Advice Line: How To Focus Marketing When You're Split Between Two Niches (Thomas Cook)

Summary

Advisor Marketing Made Simple Episode Summary: "Advice Line: How To Focus Marketing When You're Split Between Two Niches (Thomas Cook)" Release Date: February 12, 2025
Hosts: Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright
Guest: Thomas Cook, Retire to Teleco

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Introduction

In this episode of Advisor Marketing Made Simple, hosts Taylor Schulte and Kendra Wright welcome Thomas Cook, a financial advisor from Knoxville, Tennessee, representing the firm Retire to Teleco. Thomas seeks guidance on refining his marketing efforts as he navigates managing two distinct business niches. The conversation delves into his current strategies, challenges, and the pivotal decision-making required to achieve his ambitious growth goals.

Guest Background

Thomas Cook has been an advisor since 2017 and launched his own IRA firm, Retire to Teleco, a year prior to the episode. His firm caters to retirees in Teleco Village, an affluent retirement community in Tennessee, managing assets worth $7 million with a target of reaching $50 million in the next five years.

Current Marketing Efforts

Thomas initially operated a virtual practice under the name "Refine Your Plan," aiming for a broad audience. However, prompted by his wife's advice, he pivoted to a more localized and in-person-focused approach, rebranding as Retire to Teleco to serve the pickleball-playing retirees in Teleco Village.

Notable Quote:
Thomas Cook [02:03]: "I want to find that one thing that I can be better at."

He implemented in-person marketing by sponsoring the local pickleball club, organizing clinics with a professional player, and hosting events like "Pickleball Pro vs. Local Legends." This strategy significantly increased his visibility and client base within the community.

Additionally, Thomas supplements his in-person efforts with educational activities such as teaching at the local library and experimenting with digital marketing channels like blogs, podcasts, and YouTube. However, his dual-focus on both in-person and online marketing has led to a scattered approach, diluting his effectiveness.

Notable Quote:
Thomas Cook [05:08]: "I have been so shotgun approached in my marketing efforts and I have been divided in my attention and energy."

Challenges Identified

1. Dual Niches: Managing two distinct business focuses—Retire to Teleco and Refine Your Plan—has fragmented his marketing efforts and resources.
2. Inconsistent Marketing: Attempting multiple marketing channels without a cohesive strategy has resulted in wasted investments, such as a $3,000 local newspaper campaign that yielded minimal returns.
3. Scaling Impact: While Thomas is passionate about making an impact through educational content for younger professionals, he struggles to balance this with the immediate business growth needed from his primary niche.

Notable Quote:
Kendra Wright [06:35]: "Have you decided to focus on Retired at Teleco? Are you still trying to balance Retired at Teleco and Refine Your Plan?"

Hosts' Analysis and Guidance

Taylor and Kendra emphasize the importance of focusing on a single, well-defined niche to achieve sustainable growth. They challenge Thomas to prioritize Retire to Teleco, given its potential for profitability and alignment with his immediate business needs.

Notable Quote:
Kendra Wright [11:24]: "If you don't grow, do the right things the next two years, you're going to have to sell your house."

They highlight that while impact is essential, the primary focus should be on building a robust financial planning practice before scaling to broader educational initiatives. This strategic focus will provide the foundation needed to later expand his impact without compromising business sustainability.

Notable Quote:
Taylor Schulte [19:03]: "If you don't grow, do the right things the next two years, you're going to have to sell your house."

Strategic Recommendations

1. Niche Consolidation: Prioritize Retire to Teleco as the main focus to streamline marketing efforts and resources.
2. Content Pivoting: Redirect the YouTube channel's content to cater primarily to retirees, aligning with the firm’s niche while maintaining educational value.
3. Marketing Funnel Optimization: Develop a focused marketing funnel that leverages community engagement and targeted digital content to attract and convert ideal clients.
4. Systematization: Implement consistent marketing practices and delegate tasks where possible to maintain focus and efficiency.
5. Impact Scaling Post-Growth: Once the primary business achieves stability and growth, consider reinvesting in broader impact initiatives like educational content for younger professionals.

Notable Quote:
Kendra Wright [32:58]: "If you love YouTube, we can talk about what your marketing funnel could look like. There's a couple different paths we could go down."

Thomas's Reflections and Commitments

Thomas acknowledges the need to refocus his efforts on Retire to Teleco, understanding that a concentrated approach is essential for meeting his financial goals and sustaining his business. He recognizes the value of setting aside secondary projects, such as his young professional YouTube content, to prioritize immediate business growth.

Notable Quote:
Thomas Cook [45:57]: "The number one thing for sure will be the YouTube, have the retirement focus and be getting people to that financial planning process."

He commits to realigning his marketing strategies to support Retire to Teleco, leveraging his existing community connections and refining his digital presence to better serve his target demographic.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Taylor and Kendra reinforcing the importance of strategic focus and the potential for future impact once the primary business is well-established. They commend Thomas for his dedication and encourage him to integrate his passion for community engagement with a streamlined marketing approach to achieve both income and impact.

Notable Quote:
Kendra Wright [46:37]: "Thank you for showing us how those two sides can integrate and align. You can have income and impact."

Thomas leaves the conversation with a clear action plan to concentrate on growing Retire to Teleco, leveraging his strengths in community engagement and refining his digital marketing strategies to solidify his firm's position and achieve his growth targets.

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Key Takeaways:

• Focus is Crucial: Consolidating marketing efforts on a single niche can significantly enhance business growth and sustainability.
• Strategic Content Creation: Aligning digital content with primary business objectives ensures more effective client acquisition.
• Systematization Over Scattershot Approaches: Implementing consistent and targeted marketing strategies yields better results than attempting multiple disparate channels.
• Balancing Income and Impact: Prioritizing business growth creates a stable foundation upon which broader impact initiatives can be built.

For more insights and resources, listeners are encouraged to visit taylorschulte.com and consider applying to join future Advice Line episodes.

