CFO Chronicles: The Secrets Behind Success
Welcome to CFO Chronicles: The Secrets Behind Success, the ultimate podcast for Fractional CFOs and Accounting Firm owners who are eager to land more high-paying clients and elevate their businesses to new heights. Hosted by James Donovan from Nine Two Media, we specialize in helping financial professionals achieve their goals through innovative and effective marketing strategies.
In each episode, we dive deep into the world of finance and marketing, interviewing industry leaders who share their insider secrets and success stories. You'll gain access to unique marketing tactics specifically designed for Fractional CFOs and Accounting Firms, covering everything from lead generation and client acquisition to branding and digital presence.
Whether you're looking to refine your marketing approach or seeking inspiration from top financial experts, CFO Chronicles: The Secrets Behind Success is your go-to resource for actionable insights and proven strategies. Join us as we uncover the secrets behind thriving financial practices and help you unlock the full potential of your business.
Tune in and transform the way you attract and retain clients—one episode at a time.
CFO Chronicles: The Secrets Behind Success
Why Traditional Firms Are Falling Behind in a Virtual-First World — with Stoy Hall
What if the old rules for growing your firm no longer applied?
No cold calls. No in-person handshakes. No chasing local leads.
Just brand, trust, and content that actually converts.
In this episode, James sits down with Stoy Hall, founder of Black Mammoth and host of the No BS Wealth podcast, to break down how he’s scaling a modern family office by doing things differently—and why that’s exactly what today’s market demands.
You’ll hear how Stoy:
- Built a virtual-first firm without sacrificing trust or connection
- Attracts aligned clients by showing up loudly online
- Uses AI and content to scale without losing his voice
- Leads with empathy to create loyalty—on his team and with his clients
- Is shifting away from AUM to a more human, scalable model
If you’re tired of doing business the old way—and ready to grow on your terms—this conversation is your permission slip.
👉 Hit play to see what’s possible when you rethink what a modern advisory firm can be.
Feeling stuck in your growth? Discover how to elevate your marketing, personal brand, and sales approach to attract clients who value your expertise.
Ready to make a shift?
Book your strategy call today at accountingleadsnow.com
Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success, the go-to podcast for fractional CFOs and accounting firm owners who want to attract more high-paying clients and increase their revenue. Hosted by James Donovan from Nine Two Media, this podcast dives into marketing strategies specifically designed for lead generation and client acquisition. In each episode, you'll hear from industry leaders sharing their success stories, and Today we're joined by Stoy Hall Stoy, super excited to be diving in hearing a little bit more about your story.
Speaker 2:what's helped your business grow? I know you've got a podcast as well that we can speak about, but Black Mammoth Stoy Hall tell us a little bit about yourself and the clients you serve.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I'm just a born and raised Midwestern in America here and sports was my avenue. Food is my love, and I really learned early on that I cared a lot about people and money really wasn't a thing, right, because I came from a background that didn't really have a lot of money. My mom didn't, my dad was never around, and so like money to me wasn't the factor. It was like being around awesome people whether that was other families helped raising me and getting me to sports, whether that was my mother doing bending over backwards to get me to where I'm at. I learned really early on that your network or your team and your family, is what can transpire you, and so that's kind of what driven me to my career right Fast track.
Speaker 3:I played football at Drake University, graduated from there, went head first into this financial game as an insurance salesman, worked my way up to the management side of things, and then in 2017, when I had our second kid, I was like it's time for a transition.
Speaker 3:I want to be able to holistically help people, not just through insurance it's important, but everything else matters just as much and so I joined a firm out of Houston at that point, but launched Black Mammoth September I think the legal documents say of 2020 as a modern family office working with women and minority business owners the ones that some of them are startups, but, as you know, it's like that next step right. I started, I'm profitable, but I need help to get me to this next growth and that's where we step in and really just own everything for them so they can focus on their little bit of things. And, like you said, I do have a podcast no BS Wealth. We bring no bullshit to the money. Talk to the money game and it's really fun. It's all encompassing, right. Everything I do is integrated, so that way, it's the same message over and over again and hopefully we can change the industry a little bit.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. That's awesome. I also started my business right before the pandemic in 2020. I'm curious how did that go for you? I mean, we're here now talking, so obviously well enough, but like, starting a business is hard. Starting it during a pandemic, I would say maybe one of the harder things to do. So I'd love to hear a little bit about that and how you kind of persevered through it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I say this a lot too is for me. I was just moving my clients from one entity to another, so it wasn't like a brand new startup, like someone launching a business. I had a core clientele, which was nice. It actually, because of the pandemic, made the transition and growth of our business easier, and I will always give credit to the pandemic and COVID for helping our industry because we were all the like it's who you know around the block right, not being able to do this virtual stuff, and the financial industry needed to shake up badly because we need to be able to reach out to whomever fits us right.
