#336 Daniel Jackson – Transcript

Ben Nash
Hey guys, Ben Nash from the XY advisor team. And today I’m here with Daniel Jackson Daniels, an advisor, young entrepreneur and director at Modern You Financial Planners. Daniel, thanks for joining us

Daniel Jackson
by Ben, thank you for having me. I’m really honored

Ben Nash
by it, it’s great to be chatting. I’ve been following from afar with with your journey and the all of the stuff that you put out online, but for anyone that perhaps hasn’t seen it, maybe a good place to start is if you can talk us through your your advice, journey and how you’ve ended up where you are today.

Daniel Jackson
So my advice journey began back in around 2010, I was in a insulation business, I was a young entrepreneurs, so about 17 years of age. And when I was doing this home installation business, we did the home installation program, and do the aftermath. From that me and my wife, we basically ran an advocate for an entire industry and helped pretty much the small business owners. They get compensation and be reimbursed for the failed program. And during that time dealing with lawyers dealing with the media dealing with the government, I became a passion of wanting to help the small business owners and really help people in the world. And I thought what a better way to do that then become a financial advisor. And in July 2 2013, I actually got my first chance into the industry, when I became a CSO of a small practice here in Albury Wodonga. And within three miles, everyone realized I had a natural gift for this industry. So I went from being a CSO to a power planner. And then two years later, I became a financial planner, and it was around 2015 Everything was going great going wonderful. We all started to learn the industry, I became a national ducks with cap on professional. And around 2019 I kind of became one of those advisors that got themselves in a bit of a situation where I became a planner in the bowler environment. And it was during that difficult time in that period was where I really started to thrive in this industry. A lot of people will usually hear the opposite from that. But in this timeframe I was doing I completed my Masters, I was doing the AFA rising styles, getting out there helping people making a real contribution to the industry doing what I love doing why I came into this industry. And after seven, eight months in 2020, that’s when I went out and decided to make the big step to go out on my own and start my own business. There was some challenges I faced along the way at the start I am. Unfortunately I suffered a slight mental illness during about three or four month period because of the shift to new environments. And then in 2021, we just started creating communities for advisors, we I think I’ve helped about 2000 advisors stay in the industry, either directly or indirectly became a mentor. And just to help everyone thrive again, who I am today, talking to Ben xy and sharing stories with everyone and sharing my knowledge with everyone.

Ben Nash
Awesome, mate. Well, that is where x y started. I was just sharing a bit of that with you before we fired up the recording. But I know for me when I started not even even before I started my business when I was sort of figuring out advice after leaving an install with a big, really set fixed model that a couple of the other x y founders, Clayton, Adrian and Ray are gone through horizons and they were figuring things out, two of them started a business and were sort of pretty much thrown themselves in the deep end. And we just started having those conversations learning so much and then started getting more advisors in the room and learning even more from them. And I think it’s one of the great things that I love about the advice industry that we know that there’s enough clients that need our help to go around. We don’t need to be protective of that. And I think if everyone’s doing better advice, it’s only going to be a positive thing for more people seeking out, you know, our, our health as well. So that’s really great to see. And I love that ethos and maybe I didn’t realize that you are the ducks that Caplan that’s, that’s super impressive, given the given the number of people that go through that program as well. Well done.

Daniel Jackson
Oh, thank you, Ben. Yeah, the full story is I actually had medical health issues at the start of the year. And it was actually doing the education and working through Caplan is what actually inspired me to become the duck so I could solve that. Overcoming that health issue mentally and physically helped me by furthering my education is how I was sorry about how I won that award.

Ben Nash
Wow. Well done. Well, look, you’ve cut you mentioned a couple of things there that that were seriously challenging, but what would you say like has been the most challenging part of your journey to date?