Transcript

[Taylor Schulte]

Hey, everyone, really quick. Before we start today's show, if you're listening to this right now, you've likely listened to one of our advice line episodes where Kendra and I help real life advisors solve their biggest marketing challenges right here live on the show. It's like a free marketing consultation, but recorded so fellow advisors with similar challenges can learn alongside you. It doesn't matter if you have decades of experience or you're just getting started as an advisor. If you have a marketing challenge that's slowing you down, we would love to invite you to join us on a future advice line episode. To be considered, just head over to taylorschulte.com apply and fill out the short form. That's taylorshulte.com apply. We've also included a direct link to the form right there in the episode description in your podcast app. Do not miss this opportunity to get two experienced industry marketers in one place with one goal. To provide honest feedback and actionable solutions so you can reach and help more of your ideal clients.

[Kendra]

Hey, it's Kendra and Taylor, and we're here to make advisor marketing simple. Today's guest is Thomas from the firm Retire to Teleco. He's been an advisor since 2017, and he just started his own IRA a year ago. He focuses on serving retirees in Talico Village, which is an affluent retirement community in Tennessee. With $7 million in assets under management. He's working towards a goal of $50 million in the next five years. Let's dive into his biggest opportunities and challenges as he starts to build and grow his own firm. Welcome to the show. Today we're having a conversation with Thomas. Thomas, could you just kick us off and share your name, your firm, and your location?

[Thomas Cook]

Yep. Thomas Cook in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the firm is Retire to Teleco.

[Kendra]

Awesome. What's that big question that you want to dive into today with Taylor and I?

[Thomas Cook]

Oh, man. It really comes down to where should I focus my efforts, because in this first year, I've tried a lot and just. Just need your opinion on. On where I need to double down. And maybe for those who are listening, Kendra, you came and did the the Society of Advice call with Carl, and one of the big takeaways I got from you there was like, less can be more. Like being really good at one thing. I'm like, okay, I. I want to get challenged and, and find that one thing that I can be better at.

[Kendra]

Definitely. So let's start there. Can you give Taylor and I a quick rundown or what? What marketing activities Right now, are you doing either consistently or haphazardly to bring attention and awareness to your firm?

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, I love that. Haphazardly. So I'm doing a few things. At first, I started out as a virtual practice, but my wife told me, like, Thomas, like, your strength is in person. So like, you have to have some in person element. And I was like, okay, well, she's my wife, she knows me pretty good. I better listen to her. And so I actually changed the name of my firm and went after a local niche because at first my firm was going to be called refine your plan that was very generic and could focus on anybody. But then I was like, okay with the in person focus. I thought of the client that I enjoyed the most when, before I had started my firm. And I said, how can I work with people just like that? And that's how I built the second business. Retired at Teleco, which is after the retirement community, Teleco Village in Tennessee, and specifically the pickleball players in that community, because those were the people that I really love serving, right? Because when you're playing pickleball, you're active, you're, you're healthy. And if you're acting healthy and social from pickleball, you tend to be kind as well. So it's a really good fit. When I knew I had limited seats on my bus, I'm like, okay, I want to design a firm to, to get these, these clients. So, so knowing that I was like, oh, I need to do some type of in person pickleball marketing, because that's who I really want to work with. And the first thing that I did was I found a professional pickleball player in Tennessee and I contracted him to come do a clinic at this community. And I got, I sponsored the pickleball club. There's a thousand members in the club. The president had never heard an idea like this before, was super jazzed about it, and helped me coordinate everything and do all the marketing for it to make sure the club knew about it. And, and the format was the professional pickleball player came and did two two hour clinics in the morning with all the trainers of the club. So it's kind of like train the trainers that they could go train the rest of the club. But then at lunchtime, we had a match. We called it pickleball pro versus local legends. And so he was like on the courts playing the best and finest of this club. And like we had 100 people come to that. And it was this huge splash that really kind of got my name onto the. The scene. And from that's where all a lot of my business has. Has kind of stemmed from that or activities that have followed from that.

[Kendra]

So I have a question. Is that all the marketing activities you're doing?

[Thomas Cook]

Well, that's the, the main in person one is that. But I also to supplement that, I teach at the local library and I've had some success there too. But then all the other marketing, like I've tried, like I need a blog, a podcast, YouTube, like that's where I would say I'm haphazardly like trying other things because I, I had these two business shells, you know, the refine your plan. Retired to Teleco. I was like, well, I kind of have two business audiences. Instead of just shut one down and focus on the other, it was like, well maybe I can do both of these at the same time. And I, and I made that other. The refine your plan like my YouTube business. Like how can I help accumulators and people who don't have money yet go down the right path? And, and I think that's where I've struggled is having two audiences, One in person, one online, one is an older demographic, one's a younger demographic. And I, and I feel like I've even wasted some money when it comes to marketing. I tried like a local newspaper that I ended up spending like $3,000. Didn't get one phone call, one email from that. So I don't know. That's.

[Kendra]

Yeah, that's super helpful. Let's. Let's start right there. You mentioned refine your plan. I've seen a few of the things you've posted online for this conversation today. Have you decided to focus on retired at Teleco? Are you still trying to co balance retired at Teleco and refine your plan? Essentially two different audiences and two different firms, correct?

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would say retired to Teleco is the main focus right now. And refine your plan is more of like an impact. Like how can I help? And that's really why I even got into the industry was to help people move away from financial stress and have a better chance at a happier life. So yeah, so it's still something that I do. And I will say there is overlap. This is kind of the interesting thing that some of my retired Atelico clients really love my YouTube work. Like the, the pickleball president, he actually became a client, which I was super jazzed about. Cause I'm not the only advisor that's in that community. But I was the first fee only advisor. And so that was like gave me maybe a slight edge to lead with education and service than maybe a product. But he would start telling other pickleballers like oh yeah, Thomas, you won't believe it. His firm is called Retired a Teleco and he has a YouTube channel. And so like when, when I start seeing that resonate with him, that's where on my YouTube, if you see it now, like there definitely is a blend of videos like some that are applicable to retirees and some that are more for your accumulator. So I'm kind of struggling trying to figure out where, where to put my, my focus, my energy.

