Ep01 - Rethink: Change is Coming

Adam Holt and Derek Notman open the series by explaining why they started it. Both spent years as practicing financial advisors before founding financial technology companies, and both concluded that the profession was operating on assumptions built for a different era. In this first episode they trade origin stories, including the failures rather than only the wins, and set the format for the show: every episode is built to end with two to four steps an advisor can act on immediately, because both hosts found that conference takeaways rarely survive the trip back to the office. The conversation closes on a question they say advisors rarely ask themselves. With no financial or mental constraints, what would you actually build your practice to look like? Holt argues that nothing gets built that was not first envisioned, and that most advisors never do the envisioning step at all.

• Why both hosts left advisory practice for financial technology, and what that move revealed about the profession
• The case for treating professional identity as a business decision rather than a job title
• Why conference takeaways rarely translate into changed behavior, and the format the show uses instead
• The constraint-free practice design question, and why most advisors skip it

Full timestamped transcript.

[00:00:00] H. Adam Holt: Welcome to Rethink: The Financial Advisor Podcast. My name is Adam Holt.

[00:00:06] Derek Notman: And this is Derek Notman. We are your hosts, both veteran advisors and fintech CEOs who challenge the status quo, question everything, and have fun doing it. Hear honest commentary on the challenges facing advisors

[00:00:19] H. Adam Holt: today. And be part of a community where we can all rethink the profession.

Now on to our episode

Derek, I have to ask you a question have you ever considered that it's time to rethink the financial advisor?

[00:00:37] Derek Notman: Been thinking it for quite some time, Adam. I think we're on the same page here. That's- Tell me a little bit more about what you're thinking.

[00:00:43] H. Adam Holt: I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking maybe we should start a podcast about rethinking the financial advisor.

What do you think?

[00:00:51] Derek Notman: I'm all for it. I think that we are given our background, which we'll get into here in a moment, we have- we are in a very old industry that needs to be re-thought, to be challenged, to be, to be explored with, uh, for our century.

[00:01:03] H. Adam Holt: It's funny, you and I grew up in this business together, and not actually working together, but we discovered each other right through industry, and immediately we felt a kinship because we were saying the same things, maybe a little differently.

But I really am excited to do this project with you.

[00:01:21] Derek Notman: Yeah. It's, uh ... I can almost refer to you as, like, my brother from another mother. It's, it's odd how it, it all works, but it's brilliant at the same time. So I think this is gonna be a ton of fun to share our past experiences and how they've intersected now many years in as advisors and, and CEOs.

It's

[00:01:38] H. Adam Holt: true. I actually have been meaning to talk to our father about that and, and actually bring up the fact that he, uh- ... never let us know that we didn't have, we had separate mothers. But now that we know, that's really great. I, I think when, as we're talking to financial advisors, and having been advisors for many years, we've both experienced a lot of growth.

I call that experiential growth that hopefully has shaped us and shaped our clients' experience and, and we've learned a lot. We failed a bunch, and we're ... I, I know, I'll speak for myself. I'm really excited to share with advisors what we've put together, 'cause we are literally going to rethink this live with our community.

I- I'm excited. What's your motivation for doing this?

[00:02:17] Derek Notman: Yeah, I'm super excited as well. I, I think at the end of the day, you know, advisors as a whole, we serve our clients and want to do what's right and best for them, and rethinking what it means to be an advisor is rethinking things from the advisor's perspective.

And you know, I, what I want to be is a voice for advisors where we can help them improve everything it means to be an advisor, to improve their processes, everything. We'll get into that. But by improving their life and the way they do things, they get to improve the lives of their clients. So there's just that much more impact.

We just want, we want to give. That's what we want to do.

[00:02:51] H. Adam Holt: That's true. That's true. I know for myself I've been, I've been a bit on my pulpit, uh, talking about how we can change the whole planet one by one. I tend to be very strong on the vision side. A lot of the things that we've thought about and envisioned years ago are now actually coming true because we had the willingness to, to take the leap, both of us, not knowing whether it was gonna work out, at least on the FinTech side or building our own practices, and we've been very lucky, very blessed to have some great outcomes and surround ourselves with really strong people.

