How to Build a Million-Dollar Advisory Practice Without Burning Out with Amos Akinyooye

[00:00:00] Amos: In my years, I've seen the advisors that've had the most amount of success quickly were attached to other successful advisors or to a successful advisor. That for me, is probably the biggest key.

[00:00:16] Nick: Hey, Mars, I'm super excited to have you on today.

[00:00:19] Amos: Thank you, Nick. Thank you for having me, man. It's gonna be a fun conversation. Today was always a fun conversation when we speak anyway, so yeah, it's gonna be exciting today.

[00:00:27] Nick: every time we, we talk, we cut on so many different levels and we just kind, it's like a zooming in and out, constantly moving it around. so I'm, I'm really excited. Unless it's gonna be a fun one for sure. They are, this is gonna be good. so let's start off with. what do most people not know about the origin of how you started in a business here?

[00:00:45] Amos: That's interesting. That's a good question. What do most people not know? I think most people don't really know the actual origin itself, to be honest with you. by the time most people meet me, they've, they've already been told a story about me. They've already kind of a must did XA must did.

[00:01:01] Amos: Y. So a lot of people are already going into it where I'm going to you as a subject matter or whatever it is. But, a lot of people don't know, like many people, I came in no knowledge. you know, I'm a financial planner primarily. I had no idea what that was growing up. And, I went to school for accounting.

[00:01:19] Amos: So, most people don't know I was supposed to go down a separate path, but you know, things happened the way they did, then I deviate it. So that's what I would say is the biggest.

[00:01:29] Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, I mean, it's always fascinating to listen to people's stories, how they got to where they were, because there's often a lot of intention, there's often a lot of serendipity as well.

[00:01:38] Nick: Right. And a combination of those things. I just think it's really interesting to think about, because we don't tend to think about our own stories necessarily because there are stories. Right.

[00:01:45] Amos: Very, very true. Man. it was weird for me to actually think about my story or even like, articulate or even talk about it for a while because I wasn't used to doing it.

[00:01:56] Amos: a big portion of my career was in, management. So, you know, I hired a lot of financial advisors. I built a massive practice and everything. Only then did I realize, not just my origin story, but things that you've accomplished. You don't sit down, start, I did this, this. You don't do that until you kinda have to tell your story to others.

[00:02:18] Amos: And then others will tell you your story or give you the feedback or the read back on your story, and then you are like, whoa, I did what? Really? You know? So it's good. It's kind of exciting, man. It's exciting, man.

[00:02:31] Nick: well, I guess for those watching and listening, they haven't figured out yet. Me and Namos both grew up in, in and around London.

[00:02:38] Amos: The will come in, the English will come in saying

[00:02:42] Nick: gonna come everywhere. We come everywhere, always everywhere. But I don't, I don't necessarily think it's a, it's a London thing, or anything in particular of England, of course. But just the, difference in which that we grow up and we, we start off in business that gives us those different types of experiences.

[00:02:57] Nick: And as you said, it's not until you get into an environment where you, you see different experiences to go, oh, that's not, there's different versions of that, right? Like, you know, it's like that's just have, people have different normals and then you start to be able to. Really lean into, those advantages or, everyone's particular advantages.

[00:03:13] Nick: what would you say that gave you the first like, leg up or how were you able to accelerate as fast as you did at the beginning of your career?

[00:03:21] Amos: That's a good question, man. I think the big thing that really helped me, they gave me the first leg up and I used it to keep growing. I asked a lot of questions, man.

[00:03:30] Amos: I just asked a lot of questions. You know, I, I didn't grow up in a situation where you had a lot of people that were successful on the financial side in the field, right? I didn't grow up around anyone that was successful, honestly, financially. So once I got into a space where, you know, every office was someone that was worth X, Y, and z, multiples of millions.

[00:03:54] Amos: I figured to myself, this is my opportunity to ask the questions, right? How did you get there? You know, how's your practice? What else are you doing on the side? What assets have you acquired? You know, and then just get advice. And for me, people's time was important, so I always kept it 10, 15 minutes. But I would find a lot of people, once you start asking them about themselves, will give you more time than you actually thought.

