#41 Kobus Kuhn – Transcript

Louis van der Merwe
Welcome to another episode of Financial Planners, South Africa today I have in the studio with me Kobus Kuhn. Kobus is a certified financial planner, a founder of North financial services, and a YouTube celebrity running the slice of finance YouTube channel, which we’ll delve into just in a little bit. Kobus thank you so much for joining me today.

Kobus Kuhn
Really, thank you so much for having me, I’m really excited to be part of this show.

Louis van der Merwe
It’s a very exciting time when you leave your secure job to start your own financial planning practice. And if I understand that correct, you’ve been a financial planner for the last 11 years. And so before we get into building a business, give us a little bit of a background of of how you got into this profession we call financial planning. Sure.

Kobus Kuhn
Lujah I think back in the days, my my father used to be a financial planner at Sanlam, like in 1990s. And I think it was always in my blood. So I think I what I started off in, in the grown up world, I always wanted to be part of a business be a businessman, and I had really a passion for finance. And I started out as a car salesman, which didn’t turn out pretty well. No, I wasn’t the best salesman there. But then I, I got the opportunity to start at at the previous company where I worked at. And it all went well. From there it was I started off by doing medical aids at the previous company. So I wasn’t really didn’t have much exposure in terms of financial services. It’s just one part of the business. But I loved it. It was really something I felt comfortable with it felt it felt home to me. So

Louis van der Merwe
I want to talk a little bit about the medical aid part. You mentioned now that you started off in this practice. And you can tell us a bit of what that looked like. But oftentimes financial planners steer away from medical aid. How did you manage to put that part of someone’s financial planning picture in and why don’t you think that was so successful?

Kobus Kuhn
I think like medical aides are is one of those hidden gems. It’s something no one wants to do. Because I mean, to be honest with you, if you if you if you do add that service as a financial planner, it’s not something you really rewarded in terms of financially, the the fees are very limited. But what it did do for me is it opened up so many opportunities. And it’s something that I mean, everyone needs at the end of the day. And to be honest with you, I think most of my biggest clients came from medical aids. So it was just such a wonderful door opener. When you sit down with a client I mean, when you go through a medical aid, there’s such different various aspects you look at. It’s a conversation starter. If you talk about the critical illness side, oncology cancer, you dig into it, but where does your critical illness we do have that in place. And and the nice thing about that is you work with the whole family. So you work with a husband, the wife, the kids, it’s you You automatically form part of the family in that sense. So it was a wonderful opportunity for me to start off with that. I think that’s, I think that’s kind of where the basics why why I learned about financial planning, in terms of when you do a needs analysis, because you really have to find out what it is the client needs. I know it sounds simple, but at the end of the day, it’s you have to find a solution for a problem. And there’s a couple of different options, you have to look at new sit down with the client. But it is something it’s always something very expensive, no one wants to win wants to pay for it, but they want maximum benefits. So it really taught me a lot about financial planning, in terms of the analysis, what you do with the client, in a very limited sense, but I think that was the foundation for me. Yeah,

Louis van der Merwe
Cooper’s those those early days where you might have seen your first couple of clients and talk about their their medical aid. What stands out for you from those first discussions? Was it was it very easy for you to start getting into it?

Kobus Kuhn
Oh, geez, I remember, I sat down a my, my parents lounge. And I studied all the brochures on various companies. So I think yeah, it was it was something you know, when you start out with something new, it’s, it’s always a challenge. It’s always, you’re always scared that you might not say something that you had to say to the client something, especially like in medical aid, you might not know that they certain limitations or CO payments. If you miss something, they’ll hold you accountable. So I think I mean, I started out with friends and family, I think, like most people do. So yeah, I think I did my research pretty well. When I started out cheese, I really went through those brochures.

Louis van der Merwe
I’m wondering, I mean, do we always need to know everything? Or is it just you need to be a little bit more informed than the client so that you can guide them?