Speaker 3:Growing up in this industry, it was always like whoever breathes, whoever lives around you, those should be your clients, and I never really fit in with that because they're not like my people, like I don't want to hang out with these people all the time, and as business owners, if you're having a service-based clientele, you want that relationship. Well, guess what? There are people all over this country or all over the world that will relate to you but have never met you, and so the COVID and pandemic allowed us to go virtual and now everyone does it and almost regularly meet in person, which is there's drawbacks to it. But that's what I what I say about it. It was actually a blessing in disguise awesome.
Speaker 2:What's your take when, if you come across prospects who, for whatever reason, they still feel like no, I want to work with someone local like they. Just they feel like I don't know the best person, for whatever reason, is in their local market, which is so crazy because we get that a lot with some of the outreach we do for our clients. But now even hiring new team members like it's a massive blessing that you don't have to be restricted to who's available in your local market, whether that's talent you're hiring or service that you're looking to hire, like your services or whatever that is so like what's, what's your take? And how do I guess you address prospects when they say that Like hey, you're not, you're not local to us.
Speaker 3:I tell them to grow up. No, I'm kidding. What we we try to do within our brands that we have is we have a network of people. We meet a lot of people.
Speaker 3:Obviously, as a host, you meet a lot of people, but in terms of what we do as a family office, I'm always vetting out other professionals in whatever roles there are all over the country, and so when someone says that I one try to sell them the fact that it doesn't matter anymore, but two, then if that's the case, I'm going to help them find someone who's relatively local, that I have vetted out, that I trust that's part of my network, and go ahead and make that conversation and be like, hey, they're local, they're going to do everything that you want them to do. You know, here, because I believe that there is no competition in our industry, the competition is for those that are not educated and do not have a planner, advisor, cfo, whatever this service is, and we all need to come together and when we're meeting people, people, and they don't fit us, we should be able to have, you know, a handful of people that we can go to and say, hey, they fit you perfectly, let's get them onboarded that's great.
Speaker 2:What story. What gets you out of bed and excited about what you do on a daily basis? I know you you may have alluded to it a little bit at the start, but like what? What's that driving force that really gets you excited about what you do Monday to Friday, or even seven days a week?
Speaker 3:I mean, we're business owners. It's seven days a week, 24-7. There's no time off. I don't care what anyone says up well before we do, for some reason, even though we get up at five, it truly is being able to help more people find their ability to grow their wealth. I say it all the time, and today on thread someone yelled at me for it, but there's not one wealthy person or successful person on this earth that has done it alone. You have to have a team. Whatever that team makeup will be different for everyone, but you need to have a team and you need to have someone who can kind of oversee and quarterback. Most of it and so that's what majority of all our content is about is getting people to realize that one, they're not alone in this world, whatever they're doing specifically business owners. But also they're not alone, and there's people out here that are resources for them, that think like they do will push them and drive them to that next great stage that they want in their life.
Speaker 2:Let's build on team a bit. With the world being a lot more virtual now, like you mentioned, it's almost rare to have in-person meetings with prospects or maybe even team members. What's the makeup of your team look like? Or do you have a lot of people in your local market? Do you rely on a lot of team members who work remotely? I'd love to hear a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my wife joined the firm in December, so me and her here locally. We do have a couple of our accounting staff that are local but we meet virtually anyway, even though we're 20 minutes away of them, are virtual, and then we'll have some local clients that will go grab lunch or let the kids run around, which isn't like a meeting but is more local feel. Otherwise it's like 99% plus that are all virtual, even if they are local. We're still doing virtual meetings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Just more efficient to jump on, zoom and you're not dealing with traffic and driving around. How do you go about building team culture or client relationships that are all virtual? I mean especially with team and you mentioned. Yeah, you can meet with a couple of clients in person, but most of the work it sounds like it's all virtual. A lot of people are building their firms now following that same path. So, like what's been working really well for you, I guess, building culture or even retention wise in a virtual world?
