tutor.
- 10:54SPEAKER_00: At the end of that week, we take the first exam.
- 10:56SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then the following week had the week off, and they just did it weekly week after week.
- 11:00SPEAKER_00: And then if we failed one, then they would add that onto the following.
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: And so for me, I'll feel I felt I felt quite because you can imagine them coming from a cashier background.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: Um, even though I've done exams and stuff, it's just words I've never heard, things I've never understood.
- 11:14SPEAKER_00: I've never, and this I guess that's how I'm able to teach it now.
- 11:16SPEAKER_00: Is that for me to pass these exams, I really had to break it down to my level because I didn't have never to my language of what I understood, and and for my mind to make it work and use examples that work for me.
- 11:28SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so because of that, now I'm able to teach that at all different levels and and really explain it because I understand it to it to its core, as opposed to just a high-level overview and able to remember and pass the test.
- 11:39SPEAKER_00: I couldn't just remember it and pass it, I had to actually learn it for me to be able to pass it.
- 11:43SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you're so what would be your core tip for somebody is to understand your learning style.
- 11:50SPEAKER_02: Your learning style and adapt and then choose the right examining board.
- 11:54SPEAKER_02: Exactly, and how you can pass that exam or how they teach you it.
- 11:58SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 11:59SPEAKER_02: Did you you had le did you have people that were coaching you and lecturing you when you were in Barclays, so teaching you, for example, in classroom?
- 12:07SPEAKER_02: I think the difficulty a lot of people have when they do these financial exams is that they're doing it out of their back bedrooms at home after they finish their job.
- 12:12SPEAKER_02: Yes, you know, or they're doing it um whilst be say being an administrator or a power planner in their own time.
- 12:19SPEAKER_02: And also there's a lot of people, especially in some of these smaller firms, they're spending their own money doing it and they're investing their own time, yet we seem to have a lack of financial planners within the industry.
- 12:29SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 12:29SPEAKER_02: You know, you think as a business, and I'm not saying it's for everybody, but some businesses don't, and some people businesses do.
- 12:35SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think um coaching and support and perhaps that training and guidance from somebody of how to pass the exam.
- 12:43SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 12:44SPEAKER_02: Because as a business owner, if I had a team of people and I was like, Oh yeah, I'll get you get the exams, but I'm not gonna teach you to pass it, I've got I ain't got the time to do that.
- 12:51SPEAKER_00: No, exactly.
- 12:52SPEAKER_00: And I think again with the CII, it's about the reason the the trainer was so important because the trainer knows exactly what you said, how to pass the exam.
- 12:59SPEAKER_00: So if you get the book, you're gonna think I need to learn all the different pages, but the trainer will break it down and tell you there's only two questions in in section eight gonna come up.
- 13:08SPEAKER_00: So why are you gonna kill yourself for two questions when we know this is how much you need?
- 13:11SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is where the majority of your questions are gonna come from.
- 13:13SPEAKER_00: So these are the sections we're gonna learn from.
- 13:15SPEAKER_02: So then focus on that one.
- 13:17SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 13:18SPEAKER_00: And so by doing that, you then learn.
- 13:20SPEAKER_00: Then there's the techniques in regards to I remember it was always like pineapple chunks, so it's multiple choice.
- 13:25SPEAKER_00: So the trainer was always like, If you if you know that it's not A, B, or C, don't worry about what D is.
- 13:30SPEAKER_00: It could say pineapple chunks.
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the right answer.
- 13:33SPEAKER_03: Pineapple chunks.
- 13:34SPEAKER_00: But we always used to question us, you always question yourself, Well, I think it's and the the questions are so close together, so you wouldn't know.
- 13:41SPEAKER_00: So you're just like, look, work it out.
- 13:43SPEAKER_00: Once you work it out, pineapple chunks and discover that.
- 13:45SPEAKER_00: And it was it helped, it helped.
- 13:47SPEAKER_00: Just having a train is just amazing.
- 13:49SPEAKER_02: So you help and train other people to pass their financial planning exams.
- 13:52SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so not the necessarily just the exams, but I help them in regards to to getting on board because it's it's daunting.
- 13:58SPEAKER_01: Don't find these people.
- 14:00SPEAKER_00: They find me.
- 14:01SPEAKER_00: People message, I mean they reach out to you, they reach out to me, and that's again about your personal brand and and you being out there.
- 14:06SPEAKER_00: People will message me, oh I I want to I want to become a financial advisor.
- 14:09SPEAKER_00: What is?
- 14:09SPEAKER_00: And I've done it so much now, I can tell them look this is have a conversation, these are the different ways to do it.
- 14:15SPEAKER_00: What are you what are you gonna how long do you think you can commit to it?
- 14:18SPEAKER_00: Are you are you good learning by yourself?
- 14:20SPEAKER_00: Do you need the exam?
- 14:21SPEAKER_00: Do you need structure and so forth?
- 14:22SPEAKER_00: And and do it that way and and then get them started and then try and help them if they get any questions, give me a call.
- 14:28SPEAKER_00: Because you're a natural teacher, aren't you?
- 14:30SPEAKER_00: Try to be.
- 14:31SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you you were quite a relatable person, I can tell that straight away.
- 14:34SPEAKER_02: You know, and I think um when I've observed you and your social media, you're out there delivering financial education to your community for a start.
- 14:46SPEAKER_02: So people that might not have a load of money to invest, you will actually go out and give people in need advice and and financial education around debts and how to get out of debts, and you know how best to manage your money.
- 15:01SPEAKER_02: And I think that's massively important, and I think it's massively kind of you to do that because at the same time you're not gonna make a lot of money doing that, are you?
- 15:12SPEAKER_00: No, no, and that was the big, big lesson for me, I think.
- 15:15SPEAKER_00: Um when I because this is the third time of me going becoming self-employed.
- 15:19SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: Um so the first two times obviously didn't work out, so I had to go get a job.
- 15:23SPEAKER_00: But um, it is hard when you when you when you focus on financial advice is made for high net worth or people with money that can afford your fees.
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: That's just how it works because you charge a fee.
- 15:34SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not back in the day it was commission.
- 15:36SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when it's commissioned, we could serve anyone, it doesn't make a difference.
- 15:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're getting paid by the provider.
- 15:40SPEAKER_00: Once RDR happened and we had to now charge a fee, all of a sudden, only people people that could afford to pay the fee would pay the fee.
- 15:47SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and everyone else thought they were getting it for free.
- 15:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 15:50SPEAKER_00: So now you're telling them to pay for something that they they've been accustomed to getting for free.
- 15:53SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't make sense to them, so they're just not involved.
- 15:56SPEAKER_00: Where for me, I didn't get the joy.
- 15:59SPEAKER_00: As much as it was nice being around high net worth people and hearing their story of how they made their money, I just didn't get the same joy helping someone go from a million to 1.2 as opposed to helping someone who's in in a place of debt, and now just by teaching them the mistakes that they're making that they don't realise they're making, they've now been able to pay off that debt, use the habit that they used to pay off that debt to then start saving, save and then buy a house.
- 16:22SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 16:23SPEAKER_00: That's life-changing.
- 16:24SPEAKER_00: That is life-changing, and a lot of the time they're the first person in their family to own a house or to buy a house, and and and now it's gonna become normal because when they have kids, their kids will know that they've done it too.
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: They're gonna teach it's gonna teach how they're gonna pass it forward.
- 16:37SPEAKER_00: So that's to me, that is the most rewarding thing.
- 16:39SPEAKER_00: And for me, legacy to me is more important than money.
- 16:42SPEAKER_02: Legacy.
- 16:43SPEAKER_02: I like that, and that's transferable regardless, isn't it?
- 16:45SPEAKER_02: If you've got a load of money or not, exactly.
- 16:47SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's gonna have the same impact, it's the same message.
- 16:50SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 16:50SPEAKER_02: Um, and um, it's the same outcome.
- 16:52SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's beautiful.
- 16:54SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
- 16:55SPEAKER_02: Went a bit off trail, are you?
- 16:56SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, we did it just a little bit.
- 16:57SPEAKER_02: But I like it, I like it.
- 16:58SPEAKER_02: Um, let's go back to when you were at Barclays, right?
- 17:01SPEAKER_02: Because then you passed your exams and then you became a Barclays financial planner.
- 17:06SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 17:07SPEAKER_02: So how long were you working at Barclays for as a financial planner?
- 17:09SPEAKER_00: So we I was at Barclays as a financial planner for about two or three years.
- 17:13SPEAKER_00: Okay, two two or three years.
- 17:15SPEAKER_00: Um I've I'd been a cashier for three or four years before that, so done my done my time.
- 17:20SPEAKER_00: And then basically I left, but just with a few within a year of me leaving, obviously RDR happened and they So you left pre-R.
- 17:27SPEAKER_00: Okay, so when you were at Barclays, did you have a good run at Barclays?
- 17:30SPEAKER_00: Did you it was amazing?
- 17:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was amazing, but it was all lump sum.
- 17:34SPEAKER_00: So I would say when I was at Barclays, I was a seller, I wasn't really an advisor.
- 17:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I used to sell, so we used to we know what our products are, and especially structured products.
- 17:43SPEAKER_00: So this is this is when structured products first really came to market, yeah, and I just got it.
- 17:48SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think sometimes as financial advisors, once we get something and we know how to explain it to our everyone, we're gonna we're giving that to everybody.
- 17:56SPEAKER_00: We know we understand the ins and the outs of that.
- 17:58SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and so like I said, when you read me now, I'm an advisor, but when you when you meet a the difference between an advisor and a seller is a seller is just going, it's gonna sellers sometimes will make more money than advisors, yeah, because advisors will actually look at your situation and say, actually, that's not right for you.
- 18:12SPEAKER_00: A seller, I'm just I'm giving this to everybody.
- 18:14SPEAKER_00: This one shoe fits all.
- 18:15SPEAKER_00: Do you know what do you know what I mean?
- 18:16SPEAKER_00: Which actually can be dangerous, can't be.
- 18:17SPEAKER_00: It's very dangerous.
- 18:18SPEAKER_00: Which is the whole thing.
- 18:19SPEAKER_00: This is the whole point, exactly.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: And so we made a lot of we laid a lot of money, lumped sums, put your money in, um, and yeah, it was a really good run.
- 18:26SPEAKER_00: I'd never obviously never done it before, um, but it was it was really good.
- 18:29SPEAKER_00: So kind of like Barclays is all about league tables, wasn't it?
- 18:32SPEAKER_02: Do you know where how you performed against your peers?
- 18:34SPEAKER_00: So I was really I was from well because you start training, they give you your cut your targets much lower.
- 18:39SPEAKER_00: So I actually smashed it out of the park um and then got moved into central London.
- 18:44SPEAKER_00: So I was out in South London where I live now, then did well, moved back to central London, did well.
- 18:50SPEAKER_00: So I did did well against against my peers.
- 18:52SPEAKER_00: Always within my team, I was always one of the top top guys in my team.
- 18:55SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
- 18:56SPEAKER_00: So where did you leave?
- 18:57SPEAKER_00: Good question.
- 18:58SPEAKER_00: So basically, I left because when I became a cash, when I became um as I moved from a cashier to a financial advisor, I thought I was on a good salary.
- 19:08SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but actually I was on a really low salary compared to what I could get out there.
- 19:12SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
- 19:13SPEAKER_00: So I was approached by a recruiter who offered me um a role in Halifax.
- 19:19SPEAKER_00: So I remember it was Halifax.
- 19:20SPEAKER_00: And the role at Halifax was paying me 12 grand more basic, and the target was lower.
- 19:27SPEAKER_00: Okay, and they did regular premiums, which I'd never done at Barclays, never got paid on regular premiums before.
- 19:32SPEAKER_00: Um, so for me, and also with Barclays, they basically made the um relationship managers, they made them financial advisors, and that was the last straw.
- 19:43SPEAKER_00: Okay, because we're all lump sum.
- 19:44SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 19:45SPEAKER_00: And so basically the relationship manager gets the gets the client from 50,000 above.
- 19:49SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 19:50SPEAKER_00: And so once once if they're taking all the big clients, that means you're only dealing with 50 grand or less.
- 19:56SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 19:56SPEAKER_00: Which means to get hit your target, you're gonna do more work, much more work, kind of like glorified personal things.
- 20:01SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 20:02SPEAKER_00: So it just wasn't making sense, um, which obviously they stopped after a while anyway, because they realized that relationship managers don't make the best financial advisors, it's just a totally different role, yeah.