Kobus Kuhn
Yeah, I think I mean, if you start off, I think that’s the thing, when you start out with these type of things, you’ll get a question from a client, and you don’t have a clue what it is. So that’s how you learn, the more mistakes I made, the more I learned, it’s such

Louis van der Merwe
a great place. And you know, we have a similar story also starting out looking at medical aid. And what I found is that you almost become branded, hey, this is the discovery guy. Well. How did you bring that kind of branding part into it that, you know, it’s not just we don’t only look at medical aid, or was it Okay, Chief, medical aid specialist.

Kobus Kuhn
It’s it’s difficult because that thing sticks. I mean, until today, I have clients phoning me and they want medical aid specifically. It’s really something especially in a smaller town as in Kimberley. It’s something that no one really did yet. So I really became well known for the person that you come through when you do a medical one want to get a medical aid. So it was that was I think one of the most challenging things when I when I started out doing just not just medical aids but a little bit more looking at investments looking at doing holistic financial analysis for a client to that was kind of a mind shift. It was it was a difficult thing.

Louis van der Merwe
Cooper said, what point did the YouTube channel come about? And what was the catalyst for that?

Kobus Kuhn
I think a couple of years ago, I just realized that there is no one really doing any, any education on finance on YouTube. And I just realized, look, this is why I spend a lot of my time and I might as well dry Try, try my best and see if I can do it as well and, and put my own spin on it. So there wasn’t really many people doing it back then. And that’s when I thought look, I’d rather get in one of the first doing it. Then later.

Louis van der Merwe
This kind of concept of the OBS the first mover advantage, just exact breaking down the barriers and start moving. Why do you think other people hesitate to do that specifically when it comes to video?

Kobus Kuhn
I think it’s a challenge. I mean, jeez. When I when I started doing the videos, I can’t tell you how many times I mean, if you look at my first couple of videos it’s it’s very rushed. So you learn a lot by doing it I think I don’t think many people there but camera shy because it’s difficult if you sit down through in front of that camera. It’s just a different feeling. So yeah, I think it’s it’s I think it’s not, I don’t think everyone enjoys doing it. And you know what? It takes a lot of time writing content. So it’s one thing, writing the content, it’s another thing forming it. And then it’s another thing, sticking it together. So it’s a lot of work. I think it’s, it might be more work than, you know what, I think people start with it. And they realize it’s a lot of work, and then they just stop. But it is, it’s daunting if you start off sitting in front of a camera. And yeah, and I don’t think a lot of people know they can do it, I think they need they think they need all the professional equipment. Uh, you know, I mean, today we sit with smartphones, that’s ridiculously capable of whatever you want to do. So you don’t actually need professional equipment. And I think that’s, that’s what, what keeps a lot of people from doing it. They say, Look, I need this camera, I need this, I need this before I can start. I mean, I was guilty of it myself, I. I said, Look, I need this before I can do that. And that’s nonsense. Start off with what you have, rather do something which isn’t necessarily perfect, but just start. So that’s, that’s why I started.

Louis van der Merwe
And then how did you keep going, You know what, what fueled you to carry on doing this?

Kobus Kuhn
I wanted to build up consistency. And that one, that was one thing that I found pretty difficult, especially I want to do to a video of a week. But that became pretty difficult, especially if you want a certain level of content you want to deliver, it takes a lot of time to write that content. But it was it was something I didn’t want to stop, I got the momentum, I got people talking. And I think if I just would have stopped, then it just would have lost the momentum now. So I did a lot of groundwork and a lot of research. So I just couldn’t stop. I mean with the time I spend doing, learning about how you edit videos, and it would have been a waste

Louis van der Merwe
almost to do deep into back out now.

Kobus Kuhn
Absolutely. You know, and I think at the end of the day, later on, I think later on, it became a bit bit fun as well. And I think that’s when a lot of people also talked a lot during lockdown. For example, I introduced the character because I needed a need to sit down and discuss something with with someone. And you know, you can’t speak with anyone in lockdown. And I I just wanted to, I guess. So I created a character called hat, which is a well, it’s just a piece of cotton, just a box of cut out. Half and I made a couple of expressions and I had a conversation with him. We had laughs I taught him a bit about finance. We had fun is a good friend of mine. And we don’t always get along together. But yeah, it’s fun.