Speaker 3:Slack. We use Slack all the time, and anyone I hire, part of my partnership or whatever around me, I let them know that like this isn't, this isn't a job and work like this is our life, it's just lifestyle. And so message me all the time. And so we have a very open dialogue both with our clients and any of our support staff or anyone who's involved with our businesses of just like 24 seven, we can just chat back and forth and be there for each other, above and beyond just business conversations. Right, hey, what's going on? How's it going? How can we support you those types of things?
Speaker 3:And I think that inner, that ability to always have that dialogue whenever things are happening, really allows you to be a lot closer to those people and then they truly start to feel like family because it's that deep of a relationship. Right, I have clients and I have other staff that are. We talk more, probably 80 percent of the time, about what our kids are doing. What's going on? You know, I just had a client that's mother died a month ago. So we've had those conversations, but those are going on all the time. It's not like a designed oh, we meet once a month or once a quarter or whatever, then we can download it. We are literally have an open dialogue 24 seven, if need be.
Speaker 2:You're just being human. Just being human, yeah, for real people. That's, that's the, that's the secret sauce is being a human and having a conversation with someone. That's cool. Tell me a little bit about how, how Black Mammoth the success behind your growth. Like, how do you guys find clients? What's been working really well for you as a firm?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean everyone's going to say referrals or whatever. I mean they're going to have that. But outside of that, right, you should take care of your clients and they love you and you know people come on. It's truly.
Speaker 3:I asked this question to my marketing team yesterday. I was like, where's our best like route, like can you figure it out? And there truly isn't one, because we do everything everywhere and we're so loud. What I would say is it's because we're building a brand and we are. We do have the podcast, we are on all social medias, we do blog posts, we do podcasts and reviews, we are everywhere that I think that whole overall brand then allows someone to relate in relationship and then, wherever platform they're on at that point, then that goes through there. But I truly believe it is because we are providing so much content everywhere and letting everyone know that we are here for you, where you're at. That it allows them to get comfortable and that's kind of what drives them the most. So obviously, referrals and word of mouth is going to be king, but it's that brand behind it. When someone's you know search a story or black mammoth or whatever, that they're going to see it and they're going to know who we are pretty damn quick.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. It's the omnipresence. Just be everywhere and people will. Will see you. What would you say to maybe other firm owners who aren't as comfortable in front of the camera or getting hung up on the idea of creating content and thinking like, oh, I'm an accountant, like content's not for me, that's for influencers and people who are dancing on TikTok? Yeah, you got to do it.
Speaker 3:If you're in a relationship business, let me back up. Yeah, you got to do it. If you're in a relationship business, let me back up. If you're in the relationship business, you just got to suck it up and do it, Because it's the same conversation I have with my clients across the desk, or virtually Whatever you're doing now. You're just doing it in front of a camera that's recorded. So, first step, maybe do a podcast, maybe go to a guest podcast spot, right, and just try it, and then from that, as you know, as a host, like now, we have all the ability to cut this thing up to a hundred different ways and post it wherever. But you got to do it.
Speaker 3:If you're a relationship business, people need to hear you because they care about you. They don't care about the name of anything that you do or what you own, it's you. And so if they're not hearing from you, it's going to be harder, uh, for them to find you. And then, on the flip side of it, you're right, sometimes you're like, damn, I create content. I feel like an influencer. You're not. You're not, because what you're doing is you're providing your voice with the facts and advice that you want to teach others and I promise you, even if you're not seeing the likes or the engagement, people are watching and listening and you're changing their life without knowing, and it's out there and I guarantee it is. So if you care about others and you really want to be a human, you just got to do it Right, just Nike, just do it.
