Latest / Only Fee-Only / #161 - Clearing the Head Trash and Building a Lifestyle Practice, with Colin Page

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#161 - Clearing the Head Trash and Building a Lifestyle Practice, with Colin Page · Only Fee-Only

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: How's it going everyone?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to the OnlyFeel podcast.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: And as always, thanks for being here.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: In this episode, we sit down with Colin Page, founder of Oakley Wealth Services.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: Colin shares his unique journey into financial planning, from teaching high school math to spending more than a decade working at a hedge fund before finally launching his own firm.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: We talk about what led him to make a career change, the challenges of building an independent practice from the ground up, and the lessons he learned along the way.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: We also discussed finding the right business model, creating a lifestyle-focused practice, and how financial advisors can stay true to their goals as their businesses grow.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: We hope you enjoyed the conversation.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: We know we did.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Without further ado, here is Colin Page on the Only Fee Only Podcast.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: How's it going, everyone?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only Podcast.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Peter Travolo.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm here with my co-host Brock Buckles.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: And today we're extremely excited to have Colin Page on.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: He's the founder of Oakley Wealth Services.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: Really excited to have him on, share his experiences, and how he's helping his clients.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, Colin, welcome to the show, man.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Peter.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Brock.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you bet.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: So for those who don't know who Colin is, you want to give a quick background of your firm and who you're currently helping?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I mean, on the personal side and my husband of a rock star uh doctor wife, uh father of two really energetic boys, uh, one uh highly destructive golden retriever.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where I'm you know went to school here at the University of Virginia and uh in the envy of a lot of my classmates because I got to move back and have been here um yeah, now for uh almost 16 years since since graduating.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, so I I started Oakley um in 2023, beginning of 2023.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um was a career changer and and um I'm sure we'll we'll get into all that, but um I serve primarily uh retirees, um, so folks 50 to plus um or soon to be retirees and and doing you know basic retirement income planning, tax efficient withdrawal strategies, and and uh and then all the other planning aspects that go with with retirement from Medicare uh to legacy planning and and and all of that stuff.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: So you mentioned you're a career changer.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um maybe like younger, like when you were younger, what was maybe your first experience with money, or maybe like you know, got your interest going with just finances and how that works.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I I grew up in a household with with two parents who were professionals and and not in the financial aspect, they were academics, but um, but yeah, it was it was always um I grew up with a a good background in it.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: I had a Roth IRA from the first time I had a summer job, and um, it was just something that that was talked about around the dinner table.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, my parents had a a fee-only advisor from I guess the time I was in middle school on.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so uh yeah, I was around it and and I got you know lots of uh kind of advice uh along the way from that, my parents' financial planner, you know, whether whether it was, you know, my first job and what to do with the money I'm making, um to, you know, going to college and figuring out how to fund it, um, you know, when when you know and and then um yeah, so I mean I've I've been around it for a while and then and then that first um job out of college was was um well here, I'm I'm rambling, but um, but yeah, I mean first first time um first money memory, gosh.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean probably probably was was when I I brought um I was going on a field trip.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is probably first grade, um, and I I can't even remember where we were going, but I was so excited to bring my like Velcro wallet with my life savings in it.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because there was gonna be an opportunity maybe to go to the gift shop or something at the end of it.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, I mean I'd say that's that's probably the first uh first kind of money memory.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: Well, your parents having a fee-only planner.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they're really lucky because they had a fee only planner when there were almost none around, right?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um Yeah, it's true, it's true.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it was advice only as well.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they paid for just kind of hourly advice, met with them, you know, four times a year.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um they're lucky.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: Good for them.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: They weren't sold.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's funny too.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: I love the I love the story about the Velcro wallet, man.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: I think we all had one of those.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think mine had a chain on it back in the day.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: I look back at pictures and I'm like, oh boy.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I remember one time, one of my like integral memory, like most important memories was absolutely, I went to Disneyland, and ironically, Peter and I went to Epcot and had sushi above the place that I did this.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: But I had a net worth of like$300 I'd gotten from everybody, grandma, aunt, mom, dad for Christmas that year, whatever.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I literally went to this, like my grandma's from Okinawa, Japan.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: We're in, we're in, you know, the Japanese part of Epcot or whatever.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: My net worth again,$300.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: I spent every dollar I had on some Japanese authentic, like basically pajamas.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so it's it's it's it's funny how that stuff like will stick with you over the long haul.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: So that's I love I love hearing that.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I so my parents, they'd had they had a fee-only advisor, but it like I didn't know any different.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I had no other exposure to the financial services industry for for better or worse.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then, you know, it wasn't really until um my wife was a resident in medical school that um, you know, that lots of advisors come and talk to resident classes, you know, doctors are uh an easy target.