Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Transitioning From Employed to Self-employed IFA Within the Same Company

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Transitioning From Employed to Self-employed IFA Within the Same Company · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, welcome to the Financial Planner Life podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this week we talked to Louise Fitzgerald.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: She is a financial advisor.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: She's self-employed, but she wasn't always self-employed.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, she started as an administrator and she worked her way up through training advisor role to employed advisor to then self-employed advisor in the same firm.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to break that down to understand exactly why she did that and what that actually looks like.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: She goes into great detail about her career, the highs, the lows, the things she learned along the way.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And she's got some amazing advice for any trainees.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about that.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking to go into the profession, what you should be doing, how you can impress somebody at interview.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: She's also fantastic on the social media, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And she talks a little bit about why she does that, the benefits of doing so, and who she's helped along the way.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's an awesome episode.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoy it.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Louise, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Life podcast.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in our brand new studio.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not quite completed yet.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna see me with a great big light behind me, black back, black background, maybe a bit of echoing, and maybe some noise of drilling upstairs.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we're in the process of creating this podcast studio because we're starting to offer podcast services and video services now to the financial planning profession, legal in general, for instance, just covered podcasts, we're helping them out.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we're thinking, what can we do to elevate our brand, the financial planner life, and offer these types of services?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So bam, me and Tristan, out we go, get ourselves a brand new studio.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then we're building it as we speak.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you're the first person, we're testing it out today.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: We've had a bit of trouble, haven't we?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: We've worked it out, we've got there, so you know, it's working now.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is it.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: You've and this is what I love about entrepreneurialism, right?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: You've just got to get the hell on with it and you've got to put your best foot forward and you find out as you go and you work through those mistakes.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Roll with the punches and to go there.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Roll with the punches, you know, and that's what it's like with a career, isn't it, within financial planning, you know, especially if you especially if you're going down the route of self-employment, right?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we've got you on the podcast today, Louise.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: You've spent around sort of nine years, haven't you, within the financial planning profession?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Nine years.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where that's gone.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it flies by, doesn't it?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, absolutely, it flies by.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you've worked your way up through different roles into like trainee position, into an employed role as a financial advisor, and eventually into the role of self-employment, which often is the natural transition for somebody within the financial planning to move forward.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I wonder, I wonder if that will be the natural transition for the next generation of advisors.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Are we going to be seeing more employed options than we ever have done?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because historically, self-employment was the way you became an advisor, right?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: You kind of had to take a massive leap of faith in the first place to become self-employed.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, there's a it's a big leap because you lose a lot of security and a lot of job security and all that sort of thing.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a it is a big decision to make.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we're still seeing it, you know.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: You've got your likes of, you know, I represent the MNG Academy, I represent St.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: James's place.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of these national uh large academies, these product providers, you know, it isn't, hey, come and join us on an employee basis.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's join us on a self-employed basis and set your business up and we'll support you to do that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So they're still looking at those second careerists who maybe have established a really great network to say, come on across, we'll support you, but guess what?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're going self-employed, so you better have a bloody good business plan.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: But then at least you get some sort of help to get qualified in the first place, you know, because obviously that's for a lot of people is a problem as well.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, absolutely.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about you, your journey.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Your journey wasn't down an advice academy.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Your journey was down the traditional route, I would say, of moving into a financial planning position, perhaps a longer route than just literally stepping straight into the financial advice role through an academy.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: But there are huge benefits to that, and everybody's journey is different.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really excited to learn about your journey and how that really impacted you and what you can share with our audience who are either in the profession already or thinking about becoming a financial advisor.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start at the beginning.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: How did you end up getting into the financial planning profession?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, actually, through a friend of mine.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: So she was working for the company that I currently did all my training with, and I've been working for a lot over the past nine years.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: She worked for that firm as an administrator, but she was originally from Yorkshire, and her and her husband were moving back up north, and they knew that she needed to be replaced in the firm, but also that the firm would train someone up to be an advisor.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And at the time I was just working as a, you know, as an administrator at another firm, and I was getting a bit, just a bit, you know, itchy feet, like just a bit bored.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, just want to do something else, get my teeth stuck into something.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know what, but I wanted to do something else.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, look, this is a job that's going to be opening up.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: This is what they do.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Is that interesting?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, huh, yeah, I'll I'll come and have a chat, I'll see what it's all about.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: No idea what I was going getting into, really.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then I went across and had a chat with them all.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, you know what, actually, I feel like I could really get on board with this sort of thing, you know.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's not all about money.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a lot of it is organization, um, people skills and all that side of thing.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not all about the financial side of things.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew, you know, being an administrator and working in customer services in the past, I had a lot of administrative and organizational skills that I knew I could transfer over.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so I was really on board with that.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just, yeah, got for the job, took it, and you know, the rest is history, basically.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I just started off as an administrator at the firm.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very often people fall into the financial planning profession.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: They fall into financial services.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, a lot of people fall into careers, right?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really, they kind of go somewhere, have a conversation with somebody and like the sound of it and give it a go.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Nine years later, they're a financial advisor.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'd never heard of a financial advisor in a careers day at school, at university.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: It was never even something I'd heard of.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: But now I do it.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, yeah, obviously it's important to manage your money properly.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I don't know why that was never on my radar.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're at school, you're like, oh yeah, you know, the law or um, you know, media or something like this, you know, your sort of English and all that sort of thing gets pushed a lot.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: But then all these other professions that just never on anyone's radar that you think how many people are missing out on having really great rewarding jobs because they just don't know that they exist.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or even thinking that these great rewarding jobs aren't going to be suitable for them based on their perhaps learning style.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's I don't ever hide from the fact that I left I left school at 16 years old.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have any um, you know, good quality GCSEs or anything like that.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yet I'm running a you know million-pound pus turnover business, you know, employing 20 people, podcasting, and all sorts of stuff.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um I think our self-esteem sometimes in those situations when we're in school, if we had a better view and less of a blinkered view of what the actual career opportunities look like for skill, different skills, not just purely academic.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think we'd have a more happier, more positive, um, energetic, younger, younger crew of people coming through into these professions, whether it's recruitment, whether it's financial planning, whether it's financial services, whatever it is.