But it is true. It's time for us to give back. We don't have to wait till we're, we're our boomer ages. We can do it now, and we can hopefully, uh, help grow with you and of course learn from our community. This whole program, as Derek and I have kind of taken the time to really put it together for you as financial advisors- Is to not only rethink the specific industry challenges, but also rethink how we can all grow and do and be more, uh, whether it's thinking about our technology stack or thinking about what we should be doing around staffing or how we're gonna deliver advice or what really needs to be integrated, how do we deal with compensation?

And you have brought up so many things, Derek, over the years that we've known each other that really we've gotten into debates, full-on debates. We said, "Gosh, we should have recorded that," and I think that's really what we're gonna do. What else do you wanna make sure we touch on in the early stages of this podcast?

[00:04:04] Derek Notman: I, I think it's, it comes back to challenging the status quo, to challenging the mindset of, hey, this is just how it is. You and I have talked about that a lot, and I think both of our paths, as we'll explore here, show that we, we may have initially come into the industry just we drank the Kool-Aid, so to speak, and did what we, we were supposed to do, and then all of a sudden we're like, "Wait a minute, there's gotta be a better way."

Then we rethought things, we challenged them. So I, I think advisors need to know that, like, we're gonna have some pretty honest, transparent conversations around everything that it means to be an advisor today so they can get the, the truth, so to speak, the straight answers that maybe we would have liked to have a little earlier on in our journey.

[00:04:45] H. Adam Holt: And th-this actually does not happen to be just a two-way discussion between Derek and myself. This is an opportunity for those of you listening to get involved, and we're actually gonna create an outlet for you to submit questions that we can hopefully address. We're gonna keep this program to a real thematic approach.

So each and each episode we're gonna tackle different topics. So the format for this is not gonna be like many podcasts that you've listened to or are part of. We've also been invited as guests on podcasts. We've had some great experiences. So just in addition to being consumers of this form of media, we also have some great ideas that we wanna rethink the podcast too.

Why not, why not just rethink everything, right? But one of, one of the things that we're gonna also do is we're gonna create opportunities, 'cause both of us have a fantastic network of other CEOs and experts. We're gonna actually bring them on for real speed interviews. We call this the rethink tank, where we're gonna actually really get right to the core of it and then debate their answers without them present so that they can really, almost like in a, a traditional radio interview, bring their ideas to the table.

We can hopefully, uh, take them apart and understand what they're thinking in their specific industry. I'm curious, Derek, do you have some ideas of people that, that you're excited to interview in this?

[00:05:53] Derek Notman: Oh, yeah. I think we're, there's gonna be a, a nice hit list of other fintech folks, uh, CEOs, people that are well-respected.

Um, I'm not gonna hint to any names just yet, but I, I think we'll be doing some outside-of-the-box thinking here as well on just rethinking who we're actually going to interview for something like this. I think there can be some complementary inter- industries that we bring in to challenge things. 'Cause that's what it's all about.

Like, it's very easy to get stuck in the silo of financial services and then be done with it and not rethink it, and I think some of the best growth can happen when we bring people from outside industries in to help challenge what's going on. Maybe it's applicable, maybe it isn't, but that's what we're here to do, and we'll talk about it.

[00:06:32] H. Adam Holt: That is true. Well, we do have lined up, as you said, the fintech CEOs. We have several. We have consultants. We have names that you guys all know that you've wanted to hear from. Maybe not a 40-minute interview but, but a seven-minute speed interview. We know we can get a lot done. Our ADD won't kick in too fast.

We can keep focused on really what are they trying to say. But we're also going to be giving you some actionable steps. One of the things that Derek and I have been continuously passionate about is when we go to these conferences, we're participating in study groups, we have mentors and maybe even mentees at this point, we're actually giving them opportunities to grow.

And I know when I go to a conference, Derek, I don't know about yourself, but I look to try to get one or two things that are really actionable that I can come back to the office and say, "Okay, let me delegate this. Let me execute this." Even though my notes might be 15 pages of nonsense I can't read, there's one or two things that I gotta take away.