Daniel Jackson
I think the most challenging part would have been around that 2019 To hasn’t 20 period, being in that ball or environment, when you’re in an environment like that, it’s sort of, you know, the industry was going through change. At that time were becoming a profession, there was new legislations coming in and everyone was feeling it. But when you’re actually in that actual environment of the baller environment, it sort of takes it to a whole new dynamic. There’s, a lot of times when you just gotta keep morale up, you got to be resilient, you’ve got to be there and try and help your peers also helping yourself. And so like a period of uncertainty that you don’t know what you where you’re going to go, what’s going to happen, you just got to have faith in the system and believe in yourself and be able to back yourself, and to actually get through that sort of environment.

Ben Nash
Hmm. Yeah, I think that obviously, is a big thing when it all came to a head and a lot of people. Yeah, like, challenging and struggle, the industry, you know, the perception around that, and that sort of stuff, as well. So, you know, a good chapter to see closed, I think, to move forward, move forward from that. Again, as we’re just sort of chatting online, sometimes the obstacle is the way and it all sort of builds into our, our approach to things and yeah, you know, what, what we’re all doing today? What would you say? Talking about that, that progress? Like what what have been the biggest shifts for you in what you do, as an advisor, or in business?

Daniel Jackson
So pretty much somebody wants to ask me when I did a course of capital, and I said, you know, what sort of lady Do you want to be, and I’m putting that, you know, I noticed sort of later I don’t want to base it. Now I’ve got to become the leader I want to be, and it was from going from that period to now I knew the sort of things that I didn’t want to see in a practice, or what I didn’t want to say my own practice, that I learned to actually what to include, to basically eliminate that from the model that we’ve created. So we went from more of a, you know, we were very product driven very, was not so much saying revenue driven. But we were in that drive, where numbers really mattered, that we had to reconnect with our clients, we had to reconnect with our communities, we had to reconnect to a new way, on a whole new level that made it more value to showed people the value that we actually give them. And that’s pretty much where we are today, we were actually demonstrating that as a profession, the value that we offer, and that’s what we learned from those sorts of experiences.

Ben Nash
Yeah, it’s interesting, obviously, there’s a lot of different ways that you can tackle it. But I suppose that does make a lot of sense. I know, when I started my business, there were a few things that I had been doing that I that I didn’t want to do around charging model and commissions and, and those sorts of things, I think that can can absolutely help help you to shape up your business. But tell me, what was the what did the process look like when you were, you know, particularly coming out of that polar environment? You’re making the leap to start your own business sort of starting almost with a with a blank sheet of paper with the experience that you’ve got? How did you? How did you tackle that figuring out what your model would look like, who you’d work with and what you would actually do?

Daniel Jackson
Yeah, so with that one, when I left that environment I common when I said I had a mental illness, a very common mental illness that a lot of people experienced coming out of that environment was, I think, our adjustment disorder. It’s sort of like a combination of grief, depression and anxiety. And if it goes untreated, could end up becoming PTSD that goes for too long. And because because I was actually suffering this, and I was starting to feel like we kept it from everybody, because at this time, I was doing mentoring with students, I was basically building a community where advisors can mentor new people coming into the industry. But I was sort of struggling in my angel arm with that part of it that going from an environment that had very little support to going back into this, what I call the financial community. And having all the support from so many people was very, very overwhelming. But it was because I was in this state. I was talking to new people, I was encouraging people to talk about their issues that the models that I came up with today and what basically what we’re using today has been pretty much shared from everybody in the financial service community. Everyone tells me what works for them, what doesn’t work for them. We we discussed different tactics, different plans, and we basically create something which were getting the best from everybody and discarding what didn’t actually work for us.

Ben Nash
I love that. I think for me, one of the things that I’ve done over the years when working on a project tequila area of of my business or the advice offering that I’ve been providing, whether it’s investments or fee charging or service packages, or whatever those things are, try to find two or three or four people that do well in that area that I respect and that I feel like align with from a from a values and philosophy perspective and then get get them to unpack what they do, but then pull out the bits that that resonate with me. And then you sort of end up with the, with the things that work for your personality, your delivery method, your clients, your business. And I’ve always found that to be fairly helpful, because I think what works for one person, it wouldn’t necessarily work for me, it wouldn’t necessarily work for you, even if it works really well, for them, you’ve got to really adapt because it’s all you know, human beings at the other end of that as well. So it’s an interesting one, but yeah, I think it really Yeah, it makes makes a lot of sense as well. Daniel, what would you say? What are the things that haven’t changed, or that didn’t change for you.