[Unknown Speaker]

Thomas, are you, are you more interested in the growing your business or making an impact? I understand like us advisors, we are helpers. We want to help people, we want to make an impact. I, I understand that. But you know, you just started your firm a year ago. You shared with us that your five year goal is to have 50 million of assets under management. Right now you're at about 7 million. So you've got some lofty growth goals. Very, very achievable. But what are you more interested in making a big impact through educational videos or growing this business over the next five years?

[Thomas Cook]

Man, that is cool. That's a great question. I would say I'm definitely more driven by impact, which is why I got into here. But. And I'm not a very good business owner. That's my other struggle. Like, and that's why like, like when I was an employee I used to tell people like man, if I could help you for free, I would, but I can't. And here's what the firm charges and like everyone agreed to pay it. But like all of a sudden I was a business owner and I was like well I kind of can't give this away for free. And I did for the first six months. I was like this is not sustainable. So, so yeah, I need help being a business owner but, but really retired at Teleco needs to be my primary focus until I get to my capacity and then I think I'm better positioned to, to go for impact.

[Kendra]

Have you considered the fact that you could have an impact in the retired Teleco business? Blending those two together? I know that the other audience is quite different just because I've seen some of your content online for Refine youe Plan, Much younger audience, Very, very different. But would it feel fulfilling to you if you could take that goal of Impact and blend it into Retired a Teleco so that you use that education based approach which you are very good at. I'm looking at your YouTube channel right now. I've seen your videos. You are very skilled at videos. It looks like you've only had a YouTube channel since November 2023, a year ago, and you have 2,000 subscribers. So, Thomas, you have incredible skills. You're just not aware that you're sitting right on top of them. So is there a way for us to potentially maybe use some of that video or we can talk about other ways to educate, but shift that impact into the business that you're trying to grow? Are you open to that?

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, no, I'm. Part of the reason I came on to this podcast was to be challenged by people who know a lot more than me. By the way, shout out to Taylor as well. The first time I reached out to you was when I listened to your podcast, the Stay. Well, at the time I thought it was called Stay Wealthy or something. It made me think of Acreman. I was like, no way. I have to ask, is this an anchorman? And you delivered and I think it was. And then you changed it later, right? Was that. Am I getting that story right?

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, it was initially called Stay Wealthy San Diego, which, yeah, was a spit on state. Classy San Diego. I ran into some marketing challenges with that name, so I just, I chopped off San Diego and it was called Stay Wealthy for a period of time. And then now it's called the Stay Wealthy Retirement Show. So, you know, the, the Ron. The Ron Burgundy reference still lives on.

[Thomas Cook]

Okay. I love that, you know, because I try to be right 60 of the time every time. And so I love that.

[Kendra]

I love that. I just want to come back to, you know, this question because it's a. It's a pivotal point in this conversation because you're essentially building two businesses with two different audiences. And we can serve you on either of those paths, but we want to give you the most impact. So which, you know, which path feels more appropriate, really focusing on retired at Teleco, blending in that education and impact piece, or leaning into the refine your plan, are you. Would you be willing to put that on ice for a little while until you get the firm to a certain point? That's what I'm just trying to understand.

[Unknown Speaker]

Really quick Bimi, before you answer that, as part of that question, like why a YouTube channel for young professionals? It's not as if there's not good content out there for young professionals to, to help them. You know, there's a REIT Studies of the World Personal Finance Club. There's some great stuff out there for young professionals. It's not like it's lacking. So what's drawing you to make an impact with those young professionals and not the, you know, retiree pickleball players?

[Thomas Cook]

Those are good questions. And truth, truthfully, I want to make an impact in both, but I'll start with. With the young. The. The reason that that is a calling for me is because they have time on their side where the advice that they get now could totally land them in a different place in the future. And that's kind of the path I was on. Like, I grew up in a home that struggled a lot financially, and that's why I started learning about money. And it. And because I started learning about money, it put me on a different path. And so I have a lot of that calling to give back to those, Those communities. And there are other people in fact, I point to, like, Ramit Sethi's work, Money guys, Millionaire Mission Chilton, the. The Wealthy Barber, really great books. And I. And I teach personal finance at University of Tennessee. So I'm in front of students there, plus I volunteer at my church, and I'm constantly in front of youth there. And so it's like there are people that I know either through the university or through church, who they don't know. They don't know Brian Preston, the money guys, they don't know Ramit Sethi, but they know me and they know I care about them. So if I could create content, like, I feel like I can help them. And so that was kind of my, like, even if nobody else listened, but. But my direct network. That's kind of why I started the, the. The YouTube channel and in the process of. Of getting a book out there. But have you heard the don't let perfection be the enemy of progress? Well, that. That's me. And that's why I'm like, man, maybe I need somebody else to tell me, like, hey, it's good enough. Just get it out there. One last thing I would add the, the beauty to me about YouTube, though, is that it can also be like, impact at scale where, like the financial planning firm. Financial planning is hard work to do it right, and it takes a long time, especially the upfront commitment. And so I believe I can have a huge impact in the lives of these retirees. But it's hard to scale that on my personal efforts alone. So that, that was kind of my thought with the two, if you don't.

[Unknown Speaker]

Mind me asking and sharing how old are you, Thomas?

[Thomas Cook]

30.