[00:04:20] Amos: But they were gonna give, especially if it's a great conversation. And you know, Nick, you know me. I am so, I am genuinely interested in every single person I meet. Everyone has a story, everyone has a story. So you can imagine me sitting down with all these people individually one-on-one, and just basically they're telling their story and within their story is a gem.

[00:04:44] Amos: I think that's something that a lot of people coming up nowadays don't do. I used to, preach that to the advisors that I brought up. You know, Hey, listen, knock on doors with other successful advisors and get their story. Ask them what they're doing. Ask 'em to analyze what you are doing. People will give you time if you, you know, actually seek them.

[00:05:05] Amos: So I think that's what really helped me with my growth on the story.

[00:05:09] Nick: I, I absolutely love that. There's a couple of nuances as I see it, that. Come through, because of what you just said and because I know you as well, right? Because it's the, the starting point is first of all, everyone's favorite subject is themselves.

[00:05:23] Nick: Yeah. And so people wanna talk about that. Yeah. Yeah. it just is, right? People wanna talk about things that they're doing 'cause it's just on their mind. But it, it's the. You genuinely wanna know what people are doing. you are interested in what people are doing.

[00:05:35] Nick: And that's a big distinction, right? Because you could, you could send those junior advisors in to ask questions of other advisors that have been more successful. But if they're going in there going, tell me about like, you know, this rather than like, wow, I really heard this about you. I thought that was really cool.

[00:05:50] Nick: I have you got five minutes just to talk to me about that a little bit. I just thought it was so interesting. And that's a prerequisite with you Amos though, right? Yeah. 'cause that's something that you have to tell other people to think about or you know, some people perhaps, but that's so important.

[00:06:01] Amos: You're right. a hundred percent right man. A hundred percent right man. I mean, for me, I mean, there's just so many people out there. There's just so many people that have success in different fields and you know, success leaves clues and I'll, that's something you'll hear me say multiple times.

[00:06:15] Amos: You don't have to like reinvent the wheel, man. You don't have to, you know, go out there and try to, to fail and then learn all the lessons. There are people that have already done that for you. They've already failed in multiple areas. You just have to pick up the, from the successes, learn from the failures, and keep going.

[00:06:34] Amos: And sometimes as simple as asking a question. And you know what's crazy? People are comfortable about talking about their failures. Probably more than they are comfortable talking about their successes. Especially when you're dealing with someone that's at a high level. You know, they're constantly talking about the different things that they tried, blah, blah, blah, and how it led to where they are, rather than just saying, you know, Presto, I'm who I am now.

[00:06:58] Amos: You know, there's no excitement in there without talking about the struggles and the challenges you faced. So.

[00:07:04] Amos: I think the adversity and the challenges that people, experience is what really magnifies the level of their success, right? Because you could have two people that attain the same level of, and, and we're talking financial success right now, right?

[00:07:17] Amos: 'cause everyone has their own definition. But let's just say financial success. You could have two people that attained the same level, but their path could be completely different. And based on your their path, you view them in a certain light, even though they're the same. Level, you know what I mean?

[00:07:33] Amos: So it's like sports. You know, people can go into the NBA, you could have gone to college for a year and went to the NBA, but I'm going look at you differently based on your college career, based on your high school career, based on some of the adversity you have to deal with. Jordan, Michael, Jordan story, so is so big.

[00:07:51] Amos: Not just because of who ended up being, but the fact that he was. Not the number one guy in high school. And then he felt like he had to prove things. People can relate to those types of stories and really elevates your position in someone mentally. I,

[00:08:07] Nick: yeah. And perhaps it creates, much more potential for the future as well, right?

[00:08:11] Nick: Like you've got you something to go back to. Right. But ultimately it comes back to if you think about like the, I guess the early days of Amos to where you are right now, like you are super interesting to be around probably 'cause it started off with. In order to be interesting, you have to be interested.

[00:08:25] Nick: That's another, a great quote. Right. And so you're out there like being interested and as you said, you are genuinely interested about other things are going on. So tell just for everyone, just to give a bit of context, share a little bit about where your business is right now. What does it look like, and then is it just planning is other things as well?

[00:08:41] Nick: What, what does your business look like?