For this program, our goal was to also do the same thing. So for every episode, you can expect that we're gonna give you two to four actionable steps that you can implement in your practice exactly today, in other words, right now. Because we know that value proposition is really missing in our industry, especially as we've all been separated because of the, the pandemic and the distancing.

[00:07:40] Derek Notman: Yeah, I love it, Adam. I think that's so important. I, I'm a big fan of concept and theory and idea. I think we all need that to buy into something. But at the end of the day, show me tactics. Show me something I can run away with right now and implement to make my day, my business that much better. It doesn't have to be earth-shaking, but you know, a lot of little things add up to some pretty amazing changes.

Yeah, I, I, I'm stoked we're gonna come up with a lot of really great things that you and I are currently using. We're gonna learn from others, and just really drive the whole industry forward this way.

[00:08:09] H. Adam Holt: Well, I think a lot of people are probably, if they don't know us already, and if, if you do know us, hello, it's good to not hear your voice.

You're hearing our voice. But I- But for those of you that are just meeting us for the first time, it's probably important for us to find out what we're made up of. So can Derek tell us your story? How did you get to this place where you are right now? If you, understanding you were an advisor first. Uh, and tell us that journey, how you got into the business.

[00:08:29] Derek Notman: Yeah, so I, my, my background actually, my bachelor's degree is in archeology and anthropology. So I studied dead people. Not

[00:08:37] H. Adam Holt: quite. Perfect for the life insurance business, I

[00:08:39] Derek Notman: think. It

[00:08:40] H. Adam Holt: sure is, or at least a part of it.

[00:08:41] Derek Notman: So I, I was gonna be Indiana Jones, and that job ended up being taken, and I really enjoyed working with people.

I actually was, my first job out of college was working as a, a counselor at an at-risk treatment center. And I really wanted to combine those two passions, and I got into this industry, and now it's been 15 plus years I've been an active advisor. And as part of that journey, I ... Th- that's a long story which we don't have to get into today, but I saw a need as far as just, just really trying to build an advisory practice in the 21st century.

That's what really pushed me and motivated me, inspired me to create Connectr, which is my s- my, my fintech company that I'm, I'm currently, uh, running now. So that, that's the, the short and long of it, I guess. Adam, I'd be keen to learn a little bit more about your story. How did you get in? What's the journey been, and how did Asset-Map get, get put into all of it?

[00:09:29] H. Adam Holt: Well, I, I s- maybe that really speaks something. So I, I went to, if we're gonna go all the way back to undergrad, I, I did environmental planning and design as an undergrad. Oh, wow. But I did business. I did two ma- majors 'cause I obviously, I can't make up my mind about anything. You're a smart

[00:09:45] Derek Notman: guy, though. And I did a minor- You're a smart guy.

[00:09:46] H. Adam Holt: Sometimes. It depends. I maybe, maybe I'm book smart or one of the... What's the other thing that you could be?

[00:09:51] Derek Notman: You look

[00:09:51] H. Adam Holt: smart. Street smart? Oh, thank you. That's great. For a podcast, that's a wonderful trait.

[00:09:56] Derek Notman: Yeah. I love

[00:09:57] H. Adam Holt: your glasses. You, you look good for, uh, podcasting. You got a face for podcasting. That's it.

You really do. That'll be the new moniker. Uh, thanks, buddy. But I'm not sure I'm gonna grow a mustache like you, so I think, I think you've done a great job for those watching and following Derek and his unbelievable social presence here. Unbelievable. Yeah, I, I also did, I did a, I believe it, I did a minor in satellite imagery sensing and understanding how the planet was shaped based upon satellite imagery.

That's

[00:10:25] Derek Notman: fascinating.

[00:10:25] H. Adam Holt: That's what I did. Got a job for the USDA Forest Service out of college, and I took the first job I can get 'cause they hired me the day after I graduated and I have to answer to my parents as to what was I gonna do. I was like, "I got a job." Uh, I didn't know what I was gonna do. But I realized I really love people like you, and I was behind three computer screens working for the federal government, realized that wasn't my path.