- 20:11SPEAKER_00: Um, and so yeah, that's why I left.
- 20:13SPEAKER_02: So you made the choice to leave at that point, okay.
- 20:15SPEAKER_02: So come to the point where culturally it probably wasn't for you, the direction of the business wasn't for you, and it wasn't meeting your needs.
- 20:20SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, you're also looking at earning some more money, you become qualified.
- 20:24SPEAKER_02: Um, so you were starting to think to yourself, well, I could earn more money out then, perhaps I could do a different job.
- 20:28SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 20:28SPEAKER_02: So you went to Halifax.
- 20:30SPEAKER_02: So from Bartleys to Halifax, another bank assurance environment.
- 20:33SPEAKER_00: Yep.
- 20:33SPEAKER_02: That was just before RDR, was it?
- 20:34SPEAKER_00: Just before RDR.
- 20:35SPEAKER_02: So you joined Halifax, and then what happened?
- 20:37SPEAKER_00: Then what Halifax stupidly, and this is the thing about being young, and sometimes when you're young, you're very impressionable.
- 20:45SPEAKER_00: And again, with recruiters, you very much trust in your recruiters.
- 20:49SPEAKER_00: You're gonna bash recruiters now.
- 20:50SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna bash recruiters now.
- 20:51SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go for it.
- 20:51SPEAKER_00: You know, like when you're young, go for it.
- 20:53SPEAKER_00: Like, I was what 23, 24, I never even knew about recruiters.
- 20:57SPEAKER_00: So it was it was a friend, one of my colleagues who was looking to leave, who said, Oh, speak to my recruiter.
- 21:02SPEAKER_00: And so it's the first time I get into it, and then the recruiter put me into Halifax, but Halifax had no plan to pay for um the RDR exams.
- 21:11SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 21:12SPEAKER_00: So I got into Halifax, and Halifax are like, Yeah, we're thinking about it, but we haven't decided if we're gonna pay on that.
- 21:17SPEAKER_00: And yet the deadline was was coming, was looming.
- 21:21SPEAKER_00: So then I wasn't even I was there for under a year and then left to go um to Nat West, who were paying for the exams.
- 21:29SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 21:29SPEAKER_00: Got to Nat West, paid for the exams, excellent, done my exams, and then Nat West pulled out the water.
- 21:36SPEAKER_02: It was a weird mate, it's such a trick, it was such a mental time.
- 21:40SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
- 21:40SPEAKER_02: You can imagine we're running a financial advice recruitment company, RDR comes in, and all of a sudden I predicted that was gonna happen.
- 21:46SPEAKER_02: So I was like, right, we need to step into the IFA world, we need to step into the wealth management world because the banks are gonna be kicking out a load of their guys at the money.
- 21:53SPEAKER_02: We need to be able to place those people.
- 21:55SPEAKER_02: Um and that's exactly what happened.
- 21:57SPEAKER_02: One by one, they just domino effect, they dropped.
- 21:59SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 22:00SPEAKER_02: Was and your story is so familiar because it happened to everybody, they go from one bank to another to another.
- 22:05SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like, oh my god, I've just got a job, and now it's stopping it.
- 22:08SPEAKER_02: And it's like, and people are just like, What is going on?
- 22:10SPEAKER_02: This is crazy.
- 22:10SPEAKER_02: Um, and then there was that kind of dawning of like, what am I gonna do?
- 22:14SPEAKER_02: Do exactly, yeah.
- 22:15SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, I banking is what I know, exactly.
- 22:18SPEAKER_02: I know product selling, I don't know how to be an IFA, or I don't know how to be a financial planner.
- 22:23SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I remember that kind of transition across, and people would say to me, They're not they're not the same, Sam, but they're not the same type of type of person, the type of experience, and you know, unless you had somebody that was in a bank that had really strong relationships, yes, that knows that they could they moved across to you know a wealth management firm that some people would follow along with them.
- 22:42SPEAKER_02: Um the the financial advice firms that are out there in the wealth management IFA world weren't really willing to take people on on an employed basis, even no, there was not many employed roles.
- 22:51SPEAKER_02: No, it was mainly self-employed, wasn't it?
- 22:53SPEAKER_00: Mainly self-employed, and that's the mistake I made.
- 22:55SPEAKER_00: I went to SJP.
- 22:56SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and don't get me wrong, SJP is a great company, yeah, but you go to SJP when you gotta have your clients, you got you gotta have system structures in place.
- 23:04SPEAKER_00: I've gone to SJP with no clients, no nothing.
- 23:07SPEAKER_00: Promised they said they'll give me all the leads, they'll give me it was it was the worst mistake I've ever made in my life.
- 23:13SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not only did they not give us leads, we had to pay for the leads that they were giving us, and the leads were absolutely terrible, was it?
- 23:19SPEAKER_00: And then and then they did give us some money for a few months.
- 23:22SPEAKER_00: You just ended up ended up leaving with a debt, and it just messed, it just left such a sour taste in my difficult to not get the the SJP you know stick out and start bashing them because I think um they do so much right, they do, and they're a big company and they're allowed to make mistakes, yeah.
- 23:43SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think coming, and I think you again it wasn't it wasn't just SJP, it was like people were moving from the banks being promised the earth because there was a lot of big eyes happening saying, Well, come to us, and you must have loads of relationships, bring them across, of course, come across and in 12 months you and it wasn't happening.
- 24:00SPEAKER_02: So people were joining on like maybe like um three or six month retainers or whatever, exactly, and they weren't bringing anything across, and they're out on their arse again.
- 24:07SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um with a debt, with a debt, with a debt, yeah.
- 24:10SPEAKER_02: With a debt, some of it was possible, some of it was non-depth.
- 24:12SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 24:12SPEAKER_02: It was a tricky, it was a really tricky time, it was, you know, and um and I mean like now we're only starting to see more employed opportunities for financial advisors, yeah, like in the last couple of years.
- 24:23SPEAKER_02: Um, but what's interesting is a lot of those advisors that left the banks are now set up their own practices, and those practices are now growing.
- 24:28SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you can see who perhaps moved with long-standing relationships, exactly, but the person like yourself who didn't have didn't hold the relationships you were selling, yeah.
- 24:37SPEAKER_02: You know, that's where the struggle happened.
- 24:39SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 24:40SPEAKER_02: So that must have been a quite uh nervous time for you.
- 24:44SPEAKER_02: Yes, it was.
- 24:46SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm I'm doing really well here.
- 24:48SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Barclays, you know, I've got my exams, I'm a financial advisor, I'm earning some good money, yeah, dropping out here, dropping out there, you know, three different companies on my CV.
- 24:57SPEAKER_02: What then made you choose to go down the set?
- 24:59SPEAKER_02: So SJP was self-employed.
- 25:01SPEAKER_00: Self-employed.
- 25:02SPEAKER_00: And then you went back when employed, went back employed.
- 25:04SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, so I went back employed, luckily to a lovely company called Flight Centre.
- 25:08SPEAKER_00: That was that was amazing.
- 25:10SPEAKER_00: I've never had never experienced that before.
- 25:12SPEAKER_00: So Flight Centre was like financial advice, but I remember actually but then in you were like employee benefits all in one.
- 25:19SPEAKER_00: That's right, I agree.
- 25:20SPEAKER_00: Because you used to look after the staff and everything like that.
- 25:22SPEAKER_00: It was a it was a lovely role, lovely company.
- 25:24SPEAKER_00: Used to travel all across the UK to this to the different stores up in Bristol a lot.
- 25:28SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 25:30SPEAKER_00: So love Bristol.
- 25:31SPEAKER_00: Love love of Bristol.
- 25:32SPEAKER_00: Um, I love Bristol.
- 25:33SPEAKER_00: Um it's really nice.
- 25:34SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so and that that was that was amazing.
- 25:36SPEAKER_00: But again, because of um because of RDR, and we were with Sesame, yeah, and then Sesame dropped out, and then because Sesame dropped out, they stopped doing IFA, they only did mortgages, and so then again, it wasn't really making sense there.
- 25:51SPEAKER_00: And I mean it's just it's just it just became so many, and and that's when I said to myself, you know what, you've got to get to a place where you can look after yourself.
- 25:59SPEAKER_02: Exactly that you gotta be able to wipe you gotta be able to wipe your own face, exactly.
- 26:03SPEAKER_02: You know, exactly eat what you kill, and exactly, you know.
- 26:07SPEAKER_02: So that's the that was the hard part, and I think a lot of people they were so used to having leads walk through the door that they didn't actually understand how to go out and win clients, exactly, and then understandably from a wealth management perspective, why would you hire somebody that can't go out and build relationships and have evidence of doing that?
- 26:27SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
- 26:28SPEAKER_02: Um, and um a lot of people left the industry a lot, a lot of people failed, a lot of people couldn't carry on, and you at that point took it upon yourself to think, right, well, how am I gonna do this?
- 26:38SPEAKER_02: So, what was your strategy?
- 26:40SPEAKER_00: Church.
- 26:41SPEAKER_00: Church, church was my strategy.
- 26:42SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
- 26:43SPEAKER_00: So I go to a church, and at my church, there's the the congregation's like 850 people.
- 26:48SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 26:49SPEAKER_00: Um, so I remember um when I was at Barclays, I had a mentor, his name was Shane, and Shane, he was Mr.
- 26:56SPEAKER_00: Slick, he taught me everything.
- 26:57SPEAKER_00: He when I tell you I'm a seller, I'm basically Shane.
- 27:00SPEAKER_00: He taught me everything.
- 27:01SPEAKER_00: But one thing he said was, is about your network.
- 27:04SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he said, luckily, the best thing about you is the fact that you look at yourself as you're an indiv you're individual, because obviously I'm I'm the only person from my background in the room, but he's like, That's your winning, that's your winning formula because in your community, there's not going to be many other people talking to your community about the things that you do, and so you need to go back and do that.
- 27:23SPEAKER_00: And so I started just giving talks at churches.
- 27:26SPEAKER_00: This is how I started doing my seminars, and I started writing down all the information that we learned and started teaching it at churches and going from one church to another, and this is how I started to pick up clients and started to build my confidence at speaking and talking and going out there.
- 27:39SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that was like, okay, great.
- 27:41SPEAKER_00: So you were so what was that on a Sunday or did you do workshops?
- 27:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah, workshops mainly on Saturdays.
- 27:45SPEAKER_00: So mainly on Saturdays, do workshops, and then on Sundays I would go to a church, and then people would come at Ian and talk to me, like, oh, you're the finance guy.
- 27:52SPEAKER_00: And then ask you a question.
- 27:54SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 27:54SPEAKER_00: And then it'll be like that.
- 27:56SPEAKER_02: The church that you were doing it at, yes, um, was it mainly did you did you pick up many people of high net worth in there?
- 28:05SPEAKER_00: Good question.
- 28:06SPEAKER_02: Or was it mainly people that perhaps didn't have as much money?
- 28:10SPEAKER_00: Yes, so not many, not as many high net worth.
- 28:14SPEAKER_00: Um, it was mainly people that maybe get getting them got their mortgage or they've got their they've just about to get hit retirement, so they're getting their 25% lump sum and want to know what to do with that and so forth.
- 28:24SPEAKER_00: Middle England.
- 28:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Middle England, but at the same time, there's a lot of them, so they they know other people similar.
- 28:30SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 28:30SPEAKER_00: So whereas, you know, like like I said, not being serviced, aren't they?
- 28:33SPEAKER_00: No, exactly.
- 28:33SPEAKER_00: The shame is of the world, you know, he he'd have.
- 28:35SPEAKER_00: I remember one time I was with him and he had someone pace post a half a million pound check in the post, just half a million, like do you know what I mean?
- 28:42SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I'm I'm never gonna get to that level.
- 28:44SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 28:45SPEAKER_00: He just had that because he'd been doing it for so long, because he's a different era.
- 28:48SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you know what I mean?
- 28:49SPEAKER_00: He's literally, he could have been my dad.
- 28:50SPEAKER_00: That was the age gap between us, yeah.
- 28:51SPEAKER_00: And so he's he's lived, he's come from a different place where you know it wasn't even regulated when he started.
- 28:55SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he he could he had he had built those relationships up, whereas me, I didn't have that.
- 29:00SPEAKER_00: So because of that, I had to go network.
- 29:02SPEAKER_00: Then I started going to like BIs and you know these breakfast morning networking things.
- 29:07SPEAKER_00: And how did you find those?