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it was around that time that we were trying to figure out how to buy a house.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And um, because we knew, I think we knew at that point that we were gonna be able to stay in Charlottesville.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so this advisor came to talk to her and and we agreed to like sit down with him after um you know, one evening, um, actually on Zoom, not not in person, but um boy, did we walk into like a sales pitch and and just the alarm bells were were going off.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so yeah, it wasn't until you know I was I was you know an adult and working in the financial industry myself, you know, with the hedge fund that that I got kind of an experienced with with the non-fee only uh side of of financial planning.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I see um I was just gonna say it's real, it's a it feels like the opposite of what it usually looks like for people.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of people, their introduction is always like, you know, I was selling insurance or like at a big insurance firm first, and then I found out about fee only later.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: And for you, it's like, no, I've I've basically been doing this since I was in like middle school, high school.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: So that's cool that you had that exposure, that young man, because it like really, you know, molded the way that you thought about things.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: And that was kind of just like your approach going forward, which is really different and and neat to see.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: So out of college, you graduate from Virginia.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: Where did you start?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: What did you do to start your career and then you know, career change?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I graduated in 09, um, you know, into the into the financial crisis.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so everybody, you know, I had a exactly.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, a lot of friends who had jobs lined up, you know, uh on on Wall Street or or whatnot that were falling through.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't know what I wanted to do.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I ended up like a lot of people that year uh joining Teach for America.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so I I thought at that time maybe I'm I'll be a teacher um or maybe I'll be a school administrator.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so I went to Baltimore City um for for two years to teach um math, taught algebra and geometry to to high school students in in South Baltimore.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so to not at all in the in the financial world.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and and it wasn't until um you know my wife went to medical school back here in Charlottesville um that I reconnected with with uh a friend, um, an older uh friend that I had made while while I was here at in school um from church who who I had no idea what he did.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um turns out he he helped run a hedge fund and he asked if if I wanted to um you know come in and talk about the business.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and I had had, I mean, it's probably the strangest path uh to to a hedge fund job that I've heard because I I met him through another friend of mine and and we kept a garden at his house uh the summer between our third and fourth years uh at UVA.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I guess I was I was good at weeding the garden and uh you know it's so so through through through the church, through gardening, uh landed a job at a hedge fund.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, started out at the bottom and and um making coffee and laying out the Wall Street Journal on his desk and just kind of learning by osmosis and listening into phone calls and and and uh yeah, so I ended up you know 11 years later, um still still with the same fund.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's crazy.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: I want to I want to make sure we like dig deeper into that because most people don't ever get the experience of working at a hedge fund.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a whole different like part of the financial industry, you know, um a lot of money, a lot of money around when you're at a hedge fund, right?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, like what was that kind of like?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously your day-to-day now is much different than that.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, what was some of the perspective, I guess, that you took from you know having that job and seeing all of that stuff?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I mean, to first to be to be clear, there there's a difference between being at a hedge fund in in you know New York City or uh as then Charlottesville Richard.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's actually quite a few um funds that have little satellite offices down here.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you know, I wasn't enmeshed in that in that world in in in the way I would have been had I been in Manhattan.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I got to I certainly got to see and it was a unique place to to see that side of of the the financial markets from um we were uh it was a small hedge fund focused on investing in distressed uh securities of bonds trading at 20, 30, 40 cents on the dollar and and companies going through bankruptcy.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um it was I mean, I worked with some incredibly smart people, uh and and um but from like a you know from a a lifestyle standpoint from a um you know it was a great place to be.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, very f it was family friendly in the way that a lot of you know that it's not typical for this industry.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh but but at the same time there's still you know high pressure.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you lived and died by that annual performance number and the recommendations you made.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um and I ultimately, you know, it it it uh I wanted I wanted more than just than than um I wanted something that that spoke to both the the kind of the head and and the art um that connected with the client um and where they actually were, you know, to to be in that role.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Our our clients were our investors, and you know, I had I had no idea what their life circumstances were.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: We were just uh, you know, we were an an item on their balance sheet and and um meet them once a year at a fancy lunch in in New York or in Boston.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but you know, there wasn't any financial planning going on.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was all it was all about you know the role we were playing in our portfolio and and what have we done lately.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um so you know I missed that connection, the the the you know that I had with teaching or or educating, you know, education, um, where where you're meeting people where you are, you're coming alongside them, you're um you know, trying to help them think through problems and and come up with solutions.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: So you started digging, looking for a little bit more.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I mean it it's perfect segue because you know you were teaching before and you kind of had some finance.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: So what kind of you know kicked you over the ledge to do this financial planning thing, start your own firm and start helping clients directly?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, I I the so to make a long story short, the fund shut down when the the founder retired.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and I stayed on to help wind things down.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: There were a number of uh private investments that took a while to unwind.