I'm entrepreneurial. So I went to a job fair like everybody does, and I- Yeah ... what did I do? I went to a job fair, and there were some really great companies I knew, and I really liked these people that were financial planning people or something like that, and I got hooked up with them, and I think I wound up working at the company 'cause I just liked the people And then when they, they, uh, I got past the, I barely passed the exams to get in.

Not the math ones. I did okay on the math ones. But the being, it turns out being, I wasn't necessarily ideal for being a life insurance agent, which I later found out instead of being a financial planner, I was a life insurance agent.

[00:11:17] Derek Notman: We're gonna totally unpack that later for one of our- Yeah ... episodes by the way.

[00:11:21] H. Adam Holt: I te- I have to tell you, you know, I, I, I had many different preconceived notions about what being an agent was 23 years ago, believe it or not. Yeah, it makes me sound a lot older than I feel. But you're only 42, so. And clearly how old I look, but but- Right. Exactly. Sorry. At least we're keeping to our theme of looks on a podcast.

I, I think the short of it is I learned and found financial planning as an outlet for me to actually win at the life insurance game. Totally. And I realized, I came to understand that the life insurance profession was a fantastic way to help you sell the problem and help you profile and do fact-finding.

'Cause you really need to understand a family and their real, uh, inner workings before you can actually get to a place of where does this fit or is this appropriate? And along the way I got into financial planning, and as a result one of my, one of my buddies and I got together and we started investment management together.

And so I did the planning and insurance and he did the investments, and we joined another firm and kinda the rest, the rest is history. We grew that firm significantly. It still exists today. It's about 25 people. And Asset-Map was something I created from my old mapping days. I just needed to draw out what was going on in people's lives.

So Asset-Map kind of went viral in 2012 when I showed it to somebody in a best practice sharing. I said, "I'm doing this." They said, "Let me do it, too." So Asset-Map has now taken over my life, like many ways the way Connector has been so influential in your life. It's allowed me to travel and start my second career as a CEO for the last five years, see the other side of being an advisor, right?

'Cause we don't usually get that insight.

[00:13:01] Derek Notman: No, we don't. That, that's a really interesting story. I, I'm sure we're gonna get more nuggets of that journey as we go through all of these podcasts. But I, I think you're right. What, what's fun and, and interesting is being on the fintech CEO side. Now we are serving other advisors as well as being one, and I- there's some interesting insights that we gain from that, so hopefully we can unpack some of that as we're going through all the different episodes and things that we're challenging.

That's really cool though that you were at the Forest Service, that was your first deal. I actually applied. That was the first place I applied for a job right out of college as well.

[00:13:32] H. Adam Holt: Well, since I'm older than you, I probably blocked your employment. I heard that my father's other son from another mother- That's right

had, uh, was applying. That was a really big problem. I'm gonna use this theme now forever, just so you know.

[00:13:45] Derek Notman: Well, it's good. In, in, in all reality, I actually do have a brother from another mother. It, uh, I'm living it every day.

[00:13:52] H. Adam Holt: I have

[00:13:52] Derek Notman: two. That is super random. Let's

[00:13:55] H. Adam Holt: find out who their father is.

[00:13:56] Derek Notman: Yeah.

That's awesome.

[00:14:01] H. Adam Holt: It's true. Well, I think that I'm really curious because one of the things that in being authentic, which is really not just a nice cool buzzword you see on Google these days, but w- we, if you haven't gotten to know us or starting to get to know us at least and have not hit the pause button or moved on, thank you.

Congratulations, you've won. What you've won is actually the opportunity to spend more intimate time with us because I, I think for us to be in a position, just like when we're advising clients, I found that sometimes one of the most revealing and connecting ways is for us to also share our own personal experiences.

Not just the good ones, right? Not the ones that worked out, but also when we als- when we had individual challenges, right? We've gone through personal challenges that required financial advice or guidance or legal or tax advice. We've all gone through ups and downs in investing, and sometimes we've lost people.

We've had to make tough decisions. And I think I'm curious, Derek, are there- Are there memories that you have or kind of big milestones that you experienced where you saw either major growth shifts or changes or questioning being in the business in the first place that, that you can recall or share with us?