[Unknown Speaker]

30. So I mean, just imagine if you focused on building your business for the next five years and at age 35, you've got the practice that you wanted, $50 million of assets under management. Let's just say it's four or $500,000 of annual revenue. At 35 years old, you've built the practice that you wanted to build and now you have the luxury to make an impact however you want to make an impact, right? Like at 35 years old, that's pretty amazing. I think it's just gonna be challenging to try to do both at the same time here. And you're only 30 years old. Like you have, you know, you have this opportunity in front of you now you to Kendra's question, you could go, you know, full steam ahead into YouTube, education, finance, influencer, whatever you want to call it. You can make an incredible living. You can make incredible impact at scale. And you can make a living getting paid from YouTube directly, not even from the, you know, the consumers. You get paid from YouTube direct. You could do brand sponsorships, you could partner with the Ramit studies of the world. I mean, look what Ramit's done with partnering with Facet wealth, like endless amounts of options to go down that educational path and make an impact and build a business out of it. Or you can build this financial planning business, this retirement planning business over the next five years, you know, whatever number of clients that equals the revenue that you're targeting. And now you're like, great, I've got this amazing business, good systems and processes. Now I can decide like, do I want to go and educate at large, do I want, you know, how do I want, want to make an impact from there. But I think it's be challenging to do both here at the same time. And last thing I'd say is again, there's not like there's a shortage of content for that young professional just getting started. There's a lot of great stuff out there and I recognize that maybe over the next few years you're not going to be potentially the one to deliver that information. But it is out there. You can make an impact with an older demographic. Plenty of retirees watch YouTube. You know, there are videos that have gone very viral that are specific to high net worth retirees. So you know, you can certainly still make an impact through YouTube at scale with that demographic as well. Again, maybe you're more drawn to the younger professional. So you do have a decision to make there.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, that is good food for thought. I Let me share just a quick story too, though, why I feel like the impact and this probably preaching to the choir. Um, but just last night, I got a call from that pickleball president who's now a client. The past president before him just passed away suddenly, right in his 60s. And it really shook my client because that was a friend and it was so unexpected. Um, and, you know, he ended that phone call saying, like, thomas, like, just go hug your wife and don't take any day for granted. And. And I took that call and I'm like, wow, like, this is a huge help that we're. We're providing. You know, especially this. This community that has moved. A lot of them moved from out of state to this retirement community. And so, like, their neighbors become their family and the people that care for each other. And a lot of them are coming to me and they say some version of, like, I want to make sure somebody's here to help my spouse navigate this when I'm not here. And, like, that is a huge impact, too. And that's why on my website, I kind of lead like a huge fan of Carl Richards. The, you know, the behavior gap, the soft side of financial planning, the. The art, you know, and that's why on my website, I lead with Maximize life and minimize taxes and retirement. Because if, you know, like, if money is a tool to. To. To align with your priorities, your values, and I feel like that's my job is to try and help them clarify that and add value and help them with, like, the things that they may not be telling anyone else. Right? So I do feel like that impact, like, that was really impactful for me. I'm like, man, that's cool. But that is hard, you know, to scale and that, you know, that takes a lot of time to build a relationship and trust and I don't know. Yeah, preaching to the choir. But. But it is impactful what we do. The. The clients are really appreciative, and even though they may not be, like, financially stressed, like a college student is, like, they still have their stressors and worries that we can. Can unload.

[Unknown Speaker]

So I'm just going to push back on this, the scale thing, because you can make an impact at scale with retirees and with young professionals. Again, you know, you. You might only have capacity for 50 retirees as actual clients, but that's not stopping you from building an email newsletter with 20,000 people subscribed or a YouTube channel that's more dedicated towards that. That audience and helping them getting prepared for these major life Events that will occur. It's like the scale thing isn't the challenge to me. You can have scale with both demographics.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, yeah. And, and you have scaled a retirement plan, a very good retirement planning practice.

[Unknown Speaker]

Like the practice is one. Scaling the practice is, is one thing, scaling the impact is another. And what I'm saying is, what I'm hearing you say is it feels easier to scale the educational content. I can reach a lot of people all at once. And all I'm saying is, well, you can do that with young professionals and you could do that with retirees. The business is another decision for you to make. You might just want a small lifestyle practice. You don't really want to scale it. You just want to build a nice little lifestyle practice that generates the revenue that you need. And then again, then you have a decision like, do I want to make a larger impact in other places? And that can be scaled any number of ways with, you know, pretty much any demographic.

[Thomas Cook]

And I, and I do have an email newsletter. I did add. That was one of the things I tried. I feel like I've tried because I've listened to kids'for so long and I've like, oh, I need to try this, I need to try this. And that has been helpful. I found that as an easy ask in like as I'm playing pickleball, especially as I get invited to groups and then someone will be like, oh, like you're not a retiree. What are you doing here on the pickleball course? Like, oh, I sponsor the club. And like, oh, what do you do? I was like, oh, I run a wealth management firm. And they're like, oh, we may need to talk. And then I said, well, I have a free email newsletter. Do you want me to add you to that? Every week I'm sending like a helpful tax tip and market commentary. And so it's like a really low barrier of commitment from them. And so I, I'm. My email list is now up to 80 people. Most of them are pickleball players in this community. But even that, it's like, it is like a struggle. You know, I'm trying to. If I'm not getting a lot of people to that email newsletter without my in person effort, I guess is what I should say, whether it's the pickleball court or the seminars at the library.

[Kendra]

Can I just interrupt you really quick? I just looked at the. Let's see. The last video that you published on YouTube had 103 views three weeks ago. And I love the idea of adding people to the email list. But what if we were creating videos to, you know, four people who retire to Teleco, and we could get you in. You know, the video you posted four weeks ago had almost 800 views. You know, so. So you're getting, like, at scale. I think the big issue we're trying to kind of come back here to is where do we want to point your attention and energy? Because you're already kind of winning and succeeding, but it's kind of like a shotgun approach. And it's a little bit of success over here, It's a little bit of success over there. And I'm actually really impressed with what you've been able to do. But where do we want to focus that energy? And you said, I need your help focusing efforts at the start of this call. So that's where we're actually really dialing this in. So you got a lot of skills, and maybe that's a question we can't answer today, and if not, that's all right. But for us to build a functional marketing funnel, we need to know who we're trying to reach first. So that's why Taylor and I are really spending some time on that.

[Thomas Cook]

That's helpful. Yeah. Thank you. Um, and that. And it has been a shotgun approach. Like, I've literally tried everything, and the problem is I can't consistently do everything. And so when you look at, like, my podcast or. Or YouTube videos, like, you can see, like, the. They are spotty because it's like, I didn't. I. I didn't do it. Maybe the right way of building up a huge pile of videos or blogs or something first, and then, you know, release it consistently. So I don't know. I'm struggling by myself to do it all. And so that's where I need. I needed that help focusing, maybe just doing one thing and then being really good at it.