[00:08:43] Amos: Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm a financial planner. I'm senior financial planner for my firm, uh, as a consultant group. I've been practicing almost two decades now as a financial planner. I guess where my firm is now, 'cause I we're fully independent in, in, in that sense there.

[00:08:58] Amos: So we're not beheld to certain rules that are put on you by traditional broker dealers. Right. that's a big thing, right? Mm-hmm. We're not, you know, help setting sales goals and all those things. It's, it's a different world when you are an independent financial advisor because. You're moving at your own pace, you're moving at your own speed and your own, I guess, cadence, lack of better words.

[00:09:22] Amos: what's also cool though is a lot of the things you may be doing on your outside business activity is okay, essentially, like you're not restricted to what you're doing. So now people know I'm heavy in real estate, so I'm able to incorporate what I am doing in real estate and, not included in the business part, but just my outside business activities.

[00:09:44] Amos: And it's fine know, I I'm staying within compliance is great. So I'm able to give people advice on basically anything to do with money that's within the, within the rules. So that's me saying as much as I can say, you know, too much, I get me in trouble here, but most people do reach out to me because, not just because it's the typical financial planning, but there's something they're trying to solve.

[00:10:07] Amos: Right? Mm-hmm. If it's a big real estate acquisition, if it's a, a transition in their business, if it's, estate planning, if it's a massive tax situation, if it's funding or leveraging, policies or investment deals for themselves, a lot of people reach out to me because over the years, I've built this reputation of being the guy that can think outside of the box and bring it back in, package it for you, ready to be delivered.

[00:10:35] Amos: I pride myself in that. I enjoy it. It's nonstop for me, and I love it, man. It's just, it's fun for me, bro. Did I tell you I enjoy it? Did I say that already?

[00:10:49] Nick: Well, this is the thing I now I'm getting fired up. Right, because of your, like, energy in it and that, you know, my next question is actually was gonna be what is it that you love about it?

[00:10:56] Nick: Right? so how would you extend that? It's clear that like the puzzle of being in this situation together and being given a, Hey, can you fix this for me anymore? So like, what do you think about this? Like, you fix it, please. Like, what else would you say about that?

[00:11:08] Nick: What else juices you up?

[00:11:09] Amos: I mean, aside from just fixing problems, man, it's, I mean, over the years this has really been formed, right? But I think one big thing about me, a key for me is, if I can think it, if I can imagine it, and if I can just play out the scenario, I personally believe it's possible.

[00:11:29] Amos: And if I, if the numbers make sense. And I'm willing to stomach the worst case scenario on the risk I implement. And I think that's a big difference maker. And I've met a lot of people of my time and you know, where I've seen a lot of excitement in them as well as the difference maker is the implementation phase.

[00:11:52] Amos: And I get excited about implementing things I get excited about, you know, you know, I do a lot of real estate, a lot of commercial properties, residential, different things. But buying a new building and then not just getting tenants into it, but creating my own space into it. Creating a, creating a space, or, you know, I've had the rooftop lounges, the restaurants, the, all these different things.

[00:12:15] Amos: Once I could find out how to accomplish it, the excitement level is just, and then I implement. And I think when you or someone is used to implementing. I wanna say, I think I would say, I believe if you're someone that's used to implementing you get excited by ideas, excited by new plans, and just, I want to go and do it and see some of the challenges along the way and tackle each challenge.

[00:12:43] Amos: Like it's Christmas. Every single challenge is a Christmas day for me. It's like, Ooh, can we beat this challenge? So would say that's part of my excitement as well, man, I can go on and on about this. It's just. The art of deal oil making for me is just so exciting.

[00:12:59] Nick: Oh yeah. That's awesome. you touched on like your mindset around that, like your beliefs inside that.

[00:13:05] Nick: We've talked about this before. I think that's a huge strength for you. Yours. I think when I first heard it, you said something like that. I know if I set myself a goal, I'm gonna get it. It's like, yeah, that's, that's some level of certainty, like that is some level of certainty and so. Tie that back, if you would, to other advisors.