Speaker 2:That's great. I was at a recent conference with a bunch of digital marketers and very similar message was coming up and it was about, you know, either being a follower or a creator and that kind of mindset shift of maybe feeling like an imposter creating content. And well, someone else has already done this. So, like, why are they going to listen to me? I forget the exact numbers. I could find it in a book but I won't waste your time, but it was wild. I want to say over 99% of people don't even post on social media Maybe like 98, 1 and 1.
Speaker 2:I forget If my mentor is listening he's probably going to call me out on this, but it is that idea of just just create something because it's likely it hasn't been created before, and the amount of people that are on social media. They're just there lurking in the background and, to your point, that piece of people have probably seen it. It's true, I've been on a couple of sales calls or different demos and people are like I've seen your stuff everywhere. I can't believe I'm actually going to be speaking to you or whatever it is. So it's, and I don't feel like I'm putting out insane, insane value all the time, but it's just getting out there and doing it and it is uncomfortable. So it's refreshing to meet you and how much you are putting out, and I checked out your site before jumping on and like even some cool videos there of how you guys are getting people to walk through your funnel like it's.
Speaker 3:It's neat to see yeah, and it's different, but everyone realize it's. It's also difficult because people aren't used to it either, right? So not only are we as professionals it's uncomfortable, or started off uncomfortable and now you're good with it, but also the people that you're delivering the message to are also learning a new style as well. Right, specifically in the service industry. I can't speak to the products as much, but in the service industry, having someone out there always and talking to you like that is a different way of doing it than the old days of like, oh, it's just because they're around the block, right? Or because my friend knows this person. Well, now, since a lot of those people are nationwide, they're learning you from a different platform and if you miss them, you miss them, right, and so it's not only uncomfortable for us, it's kind of uncomfortable in a new learning style for them that we're kind of, you know, integrating, and great things happen when that happens.
Speaker 2:Let's talk a little bit about AI. I get the feeling that you probably use some AI in the business. What stands out to you, or how are some ways that you guys are able to implement AI to either help grow your business, optimize your own lifestyle or help out your clients?
Speaker 3:Yeah, market team, outside of all the video stuff. I don't know what they do, because they do it, but I assume they use some AI. How we use it in the business is I'm a talker. I don't know if everyone noticed that yet, but I love to talk. It's easy for me to do this. It's easy for me to articulate this way.
Speaker 3:I am an awful writer Both my penmanship and just the overall writing ability is not there.
Speaker 3:And so I love AI because I'll be able to record something like this in my voice and the way I want to speak, and then I'm able to feed it exactly that and it spit out exactly how I want to say it in a more you know, I don't want to say professional manner, but not my handwriting, not the way I speak to that degree. And so that's how I use it to enhance not only efficiency, because writing takes a long time, but to be able to pull it and organize my thoughts together without me having to go pen to paper and try to figure it out, which then allows us obviously to create more content faster. Our blogs, you know, not necessarily our emails, but some of the content you see that's on the website. It just allows it to learn my voice and speak it out there, but it's not like I'm using it to go research for me and then speak for me. I'll do the research, I'll speak to it and then let it take my words into whatever platform or whatever I need it for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great and it's so cool because it just it retains everything. So it's not like, oh, I had a really great idea this day and the next day you're just not feeling it like. You just ask it hey, pull from all the memory, it already has all of it. Um, we've been playing around with, well, just the idea of kind of trying to dump everything out of team members into ai so it's saved, and like there's no need to retrain after. You can just pull from all those the great resources that you've dumped into it over time and time again. So if people aren't using ai, I think they're going to get left behind. It's just. It's not a I don't even think it's opinion anymore, I think it's just fact.
Speaker 3:If you're not using ai, you're going to be left behind yeah, and truly get over yourself with the fact that, like you're not writing it, yeah, everyone's doing it, writers are doing it, ghost, right, they're using the same thing. Just do it, but don't let it feed the fake stuff. Right, feed it, you still be genuine, um, and feed the information you want it to, but it just makes it more efficient. That way, you can get more stuff out to people quicker, and that's really what we want to do as creators. Right, we want to be able to provide more content quicker to you and less, you know, a lot less, or a lot more efficient for us. Because I remember five, six years ago, when we started our podcast, it would take like 10 hours an episode to get everything cut up, get it posted and all of that stuff. And now with, specifically, ai, we cut that down to like an hour and a half, two hours, which means we can do more, and that's really what we want to do.