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but it was a it was like the perfect part-time job to to figure out what was next.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And um and and yeah, I I had always kind of been interested in personal finance, kind of was my own first client and and did a lot of of reading before then on on how to you know on on all sorts of personal finance matters and decided, you know, I don't know what I'm gonna do next.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll take the CFP coursework.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I studied for the CFP during that kind of interim time.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I talked to a ton of people, just a lot of like coffees, a lot of lunches and happy hours with with advisors and um different, you know, people that had started their own businesses, people who were, you know, established advisors at other, you know, other firms in the area.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, how I decided I want to do my own.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, I think at first I didn't want to do my own.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was daunting to, you know, be a career changer, um, not not knowing this side of the business.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, so I I looked to see if there was another firm that that you know had similar values that that I could join.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um I found one and I was very close to joining it um with it was actually the advisor that my parents had.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um almost almost joined up with him uh uh and and and decided to to pull out um you know at the at the goal line almost.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh because um there was a difference in in in it was he was gonna be, I was gonna be remote.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was up in Annapolis, I was down in Charlottesville.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I wouldn't have owned my clients, and they would have been clients of the firm.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I figured, you know, hey, I'm gonna be building this, I'm gonna be building my practice from the ground up here.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um like I'm gonna I'll be doing the same thing whether I'm working with him or or on my own.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I decided, you know, well, let's just give it a shot.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have a runway, you know, let's let's give it a go.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, which is great, but also create creates some like other unique problems, right?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Which is, you know, if you join his firm, a lot, which is we were talking about this on a recent episode.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of advisors, just kind of like this dangling carrot where it's like, well, I have the firm and the clients now, but one day, you know, if you're with me long enough or whatever, you know, you can have the keys to the to the to the house, right?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um so by not doing that, obviously you're like, okay, not gonna get the keys to the house, not gonna get the existing clients, but also not chasing a carrot, kind of, right?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Not not saying that, you know, he would have made you do that, but a lot of firms, it's kind of like that.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um but now you're faced with like, how do I actually build this thing?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so what was kind of like, you know, when you're sitting there thinking about, I'm starting this firm, I've got to build this thing, I have to find clients.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: What was your like go-to-market strategy and like kind of right off the bat, like what are you, what are you thinking about doing?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I would say I had I had no strategy.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I had um, I had I had no idea who I wanted to work with.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I knew I you know, I knew I didn't have experience working with different types of clients.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wanted to just get as many reps as I could working with lots of different types.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was curious, you know, I wanted to work with business owners, I wanted to work with younger folks, I wanted to work with retirees.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so I I I'd say a cast a pretty broad net in terms of you know how I actually got off the ground.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think X XYPN was was pivotal.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: I you know, there's no way I could have done all of those things without it, and then the the kind of structure they give you to think through how do you figure out her your ideal client and how do you put together a marketing plan and uh a compliance plan and and you know, just to give you a tech stack to start from, you know, it at least provided some structure.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so yeah, I mean that that that was huge, you know, the launch group that I was in, uh we still meet, you know, now we're only meeting about once a month, but but those are all still you know, great florents.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're supporting each other's businesses and and and it's um that was that was definitely p pivotal in terms of you know having some structure.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um can get lonely out there, right?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're for sure.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, lonely out there.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like what are maybe um because the support group is something we've heard a lot, but we haven't really driven into it too much.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what are some things that you would say have like really made the support group work?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: Or like make sure that you guys are accountable?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: Or you know, like some people they're like, hey, my support group, we met for like the first six months and then you know the wheels fell off.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like what you know, what's been working for your specific group?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think you know, I did uh it's it's I think having a structure to start with was really helpful.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Having, you know, where they they've got a a roadmap for, you know, here's what you're gonna talk about this week, here's what you're gonna talk about next week.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think that that was that was cool, even though we hadn't, you know, most of us didn't know what we were doing.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um that having that background or you know, background reading or at least an agenda for it for that meeting was was hugely helpful.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and having a topic that you're going to you know planning ahead of time to talk about um keeps that going.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then it was also the the relationships offline as well.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a couple a couple of the the folks in that group.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're uh one of them um who I think's been on your your podcast, Taylor Stewart, we text every time.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, you know.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's the man.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we I mean we're we're we're constantly texting each other, whether it's a client that uh, you know, what do I do with this?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or or uh, you know, here's something funny that happened today, or um, you know, question about his business, or um yeah, just developing if you're gonna be working on your own, having having colleagues, you know, you don't you may not have colleagues in your office, but there's there's plenty of other advisors out there and find find some that you mesh with and think along similar lines too.