The Advisor Delta™

Narrator: Welcome to The Advisor Delta™, the Practice Management podcast dedicated to helping investment advisors grow their business and reach their goals. Whether you’re looking to scale your practice, streamline operations, adapt to emerging technology, or deliver value to clients - this is the place for actionable insights, thoughtful leadership and innovative strategies. Brought to you by Worldsource Wealth Management. Let’s dive in!
Wai-Ke: Welcome to The Advisor Delta. I'm your host, Wai-Ke Kim, VP of Practice Management at Worldsource Wealth Management. Today we are exploring how the right tools and practice structure can help you create capacity and grow your business. Joining us today is Aaron Fransen, Certified Financial Planner and founder of Fransen Financial. Aaron has developed one of the most unique practice structures I've ever encountered, and I'm very excited to pick your brain today. So welcome to the show, Aaron.
Aaron: Thank you, Wai-Ke. Happy to be here.
Wai-Ke: So Aaron, I was at a conference earlier this month and I was actually really surprised to hear your name drop while somebody was on stage. I'm not sure if you knew this, but there was, somebody that was talking about this technology they had launched, and the funny thing was to me was this wasn't the first time that your name has come across. You know, when I was having a random conversation with somebody about technology and you've obviously built a very successful practice with a deep commitment to innovation and intentionality, but let's start at the very beginning. What led you to start Fransen financial, and what was your original vision?
Aaron: Well, that's a good question. Um, if I go back to 1993, which is when, when I started in this industry, it was actually my, my best friend's dad who gave me an opportunity. Um, I was not one of those kids in, in high school who was into finance and math and all that stuff. Um, but he gave me an opportunity. And I kind of fell into it with an insurance company. It just kind of went from there and I was with that insurance company until August of 1999, and in the same week I became a dad for the first time and I became unemployed by choice. And, um, so I decided at that point in time, you know, it was time for me to, to branch off on my own. And, um, I registered my mutual funds license. I floundered a little bit, uh, like most new advisors do, to find myself. And, um, over time I, I evolved into a financial planner and, um, which brings us to where we are today.
Wai-Ke: You talked a little bit about how you had to a adapt and change, and you became a father and started a new job. I'm curious, what was your spouse feeling at this time when you had, you know, become unemployed and now you're a new dad, you know, what was happening in the family at this time?
Aaron: Well, I'm very fortunate that I, I have a spouse who, who is very supportive of what I do. Um. And in fact if I, if I go just back a little bit, when I, when I told my dad that I was going to enter the insurance industry, he looked at me and he knew my friend's dad, and he said, isn't he in life insurance now? My dad's a physician, so life insurance is, you know, the taboo of, of the physician. So I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's an insurance, but you know, it, it's good. I'll have an office downtown and a cell phone and you know, it'll be great. I get to wear a suit. And I had no idea what I was doing. Um, when I jumped forward to August of ‘99, when I became unemployed and the dad for the first time, my wife was very supportive, but once again, it was my dad. I took him out for dinner the night before. He said, are you crazy? And I said, no, no, no. I got this. I, I have a plan. Um, but it's, it's, and, and he's one of my biggest fans now. So, um, I have a lot of supportive people in my life. And, um, I also have this belief that. Everything will work out and, and my wife thinks the same way, which is, which is great.
Wai-Ke: Yeah. That's awesome. Obviously you became more experienced and your practice grew. Did you find that your vision evolved with you as well, and, and was that evolution organic or did you make some strategic moves to enhance your practice somehow?
Aaron: "Oh, I've made lots of, lots of them are strategic and lots of them just happened. Mm. Um. You know, when I made the change from, from being an insurance only advisor to registering my mutual fund's license, uh, I registered at January 1st, 2000. And, um, that evolved into. Registering my securities license in 2004 and then in and opening my own office in 2005 and hiring an assistant in 2008. And the snowball just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And in 2018, I, I made the only, the second move in my career. Um, I decided to change firms at that point in time, and that change was going from. A large Canadian, uh, investment firm to Worldsource. Um, and with that change, I also, uh, gave up my securities license and maintained my mutual funds and insurance license. And, uh, that's one of those pivotal moments that I. You know, it's been a game changer for me."