[00:15:08] Derek Notman: Oh, definitely. There, there's so many there. One was making that transition from being... 'Cause like you, I started basically I, I called myself a financial professional, but I was a life insurance agent. I'm not saying that's bad, but that's what I was. And making the mental shift, I mean, I al- day one I was always a planner at heart, um, that's how I wa- just like you worked, worked with my clients.

But making that actual business decision to go more of a planning-oriented comprehensive nature was a massive shift for my practice and growth, quite honestly with my income and my, my, my lifestyle. And then also there were some bad ones. We'll have to talk about this at some point, but one where I ended up partnering with an advisor that it didn't work out.

Cost me six figures. I almost went bankrupt, and put some pretty tough pressures on my family. So been through a lot of really interesting ups and downs, as you put it, as an advisor. But I think a lot of us do, and it's just not talked about.

[00:16:02] H. Adam Holt: Yeah. No, that's so true I mean, for me you can't be in this business long enough and not go through, I think, making a lot of people happy, and then of course finding out that the one person who you- one client, they weren't happy, and it tears you up, right?

'Cause you try so hard- Mm-hmm ... to deliver. We've had, when you have as many people as we've had in our firm, you have turnover, right? You have, you're dealing with that we've had different s- situations where staff members made bad decisions, and we had to answer for it. We had to step up and learn what that was like.

There are, there are plenty of situations, I think all of us in financial advice, regardless of how long you've been in the business, the challenges you're, we're gonna deal with. I can't say that we've dealt with all of them. We've dealt with a bunch, and I know that we're gonna share elements of that for both of us because it's gonna come out.

We're taking off, if you will, the wig. Um, not, I don't know about you, but I don't wear a wig. But I- My, my analogy is that we- we're, we're, we're gonna try as best we can to be as revealing as we're capable of for this program. Because we know that for most of you in the field, one of the ch- bigger challenges, the thing that's missing, and I, I'll submit this, I'm curious your opinion on this, Derek, what we think is really missing is mentorship.

Oh my gosh. Do you... I mean, what I've been searching for, and I've have been blessed enough to have some really amazing mentors, but I don't know that everybody has that same outcome, right? Do they?

[00:17:23] Derek Notman: I don't think so. I don't, I think people are screaming for it. I know that day one I was looking for one, and I just couldn't find one, and I, believe me, I tried.

Thought I found one, that didn't work out. And I don't think I actually got a true mentor until I was about eight, nine years into the business. But absolutely, we talk about moments that helped shift our, our business, and that was one of them, was having an awesome mentor. So if, if this podcast can be, in a way, like almost like a, a miniature mentor.

I don't know if that's even a good term.

[00:17:51] H. Adam Holt: Miniature. But, uh,

[00:17:52] Derek Notman: yeah, a mini mentor. But I think it's crucial. Like, advisors want direction, they want help, they want support. They love the work that they do, but they, they need guidance, and they don't need just like, "Hey, here's this product. Go sell it," guidance.

They need comprehensive guidance on how to build an amazing practice for themselves.

[00:18:09] H. Adam Holt: Yeah, it's true. And, and I think if we can be, if we can be so bold as to offer our opportunity to mentor you, but we also want to be mentored. We know we're gonna learn a lot during this process. We're gonna learn from you because you're gonna submit.

We're gonna create an opportunity for the community to actually connect and, and keep these conversations going beyond this podcast. So for those of you that like to get involved and like to contribute, we invite you to be part of that. We're gonna start that. We're gonna use LinkedIn. So if you wanna reach out to us on LinkedIn, you can certainly do that.

We'll make sure that the links to us are, are in this podcast text. Uh, and of course, you can just certainly search us, and we'll be happy to start conversations with you in our community as we build it together, right? Because the re- the really interesting thing, Derek, is that the future of our business, financial advisory as a, as a n- as a profession, is really going to be driven by how you and I and the rest of our audience actually act.

What we do is what we build, is really what the next generation is gonna say, "Hey, look at the financial advice profession." It's built upon the individuals that make things happen. I know that's why we're trying to be such catalysts for change, but we can't do it alone. So we hope that you're part of this, and that's really one of the bigger

We're gonna expose some of the challenges in our industry. We, we hope to, and we're gonna also celebrate the, what the areas where we really, where we can lift others.