[Unknown Speaker]

Thomas, what. What if your retired to Teleco practice was stagnant for the next two years? What if you didn't take on another new client for the next two years?

[Thomas Cook]

That would be no bueno.

[Unknown Speaker]

How would that impact you?

[Thomas Cook]

Um, well, it would impact me because I'm still, like, I'm still a year into my business. I'm still at the point where. Well, hopefully I'm at the point where I'm done investing into the business, But I haven't paid myself out of the business yet, because every time I make more money in the business, I found a way to reinvest it and find someone else to help delegate something. Off my load. Like, I have a compliance advisor now, bookkeeping through X, Y, P, N. You know, I just got this office space, so I've been finding ways to make my service better. And so I need. I need to. I need to keep growing.

[Unknown Speaker]

But what would be the impact if you didn't have any growth for two years?

[Thomas Cook]

I don't think it'd be sustainable at its current level.

[Unknown Speaker]

You have to shut the business down.

[Thomas Cook]

Well, I wouldn't have to shut the business down, but I would have to sell my home. Right.

[Unknown Speaker]

Before asking that question, I didn't get this, like, sense of urgency from you. We had another call today, and the advisor is in a very similar place as you. But what we heard from him is I need to grow. I got to grow now. I got to figure this out. Otherwise it's going to severely negatively impact my life. And so we got this sense of urgency from him, like, I need to grow. And I'm. I just wasn't getting that from you. So I wanted to verify. Is growth really important to you? And, you know, the answer to that question tells me that growth is not only important, it's actually, it's critical to you. And so I think we need to kind of lead with that fire there and really own this. No, I need to grow my business. I cannot afford to mess around anymore. I can't afford to take the shotgun approach. Yes, Thomas wants to make an impact. Most of us want to make an impact. Most of us are helpers. We want to help people. We want to get good information in people's hands. I think we can all relate to that, and I think there's a time and place for that. And so if we have to grow this practice, then I think we have to make some really hard decisions about how we're spending our time. And I think my very, you know, straight to the point advice to you is we got to stop these YouTube videos that are speaking to a younger professional, a younger demographic. If we're going to produce YouTube videos. Every single YouTube video going forward needs to speak to your more traditional retiree. These retirees, it doesn't have to be retirees at telco or retired people retiring to telco, necessarily. Everybody at telco that you might be wanting to work with, these videos should speak to them. And then again, they could be broader than that, which would then make an impact at, you know, for retirees at large. But there's just no way you're going to be able to meet your growth goals over the next, you know, three, four, or five years. If you've got these impact videos that you're creating for young professionals while, you know, adding one email subscriber at a time when you meet somebody on the pickleball court, like, it's just not going to happen. We got to go. I need to triple my practice as soon as possible. And these are the things that I'm going to commit to, to make that happen. And I'm going to make some really hard decisions and set some things to the side and avoid these distractions. Again, I mean, you're only 30 years old. If you commit to this for the next five years and build the practice you want to build at 35 years old, you're going to have the luxury of making an impact however you see fit. But I just don't think it's going to be possible. We're trying to manage both of those things. And again, I would go through that exercise. I'm a, I'm a worst case scenario type of person, you know, like what would happen in the worst case scenario if my business doesn't grow for two years, what's going to sell my house? Like now that gives me like real fire, you know, to, to make some, some important changes and really buckle down. So I would approach this like if I don't grow, do the right things the next two years, I'm going to have to sell my house. Hopefully I give you some motivation to make some of these, you know, decisions and maybe some of these, these hard decisions.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, that's good. That's exactly why I'm here. The, the, what Carl would call the, the punch to the nose and then the, you know, the empathetic hug afterwards. So no, I, I need that. Thank you. And, and, and I, and firm. I think what I did this last year, I think I can get a lot better this next year because I have been so shotgun approached in, in my marketing efforts and I have been divided in my attention and energy.

[Unknown Speaker]

So yeah, and, and just to, to piggyback on, like, don't, don't fool yourself. Like, okay, well last year was a pretty good growth year and I was still taking the shotgun approach and doing these videos, but it was still good growth year. Don't trick yourself into thinking that that can continue another year like that because as you grow and as you take on more clients, it's going to be harder to sustain, going to approach. If your marketing is really refined and really systematic, we're not playing around with other things, we're not messing around with these other demographics. Then as you grow, that marketing continues to be sustainable. Otherwise, next year, sure, you might experience more growth, but now you're, you know, more bogged down by the business and taking care of clients, and you can no longer, you know, spend time on the pickle ball court, you know, trading email addresses with people and recording videos for people that aren't a good fit for your firm. So I just want to, you know, caution you there that just because you had a good year last year when you were doing all these things, it's likely not going to continue. As you continue to grow, you're going to have to have better systems and processes from a marketing standpoint.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Thank you.

[Unknown Speaker]

And again, I'm not saying shut down YouTube at all. Just saying, just shift your content a little bit to ensure that whatever you're producing speaks to those folks at Telco as well as retirees at large. Now imagine, you know, this pickleball president who's talking to people saying, like, not only does Thomas have a YouTube channel, but Thomas's YouTube channel speaks to all of you guys. Like, every video he produces is talking exactly to people like you. So it's just going to start to make a bigger impact and, you know, help you reach your business goals faster.