[00:13:24] Nick: Now, obviously you've had a ton of experience in your own business. Being independence. I love to hear what your take is on independence or being with a broker dealer. Is it for everyone to be independent? So maybe we'll come back to that, but, but going through that management and bringing a lot of junior advisors up through and getting 'em going, get 'em over the hump as well.

[00:13:45] Nick: And overlaid with this mindset, you've got a belief of of, if I say the goal, I know I'm gonna get it. What would you say? For an advisor and place where like they're in, like they're doing it, they're doing the thing. They know it's theirs. They like, they believe in what they're doing.

[00:13:59] Nick: They know that they can do it. They've got some evidence around that, but they're trying to push that at next level. What would you say is one of the mindsets that people get stuck in?

[00:14:09] Amos: Ah, that's good question. Man, that's a lot, bro. That's a lot of different mindsets I think. I think, one you have to get, especially in this world, in financial planning,

[00:14:18] Amos: You have to get away from, this is crazy when people think you come in and it's going to instantly hit. And for some, you might come in and instantly hit, and there are circumstances that could allow for that. You might come in under a big group, under a successful group, successful advisor, but will allow to make it a shorter learning curve, right?

[00:14:37] Amos: They may have things in place for you to, you know, start eating from and go from there. But I think most advisors don't go, don't come into this industry through that situation. or else like a big issue in this industry is the succession plan, right? We focus a lot on succession planning, but a lot of advisors don't even have a succession plan.

[00:14:55] Amos: Most advisors don't have a junior, they don't have a right hand person. A lot of, I think most financial advisors are single person practices, so. Yeah, that's a lot of challenges. But one, it's not a get rich quick scheme. This is your career. This is a practice. You heard me say the word practice, right? Like a doctor, practice, like a, whatever it is.

[00:15:15] Amos: This is your career. So it's something that's built up over time. another thing to say is, there's multiple ways of doing it. There's not multiple ways to building your practice. I know the industry tends to follow trends, right? Right now advisory is the big thing. It's been the big thing for the last.

[00:15:32] Amos: Maybe a decade or so, but there are so many ways to have a successful career as a financial advisor without having to just, subscribe to one. Some people just focus on the insurance planning as well. So that's also another big way. So, point I'm making is you may be told there's really one way of doing it, and maybe that broker dealer has one way of doing it, and that's fine, but let's believe there are multiple ways of.

[00:15:59] Amos: Building a practice, a very financially successful practice, one that you are proud of, your clients are proud of. And you know, I would say you would wanna explore that. I, I learned a lot just going independent, you know, and you can imagine a decade and a half plus, on one under one system. And I watched that system go for its changes, but you're still within one ecosystem.

[00:16:27] Amos: When you get out of it and you see, whoa, the world is much bigger. Like it really is much bigger. And I would assume the same for someone going from independent to a hybrid or captive situation. You know, you'll realize some things that you knew about, some things you didn't know about. So I, there's so many fallacies, so many myths, man.

[00:16:54] Amos: The first one is if you're going into this business as a brand new advisor, I always say, you've gotta commit three years. Whatever you gotta do to commit three years, obviously legal and all that, you've gotta commit three years because your first year or two, it's a lot of learning, man, a lot. By year three, you start to really see things are picking up.

[00:17:19] Amos: Your phone starts to ring. You don't even have to pick up the phone. It. People calling you, and then things keep going. It's like the itch cycle. Every three years you need a new car, every, you know, stuff like that. gotta commit three years, man. You've gotta commit three years.

[00:17:33] Amos: That's what I would say, man.

[00:17:36] Nick: Oh, I love that. You know, I, I know it was a. That transition. Just talk about for, to independence. It kind of reminds me of the transition I'm going about right now. Like for everyone watching this, am I just moving the office? Yeah, I know. You, you just put like a whole new, like an office block in your, backyard.

[00:17:51] Nick: So that's cool. You have That's awesome. But yeah, like the, kids playroom is now downstairs and like. My office is the old kids playroom, more space, but it's still in a transition period. Right. So it's like you get, it's not just, my point I'm making is that when you move, make a big, make a big change.

