#262 Joey McCann – Transcript

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

advisors, marathons, big, licensee, clients, midwinter, boxing, advice, running, padua, ultra marathon, race, couple, people, survivor, technology, thought, business, night, bit

SPEAKERS

Joey McCann, Fraser Jack

Fraser Jack 

Welcome back to the XY advisor podcast. I’m Fraser Jack and today I’m joined by somebody who a lot of people would know from around the industry or from the TV itself, Joe McCann.

Joey McCann 

Hey Fraser. Happy to be here with the XY crew today.

Fraser Jack 

Thank you for bringing the energy. But let’s let’s start with a little bit about what you’re doing right now. Because you’ve had a few changes recently, and we’ll probably get into a lot of this conversation. But you, you’ve done a lot over the last few years, you’ve been on a reality TV show, and now you got a new job. Tell us about that. Yeah,

Joey McCann 

that’s right. I have I have just started a new gig. And I think that came off the back of a bit of a bit of soul searching and enlightenment, I found out in the Aussie Outback in the recent season of survivor I think I was obviously on the brains tribe and that and I got to meet some amazing people I was inspired by some of the amazing things that they do and the way in which they contribute to society. I think I got out of that. And I felt like it was time for a change. So after seven years in licensee land, I made the jump over to, I guess we’ll call it the FinTech side of things. I’ve joined Pedro Financial Group is the head of advice sells.

Fraser Jack 

Fantastic. Now, that’s not an unusual place for you, which we’ll probably get into a bit later in the conversation. But you’ve, you know, technology has has sort of been in your blood for some time.

Joey McCann 

I definitely look, I think for me, technology is it’s what’s gonna change this game, I think the advice guy and look, it’s, you know, at the end of the day, there’s there’s so many challenges the advisors out there are facing today, but I think technology and like intuitive technology that actually helps them do what they do best. And that’s, you know, highlight the value of advice to their clients, I think is key. But also, you know, another big component of what we do is sort of combining that really great technology with smart people. And I think that’s a winning combination.

Fraser Jack 

Fantastic. Now let’s let’s go back in time and explore your journey. Tell us about how you got into the the profession in the first place. Yeah, right.

Joey McCann 

Right. It is quite an interesting journey because prior to joining or starting in this in this great profession, the financial advice profession I’ve I was tradesmen, actually a fitter machinist. Down in Canberra, I worked at the Royal Australian mint, that little magical land where they make all of the coins, and I did an apprenticeship there a four year apprenticeship as a fitter machinist. It was probably the end of my third year I think there were I bumped into my cousin Matt ezflow who is actually the founder of one of the cofounders of midwinter, but also the founder of Padua where I am today and I bumped into my cousin and I said I heard you doing really well up there in the Big Smoke and I was like how does a young kid from camera crack that you know financial services game and he said well Joe you firstly you need a few bits of paper to say that you know, like at the bare minimum a diploma but you know ideally a degree and whatever else so I said look I’m doing my apprenticeship but I’m happy to you know do a little cheeky Diploma in financial services on the side in between packing shelves and boxing Olympians in the avo pack there’s there’s enough hours in the day to get whatever done anything you done that you put your mind to so I think I got enrolled I called him back three months later I said cause I’ve finished you know and he said you’re finished the first subject good Keep up the good work I said now I finished the whole deployment now what? And he said Geez, three months like in between all this other stuff you’re doing I said I told you I want this. I want this my friend but then he said, Alright, we’ll get you enrolled in the advanced diploma. I mean, that took a little bit longer. But that’s sort of the same time I finished my apprenticeship and they offered me to you know, they sort of said we want to bring you on we want to fast track your foreman. I said thanks, guys, but no thanks. I’ve now got an Advanced Diploma in financial services. I’m moving up in the Big Smoke and I’m yeah I’m going to change the game

Fraser Jack  

fantastic What a story now that from the background of you started out as a fitter and Turner with a on your way to a what we call a license to print money maybe is that would that be accurate

Joey McCann 

yeah oh we printed there was coins so you know I’ve made very big pockets and you know to finally make my fortune there but um

Fraser Jack 

you mentioned also in that in that grant that you are boxing with Olympians you obviously you know fairly active in that space was at the National Institute way or what were you What were you doing there

Joey McCann 

yeah obviously down in camera you got the is in a couple of the gyms I popped out box out of had some really great you know, Australian champions and Olympic boxes so at the time I was also had grand plans of you know, winning championships as a fighter and I think we’ll kind of touch on that later but I think the boxing for me was something I got into sort of sort of 1516 years old but it was one of those sports where you know, I think if you don’t dedicate yourself to it you get hurt you get hurt in a big way so I think for me it really taught me some good disciplines in life that I’ve kind of tried to apply to work I’ve applied to you know my running in later years but it’s you know, you can’t you know, if you take shortcuts it’s just you’re not going to get the outcome that you want so I think for me boxing was always it was it was almost like a chess match I was never someone that would get you know a little couple little cheeky jab in the nose and get angry I would just you know automatically think how do I avoid that happening again so it was one of those sports I just really loved in it. It kind of taught me really good disciplines and and like I said it’s it’s disciplines that I’ve been able to apply to every sort of facet of my life but yeah, it was it was an interesting one I finished work at the MIT I go there and you know I probably rock up to pack shelves all these at night with a fresh black eye from Jared Omani are one of the killers that I was eating the afternoon sparring with but again it was it was just great great time in my life where I felt like you know we’ll touch on a lighter as well like energy man like I think I was living off about three hours sleep a night but it was all I needed because I was just so fired up I was so you know I just had so much drive and I just wanted to be something I remember getting home from all these at 12 and just chipping away at that diploma and and i think yeah energy it’s a heck of a thing and it’s something you can choose every day and I’ll talk more on that later because I’m getting excited talking about it

Fraser Jack 

yeah i was gonna I was gonna say that you definitely bring the energy and and in as you said the disciplines it was it was it the Was it the boxing and the exercise that gave you the energy or did you have the energy in you need the boxing exercise to try and test value?