Wai-Ke: "Let's switch gears a little bit and talk a bit about your practice structure and time management. You've obviously got a very focused way of doing your business. Can you walk us through your firm's structure, maybe your, your team and, um, what's your service model like? We talked a little bit, you know, before this interview about how you service your clients and make things special for them. Um, you know, what is your value proposition and why do clients support you and work with you?"
Aaron: "Um, I, I think it's because we have fun. Um, I, I, I, I like to keep things simple and a lot of people confuse simple with easy. Um, this is not an easy industry. And, and, but I'd like to, to, I like to say dumb it down for people, myself included. Um, and I think, I think the way that we relate, and I, when I say we, I need to clarify that when I say we, it's myself and my assistant, right? And I look at us as a team, and my assistant Kelly is, she's instrumental, um, in the practice. And she's the backstage. She makes everything happen. I'm front stage. What we've created is a lifestyle practice. I think our clients like the way that we work in that it's all about them, which most advisors I. Do the same thing. Um, but I like to do, you know, I like to do a little extra special things. And I don't do this, the, the special events for everyone, just, you know, there's only so much time in the day and there's only so many seats on our bus. But we've taken the time to segment our practice, which most advisors have probably done. Um, but you know, with our segmentation, we've also implemented additional treats, I guess you could call 'em or whatever you want to call that. Mm-hmm. Um, so we have our C clients, we have our B clients, and we have our A clients. And when I used to have face-to-face meetings in my office, and I'll talk about my, my new format in a minute, but when I would have face-to-face meetings, I would have my meeting notepad on the desk and my client sitting across from me and in the top right corner would say what category of client they were. So if you were a C client for example, and you saw C you might be like, eh, and not feeling very good about yourself. So what I did is I made my C clients A clients, and I made my B clients double A clients. So now a B client comes in like, oh, I'm, I'm kind of a big deal. And my A clients are triple A clients. So, and I didn't make up the double a triple A. Stuff that was, that's somebody else. But I just ran with it. Like, most, most things we do in this industry. Mm-hmm. And, um, so my, my c clients are those clients that, that were with me in the beginning that probably shouldn't be with me today, but I also don't, I don't fire clients. Mm-hmm. It, it doesn't sit well with me. Um, and I need, I, I needed these people when I first started. And, um, I made a commitment to them to say, I'm your person. I'm gonna work with you, uh, moving forward. And some of those relationships go back now 32 years. Wow. So, but I've had the conversation with those, those clients to say, listen, the practice have has evolved. There's only so much time in a day and a week in a year. And, um. You know, we're, we're gonna have to meet less regularly, so we're gonna schedule our meetings, which all of our meetings are pre-booked, by the way, which I'll talk about that too. Um, we're gonna meet in March, that's when we're gonna meet. And every single client that I've had that conversation with has been great. Mm-hmm. That's great. And I always end it with and as needed. So if you ever need anything, you reach out and either myself or Kelly will get right back to you. Um. Our AA clients, uh, they meet with us twice a year, as do our AA clients, but the difference between the, the AA and the Triple A, the extra special side of it is we do things like milestone birthdays. So our AAA clients, if you have a milestone birthday, you turn 65, you turn 71. And 71, because that's when you riff your, or you have to riff your money. Right? We're gonna celebrate that, um, 80, 85 and every year thereafter, and we go out and we celebrate you. And it's, sometimes it's a birthday, sometimes it's, you know, a, a, an anniversary, whatever the event is that's important to the client. We, if we know about it, we celebrate it. And when I say we, again, my assistant Kelly comes on those me, those lunch dates with me. Nice. And the reason we do that is Kelly was the first line of defense in the office when I had an office, and that's what's missing in our practice today. Kelly talks to people on the phone, she emails with them, but she doesn't see them face to face anymore. Right. And I actually think the clients miss her, seeing her more than me. So, um, you know, we show up for lunch there. It's, it, we do not bring any work related stuff. We don't talk shop. We talk about the client and we get to know them better."

Wai-Ke: "And it's fantastic. That's awesome. I have a follow up question for you. Sure. Because you mentioned that you never fire your clients. Yes. Is that a hard and fast rule, or have there ever been situations where you've kind of said, you know what, you're not quite right for my practice."