- 29:09SPEAKER_00: Oh, terrible.
- 29:10SPEAKER_00: Because number one, most of the time it's it's a financial advisor that's running it.
- 29:13SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you're like, oh, I'm not gonna get no leads from here.
- 29:15SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then other than that, you know, if you could get the other accountant, it'd be good.
- 29:20SPEAKER_00: So I did find a good accountant, so it was worth it, yeah, but you never know what you're gonna get.
- 29:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so it was just like keep going, keep going, keep going.
- 29:28SPEAKER_00: You have to, because at the end of the day, you I understood that if I continue to um have to have someone else pay my bills, I'm not gonna survive in this economy, in this market.
- 29:39SPEAKER_00: I have to be able to take it into my own hands.
- 29:42SPEAKER_00: And so when we talk about like when I speak to clients about multiple streams of income, for me, it that was what it was.
- 29:48SPEAKER_00: It was multiple streams of leads.
- 29:49SPEAKER_00: So you go out there and you're literally saying, Okay, I've got this accountant here, I've had a protection only advisor, so he was meeting people, so I didn't say, 'Oh, any pensions or anything else come over,' and so forth.
- 29:59SPEAKER_00: And then just keep meeting people, business people, and and keep building it up until you all of a sudden you got your phone is ringing all the time.
- 30:07SPEAKER_00: This person's got something.
- 30:08SPEAKER_00: Then I started working with mortgage advisors who again could pass stuff over, yeah, and and business people, and yeah, carried on.
- 30:15SPEAKER_02: That's pretty cool.
- 30:16SPEAKER_02: So you you thought yourself I've it's like a survival instinct.
- 30:19SPEAKER_02: I had to.
- 30:19SPEAKER_02: You had to run off your survival instincts.
- 30:21SPEAKER_02: You had to.
- 30:21SPEAKER_02: You had to go out, and social instincts are a big part of survival.
- 30:24SPEAKER_02: Yes, they can be affected, yes, but at the same time you can affect them.
- 30:28SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 30:28SPEAKER_02: So you chose to go, right?
- 30:29SPEAKER_02: Well, what do I know?
- 30:30SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 30:30SPEAKER_02: Who am I close to?
- 30:32SPEAKER_02: How can I do the least amount of effort to get the biggest reward?
- 30:35SPEAKER_00: And that's that's the mistake a lot of people make.
- 30:37SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they think too big.
- 30:38SPEAKER_00: Too big, they want to, I want to go in, I want to get that bigger currency firm.
- 30:42SPEAKER_00: If I don't get it, I'm a failure.
- 30:44SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 30:44SPEAKER_00: When you've got an uncle who knows someone who will so, and that's the big thing about and I know now network marketing is a really big thing, but that's that's what it is.
- 30:52SPEAKER_00: It's it's about going to your family saying, This is what I do.
- 30:56SPEAKER_00: Can I help you, or do you know anyone?
- 30:58SPEAKER_00: And if anybody you meet mentions mortgage, pension, life insurance, phone me.
- 31:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah, tell them about me.
- 31:03SPEAKER_00: And so, and then you just go and meet people, and then when you meet someone, just keep getting referrals, but do a good job.
- 31:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the biggest thing I can tell people.
- 31:11SPEAKER_00: And be remembered, be remembered, be rememberable.
- 31:13SPEAKER_00: And that's one thing Shane used to tell me.
- 31:14SPEAKER_00: So when I used to have meetings, if I had an office, I'd have a different scent.
- 31:18SPEAKER_00: So the second they walk in, it would the room would smell different.
- 31:21SPEAKER_00: So it's like they've gone into a different area, have little flowers on the table.
- 31:25SPEAKER_00: So it's all about creating an ambience and and and making them feel different, and then also I just start about knowing them.
- 31:32SPEAKER_00: Big thing about me, what Shane taught me is don't start going into your fact finding everything like that.
- 31:37SPEAKER_00: Put that down and just talk to your client.
- 31:40SPEAKER_00: Forget the computer screen, forget all that.
- 31:41SPEAKER_00: Talk to your client.
- 31:42SPEAKER_00: What brought them here?
- 31:43SPEAKER_00: Why are they doing it now?
- 31:44SPEAKER_00: What's most important to them?
- 31:46SPEAKER_00: What happens if they don't achieve what they what they think it really understand them, what makes them tick?
- 31:50SPEAKER_00: Emotional intelligence.
- 31:52SPEAKER_00: The emotional intelligence because that's people by people.
- 31:55SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 31:55SPEAKER_00: And when you realize that it doesn't matter the product that you're selling, when you realise that people buy into you, nobody wants an ISO with you know this a viva or whatever.
- 32:04SPEAKER_00: They just want to know that whatever they're doing, their money's gonna be looked after and grown.
- 32:08SPEAKER_02: Do you find as well that sometimes you're better off talking to a certain type of client than you are somebody else?
- 32:14SPEAKER_02: And that you can spend a lot of your time almost trying to prove to somebody that you can do the job.
- 32:21SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 32:21SPEAKER_02: When actually it's like I shouldn't be working this hard for you.
- 32:24SPEAKER_02: You know, I really shouldn't be working, it should be easier.
- 32:27SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we should be working together.
- 32:28SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, you should be getting me and I should be getting you.
- 32:31SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 32:31SPEAKER_02: I find that sometimes, and I and I think, why am I working so hard to get into that space when I got a space right here that I know incredibly well?
- 32:38SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 32:38SPEAKER_02: You know, I run a financial advice recruitment business, yeah.
- 32:40SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to get into a space that I got nothing, no interest in, no, no understanding, but just I know there might be some money over there.
- 32:46SPEAKER_00: That's what and that's the thing.
- 32:48SPEAKER_00: It not every opportunity is for you.
- 32:50SPEAKER_00: And that's and it's and the thing is there's always opportunities come.
- 32:53SPEAKER_00: But what was your goal?
- 32:54SPEAKER_00: What was your vision?
- 32:55SPEAKER_00: What were you trying to achieve?
- 32:56SPEAKER_00: Focus on that.
- 32:57SPEAKER_00: Stay stay to it, stay to it.
- 32:59SPEAKER_00: Too many times we're being distracted by things that have nothing to do with our our goal.
- 33:03SPEAKER_00: And then we end up achieving nothing at the end of the year, but we've worked hard, yeah.
- 33:06SPEAKER_00: We've worked hard doing nothing.
- 33:08SPEAKER_00: Doing nothing to show for it.
- 33:09SPEAKER_00: Whereas if we just focused on what we're doing and say, you know what, if that's for me, it'll be here when I'm finished, or I'll get to that next year, or I'll add that to the list next time.
- 33:16SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna focus on this.
- 33:18SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's that taking taking control and being a doer of something, taking action on something that's going to get you a result.
- 33:24SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 33:25SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think again, you know, I've been I've fallen foul of that.
- 33:28SPEAKER_02: I think we all do it for it.
- 33:29SPEAKER_02: All of us, yeah.
- 33:30SPEAKER_02: We all fall foul of it.
- 33:31SPEAKER_02: Um one thing I think about being remembered as well is when you meet somebody or you talk to somebody or you present to somebody, yeah, when you walk away back in the day, yeah, someone couldn't just type into their phone your name, and if they did, they might bring up the fact that you're a financial advisor on the FCA register, right?
- 33:52SPEAKER_02: Whereas now you can bring up YouTube, you can bring up blogs, you can bring up Instagram, social media, whatever it might well be.
- 34:01SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 34:02SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden your name becomes recognizable, and they go, Oh, it was that guy, he was a he was he was going on about a manual, wasn't it?
- 34:09SPEAKER_02: Yeah, E-man effect or whatever.
- 34:10SPEAKER_02: I thought that into Google.
- 34:12SPEAKER_02: So there is a power surrounding being remembered, and marketing drives that, yeah, and brand drives that.
- 34:19SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 34:20SPEAKER_00: Would you agree?
- 34:20SPEAKER_00: I definitely agree, and I've seen the difference because now when I see the clients that I see now, I don't have to sell to them.
- 34:27SPEAKER_00: No, I don't, they've already watched my videos, they've bought into me already.
- 34:30SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I mean my clients are trying to give them a handshake, they're giving me a hug.
- 34:33SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and for me, it's the first time I've met them, but I feel like I know you know what I mean, and I've I've been looking at your videos, and I love it.
- 34:40SPEAKER_02: It just proves that it works.
- 34:42SPEAKER_02: You build a relationship online with somebody before you even meet them.
- 34:44SPEAKER_02: It's like, I'm gonna make a decision now, I've bought into it, you've I'm gonna go and see him because I like what he's talking about, exactly, I like what he's about.
- 34:52SPEAKER_02: You're doing that so well, mate.
- 34:53SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you so much.
- 34:54SPEAKER_02: Building your brand, and like we were talking earlier about how much business that you've written, okay.
- 34:59SPEAKER_02: Now, in respect of that, up against what you're building in marketing and brand awareness and followers, yeah, I mean that's value in its own means.
- 35:09SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
- 35:09SPEAKER_02: I mean, like, you know, and it's about thinking how much time am I spending on marketing and how much time am I spending on going out and running business and it's finding that that balance, exactly.
- 35:17SPEAKER_02: But and I think it'd be interesting, and I think you're you're on that tipping point.
- 35:21SPEAKER_02: I think you're gonna be on a tipping point where all of a sudden it's gonna go and that's great.
- 35:25SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I just think I can see that happening for you because I can I buy, I can see your branding, I can see how it works, and I can also see how in the long term it's just gonna massively positively positively affect you.
- 35:37SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and nobody, not many people in financial advice are investing that much time and energy into marketing.
- 35:42SPEAKER_02: So, what I want to know is has spending time on branding, marketing, financial education, all these things, has it taken up a lot of your time and therefore you've earned less money in the short term?
- 35:56SPEAKER_00: Oh yes, oh by far, not even close.
- 35:59SPEAKER_00: I could be in a job, I could be in a typical in a in an employed role on a you know 60 to 80k salary bonus, you're looking over a hundred grand all in, yeah, easily.
- 36:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm not earning nothing close, I'm not earning close to that right now.
- 36:12SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 36:13SPEAKER_00: But number one, am I enjoying life?
- 36:16SPEAKER_00: Oh, my life is so much better.
- 36:18SPEAKER_00: Number one, number two is the value that we're creating.
- 36:21SPEAKER_00: I'm now creating a business that it's it's working, you know, money's coming in, people are the phone is ringing.
- 36:26SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the biggest the hardest thing is about a financial advisor, and I didn't realize it until I left the bank, was seeing people.
- 36:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the hardest thing is to see people.
- 36:34SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and now I don't have that problem with seeing people.
- 36:37SPEAKER_00: People want to see me.
- 36:38SPEAKER_00: People come to you, they come to me, yeah, and they come to me, and when they come to me, they already pay.
- 36:43SPEAKER_00: So before to sit down with me for an hour, you're already paying a fee.
- 36:46SPEAKER_02: So if you set it up in a way that they pay you a fee to see you, just to see me.
- 36:51SPEAKER_02: Because I looked on your website and we're going to this in a minute about it's the email effect, isn't it?
- 36:55SPEAKER_02: And you said, like, I offer these services, it's exactly£150 for this, it's so much money for this, yeah, and this is what you get.
- 37:02SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 37:03SPEAKER_02: You've turned your service into a product, exactly, and someone knows what they're buying for their money, exactly, and people go onto your site and they actually buy it on them.
- 37:11SPEAKER_00: They buy it, they buy it, and then it's booked into your diary.
- 37:14SPEAKER_00: But then it's booked into my diary, and then off the back of that, we have that consultation, and then if they need a mortgage, yeah, we'll do the mortgage.
- 37:20SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if they need life insurance, we'll do the life insurance and pensions.
- 37:23SPEAKER_02: It means as well you're not wasting your time with anybody, you're monetizing everything now.
- 37:27SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 37:28SPEAKER_02: Your time is completely monetized.
- 37:29SPEAKER_00: Whereas I remember being an IFA and you're going, you're going to see a client, you might see them twice, do a report, and you don't get paid until the and and they might in the end say, you know what, I'm not going to do anything.
- 37:38SPEAKER_00: You put all that time and effort for nothing.
- 37:40SPEAKER_00: For nothing.
- 37:40SPEAKER_00: And that's that's that the risk you run as you know as an IFA with with that model.
- 37:45SPEAKER_00: Whereas now, because I've built up this brand and this name, people respect my time.