Joey McCann 

Well I think when you’re putting your mind to something you’re loving and you’re you’re really dedicating yourself to it, it gives you energy I’m a big believer I bounced out of bed every morning I might have I might be a little dusty from a few too many wines the night before but again, I just flicked that energy switch I turn it on I make sure the first interaction of the day whether it’s the bus driver or the barista I make sure that I want them their world up and I think you give out good energy and I’m sure the advisors the XY advisors out there but the more that you bring to a client meeting and the he give to those clients you get it back right and and that just fuels you and gives you more energy so for me it was just like it wasn’t any one thing it was just the combination of every interaction throughout the day and also coupled with the fact that I was doing you know things that I was passionate about I just yeah i was i was like a you know I was on a good trajectory and I still am and yeah it’s you can’t stop that momentum once you get it

Fraser Jack 

fantastic and I love the idea of making sure that the first integration of the day is that is a really positive one. Let’s go back to your journey so then what happened you’ve got your cousin getting you to move north or what was the plan?

Joey McCann 

Yeah it looks I’ll turn the mid down you know and I did a little bit of traveling I think I came back and and Matt Azur at the time said you know, he’d been telling my story to the the fellow directors you know Julian Plummer, Andrew Andrew McClellan a few other guys that you probably know well, and they they said Yeah, get him up for an interview. So I think on the thumb it was a Friday morning I had to go buy a suit because I didn’t even have one. I remember driving up to Sydney and you know, I think obviously Matt being my cousin had to sit that meeting out so I remember walking into the midwinter boardroom with all the directors and I think pratiquer was the you know head of power planning or something at the time and you know, I sat down and again I couldn’t really you know, relate anything that I had done so much to the role I sort of they sort of said have you got a good attention to detail I said well I’m ashamed precision parts for a living if 2.01 of a mil Do you know you can’t even say that right? And if I stuff that up, I could be five hours into a job I’ve got to start again. So I said guys, I don’t stuff up. You know, I’ve got a good attention to detail. But I said look at the end of the day, you’re going to be interviewing a bunch of you know, really, you know, good uni grads, ANP horizons, you know protegees on the on the up and up that have been studying this for their whole lives, right? But I said, guys, I’ll be the first one in and the last one to leave. I’ll be the best investment ever made. Just give me a give me a shot. And then I remember walking out to the elevators. Matt came running out he just said they want you to start Monday. So I hadn’t even got out of the office before that offered me the role. So again, I was living in Canada at the time I think I’ve moved Chuck my donor and pillow in the boat and I drove up to Sydney sceptre mates couch for the first two months until I found a base but and that was it on the Monday morning I started on my first lunch break I enrolled in a university degree because I caught it got there felt like a bit of an imposter. So I remember enrolling in in a Bachelor of Commerce and majoring in finance. And I slowly take that as I climb the corporate ladder, I ticked that off along the way. And yeah, 2019 I finally finished that that degree. But again, it was just one of those things. I wanted to almost almost show myself as well that I was committed to this. And yeah, that’s that’s that’s the story. Crazy one.

Fraser Jack 

Yeah, I can just imagine that boardroom to be a fly on the wall that boardroom I think the directors wouldn’t know what what hit them at the time. As you walked in. So you started there sort of in a in a power planning role there? Oh,

Joey McCann 

yeah, that’s right, I started at a power planning role, which I think was you know, sort of doing limited advice documents. But again, this is one of that, like, I started at the same day as a guy named Michael Dunn worth is really made it big over in Silicon Valley and done some amazing things over there. But I remember he and I, we were very competitive. So you know, like, we kind of came in and once we got our head around, and we got our head around a very quickly, I think the business was doing about 30 plans a day or something. And then he and I, we got it to the point where, you know, I think we were doing about 50 to 60 H a day, right, which they couldn’t comprehend. But in addition to that, we also built like a quality assurance checklist around it, right, we had to check each other’s work. And we almost had we had a tally board. And if I ping them for something wrong, you know, when I dropped them, I take great pleasure in drawing up a little, you know, blocks on the, on the whiteboard. So you know, what we actually ended up building was is really good, you know, quality assurance got a process, but at the same time, we were so productive because we were just too competitive. Like we’d only have five minute lunch breaks, because we just wanted to bait each other are getting at 7am. And he’d already be there. And I’d be like, you know, are you ready to go home today, it’d be almost 7pm or something and we just still be there pumping out plans. I think the directors on Fs last by Joe fest drinks together. So I think Julian just gave us the black credit card and said guys, go and order whatever you want. I think Michael, you know, might have ordered two shots of $80, tequila or something. Yeah, but anyway, it was it was good times. But it was also like a good opportunity for me to really start to get my head around that the whole advice process pays, I think paraplanning is a great place to start in the industry. And then from there probably, you know, six to nine months in, I kind of moved over to the sales side of things. And yeah, got it again, it was a really good, you know, stepping advisors, you know, kind of getting a good understanding of, you know, these strategies that they’ll compare, like, I’ve got a real love for, for the I guess the the how in depth they go with the clients in terms of trying to get them the best outcome. It’s not just picking a product, it’s actually modeling strategies against each other. So I think for me, I was a great time in my wife because I learn a lot I kind of, you know, learn to sort of Yeah, and I’ve never had a sales role before so I was good to kind of get into that side of things. And yeah, that’s the midwinter journey.