Louis van der Merwe
One of your videos had caused in a serious accident. And I’m curious what we had now as you recovered a second joining our conversation, brilliant. You will never be lonely again grievous.

Kobus Kuhn
I think you know what that was, was a was a nice introduction to to the channel, in the sense of it was some someone that everyone can relate to. I mean, a lot of people, they know nothing about finance, but they’re interested. They they want to know but they too afraid to ask they they feel they might look stupid in front of their friends for asking. And this is what was a nice thing. It was someone that’s relatable. It’s someone that’s clueless about finance, but wants to get his things together. Yeah. So with regards to that, that accident that have that. That was something he always liked the idea of guerilla marketing, because you don’t always have the funds to push into marketing or a massive marketing campaign. So you have to use what, what’s been given to you. So if you can be creative. It’s a wonderful tool. I mean, back then, I got the newspapers involved. I got the the medical services involved was I made a big thing about it. So and it made the papers. It was it was crazy because I did it in front of my previous office. And that was on one of the main streets in Kimberley. I mean, people drove by they, you know, how curious people are when it comes to an accident? At work wonders, so yeah, so that’s, that was one of my public stance, I guess. And one way to introduce have to a lot more a lot more people.

Louis van der Merwe
It’s not often that you know, financial services or anything financial planning goes viral. So when you make the newspaper, and people actually say, Hey, this is interesting, I want to know a little bit more. I want to know, where does this gift come from, to break down complex things to simplify it? And to help people, you know, where does that come about?

Kobus Kuhn
I think I’ve got very critical friends. When I explain a certain topic, I’ve got this one friend will always tell me it could be that no, this is too. This is too difficult. I know people don’t understand this. So I have to break it down even further. And further. My dad used to say when you when you explain something, you have to explain it to someone like as a five year old. So I think finance specifically, it can be a pretty morbid topic. And it can be a there’s a lot of jargon. It’s over the top, it can be too much. So I think when it comes to finance, I really wanted to simplify it to the base to the, to the to the fundamentals. And yeah, hopefully I did something right.

Louis van der Merwe
Absolutely. And you’ve made it even a little bit more approachable and a little bit more fun. This is something to be said for someone to say, hey, I want to I want to know a little bit more here this, this sounds interesting to me, not just scaring me into buying something.

Kobus Kuhn
Yeah, I mean, specifically, when you do, well, specifically YouTube videos, you’ve got to grab their attention, I think the stats show you’ve got to grab their attention in seven seconds. If you don’t you lose them. So you have to do something really out of the ordinary different. And something that grabs your attention. So that was the idea. When I introduced hat and and I think I guess with with all the other videos as well, I, I tried to add a little bit of fun to it. Because you know, I mean, finance can be boring. So who wants to look at a finance video unless you make it exciting. So that’s why I always tried to add a little bit of humor in it. It’s just my personality, I love laughing. And I want to introduce that to my videos as well. I want it to be approachable, fun, exciting, and easy to understand.

Louis van der Merwe
So now you’ve built up a bit of a following. You have this channel, it’s some of some of its gone viral, is this attracting the right clients to your practice? Or was that not your ultimate aim by doing this?

Kobus Kuhn
So when I started out, I think the aim kind of slightly changed over time. So when in the beginning, I started out and it was pretty general basics of finance to everyone. But as time went on, I I wanted to make it a bit more specific. But in terms of approaching the right audience, it certainly got the right audience but it also you also have a lot because my YouTube has some of my whatsapp sometimes just flooded with a lot of people asking they want to invest they want to buy shares, and it’s something I specifically do is buy and sell shares for sale for clients, but I made a video about about it. One of my best top videos is one about why just how do you buy shares or how to talk about a bit about explaining the concept of shares. And that’s something a lot of people, I guess, Googled, and that video came up quite often. So that’s not that’s something that that’s you don’t necessarily what you don’t necessarily say to get the right people. So I think when it comes to YouTube videos, and that’s something I’ve learned over time, you’ve got to niche down. If you are a generalist, you will definitely get a lot of a lot of people asking you and it floods you I mean and the unfortunate thing is if if you’re on a YouTube, such a platform, if you don’t respond to those type of people, it’s, it’s it leaves a bad taste in their mouth, it looks bad on YouTube, you get you don’t rank as well. So that’s something you have to do and it can keep you busy. So rather than niche down Think niched, down to the bare bone. I mean, go to when not a lot of people are, and then you’ll get the right people that you’ll get the right people you want to attract. So that’s something I, I actually learned over time. Unfortunately, fortunately, and unfortunately, there’s a video that got a lot of views. And it’s giving me