- 37:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 37:49SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 37:50SPEAKER_00: They respect the fact that wow, I get to see money, I get to see you.
- 37:53SPEAKER_02: And that's the thing, yeah, and that's it's very similar to like the recruitment world, you know, you do all that work for somebody, yeah, and the candidate might say, I don't want to leave anymore.
- 38:01SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 38:01SPEAKER_02: Or when you think, gosh, I've done all that bloody work, yeah, I'm not getting paid on it.
- 38:04SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 38:04SPEAKER_02: We don't get paid as recruiters on a contingency basis until you get until that person starts the job.
- 38:09SPEAKER_02: And even then you can still get claw back on it.
- 38:11SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
- 38:11SPEAKER_02: So that's why I created that kind of digital recruitment solutions where I work with companies and say, right, if I'm gonna do a load of branding, marketing for you, if I'm gonna get your job out there, if I'm gonna push your proposition, then I want to be paid on a monthly basis with my time.
- 38:22SPEAKER_02: But what you're gonna gain out of this is recognition over the long term and access to my my my following, exactly.
- 38:28SPEAKER_00: But you couldn't do that if you didn't have a name that the business is respected, and that's the thing.
- 38:32SPEAKER_00: A lot of a lot of us as financial advisors, we're kind of in the dark, in the shadow, because we're all done by referral.
- 38:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's all word of mouth.
- 38:40SPEAKER_00: So we don't need to advertise.
- 38:41SPEAKER_00: It's very secret way.
- 38:42SPEAKER_00: Very secret club.
- 38:43SPEAKER_02: Very secret club.
- 38:44SPEAKER_02: And this is the thing, like and I when I look at sort of and I love the financial advice industry, 11 and a half years ago, no disrespect, but it does feel a little bit secret clubby, yeah.
- 38:52SPEAKER_02: And we're and the stuff, and I and I know there are certain things you can and can't say, right?
- 38:56SPEAKER_02: And there's certain FCA registration legislation around um marketing.
- 39:00SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, you can't mislead people, no, definitely rightfully so.
- 39:03SPEAKER_02: No.
- 39:04SPEAKER_02: Um, but I think um personal branding and bringing your personality out, yeah, bringing the personality out of the company is just at the moment starting to come through.
- 39:12SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 39:12SPEAKER_02: You know, it's just starting to come through.
- 39:14SPEAKER_02: But people like yourself are kind of at the forefront of it.
- 39:17SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think there's a lot that you can teach existing financial advice firms about that.
- 39:22SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I wonder if it's something you should think about.
- 39:24SPEAKER_02: Maybe because you are a personal brand guru in the financial advice space, yeah, within the middle England space, if you like.
- 39:31SPEAKER_02: Okay, and there'd be a lot of people I think that would benefit from your experience.
- 39:36SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
- 39:36SPEAKER_00: They could just follow you, couldn't they?
- 39:37SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly, and see what see what we do.
- 39:39SPEAKER_00: Or they could have a consult, we could work out what they need to do and what what they're trying to achieve and who they're trying to reach.
- 39:44SPEAKER_00: But for me, um, I know there's this kind of thing of we think, you know, as advisors, if I look after the mum and dad, and then I'll get I'll get the kids.
- 39:51SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 39:52SPEAKER_00: But I think if your kids are watching my videos, trust me, they're coming to me.
- 39:54SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I've been at their I've been with them at their university.
- 39:58SPEAKER_00: You've just been looking after, I've been at their universities, I've been at their colleges, I've been with them, uh help them with the next generation of wealth.
- 40:04SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 40:04SPEAKER_02: So and also you're getting yourself in at like Cambridge University.
- 40:07SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 40:08SPEAKER_02: So these guys should hopefully be going on and earning some pretty decent money, shouldn't they?
- 40:11SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
- 40:12SPEAKER_02: So and they'll remember you, and they'll remember you because they're following you.
- 40:15SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're following your Twitter account.
- 40:16SPEAKER_02: They're following, I mean, like you're not just like you use Instagram like your other financial advice company I know.
- 40:21SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, you use it so well, thank you.
- 40:24SPEAKER_02: Um, and you've got Twitter, um, LinkedIn.
- 40:26SPEAKER_02: Like there's not many financial advisors that buy out content that get regular likes and shares and all of that, and you get a lot of likes and shares on there.
- 40:32SPEAKER_02: So your branding and your content I think is is is awesome.
- 40:35SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I like what you do as well, is you video everything.
- 40:37SPEAKER_00: Have to.
- 40:38SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's all video.
- 40:39SPEAKER_00: And that's expensive.
- 40:39SPEAKER_00: And I told you I've got a video if I've got to pay them out.
- 40:42SPEAKER_00: You know, every time my every time I go out and do something, I have to pay someone to try and video it and get it done professionally.
- 40:47SPEAKER_00: But that's me investing in myself.
- 40:48SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I and that's it.
- 40:49SPEAKER_00: And one thing financial advice has taught me, you know, you have to it to make money, you have to spend money.
- 40:54SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and so for me to get my branding out and get the things out the way I want it, I have to pay invest in having the video and it being seen.
- 41:00SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, people, we're visual people, yeah.
- 41:04SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 41:04SPEAKER_00: And and as much as you can tell me how great you are, and if I can see that you're actually out there and you're you're really there, yeah, you can everyone's lying to you.
- 41:12SPEAKER_02: Do you think like do you do you ever get haters?
- 41:14SPEAKER_00: Do you get people hate on you?
- 41:16SPEAKER_00: Oh, definitely, definitely, definitely.
- 41:18SPEAKER_00: I think people think why him.
- 41:19SPEAKER_00: I think I get I get some people who who know me from where I've come from and said, Oh, well, that's just Emmanuel.
- 41:25SPEAKER_00: He's not he's not anything special, all of a sudden he's on TV and everything.
- 41:27SPEAKER_00: I think he's great.
- 41:28SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you know what I mean?
- 41:29SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, I don't mind, I'm only me.
- 41:32SPEAKER_00: And also, you know, I I know that there are a lot smarter financial advisors than me that will will have these all these different methods and stuff like that, that and they're chartered, and I'm just diploma, a little old diploma me, um, and I'm out here like I'm the face of financial advice when you know I'm not even chartered and so forth.
- 41:48SPEAKER_02: But how do you okay, that's actually really true, and uh that's the type of thing that stops somebody from putting content out?
- 41:57SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
- 41:58SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 41:58SPEAKER_02: So, how do you cope with that?
- 42:00SPEAKER_02: How do you you know, because there are guys out there in financial planning that have probably been doing it for a long time, they're probably looking at you thinking, Who's this bloody who's this guy on the block?
- 42:08SPEAKER_02: Who's this nicky on the block?
- 42:10SPEAKER_02: Exactly, you know.
- 42:11SPEAKER_02: How do you within yourself deal with the concept of putting yourself out there and not letting your instincts take over?
- 42:20SPEAKER_00: You know what, on Instagram it was easy.
- 42:21SPEAKER_00: On LinkedIn, it was the hard I've only so recently I've been putting stuff on LinkedIn.
- 42:26SPEAKER_00: I'm so scared to put stuff on LinkedIn.
- 42:27SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 42:28SPEAKER_00: Because all my old colleagues are on LinkedIn, all my old managers, all do you know what I mean?
- 42:32SPEAKER_00: So it's like these are people LinkedIn is for me.
- 42:34SPEAKER_00: I've been doing I've been doing LinkedIn for years.
- 42:35SPEAKER_00: Before Instagram even existed, I had a LinkedIn account, and I've been adding colleagues and clients that I've met on the way and professionals and building it up.
- 42:43SPEAKER_00: And so I was I was nervous if I put this out, but then I realised Emmanuel, what you're saying is the truth.
- 42:48SPEAKER_00: As long as you've fact-checked what you're saying and you make sure that what you're saying is correct, then nobody can't say the facts are wrong.
- 42:53SPEAKER_00: Those are the facts.
- 42:54SPEAKER_00: If they were delivering a different way or saying a different way, that's fine.
- 42:57SPEAKER_00: And in regards to the whole qualification thing, if I ask anybody on the street who's the number one financial advisor, they're gonna tell me Martin Lewis.
- 43:04SPEAKER_00: He is not qualified.
- 43:06SPEAKER_00: Do you understand?
- 43:06SPEAKER_00: So you it shows that to be a financial advisor, really You've got to be a celebrity.
- 43:10SPEAKER_00: In this world, you don't have to be qualified.
- 43:12SPEAKER_00: We take we understand the importance of being qualified and we put that on our hips, but the public don't.
- 43:17SPEAKER_00: The public just want to know what savings account should I open or how can I save money here, or how can I do it?
- 43:22SPEAKER_00: They're just at that level.
- 43:23SPEAKER_00: And so Do you think, like for a how old are you?
- 43:26SPEAKER_00: I'm 34.
- 43:27SPEAKER_00: 34.
- 43:28SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 43:28SPEAKER_02: So um, so do you think like within financial advice space that younger financial advisors, so let's say, for example, we come straight out of university, do you because there's some universities you can do level four qualifications, exactly you go straight into financial advice, right?
- 43:41SPEAKER_02: As in a I want to be a financial advisor as soon as I leave university, right?
- 43:45SPEAKER_02: Do you think it's more difficult for somebody of an age of say 21 to sit down with somebody who's 60 or 55 to talk about wealth management?
- 43:56SPEAKER_02: Do you think there's a difficulty there?
- 43:58SPEAKER_02: Do you think that that's that that's a struggle we have?
- 44:00SPEAKER_02: Have and trying to try track younger people into the industry is hard.
- 44:03SPEAKER_00: I didn't find it difficult.
- 44:04SPEAKER_00: I was 22 when I started as a financial advisor, and I didn't find it difficult because you know what a lot of the clients understand.
- 44:11SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm not teaching you, I'm not teaching you about if someone's 60, they they've been doing fine, they've been investing for before, they understand that.
- 44:19SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're not asked, they're not here for me to tell them the the ins and outs of investing.
- 44:24SPEAKER_00: What they are is what what structures, what rappers do you need?
- 44:26SPEAKER_00: How do they make sure they can pass that down to their children?
- 44:29SPEAKER_00: These are things that they don't know, and and I do.
- 44:31SPEAKER_00: So I think also they like your energy.
- 44:34SPEAKER_00: I think for me, when I used to go to especially, you know, you got the old the old lady's house and get she get tea biscuit.
- 44:41SPEAKER_00: Listen, I've got a grandchild just like you, they're happy because they're thinking, I wish my grandson was doing something just like you, and so they just want to support you.
- 44:48SPEAKER_00: And I've I've I re had nothing but love and support from people much older than me, just happy to see a young person.
- 44:55SPEAKER_00: So what you put out, you get back.
- 44:56SPEAKER_00: You get back.
- 44:57SPEAKER_00: And if you genuinely and that's what I said, if you're generally interested, and that's one thing all my clients will always tell you, Emmanuel really cares.
- 45:04SPEAKER_00: They can they know I really care.
- 45:05SPEAKER_00: And if you really care about someone, then even if they think you're you're a bit too young, they're gonna give you a chance.
- 45:11SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because that's human nature.
- 45:12SPEAKER_00: Most people are nice people.
- 45:13SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 45:14SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 45:14SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, when someone's come in for a meeting with you, that's a sign to show you that they need some help.
- 45:20SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and if you can offer them help, then they don't really care how old you are, just help me in my situation and show me you care.
- 45:25SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I get it.
- 45:26SPEAKER_02: Totally.
- 45:26SPEAKER_02: That's really cool.
- 45:27SPEAKER_02: It's a good answer.
- 45:28SPEAKER_02: I like that.
- 45:29SPEAKER_02: Um let's talk about the lack of black people in financial advice.
- 45:34SPEAKER_00: Can we talk about that?
- 45:35SPEAKER_00: Yes, we can talk about it.
- 45:36SPEAKER_00: Let's let's talk about it.
- 45:37SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about it.
- 45:37SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about it.
- 45:38SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, there aren't many black people in financial advice.
- 45:43SPEAKER_02: No.
- 45:43SPEAKER_02: Or many people of colour in financial advanced.
- 45:46SPEAKER_02: Um, why do you think that is?
- 45:50SPEAKER_00: It's a good question.
- 45:51SPEAKER_00: I think it's a it's a lot of different a lot of different things.
- 45:54SPEAKER_00: Number one, like we said in the beginning, financial advice.