Fraser Jack 

Yeah, fantastic. So sales became the business development management became the the next step and then it was around right now go out and talk to take your take your passion and your energy, and even a little bit of that competitive nature out there and go and go and find some advisors.

Joey McCann 

Yeah, that’s right. And I think that’s that’s the thing, like I remember gone through, you know, calling these big spreadsheets of advisors and, and again, it almost became like, not a game but it was just, uh, you know, it was part of the job and, you know, you got to, you know, those cold calls, it’s like, you just got to these is what young guys in the sales kind of environment need to get their head around is that you’ve got to make those calls, you’ve got to have some very uncomfortable ones at times, but, you know, you get the hang of it, you know, over time. And yeah, like, I’d love to listen to a few of my calls back and it’d be very, very embarrassing. I think, like maybe blump bluberry my way through, trying to get that meeting but yeah, again, it’s, it’s just been like sales, or you know, I know some people don’t like that word, but at the end of the day, like you know, the whole advice game, you’re out selling yourself, you’re selling what you do. You got to be passionate about it. But you also got to be I think hungry. You know, if you want to grow and you want to you want success, you’ve got to you’ve got to stay hungry and you’ve got to, you know, surround yourself with people that are going to kind of maintain that hunger is well in Yeah, yeah.

Fraser Jack 

Fantastic. There’s a lot of there’s a lot of it that is summed up with attitude, I guess. Tell us about your next step after that.

Joey McCann 

Yeah. So from there, I took a role over at Morningstar Investment Management at the time, I think was Ibbotson associates, but um, that role was very much You know, it was separately managed accounts or SMEs. It just kind of became the new flavor of the month and we had a diversified set that you know, again, was taking out to the market. I was actually I think Morningstar investment management’s first ever so economists are actually part of the role like I learned the SME story and then I actually went over to total Financial Solutions account plus loss and say and you know kind of worked out of their head office and kind of took that out and this was back when the licenses you know part a proposition was you know and part of their you know, key source of revenue was you know, white label products that they’d get a good rate for the advisor and client on but they’d also you know, there would be a margin involved so but anyway so but I think at the end of that first year, total Financial Solutions offered me a role and and I think for me, it was loss and sale and it really appeared to appeal to me like at the end of the day a license What does it offering it’s offering an advisor, you know, a license to trade but i think you know, I saw so much more than that I saw I sort of saw as one big family like yeah, you’re almost licensee working hand in hand with the advisor you know, trying to you know, obviously we’re working to help them get the best outcome for their clients but I just love the camaraderie in the community I think that’s what really drew me to Lawson say land and yeah, I you know, again, I spent seven years in that environment and I loved every minute of it.

Fraser Jack 

Yeah, fantastic. What you know, I think you sort of brought the teamwork aspect to it you know, everybody’s in the same boat everybody’s trying to work together what were some of your key learnings in that licensee space? Yeah, I think for

Joey McCann 

me, it’s that no firm you know, I look at every firm and every advisor is you know, a different way of doing things and you know, I think as a loss, it’s a it’s, you know, you can’t get fall into that trap of just you know, providing a one size fits all solution. So as my time as a practice development manager, I would try to, you know, tailor you know, and I guess my proposition or what I was offering, you know, in terms of servicing the businesses I try to tailor that to definitely help them meet the needs of their clients and whether it be you know, different technologies that they wanted to integrate in their business it could be helping him out with the people side of things It was really providing more of a personal touch and I think that’s what I really love the the key learnings are that look yeah every business you know is different every advisor needs different every you know, their client’s needs are going to be different so it’s it’s tailoring your approach just as an advisor would for their different clients and and really coming up with you know, meaningful solutions that are going to actually help them do what they do best

Fraser Jack 

so obviously the licensee space changed a lot over that period of seven ideas that you were there Tell me about how that evolution what that looked like when you got there to sort of when you when you left

Joey McCann 

yeah well look as I mentioned that you know there was licensees definitely had a lot of sources of revenue that you know typically through product that would you know, really prop up their balance sheet and ensure that you know that they could throw resources that I guess supporting the advisors and and again a lot of the you know, you look at advisor fees five years ago versus today or even three years versus today you know, as those products subsidies have ended up and licensees have moved to that that cleaner operating model you’ve really seen you know, obviously the cost to the business the advice firm increased dramatically which again has been you know, it’s it’s a bit of a it’s a tough conundrum for licensees because obviously you’ve got this revenue stopping you’ve got to you know, push it you know, increase the advisor fees but it’s also hard to throw additional resources that you know, key personnel that are going to help these firms because again, there is just not a whole lot of you know, revenue available to licensees as there was it’s really you look at the labor as its its license a phase and there’s not a whole lot else right like if you’re moving away to that clean model. So you know, that’s why I think as time continues to evolve you will see a lot of consolidation in the licensee space you’ll also see you know potentially you know, these different licenses purchasing you know, service providers that again that they can you know, help you know, that can help their advisors and whatever else because yeah, it is it’s become quite a it’s a tough space to be in at the moment licensee land definitely