Aaron: "Okay. Yeah, I should clarify that. So if a client is rude. Hmm. To Kelly? Oh, yes. Uh, it doesn't matter what it is. They're gone. Over the years, uh, over the years, I've done a really good job of sort of weeding out the, the, the non-right fit client. Mm-hmm. Because this is a, this is a, this is not quick fix. This is long-term. And, um. I need to enjoy working with the people I work with, and they need to enjoy working with me. So yes, I guess we've gotten rid of clients that weren't the right fit from a personality standpoint. Sure. Um, and I should also clarify, it's our, it's our planning clients that we do not fire when I use that term. And I don't even like that term. Right. Um, it's not a good term, but. You know, our insurance only clients that we started with many, many years ago, uh, and there's not a lot to do. I actually have developed a relationship with an insurance only advisor. Mm-hmm. And I introduced them to her, and she just does a better job at it. And the client then gets the attention that they need, but they're, they're more of a customer, right? They're a one product, uh, person, whereas. My planning clients. Yeah, we, yeah, we keep them."
Wai-Ke: "So it sounds like you're really balancing personalization for your clients as well as scalability when you're incorporating additional experts into your practice and calling them your partners, essentially. Correct. Um, and I know you're really intentional about your time, so what does a typical week look like for you?"

Aaron: I'm very intentional about a lot of things. Um, my time is, time is my most valuable asset. Sure. I. I, I believe that, and I have broken our, not only my days, but my weeks and my year, um, down. In fact, I, I mark off my, my, what I call free days, my focus days and my buffer days. Um, I mark those days off a year in advance, a full year in advance. Full year in advance. Wow. And a typical week for me is I'm in the office. Monday to Thursday. So it's a four day work week. I take Fridays off and the weekend off. So Monday is what I refer to as a buffer day. It's a day to clean up messes. It's the day to prepare for, for meetings, uh, follow up on things I said I was going to do, do this kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. Um. So it's, it's, I'm not face to face with a client, so I'm not in a money making mode, I guess you could say. Um, so my buffer days are Mondays and Wednesdays. My focus days, focus days are days when I'm sitting, you know, solving clients' problems. I'm working with clients. Um, and those are Tuesdays and Thursdays and. We have a saying in the office, it's no bad, no bad news on a focus day. Hmm. Um, and those are the days when I'm, I am, you know, I'm on stage and sometimes I have three zoom meetings. Sometimes I've had as many as six. And I do not like it when I have six because at the end of the day I am done. Right. Um, but the intentionality behind organizing my days like that is. Like a musician or a professional athlete on I, I'm, I'm on stage. Like I look at it as you're paying me. To enter, I guess I'm not entertaining, but to do my, to do my craft, to perform, to perform and be at the top of my game. Right. And that's another reason why I work four days and not five days. Mm-hmm. Because I need that, that rejuvenation time over the weekend. Yeah. And you know, I, uh, Friday, Saturday, Sunday is my time and I love not having meetings on Mondays. I love getting up, knowing, okay, this is a buffer day and, uh. It's a, yeah, it just prepares me for the week. I love that.
Wai-Ke: Yeah, that's great. Um, I'd love to talk to you a bit more about how you structure repeatable processes, you know, and automation and things like that. I know that efficiency is clearly something that's dear to your heart. Um, when you're talking about your business today, you know, how have you incorporated some of these automation tools into your practice?
Aaron: I, I've always been an early adapter of things, adopter of things. Um, going back to say 2001, when I started scanning, I, I, I decided I was gonna have a paperless office when no one had a paperless office. Really? Yeah. And, um, but that, that simple, that simple change allowed, has allowed. Me at that time as a solo advisor to be able to do more with my time because I wasn't worrying about filing and all that kind of stuff, you know? So we relied very heavily on, on technology for. That side of the business, the backstage. But, you know, CRM software, um, is really important because we're pre-booking our meetings and some of those meetings are six months. Some of those meetings are a year out. Mm-hmm. And they're in the calendar. So I need to know that that's there and reminders are, are built into the software as well as Kelly sending reminders out to clients to make sure that, that everybody's on, on, you know, ready for the meetings. What I'm most excited about today is AI. Mm-hmm. Um, I've always used financial planning software. Actually, I shouldn't say that. I've used financial planning software since. 2013. I thought I used financial planning software up to that point, but I wasn't really using it.