Daniel Jackson
So a lot of things that didn’t change, initially was this perspective of financial advisors, I’m still I come in today with new clients that people come in, they sort of had this sort of expectation of, this is what we want, you know, make it happen today. So what we’ve created with him, we, you know, we talk them through the journey through the, the processes, you know, we just don’t look at your superannuation anymore. We look at everything in total, we, we try to factor in your budget, your lifestyle, we’re trying to factor in your debts, and just having that shift in the process itself. We are changing, it is just bringing up our communities up to speed with it. That’s one of the things that I’m finding challenged when I met with a few clients that have been with advisors in the past.

Ben Nash
Yeah, I think that there’s so many different ways to do advice. And because everyone’s got their own spin on it, it’s really hard for the consumers to actually know like, what is advice? And what should they be expecting? We probably don’t make it any easier for them doing everything a little bit differently. But also, that’s I think that’s part of the magic of it, as well. So, yeah, it’s a bit a bit of a double edged sword there, I think, Daniel, what would you say what’s been the most difficult skill that you’ve had to master to be the advisor that you are today?

Daniel Jackson
One of the actually one of my own personal skills was confidence, I had to overcome that from what I went through during that transitional period. That would be one of my biggest challenges as a personal skill. But from a professional level, I was always up to date with compliance, I was always ahead with compliance and being in an education space always sort of gave me the the other hand with the new changes coming through when they made it regular regulatory, that everybody had to have their master’s or their degrees, I was already at the tail end of having that fortunate because of that, because today, I’m actually able to work with CQ University and Dr. Angelique McGinnis and Andrew Lang, and educating the students through this through their educational journey. So the compliance side of it was, yeah, so adapted nicely to

Ben Nash
Nice. And I think that’s, it’s obviously a crucial part. And a complex one. Talking though, about the you mentioned building, building confidence, confidence in what you’re doing and how you’re working with clients. How, if I can ask you, how have you tackled building that muscle for you?

Daniel Jackson
I think most of it was just getting back out there and doing it. Again, just seeing clients backing myself being prepared to this great team of people that are around me that won’t see me succeed at the time. And just having that up the network’s support. And just going out there and doing it up until 2019 is to be actually scared to be in front of the camera. And it’s just a stand there and someone take a photo of me but now I’m sitting in there, I’m doing podcasts, I’m going out on YouTube as much as I can getting right out there. And to anyone that’s ever challenged with that with trying to find that confidence. Just do it. There’s a there’s a few introverts that I mentor with today. And I can’t tell you exactly the words I used to tell you also have been recorded then But then I found a key secret that brings it out in people and just brings out this whole new life of inside of themselves to actually find that inner confidence within themselves. And yeah, that’s how I tackle I just keep doing it.

Ben Nash
Practice makes perfect and I think a lot of people are quite surprised when I share my story around some of that stuff that I until before COVID I I’ve never done a webinar or I’ve done a handful of like short form videos, but not a lot. And that used to terrify me as well. And it’s only really in doing it and just doing it consistently that you do. You know, that sort of subsides over time that you get, you get used to it, find your fee, find your rhythm, and then figure it out from there. But I think it’s like anything, you know, the first time or the first 10 times you’re going to be packing bricks, it’s just something that you need to push through no matter what your skills are in, in other areas, as well. Or at least that’s, that’s how I found it for me.