Fraser Jack 

Yeah, I was gonna I was gonna ask you about that actually, in a bit more depth. So you know, obviously there’s no crystal ball here. We don’t really know what’s going to happen but what are your thoughts on the evolution you think there’s going to be consolidation there’s gonna be the big end and the smallest you know that the individual self license and then begin Well, what do you think this is all going? Yeah, I

Joey McCann 

do sort of say it that way. I think they will definitely look as there’s definitely a need for both, I think like, there will be that that larger end of town that you will see a lot of those mid tier providers consolidate, you’ve seen it recently, you know, Clearview Centerpoint you’ll see a lot more of this, you know, century wealth today and others, but there’s definitely always going to be a space for that, you know, unique kind of boutique that does want to, I guess control their own identity to a certain extent and, and, you know, I guess they want to, they want a bit more freedom in what they do, you know, the bigger you get, the hotter it gets, because you’ve, you know, you’ve got to the end of the day, you’ve got a license to protect. So, you know, the compliance kind of frameworks that you’ve got in place have to you’ve got to ensure that there They you’re covering all your bases so that’s why again you’ve seen you know these these documents you know just become bigger and bigger and the time it takes to get advice out the door has actually increased probably since the time I’ve got here right which is is crazy to think the phone I had when I started in this industry to the phone I’ve got today and then you look at the time it takes to produce advice when I started at midwinter to today It hasn’t really changed so that was sort of what also one of the real precursors to what drew me to to Padua I wanted to be at the forefront of that change and really be a part of a business is going to move that dial because it’s like I said it’s the it’s the technology it’s that flow of client data from existing CRMs India fact finds India you know, advice request forms but then it’s having a really good quality content team there to support you. So I think for me it kind of covered all the bases and I really think that you know for the typical advisor out there when I saw the advisor ratings caught at the numbers it’s you know, they’re 48 years old they’ve got 103 clients or something and charging on average 4000 per client recurring you know, you look at that 400 plus grand per advisor there’s not a whole like if you you know, I think they’re paying themselves a salary of 130 on average and then you look at you know, there might be a support person you’ve got your loss it’s a cost your business overheads you know, and potentially a paraplanner like there’s just no margin in there there’s no profit margin so I think for me you know, the firm of the future will outsource they will embrace technology because I think you’ve got to learn based on those metrics it’s the only way that you are going to make you know make a profit but I think if you do it the right way and you know, you’ve got a good kind of support around you for doing that. Or you know, I think you definitely can Yeah, fantastic

Fraser Jack 

I love I love the attitude or your attitude and like trying to save the world. It’s like how do we save the world there’s all these problems that have been solved them just I want to go back a little step now over the last few years you’ve obviously you know, you mentioned you’re doing your boxing on the side when you were younger, but you sort of turn that to distance running talk to us about that.

Joey McCann 

Yeah, we’re probably about a year after I think I started at midwinter I like obviously I tried to continue the boxing when I moved to Sydney, but it was a bit hard because I was you know, obviously staying back so late trying to complete the most plans every day. So actually, I just sort of fell into running like always kind of did a bit of running to keep fit for boxing. I remember coming in to work one day, in a midwinter. I think I turned to my colleague read or I said read I read 12 K’s on the weekend. I know because I ran it and then I drove around it to measure, you know, and he said, Oh, you should do a half marathon. I was like, What the heck’s a half marathon? And he’s like, I think it’s 21k so I googled you know, Sydney next Sydney half marathon and the M seven cities marathon which is you know, lovely Saini run along the M seven Highway in Sydney. But I thought what why register for the half when you can register for the full sighting, I had four weeks to prepare form registered. I think I did 118 k run in the lead up to that. But again, I’m a big believer in biting off more than you can swallow and chewing like crazy. So I rocked up to the start line of that in my Tiger Bay singlet and board shorts. And you know, I think I had the biggest smile anyone could have ever had like it sort of, I just sort of went through the motions and all of a sudden I’m there I’m racing a marathon and I’ve like, just couldn’t I kept pinching myself. I’m like, I’m running a marathon. I’m feeling good till about 32 K’s the wheels fell off. I think every kilometer from there felt like 10. But I still got it done in about three hours. 51 I couldn’t walk for a few weeks afterwards. But I thought I thought to myself, like I said, I’ll never do that again at the finish line. But then a couple of weeks later, as I started to be able to walk again. I thought you know what, if I actually trained for one of these and put in a bit more effort I could bring that tightened down significantly. So I think a few weeks after that I’m registered for the Sydney marathon. I do Melbourne a couple of weeks after that. But then I read this book that changed my life. It was called ultra marathon man, which, you know, I thought marathons were the biggest baddest things that anyone could do. And I read about his guide on 100 mile races in America and you know, ordering pizzas on his long training runs to meet him at intersections and all this sort of thing. And I thought this guy is cool. I want to be more like this guy. So I think I google That afternoon, ultra marathons in Australia and two weeks later there was one from I think Cannes to Port Douglas, I found myself racing through the danger Air Force about 8085 Ks or something whenever that was and then I was hooked like that hurt like hell, but I thought, you know, this is I just I think what I loved about it was, you know, yes, you know, people think odds, you know, how do you how does your body handle it, it’s not your body and a mouse ultramarathon, or even a marathon, it’s your mind, right? And it doesn’t matter how fit you are at 30 Ks, you’ve burnt your glycogen stores or whatever they are, and yet you’re hurt. Everything starts hurting, but I think it’s your ability to deal with that pain and process it in a way like for me, I just smile. I smile at it until I actually believe I’m having fun. And I think I’ll finish that race. The next thing I Was googling was world’s toughest ultra marathons and I’m registered you know straightaway I pay the deposit to race 250 kilometers self supported across the Sahara Desert the hottest place on earth yeah so that’s that’s got out began and it was I haven’t stopped I’ve raced you know, deserts jungles 250 we’re talking 250 300 kilometer races mountains of India you know I’ve raced through the freezing cold nights in you know, New Zealand 200k straight all sorts of crazy things but what I’ve loved is that you’ve I’ve learned so much about what the what the what you’re capable of if you do put your mind to it like I’ve never not finished a race and I’ve raced with you know, race 250 K’s across the Gobi desert with two hernias I’ve raced sick I’ve raced injured but again there’s not I will leave on a stretcher before I ever say I quit and I think that’s just made me more hungry my real day to day life it’s you know, it kind of I don’t know every kind of facet of my life just falls into place when I’ve kind of got purpose when I wake up and and purpose comes through getting uncomfortable it’s you know, putting yourself out there picking challenges that are going to bring out the best in yeah and then just biting down on a gumshield and making it happen