[Kendra]

Yeah, and I. I think also, like, I really relate to this, Thomas, because I had a personal brand for 10 years and did that for so long, and I was splitting my time and attention between that and my business I have now, which is the agency. And I think it was, you know, a couple years ago, I finally, for me, I put that to rest. Cause it was a time where I had to make this decision, too. And for me, it was like I just had to shift my desire for impact into my other business. Like, how could I reshape that? So that may not be the path for you. Only, you know, the path for you, but for me, I found my current business became ten times more rewarding when I took this desire to help and make an impact. And I said, how do I help advisors make an impact? And that's why I have this podcast with Taylor and the amount of mental overhead that I had just shotgunning this personal brand on the side that at time wasn't really driving, you know, a ton of revenue or, or, you know, anything I could pay my bills with when I just shut that down and just, how do I make an impact over here in my business? Like, I was, like, baffled at how much margin and overhead I had just thinking about all these different pieces over here. And I didn't realize it, so I know we've thrown a lot your way. We've. We've also talked about some. Some difficult decisions. How is that landing for you?

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, no, you're. I mean, you're right. I. I agree that I'm. I'll get better results as I. As I do less or focus first on. On the retired to teleco. You know, that what's going to ultimately pay my bills and then I'm in a better position to do impact. And. And that's, you know, one thing that I think even I've been told before, even, like in a church setting, like, you can't help somebody if you're not on higher ground. Like, so you have like, kind of the. Maybe the airplane seat belt thing, right? You got. Or the. The oxygen mask. Sorry, you got to put your oxygen mask on before you can help someone else. And so that. Hearing that from you guys, I think, is really helpful. I guess I'm. I'm like, at 95% of the way there with a book and an online course that's for this younger demographic, since it's already there. Would. Would. Instead of going for 100 and perfect and publishing, would you just get it live today or would you not even go live with it until. Until I am at a point where I'm sustaining my. My life on my firm alone.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, I mean, writing the book and. And producing the course is only step one. I mean, step two is now I gotta get it into people's hands. So now I gotta create a marketing plan for getting this, you know, amazing product into people's hands. And now I have to likely maintain these things. You know, if I've got an online course, I'm probably gonna get, you know, questions. I'm gonna get, you know, requests for refunds. I'm gonna, you know, maybe need to update certain things throughout the course. You know, contribution limits. I'm not really sure, but, like, everything always seems really simple on the surface. I mean, Kendra and I have lived this journey on the podcast. Like, hey, let's just start a marketing podcast. We love marketing. Like, we'll just jump on and start talking about marketing.

[Kendra]

Narrator. Not simple. Not simple at all.

[Unknown Speaker]

Not simple. Like, these things aren't simple. So I just acknowledge, yeah, just.

[Thomas Cook]

It's.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's awesome that we've created something, but just creating something is just step one, I think, you know, gun to the head, I'd be like, just set that stuff to the side, you know, Like, I just don't know that you have the time and attention and resources right now to really give that the energy that it needs in order for it to be really successful and in order for it to make a big impact. Now, if you're like, look, it's almost at the finish line. I'm in the zone right now. I just want to get it. Get it across the finish line. That's a decision for you to make. But let's just go back to if you don't grow in two years, you know, you're selling your home. Just make sure that this isn't going to get in the way of that.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, that's super. That's super helpful.

[Kendra]

I want to point out two things here, because empathetically, for me, Thomas, it feels like we may have just punched you in the nose. Right? But I actually think you're struggling with something we see a lot of advisors struggle with, which is multiple niches, very wide demo, you know, just all over the place. And you've actually done, you know, some pretty hard work up front, dialing into this demographic of people retiring to teleco, one of these, you know, premier retirement communities. So you have this great lever in your, you know, toolkit that a lot of advisors don't. So when we say, hey, we need to set this to the side, a lot of advisors just have multiple niches, so they're in a very similar scenario. So you are not uniquely broken in that way. The other thing I want to point out is while you may have built this other, you know, kind of personal brand to help younger professionals, the skills that you acquire there. When I look at your YouTube channel, honestly, man, I'm so impressed. If you love YouTube, I would.

[Unknown Speaker]

I would.

[Kendra]

You know, there's a. We can talk about what your marketing funnel could look like. There's a couple different paths we could go down, but you have a competitive advantage with some of the skills you've gained. So building that personal brand, there are some skills that transfer. It's just not a complete wash altogether. And so I want to point that out because I think it's really easy to miss when you're in the midst of it. And the reason why I know that is because there's problems I can solve today in my business that I could not solve without the personal brand that I had. There's skills I have that I could not leverage. Part of being a great speaker came from the speaking I did on my personal brand, and now I've leveraged that in my business. So I want you to see that this additional Business is the same struggle a lot of advisors have with an additional niche. And you have a lot of skills there that you can reinvest in the firm to give you a very good competitive advantage.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I, I appreciate that. But yeah, you guys have changed my, my mind. My opinion that I, I really need to put all my energy into this firm until I'm at a point where I can go for impact, you know? Cause part of me was like, well, maybe I just shut down the other business then and reopen it later. But I do like the YouTube content. And, and I don't, you know, this isn't a compliance podcast. And maybe I'm going to get a nasty email from this. I have no idea. But because I've been doing YouTube under the other firm, the, the LLC disclose it as an outside business activity, which I feel like is making it easier on the compliance side. You can continue to do that.

[Unknown Speaker]

I mean, that, that's how my content is structured. The Stay Wealthy Retirement show is housed under a separate llc. It's an outside business activity. That's where clients come from, but it's still an outside business activity.

[Thomas Cook]

Okay. Okay.

[Unknown Speaker]

You could keep, keep the name, keep the YouTube channel. You don't have to delete the videos. You could create. I forgot they a playlist on YouTube and just take all those videos you've created for young professionals, put them into the young professional playlists. They're still there. And now just every video you create from now on is going to be retirement focused. And now you've got your retirement focused playlist. And then in five years, when Thomas has his practice, he can decide what he wants to do with this amazing YouTube channel that he's built. And maybe you continue to lean into retirement. Maybe you take this, you know, Dave Ramsey, Susie Orman approach and I'm going to speak to everybody. I, I don't know, but like, you'll have that luxury. But we're not telling you. You have to, you know, uproot all this stuff, change names, delete videos. It's just like, hey, we're just going to be more intentional about the content we create going forward.