Louis van der Merwe
this concept of excluding some people and only working with a certain group, it can be daunting for financial planners, because you’re almost actively saying, Hey, Mr. Mrs. Lyons, I’m not going to work with you, if you’re not the right fit, how do you go about defining who it is that you really want to work with?

Kobus Kuhn
I think it’s, it’s someone that I, I really, I can relate to, and someone that I can have a long conversation with, and we understand each other so. So my, for example, my my target market, or, or clients that I feel, I can add the most value to as business owners, I feel it’s something I am passionate about myself, it’s something I on a continual basis, constantly research about ideas on how you can save tax strategies. And, and it’s relatable. So the clients I sit down with, we can talk for ages. So it’s not necessarily that I can’t service a client, another client. It’s just, I think my service is best valued for a business owner specific. And I mean, that changes who someone else someone else can relate to a different different sector or different different part.

Louis van der Merwe
A group is how do you package your financial planning offering and the services you bring to the table to these business owners? What makes it so attractive for them to work with you?

Kobus Kuhn
I think. So. I spent a couple of years creating or developing a process, which is called my compass strategy. And it’s a, it’s a unit, I like to think of it as a unique strategy. So the idea of the compass is, I mean, if you want to sail around the world, you kind of have to plan your journey, you have to be prepared for storms, and you have to be prepared if if life takes a detour. And the same is true with our finances, as well. So within my process, I look at a couple of different aspects. We look at the individual, then we look at the family, then we’ll look at the assets, and then we’ll look at at building the future. And and they all integrate very, very well with each other. Specifically, when we talk about build, protecting your assets, that’s where the business comes in. We look I mean, I found that these these are massive need for business owners. When looking looking at contingency planning, I think it’s something that’s very overlooked, often overlooked. And I think there’s quite a lot of underused tools that’s available that not a lot of planners use. So with with my process, when I sit down with a client, I beforehand, I’ll send them a list of questions of questions. And it’s, it’s a little bit of a behavioral analysis, it gives me an idea is it someone that’s, you know, get to the point, or someone that’s analytical. So that way, I have a better idea in terms of how I can approach this client, how I should deal with this client, how they would like the information to be presented. And then I’ll start with a with a process previously mentioned, which then opens up the door through the conversations I have with the client to either go into a lot more depth either by doing an estate plan for them as an individual or looking at the business structures. Yeah, so that’s basically the big the process I follow. When I sit down with a client I, I try to offer a holistic process, I want to be part of their client’s business in a certain sense, if they want to buy a new property or they’ve got a new business idea. I mean, I’d love if I can be part of that. If they can give me a call and say quibus you know, what, you What do you think about this? How does that fall from part of my my plan? It’s not always the easiest clients I think to work with, but certainly the ones I really like most with.

Louis van der Merwe
I attended a webinar last week where the presenters spoke about financial partners, not just financial planners. So you can almost become a partner in that, in that business, guiding them through the ups and downs of the whatever they might have to weather. Tell me a bit more about those 12 questions mean, in the industry, we often hear about someone wanting to do a personality assessment, but it’s usually Mr. Client. Here’s the link is 50 questions, and you have to spend two hours answering it. It sounds quite digestible sending someone a short amount of clients but giving you valuable information. What information do you derive from that? Does that include financial information? Or is it really around the decision making?