Wai-Ke: Why do you say that?
Aaron: It was more of, you know, how much money are you going to have at such an age? So kinda like a calculator. Yeah. It was more of that along those lines. Whereas, you know, in 20, about 2013 i, it, it shifted and it's, it's, it's not about rate of return. Rate of return is really important, don't get me wrong. But it's about, you know. W when can I retire? How much, how much do I need? What rate of return do I need to achieve that? How much money do I need to, to set aside and working it backwards, right? To figure out those, those, those answers to those questions. And it's really about the person or the couple, um, you know, what do they need? Like what, what do they want? Sure. And with the right software. And I know there's lots of good stuff out there if you use it and you learn it, and I'm a visual and I think, I mean, I have analytical clients and they seem to like the visual side of it more when they're working with me.
Wai-Ke: I actually knew that you were an early adopter. I think that that's how I describe you, in fact. Um, I'm curious about your, your digital ecosystem. You know, are there certain platforms that you or you swear by, that you rely on the most at this point in time?
Aaron: Well, there's, there's one that's a little bit contentious, I guess, because when I came over to Worldsource in 2018, I was so excited to jump onto Dataphile, the current version, because I'd come off of it with my previous firm onto, they, they had changed to something else, which threw my world upside down. So when I, when I moved over to Worldsource Dataphile, oh, it, it, it really brought everything back together for me. Mm-hmm. Um. That is something that I use in every meeting, the, the portfolio valuation tool. Uh, and I run this live in front of a client, my financial planning software, the software, when I'm sitting in front of a client, if I'm not using the one of those two tools mm-hmm. The meeting doesn't feel right. Right. Like, you know, I, I kind of touched on AI like that is, to me, it's made me a better financial planner. Again, I started using AI last year. At this time I. I subscribe to different platforms. You mentioned it Wai-Ke about the person that was speaking at the conference. Funny enough, I went for dinner with him after that he asked me if he could use my name. Yes. Um, and uh, it's been a game changer for me. Uh, it's been an absolute game changer. And clients love it, right? 'cause they don't know a lot about this stuff. And, you know, we're I explained to them that this is new, this is, do I have your consent? We're gonna try this out. What do you think?

Wai-Ke
Right. So I find you a little bit of a rare person within the advisory realm because a lot of advisors, in fact, they push back against technology tools and they choose not to adopt these things because they're new and scary. I'm a little curious about Kelly, 'cause I've never met her before. I'm, I'm curious about. How does she feel about, you know, you and wanting to adopt yet another technology tool? Um, and I guess I'm asking, you know, how do you approach tech and why, why is it that, what makes you particularly want to try something new? Is there something about a particular piece of technology that you kind, kind of makes you go, oh, that's, that's great. I wanna try that. Um, because I'm, I think a lot of advisors could really learn a lot from that approach.
Aaron
To answer the question about Kelly, I think it drives her crazy. Um, when. I've done personality assessments of myself whenever I've hired someone in the past, including Kelly. Uh, I've done the same assessment. Mm-hmm. We are different. Sure. We, we have, we, we operate in a different mindset, which is great because I'm the ideas guy. It's easy for me to jump into something new. Whereas Kelly is like, eh, I need to know a little bit more. And I'm like, no, it'll be fine. I don't know why. It's, it's, I've always been that way. I. I always want to simplify. Time is my most valuable asset, so I want to see if we can be as efficient as possible. I respect other people's time. You know, I used to think, oh yeah, everybody loves coming into my office twice a year and fighting traffic and fighting a parking spot, and all of this kind of stuff. And then I realized when I went virtual. Nobody really liked coming in the office. Um, so that's another piece of technology. Zoom, right? I, I, I only started using Zoom in 2020, right? March of 2020. And by August of 2020, I had this idea that I was gonna give up my office and build a backyard office, which I now refer to as the shed, which is why we're actually sitting here. Because my 120 square feet of, you know, box, uh, just couldn't host us. Right? One client is set foot in my office and he was there to help me set up the zoom room. That's it. Like nobody goes there. It's, it's a zoom room. That's what it is. Right? Um, but I've always been interested in this stuff and it's a, it's about efficiency and it's about trying new things and I just have this belief it'll work out.