[00:18:06] Nick: It is of course a transition. It's not a flick of a switch. One day I am, one day I'm not. Right. Everything takes longer than, you know, we're expected to take as well. And so no doubt that like when you see a whole other world, like, it's like, oh my goodness, there's some more things to learn, but let me ask, just like it's the same, you gotta give three years.

[00:18:23] Nick: Is going independent, right? For every advisor planner? Like, how would you navigate that?

[00:18:29] Amos: Man? You know, I had time to think about it. 'cause, you know, going independent, you have to understand a lot falls on your shoulders, and I've kind of operated like that for a while. So for me, the, operation side wasn't the hardest part.

[00:18:42] Amos: It was just everything else. Um, It is for everyone and it's also not for everyone at the same time. I think that's the best way to answer it. 'cause uh, you know, you can go in as an independent advisor and everything circulates around you, right?

[00:18:58] Amos: You are the epicenter of everything, right? So the lights don't turn on unless it's you. Staff only gets paid because of you. Office, blah, blah, blah. You operate everything and you could be in charge of everything. And for some people that's very daunted because you're not just running a business anymore.

[00:19:16] Amos: And this is the difference that I make. You go from running a business within a company, right, to running a company and you'll just supervise, you know what I mean? There's a difference there. for some people, bring it on. I can take it all. For some people, they just really wanna focus on the business aspect.

[00:19:37] Amos: And you could do that as an independent. Maybe you join up with other independent advisors. maybe you hire a great person to end up being your director of operations, wherever it may be. But their challenges, you know, your own retirement plan, you are responsible for your own health insurance, stuff like that.

[00:19:54] Amos: So you have to be ready to take that. On the flip side, on the captive or the hybrid side. A lot of the things outside of your actual meeting with the client, your actual face-to-face engagement is taken care of for you and for some people. That's enough. Keep in mind, I was on the other side for bulk of my career and I saw a lot of independent.

[00:20:18] Amos: In fact, I hired a bunch of fi independent financial advisors into that space. Because they no longer wanted to deal with some of the other stuff out there. So yeah, it depends for each person. The best advice I would give to someone going into the industry as a financial planner, wealth manager, whatever the term is in this day and age now, you know, is, you know, in my years I've seen the advisors that I've had the most amount of success quickly were attached.

[00:20:46] Amos: To other successful advisors or to a, successful advisor. That for me, is probably the biggest key. If you do it independent or whatever, you know, eventually you figure out what's best for you. But when it comes to actually building and learning, and actually building a business and a practice. If you can work on the other successful advisors, even if it's just them letting you run meetings, or I mean them allowing you to shadow meetings or whatever it is, I, I strongly recommend that above all options, you know, so if that person's independent or not, that's gonna really dictate what happens with you, right?

[00:21:29] Amos: If you're stuck.

[00:21:30] Nick: Man, I, I, I love it. I love it so much because it's answer to two questions. Right? So independent or not, the answer, like most times is, well, it depends. Yeah. Right? Because all, all roads lead back to, well, what do you want? Right? And so then then, then the question is better.

[00:21:45] Nick: Like, okay, do you have an intention? Are you looking at going, okay, what am I trying to create here? Like, what do I really wanna be as a planner? Like, what type of life do I wanna create? You know, being a seven figure advisor for me, of course, is about being. Having a high level, high level business.

[00:21:59] Nick: but it's also make sure you're not, you are thinking about other parts of your life as well, right? You're not sacrificing your family or your health. And that's the concept of role. It's not necessarily about the money, but certainly part of it. But it's then going, okay, look, I'm all in. I've gotta be in for three years.

[00:22:12] Nick: And to start, right? Just to free figure out. But then whether I wanna go independent or not, it's like, what, what am I trying to build here? Like, what am I good at? Because you gotta be the talent, you gotta be the manager you you gotta make sure that you are, doing all the things at once, right?

[00:22:24] Nick: Like, and so. the answer you talked about, okay. A lot of. a lot of advisors don't even have succession plans and you've gotta have that and junior advisor, you've got a team around you. So it's almost like the answer for sustainability and legacy as a planner is also the same answer for someone coming into the business wants to be successful.