Kobus Kuhn
Yeah, so this is a this is analysis? It was created by Mitch Anthony, I believe it? It’s, it’s specifically it was specifically introduced to gather more information, specifically with regards to finances. So I mean, it’s 12 questions, it’s not going to give you 100% Correct answer, but it does give you a an indication in terms of where the client’s leaning towards. So it’s, I wanted something that is quick. I mean, if you, I mean, you’d know yourself clients, they don’t want to spend time completing another questionnaire. I mean, we sit we’ve got so many questionnaires already. So they just wanted something, I just wanted something quick for them to complete. And give me the most crucial information from that. So it specifically looks at finances, if it’s someone that someone that’s analytical, someone that’s get to that to the point. And that helps, again, if you do a risk analysis in terms of investing, so it all ties in pretty well with with the whole process holistically.

Louis van der Merwe
quibus, you mentioned that clients are often scared of time, and I think specifically for business owners, it’s often difficult for them to prioritize and make financial planning a priority. How have you managed to figure that out? Or have you not yet?

Kobus Kuhn
I guess in in a sense, yes. And again, and then no. I mean, if if you can add value to a client, and they, they believe in you, then they’ll make time for you. So you, I think it’s important always also to remember, I mean, you can have a big client. And it’s not necessarily that it’s a good fit for you. So that’s something I it’s not not something, it’s something I also struggle with. Because always if there’s a big client, you’d like to attract a big client. But it’s not to say that that clients are going to be a good fit, you’re going to struggle with that client, you’re not, they’re not going to allow you the opportunity, it’s going to frustrate you, you’re not going to be able to deliver the service that you’d like to deliver to the client. And at the end of the day, it’s just not a it’s just a losing battle. So it’s something I have to look at. In my own practice myself, I’ve got to be more strict when it comes to that. Because you when you find a big client, it’s it’s it’s difficult saying no. But it’s not at all. Sometimes it’s the right thing to say.

Louis van der Merwe
And inherently, as financial planners, we want to help people, right and saying no, this time means that we’re not, we’re not able or willing to do help. In the early days of starting your business, you know, how few have you kept the focus on the important things, like you mentioned now saying no to clients, that’s not a good fit. What’s been very helpful to someone, you know, maybe listening to this starting of thinking their own business or a couple of years. And, yeah, share a little bit of that.

Kobus Kuhn
I think, do what you’re passionate about. So do we, where you feel you can add most most value. I think that’s what I want. I tried. I looked at my process, I looked at what I love doing, and that kind of just naturally happened. I tried to simplify things for myself. I always love integration. I love technology. So I always try to make that part of my business. You Yeah, I guess yeah, just simplify. Simplify the whole business process. If that answers the question,

Louis van der Merwe
you have a bit of a team around you as well. Tell us about the delegation and how you determined who’s who does what.

Kobus Kuhn
You’re the team is a very important one. That’s something I I’ve I’ve got a PA that’s she’s really my right hand we’ve come in Long way, I think if if she would have to find another alternative employer, I would really struggle. The thing is, if you find the right people in the right positions, it makes life so much easier. I mean, most of my clients, they even have a relationship with with my PA, they, they don’t even bother me with certain things they phone her. I mean, it’s so wonderful. For example, I just the other day, a client sent me a message she wanted to might be a nice illegals address, because she wanted to send us something just to say thank you. And I thought she’s not gonna send me something. So if you find the right people, you can you can go a long way. Now these are started off with me, in in Kimberly and her husband, he got an opportunity back in his hometown. And they backed up and move the and I just, I was just lost without her. So I told her look, if you could you still work for me, even if it’s distant, distant, distant working. And it’s it was something new we. But it was just so natural with, I think we would the time we’ve spent together, we’ve really learned a lot how to how to treat each other and understand each other. I recently added two, two additional employees to the practice. One is a parrot planner. And the other one is just going to assist with a short term section of the business. So but they are all working from home. No one. No one’s working in my office, actually. So which is something I think many people find strange. I don’t have anyone working in Kimberley.

Louis van der Merwe
It’s amazing that now it is possible to start a business from scratch where people are not sitting in in the same office. What do you think we lose when we’re not in the same? You know, same office as a team?