Fraser Jack 

yeah it’s a it’s an incredible thing is that I you know that the fact that you know nothing’s nothing’s doable until you do it then all of a sudden becomes you’re capable of doing it as well there’s nothing there and I love the idea of you know, everything hurts I know it hurts I did a marathon once it hurt and except you get the energy back in the last couple 100 meters you go Wow, this is great. Everyone’s cheering me on. But the idea of smiling through it I think that’s a really really important piece here because there is a there’s a certain amount of insurance that advisors have going through at the moment that had been going through for the last sort of seven or eight years and to have that positive mindset on the way through I think is a massive part of getting through this

Joey McCann 

I couldn’t agree more and I know it’s been a very you know it has been a very challenging fees for the advisors out there with all the regulatory chat change with you know, I think the great work that they do kind of being dragged through the mud off the back of the Royal Commission all these sorts of things I know it’s just you know, it’s just it’s like the hits just feel like they keep keep coming right but and I think couple that with a global pandemic were all locked down and you know, I think all I would say you know, in terms of like an ultimate when I line up at the start line of a three kilometer ultra marathon, you know, a couple of K’s in with my 12 kilo backpack on you know, everything’s hurting already and you’re thinking Geez, how am I going to run another 298 Ks but I think for me it’s just breaking it down to it could be the next checkpoint when I’m really hurting it’s just the tree I can see you know a few 100 meters in front of me but I think you know all the advice I’d give any advisor out there like I know that you You are a resilient like you keep showing up for your clients through all of this but it’s you know there is light at the end of the tunnel don’t focus on you know, you know Freedom Day and all these sorts of like I would just focus on the next goal is a you know the break break it into bite sized pieces because again, it’s just too overwhelming to just think about it all in one hit so just I think come up with little wins that you know, as you know, it could be personal wins it could be team win wins with your you know, with with your people within your business, but come up with these wins. And, and another big thing for me, Fraser I’m a big believer in in calling these wins out. So you know, in 2019 I think I got on there was slightly hung over from New Year’s and I remember jumping on Facebook and posting, you know, like, you know, I was probably 10 kilos heavier than I am now but I just said Bogert. I’m going for it. There was a great session I saw the FPA conference by an Alex Shane because because I said I would write so I think I started my post with you know, fam friends and fam you know I’m setting myself a crazy goal this iterates 52 marathons in 52 weeks I’m gonna make this crazy goal a reality because I said I would and I remember posting that and thinking oh geez, you’re on the hook now Joey but like all these friends I haven’t heard from in years and you know, this is awesome. You know, this is this is great and, and I think what I did and then I think that night, I raced a midnight marathon out in narrabeen. A week later I was you know, racing one through Tasmania waychoff that the glasshouse mountains but I think as I as I kind of went through this and you know, went through some little niggles along the way, but I kept calling it out. I kept saying, I’m in tazzy, to race tonight, tomorrow’s marathon, like even if I was in pain, thinking, geez, you know, I probably shouldn’t tell anyone that I’m actually here doing this in case something goes wrong. I think that’s crap. I think you got to call it out. You got to back yourself, whether it’s a business growth goal. It could be you know, taking your kids to all the home games for a sporting team. You got to call it out. You got to get yourself on the hook. Because I think accountability is key. It’s got personal accountability, but also, from those around your Look, your friends and family only want to see you succeed. So I think both throwing it out there you’ll get more support than you think so call it out the bigger the goal the better but make sure you call it out and make it happen because you said you would

Fraser Jack 

yeah fantastic and I love these little wins along the way because it gives the the little bit of dopamine in the brain and the mind celebrate the little wins and as you said the accountability is a mess apart. And so this all becomes back down to the conversation that you know you sort of started earlier on how the hell do you fit in 52 marathons in 52 weeks whilst holding down a corporate job?