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think that needs more needs to be done anyway in schools to teach about the careers for people that aren't just going down the academic route, right?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Just even things like careers days and things like that.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't really get a feel for jobs that are out there.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I mean, obviously there's millions of jobs that you can do.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of the time, as you say, people just fall into a job that they either just do for the rest of their lives and they don't necessarily like it, but it pays well, so they just keep doing it, or they do, yeah, they fall into a job and they go, Oh wow, this was made for me.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know how I found this, but I'm glad I did.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So because you had the administrative skills anyway.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: You you you had administrative customer service.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Was there anything else in your toolbox, if you like, of experience that was transferable to um the position of entry-level admin role at a financial planning firm?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know, that is attractive to an employer.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: If they're taking this on somebody without experience of the actual job itself or the or the profession, they then look, don't they, for the uh experience that you've gained from uh life or the experience that you've gained from uh other employment.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you had administrative skills, customer service, any sales or anything like that?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, I had done.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um I did go to university for starters, but I did I did film a film degree.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I did a completely unrelated subject just because I loved media at school and I was like, my parents were like, You're going to university, what you want to do?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, fine, I'll do film studies then.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um did that and then it came out and I was like, Yeah, I don't really know if I want to go into that industry.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then yeah, so then I did I did um advertising sales for a little while.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I was selling advertising in magazines.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I did that for a year.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then I thought, you know what, this really isn't for me.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I quit that.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: I went traveling for six months with my boyfriend at the time, who's now my husband.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, took some time out, went and did some traveling for a while, came back.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, right, yeah, now I need to do something with my life.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then yeah, I did sort of a few admin and customer service jobs, but I had no experience in the financial services industry.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was purely just yeah, either customer services answering phones and dealing with clients that way, um, or um, you know, data entry, um, you know, all that sort of thing.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah, I had no experience that would actually be relevant to the financial industry apart from those basic admin and organizational skills.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I think that helped.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I I know even since then the company that I work for has taken on people in real junior roles that would have, you know, come maybe straight out of school because you can mould them, can't you?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: You can help them to lay the foundations to become whatever they want to become, especially if that is an interest that they have.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes it can help if people don't necessarily know the financial industry that much, because actually you can make them what you want to make them.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: No, I get it.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we often take people from a recruitment perspective that have got no recruitment, no sales experience because they often have bad habits.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we can train in good habits, you know.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want someone coming in who's a bloody, you know, dodgy car salesperson.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: We want a consultative approach, you know, we want some intelligent individuals that can hold a good conversation, fact-find correctly, solve problems, act with empathy and compassion, you know, those types of things that you know, you you look for those in an individual when they walk through your door, their ability to listen, you know, are these amazing skills, these life skills that people just have anyway, because of who they are.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, then those are the types of people we look for.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think those types of people do tend to be quite transferable to businesses where it's people related, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Where we're dealing with people, whether it's employees next to us or whether it's clients facing or the ability to pick up the phone and sell your services, whatever it might well be.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: We have to be good communicators and good listeners.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is it, because ultimately, as advisors, you are selling, really.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you can't just be a cold hard salesperson because no one wants to come in with a hard sell and you just turn people away.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got to be that person that people trust or that you know you're personable, they like you.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because if they don't, why would they trust you with their money in the first place?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't necessarily think a sales background is necessarily helpful for the role you have, unless you're going to have those other skills as well.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're a hard salesperson, I don't think it's gonna work for you as an IFA.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you reckon that's the case?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do you reckon if someone is a bit of a hard person, you know, describe to me what a hard salesperson actually is?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is it you know, is it that is it that classic kind of dodgy suit?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna sell you know a suitcase of knives down the pub or something.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I'm gonna tell what tells you about the pubs I go to.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: I did used to work with someone when I was doing sales, um, and his tactic was just badgering.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: So he would badger and badger and badger you, call you every day or however long until you would buy buy his the space that he was trying to sell you.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And like I was not that sort of person at all.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm not a hard sales person, and I knew when I was doing the job that I was never going to be that sort of person.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's just not who I'm built to be.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't agree with that approach, and I think that that does turns a lot of people away.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Or people do ultimately just do it because they're fed up with hearing your voice, or they're fed up with you badgering them all the time.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: So they're like, oh, fine, just whatever.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: What do I have to do to like to get you to go away?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And again, that's not the right approach, certainly not in our industry.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Transactional sort of pestering type sales, I get it.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely not the right person for a consultative role.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I've seen them come and go, those types of people.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And don't get me wrong, you know, stick a yellow pages in front of them and tell them they've got to make a hundred calls, they'll they'll do it, you know.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes a business needs that, you know, they need that person turning stones over who've got thick skin, you know.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's a place for those types of people.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I think if you're looking for that quick win within financial planning as a financial advisor, there is no quick win.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not transactional.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, it's not a, you know, it it might be two or three meetings with a client.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: It might be turning up to that breakfast meeting or that networking event and building a relationship before you even think about positioning what you do as your services.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's about aligning yourself with others around you to see if you can help them first with their problems before you start.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: But even if it does start out as a transactional, you know, thing with a client, you want them to maybe in a few years' time remember you, either come back to you themselves or recommend you to someone else.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: So what's the point in being that that, you know, giving them a hard sell and just being like, right, I just want that done, knowing that they'll either cancel the policy later anyway, because they didn't really want it, they just took it out to shut you up, um, or they'll go away and say, look, I had a really bad experience with this person, I wouldn't suggest you use them.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's longevity, especially, you know, in a career that could last you 30, 40 years, you know, you've got to make sure that you've got that longevity of clients who want to use you again or want to recommend you to their friends and family.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, let's just let's just help a few people out here listening, right?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody who's listening who might well be inexperienced within financial planning and then want to enter the job.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they want to get into financial planning.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's look at the people who perhaps are younger.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at things like grads, let's look at school leavers, 18 kind of plus, that kind of age, right?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't got you know a huge amount of professional experience or anything like that, but they would love to start in financial planning in some capacity.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I hate saying the bottom, because every role within any company is important, right?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: But we talk about some way of getting into an entry-level role.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think they can do to increase their chances when they sit down with, say, a potential employer?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're lucky enough to get themselves an interview in the first place, right?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: But what do you think they can do to improve their chances of winning that employer over that they've got the um the gusto and the guts to make it as a financial planner, or just get into the role of say administration or something on an entry-level position?