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: Also the accountability buddy aspect of it, I'm sure doesn't hurt, right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's like, hey, I said I said I was gonna do this, right?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: And like you meet up with Taylor, he's like, Colin, you said you were gonna do this, man.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like it and and I'm sure you you to him as well, right?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like it creates a sense of like, here's some intentionality behind it.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because when we're like all sitting in our offices, and obviously Peter and I both wrote work remote too, you're like sitting there and it's like, well, I know I was supposed to do this today, or I'm gonna do this today, or whatever it might be.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like when you actually have that sense of community, it kind of like holds you to your word and helps you grow and like creates that team atmosphere, which I think is super helpful.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you need somebody to call BS or or somebody to, you know, help you sort through the head trash that's that's keeping you from doing X, Y, or Z, whether that's raise your prices or um, you know, thinking through different different options.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's huge to have somebody like that you can have as a sounding board.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, you're up and running, right?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's been a couple of years.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: What are maybe some of those pieces of head trash, uh, if you don't mind sharing, or you know, some stuff in your head that, you know, mentally you finally got over, but it was a hindrance, you know, just because other people, they're probably having the same exact thoughts or ideas.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, I already talked about fees, uh, or mention it briefly.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think that was a yeah, raising fees, that was a huge um a huge one.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think everybody starts out with their fees way too low and it makes sense because you're trying to get business, you're not confident about what you're worth.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um less frickin'.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so Yeah, it's it's easy, you know.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um it it's easier to to to sell when you're you're when you're half the cost of somebody.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Else and and you're delivering way more value than they were.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not, and that's not to say that like um there isn't a limit to how much you can or should raise your fees, but um but yeah, that that that's been a big one.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think you know the model that was a huge thing early on, even just like what my fee model would be, whether I would be AUM, whether I was gonna do advice only, um, or whether you know I ultimately landed on on doing flat fee.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there's so much the head trash involved in how you set your fees.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's no right way to do it.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many different ways, so many different models that can work and work well depending on who you serve and how you want to serve them.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um yet we as advisors spent so much time harping on or you know, thinking about our fees and our fee model and all the edge cases that can happen.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's that's so true.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: I would say honestly, whether you're AUM, Flappy, like whatever you're doing, you're still better than the guy who sells whole life insurance to every single person he's ever met.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's still better than that for sure.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but like doing that, man, like who do you kind of like, what's your process look like for on a like when you first meet someone, right?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like we talk to people, everybody's got a different process.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Some people are not even talking about the numbers in the first meeting.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like, let's get to know each other, see if this is the right fit for both of us.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: If it is, we can move forward.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, some people are like, get into the numbers right away.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: So kind of what's what's your process when it comes to actually meeting clients and walking them through, you know, how you do things day to day?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I'll say it's changed a lot since the beginning.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll just, you know, sit tell you what I do now.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I have, you know, an intake form on the website, and um that gets you to to that gets you to be able to schedule a 15-minute call with me.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and that during that meeting, I'm trying to decide are we gonna be moving forward?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Am I possibly a good fit for you?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um or not.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and if if they are, then I offer a one-hour consultation.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in order to get that consultation, they gotta send me everything.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um I do ask for I want your investment statements, I want your tax returns, I want your insurance, I want everything before that meeting.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and and that, you know, as I've gotten more busy as a built-out business and I'm not so desperate for clients, that that that's an important hurdle to like make sure that I'm not wasting my time on somebody who's not ready to move forward.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and by and large, you know, if somebody's gonna provide you all that information, like they're serious, they're they're they're evaluating their options, they're they're looking to to hire somebody.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that was a that was a re that was a revelation in in in in the process that like, hey, I don't need to bend over backwards to to you know I I also want to make sure that I'm getting clients that are qualified and ready, you know, to move forward.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so having that information is is what I need to make that kind of determination.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then we have that one hour meeting, and I'll I'll be honest, like I I look at the documents ahead of time, but I don't spend a ton of time like plugging it into a model or anything.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: I may, you know, make a quick, here's a quick balance sheet, um, you know, with with your assets just so that we've got something to put on the screen and and talk through.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: But but really that first meeting is about trying to understand what they're where they're coming from, what their problems are, um and and you know, offer as much like free advice in that one hour meeting as possible.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've found that like the more you know some people are are really hesitant to want to give away the goods before before they're they've signed.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I I've found the opposite.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like the more you give, um, the more value you give people, like they're so much more likely to sign up um with you from that.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's basically the whole process.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: One meeting and then and then you know, send them a contract and and and we go from there.