Speaker 2:What's one of your like top AI programs or software like in the tech stack that you guys are using?
Speaker 3:So it's funny. I test them all the time, obviously, but currently I have ChatGPT and and I use them for different purposes. I'll use ChatGPT to back up some research, find me some resources, but Claude to speak more and we joke about this. The marketing team jokes about this a lot is we truly believe Claude is a black dude, Like we really do think he's a black dude Because some of the things he puts out there, I'm like that's how I would say it. You just said what I would say You're on to something, but we use those two a lot. And then obviously, there's some internal stuff from another perspective that most people don't have because they don't have the financial stuff, but those two we use to compete against each other on some certain items.
Speaker 2:Interesting. That's cool. What's one piece of advice you'd give to other business owners or entrepreneurs? Just in, maybe in general. I'll just leave it at that. I don't want to, I don't want to answer the question itself. So just like one piece of advice for entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for business owners, you need a team. I said it earlier, you got to have a team and you got to understand that that team is there to support you. Do not think you can wear all these hats alone. I know it might cost money, but in order for you to grow, both personal development wise and business development wise, you've got to delegate and have a team be able to support whatever movement that is. That doesn't mean they have to be internal. That means they can be external. It could be your buddy down the street that gets beers every Monday afternoon. You just have to have the team and have them in the positions, otherwise you're going to burn out and your business won't be successful.
Speaker 2:That's so good. What's the last question for you, Stoy? What's next for Black Mammoth?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a good one. Really, we're just going to continue on what we're doing. I think we're going to hit our metrics that we want already, probably by July. And so now I've been tasked with a couple of friends, I guess, from colleagues from the industry that they're like a couple of friends, I guess from colleagues from the industry that they're like can you replicate this right, whether it's a franchise model or whatever and so I've been tasked with trying to build that and see how easy it is to make it a model.
Speaker 3:So I would assume that's probably next, because we speak a lot about the modern family office, I believe our industry shifting a lot to that and so, but it's the ultimate thing is like how do you do it? Like what is the right way to do it? Because most advisors charge AUM, we don't. I'm trying to go strictly away from that. Thanks, regulatory body. There's still some issues there, but we're really working towards that because I truly believe every person should have a family office and should have a team of people looking out for them in their best interest, and the way we're doing it is working so far and working pretty well, so it's just a matter of okay, can we replicate that to others and provide that for them.
Speaker 2:That's so good, Stoy. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing all of your insight in this conversation. It's been great. How can people continue the conversation with you if they want to pick this up?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Just Google Stoy Hall, black man with an OBS Wealth. You'll literally find us on every platform except for Reddit, because I got kicked off Long story short there. Seriously, reach out. I ask this every time I'm a guest, and even on my own podcast, we want you to comment and like, share and all that stuff. Yeah, it's cool for the algorithm. That's not really why we do it, but in order to learn more about you and provide better content for you, we have to know what's going on, and so just reach out. Whether it's DMing us, commenting, whatever it is, we're here to answer your questions to the best of our ability, but if you don't, then we can't answer it. So make sure you reach out.
Speaker 2:Continue the conversation with Stoy everyone. Again, thank you so much for coming on. This was great.
Speaker 3:Appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Thanks for tuning in to this episode of CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success. I hope you found value in today's conversation. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, make sure to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. If you enjoyed today's discussion, please rate and review the show. It helps others discover the insights we share here. Second, if you're ready to take your business to the next level and attract the high-end clients you deserve, head over to accountingleadsnowcom or click the link in the show notes to book your strategy. Call. It's time to position yourself as the advisor your clients need. And don't forget you can connect with me on LinkedIn to stay up to date on what's happening in the world of accounting and financial growth. We've got more exciting topics coming up, so stay tuned for the next episode of CFO Chronicles. Until then, keep pushing forward. Your growth is just one strategic move away.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success. We hope today's episode provided valuable strategies to help you attract more high paying clients. Be sure to subscribe, follow and share with fellow professionals. Connect with us on LinkedIn and leave a review or comment to join the conversation. Your feedback helps us bring you the best insights in finance and marketing. Until next time, keep striving for success and unlocking your business's potential.