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if their goal is to follow all the way through and do all their training and to become an IFA, I think, yeah, sort of being yourself, because there's no point in being fake if you're in an interview, because otherwise the firm will take you on and then realize that actually you're not anything like who you showed to them to be in your interview, and then they'll realize that perhaps they're not, you're not the sort of person they want in the firm.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think be genuine and be yourself, because if you are that sort of right fit for a company, especially if it's a smaller firm, it's really key to you get the right person to fit in with a small company.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think, yeah, so show them those skills that you, you know, you can speak to people or just whatever you've got in in the past, whether that is a previous job or anything at school, or you know, if you did go to university, that's great.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: But what skills transfer over to entry-level roles like admin and organization?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of my job is still writing letters and typing up meeting notes and you know, doing graphs and using Excel.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all those sorts of basic skills that you learn at school, they actually play a lot in in your day-to-day job even now.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's not a huge amount of client-facing, you know, meetings.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: There is there is an element of that, but a lot of it is behind the scenes, back in the office, typing up and doing letters and things.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: So all those skills will follow through to help you become an IFA.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I mean, if you've got any work experience, you know, if you have work experience at school, try and get your foot in the door at an IFA firm or some sort of finance firm, you know, it doesn't have to be with an IFA, whether it can be with a big name like Fidelity, or you know, if you've got a local company near you that's a big name in the investment business, try and get some experience there.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think that would be helpful too, because you're showing early on that you're interested in the industry and that you want to learn more about it.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but beyond that, it's obviously you could fund the exams yourself, or you could fund RO1 yourself, because a lot of people, if they see you've done that yourself, they know you're serious about it because it's quite a, you know, it's quite a commitment to pay that, pay for that R01 exam, do the studying on your own time and get that exam yourself.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that could be another way to really show that you're serious about the job.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of things I'm going to add on to that.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: One is that, you know, content such as the Financial Planner Life podcast, it gives you an insight into the roles within the financial planning profession and what people do on a daily basis.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think arming yourself with the knowledge of actually what the career looks like, because firms aren't fantastic at advertising what the actual career path looks like, right, within the financial planning profession, which is why I created the podcast where give people that um insight into what the roles are from the people that do the job, right?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're going into that interview, and more often than not, when someone comes to me, I say, What do you know about recruitment, for instance?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if they were coming to recruit financial planning, what do you know about the financial planning profession?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And going in and sort of articulating the route, let's say, or the different roles, or what the um the need for financial planning is, or perhaps understanding things around the great transition transition of wealth, what opportunities are out there for financial planners at the moment?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: What are the problems that financial planners are coming up against at the moment?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, the advisor shortage, for instance, the aging population of advisors, technology, not being able to service those 95% of clients out there that don't fit the criteria for a financial planner to give advice to at the moment, right?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: So go out there and do some research.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's loads of articles, the lack of females within financial planning, and what impact that that is going to have in the future, the more females coming in, what opportunity is there for females?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what part does financial coaching?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: What is the qualifications?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: What qualifications are there?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Once you I'm reeling it all off, but these are all things.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you just kind of gain some knowledge and show your understanding of the profession that you are actually applying for, you watch the guy or the girl sit there and look, sit back and go, fair play.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you've worked, you've worked it out.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, top that off, get on their website, research the company, research the people who work in there, reach out to them.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, Chris, how are you doing?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, Debbie, how are you doing?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've got an interview next week.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to just pick your brain a little bit.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when you go in there and say, I had a lovely chat with Chris, or um, I followed Chris or Debbie on social media and I loved what they shared about this post about pensions.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I've did a bit of research and I thought it was really, really interesting.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: So again, arm yourself with the knowledge, show your interest and keenness.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's very difficult when someone sits in front of me and they've done that.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, I love you.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, tell me.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: It blows your mind, doesn't it?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're like, they've really put in the effort.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not just another job they're applying for because they need a job and I'm just the 10th interview they come to this week.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, also I'd say follow up as well.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you've had an interview a week ago and you've not heard back, a lot of times companies just they forget, they've run out of time, they've been so busy they just haven't had a chance to look at anything yet.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: So just follow up directly with a person, like you're saying, just say, look, just checking in, I haven't heard back.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, are you still considering or am I out of the running?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just so you know for yourself, if you know you sort of gone, hi, I'm still here, you know, don't forget about me.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, without being too like pushy and being like, look, what's happening because I'm getting fed up.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Loud and clear.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's our little bit of giving back.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's always nice to give back, isn't it?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and share some hints and tips.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And often I hear people come back to me and say, Sam, I acted on those and they and they really, really help.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what it's all about.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Helping those people as well who are listening, who are yet to get in and just need to get some ideas in their head of how to do it, right?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not the easiest of professions to get into.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting better, but it's it's it's not the easiest of professions.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: But people, if you are listening to this, listen to the career accelerator series that I did.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's four episodes, and it will tell you from start to finish what you can do to accelerate your career within the financial planning profession.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Me and Elena and Charlie go into some detail, and we have a lot of fun doing it as well.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So have a good listen to that.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you yourself then, back to you in your career, okay?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: You went in as administrator, okay.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, at what point did you work out that you wanted to become a financial planner?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I started my studying for RO1 after being there for six months.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I think, I think quite quickly I got in and I, you know, obviously was learning the ropes, I was learning from the bottom up.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that always helps because you learn the compliance, the regulation, the paperwork, you learn all the basics that make you a good advisor, I would say.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: You learn that right from the bottom.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I think quite quickly I was looking at what what the advisors in the firm were doing, like meeting with clients.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was obviously like, I wasn't sitting in the meetings, but I was, you know, greeting clients at the doors, having a chat with them as they were coming in, and they were all seemed really lovely people.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, okay, so you know, knowing how many clients the firm had, I was like, well, the firm's obviously trusted by a lot of people.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, quite quickly I thought, you know what?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I really feel like I could have a long and happy and rewarding career as an IFA.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: So then after about six months, um, my boss was like, look, you know, you seem to be settling in really well.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: We'd really like to get you kick started because one of the advisors was retiring, which is the whole reason they were going to bring in someone else.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: So there were four advisors at the firm, and now there are still four.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: I just replaced the retired advisor.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, he was retiring.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: He's been retiring for about five years and uh hadn't actually retired yet.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because they had no one to replace him.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, I think they they had administrators before, but none that wanted to take the next step.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: They just either didn't want the commitment or they just weren't that interested in the industry.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so yeah, when I came along and I was like, Yeah, great, you know, where do I where do I sign?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think they were like, Oh, fantastic, great.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, then I started the RO exam.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I worked full-time at the same time while I did the studying on my own time.