- 45:56SPEAKER_00: No one grows up saying I want to be a financial advisor because no one really knows it exists.
- 46:00SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, and do you know what I mean?
- 46:02SPEAKER_00: Even if you think banking, you want to be an investment banker, you want to be a fund manager, an analyst.
- 46:07SPEAKER_00: You don't you don't think to be a financial advisor.
- 46:09SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you someone has to tell you at some point that this even exists.
- 46:12SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 46:13SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think number, and like you said, because financial advisors are not brands, like you see what I'm trying to do as well across anybody of any company.
- 46:20SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
- 46:20SPEAKER_00: So so just in general, it's just not that easy to become a financial advisor unless you've met one or heard of one before.
- 46:26SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so I guess what I'm trying to do in opening this up is now I get messages from young people all the time, like, how do I become a financial advisor?
- 46:33SPEAKER_00: Because they've seen me, they know it exists.
- 46:35SPEAKER_00: You're a positive role model, I'm a positive role model, so they know it exists.
- 46:38SPEAKER_00: So that's number one.
- 46:39SPEAKER_00: I think number two is that again, um culture-wise, in in the community, again, is very focused on being a doctor, lawyer, especially from I'm from an African background, yeah.
- 46:50SPEAKER_00: So it's very much being a doctor, lawyer, that type of thing.
- 46:53SPEAKER_00: So it's not necessarily that the you don't know the route to becoming a financial advisor.
- 46:57SPEAKER_00: When you have a careers day, no one says this is how you become a financial advisor, this is the route you need to take.
- 47:02SPEAKER_00: And so I guess that's changing now, and so more people know about it.
- 47:06SPEAKER_00: I think number three is the it's the unconscious bias, as in the people that are hiring are gonna hire people tend to hire people that remind them of themselves.
- 47:17SPEAKER_00: Okay, because if I'm a if I'm a financial advisor and I have I have I've got my own firm, I've got my own company, and I've seen this a certain type of client, and now I'm going to retire and I'm gonna hire someone to take over that client bank.
- 47:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want someone who matches me.
- 47:34SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
- 47:35SPEAKER_00: And that tends not to be someone from a black background.
- 47:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so again, I've had it, and and then people might think, oh no, this is not true, but I've had it.
- 47:42SPEAKER_00: I remember when I was in when I was in Barclays and I was gonna look after an area in Kent.
- 47:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and one of the advisors, one of my advisor colleagues, is like, you know, be careful out there, you know, they might not like you.
- 47:51SPEAKER_00: And I was like, What are you talking about?
- 47:53SPEAKER_00: Because obviously I've lived in London my whole life.
- 47:54SPEAKER_00: So yeah, like it's different, you just live in a bubble because you're in London.
- 47:57SPEAKER_00: So the second you get out to Kent, it's like, oh yeah, you know, you might you might receive racism from not that I ever did, but there was it was that kind of feeling that for someone to say that is a thought process in that person's head.
- 48:09SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 48:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 48:11SPEAKER_00: And so again, and then I've worked in companies where you know I had a company that you know let me go, and I know the reason they let me go is I just didn't fit in.
- 48:18SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 48:19SPEAKER_00: Because I was the only one like me, had the thoughts like me, and it just I I didn't go do the things that they did in the way because I'm not I'm not from that background.
- 48:28SPEAKER_02: And sometimes regardless of colour, yeah, that's just the way it is.
- 48:31SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I've had to let people go because they don't fit.
- 48:33SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
- 48:34SPEAKER_02: It's not good for them, and it's not good for me.
- 48:36SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 48:36SPEAKER_02: Um, I totally get that.
- 48:38SPEAKER_02: And so you you do a lot of work within the black community.
- 48:40SPEAKER_02: I do, and you do a lot of finan like free financial education and have this for you, so helping them with their debts or credit cards or building wealth and thinking about it in a different way.
- 48:51SPEAKER_02: Yeah, from doing that work and from being that positive role model and giving back, yeah.
- 48:56SPEAKER_02: Um, do people come to you and say, How do I become a financial advisor?
- 49:01SPEAKER_00: Yes, people do.
- 49:02SPEAKER_00: I've had that a lot, yeah, because it's something that now it I guess when people want people really respect you as what you do, they want to become what you do.
- 49:11SPEAKER_00: And so I've helped that's the point of it, isn't it?
- 49:13SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 49:13SPEAKER_00: And so that's the point of being a role model.
- 49:14SPEAKER_00: A role model, exactly.
- 49:15SPEAKER_00: So I've had quite a few of my young people, especially from church, that have gone on to become mortgage advisors, done the financial advisor qualification, worked at De Vere in in the UK and abroad and so forth.
- 49:26SPEAKER_00: And and it's it's it is something that be by doing it, you help them.
- 49:31SPEAKER_00: But for me, that wasn't really the goal.
- 49:33SPEAKER_00: For me, it's about changing the perception, it's really about showing them that you know what, we can come from where we come from, and you can still be a professional and still be cool.
- 49:44SPEAKER_00: I think there's this whole thing of if you become a financial advisor, or if you if you become take a certain all of a sudden you're wearing a suit, all of a sudden you're not, you're not, you've forgotten where you've come from, or you can't be down anymore, be be hip or whatever it may be.
- 49:58SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 49:59SPEAKER_00: And so it's that it's that negative, it's these negative connotations that keep keep us down.
- 50:03SPEAKER_00: So for me, I remember when I got my job at Barclays, for the young people, it was I got I got a we got a BMW that was so I got a BMW 3 series 2008, and for them, they said that was the the only person other person they know that drives that car is the local drug dealer.
- 50:19SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 50:20SPEAKER_00: And so when I could explain to them that I've got this car, the bank paid for the car, the bank paid the insurance, the bank even refunded me on fuel.
- 50:27SPEAKER_00: Out in my church, literally 70% of them when they did accounting finance degrees, because that's the degree I did.
- 50:34SPEAKER_00: Because they they they saw it, again.
- 50:35SPEAKER_00: You see, that's the difference.
- 50:37SPEAKER_00: And so when you can go out and then come back and show them, look, I'm just like you, I'm from where you're from, you know me for how many years, but look at look at the life I can live.
- 50:46SPEAKER_00: So we need more women in, we need more women in financial.
- 50:49SPEAKER_00: Much more women in finance.
- 50:50SPEAKER_02: We need there needs to be more inclusivity, isn't it?
- 50:52SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what it is.
- 50:53SPEAKER_02: It's inclusivity.
- 50:54SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
- 50:55SPEAKER_02: We need more people of colour, um, more inclusivity basically.
- 50:58SPEAKER_02: And we don't want to make a big deal out of it.
- 51:00SPEAKER_02: What we need to do is look at what is in place at the moment and raise profiles.
- 51:03SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
- 51:04SPEAKER_02: I think we don't that there's to me, your profile has been raised, you're raising it, yeah, and then you're doing so much giving back to your community.
- 51:11SPEAKER_02: I think it's awesome.
- 51:12SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, like, that's really good.
- 51:15SPEAKER_02: But the only knock-on effect is that people respect you, yeah, and then they're gonna tell their mates you put a load of video out and a load of content out on social media, you're on YouTube, you've got your website, you're on TV, yes, you know, we're gonna talk about that.
- 51:26SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, like that in its own right is positive role material.
- 51:30SPEAKER_02: I think you know, I can can't think of any other apart from me.
- 51:34SPEAKER_02: I mean the is it the Halifax back then?
- 51:35SPEAKER_02: Yes, Howard.
- 51:36SPEAKER_02: Howard, yeah, yeah, yeah with the glasses, yeah.
- 51:39SPEAKER_02: Yeah, do you know what I mean?
- 51:40SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was like it was a bit like almost a character or something.
- 51:43SPEAKER_02: Yeah, almost, yeah.
- 51:44SPEAKER_02: You know, almost, yeah.
- 51:46SPEAKER_02: Like um, I think you're more modern.
- 51:50SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and um I don't know, I get it.
- 51:53SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I really get it.
- 51:54SPEAKER_00: It's cool.
- 51:55SPEAKER_00: And it's and for me, it's just amazing when people are like, oh yeah, you're like the young Martin Lewis, you're like the black Martin Lewis.
- 52:00SPEAKER_00: I'm like, wow, that's amazing.
- 52:02SPEAKER_00: You know how much I respect Martin Lewis, like and what he's done, and to be able to follow in those footsteps, you know what I mean?
- 52:08SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of good.
- 52:09SPEAKER_02: A lot of good, and that's what it's about, isn't it?
- 52:11SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's cool, mate.
- 52:12SPEAKER_02: Oh god, I wish you well on that journey then because I think that you're going the right path there.
- 52:15SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
- 52:16SPEAKER_02: Can you tell me a little bit about the so when you so you're self-employed, yeah, you're battling around, right?
- 52:21SPEAKER_02: Next minute you're on TV, yeah.
- 52:22SPEAKER_02: My god, that's pretty crazy, isn't it?
- 52:24SPEAKER_00: It's unbelievable.
- 52:25SPEAKER_00: That and it's just I thought people didn't really watch that much TV anymore.
- 52:30SPEAKER_02: Just explain what the programme is for people and the listeners.
- 52:33SPEAKER_00: So basically, um Save Well, Spend Better is a program where there's four of us myself, Bianca Miller, who finished second on The Apprentice, Anna Williamson, who does Celebs Go Dating, she does a lot of relationship counselling, coaching, and then Anne Wilson, who's from South Africa, and she does a lot of financial education and so forth in South Africa, America, and in the UK.
- 52:54SPEAKER_00: So it's the four of us, and basically, people two people always come in.
- 52:58SPEAKER_00: There'll be a relationship between them either husband and wife, mum and daughter, father, son, and there'll be a financial dilemma that one doesn't hasn't maybe told the other in full or hasn't really come out, and so now we're sharing the full details and then seeing what's the best financial advice for their situation.
- 53:16SPEAKER_02: So at the same time, you were looking at their relationships with each other, with each other, exactly relationships with money, exactly, and they haven't really been honest, didn't they?
- 53:25SPEAKER_02: No, by the sayings of it.
- 53:26SPEAKER_02: Yes, there's a bit of drama, drama, so you've got to deal with that side of it, and a little bit of a reality check, I can imagine.
- 53:33SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's funny how you know we could be so close to people, but we won't talk about money.
- 53:37SPEAKER_00: I mean, we'll talk about boyfriends, ins and outs, whatever it may be, the most glorious stuff we all talk about.
- 53:42SPEAKER_00: But money, we'll just keep that one, we'll keep that one on the low.
- 53:46SPEAKER_02: That's so true.
- 53:46SPEAKER_02: Like it's like it's like with British, isn't it?
- 53:50SPEAKER_02: You know, we shouldn't be talking about money.
- 53:51SPEAKER_02: And it's like, well, why aren't we talking classic?
- 53:53SPEAKER_02: Because you know, people get themselves into debt really young, you know, and people don't really understand the art of investing.
- 54:00SPEAKER_02: No, imagine if you taught people what compound interest when you're in school, you taught people about loans, you taught people about um credit cards and bank accounts and how to buy a house, exactly what it actually means, exactly, you know, where that money is invested.
- 54:12SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 54:13SPEAKER_02: I mean, perhaps when I was 12 years old, I didn't I I put it in front of me.
- 54:17SPEAKER_02: I might have enjoyed it.
- 54:18SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I run a business now.
- 54:19SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
- 54:20SPEAKER_02: Perhaps I was really more interested in that than learning about the wild wild west.
- 54:23SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 54:23SPEAKER_02: Do you know what I mean?
- 54:24SPEAKER_00: I mean, I haven't used Paragraph theory since I left school.
- 54:26SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 54:27SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let's give some people some actual tools that they're gonna use in real life.
- 54:31SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
- 54:31SPEAKER_00: So that's that program kind of crosses that crosses that path.
- 54:34SPEAKER_02: So, how did you end up going on the program?
- 54:36SPEAKER_00: So basically, they they contacted one of my friends through Twitter, yeah.
- 54:40SPEAKER_00: Um, she auditioned, and then they asked her, Does she know anyone else who does um financial education like she does?
- 54:47SPEAKER_00: And she was like, Yeah, Emmanuel.
- 54:49SPEAKER_00: And then they then had a call.
- 54:50SPEAKER_00: So the first call was like an hour.
- 54:52SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, then I had a second Skype with like the executive producer, so that was like two hours on Skype recorded, that then went back to channel four, went back to went back to um Lloyd's, and then they then agreed that then we had a day where we all came in around the table just talking.