[Thomas Cook]

Okay.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, now maybe you do, maybe you do tweak the name a little bit to better align with retirees. You know, it doesn't need to be retired to telco YouTube channel to match retired to teleco planning firm. Again, I've got Stay Wealthy Retirement show and Define Financial wealth management firm. Those two things are interconnected, but very different brands and obviously different names. Um, so yeah, sometimes we, we overcomplicate some of these changes that we have to make. I think to really just simplify and boil it down just like, nope, let's take these videos we've done, we're going to move them over here and just kind of archive them. And every video we create going forward is going to speak more towards these, you know, retirement folks. Before we run out of time though, just given that, maybe we've convinced you to set aside some of these other things and focus more on the retirement planning and retirement practice. Maybe you said this earlier, but how many retirees at Teleco are there that would like match your ideal demographic?

[Thomas Cook]

Well, there's about 10,000 people in the community. Wow. So about 5,000 ish households and a thousand of those people are in the pickleball club. And in my mind, and this is like the abundance mindset is like, okay, if there's a thousand people in the pickleball club, I only need 50 of them to be my client. And I'm 50 and I'm like, I can do that. Like that's, that's manageable.

[Unknown Speaker]

So yeah, I mean that is a pretty big conversion rate. 50 out of a thousand still probably. Yeah, I mean you probably could get there. This might take some time. So I probably think bigger than that. I mean that's up to you. If you want to expand outside the pickleball club. That's amazing that there's 10,000 people there. You're getting close to a viable niche just with like 10,000 people at Telecom. I don't know how many of those match your kind of criteria. I don't know if you have minimums, fee, minimums asset.

[Thomas Cook]

A lot of them do. And part of that is just because Tennessee, a lot of them are moving here because it's lower, lower cost of living. No state income tax. Property taxes here are a lot cheaper than other no state income tax states like Texas. So a lot of them do have money. It's a nice home, nice community. A lot of homes are on the lake. So that like it's an affluent community over age 55. And that's part of the reason why it is a little crowded with advisors and physical therapists. But so far I'm the first one to like plan a flag as the only fee, only advisor in that community. And it's, and it is resonating with some people and in fact probably it's probably resonated the most with I would say clients over 3 million net worth who just want to do planning Fees alone and not asset management. Just kind of want that. That validation.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah. Well, my final comment here to kind of bring us home is what I think also differentiates you with this community is you're not going to this community just looking for dollar signs. You're not just like hosting luncheons to try to lure people in to sell them something. What I love is you're getting ingrained in the community and doing something that you're passionate about. And that's authentic to you. That being pickleball. That's amazing, right? You just love to play pickleball and you love being around people that like pickleball. That's authentic, and that's going to work really well. And that's already differentiating you from the other advisors that are circling this community. I don't know that a thousand pickleball players is enough of a niche. You'd have to crunch the numbers and figure that out yourself. But the benefit is, if you take our advice with the YouTube channel and you start to pivot that content, you're going to naturally start to attract people outside of Teleco. People are going to stumble across your video that don't live in Tennessee. They live somewhere else. But they like you. They like your videos, and they want your help. So you might get 25 teleco pickleball players as clients, and you might get 25 virtual clients around the country that just love your YouTube channel. So I think pivoting this YouTube channel while also being ingrained in the physical world, in this community, playing pickleball, surrounding yourself with these people, those two things combined are going to work really well together. Those pickleball players are. They get to watch your videos and get to know you better and learn more about how you can help people. And those, you know, non teleco residents around the country are also going to stumble across your videos. So I think those two things are going to work really well together.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And maybe they'll end up moving to teleco. There you go.

[Unknown Speaker]

They get a little commission from Teleco for referring people.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah. No, the. That's cool. I think you're. I think you're right. I really took it to heart when Michael Kitces had said, you know, between you, Michael Kitsis car was the smallest viable audience. I was like, okay, it's a thousand people. Small, but maybe that's too small. It.

[Unknown Speaker]

It might. It might be big enough. Again, I don't know enough about those thousand people. It's. It's possible, but People will argue that a viable niche is closer to about 10,000.

[Thomas Cook]

So can I ask you another question? I'm curious about this. When I started my firm, I said, because you hear all the podcasts of like how when people start out they'll work with anybody, but they always wish like they would have kept to like, hey, this is who I work with. And like, maybe don't take on clients who aren't a good fit. And when I started my firm, I was like, okay, well that's, I have a clean slate. That's what I'm going to do. But I did tell myself I'm going to make one exception. If anyone comes to me, like in my friend, family, church, community and needs help, like that is somebody who I wouldn't turn away. I'm not actively soliciting or going after that community, but I didn't want to turn them away. But in my experience, as I do have some clients in that category that aren't really my, my focus, I'm kind of struggling because it is a community that I do want to help, I still want to help. And I'm, and I'm wondering, did I make the right move doing that or is it, or is that also another thing that's taking time and energy away from like the, the niche of the tax official retirement income planning, you know, So I don't know, how would you, what would you say there?

[Unknown Speaker]

Again, I relate to a lot of what you're saying. I want to help people, I want to make an impact. I want to help everybody. I just can't. It's just not possible for me to help everybody. It's not possible for me to help every friend that reaches out and every family member and family members of clients. So the way I look at it is I still want to help these people. So I always make Myself available for 30 minute phone calls for friends, family, friends of friends, whatever. If somebody has questions, needs help, I will make myself available for a 30 minute phone call. I will answer their questions. I'll provide resources. If we can help them, if they're truly like our ideal client, I'll let them know, hey, we work with people just like you. Here's some more information. 99% of the time it's like, hey, we don't have the expertise to help you. We're focused on, you know, complex tax planning for high net worth retirees. Our minimum fee is $15,000 per year. You really don't need to be paying $15,000 per year. Here are some resources for finding an advisor or, you know, here's some resources to kind of take action on the things that you're troubled with. So that's one way that I'm still able to help all these people that I really, really care about. The second way is the podcast and my email newsletter. Right? Like, you want to learn more about this stuff. You want to get, you know, improve your financial picture, improve your retirement planning. Like, great. I've got 220 podcast episodes that you can go and listen to. You can join my email newsletter and I send out free flowcharts and, and weekly newsletters. Like, we're helping people in all these different ways. The only way to help somebody is not to take them on as a client. In fact, it might be the opposite. You might be doing them a disservice because you don't have the real expertise or the service model, the operations, the systems to really help that person. I shared this a million times by now, but I always said that if a 30, if a, if a 30 year old with $30 million walked into my office, I wouldn't take them on as a client. I just, we don't have the service model to help that person. I don't, I don't have the expertise to help somebody who just walked into $30 million navigate whatever challenges are ahead. I just don't. It would take up a lot of time and energy that, yeah, we just don't have. So I think oftentimes we're probably doing these people a disservice by, by trying to help them when they're probably, you know, better fit for somebody else or some other service or some other resource.