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, I mean, it was tough to obviously do a full day at work, come home and then get knuckled down while you're at home.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: That is really tough.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: But working in the industry at the same time was really helpful because I was around it all the time.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I would ask all the advisors, you know, I don't understand this, or oh, you know, what are you doing for that client?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you doing it?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what's the benefits of that?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it helped soak up a lot more information just day to day.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I mean, it was pretty tough.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't have children at that point.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how I would have done it if I had children back then.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, it was it was tough.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it took me two, just over two years, I think, to to finish all the exams.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke to a girl yesterday.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she's gonna get her on a podcast, she's great.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 27 years old, three girls under five.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And she's yeah, trainee advisor, going through the doing all the qualifications and and now sitting in front of clients uh for a small for a small family business.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I was blown away, you know, the energy uh because I've got one daughter, she's six and a half, and I I'm not having any more.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's it's hard work.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I often admire those that just have that drive and tenacity to get on with it and get through it.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think anybody that can go through the qualifications, I think it's a skill within its own right anyway, because for some it's very difficult if you're not naturally an academic person.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps your attention isn't fantastic, you're more a creative type, or um it the knuckling down and doing the work is hard.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I did FPC one and um I mean, like I used to listen to them on tape, and they weren't the most interesting things to read, let alone listen to on tape.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you that, it was boring.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's it, isn't it?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Finding it works for you.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I used to read a textbook back to back a couple of times.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't necessarily think that was the best thing for me to do, but at the time I was like, Oh, I can't really bother to do anything else lately.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: But then it for me, it was more the practice questions.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I would find I'd do do practice papers and I'd learn better making the mistakes and being like, ah, right, okay, yeah, now I get it, because I'd learn better doing that.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: But until you realize what sort of learner you are, you can't really make the best out of your time, you know, if you're better listening or you know, with charts or colours or whatever, there are, you know, there are so many different ways you can learn better and just kill your time.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you're commuting on a train every day, you know, yeah, listen to a podcast or yeah, do some audio learning or whatever.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think using those pockets of time are helpful because then you're not you don't get home from a long day and think, right, yeah, here we go.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Have my dinner, now I've got to get set up, get my brain engaged right before bed and try and do some learning.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: When you were doing your qualifications, you were working within the role of trainee administrator, that kind of thing.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: When you when you put your hand up and said, I'd like to become a financial uh advisor eventually, you're right, and I've got to do my qualifications, I'm gonna commit to it.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Did you see a change in your employer?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned there that all of a sudden they were like, wow, we've got somebody who wants to do it because they've obviously got a retiring IFA, and part of their model, by the sounds of it, was that kind of um um filling backfilling that guy's book of business, right?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So he could leave, leave, leave the business.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: But did you feel like when you showed that enthusiasm to want to be an advisor, all of a sudden their interest in you peaked, it got higher?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think because even from the word go, I'd sort of said, yes, I'm really interested in this and I'd be keen on X, Y, and Z.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think from the word go, they were quite invested in me anyway.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think if I turned around later and gone, actually, this isn't for me, I think they would have been quite surprised.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think because of that, they were quite invested in me from the word go.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: And they like they always spent a lot of time like showing me programs and like fund information.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so they spent a lot of time doing that anyway.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think, yeah, I think because of that, they sort of knew that what what I said I wanted to do.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: And luckily I meant it when I said it.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but but yeah, they sort of saw that and they invested time and I mean so much time that my boss, he obviously then sat in, let me sit in on meetings and all that sort of thing.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: And he spent a lot of time showing me different things that as a just as an administrator, he probably wouldn't necessarily have taken the time to show me.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I did, yeah, I mean that was that had massive value in like learning and everything else.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's that lucky, that's lucky, isn't it?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you have somebody who's that vested in in teaching and training and developing somebody, I mean that's a lot of time for a business owner to be doing that whilst also seeing their own clients.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when we think about business owners and, you know, why don't they just take on more trainees?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, look, it takes a lot of time and energy and it costs money, right?
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they're providing service in respect of administrative tasks, etc., but you're not a fee earner, are you, when you're an administrator?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if the fee earner's time is being taken away, therefore the fees are going down, etc.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a massive commitment, and I feel for a lot of the smaller, small to smaller sized businesses that want to train people, they do, but there is also a reluctance and a fear that that person might get trained up and leave, for instance.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they might just leave the business.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I try to instill in any kind of person who's setting up a business, whether they're just starting up and they know they're going to employ people, or even if business is established, maybe they um are wanting to grow, right?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that people should be doing is putting a personal development plan in place and a clear career development plan that incentivizes the individual to stay within the business.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Whether that's like, look, upon your exam of R01, we'll give you a grand, or you know, once you hit this, you'll get this, and your benefits package will go up.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And um at this stage, once you've done that, I'll start show taking you into client meetings, all that kind of stuff, you know.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: This clearly, clear-cut career progression through the route of then eventually becoming that advisor.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And what that does, I think, is it instills a confidence in the employee that the person is invested in them and wants them to achieve, but also it's reciprocal, you know, reciprocal.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Reciprocal, yeah, reciprocal.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: The you know, the the company understand that about the individual as well.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that becomes a bond, a commitment to each other.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think we all need that commitment that the other person is into us as much as we are into them and that the opportunity is real, right?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really, really important.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: You were probably one of the first, weren't you, within that business then going through the trainee route, I would say.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And did you were you were you sort of pioneering and and sort of along the way um pushing the boundaries to create that development plan, if you like?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: So has anybody else come in behind you and followed suit, etc.?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: What is it like?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Not yet, not yet.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Though there is another advisor retiring, but I'm getting all the clients.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so my client bank is sort of overflowing a bit at the moment, but yeah.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, in terms of sort of like a plan, if you like, I mean, when you're doing all that hard work yourself, I mean, obviously, you know the end goal is to qualify as an IFA and to be an advisor, but it as I said, it's hard, like keeping your head down, getting all the studying done, as you're working through all the RO exams, some of them are so dry.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're so boring.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it was helpful, yeah, that I knew as soon as I'd got done RO one, I was then a trainee advisor.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: So then I would sit in with my and with my boss on all of his meetings, and then he would start to sort of say, Well, this, you know what's happening with this client.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you have a go at doing this?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, you do this and we'll do this together.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, sort of like choosing funds or, you know, recommending a portfolio and all that sort of thing.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: So then it became, I guess, more of a training, like more of a power planner role.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I went from more of an admin to a basically a power planner, but I was a trainee advisor at that point because I was doing the face-to-faces with clients and things.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: But then, yeah, the back office work, I would do the bulk of that rather than the like my boss doing it.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, I was kind of worked up from doing the basic admin to doing the more in-depth advising admin, if you like, um, using analytics to review investments and funds and all that sort of stuff that I had to learn.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then moving on from there, you know, I did all the other RO exams and when I completed the last one, I was like, I've done it.