Daniel Jackson
Yeah, I definitely hear what you’re saying there. Yeah. Once you take those first few steps, it’s sort of like, once you overcome it, the you know, what are people gonna think? What are they going to say? And you just keep doing it any way you Oh,

Ben Nash
and no one cares that much. I don’t think like, I think you build it up so much in your head that are that when you buy stuff that off or something like that, it’s like people are really hardly paying attention, you they’re just paying attention just enough to, for it to connect, you know, sometimes. So I think we build it up a bit more than we need to. And that can be a big barrier. Daniel, what are you focused on today? What’s, what’s your what’s your focus at the moment,

Daniel Jackson
my focus has still been on the client experience from start to finish with a journey. We’ve all got our own techniques, we’ve all got our own skill set, we’ve all got that, you know, what we can bring to the table. And that’s why I really tried to really hone in on what I want to achieve with being a financial adviser being a director and sort of like, really perfecting that skill, that sort of like a one model doesn’t fit all, but it can be adapted in a way to enhance it for everybody. We want our clients to walk away with a smile on their face going Wow, man, that was the best thing we ever did. We’re so glad we done that. And just finding that perfect formula on how to make that happen, is where we’re focusing on today.

Ben Nash
Nice, and how do you do that?

Daniel Jackson
I would like to say trial and error all over again. But it’s pretty much you just get a feel for each client. And that after a while, once you, you know bought in these new systems, these new processes, brought in these new things that you’re working on, you sort of you get this, like, you know, feeling if it’s working, or if it doesn’t feel like it’s working that just the way that it’s reacting, like clients are reacting to it. One of the things I studied a couple of years ago was NLP where we looked at the different types of personality with people and how we can even if they like to be if they’re analytic and know they’re like spreadsheets and whatnot, if they’re more visual, they want to look at charts and things like that, and just learning skills like that you start to learn the different clients that you’re dealing with and the different types that they like, and basically creating models around that, that you can actually interpret it for each client that you deal with.

Ben Nash
A lot that and I think, yeah, like, we we’ve got our way of thinking. But one of the things that I’ve done through through our business coaches, we did this profiling, sort of like disc profiling, but it’s called wealth dynamics. And that goes a long way to talking about the talks about where you’re in flow, but also your communication styles. And through that learning, I’ve adapted how I deliver to internally to our team, but also to our clients as well. We don’t get our clients to do the full profiling tool that I think that would be pretty valuable. But you can sort of get that sense as an advisor when something isn’t connecting, you know, how do you pivot your, your approach and your education around that so that it does because I think as much as the plan is the latest plan. It’s like, people need to understand it and have that confidence in it so that they can actually make it work so that they can make it so that they get the results that they want.

Daniel Jackson
So what is your profile and then of the wealth dynamics? Mechanic, your mechanic?

Ben Nash
You’re a star, okay.

Daniel Jackson
Yeah, I’m up there. Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson told him that I am Jackson.

Ben Nash
They go that though, that sort of surprised me a little bit, but also it doesn’t. But I think like for anyone that’s not familiar with that tool. It’s like there’s four different energies that people have which is creative energy, detail, energy, people energy and timing energy and for a mechanic as I’ve got high creative energy, high detail energy as well. I love spreadsheets. But I’ve got less on the people side, which is sort of interesting as an advisor that and it’s true. Like I feel that if I do a day full of Back to Back meetings, I feel super drained at the end of the day, but if I spend a day working on projects working on spreadsheets, I feel jacked at the end of the day. So it what it means also for for me like I likes succinct communication that gets straight to the point I’d Unlike the fluff or, or filler stuff, whereas for other different profiles that they, they really need that they think that if you’re being too direct that it’s like it’s abrupt, and then they can sort of tune out as well. So it does add another dimension, I think I’ve used a lot within our team, but also with the work that we do with clients, it adds another dimension to that, that you’ve got to you know, right approach, right education, right results, but in the way that that actually works for them, as well. Daniel, what, where do your new clients come from at the moment?