Joey McCann 

Yeah It wasn’t easy and part of my like philosophy in life as well as I’m a yes I’m a yes man like like Jim Carrey was in that um, you know, I’m sure it won all the Academy Awards a year that it came out but that was a great message in that movie of just you know, like it’s easy to say no, I sort of set this goal at 50 but I also still do 52 marathons but I was also not going to change my normal philosophy of saying yes so it did come back to bite me a few times I did race a few of those marathons hang over but I kinda I think by doing like living my normal life and not putting you know you know certain lifestyle my unusual lifestyle and the things that made me happy on hold to do another goal meant that yes, I was bloody exhausted some days but again, I when you’re, you’re kind of happy and you you’re living in the moment and you’re, you’re choosing the right energy, it all kind of worked out so in terms of training, I think when you’re racing most weekends you don’t need to do a whole lot of training I typically squeeze my training and I’ll run into the city so I’ll have my backpack on with my you know, suit pants and shirt I got a few jackets to the office and I’ll just run into the gym have a shower a little session up to the office so my usual commute from North bond is not to it’s probably about the same time me running as opposed to the you know, jumping on the 333 in the training so it’s kind of a it’s about you know, squeezing things in you know, within your own you know, rhythm and routine it’s getting smarter the way you do things and the way you can squeeze things in if and if it means getting up a little bit earlier to just have a bit of you time I think you can’t overlook that because if you’re just going through the motions every day, if you’re just working within your business and you’re you know it’s just gonna feel like a grind and a tough slog and you know, you will be like that hamster in the wheel you just you’re not going to get anywhere you’re going to just go around in circles so my biggest advice to anyone out there is just make sure like and it could be a 10 minute meditation in the morning it could be just you know, a walk with a dog make sure that you just become part of your routine like that run for me into the office. That’s like my meditation I’m pumping some tunes out a friend of mine the other day saying I think I saw you dancing at the traffic lights on the way into work the other morning but that’s me I’m just living my best life you know and choosing that energy because I think yeah you just you got to put that time in yourself or you know all the things that you’re all those good things that you kind of set yourself I’m not gonna happen

Fraser Jack 

yeah I think I remember running into a couple of times I’m not running you were doing the running in the city I think you’re on a mission to get somewhere or do something so it was kind of like nearly run us over but it was good to say you’re out and about and and as you mentioned before running with a big smile on your face.

Joey McCann 

Oh that’s right 100% side Yeah, look, I got it done. I will just for any of those wondering did I knock over the 52 marathons? Or will I only needed 38 weeks in the end to make that crazy goal a reality? I actually did I went over to Europe which kind of fast track my plans I did 10 inch I had a cousin’s wedding but I thought while I’m over there for my cousin’s wedding in Oxford I’m going to do 10 marathons in 10 days in Italy and then I did about another six or seven around the UK after after the wedding hangover as but anyway we won’t get into that but again I turn that trip it was pot holiday it was pot you know go like I’ll still on the aparatos every night in Italy still drinking those wines on the like eight and those pizzas it is it is a great place to go and race marathons back to back by the way because there’s no shortage of carbs in Italy

Fraser Jack 

it’s a good plan isn’t it? And I suppose it doesn’t really matter what you how many carbs you’re eating when you’re running a marathon every day. Tell us about so you how many marathons did you actually get in the calendar year

Joey McCann 

on a 58 look? I think I could have definitely got a lot more but I think once I ticked it off I thought you know it’s the weather’s a bit nicer than usual I’m just going to enjoy myself and do the odd one here and there but I think 58 I can definitely do that. And when this once the world opens up again, or you better but maybe 100 a year I might go for

Fraser Jack 

the visit write a book about it. Hey, I want to talk about something you did more recently when it comes to you know you managed to get on to an episode of on an episode series of survivor Yes,

Joey McCann 

I did. And again this is this is a show that I must admit I had never watched at the time I had obviously knew I think I watched the first season of the American version kind of liked it but i just i never kind of fell into it. And I knew the Aussie wanted sort of seeing snippets of it looked pretty crazy but I actually find it all comes back to I think you know this whole Yes, philosophy and energy, it all kind of aligned To get me on this show because I think it was I was out one night in manly with a few industry folk we’re having a great night out and I remember we bumped into you know a couple of lovely ladies I think one of them’s so happy to be a TV producer and you know we sort of stay connected and after that and I think a couple years later I think I’m you know, I spent the weekend racing marathons and partying on boats but on the Monday morning she just messaged me and said, Yeah, Joey I might have a TV opportunity for you She said I was I was you know, we’re sort of in need of a big character for a new show that were for the next season of a show we’re about to put out and I looked at your stories on the weekend on Instagram and I think you could be that character so yeah, I got very cool up I went and sat down with the executive producer and again, it was like the midwinter interview all over again, it was just like, I don’t know anything about this show. But give me a shot and I will you know, blow that thing up. I’ll have a great time and I’ll bring the energy and have you know, oh, yeah, have some fun with it. And yeah, got the call up and next thing you know, I’m self isolating in Townsville for two weeks prior to the shoot

Fraser Jack 

fantastic and tell it tell us about that experience. The self isolation or just the fact that you know you’re up there you it’s an experience everything’s new everything’s brand new for you, you know what’s coming and you know, anything can happen. Tell us about that.