Kobus Kuhn
Yeah, I do think you there could be a bit of communication challenges. I think that’s something I tried to iron out. But it’s not something you’ll be able to iron out completely. If someone’s in your office, it’s very easy to discuss something with him. Yeah, I think it’s and you also lose that human touch. And you’ve and that’s something I have to, I have to be very attend to. Because sometimes I’ll wake up, I’ll either SMS Liezel or give her a call. And I’ll just start off where I picked off yesterday. It’s like the day never ended. So it’s important to never use that it never lose that human touch. I think that’s important because that that’s still part of the relationship. And it might feel that I think that there could be a bit of a lacking at times.

Louis van der Merwe
When you say human touch goobers. What do you mean by that?

Kobus Kuhn
It’s just, I mean, just that familiarity. I mean, if if we just picked off where we left yesterday, we we don’t we’re not necessarily so involved, not that, that you have to be involved in your your employees, lives. But it’s it is something I guess that it’s important for me I don’t, I don’t want to be just just like a slave trade, I want to offer something when people want to work, they want to work with me, they want to be part of something. And I just don’t want to lose that. I guess that familiarity,

Louis van der Merwe
or you almost that person behind whoever is doing the work to know that they still have a family and they still have a life outside of work. It’s true, hey, we can we can be so focused on helping the client that, you know, we lose track of our own teammates, Nami, how you plan to cater for that in a remote type of office or where people are not sitting in the same office? Like what are the ways we can do as financial planners to look out for that or maybe combat that?

Kobus Kuhn
I think structure is key and processes. So what I’ve done is I’ve put a couple of workflow processes in place. And we have a frequent meeting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, where we discuss what is happening what has happened not to lose track in terms of what’s going on. Because if you if you’re in a in a practice, this a lot of information circling one client might phone they want to do something and it’s just a lot of information. So to sit down with a team Every everyone in one setting and say, look, let’s let’s, let’s have a team’s meeting and discuss what’s going on. I think that that is key. And then certainly the processes if you don’t have processes and structures in place, I think a lot of a lot of the information or can be lost in the whole process.

Louis van der Merwe
Absolutely. So Chris was looking at, you know, starting out this practice and getting your own FSP license, if you had a magic wand, and you can like change anything about that process? What what would that be?

Kobus Kuhn
Yeah, it was challenging in the beginning to start off getting everything in order. I think compliance was a big bigger challenge than I expected that, that got me a bit of God. So I think if I if I would do it again, I’d like to have someone sit down with me and explain that whole process from the beginning before I approach it. I mean, when you starting a practice, I can’t say that it didn’t go very smooth. Yeah, it. I think in terms of transferring the whole clients. That’s, that’s a big, that was a big challenge for me. I would, I would have liked more time to do that. But I guess that’s that’s life. That’s the situation I had to deal with it.

Louis van der Merwe
Yeah, well done. I think it turned out very well. And it’s worthwhile sometimes reflecting because we often hear people saying, Oh, the FTCA took so long to issue my license, or I didn’t have these things in place. But it sounds like you had your ducks in a row. Yeah,

Kobus Kuhn
I think it was. I mean, it wasn’t something completely new. So the processes that I that I’ve developed the structures in place, it all just went went over to the new FSP. So it wasn’t something completely new. It was basically just in the sense of, you know, it is something clients are certainly they don’t like change. So if you tell the client, look, we’re changing over to a new FSB, why are you doing this? Why? What about this? What about that? So there was there can be a lot of hiccups with with clients, because they just don’t like change. So I mean, but it’s, it is what it is, it’s that I don’t think I could have done it differently. I would have just liked a little bit more time. But yeah, you

Louis van der Merwe
mentioned something interesting, they around change where clients don’t like change, but at the same time, they often come to us saying, oh, shouldn’t we be changing medical aids? Or shouldn’t we be changing plans? How do we balance those things and saying, Okay, this is, this is where we need to change. And this is where you don’t need to ever change. portray that to clients?

Kobus Kuhn
It’s a difficult question. I think I mean, if you if, if you have the right plan and structures in place, you can tell the client look, this is this is your plan. I think if you can, if you’re able to show a client, what the implications are of the change, and allow them then to make the decision and and see what the consequences would be. That’s, I think that’s the key. That would be the answer for me.