[00:22:41] Nick: Right. It's like. Touch yourself to someone who's already successful around you. Right. So these should be like Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like puzzle pieces of like awesomeness. Like, because I, that's what's the best. Right? If you can, you know, Tony Robbins quote, I love, proximity is power, right? You are.

[00:22:58] Nick: Put yourself in those and it starts all leads back to the, that when you're first starting that right. Knocking on people's doors and being genuinely interested in what's going on, you know, and then, then start to build through that. So I that, I love the way you pulled that all together. That was really cool.

[00:23:10] Nick: So talk, talk to me a little bit about team, 'cause you did, had junior advisor talked about, but team around you. what do most planners advisors get wrong when building a team?

[00:23:21] Amos: Man, if somebody would say it. So I'll say it the nice way and I'll saying it. Um, you can't do it all yourself, right?

[00:23:31] Amos: Like any other profession, you studied or you mastered, if you mastered it, that profession, right? But when you, when you become a financial advisor, you're not learning how to pay your rent. That's not something that they teach you. You know, they're not teaching you how to put paper into the printer and they're not, there are so many things that comes with having your own practice or being a finance planner, what the case may be.

[00:24:00] Amos: That has nothing to do with what brings in the revenue, but they must be done at the same token, if that makes any type of sense, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because if they're not done, they'll, the whole house can crumble. So, an issue I guess of something. A lot of financial advisors, I won't say don't do, they are reluctant to do.

[00:24:20] Amos: 'cause inevitably you are gonna be forced to do it anyway. If you want to keep growing or progressing, or even staying still is hiring out your help, man. You know, the best, one of the best things I did, one of the best things that I did was to hire an assistant early on in my career. And now I split the cost with the guy that I was working with, the guy with my partner at the time.

[00:24:41] Amos: So we helped to bring down the cost. But look, other people can do it. People do all the time share assistance and different things, and each broker dealer has their own role in that. But hiring out the staff, man, you know, things that take you away from your, what do you call the green time, your revenue producing activities.

[00:25:01] Amos: Like I know I generate revenue. By analyzing my book, speaking with my clients, closing bills, that's it. Everything else before in between, after doesn't really generate or bring in towards that. So I have staff that handles the intake part. Like I don't schedule my meetings. I have staff that schedule reviews for my clients.

[00:25:27] Amos: Most of my meetings are reviews or referrals. That's most of my meetings. Right. so. I have people that take care of that. I have people that handle the paperwork workflow. I have people that deal with the service centers and so forth. You know, I, you know, even like we're coming out with a lot of the videos, you know, even with the podcast, I said it to you, I'm not going to do a podcast, you know, is my own one if I have to turn on the camera and all the other stuff.

[00:25:58] Amos: No. So what do we do to commit ourselves to, we hired out a podcast company and now they handle our podcast. Same thing about social media. So point I'm making is I know what I'm good at. I know what I'm trained at doing. I know what I can crush. I know where my skills are best utilized. I focus on that. So rather than saving the money, right, you can save the time, which will then in turn allow you to generate more.

[00:26:27] Amos: Because our income is unlimited, right? Per hour, bro. Per hour. And that's calculated how much I make per hour. And I like to just focus on that and hire out people to do everything else. You may have to give them direction, but that's it. So that's the biggest thing for me with financial advisors, man, the reluctancy to hire out staff is wild.

[00:26:50] Amos: I still have advisors that I'm cool with now. from my old broker dealer and other places that, you know, they're doing well, but on a Friday night, they're still doing application, which is wild to me. Like, why? You know, like, let, if someone enjoys to do paperwork, let 'em do that. You focus on revenue producing activity, go out here, meet more clients, more prospects, or network with your clients.

[00:27:19] Amos: Hang out with 'em, do other things. You stuff that doesn't generate revenue, man, you gotta find it out, man. So that's probably the biggest thing with Rev advisors, man.

[00:27:29] Nick: Huge, huge. And it bringing that team around you, right? It's a different set of people sometimes also, because it can also be thinking, it I've got one, one staff, or maybe two staff, or I share one of them, like you said.

[00:27:41] Nick: And it can be like, oh man, I'm not sure if I need a whole new one yet. Right? Or I need that extra thing yet. So it's like. That may be true, but this just takes steps forward, right? can I invest in something that's a partial, another share? Can I gain a few more hours? Can I have some sort of vendor come in as well?