Wai-Ke
So efficiency and technology is great, but it takes you a little while to learn these things, right? I mean, there, there must be, I'm sure you come across so much technology and you don't take on every single thing, you know, do you have some kind of screening process?
Aaron
I don't, I it's, it's a lot of it, trial and error. And there I, I'm also a big believer that if it's not working. Um, don't dwell on it. Move on. Right. And believe me, I've tried a lot of things that that didn't work, but when I find something that, that feels right and I can and, and is intuitive, I roll with it and it seems to work.
Wai-Ke
I'm curious about on the flip side, if you've ever had a situation when you've been the early adopter of a particular technology and it's somehow backfired on you.
Aaron
Yeah, I've had, I can recall some CRM software that I used many years ago, and when I decided to make a change, uh, not firm wise, but. From that provider to another one. Mm-hmm. I lost all of my data. Oh yeah. That's huge. And that really set me back. Um, so I'm very, I'm, I'm, I'm very intentional about the software that I use, and one of the first things I do when I'm exploring new technologies is to make sure that if I ever decide to make a change, it's a smooth transition.
Wai-Ke
Right. So in your mind, what do you think makes something worth implementing?
Aaron: If it can simplify things. Mm-hmm. Like I said, I'm, uh, simplify to multiply is sort of the motto in our office. And if I can, if I can simplify a process, if I, if this tool will make us more efficient, if it's easy to implement, then you know that, that those boxes are checked off.
We'll, we'll try it, we'll try it, we'll try it and. I also believe that it's okay to change your mind. Mm-hmm. I think too many people are, are stuck with I've made a decision. Yes. Now I have to live with it. And I'm like, eh, I don't think so. Yeah. Um, and I, I also don't get hung up on little things. I could tell you a little story about that if you want.
Wai-Ke: Of course.
Aaron: Yeah. And it goes back to my early days when my best friend's dad hired me. Mm-hmm. I can remember walking into his office. Now you have to imagine his office is a corner office, it's looking out at the Vancouver YVR, the airport over the river, and he was a bigger man and disheveled, you know, tile all over the place, big desk.
And here I am 23 years old and I walked in his office and he had a psychiatrist couch. Oh, so I walked in his office and I was upset about some insurance thing, you know, so he said, have a seat, Aaron. So I sat down on his couch.
Wai-Ke: So you didn't lay down like, psychiatrist?
Aaron: Yeah, I wasn't that comfortable. Um, but I sat down on the couch and he said, what's up? Like, what's going on? So I sat, ah, it was this and that, and this person's gonna cancel the policy. I'm not gonna get paid. Something like that, something silly. And he had these two rocks that were sitting beside his desk on like a little table, and it was a big rock and a little rock.
And the little rock was sitting on top and he's just listening. I finished, he goes, are you done? I said, yeah. And he just pointed at the rocks and he said, big problem or little problem. And that's all he said. And I kind of sat back and I was like. Uh, you're right. And I was like, okay. 'cause it was a little problem.
It wasn't life or death, it was this. So anyway, that's always stuck with me. And, you know, I look at situations and, you know, you look right now what's going on in the world and it's easy to get caught up in all of this stuff that's going on, but there are things we can control and influence. And there are things that are important. And unless those two things intersect, I try not to focus on them. They're, they're, you know, otherwise, yes, they're big problems, but I can't do anything. Um, so yeah, it all ties back to those rocks though. And, and, and funny enough, um, my friend's parents are now both, they both passed away, but. My friend was cleaning out his parents' basement afterwards, and he showed up at my, at my shed one afternoon, knocked on the door. I'm like, what are you doing here? And uh, he had this bag and he was struggling to carry the bag. I'm like, what is that? And he opened the bag and he had the rocks. So I've got those rocks in my office. That's, in fact, on my website, I'm pointing at the rocks. Mm-hmm. So, yeah. Oh, okay. Those little rock story. Oh, nice. Nice. There's a story behind the rocks now. There's a story behind everything in my office.