Louis van der Merwe
Very much kind of a coaching or guiding process. So yeah, well, this is the impact. Absolutely,

Kobus Kuhn
you’re not gonna you’re not going to stop them from from asking or requesting something to be changed. You can only show you show them the consequences of their decisions.

Louis van der Merwe
So true. Kobus, what are the skills financial planners need to invest in today? I mean, that can be me, there can be you or anyone listening to this? What do you think are the critical skills we need to be investing time, money and energy and

Kobus Kuhn
I think grant really well can say time, you have to learn and I think it’s a learnable skill, that you’ve got to have more empathy when you sit down with clients and you have to listen, listen is key. I think when I sit down with a client that I rarely talk, I ask a question, and I listen. And from that comes another question. So I think if you’re starting out in in this industry, if you can only ask a question and sit back and listen, listening is the key for me. And then yeah, and then obviously, the basics. I mean, if you if you are if you’re adaptable if you are able to do To look at change, I mean, I would say that’s also something that that could be key, look at different processes, look at different strategies that can be more effective, more better systems. I think in terms of something new advisors, which is key, I think they can also like us, like we’ve talked about earlier. I mean, don’t throw away social media content be someone that can influence your peer group. They can certainly learn a lot more about social media and marketing, which is I think, the Indians abundance of wonderful material for free.

Louis van der Merwe
That’s true, hey, it doesn’t even have to cost much nervous. What would you say to the Kobus that started out with the car sales? Of how this journey planned out? Is this what you expected?

Kobus Kuhn
I think that’s what got me a bit off guard.

Louis van der Merwe
Okay, it’s something to to ponder over. And just reflecting of this journey, I think it’s one of the professions where we get to make the biggest impact in someone’s life. And like you just said, just sitting down with someone listening to the story. It is a very rare skill. It’s something that people don’t come across, you’re used to being told what to do by the experts.

Kobus Kuhn
I think, Louis, if, if I can answer your previous question, I think when I started out in the, in this, this profession, I was very proud of what I was doing when I just started out. And while I was review referred to as a broker previously, and look, I was very proud of it. And then there was a then I learned about the stigmas of brokers, they just salesmen, and and it’s not someone really adding value. And that that was something that that really hurt me. Because I was so proud of it. It was something I thought was very important. What was sad is I had to first go through the whole process of postgraduate financial planning. To really understand Look, I am really adding value. It’s, it is a profession. And it’s not just, you’re not just a salesman here, because that was something I never wanted to be because that’s that’s what I struggled with. When I when I first started out in, in car sales. I mean, I remember one guy walking in, literally walked in with a bag of cash, literally. And he wanted to buy the scar but I knew it was messed up. So I told him Look, now, this is not a right coffee, this thing is this thing is not listening is messed up. And he literally walked across the road, there was another dealership, he bought a car there. Geez, and my, my boss that that stage, yeah, he was mad. But I just couldn’t sell him that car knowing it’s kind of bring in trouble. I didn’t want to sell anything, I wanted to solve a problem. And that was something only that only came then I only realized later on that it is that it is actually the most one of the most important professions, you’re working with people’s finances, you’re working with someone’s retirement. It is such a key role. You have to and that’s I think if I, if I could have started off and say, Look, just go back to basics. What is the basics basic fundamentals, people have to have that you don’t necessarily have to make a fee out of everything. Tell the client look, you have to have an emergency fund and a budget. If you don’t have this, I can’t give you a quote, We can’t look at life cover. We can’t look at this. Because at the end of the day, if they don’t have a budget, if they don’t have an emergency fund, those policies will lapse, they won’t be able to afford afford it if you didn’t look at the basics. So I would say to sum it up, I would want I would say look grim as it is. It is one of the most important professions out there. It is you’re solving problems, you’re not selling anything. And really, really look at the basics for clients with the basic fundamentals in place, and your business will be very, very strong.

Louis van der Merwe
Wow. Thank you so much for that I can see how excited and energized you get when talking about these things. And it’s wonderful that you get to live out to you Passion. It is so true enough for anyone starting out in this industry, almost always. There’s this period where you doubt yourself, you start saying, Am I really adding value? Is this what I’m supposed to do with my life? And it’s wonderful to see your passion. And you know, this show is all about the positive evolution of financial advice. And this is exactly it. Now it’s moving one step ahead. Thing is a little bit more information. Tell me about that time when you went about getting your Postgraduate Diploma? Why did that change in the way you delivered advice?