• 29:52
  unknown: I've finished.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, finally got yeah, got signed up as Cass in 2017, I think.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, and then at that point, my boss was like, right, off you go then.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't need to help you anymore.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he would still sign off and supervise some of my cases like he does for the other other advisors.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: But at that point, I was lost like, you know, like felt just like a weight off my shoulders because it's a commitment, like it's a long commitment to do all those exams.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I know I took longer than if you go through an academy, obviously they fast track you.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: But when I was working at the same time, it was it was, yeah, a bit of a long-winded way of doing it, but it it worked for me.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, everyone's different, aren't they?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing what you know now about that, would you um would you have seriously considered going straight into an academy and being qualified and up and running within a year?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I think if I were to do it again, I would have negotiated with my boss to have like one day a week as a study day.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I could have then it probably would have taken a lot of time.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: I could have done it in a short amount of time.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there wasn't really any rush to get qualified, apart from obviously, you know, you know, earnings ability, if you like, for me and the the advisor retiring at the firm.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I totally get the attraction of an academy, especially if you, you know, you've got no idea what you're doing.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: You want someone that can just go write X, Y, and Z, do this, that, and the other, off you go.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: We can, you know, fast track you in a year.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: I totally get that.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then for me, knowing that I was employed and I had an employed advisor role at the end of it, which with the academies obviously you don't get, that was of that was a lot of value to me as well, because you know, I wanted to know that I had a job at the end and I went, you know, you know, ongoing earnings and ongoing client bank that I would have rather than being like, off you go, you've got to now go and find your own clients.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's interesting.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the incentive of the client bank from the retiring IFA, that was beautiful for you, wasn't it?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: That was enough for you to say, wow, this is an opportunity I can't turn away from.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna put A, I'm gonna get my qualifications as quickly as I can.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do that whilst I'm doing my job even without study leave.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I get to inherit a client bank.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: And not only that, there are a couple of other individuals in there that are probably retiring, and you've already picked up another client bank as as well.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's talk about this, okay?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because not everybody has that kind of opportunity.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's very much a kind of um eat what you kill type scenario, isn't it?
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: It can often be like sounding too barbaric.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um and um how much of your job is working with existing clients up against new business development outside of the client bank?
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, the just jumping back again quickly, you'll see I got the client bank that I inherited, but also I got the name of the firm because I was a newly qualified advisor.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if I was gonna go, oh hi, I'm Louise Fitzgerald, I'm a newly qualified advisor, come and use me for advice.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: And they'd go, I don't know who you are, why would I come to see you?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if I go, oh, I work for this company, ah right, yeah, I know who I know the company, I know the boss, you know, fine.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I got to say that I worked for this company and I got that as well.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that you know, that was obviously really valuable as well.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: But um, in terms of, yeah, like ongoing clients versus new clients, it's probably 70% ongoing business in a year, 30% new business.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's definitely skewed a lot more to ongoing clients than it is to new new business.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: But then it's quite nice because don't get me wrong, obviously, new business pays well, but it's the fact-finding, it's the risk profiling, it's the suitability letters, it's the all the new business like client packs that you have to do, it's all of that background.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas with an with an ongoing client, you're like, oh yeah, hi, how are you doing?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: How the kids, you know, what have you done in the past year, how you feeling?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know those people, they know you a lot of the time it's just having catch-up with friends, and it's a lot easier to just, you know, oh, make a few tweaks here, or oh, okay, that's changed, we'll just do this instead.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a lot easier to do ongoing review meetings than it is to set up new clients.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm still at the set the at the point where although I'm taking on this other client bank, I still have my own new clients coming in because I've got quite a big social media um presence on Instagram and YouTube and Facebook and LinkedIn.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm picking up clients myself from those places.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's all it's all gonna be a bit crazy.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: So what a great place to be.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: What a what a what an exciting place to be.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that was where I was leading this conversation onto.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've seen your stuff out there on social media.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Again, another female confident getting on getting on camera, more so than the men out there, really.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I just do genuinely feel that women are very well suited to getting on camera on these social media platforms, talking about financial planning and the benefit of it.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, tell us a little bit about why you've chosen to put yourself out there and what's the benefit of doing so.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it was really um, so I've got two kids, I've got a four-year-old and a 10-month-old.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it was sort of six months after my four-year-old was born, so back in 2018 or whatever, 2019.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, I was just sort of talking to my husband, and I was like, I feel like there's a massive group of people in the country that are probably in their early 20s and aren't slaving into a pension, they've got no income protection, they might be renting, but like if they lose their jobs, they've got nowhere to pay their rent or this, that, and the other.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't know how to tap into those people, like not for my financial gain, but I don't know how to make those people wake up and go, huh, they really ought to do something about this.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then he was like, Well, just use social media.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh yeah.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: So so yeah, so that's when I sort of jumped up on social media.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so I mean, my husband does all the tech stuff with the filming for YouTube and all that sort of thing.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: I just script it up and you know, speak.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, I'm really lucky that he's he's he's got his own YouTube channel as well.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: So he does filming and all that.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I've used his expertise.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, that was quite a big one for me, was just to kind of get in front of people and be like, look, I'm not preaching to you, I'm not advising.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm an advisor, so I can't say you need to invest in this, you need to invest in this.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's my other my problem I have with social media is those people that have no qualifications or no experience going, Bitcoin, you need to be investing in Bitcoin.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: This fund is the one to buy, this is the one to buy.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: And people listen to them because they sound like they know what they're talking about.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: But from my point of view, because I'm an advisor, I can't say any of that.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: All I can say is this is what an income protection policy is, this is what an investment is.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: But it's information for people if they just want to know or want to have a bit more of an idea about, oh yeah, maybe I should think a bit more about that.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: But also, then I sort of realised that, well, maybe I'll do some ones on the RO exams because maybe there are people out there who want to do those exams or who are struggling to do the exams.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: So then I sort of thought, but I'll branch off and I'll do some videos about that as well.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got individual YouTube videos about the all the RO exams and a couple of additional ones as well.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I had so much feedback from people.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: I've actually had quite a lot of phone calls with people as well who were willing to kind of talk to them about my journey and how I got there as well.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of people say, it sounds really interesting.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: I want to get into the industry.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: How do I do it?
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't know where to start and all this sort of thing.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so yeah, I found naturally that there's loads of people out there who are really interested in the industry, which is great, but getting their foot in the door is the hardest part.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: How many of the I'm interested in the that that side of it?
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: I put a few RO exam ones on my on my YouTube channel with Louisa Todd from Bespoke Training Solutions.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: And they did they did really well.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Anything exam-based does really well.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're like our top-performing videos on on YouTube.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I could totally relate to that.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when people come to you and they ask you about how to get into the profession, predominantly like what's the percentage to male to female?