Wai-Ke: As an early adopter and someone that adopts technology, left, right, and center, it seems, what advice would you give an advisor who wants to implement more solutions but feels overwhelmed to invest the time or unsure of where to start?
Aaron: I would go back to 2020 when the pandemic first hit. I was supposed to be in Mexico with my family for two weeks, and then obviously everything got shut down, so it was like. Now what am I gonna do? So I picked up the phone and I phoned every single client during that period of time and I received a, uh, an email from one of one of the fund company wholesalers, and they invited me to a Zoom session. And I'm like, what's that? And I learned very quickly what it was. 'cause I, I took the course, the person that was doing the, um, the session said, there's a couple, there's two things you need to do. Three things. One is look right at the dot, you know, on your, on your, on the camera. Your camera, right? Yeah. Yeah. Your green dot. Um, I just remember, look at the dot. So I look at the dot. Uh, number two is you don't have to have a clean office. You just have to have a clean space where the camera is right. Like the rest of it could be chaos. My office is not chaos, by the way. Um, and then number three is just try it. Like nobody, you're going to mess up. It doesn't matter. Mm-hmm. Clients will understand. So, you know, that's kind of the way I operate. Like, I try things, I run my financial planning software live and sometimes it screws up. And my advice to, you know, a, a new advisor would be just try these things, be curious, ask lots of questions. Um, and it's okay to change your mind, right? Yeah. It's okay to shift gears.
Wai-Ke: Right. And not to be worried about the sunk costs or whatever it is. If it, if it's not working, move on.
Aaron: If it's not working, move on. In fact, s sunken costs like it's an investment. Mm-hmm. It's not a cost, it's not an expense, it's an investment. Right. It, it, it's, it's like Kelly, Kelly is not an expense, an assistant is an investment. Right. It makes the practice better.
Wai-Ke: So looking ahead, what's next for you? Do you have any big picture goals that you're working towards or tools you're looking to bring on board?
Aaron: So, you know, I'm really excited about AI and I'm excited about how AI has already made me a better financial planner. But you know, will, will just propel me to the next level of financial planning. Um. But I'm 55 years old now, and if I was to look out, say five years, there's two things that that have to happen over that five year period. One is, um, I need to be having fun, and number two is I need to be taking more time off. Mm-hmm. Because I've always said to myself, if. You know, each 60 to me, I want to be in a position to choose to continue to work. And if I can, if I'm still having fun and I'm taking more time off and I'm developing new capabilities, then I keep going. And at this point in time, I'm on track for 60 and I can't see stopping at this point. So, you know, looking into the future, I'm, I'm really excited about, uh, where we're at and. The, the, the growth opportunities that are out there.
Wai-Ke: Are there any areas that you feel like you're intentionally not growing in right now or that you're intentionally avoiding altogether?
Aaron: Yep. Yes. Uh, I came from the insurance background. I, you know, I found that over the years, my, my focus has shifted away from, from insurance Sure. Life insurance, disability, all of those products. Um, and I understand them. I know them well. I've just found that it's better in my case to, to collaborate with specialists. Find your who. I mean, I know how mm-hmm. Find your who. And, um, you know, that's, that's definitely something that I've, I've, I've moved away from, but I still, it's still a really important component of a financial plan. Sure it is. Yeah. And, um, I bring in the specialist. I'm a, I'm a master delegator, I'm a gp and I'm surrounded by specialists. And my clients know it and they, I think they like it. They tell me they do.
Wai-Ke: Right. That's great. I know you meet a lot of advisors in your day to day, and I'm just curious, is there one thing that you wish more advisors would do differently to set their practices up for a stronger future?