- 55:10SPEAKER_00: There's five of us there, and they were videoing us.
- 55:13SPEAKER_00: They got someone from the street to pretend to be a customer or client and see what what how we would help them, what advice we would give them in their situation.
- 55:21SPEAKER_00: Recorded all this, created a pack, and then sent it off, and then we waited and then found out that I got on the show.
- 55:27SPEAKER_02: That's pretty cool.
- 55:28SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you were excited about it.
- 55:29SPEAKER_00: I was very excited, I was very excited about it, very happy.
- 55:33SPEAKER_00: Um, it was an honour, you know, yeah to be on the show.
- 55:36SPEAKER_00: And for me, the reason that was two things was really important for me.
- 55:40SPEAKER_00: Number one was to be on television as an expert, yeah, as opposed to being a rapper or a footballer.
- 55:46SPEAKER_00: Not that there's anything wrong with being a rapper or a footballer, but that seems to be the kind of entertainment type way that we always seem to go.
- 55:53SPEAKER_00: So to be able to actually be on there as an expert, as a person where you're coming and you need to get knowledge from me or from a person of colour was really important to me, number one.
- 56:01SPEAKER_02: Where people don't share as well so much, but say within their family, exactly, and then somebody of colour on TV, it doesn't have to be of colour, yeah, but somebody on TV talking about the normal problems that somebody might be burying deep inside of them.
- 56:15SPEAKER_02: Exactly, exactly.
- 56:16SPEAKER_02: And you're there and they're thinking, Oh wow, great, you know, yeah, yeah, positive.
- 56:19SPEAKER_00: And then number two was just you know, my children watched it, and to have them be able to say daddy is on television, so to them it's normal.
- 56:26SPEAKER_00: I mean, growing up for us, it's like there were only four channels, they were never channel five when we were kids, you know.
- 56:30SPEAKER_00: I remember Channel Five, and so it's like it's only four channels, so disappointing, man.
- 56:35SPEAKER_00: And the only person of Carly saw Teb is like Trevor McDonald and the news at Temper.
- 56:39SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love Trevor.
- 56:40SPEAKER_00: So yeah, good Trevor.
- 56:41SPEAKER_00: And so it was like now to be able to see that or AZ Harriet or these type of people.
- 56:45SPEAKER_00: So to now see someone there, you know, on in a and I feel like the show is quite hip.
- 56:48SPEAKER_00: Channel four is quite a relaxed edge, edgy type channel, which is a great channel, yeah, pushing boundaries and so forth.
- 56:55SPEAKER_00: So it was it was really an honour to be on.
- 56:57SPEAKER_00: So I was really excited to do it.
- 56:58SPEAKER_00: Top hand.
- 56:59SPEAKER_00: So um, hopefully more of that in the future.
- 57:01SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, more of that in the future, and we're looking at other stuff as well, potentially, you know, podcasts, radio, um, obviously talks.
- 57:08SPEAKER_00: So I mean talks going around more universities, more colleges.
- 57:13SPEAKER_00: I just this is just me.
- 57:14SPEAKER_02: So you put in that personal brand out there.
- 57:16SPEAKER_02: So that that's a again, it's a stepping stone, isn't it?
- 57:18SPEAKER_02: Let's get back in time.
- 57:19SPEAKER_02: What can I do to win some clients?
- 57:22SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'm gonna look at what I've got, my church.
- 57:24SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so now I'm gonna start delivering to my church.
- 57:26SPEAKER_02: You probably stood up in front of your church, capped yourself, of course, and thought, what am I doing?
- 57:31SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you you took that plunge and that risk and that step outside of your comfort zone.
- 57:35SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and as time went on, you were probably giving away advice.
- 57:38SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 57:38SPEAKER_02: Yeah, how long were you giving away advice for?
- 57:40SPEAKER_02: Doing talks for free.
- 57:41SPEAKER_02: Doing talks for free.
- 57:42SPEAKER_02: Knowing that you're adding all this value to the audience and you're getting nothing for it.
- 57:45SPEAKER_02: You're getting nothing for it.
- 57:46SPEAKER_02: So you're putting all that good out, all that effort out, and you're you're putting it out there into the universe, and it's coming back to you, isn't it?
- 57:53SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's coming back to you.
- 57:55SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 57:55SPEAKER_02: You're building a following throughout that time.
- 57:57SPEAKER_02: You were giving something, someone would follow you.
- 57:58SPEAKER_02: I like Eman, he shares his information with me.
- 58:01SPEAKER_02: Are you gonna follow that guy?
- 58:02SPEAKER_02: So you started building your content, building your personal brand, getting yourself noticed, getting yourself out there.
- 58:07SPEAKER_02: Then the TV came along, that added to that.
- 58:09SPEAKER_02: So all of a sudden, you were beamed into millions of viewers' homes during the day.
- 58:14SPEAKER_02: And I I mean, what an amazing exposure that is for you.
- 58:17SPEAKER_02: Definitely, but not only that, you didn't just leave it at that, then you capitalized on that.
- 58:20SPEAKER_02: So you set up the E-Man effect, yes.
- 58:23SPEAKER_02: Yeah, your business, the E-Man effect, yeah, which is your financial advice business, yeah, and financial education company.
- 58:30SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you're still following on that financial education, yeah.
- 58:34SPEAKER_02: Things like motivational speaking.
- 58:35SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 58:36SPEAKER_02: So let me talk, talk to me about where you are now because the email effect is where you are right now, isn't it?
- 58:42SPEAKER_00: So tell me what that is.
- 58:43SPEAKER_00: So the email effect is my my consultancy financial education company, so it's not regulated as a it's not a regulated company.
- 58:50SPEAKER_00: Um, however, I do have a regulated financial advice firm as well.
- 58:54SPEAKER_00: So, what what I do for the email effect is help, is I give talks, um, like you said, motivational speaking.
- 59:00SPEAKER_00: We do we do stuff online, and we really try and help and have an impact.
- 59:04SPEAKER_00: So that's why it's called the E-man effect.
- 59:06SPEAKER_00: It's about having the effect, and that came from people who I'd helped in the past, and they'll be like, Oh, I've just I've just bought my first house or I've just paid off all my debt.
- 59:14SPEAKER_00: That's the E-man effect.
- 59:15SPEAKER_00: That's what people used to tell me, and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna keep that and I'm gonna use that, and that's gonna be the name because that's what we want to do.
- 59:21SPEAKER_00: We want to have an effect on the nation, no effect on people.
- 59:24SPEAKER_00: So, and then it had my name in it, and that was the importance because you know what?
- 59:27SPEAKER_00: Before my old company um was called Noir XL, and people didn't know my name.
- 59:31SPEAKER_00: They always called me Mr.
- 59:32SPEAKER_00: Noir, yeah.
- 59:33SPEAKER_00: And so I realised I had to change that and build a personal brand.
- 59:37SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because when people can relate to you and they know your name, now I get stuck in the street, and it's like, Iman, how are you?
- 59:42SPEAKER_00: I get hugs from people I've never met, and they're hugging me because they're telling me the advice that I gave them on a video six months ago has helped them now buy their first house, and or they've got out of there, or they didn't realise they could do this, or they could do that, or it they helped their mum.
- 59:55SPEAKER_00: And now I sit down, people pay for consoles for their parents, yeah, and they pay me to come in and sit down and help their whole family.
- 1:00:02SPEAKER_00: They'll sit down as a group of girlfriends.
- 1:00:05SPEAKER_00: We'll pay for e-man to come in and do it.
- 1:00:06SPEAKER_00: Come in and do it, and it's like this is just an idea that you had, and and it's so important to believe in yourself and get out of that comfort zone.
- 1:00:14SPEAKER_00: I took acting lessons, okay.
- 1:00:16SPEAKER_00: So I used to do acting at my church, so we used to do a lot of acting and drama, and so that's what I had to do.
- 1:00:21SPEAKER_00: I had to create this persona and create this character until actually my confidence was enough that I could be this person.
- 1:00:26SPEAKER_00: So, did you lack the confidence originally?
- 1:00:28SPEAKER_00: Oh, I used to I grew up with a stammer, so I used to have a stammer because I couldn't even talk and finish sentences.
- 1:00:34SPEAKER_00: I didn't get the great education because I couldn't spell, yeah, all I had was my personality.
- 1:00:39SPEAKER_00: That was it, and I was like, that's gonna be good enough, and I'm gonna add everything called, and that's why I'm such a fan and believer in education.
- 1:00:45SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I know where I different types of education, different types of education as well, because I feel like the education system tells you that you can only learn in one way.
- 1:00:53SPEAKER_00: I struggled with that.
- 1:00:53SPEAKER_00: And I struggled I I struggled with GCSEs.
- 1:00:56SPEAKER_00: Nay, I I didn't I didn't pass any, but but then the financial advice exams are 70%.
- 1:01:00SPEAKER_00: I've never got 70% in my life, but that was the pass mark, yeah, and I managed to get it, and it showed me that, but with a trainer, with someone teaching me how to think different, do you know what I mean?
- 1:01:10SPEAKER_00: As opposed to the normal way and one box fits all, it doesn't.
- 1:01:13SPEAKER_00: We all learn and take take things in differently, and so that was i 100%.
- 1:01:17SPEAKER_02: I struggled with that, I massively struggled with the um with the system, you know.
- 1:01:22SPEAKER_02: I didn't.
- 1:01:22SPEAKER_02: I was I'm I'm not somebody who who learnt well in school.
- 1:01:25SPEAKER_02: I really didn't.
- 1:01:26SPEAKER_02: I struggled.
- 1:01:27SPEAKER_02: I feel embarrassed saying that.
- 1:01:28SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but you know, I run my own business, no, but it doesn't stop me.
- 1:01:31SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 1:01:32SPEAKER_02: I've always worked, I've always worked hard, I've always pushed myself.
- 1:01:35SPEAKER_02: I've always I never sat on my arse and did nothing.
- 1:01:38SPEAKER_02: I've always put pushed myself out of my comfort zone.
- 1:01:40SPEAKER_02: I always wanted to learn from other people.
- 1:01:42SPEAKER_02: I was really interested in others, I would read about stuff, you know, and it was just and I just kept pushing and kept pushing and kept pushing.
- 1:01:48SPEAKER_02: And you know, I run my own business.
- 1:01:49SPEAKER_02: I'm I would say I'm happy with my success.
- 1:01:51SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:01:52SPEAKER_02: Do I want more?
- 1:01:53SPEAKER_02: Yes, of course.
- 1:01:54SPEAKER_02: I want to keep building because I'm an entrepreneur and I've got ambition.
- 1:01:56SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:01:57SPEAKER_02: And that's what's going on here.
- 1:01:58SPEAKER_02: When you said about the acting lessons and stuff, I think that's quite a I quite I think I quite like to give that a go.
- 1:02:03SPEAKER_02: Because I think like you have to do something all the time, you have to be pushing yourself towards step outside your efforts saying exactly, and it's like that's like proper stepping out, it's proper, proper stepping out.
- 1:02:13SPEAKER_00: So we used to do drama, and it was and it was important for me because actually I realised that you know what in this moment I'm not Emmanuel, I'm this character.
- 1:02:22SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and when all of a sudden I was talking clearly, I wasn't stammering, I wasn't stuttering, because I had learned my lines and I could walk with my head up high because that's what the character would have been.
- 1:02:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I said, So if this is what it is, why don't I just be this guy?
- 1:02:34SPEAKER_00: Why can't I just be this guy?
- 1:02:35SPEAKER_00: Because this character until I've built up enough confidence that I am this person.
- 1:02:39SPEAKER_02: Do you find that spiritually, yeah, because you you go to church?
- 1:02:44SPEAKER_02: Yes, definitely.
- 1:02:45SPEAKER_02: Do you find that like spirituality plays a part in helping you remain confident and remain focused?
- 1:02:52SPEAKER_00: Yes, oh my goodness, so much, so many times, especially when you know you're walking alone.
- 1:02:57SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and when I say that, I mean not that you don't have people that that are wish that wish you well or people that want to help you, but you look around and you see yourself.
- 1:03:04SPEAKER_00: I mean, there were for a majority of my career, most of my clients have been white, most of my colleagues have been white.
- 1:03:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so you walk into a room and people just you know, some people will treat you differently, and it's um it's not knowing, like, for example, instead of shaking your hand, they'll give you a fist bump and then you know what's wrong with you?
- 1:03:21SPEAKER_00: Are you okay?