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um mostly men.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: I did speak to I just speak to one woman last week who I put who I put you in touch with.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, but um, but yeah, it's mostly men, to be honest.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: A couple of armed forces people who've left the armed forces.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, I know another advisor in Eastbourne who was in the armed forces, so I put them in touch with him because he'll be able to obviously talk them through his journey.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I mean, I really don't mind spending my time talking to people.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't charge for it because I don't really don't see why that would be appropriate.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: But um yeah, I really don't mind saying to people, yeah, this is my journey.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: There are other ways you can do it, you can do the academies, you can do this, you can do that.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because if I mean I was so lucky, I mean, I know how lucky I was to get my foot in the door at a company that needed someone like me at the time that I was there saying, Look, yeah, I'd quite like to do this.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's so rare.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it, I mean, I don't, I mean, if it must be so frustrating if you're sitting there going, I really want to do this, but I don't know what to do.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do I do it?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Who do I speak to?
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: What do I need to be doing to be getting noticed and getting, you know, employed by a firm that's going to value me and train me and all this sort of thing because there's no information about it.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's all we're trying to, that's what we're trying to fix, you know.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've got some exciting stuff coming this year.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've just I've I've just agreed to to set up the Financial Advisor, the Financial Planner Life Academy where we're going to train a thousand people for free to become financial advisors or points and then link them to firms of all different shapes and sizes.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just your MNGs out there in your St.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: James's place who who are doing a great job at bringing people through the through through the qualifications.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we that can't be sniffed at.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think what is lacking is this choice.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um you'll either go down Quilter or you go down SJP or you go down MNG or whatever, and I work with those guys.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um but we need some more choice because you went into IFA you didn't go down in a restricted proposition.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Some people go into restricted, and so many years later think, why didn't I go IFA?
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: So they go down the IFA route.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: But some people stay in restricted and absolutely love it, build a business, sell it, and and happy days.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: But what we're lacking a little bit at the moment is just there's a bit of a monopoly, I think, on the product providers, if you like, which is fine.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: They've got it, they've got the money to do it, and they are doing a good job.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the ones that don't make it through filter down into the firms, like IFAs, etc.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: But this hopefully is going to create choice and conversation around the different level of entry routes as well.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: But also put them into a community where they can learn from others.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's get some conversations going from other trainees, let's get some mentors in there helping and supporting, and let's create an ecosystem that changes how people get into the profession.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: But also, the firms that then support that academy and say tap into it.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give them the opportunity to take on somebody from that academy much cheaper than if they did the recruitment themselves, but only if they take a punt on them in the beginning.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, one exam, two exam, it's a lot cheaper to take that person on through the academy.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you wait until they're level four qualified, it's gonna cost you a little bit more because they've gone through the process a little bit longer, haven't they?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to create this kind of almost ecosystem where people are like, I really like that guy, and we're gonna bring out video interviews and rich literally advertise people to firms who we think have got what it takes right now to be an advisor, the transferable skills, etc.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we're really looking forward to doing that this year.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: And what you're doing is obviously spot on.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Anything where people share and contribute to how people can get into profession is is is fantastic.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you a question about your videos and your content you put out?
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're really good at doing it.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: You put it out on your social media, it's handy you've got a fellow there that also understands YouTube, etc.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Are they um are the ones that you're doing where you're talking about financial products, situations, pensions, etc., are they bringing in clients that convert to business for you?
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Most of my clients from social media actually come from YouTube, which I was really surprised by.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I get I kind of understand that.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: And actually now on Instagram I only do reels because I used to just do posts, but video valuable.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and um, yes, obviously on YouTube I was doing, I only do one video a month because I cannot commit to more than that than that.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I think people in a video they get to know you, they feel like they know you because you know they feel like they can trust you, they know what you look like, they know what you sound like.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that's why a lot of that side of things is more successful in sort of converting into business.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, YouTube is better at doing that.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think I don't know if there's any specific videos that have turned people into clients.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think people subscribe and they sort of see, I don't think after one video they'd probably get in touch.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: They might see five or six and go, okay, now I really feel like she knows what she's talking about.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna reach out and see what she says.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, have an Zoom call or a meeting or whatever, and then it'll go from there.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, I mean, videos played a massive role in just becoming more of a presence, if you like, on social media because photos don't really do it.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a photo and a bit of writing, no one knows what you're like from that.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to like show your personality a bit and show yeah that you do know what you're talking about and that you can tell people what a bond is or what a fund is and all this sort of thing, because really people want to know that stuff.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: They won't admit they want to know it, but a lot of people sit there and go, I've got no idea where my pension's invested, I've got no idea what a fund is, but I really should find this stuff out.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: I also think, as well, and what gets overlooked is that it also deepens the relationship with your existing clients and their friends because your existing clients might like it, your existing clients will see it if they follow you, etc.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not all about new business, it's about being present and sort of just reminding your client, look, I do know what I'm talking about, and I'm gonna share some free content for you.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, when something comes out in the news or something and it's a bit dodgy and everyone's freaking out that their pension pot's gonna go down or whatever, you're there to put a bit of content out that reassures them.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of the time when it comes to this content creation around financial planning, look, you don't have to sell, sell, sell, sell, sell.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can reassure, reassure, reassure, um, and you can educate, educate, educate.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: And all you're doing again is just giving that calm and um empathy and and and and understanding to somebody.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: And they think, ah, fair play.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad she put that out there.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that often is the thing that then brings people to you because you you you're you're you're trusting, you're you're you're a trusted person.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you know, don't sell too hard, right?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: The FTA will tell you off anyway and slap you.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: risk so just put out content that is gonna educate inspire and um and you know calm somebody down at a stressful time you know yeah especially of the past 12 months obviously 2022 was just a bit of a car crash wasn't it so um yeah obviously keeping present on social media throughout all of that and just you know like you say I can't sell sell so I have to just be informative and I've got disclaimers after all of my posts saying this is not advice and blah blah blah.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah just being like look I know this has been pretty bad but sit tight you know it's the stuff I'm talking to all my clients about there's no point in doing anything like this short window of you know downturn is not the time to be selling out and obviously you know sit tight in January alone this year we've seen a bounce back starting to appear so you know it's all that sort of thing where clients go yeah I know but I'm just you know I'm I'm not really sure that I should or what should I be doing.