[00:27:58] Nick: Like something like that.

[00:27:59] Amos: If I could jump in there, man, even if you can't, like, let's say you can't find anyone to partner with you on staff, right? Or let's say you just don't work well with others, you don't play nice in the, in the sandbox, right? And you need to have your own dedicated staff, but you're worried you don't have enough activity for them.

[00:28:15] Amos: Trust me. Trust me, you'll have enough activity for them because you'll be paying them regardless. So now you've got your time back because essentially for any successful person, entrepreneur, doctor, whatever you may be, financial, whatever it is, your time is the most valuable commodity in my opinion. So if you can buy back your time, you know, to reference the book.

[00:28:46] Amos: That is key. And trust me, it costs less money to buy back the time compared to how much you are really making. Even as a someone, you're just starting off first couple of years. You see how much time it takes you to do work from client engagement time to workflow time. And if, if you really just analyze it and I'm big on that, you'll see how much time you're spending and it goes from I'm spending to, I'm wasting.

[00:29:14] Amos: Because I could have just hired someone and not spent that time, you know what I mean? You're not just gonna throw your money away. So, I don't know, man. It just puts you in a different place mentally. Yeah.

[00:29:26] Nick: Shout out to Dan Martel. Buy back your time. Yeah. That, the thing I really want people to listen to and get what you said, right, is that once you hire that person, you then get your time back.

[00:29:37] Nick: You do, let's say it's five, 10 hours a week. Imagine as a business owner having 10 extra hours a week to think about how to make more money, and that is no one's coming back to backfill you as the owner. You've gotta be in there doing that. Think about how you're creating the future. That is something that you, that's, so here's the way I think about it, is that the two things you can't.

[00:30:02] Nick: Have someone else do for you, of spending time with your most important clients. You said also look at your book as well, but I could, I could argue someone could look at your book, but being there with your most important clients, like that's fundamentally what you do. And the other thing is doing the plan and the strategy and a vision.

[00:30:17] Nick: if you are doing applications on a Friday night to your example, who, there's no one coming in there doing that for you.

[00:30:22] Amos: That's wild to me that I think that's wild. I agree with you completely, man. I think that's wild, man. And look, look, at the end of the day, right? You wanna buy back your time to do what you enjoy, right?

[00:30:30] Amos: Mm-hmm. And, and the hope is, and the assumption is anyone that's, you know, listening to this hopefully enjoys what they're doing as an advisor or as another situation, right?

[00:30:45] Amos: Those hops are high and those lows are low, man. So you, you need to mentally be in a certain space. yeah, man, buying back your time is key, but it doesn't just apply to your practice ing in life. You know, I found the top financial advisors and I've met a lot of them. I spoke to a lot of them.

[00:31:03] Amos: We go to conferences together. Some, some behind, you know, some exclusive events. It's great in this industry, right? But when you speak to top producers, right, not just in a broker dealer, but in the industry, what you'll find is their time is so key to them,

[00:31:23] Nick: and

[00:31:23] Amos: everything around them kind of operates in that same mentality where.

[00:31:29] Amos: You know, how much time would it cost me? Not how much money, how much time will it cost me? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Versus what the reward is going to be and you find most people, once you get into that mindset. The things that you spend your time on are also the things that you really do enjoy the most and the things you enjoy the most tend to be the things that generate the most revenue.

[00:31:51] Amos: And those things that rev generate the most revenue allow you to buy back more of your time, which allows you to do more of what you enjoy, which is like, it's like a side quote. So it's beautiful when you could do all those, I'll give you something simple, a silly example, but it's, you know, like I have my kids doing martial arts now.

[00:32:11] Amos: You know, taking your book. Today's the first day, actually. Okay. And, you know, look, I could take them to, a studio and let them learn and that would be great. I couldn't find anything in my, within like five, 10 minutes of where we live. But I do know trainer, I do know teachers. I know people that actually teach.