- 1:03:22SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 1:03:23SPEAKER_00: Where did you see this?
- 1:03:24SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 1:03:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and and they'll use slang words that they won't use around anyone else.
- 1:03:28SPEAKER_00: And it's not that they're they're thinking that they're making you fit in, but actually it's just making things awkward.
- 1:03:32SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 1:03:33SPEAKER_00: What's what's going on?
- 1:03:34SPEAKER_00: And so, especially when you don't, when you you fail, do you know what I mean?
- 1:03:38SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that failure makes you not want to try again.
- 1:03:40SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that failure makes you say stop.
- 1:03:42SPEAKER_00: But what you have to realize is that it's not really failure, it's a lesson learned.
- 1:03:45SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and now you know how to do that thing that much better.
- 1:03:48SPEAKER_00: And when we when you look at people like Einstein and these type of people and what they were able to achieve now, and now they go down as you know the brightest minds, but at the time they were laughed at, yeah.
- 1:03:57SPEAKER_03: Do you know what I mean?
- 1:03:58SPEAKER_00: Numerous times, and and so through that we go on.
- 1:04:01SPEAKER_00: And now what I was gonna say for you in regards to what you were saying in regards to school is that a lot of people go through that, but you know what?
- 1:04:06SPEAKER_00: The person you are today is because you've gone through that, yeah, and maybe if you were great at school, you wouldn't have achieved all that you've done now because you wouldn't have thought you needed to because you had that.
- 1:04:14SPEAKER_02: So I mean, like Richard Branson like had like three GCSEs or something, you know, in really struggled.
- 1:04:20SPEAKER_02: There's so many people out there that go on to be incredibly successful, but they didn't, you know, they didn't fit into the education system.
- 1:04:28SPEAKER_02: And I just I'm not saying you know it fits it fit it suits a lot of people.
- 1:04:32SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, everyone but not I've not everybody.
- 1:04:34SPEAKER_02: Um but it does build a kind of lack of confidence in you and a and a a competitiveness, yes, which I'm with, you know.
- 1:04:42SPEAKER_02: If I'm looking at somebody I know who's gone to university, had the best of this and the best of that, and I'm looking at them and I'm earning more than them, yeah, or I've built a business bigger than them, I'm I don't know, there's something in me that was a bit happy about that, of course, but at the same time, was it really making me happy?
- 1:04:59SPEAKER_02: So until I found that kind of inner peace, if you like, then I was just like now I feel quite comfortable looking at my instincts as an object, if you like.
- 1:05:09SPEAKER_02: So, do I want to earn loads of money?
- 1:05:11SPEAKER_02: Do I need a big house?
- 1:05:12SPEAKER_02: Are these the things that make the man?
- 1:05:15SPEAKER_02: What makes the man is finding happiness, is finding the ability to be able to share with other people your experiences, exactly, love and compassion.
- 1:05:24SPEAKER_02: And I think um so when you talk about your spirituality side of it, I'm going on a spiritual journey myself, okay, and I and I get it, yes, I'm not religious, no, but I get it, the higher state of consciousness.
- 1:05:35SPEAKER_00: Of course, you know, it's it's beautiful.
- 1:05:37SPEAKER_00: When you can when some when things bad can happen to you, but you can see that you're not God has a plan.
- 1:05:42SPEAKER_00: You know, when you can sell yourself that it's like, okay, yeah, it's in his plan.
- 1:05:44SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm not, I'm not relying on myself.
- 1:05:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I understand that somebody else has a plan, it's happened for a reason.
- 1:05:49SPEAKER_00: Surrender and you can move forward.
- 1:05:51SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and surrendering, accepting that this is the way it is, exactly, and stop holding on to things that are false.
- 1:05:56SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it's not gonna make you happy.
- 1:05:59SPEAKER_02: What's gonna make you happy is The ability to check out where you are going wrong and learning from it.
- 1:06:03SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 1:06:03SPEAKER_02: Bless them in the lesson.
- 1:06:04SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:06:05SPEAKER_02: Cool.
- 1:06:05SPEAKER_02: Good.
- 1:06:06SPEAKER_02: I'm pleased about that because I can see that in you and I like it.
- 1:06:09SPEAKER_02: It's I love it.
- 1:06:10SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
- 1:06:10SPEAKER_02: Lush.
- 1:06:11SPEAKER_02: Lush, that's a very bristle.
- 1:06:12SPEAKER_02: Bristol word.
- 1:06:13SPEAKER_02: Definitely Bristol word.
- 1:06:15SPEAKER_02: So, okay, great stuff.
- 1:06:16SPEAKER_02: So the E-man effects, you've got that set up, financial education, motivational speaking, you're um giving full financial advice obviously your wealth management.
- 1:06:26SPEAKER_02: You've created a lovely charging structure and a product.
- 1:06:28SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 1:06:29SPEAKER_02: I've noticed global domination on your website.
- 1:06:31SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're interested in bringing the E-man effect globally.
- 1:06:34SPEAKER_00: Yes, definitely.
- 1:06:35SPEAKER_02: How's that going?
- 1:06:35SPEAKER_00: It's going well.
- 1:06:36SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm I'm planning to talk, I'm planning to talk in Africa this year.
- 1:06:39SPEAKER_00: I've got I've got a talk in in Europe as well, and potentially we're in discussions for one in America.
- 1:06:44SPEAKER_00: So again, it's it's it's out there, and I I'm telling you, like I do a lot of consults with people that are not in the UK.
- 1:06:52SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:06:52SPEAKER_00: And because I've created a product that's online, and because we've using systems like Zoom, I'm I was speaking to someone the other day in Lebanon.
- 1:06:59SPEAKER_00: She works for the UN, she's British, but she she's based, she works for the UN, she's in Lebanon.
- 1:07:03SPEAKER_00: And and we did a consult over Zoom, helped her with her finances, helped her understand how she can get a mortgage, gave her a plan, told her how much she needs to say, what she needed to do, how we went through her budget, saw the mistake she was making, how she can cut it, how she built a plan for her everything she needs to do.
- 1:07:18SPEAKER_00: Speaking to another woman in Texas, again from the UK, but out there, and and so I'm here, I'm in I'm in the UK, I'm in London, but I'm able to have this impact across.
- 1:07:28SPEAKER_00: I get people from especially Nigeria because of my name, and they they they see my surname and they know I'm I'm I'm Nigerian, and they message me and ask me for help on this and situations on that, and try and motivate other people outside, and it's just amazing to be able to do this from this point.
- 1:07:44SPEAKER_00: And I guess that's the difference with building a brand is that financial advisors are helping people every single day.
- 1:07:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the way I do it, the world knows.
- 1:07:53SPEAKER_02: And you're you and you're moving with the technology, so you're thinking ahead.
- 1:07:56SPEAKER_00: You are thinking ahead, you know, as much as you are in the present moment helping people in the in the now, yeah, you you have a foot in the future, of course, because all these kids, all these kids that are helping college and in schools, in in university, they're gonna be the next the next workforce.
- 1:08:11SPEAKER_00: And when they start making money, and when who are they gonna want to go to?
- 1:08:13SPEAKER_00: Who was who gave them a talk when they were younger?
- 1:08:15SPEAKER_00: Like you said, who are they following?
- 1:08:16SPEAKER_00: Who are they know who do they know for financial advice?
- 1:08:19SPEAKER_00: The guy's out there.
- 1:08:19SPEAKER_00: The guy's out there.
- 1:08:20SPEAKER_02: You know, they type it into Google and it's you.
- 1:08:22SPEAKER_02: It's me.
- 1:08:22SPEAKER_02: So do you invest a lot of money in set like SEO or digital marketing?
- 1:08:26SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I've got I've got a whole digital marketing so that we come up on rank and we get fine people.
- 1:08:31SPEAKER_00: I spend a lot on social media marketing and run running adverts on Facebook and um um Instagram to get people to my page and to get people to know what I'm doing and my services.
- 1:08:40SPEAKER_02: So that's big that's um something that a lot of financial advisors don't do, especially financial advisors that are on their own.
- 1:08:46SPEAKER_02: No, of course.
- 1:08:47SPEAKER_02: They're a bit risk adverse to I think investing in digital marketing.
- 1:08:50SPEAKER_02: Not all of them, some are a bit risk adverse to investing in digital marketing, and I've only just started doing digital marketing over the last two years.
- 1:08:57SPEAKER_02: So I can see the benefit of doing it without a shadow of a doubt.
- 1:08:59SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 1:09:00SPEAKER_02: But there is a cost, isn't there?
- 1:09:01SPEAKER_02: There's a cost, there's a there's a cost to it, and that it's difficult to track the return on investment in every aspect.
- 1:09:09SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so unless you've got, say, you can track it on Facebook or you can track it on um you know the Facebook advertising account or Google AdWords or the SEO impact it has on your website and visitors, you might have a form, you might have some download pages, you might have some landing pages, you use HubSpot or whatever.
- 1:09:25SPEAKER_02: So there are things that you can track and you can do, but it's a job in its own right.
- 1:09:28SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
- 1:09:29SPEAKER_02: But what you can't see are the things is the impact it's having outside of that.
- 1:09:33SPEAKER_02: And that's that's the important part.
- 1:09:34SPEAKER_02: And that's yeah, and that's the important part because you've got to believe that what you're doing is great.
- 1:09:38SPEAKER_02: And I think the way you believe what you're doing is great is creating better content.
- 1:09:42SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:09:42SPEAKER_02: So if you create good content and people are watching it and liking it and whatnot, then you're adding value constantly.
- 1:09:48SPEAKER_02: You can't then see that that could like if I put a bit of content out on LinkedIn, yeah, that might generate me 600, 700 views of that article on my website.
- 1:09:57SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean 600, 700 views in like two weeks.
- 1:10:00SPEAKER_02: Come on, and then underneath it, I've got job adverts, I've got this, that, and the other.
- 1:10:03SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:10:04SPEAKER_02: I've got a little chat box that pops up and says, hey, how you doing?
- 1:10:07SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 1:10:07SPEAKER_02: I mean, it generates leads, it's an in-bang marketing strategy.
- 1:10:10SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:10:10SPEAKER_02: It's not going to win me or my business, no, but it's gonna add value to it.
- 1:10:15SPEAKER_02: And then the long-term strategy is that I'm building real I'm building relationships virtually online, digitally, and I can track these people.
- 1:10:23SPEAKER_02: They come in, they download something, they go into my database, I can see if they're interacting with my site.
- 1:10:27SPEAKER_00: And you learn, and so for me, like I've learned um how to do quotes and what what quotes do well because now you use your posts as your analytics, so you go back through your like me on Instagram, I go back through my post.
- 1:10:38SPEAKER_00: Oh, this post did really well, or this one didn't get as much views.
- 1:10:41SPEAKER_00: Why?
- 1:10:41SPEAKER_00: What was the difference?
- 1:10:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so now I know what's I know before I send it that what's gonna do well and what's not gonna do well.
- 1:10:47SPEAKER_00: And some of the stuff I know I put out is not gonna do well, but it's for a particular market and a particular audience, and I know that those people will enjoy it, and so niche, yeah.
- 1:10:54SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 1:10:55SPEAKER_00: So I might only get you know 200 200 likes on on a on a post, and so for me that's quite low, but for which is another.
- 1:11:04SPEAKER_00: So 200 likes on a post might be for me be quite low, but I know that that's for to for me, it's who they sent it.
- 1:11:10SPEAKER_00: I might only get 200 likes because some people see your stuff, they won't like it, but I might get 60 cents.
- 1:11:15SPEAKER_00: Now that's 60 people that don't follow me that allow receive my stuff, and that's how I get audience.
- 1:11:20SPEAKER_00: And this is why then every morning I wake up to an email.
- 1:11:22SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I would like you to come and talk here, or like to do that.
- 1:11:25SPEAKER_00: And this is what doing that's all paid work, that's all paid work.
- 1:11:28SPEAKER_00: Like now I'm giving I'm giving talks on I work seven days a week.
- 1:11:31SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what life of entrepreneur, it doesn't stop.
- 1:11:34SPEAKER_00: Like so seven days a week.
- 1:11:35SPEAKER_00: I'm busy doing the things that I love, helping people that I I I love what I do every single day.
- 1:11:41SPEAKER_00: I don't it doesn't even feel like work.
- 1:11:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so do I care if I could have earned more over there?
- 1:11:45SPEAKER_00: No, because did I really enjoy that?