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: Love it, man.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: Love it.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: So you have a six and eleven-year-old, and a crazy golden retriever.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: So kind of what's the future of Oakley wealth look like?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: What's your goal?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, some planners, right, they might want to bring an assistant on or maybe a junior advisor one day.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what's kind of the future look like for you guys?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I I uh brought in a part-time kind of paraplanner, admin person last summer.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and she's wonderful.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been a huge part of like trying to grow up as a as a firm.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you get to like, you know, 10, 20 clients, like you can still kind of keep everything in your head, all the the the different things you need to do for each client.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: But once you hit that like high 20s or 30s, like it's just it's just um if you there's just a a breaking point there where it's like I can't, I can't do this.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I need some kind of system.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and there are plenty of people who, as solo advisors, can do more than that, but that like you need to start having processes at 30.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so you know, this I was not good at setting up processes, and so I had I I needed some help, and and so this person has helped me to kind of systematize and um you know get everyone's data into the CRM and and actually build out a uh you know, start to build out a client service calendar.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's kind of what we're working on right now, as to like, you know, w uh whether this grows beyond me, um, you know, to have multiple advisors.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm of I'm kind of mixed uh mixed feelings about it, you know.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_03: You're just loving the lifestyle.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: You're loving the lifestyle right now compared to the hedge fund.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: I can tell that.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm like finally at a point where like I looked at my calendar this week and like I don't I'm not not in meeting season.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like actually I got a lot of days that are there's nothing on the calendar.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is great.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go the boys and I go on mountain biking.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, we're we're going mountain biking, we're going skiing, we're you know well, and that's what it's all about, man.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think we've said this on the we've probably exhausted this point.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh for a lot of people that are listening, they're like, oh, Brock's good to talk about it again.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, people start with like this idea of a lifestyle practice, and then naturally the business, because you do great work, becomes more popular, you get more referrals, you're introduced to more people, and then you're like, okay, I'm at that tipping point.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then people are like, but the business is successful.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: I want it to keep growing.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's kind of like that, I'm addicted to the growth thing, right?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then before you know it, you've got like three advisors underneath you.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: You're not mountain biking as much, you're not skiing as much, and you're like, wait, this isn't why I started this thing.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think it's important to, and not that it can't evolve.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think that things are naturally meant to evolve, but you know, that's why starting kind of with the end goal in mind when you when you start the firm is so important.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's the same thing with clients.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can't, it's hard to know how to make a plan for somebody if you don't know what the end goal is, what's the why, what are we, what's the whole point?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: What are we what are we doing here?
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: What are we building together?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I need some of that, uh, some some of my own medicine there as well.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because here I am.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I'm still getting referrals.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do I I could keep growing?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Should I?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what do I want out of this?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a timely, timely question.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but never-ending dilemma, and you're not the only one with it.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um so, Colin, any other golden nuggets or ideas or thoughts you had before coming on the podcast you want to get out there to the audience?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: Oh gosh.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um No, I mean, I think just like it's it's it's don't be afraid to to change things up, to try, you know, different niches, try different service models.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's that's one of the great things about being an entrepreneur and and working for yourself is you get to make those decisions and make them quickly.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like you, you know, when you're in a big organization, you have to you have many levels of approval you have to go through to make a change.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um but when you're when you're working for yourself, like you call the shots.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: You want to change the website, change it.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to change your fee model, you know, try something new, change the process.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so that's kind of how been how I've approached things.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and you kind of figure out over time what works, what doesn't work.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, that I don't know.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_02: I love it, man.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Great advice.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, for people that kind of want to follow along with what you're doing, uh, or check out your your website for some inspiration or whatever it might be, uh, what's the best place to do that, Colin?
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the website Oakley Wealth O-A-K-L-E-I-G-H wealth.com.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, got a little podcast with with Taylor Stewart, who I mentioned before.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's called the Make the Most of Your Money podcast.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Mostly, you know, client.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um most mostly directed at clients or or but but also we have a number of advisors that listen to it too, just to see how we think and approach certain topics.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Colin, thank you so much for your time today and expertise.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: We really appreciate it.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, my pleasure.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, guys.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Ben.