[00:19:23] Derek Notman: Yeah, I love it. We're all on the same team. There's more than enough business for all of us, so why not help each other push an industry forward and do that by questioning things and looking for the, the real answers and so forth.

I think that's how we all win, and have a lot of fun doing it along the way, right? Let's, you know, we're gonna, you're gonna get some pretty ridiculous banter back and forth from, uh, two brothers from another mother here, you know, sometimes known as Butch and Sundance. So yeah, it's gonna be a ton of fun.

We just, the more that we can have a community here and, and your input and feedback, the better for all of us. It's

[00:19:52] H. Adam Holt: true. You know what's funny? You w- someone called us Butch and Sundance once on a... What was that all about? Do you remember that?

[00:19:58] Derek Notman: I think it was a LinkedIn post. I, I don't know, but you and I were bantering back and forth about something, and then someone dropped a picture of Butch and Sundance, and the rest is history.

[00:20:06] H. Adam Holt: Butch and Sundance, right.

[00:20:08] Derek Notman: No, it's funny. Well, I mean, it's the disruptive, right? Like, we're challenging, we're questioning, we're

[00:20:12] H. Adam Holt: kind of goofy. I've got an awesome mustache. You don't.

[00:20:15] Derek Notman: So it, it just works, right? It just works.

[00:20:18] H. Adam Holt: It's true. We, I guess we have to get, we have to get cowboy hats. We were thinking actually of naming this podcast Butch and Sundance or something to that degree.

You never know what, what's gonna pop up with us. We might actually go back to it and stuff like that. We'd love feedback from you guys and stuff. Tell us

[00:20:33] Derek Notman: why you want.

[00:20:34] H. Adam Holt: For a moment of seriousness, here's some calls to action. I said to you early on, and we, we talked about this, Derek and I, before, our, our goal is to help lift you.

And that means in order to rethink things, we need to rethink what we're all personally doing, right? That doesn't mean, oh, look, the other guy's gotta rethink it, and we're gonna listen to these schnooks talk about it for a while. It also means you could choose to be involved, right? And so one of the, one of the questions that we were really forcing ourselves to ask is what do you wanna build in your practice?

What do you wanna be part of, right? When you think about the future, not just today, what are you doing? What are you building? You are an entrepreneurial professional. Unlike most others, you have an opportunity to create the lifestyle, maybe the compensation, what you tend to work with, who you work with.

And I thi- this is a fantastic way. I'm asking you specifically on the, on this podcast, what do you wanna build? What do you wanna be part of?

[00:21:30] Derek Notman: I think it's an excellent question I would back it up with saying like, "Think about that question with no restrictions, no constraints. If there was a, a, a perfect situation, pull away all your mental constraints, financial constraints, what does it look like?

What are you trying to build?" 'Cause that's what's so important, 'cause at the end of the day, it's actually prob- probably possible.

[00:21:55] H. Adam Holt: It is. Well, we all know it's not possible if you can't envision it.

[00:21:59] Derek Notman: Yeah. Right?

[00:22:00] H. Adam Holt: It's not gonna happen. Again, you can't write it, you can't... Now, I know you've been a big vision boarder or you've been writing down- 100%.

You are. What is that process like?

[00:22:09] Derek Notman: Oh, man, it's... And I even joke about this with some advisors. It, it can feel a little hokey if you've never done it, and it was for me, 'cause I was not a vision board guy originally. I come from a very conservative family. We don't talk about our feelings. And it was one of the best things I've ever done in my life, to be perfectly honest, and it has been a game changer for both my business and my family.

And, you know, having a tangible board that I can say like, "Man, that's exactly what I'm shooting for in life," it's just, it, it's amazing.

[00:22:37] H. Adam Holt: But what are these tangible things? Like, help us understand that. G- paint a picture for us.

[00:22:41] Derek Notman: It's not just like, "Oh, I wanna retire," or, or, "I wanna have a happy life." Th- those are very vague.

How much money do I want specifically? I have a number in mind and I have a very specific date in when I want to have that, that money by. I know what type of house I want. I know what type of cars I want, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The things that I wanna do, the experiences in life that I wanna have.