- 1:11:47SPEAKER_00: And do I and I don't look down anyone that earns any less.
- 1:11:49SPEAKER_00: I just enjoy what I'm doing and in this space, and I understand that this is what I was called to do and and love it.
- 1:11:56SPEAKER_02: What advice would you so let's say for example someone was thinking about becoming a financial advisor, yeah, okay?
- 1:12:02SPEAKER_02: Why should they become a financial advisor?
- 1:12:04SPEAKER_00: I think the lifestyle of a financial advisor to me is the best.
- 1:12:09SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't I don't because with a financial advisor, you are building the client bank, yes?
- 1:12:14SPEAKER_00: So you are building a number of clients, and we get if you build it on an based on investment, you get the ongoing.
- 1:12:20SPEAKER_00: So each year you get paid for ongoing service.
- 1:12:22SPEAKER_00: So you must review your client, see them at least once.
- 1:12:24SPEAKER_00: Most advisors will see their clients twice, depending on the level of um amount that they're looking after.
- 1:12:30SPEAKER_00: And so now you're looking, you're seeing this client all the time.
- 1:12:33SPEAKER_00: This client no longer becomes a client, they become friends, you become friends with this person.
- 1:12:37SPEAKER_00: You are you meet their children, you meet their other half, you might do your meetings at their house.
- 1:12:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so you're there regularly, twice a year.
- 1:12:45SPEAKER_00: This that's more than maybe some of their family members.
- 1:12:47SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all of a sudden you're invited to weddings and so forth.
- 1:12:49SPEAKER_00: So now you might build a portfolio of let's say 50 to 100 clients, depending again on the value of the average value of each client, and then that's it.
- 1:12:58SPEAKER_00: And you'll get organic, you know, they'll invite, oh, I've got a friend who wants to come, and they'll but you no longer need to go out and do all this marketing and running around the lifestyle.
- 1:13:06SPEAKER_00: And if you can then generate, you know, 100, 150, 200k a year looking after 100 people that now are your friends, yeah, and now are the people, and then you're paid to socialize.
- 1:13:18SPEAKER_00: You're paid to socialize.
- 1:13:19SPEAKER_00: You can you're now comfortable, you can now invite them to the golf course, you can now make your clients meet each other.
- 1:13:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I introduce my my someone come to me, I need a lawyer.
- 1:13:27SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, you go and see, and I introduce my clients to connect to each other, a hub, a hub.
- 1:13:33SPEAKER_00: So now when we do it, when we do a social event and they turn up, they all know each other, yeah.
- 1:13:37SPEAKER_00: And so now they understand um and and they're proud to say they're one of my clients.
- 1:13:41SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, Emmanuel's my financial advisor.
- 1:13:43SPEAKER_00: And so the yes, you might be an investment bank or whatever and earn so much more, but like I said, if you've only got a hundred clients and you divide that by the week, that's two clients a week, yeah, on average.
- 1:13:55SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 1:13:55SPEAKER_00: And obviously, some weeks you might see three or four, and others you might take take off.
- 1:13:59SPEAKER_00: But now that lifestyle, that balance, you're able to do other things that you enjoy.
- 1:14:04SPEAKER_00: Whereas you might be a fun manager, fun manager earning 300, 400, but how many hours are you working a day?
- 1:14:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 1:14:09SPEAKER_00: How much are you good?
- 1:14:10SPEAKER_00: How much soul are you giving up?
- 1:14:12SPEAKER_00: How long can that last?
- 1:14:12SPEAKER_00: Because remember, financial advisor, you can carry on things 60, 70, 80, get it ongoing.
- 1:14:17SPEAKER_00: Well, it's great because you get older with your clients.
- 1:14:19SPEAKER_00: With your clients, yeah.
- 1:14:20SPEAKER_02: So as they get older, you get older.
- 1:14:21SPEAKER_02: And their life events happen when your life events happen.
- 1:14:23SPEAKER_00: I mean you bring in some young ones, young people to manage the smaller, smaller clients that you have, and you still get paid off that.
- 1:14:29SPEAKER_02: Was your strategy to try to work with clients that are around about the same age as you, or do you does it matter?
- 1:14:34SPEAKER_00: Good question.
- 1:14:35SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, now, yes, basically.
- 1:14:36SPEAKER_00: So I uh I work with clients, my my average client is probably around my age, around 35 to 40 on average.
- 1:14:43SPEAKER_00: But then I've got a lot of the younger ones that you know, 25.
- 1:14:46SPEAKER_00: So I say my clients range from about 25 to 45.
- 1:14:50SPEAKER_00: That's probably the average.
- 1:14:51SPEAKER_00: I got obviously like I said, I'm seeing a lot more people's mums and dads now, so I've got a lot more older ones as well.
- 1:14:57SPEAKER_00: But my target, if I'm saying on social media, who am I targeting?
- 1:15:01SPEAKER_00: That's 25 to 45.
- 1:15:02SPEAKER_00: That's that's and that's true, and as you know on social media, you can be that specific.
- 1:15:06SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
- 1:15:06SPEAKER_00: You can actually target people in that age range.
- 1:15:09SPEAKER_02: I sort of like um, you know, where I some financial advisors I talk to don't quite know how to use LinkedIn, and I sort of express like you do realize that you can target market people within specific job roles, which means that you know how much they earn because of the average salary of those.
- 1:15:25SPEAKER_02: Um there are tons of businesses that are trying to sell to your typical type of client.
- 1:15:32SPEAKER_02: So perhaps you can work with them on an introduce a relationship basis.
- 1:15:36SPEAKER_02: I mean, your whole network is there, it's there it's there, it's there, and you know, what you need to do is build that audience for free while you can.
- 1:15:43SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it must it must change, it's gonna have to change.
- 1:15:46SPEAKER_02: Well, you have the algorithm's changing all the time.
- 1:15:47SPEAKER_02: All the time.
- 1:15:48SPEAKER_02: I stick out like a I stick out like a hyperlink, right?
- 1:15:50SPEAKER_02: I got like 15,000, you know, connections.
- 1:15:53SPEAKER_02: I stick out and I get a hundred views.
- 1:15:56SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 1:15:56SPEAKER_02: Now, because I don't they don't want me taking people off their platform.
- 1:15:59SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:15:59SPEAKER_02: I put a video on there natively, boom, yeah, it's 5,000 views.
- 1:16:02SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, it's just crazy.
- 1:16:05SPEAKER_02: So I pop up I pop an article on the article part of LinkedIn, yeah, it gets like 30 views but eight likes.
- 1:16:11SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's so bizarre, it just spins me out.
- 1:16:14SPEAKER_00: But the algorithm's a lot better on LinkedIn than it is on on Instagram.
- 1:16:17SPEAKER_00: Instagram's algorithm is really harsh, it's really difficult to it's and it's always changing.
- 1:16:22SPEAKER_00: It's always changing.
- 1:16:23SPEAKER_00: So I think the best thing about I like about LinkedIn is that you know, your follow those that that are connections, once they like it, their connections see you, yeah, yeah, and so forth.
- 1:16:32SPEAKER_00: So I get posts that I've posted two, three weeks ago that's still you know getting liked today because a whole new audience is seeing it because somebody else has liked it.
- 1:16:39SPEAKER_00: Who manages that for you?
- 1:16:40SPEAKER_00: Who manages your Instagram and that for you?
- 1:16:41SPEAKER_00: I run I run it myself.
- 1:16:42SPEAKER_00: You do it yourself, do you?
- 1:16:43SPEAKER_00: But I didn't in the beginning.
- 1:16:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had to pay professionals a lot of money.
- 1:16:47SPEAKER_00: I was paying£350 to£500 a month for somebody else to manage that for me.
- 1:16:52SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 1:16:52SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's just that's just that that's not then the recording the videos that was almost a thousand pounds, a thousand pounds a month just going out.
- 1:17:00SPEAKER_02: I was spending nearly five, I was last year I was spending about five thousand pounds a month on marketing.
- 1:17:04SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 1:17:04SPEAKER_02: On on like process of course and marketing is so expensive.
- 1:17:08SPEAKER_02: And I looked at it this year and I thought, I'm not doing that anymore.
- 1:17:10SPEAKER_02: I'm not doing it, I'm gonna create content.
- 1:17:12SPEAKER_02: Yes, so that's why I'm here.
- 1:17:13SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 1:17:14SPEAKER_02: So I'm going, right, I'm gonna create a podcast and I'm gonna video the podcast, and I'm gonna, you know, yes, it costs me money and five or anything, but I'm doubling up.
- 1:17:20SPEAKER_02: I get to meet great people.
- 1:17:22SPEAKER_02: I'm going into the old school way again of being less because at the end of the day, social media has to complement a really good face-to-face old school shock.
- 1:17:31SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 1:17:31SPEAKER_02: And I believe the old school is what it's all about.
- 1:17:33SPEAKER_02: We're all waking up, we're all saying, Whoa, well, look at look at too much social media as it is.
- 1:17:37SPEAKER_02: You've got to have it covered, you've got to be out there, you've got to have your SEO out there, you can keep the lads running and all that kind of stuff.
- 1:17:42SPEAKER_02: But I want to bring myself back into this face-to-face world.
- 1:17:45SPEAKER_00: Um and what's the point of having followers if you can't sell them any, if they won't buy anything from you?
- 1:17:49SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
- 1:17:50SPEAKER_00: Because you haven't built something that where people are actually getting to know you and getting to buy into you, and then you're not offering them a place where they can actually meet you.
- 1:17:58SPEAKER_00: You and me, right?
- 1:17:59SPEAKER_00: This is what we're gonna do.
- 1:18:00SPEAKER_02: Two entrepreneurs in a room, right?
- 1:18:02SPEAKER_02: You ready for this?
- 1:18:02SPEAKER_02: I want it, I want it, I want it.
- 1:18:03SPEAKER_02: We're gonna create a social media workshop for financial advisors.
- 1:18:07SPEAKER_02: That'd be amazing.
- 1:18:08SPEAKER_02: Why not?
- 1:18:09SPEAKER_02: Why not?
- 1:18:11SPEAKER_02: I think people are signed up for that.
- 1:18:12SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
- 1:18:13SPEAKER_02: You and me in a room talking about the power of social media, LinkedIn, Instagram, branding, personal brand, what content you should create, how to do it, the time it takes.
- 1:18:25SPEAKER_02: I think that's a great idea.
- 1:18:26SPEAKER_02: I think it's amazing.
- 1:18:27SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
- 1:18:28SPEAKER_02: Let's do it, mate.
- 1:18:28SPEAKER_02: You and me.
- 1:18:29SPEAKER_02: Let's take over the world.
- 1:18:30SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 1:18:31SPEAKER_02: The Oaks effect in the East.
- 1:18:32SPEAKER_02: Oaks Oaks and E Man.
- 1:18:33SPEAKER_02: Oaks and E Man.
- 1:18:34SPEAKER_02: That's a strong name now.
- 1:18:36SPEAKER_02: Oaks and E Man.
- 1:18:37SPEAKER_02: I like that.
- 1:18:38SPEAKER_02: It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you today.
- 1:18:40SPEAKER_02: It's been great.
- 1:18:41SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I've learned a lot as well.
- 1:18:43SPEAKER_02: And I think um I think you've got a lot, I think there's a bright fruit you ahead of you, mate.
- 1:18:47SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
- 1:18:48SPEAKER_02: And um I can see it.
- 1:18:50SPEAKER_02: And um thank you so much for your time.
- 1:18:53SPEAKER_00: No, thank you for thank you for creating the platform.
- 1:18:55SPEAKER_00: This is so important, it's so needed, and that's why when you said it, I was like, I'm gonna have to be here because it's so important for us to to share.
- 1:19:02SPEAKER_00: Because that's how we grow as as as as people, that's how we learn from different people's experiences.
- 1:19:06SPEAKER_00: And and that's one thing I've always learned in my career is if I can learn one thing from you, then I'm one 1% better off.
- 1:19:12SPEAKER_00: And keep doing that, and that's how you better yourself and grow.
- 1:19:15SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
- 1:19:15SPEAKER_02: Let's see if we can get 200 likes for the financial plan of life when we release your video, then yeah.
- 1:19:19SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let's do that.
- 1:19:20SPEAKER_02: Wicked.
- 1:19:20SPEAKER_02: No problem.
- 1:19:21SPEAKER_02: Nice one.
- 1:19:21SPEAKER_02: Have a great time, right?
- 1:19:22SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
- 1:19:23SPEAKER_00: Thanks.