[00:32:30] Amos: I have their own studio, blah, blah, blah. I know their schedule. I just reached out to them. Hey, listen man, look, I'm not able to get out to you. But would you be able to get out to me? I pay them a bit more and they come out. So now my kids are learning mixed martial arts at home. Now it's great for them to meet other kids and socialize, blah, blah, blah.

[00:32:49] Amos: All the other good stuff. That's great. But the 30 minutes it would take us to go all the way there. And then come back and you won't wanna go back and forth because you doesn't, there's no point going back and forth for an hour. Yeah, an hour stay. So for me, we just saved an hour and a half to two hours of prep and driving time for my kid to have that same hour of set of sessions.

[00:33:16] Amos: What can we do in that hour of time? We just got back.

[00:33:19] Nick: And you're gonna be at home. So you're right there and you can watch him. Like you enjoy being there, being, being present as a father as well, like the whole thing.

[00:33:27] Amos: It's, it's, it's phenomenal, bro. So, and we have the space in the house to do it in the backyard, all that stuff.

[00:33:33] Amos: So we'll be fine there. But the point I'm making is, you know, you know where your time is best spent, use it wisely rather than doing the other stuff, man.

[00:33:43] Nick: Yeah. And it stacks, right? I mean, maybe that's not, I mean, that's a great example, but maybe that's not applicable for everyone. But just if you buy that 10%, then you can reinvest another 10%, maybe buy back 20, right?

[00:33:53] Nick: And so it keeps going on and on. So, cool, man, we should absolutely do a second round of this down the line somewhere because we've got so much we can cover in so much depth that you so much gold of stuff you can, Throw out there for other planners to take in. But what would you say overall, out of all the things we covered today, if there's one thing you could point to people that are listening and watching to, what would you say they should take away from from today?

[00:34:18] Amos: I think a lot of what we've spoken about are, or the people that this may like resonate most to, are people that are already in a great space in their practice. So they, this allows them to, reminisce right on some of the challenging times, right. And, and I think for a lot of us there's ptsd, TSD, so we do block out some of the real dark times when we started.

[00:34:39] Amos: Right. I know I'm mentally blocked out some dark times, but I've let enough squeak in to remind me. but I think the people that would really say, oh my gosh, like take the notes down, are those maybe, thinking about going into it, those that are in their first couple of years, maybe those that have been here for a while and not having the level of success they anticipated.

[00:34:59] Amos: One, seek the knowledge. The knowledge is there. You know, you hear me say, success leaves clues. If you are in a captive situation, hybrid situation, basically a company that produces the products and has financial advisors, there are other advisors in your space that you can seek the knowledge to. I am an anomaly in this industry.

[00:35:21] Amos: Let's call it what it is, right? There aren't many black advisors. There aren't many black advisors with beers. There aren't many black advisors with airing, that's for sure. That in the industry, let, talk less of achieved. What I've actually achieved, if you look at my resume, allow that to go in the back and say I'm a human first, and then reach out to people.

[00:35:44] Amos: Let people say, I don't want to help you, but there are so many people, and if you can't find it within your space. There are industry organizations and so forth above all. so that's one thing. Seek out others. Commit the three years, right? Minimum. It's gotta be a minimum. And it's not, I'm just gonna do it.

[00:36:03] Amos: No, you've got to make sure you are doing it. You are constantly working at your craft, your practice, and so forth. and I, I would say just have a puff, you know, have an idea of where you're going. You know, it's sometimes. It does get dark and, you feel like you are sinking, but if you could grab onto something, even if it's just the idea of where you are headed to in your career, that might be enough to pull you up just for one more time and.

[00:36:34] Amos: Get you back on the race. So, those would be the, best things. There's so many jams, so many things to say, man, it's just you want to explode but can't man.

[00:36:45] Nick: Absolutely man.

[00:36:46] Amos: Well, the emotions flow, so that's what it's, but go ahead man. No,

[00:36:49] Nick: it's so, so, so good. so good. I know we could go for a long, long time here.

[00:36:53] Nick: appreciate Amy. So thanks for dropping all the stuff you dropped. It's really powerful. I know lots of people enjoyed this, so I appreciate you. Thanks for coming on. Take care.

[00:37:01] Amos: Appreciate you for having me, mayor. Be

[00:37:03] great big man.