Kobus Kuhn
Oh, yeah, I think that was, I mean, when I before I applied for the post grad i Oh, I mean, you do your research, who you talk to a lot of people, you say, look, is this something that will add value, because I don’t want to spend a lot of time doing something that you already know. And it just taught me that there’s so much more, there’s so much more depth in our profession, in the service we can deliver to clients, it really taught me about really looking at a client’s at a client holistically in the first place, and then digging into the structures. And I mean, that’s what I loved. I mean, I love to, to solve a problem, I love the idea of minimizing unnecessary taxes by just making a couple of basic changes. And then there are also the, the, the creative, creative part where you can say, look, what about this, I mean, you can actually structure your will like this, and then we can save, save on this and that and this is the succession is so much, so much greater for your, for your loved ones. So that’s, that’s something I think that that changed a lot in terms of how I looked at, at a client’s portfolio. I mean, you when you, when you start out, you do your RFP, one, two, and three, and it’s the basics. But I mean with that, you really dig into the deep end of estate planning. And I do love, love, love estate planning. And that also ties in well with a business business owners, because a business owner will certainly have a larger state. And they will certainly need ways to minimize unnecessary taxes and look at the succession. So it wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t do it.

Louis van der Merwe
Well, then for continuously investing and building this, I love the word you use unnecessary taxes, you can pay taxes, but sometimes it’s just necessary. What’s your vision for the next thing to 20 years for North financial services?

Kobus Kuhn
That’s awesome question, Louis. So I’m very passionate about my business. It’s something that I’ve really dreamed about my whole life. So at the end of the day, my I’ll work it from, from the perfect ideal plan, and then I’ll work it back. So ideally, I’d like to be like, I don’t want to reinvent the wheel in anything, but I think I’ll, I’ll see what was successful with other practices. And I want to, I want to use that and, and add onto onto that. So with my business, I would like I would like to have a national footprint, I would like to have an I would like to have to see an old financial services in every small town in every major city. And I really, really want to build one of those household brands. And I think that’s it. I know that is a very ambitious dream, but it is something I really aspire to. So in in terms of the shorter how I will get there. So in the next three years, I’d like to add another leg to the business. So I’d like to look at the accounting side and bringing on board and accountant. So specifically with my client base, I sit down with a client and they, they they normally struggle with taxes. So that ties in well with structures we can look holistically, really holistically in terms of the client structure. does that tie in well with his income tax, does that tie in well, with the taxes payable at death? Because you know, I mean, as an as a financial planner, we we do tend to look at taxes and death. Not so much income tax, necessarily. So I’d like to bring on board that and then every abroad on border paraplanner now so ideally I’d like this paraplanner to in the next two years be able to To set up their own North financial services practice in their area, and then every two years bring on board another paraplanner. So by introducing a paraplanner, I’ll be able to introduce him to my process, I’ll be able to show them how how I do business, how I like everything to be done, how I like my clients to be treated. And then I want them to be able to do the same. So by doing that, I’ll be able to have someone assisting me within the practice by the power planning side. And if they they’ve learned enough, I’d like them to spread their wings and be able to build their own break, broke build their own practice under the North umbrella. Brilliant, it’s

Louis van der Merwe
wonderful to see how much you’ve thought about this. I did not expect such an elaborate answer. Kobus, this has been great to have you here on the show today. For people that might want to reach out to you or apply for that paraplanner job in the future. What’s the best way to get a hold of you?

Kobus Kuhn
Louis, they can reach me on my email address. It’s Kobus at North group dot 008 or on my website, it’s North group dot zero today, or they can even give me a whatsapp on my number away. 27477477

Louis van der Merwe
Thank you so much Kobus and I would urge everyone to like and subscribe to a slice of finance. Thank you so much for being here today.

Kobus Kuhn
Thank you so much for having me, Louis.