Aaron: in this industry it's easy to have imposter syndrome. Mm-hmm. Uh, from time to time. So, you know, confidence is so important and. Protecting your confidence is important. And I think that one way to, to protect your confidence and to grow is to learn more. Educate yourself. Mm-hmm. And, um, I wish, you know, I I, I, I know a lot of advisors, I wish a lot of advisors would just take a little bit more risk really, you know, and just try things. And when I'm talking about risk, I'm not talking about investment risk. Yeah, yeah, sure. I'm talking about, you know, sticking your neck out a little bit and, and. Just trying new things like we've been talking about. Mm-hmm. And I think that, um, you know, our industry has been, I think we're sometimes unapproachable to people. Like, it's, it's intimidating for people to go and see a financial planner. Like, I don't have enough money to see a financial planner. Sure. And it's, it's, it's not good. And. I understand the banks, you know, they, they're able to, to attract people because people come in. Mm-hmm. But they're really good planners out there. We just, we just need to, I don't know, simplify it and make it easier for people to, to reach out. Yeah. We can't do it all on our own. Like I think, you know, you get your licensing and you think, okay, well I'm a, I'm an investment advisor or an insurance advisor and I know everything well, you don't. And, um, you know, I, I've learned that over the years too, that, that surround yourself with really good people. Mm-hmm. Be willing to, you know, collaborate. And, and maybe that means that from a compensation standpoint. You might, it might feel like you're making less, but you're actually, you're actually doing a better service by bringing in a, a, a specialist. Mm-hmm. And at the end of the day, do right for the client. You, you won't ever have to worry about money.
Wai-Ke: Yeah. It is interesting that in a way you're saying it perhaps imposter syndrome is, is pretty rampant, right? You know, clients might have imposter syndrome thinking, you know, I'm, I'm not good enough to work with a financial planner. And the financial planner might also feel like. Gosh, I, I don't know enough to, to properly advise people. Right. So it is, you know, all of us just having more confidence in working with one another. I'm, I'm really curious about this piece though. Do you feel like you currently have imposter syndrome from time to time? 'cause you mentioned that I. You know, people do have this in our industry.

Aaron: Yeah. Um, I think it's natural to, to sometimes have some self-doubt. Mm-hmm. This is, this can be a very lonely business. Sure. Right. Especially when you're a solo advisor. And, and Kelly, my assistant, I. She's not in my box. Right. She's working out of her house. So we meet once a week face to face. We talk every day. But, um, I think when you're alone, uh, you know, your mind can play tricks on you too. Yes. And you know, like, I know for me, I, I don't like social media. Hmm. Um, I wouldn't say I suffer from fomo, but I, you know, if I open LinkedIn for whatever reason, and yes, I have an account and I post on there, um, but if I start going down that rabbit hole, it's like, oh, I. Maybe, maybe they're doing it the right way and I'm not. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? So I, I think it would be, it's really important that you surround yourself with, you know, a good network of people, a community that you can trust. Yes. Um, I'm involved, I've been involved in a coaching program now for 13 years. I meet with this group every 90 days. Uh, entrepreneurs, they're not, they, they're from all walks of life. Mm-hmm. Uh, from the states, from Canada. We've had somebody from Australia. Um, but it's, it's a safe place for 30 people to get together and, you know, talk about your problems. And I can tell you this, if I go in there with a little bit of impo, imposter syndrome going on mm-hmm uh, I don't have that feeling when I come outta there. So I think, you know, if you have people that you can ring ideas off of. Who, you know, think outside the box, I guess. Mm-hmm. Um, because I find these, you know, this industry is, is still relatively old fashion, and, and it's, it's, oh, you can't do that. You need to do it this way. You need to wear a suit every day. You need to go to an office. You need to. You need to, you need to. Yeah. And I'm like, no, I don't think you do. I think you need to. Well, I don't even tell you what you should do or need to do. I think if you treat people with respect and you listen and you actually do what you say you're gonna do and finish what you start, um, and return calls like simple. Like just, just return the call. That's all you have to do. You don't have to, you don't have to know the answer, just return the call. Um, it'll all come together.
Wai-Ke: Yeah. Having a little bit of confidence in yourself and trying new things. Yeah. Experimentation, it sounds like it's a simple formula, but not always easy. I thank you so much for joining us today, Aaron. That is, I've been really fascinating getting to know and learn more about your approach. And of course, thank you to our listeners for tuning in today. I hope this discussion has inspired you to find efficiencies in your own practice. Until next time.
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