Joey McCann 

Yeah. Again, it was such a foreign kind of environment to be in and it was one of those like in these I actually am very comfortable in these situations I love I feel like this is where you’re growing as a person when you are uncomfortable when you’re out of your normal routine rhythm and routine when you get dropped into something that’s very foreign Yeah, this is where this is where you grow as a person so for me it was it was cool like we had I think it was just like the show pitch like I think I watched one season of the show leading up to it so I had a bit of an idea of kind of the mechanics of the game but let me tell you it is a brutal environment so they literally just dump this out on this big patch of dirt is trays and stuff around and then it’s like you know alright guys you know you’ve got a cup a change of clothes only had five additional items we could bring other than the clothes on our back. They got dropped off about five days after we arrived so we will I was literally in my like, you know floral ensemble and that was it and you know I’d looked at the temperatures and thought oh geez, this will be more than warm enough. But little did I know down at their crate that adding clunker it gets very cold overnight so I think for me like survivor as I sort of was kind of getting myself into that mental sort of space for it. It For me it was like this ultimate kind of battle of wits and Will’s like, you’ve got these really brutal challenges you got to do sort of every day but you’ve also got this mental side of it where you know there’s a social aspect there’s a strategic aspect so for me it was like you know trying to navigate in my own mind and look I was in the brains tribe that’s right I got selected for the brains tribe I think 50,000 applicants that could only be 12 in the brains

Fraser Jack 

of proudest moment I think was I

Joey McCann 

remember calling my mom say mom, I’m going on survivor and they’re doing Brian’s first bra on and she’s like oh great, so you know I wonder what the other bronies will be like and I was like mom I’m in the Brian’s tribe she got oh my god this is my proudest moment So anyway, yeah but it was cool like we literally got dumped there we we had to make fire from scratch you know I think for the first few nights I luckily had a couple of lovely ladies that were you know keeping me warm Laura and Georgia because he and I we literally had to spoon each other for those first few nights till we had fire because it was so cold the challenges were crazy. Unfortunately my time out there like I was in a pretty good position I was pulling off some good moves but I kind of probably made my move for the top of that totem pole too early and I got taken out by probably one of the greatest gap players the game’s ever seen in Haley with a blind side that I definitely did not see coming

Fraser Jack 

How do you go now with the more because obviously you made some pretty deep connections with people when you’re in that position tell us about the relationship that let me because they’d love to demonstrate on again like survivor all of the tensions between them and the drama between people but how did how did you all go as crew afterwards?

Joey McCann 

Yeah, look I think for me and I’ve got this from past experiences where I’ve raced through deserts and you know us kind of you really build like the bonds that you build through hardship or just you know, you can’t compare it to anything because in a show like survivor or some of these big runs I’ve done like you basically you become so vulnerable because you’ve just got all these you know comfort layers peel back you know, we hadn’t seen out looked at a phone for probably even before we got on the show for a couple of weeks so we were just disconnected from the outside world we were very much you know, we were kind of all in this together even though we did have to vote someone off you know, every couple of nights if we lost a challenge. You didn’t say it so much like that was just part of the game but I think the day to day was just, you know, you are doing all this cool stuff that you know, we’re all you know, come from different walks of life, but we kind of had to make it work and it wasn’t always you know, There was definitely some conflicts within especially the brains trial we did have some sort of you know some some players that did cause division but I think all in all like these guys will be my friends for life you know, even probably the player that I had the most conflict with that sort of the Edit of the show kind of portrayed I’m going out to you know King George’s of bank sounds birthday next week and I say like it he’s he’s a mate like Haley The one who voted orchestrated my exit You know, I’ve caught up with her She lives in bond I we catch up all the time, we’ve kind of been through an experience that you know, only those that have been through it can understand so I think, yeah, like, it’s, you know, that there is something and even in the businesses of you know, out there that your respective businesses like, you know, you are going through tough times right now, but you got to stay together as a team and you get through this and, you know, you get out the other side, like, you’ll look back and small days, because you know, that sort of the harder you work and the more you kind of just to commit to getting things done now, like, it’s going to make the reward of of getting through getting through your exams, getting through all the study, getting through all of this, so much, so much more worthwhile. And, you know, you’ll, you’ll look back, and you’re almost with fond memories, I think at the time, you’re hating it right now. But you’ll look back at this is, you know, this really bought us together as a team on and this is where we really kind of I think people grow through resilience, right? You become resilient, but you also, you know, these times where you have to be resilient, they’re the ones where you’re actually growing as well. So yeah,

Fraser Jack 

I couldn’t agree more. There’s definitely a lot of community around the financial advice base. And he mentioned, you know, Bond, you know, Greg, creating bonds through hardship or creating bonds through adversity. So I think there’s definitely a lot of that combination. As you say, you know, in the years to come, we can look back on this and go a moment ago. Well, it was, we all survived, and we’re all much, much, much better afford. So. That’s amazing. Now, tell us about Tell us about your new position. Now obviously, you’re right. You’re working with a FinTech, you told your head of advice, sales at Padua. Tell us about that.