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like just no don't do anything don't do anything.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I like really and I'm like no don't do anything.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I like and I think you know it doesn't have to be overly complicated social media.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's lots of things you can talk about day-to-day stuff as well.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's about being relatable and it's about building that relationship on your personality as well like oh you know I've got two kids and I'm juggling all this and you know I'm not just work work work work all the time.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was chatting away to a um a financial advisor she's a uh wife of a professional football player and we were talking about social media and how best for her to utilize it and we had this I had this conversation I said look you are you are a wife of a professional football player right and she's like yeah and I say that has its ups and downs right you know and she's like yeah a hundred percent I said there's a lot of wives of and partners of professional sports people in there she's like yeah and I was like well just talk about your life talk about and become relatable to those those individuals so because in her mind it was like I need to go and win the client relationship I need to go and win the client relationship and the client is the footballer or the client is the uh the cricketer or whatever and it's like well no you know talk to the partner because you're relatable to the partner and more often than not in those situations the partner is like is is concerned on behalf of somebody that's going through the ups and downs of sport when are they going to retire having to deal with the emotions around all of that how are you going to pay the bills whatever it might well be because not every sports person earns an absolute fortune right some some of them don't some of them I think the equivalent of earning like a a a bus driver's salary if that bus driver worked till he was 70 that's what the equivalent of say a footballer might earn retiring at 30 years old you know salaries aren't absolutely there I mean I'm always on the fence about do I like should I become a niche you know just focus on certain people but people keep saying it's the thing to do and if you if that's your niche it's advising partners of XY and Z or people who are in this role or this profession then make that your niche and just just advise those people.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: Become a key person of influence within a space within a within a a subgroup you know I'm trying to be this key person of influence around careers right within financial planning.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd become the go-to trusted person within that it's the same with anything find it just slightly look at it a little differently who are your target client but who are you and who are you relatable to and how would that then get you to your target client more often than not the person we think we want isn't the you know so there's a whole business there in its own right I've learned that through this through through financial even as a financial advisor I have someone go to me and go, I didn't know that I needed a financial advisor but I'm trying to do this and I've been told I need to speak to a financial advisor because people don't know what financial advisors do.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: And again that's a problem let's move on because you let's move on because this is boring.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: No I'll be joking.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: No I tell you what I love it I love the social media side of it because you can get lost in it absolutely but it is very interesting and I admire you for putting yourself out there and I think um it's a compounding strategy social marketing and I but it works so keep going and it's and it's really good stuff by the way I really like it.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: What I would also say um let's get onto the subject back to back to your career right because you were a financial advisor right so you said trainee been success client bank coming your way it's it's another one's coming your way as well but you've got your client bank you've been employed but an opportunity came up to then go self-employed within the same firm.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you've been employed your whole career and then all of a sudden employees are self-employed how did that happen why did it happen and why did you why did you go that route?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah so the firm I was really the only employed advisor in the firm so there were four advisors one was the owner of the firm the other two were self-employed and I was the only employed one because I've been employed as an administrator as a trainee as an they were just like fine we'll just keep you on an employed basis because it worked for me.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: I had a base salary and a little bit of commission but it was mostly base salary.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: And there was always this option of going self-employed but I was doing things like buying a house um I had a child um moving house and all these things that were like it's not the right time it's not the right time for my me to do it.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: I need this guaranteed income stream at the very least so I always stuck to my guns and I just I just like it's not right it's not right for me at the moment.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had my son last March and then I was on maternity leave for sort of six months and then I went back to work in September and I was like I think now might work to go self-employed I mean I've always been crunching the numbers to working out if it's better to just be on commission and have no base salary versus having the commission as low as the base salary.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it was getting to a point where I probably in the past year or so I would have been better to be self-employed but I stuck I wanted the maternity pay so I didn't go self-employed before I had my son.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then I went back to work and I was like the flexibility as well I mean I've got a daughter at nursery I've got yeah 10 month old as that the flexibility side of things was a really big thing for me at that point as well.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: So um yeah so I spoke to my boss and I was like look I think now might be a good time for me to switch over and become self-employed.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously he sells national insurance he doesn't have to pay my pension contributions so he's making a saving um and I've got the freedom the flexibility um and you know financially it's taken a bit of time because I was off for six months it's taken a bit of time for my earnings to pick back up again but we've survived even with all the rising prices and everything else and now I've been back for about six months you know my income is starting to pick back up again.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've got new business coming through and you know commissioners coming in and all that sort of thing.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it was always going to be a bit of a leap of faith but yeah being able to do things like um like my daughter's not a nursery on a Thursday so she's oh let's go and do something together.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like all right let me see what my diary looks like I'll clear it for Thursday and we'll go and do something together as a family that that sort of thing um I I've loved honestly it's been fantastic and I wish I'd done it sooner.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I've got you on that one I get that yeah absolutely being able to control your own diary is is a beautiful place to be questions so you're employed you've inherited a client bank they've worked out a an income for you based on what the income is on that client bank right you mentioned there that predominantly it was basic salary with a little bit of commission if I suppose you're generating new business through existing clients or maybe referrals of new business right how did that work out when you went self-employed did they continue to pay you a percentage of the recurring income of the book that you were managing?
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah so it's a flat rate of commission now 65% flat rate of of everything new business, ongoing business, anything that comes in.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: So ultimately I still have that buffer of ongoing commission coming in if you like because we get that monthly so I've always got a buffer even if no new business comes through I've got a percentage of ongoing commission always coming in.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that's if you like replaced my base salary even it fluctuates a little bit especially with last year being down because we use percentage based fees.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously it goes up and down a little bit.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: But then yeah I get a 65% chunk of new commission as well.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you know obviously that's when it starts to turn around and becomes a lot more profitable for me is when new new commission comes in, new business gets written.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah it's it's a bit of a turnaround obviously I'm now having to track and having to put some money aside for tax and all this sort of thing which is you know it's just a change in how I look at things.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah I think again organization is key to that obviously I'm putting money away so that when I do my tax returns I know what's what I'm keeping a track of my receipts and all that sort of thing.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a different way of looking at things and you know when I get the money in my account I'm like ha oh no that's gross.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's gross.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_01: Haven't paid any tax yet.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah right yeah it's just changing how you look at everything.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: And okay so all of a sudden you've gone from this structured salary package where you not you aren't really in control of the table earnings that you can bring in to being in a situation where 65% of what you write is now coming towards you, whether that's percentage of the recurring income or a percentage of the initial fee that you charge a new client for some new business.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_00: Has that um and this is an interesting subject because that's incentivizing you to potentially sell right yeah but I was commission based before just less because of the basic so yeah I guess it is more of an incentive if you like but this is what I'm saying yeah but this is what I'm getting at there's nothing wrong with being incentivized to go out and hunt for business right there's nothing wrong with that at all you know as long as you deliver it in the right way which I'm sure you do you know you know but I'm just thinking you know does it incentivise you personally intrinsically do you feel like you are I'm gonna go and do more new business do you feel more incentivized around it?