[Kendra]

I also think another way to look at that, based off an experience I had this year, I had a client that I was serving that was not a RIA in growth mode. And they were in the financial, you know, kind of advisor space and they were getting amazing results and they were, you know, stoked to work with me and they were very happy. And I realized I was actually disservicing my current clients because all of a sudden I was looking at different kinds of strategies that didn't apply to growing RIAs. And for me, it made me realize that like this, while this client is getting good help, it's you one, you could be disservicing them because you just don't have the continuing expertise for maybe that age range or those different pain points, those different stages of life. But also for me, I was disservicing my current clients. And so for me, that was a little Bit of a different perspective shift overall. And it was hard, I'm telling you, it was hard to make that cut. It, it made me want to just like throw up in my mouth. I was so stressed about it. And I can tell you on the other side of it, it's been really good for me. That doesn't mean it's the choice for you. But again, what's really interesting about the conversation we've had today is there's a lot of interesting perspective shifts. You know, you want to make an impact. Where can we drive impact for you that also helps you hit your business goals? We're not saying you can't make an impact. We're saying how do we use impact and align it with where you want to go? So again, I think that there's a lot of things you have going on that are really working in your favor today. You asked us to focus your efforts and if you were focusing your efforts on growing the firm, I think a really top level decision that you could do is write down all the activities you're doing right now from a marketing perspective for these two businesses and whatever doesn't correspond to retire to telco just gets put on ice or paused.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah.

[Kendra]

And that would cut probably your marketing activities list just to start in half. And then if we were going to build you a marketing Funnel that leverages two things you love, which is community and YouTube, here's what that might look like for you. Top of funnel, you can still be in the community making connections in a unique, creative way. And in the middle of funnel is if you meet someone, you could invite them to your YouTube channel. Very specific, very simple. Or you could ask them for their, their email address, put them into your email software and also invite them to your YouTube channel via, you know, sending them an email.

[Unknown Speaker]

Right.

[Kendra]

That's a simple way to do that. And then your bottom of funnel is just your sales process. So those are a few ways I think based off the conversation we've had today, that you could focus your efforts going forward to align income and impact. You can have both, but it's really hard to do it when you're, you're kind of shotgunning the approach. And again, so many people do this. Very few people come to calls like this and have hard conversations about where they really want to go.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah, it is hard to let go to put something on ice. But, but I think it is what I need. And thank you, Taylor too for calling me out like not detecting the urgency because there is urgenc that I need to you Know, replace my, my income before I started my firm. Otherwise my lifestyle is not sustainable. And I'm hopeful and I think, you know, that if we were having this conversation one year from now, I think I am in that spot. Not made, not 50 million, not capped out. But I do think that it is, you know, sustainable at that point. That was kind of my plan to, you know, by end of two years, be replacing my prior income.

[Kendra]

So definitely, if you're going to make one, one, you know, change. Based on the conversation today, what do you think you might do differently or take away from this conversation that you'll apply in your firm?

[Thomas Cook]

Well, the number one thing for sure will be the YouTube, have the retirement focus and be, be getting people to that financial planning process. And that makes a lot more sense from like a business standpoint or profitability standpoint, because if I charge thousands of dollars for an upfront financial plan, well, that's real revenue right away versus like thirty or a hundred dollars for an online course. You know, just the timing of the impact, that was super helpful to the reality. Like, I'm 30. You know, if it takes me five years, I'll be 35. I will now be in a better position for that scalability of YouTube. But I need to focus on this first. I think that was incredibly valuable. Thank you. Thank you.

[Unknown Speaker]

Awesome.

[Kendra]

Anything else from you, Taylor?

[Unknown Speaker]

I don't think so. Yeah, I really, really enjoyed this conversation. I know we went a few, you know, and talk through some, some difficult things, but I appreciate you coming on and, and being vulnerable and willing to have this conversation and, and, you know, take feedback. I know it's not easy. So as you digest this conversation and think through your next steps, don't hesitate to reach out to us with additional questions or, you know, if you want to talk through something. Yeah. Feel free to reach out.

[Thomas Cook]

Yeah. And, and don't. Don't hate me if I do publish my book or online course because it's already almost done. But just know that if you read it, just know it wasn't perfect and. But I am, I'm okay with releasing something that's not perfect now just to get it out there other places.

[Kendra]

I think the little intro of the book is like, hey, Kendra and Taylor, if you read this, sorry I had to ship it. Right. Thomas, we appreciate you. I think you are so talented. And aside from, you know, the things that you've done that are really impressive, just the skill you have on YouTube is remarkable for your, you know, just getting started in the business and growing it, I just want to say I appreciate you for the heart that you bring to the work that you do. Because it's advisors like you that we build this podcast for. And I really believe in the power of financial planning. I've seen it make an impact. I see it make an impact on my own life, on my clients. Clients. That's why we do what we do. So we don't ever want you to lose the heart. We want you to take that, you know, kind of heart and humanity and infuse it into your business in a way that can help people and drive profit. So thank you so much today for showing us how those two sides can integrate and align. You can have income and impact. Thanks everyone for listening and we'll see you next week. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. To get the resources shared or sign up to join us as a guest on one of our advice line episodes, check out the links in the show notes. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.