Joey McCann 

Yeah. So funnily enough, so as I mentioned earlier, Matt, Matt, Matt, as well, one of the founders of Pedretti sister Emery as law, I think Matt always, you know, probably Emery more so than Matt corrects people, when they think that these two could be married, they’re actually brother and sister and I try to get that very clear from the get go. But yeah, look, this business sort of started as I guess, like a humble onshore power planning business, but as it as it grew, and, you know, and grow through some great associations we had with, like, the warm University, getting their best uni grads into this business, but then, I guess incubating them and, you know, putting them through training and everything to get them, you know, to a certain sort of standard, but like, as the business grew, we realized or Matt and Emery realized that it needed really technology because the whole outsource paraplanning piece doesn’t work, just gone back and forth. It’s not efficient, you know, if you’re communicating through emails and things, so you know, the technology, they build a really good advice, request kind of system that sort of sits over it, and some really good workflow management kind of platform that also supportive, but, but then I think, as well, like it was what, you know, one of the bane of, like advisors out there, and the bane of their existence is his whole double entry of data. And there’s so many FinTech players out there that, you know, are we integrate with, you know, x plan and whatever else, but I think the issue with a lot of them is it sort of integrates, but then it, you know, and then what do you do? Like, where does it go from there. So I think what we’ve tried to build is a bit of an ecosystem where the data flows from the CRM into our digital factfinder you know, for your review clients and whatever else, but then that feeds automatically into our advice request form. So there’s this really good flow of data, but then we can also push the data back index plan, which again, is real key to this whole kind of ecosystem. But in addition to that, what we’re trying to do as well as build some really cool, you know, client engagement tools, you know, give advisors the ability to produce, you know, instantaneous ROI ways that you know, compare, you know, their existing portfolio that is kind of pulled through from their CRM against other providers, but against their whole IPL in one sort of click of a button, but that, you know, to make this all happen, we’ve actually, you know, our tech team, like we actually have completed a recent capital raise where we’ve raised sort of between about nine and $10 million, but that is actually that money. I would look at that as an investment of Pedro, we are investing we are we are in you know, we are here to support this industry. We want to make advice more accessible to more Australians out there. And again, that’s why we’re making a big investment into it. We’re investing in people and we’re investing in our technology. I think our tech teams just grown from five to 25 That’s right. 25 full time developers all onshore. We’ve got a team now of nearly 100 so gone, you know, Padre is no longer the little startup that it was we are now a sort of a scout up business aware. You know, we’ve bought in a sales team. You know, I don’t know how much of that 10 million I used up but it was a lot. not real. But yeah, it’s you know why? Because now we believe that we’ve got this amazing product, you know, sorry. Amazing Using technology but we’ve also got your any business that partners with us, we wrap a whole team around them, they’ve got their own dedicated team, an experienced team, an onshore team that can help them get advice out the door, the technology will engage their clients so for me, it’s it’s just the perfect kind of environment to actually, like I said, move that dial, get more invite, like 11,000 Ozzy, sorry, 11% of all these are paying for advice, but 40% can afford it, you know, which is crazy that you know that that actually that 11% come down from 12% as we send advisors to the industry and Kol C and D clients which is crazy, right? So I think what we’re trying to do we want to start really eating into that 40% we want to get that as close to you know, or any Australian that can afford advice is getting advice out there and again, it’s good people supporting the firm’s and it’s good technology and that’s why I joined pedra

Fraser Jack 

yeah fantastic Not only that, you know a good family business but not only family business, your family part of your family because they cousins of yours Do you feel like this is like the full circle for them for you because it’s sort of got you into the industry and now

Joey McCann 

100% it’s like it’s a great way to look at it and I think get it you know this I do say to say this as a big sort of family business to a certain extent. But I feel like I have done the full circle like Matt brought me into this game and I’ve kind of been on my own journey. And now I’ve come back with all those sort of skills and knowledge I’ve learned you know, along the journey and now I’m backing on you know, ready to really put in the hard yards for him and take this business to, to you know, to what I think it could be which is you know, the imminent outsource tech driven power planning company in Australia.

Fraser Jack 

Fantastic now paired job, you know, pa D ua, what does it stand for? Is it same for anything? Or is it with the 90

Joey McCann 

so again, it is a family business, and it actually the name came about So Matt named Murray’s late brother, Anthony was actually my age at the time passed away sadly in 2002 so being the son of good Roman Catholics he was actually named after son Anthony of Padua which is over in Italy so that’s how the name Padua came about I think the first big workflow tracking module that we built was Roma you know all roads lead to Rome and as we’ve sort of built out the tech we’ve got you know, look I will be honest our we are probably our marketing team, which was probably mad at the time lacked any kind of imagination so what he actually started doing was just googling Italian cities I think he’s just pick them off. You know, Sorento is our digital factfinder which feeds into Capri our client backfire pomos our you know product comparison tool siennas our strategy again if you know you’ll look at this thing and think you know who are you know, we’re you know, we’re booking a holiday or you know, coming up with a good solution that’s going to help my business look where the latter for sure. But yeah, it does get maybe a little confusing at times.

Fraser Jack 

Yeah, I’m looking forward to piza coming out Okay. Hey, Joey thanks for catching up today How can people get hold of you if they want to continue the conversation with you or find out a bit more about what you’re doing there?

Joey McCann 

Yeah, look, I’d love to talk to anyone any of the x y crew out there again we’re trying to build a really good community over at Padua we love you know a big big believers in in the great sort of, I guess the positive kind of environment you’ve created here around advisors supporting advisors so we definitely want to be you know partner of as many of as many of you that needed as we can. My details are available on our website patreon.com.au otherwise you just call me on my mobile 0423946439 I’d love to hear from you. I’m a people person I love talking to other people as I know most of the advisors out there are so give me a call. I’m not shy to hear hear on the other end But yeah, look, again where we’re doing some amazing things that you know, and I really believe in the direction we’re heading and how much support we could very

Fraser Jack 

brilliant now you’re also on LinkedIn under jelly McCann it was Joe Joe you know, Joe, why McCann in a double in?

Joey McCann 

Yeah, I’m leveraging my reality. You know, start a more my 15 minutes I’m now known as anyone out there who knew me as Joe McCann he’s dead. It’s not joking. You can follow me on Instagram on baby Joey McCann Don’t even get me started on that one. But yeah, Instagram I am Joey McCann. Drop me a little note on there as well. But yeah, look, I’d love to hear from ya.

Fraser Jack 

Joey, thanks for bringing the energy. Love chatting to you and appreciate your your time today.

Joey McCann 

Thanks, fries. Thanks, XY Adviser. In the words of the great Jeff Fenech: I love yas all!