Daniel Jackson
So my I built my, my whole business was built organically. And basically, what I did is I became the king of branding. So we’ve, when you’re starting a business, for anyone that’s out there about to start a business or looking at building their businesses, two areas that you need to focus on at the start, you need to focus on your brand and who you are, what you’re going to be given back out to the community. And you also need to focus on your processes and steps that you’re going to take to actually get out there and do it. There’s a lot of advisors that I’ve mentored today, and they even go one or the other, if they’re, especially if they’re really good with compliance, they’ve got this really great process that they’re going to write and they’ve got it all mapped out. But if they don’t start branding, they’re not going to have the clients to use those processes. And vice versa, we’ve got new business owners that are really great at getting their name out there. But when the clients come in, they kind of know what to do. So you got to put them both together. And they’re both equally as important for each other, and you just got it, you just got to focus up. So for me, for my clients, it’s all about the branding, the modern you is sort of a, we use that word, particularly because it’s got the mm y so we’ve actually trademark that they’re my financial planners, people think of NYSP they think of MYOB. So they it’s easy for them to remember, we’ve got an office in one of the major intersections in our town, so everyone drives past keep going passes massive billboard. And it’s just doing what we can we do a lot of work in the community, we don’t actually advertise on radio advertise on TV, what we do is we advertise by how we give back to the community, we read major sponsors for charity, golf events, may just want every sponsor up and rising athletes, and you just get out there. And that’s how I was able to build a massive database of clients.

Ben Nash
Adrian Patty, one of the cofounders of x, y, he is the king of advice processes. He had process for everything, the most detailed insurance process that I’ve ever seen in my life before or since. But he’s loved his processes so much that he just he looked after his clients, and he did have but he wasn’t focused on growing his business because he was so caught up on on the process piece. And I think you’ve you’ve hit a bang on that. If you’re not, he’s actually pivoted into tech now. So he can let his process run wild. But yeah, from a from an FP business that you do need to find that that balance and that balances you say because one, one just doesn’t work. But I think that that is the getting the message out there really critical and a lot of sort of guerilla marketing stuff that it’s good to see that you don’t have to take that traditional approach to make that work as well. Daniel, yeah, sorry, you go.

Daniel Jackson
Your other say we’re in this new shifting environment, we’ve got to do this new shifting way of thinking about how we’re going to get that message out there. So it sort of plays in our favor on that front. But using the old styles of advertising, we do the same with new styles today.

Ben Nash
And I think that people are so switched on to the old school approach that it just doesn’t, there’s just so much noise, it’s still sort of blows me away, you see these companies with traditional advertising. And I just think like, what is the ROI that they’re getting on that and I suppose they’ve got these ginormous budgets. So maybe that does move the dial more than then you would see it but they I just wonder you know if it’s actually if it is actually worth it. But there’s these days, there’s so many opportunities to do things a little bit differently. And particularly Once you’re clear on who the people are that you want to be talking to or that you want to know about you that it does almost point you at some of the ideas that you can get to get that message out there. So that’s a well done those as that’s a great success story. Daniel, my my last question for you is, is that if you could go back to yourself, you know, bout to Roll up, roll down the shingle day one in starting your business and do one thing differently. What would it be?

Daniel Jackson
What would I do differently? I probably smile more. I will say that I’ll smile more. I just started off differently. I think if I was too, I started off again, from day one starting my business I probably wouldn’t do a lot different to be honest with you, I’m actually really happy with the outcome, I think I would just take a little bit more time and to listen to people a little bit more from the start, that’d be what I would change. If I was to start my business again today would be just to start listening to a few people. So I was pretty much more so from my peers. I was I was very lucky because when I went over to into prac there was this woman Sharon Walker, she’s a CFA Excellence Award winner for the female da and she actually became my personal mentor in the industry and she the wealth of knowledge that she gave me in developing my business. I was very very fortunate in that and I’d say get more mentors and listen a lot more to people

Ben Nash
I love it some wise words there I think we’re wherever we tread there’s someone that’s always been there before so it makes sense to leverage that experience and you know, shortcut some of those mistakes that we have to make making the mistakes is sometimes okay, but if you can learn from others mistakes, it’s it’s all the better right?

Daniel Jackson
That’s it. We’re all going to make mistakes, the right mistakes, I will point out the wrong ones. We got to make the right mistakes in life to learn from them. That’s always good to hear people that made those mistakes and go yeah, let’s just avoid that altogether.

Ben Nash
Yeah, wise words. Well, Daniel, thank you so much for sharing your story. It’s great to see you kicking goals may keep up the great work and we’ll catch you on the next one.

Daniel Jackson
No worries. Thank you very much for having me Ben.