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel like because the earning potential is greater I think I'm aware that the earnings potential is greater but I don't have the time to to go out and do more because sorry go on.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: Overall your earnings are far better even so when you move from being employed to self-employed even if you didn't take on any more clients did your earnings go up right yes they would have yes yeah okay so I get it that's cool.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're a registered individual self-employed you had to take that leap from being the security of an employed uh a salarye moving into self-employed but you still had the backing of the company that you're working for the brand nothing really changed essentially apart from your own tax situation right uh and also there you became more probably mindset wise of now I'm running a business now I'm running my own business yeah and that's a good thing that's a great that's a great thing that's a really really good thing what about your feelings this is I don't know you can answer this question if you want to right your self-employees you're work you're working for somebody right it's somebody else's brand you're working really well on your personal brand yeah you do have a personal brand and fair play to you you understand the value of that because your personal brand follows you wherever you go right have you not got in the back of your mind though that you want to start your own business it's there I won't lie yeah well yeah but I mean yeah I think obviously going self-employed and because of this social media following that like I said before when I became a qualified advisor being employed and having the name of that company there gave me you know clap with people to say I work for this company if they know the company then fine because I was newly qualified why would people want to use me if they don't know me but now I've got social media you know social media channels and profiles people know me.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that works as well because they know me rather than the company that I'm doing work for.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: So there's more of a people come to me because they want me.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: They're not coming to the company because they want the company um so yeah I mean I think if if everything starts to swing more that way then I I was yeah I would seriously consider setting up my own company and doing it that way.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: But at the moment where I'm inheriting this client bank from the other advisor that's retiring, that's obviously still beneficial for me to keep doing what I'm doing for the time being.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, the thought is there.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: When you inherit a client bank from somebody in that business for example is there an agreement in place to uh buy that person out is that person like self-employed as well or are they like a shareholding director of the actual overall firm?
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: They are self-employed um and what happens is I will take the client over but for 12 months after I've taken the client over they will still get cut of some of the commission.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll get I'll get well I'll take over the commission they were getting but they'll still get a cut of it for 12 months after I've taken it over.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you know because it's their it was their client whether it's someone they bought in themselves or a referral from an existing client so yeah it's only fair that they still get financial gain from it you know while the handover's taking place and things like that.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_00: So they are they're exiting basically it's an exit strategy for them.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_00: Exit strategy yeah and you're probably one of the youngest ones in the firm right as an advisor.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_01: I am the youngest advisor yes by quite a few years.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when are you when are you planning an internal takeover?
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know I mean my boss is always talking about oh I've got a five year plan, I've got a 10 year plan.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like oh yeah okay we'll see it up yeah I mean I've always been you know throwing my hat in the ring being like oh well you know maybe think about this or maybe think about this but he's not a proactive you know person.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: He'll deal with it when it needs to be dealt with but I suppose what we're getting at here look you know again you know don't look at gift horse in the face you've got an opportunity in front of you here within this ecosystem.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why would you then step away and do it yourself?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because funding an acquisition isn't a difficult thing to do especially if you've they've done it already internally.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's probably in the back of their minds anyway and those conversations that you're having now which sounds like you're having them anyway you've you're very forthcoming I think you know positions you to be probably in the top spot to be able to buy those individuals out.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: But also as well one thing I know from retiring IFAs and advisors are that they care about their client relationships.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_00: So they don't want to go selling it to some faceless conglomerate organization where you know some spotty little dweeb's going to go out and start giving advice to them that they've built a relationship with these clients for years, right?
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's not going to be very healthy.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_01: So someone like you is far easier to transition it across and God, you know the future looks bright for you and there's potential there to you to have a ready-made business you you've already had the blueprint you're taking over you can take over and you can build you know I think well yeah I mean obviously I've been with the firm for nine years and a lot of people a lot of clients know me whether I'm their advisor or not they know my face because I've been there for a good amount of time and all this sort of thing.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah I mean for me from my point of view the natural progression would be obviously to yeah sell the business to me for example but keep it going you know keep it going in the current format because it clearly works you don't need to to do anything drastic with it.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then you know you've still got a face with a company that clients recognise rather than having a massive overhaul and you know changing everyone and clients not knowing because actually I've taken a client on recently who said I did have an IFA he retired and my it got sold to somebody else and I don't know this person.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: I saw them the other week and I really don't like them.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to you know can I speak to you instead?
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously that's always a problem with firms being sold to the left right and centre is people's portfolios go and I don't know who my advisor is anymore so I'm just gonna go find a new one how old are you out of interest?
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: Am I allowed to ask that question how old am I?
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah 36 36 right there we go I mean you could work to you 65 right to work to however long you want to work probably 70 yeah you can work to as for as long as you want right that's 30 that's 30 years away.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I know that's a long time and look how look how well positioned you are isn't that exciting you already built on a case then thanks I'm just looking for an acquisition cut you know I just want my five percent you know that's all that's all I want and everyone everyone's witnessing this deal being done um well I'm really excited about your future for you because yeah I feel like you're really well positioned here and it's lovely talking to you and it's really great you know your journeys you know it happens in lots of different firms but I've not had anybody on who's gone down that sort of admin to trainee to employee to self-employed and remain within that same firm and have had the options available to you and that's within an IAFA so what I want people to listen to here is that there are options out there within these firms there is these companies that will invest in you this idea that there's no entry level opportunity there is right you know be proactive and find them and stay close to me in the financial plan of life because we're telling stories and we're we're we're sharing these these successes that people are having and the beautiful future that you're going to have as well but one of the things I just want to congratulate you and I want people to understand is as well it's hard bloody work right to be a financial advisor.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard work to graft it's hard to be qualifications it's hard to keep up to date with your um your PDPs all CPD sorry and all that kind of stuff it's it's tough regulation regulation someone gives you the impression it's a bloody easy job and you know there's plenty it's hard graft right it's not it's not even if it's an inherited client book it's hard graft it's not a s it's not an easy job right yeah because I go into those handover meetings and I'm like God I hope they like me if they don't like me and then they'll go somewhere else yeah but that's it well listen uh absolute pleasure talking to you today uh you know I've had a really uh a lovely conversation with you a lovely insight let's keep in contact um and Louise um I wish you wish you all the best thank you for sharing and have an amazing weekend thank you you too enjoy the sunshine is it sunny yeah I don't know there's no windows there's no windows in here it's just darkness I've got free 12 degrees today so it's almost spring like yeah well I'll tell you what I broke roll on the spring and summer because I need a tan I tell you that but these lights are making me pop a little bit I feel like I've got a little tan with these lights.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah you might get a bit of a UV going on that's what I mean podcasting and suntan salon I've just nailed it again amazing Louise thank you