Like, one of them is setting a Guinness World Record for traveling to all seven continents in the shortest amount of time. And these are all things on my vision board that I look at multiple times a day just to remind me to say, "What am I doing all this work for?" 'Cause as a lot of advisors know, sometimes in the trenches things can be really tough, things can be hard, and we forget why we're doing what we're doing.

Maybe you had that commission reversal. Maybe you haven't had a new client come in the doors for a while. It gets tough. It really does. And Adam and I have both been there. So having that vision board has been a game changer for me. I, I think we can even talk about that in one of the episodes. We can do a nice, you know, deep dive into what that means, and really challenging the foundational components of building a practice today, which I think this is one of them.

[00:23:44] H. Adam Holt: Yeah, that's a great point. Now I've never done, done vision boards. I kind of kept it in my brain. I would make public statements about what I was gonna achieve in the next 10 years. Public statements being that all of a sudden if I didn't pull it off, then I had to, like, eat crow.

[00:23:55] Derek Notman: Mm-hmm.

[00:23:56] H. Adam Holt: That's kind of the things that I've done, which is I- my, my aspirations tended not to be around dollars.

They tend to be around impact and time. Can I have time back? Can I have... Can I make sure I walk my kid to school every day and be home at 5:30 no matter what?

[00:24:12] Derek Notman: Yep.

[00:24:12] H. Adam Holt: Yes.

[00:24:13] Derek Notman: 100%.

[00:24:13] H. Adam Holt: Been doing it for, been doing it for 10 years now. No one messes with that time unless it's a major fire, and I let them know. These are- there are certain things that, that I've been really keen on.

It's not been easy. I've learned a lot from practice managers. I didn't execute it very well all the time, but there are certain things that I've been really... Maybe it's speaking at an event. Like, I want to speak on that stage in the next 10 years. I'll make that announcement. So you're gonna learn some of these techniques, and granted, this is not just a s- this is not a self-help program.

This is a community let's get better at doing stuff program and making a difference. I know that sounds, like, pretty vague, i- for some people, but you'll understand what I mean. We are going to hit on topics that are really, I think, we'll call timely. A lot of advisors have been asking us, "What is the ideal tech stack?"

They've been asking us, "Well, how do I deal with compensation when I'm sharing with another advisor? How do I deal with succession planning? I'm bringing a junior in. How do I structure that? I'm thinking about working with another broker dealer. What are the questions I should be asking?" We're gonna ask that stuff.

The stuff that is taboo and doesn't really get put out there, we're asking it. Sorry. That's- we're gonna do it because Derek and I are committed to getting through to the real truth, and so that you guys can all make better decisions about going forward and what that path is gonna look like. 'Cause we want you to get there faster and sooner, and it'll happen because hopefully we'll help you with that clarity, and that's the mentorship that w- we're hoping to provide to you.

With that, I recognize we gotta kind of wrap this up. So Derek, are you prepared to commit to this?

[00:25:38] Derek Notman: 100%, Adam. I think this is gonna be fantastic. You know, I think you and I have actually been doing this on a one-on-one basis. I mean, I don't know about you, but I have conversations with hundreds of advisors a year.

So I think we're already doing this, but to enable to help that much more, we have to do this. We have to commit 100%. So if you're in, man, I'm in with you.

[00:25:54] H. Adam Holt: I'm in. Let's do it. Awesome. So for those of you joining us, we hope to see you the next time. You subscribe to this podcast right now. Don't forget. Do it now.

If you could do it now, just do it now. Subscribe. Check out some of the links we're gonna put in our text components of these podcasts. Connect with us on LinkedIn or follow us and reach out and tell us the topics you want us to address. There's gonna be some racy stuff in there. Let us know so that we can actually prioritize it.

With that, Derek, thank you so much for being here and being my partner in this. I'm excited to do this with you.

[00:26:25] Derek Notman: Likewise, brother. I appreciate it. I think we're gonna have a ton of fun here. Let's make this industry that much better. All right, brother. Talk to you soon. Cheers.

[00:26:33] Announcer: Thank you for listening to Rethink, the Financial Advisor podcast with Holt and Notman.

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