From Tree Surgeon to Trainee Wealth Manager: Nick Champion's Career Transition and Growth Mindset

In this episode of Hoxton Life, our host Sam Oakes explores the inspiring journey of Nick Champion, who transitioned from being a tree surgeon to a trainee wealth manager at Hoxton Wealth. 

Nick is based in our St Albans office in the UK, and is team leader for the trainee wealth manager team. 

Nick’s experience highlights the importance of resilience, adaptability, and transferable skills in navigating a career shift into the financial planning profession. 

He emphasises how his diverse background enriched his new role, showcasing that previous experiences can enhance client relationships and the adaptability needed in predmoninetly business development focused role.  

Nick shares how the discipline he cultivated as a business owner has been crucial in his financial planning career, allowing him to establish effective routines that directly impact client retention and relationship management.

The conversation delves into the significance of interpersonal skills, as Nick illustrates that success in business development is as much about understanding human behavior and managing expectations as it is about financial knowledge.

A great episode if you are keen to understand more about our Trainee Wealth Manager role.  

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Transcript

In the 30s now, so you go, times ticking away,
what am I going to do with my life?
What a difficult time my life.
100%.
You are going to be a success in this business.
You just got to be driven.
You're motivated and driven.
And then straight into a course, right?
The 12 weeks of a flash has gone.
It was all over.
I spent all the money.
It's a big move.
The idea will be a qualified advisor within two years.
I'm a firm believer.
You need to get stuck in at the deep end.
And it's important that they get that bond
in that connection because it goes a long way.
You know, I don't want to deal with everyone's problems.
What sort of things with the toughest part
about managing people?
It's been let down.
It's just a look on effect.
Times get hard.
I look for the good things.
I need to make this qualification work for me now.
So what are you grateful for?
People with all backgrounds can join.
It can be, it's been proven.
He's about mindset.
He's about attitude.
He's about putting yourself out there.
Grateful for the opportunity to join.
The exercise is to where the journey goes.
And that is exactly the type of people that we want here.
At Hoxton Life.
People that are go getses that want to go out there
and make it work.
Nicholas, thanks so much for joining us today
on the Hoxton Life Podcast,
where we look at what it's like
to work for Hoxton Wealth in the UK
and also internationally.
But today, we're in the St. Albans office.
And we're talking to you about your career so far.
Here at Hoxton, what you're doing,
where you came from,
and really a little bit more about why people perhaps
would consider Hoxton Wealth in their career.
Sure.
Yeah, so I joined in March
and I've joined as the trainee Wealth Manager role.
My background is slightly different.
I come from a different background
where I used to be a tree surgeon.
Right.
Got a bit fed up of that running my business,
the day-to-day tasks,
as I'm sure you're aware of.
And then, yeah, put myself through a course,
like a fast track course,
where I studied with Samuel Leach for three months.
Yeah.
Got a qualification in advanced trading.
And as a result of the back of that,
managed to get the opportunity to apply for Hoxton.
Amazing.
Look, fantastic brief overview.
Probably one of the best I've actually had.
Thank you so much.
But let's break that down a little bit, okay?
So prior to getting into financial planning,
you worked as a tree surgeon, okay?
Not many people I've come across
who've moved from tree surgery into financial planning.
And that's, in me, is fantastic.
There is such a need for new people
to come into the profession, right?
And you're coming from an environment
I would never have even thought of.
And I think Hoxton, wealth,
having the foresight also,
to consider someone like you.
Now, you mentioned you were running your own business
when you were a tree surgeon.
That's right, yeah.
So I ran my own firm for about 10 years,
just under 10 years.
And I think, as a result of that's appeared in my life,
I've got a lot of life experience,
knowing what employers want, what they don't want,
how you like things to run.
So that's given me a bit of an insight
into trying to have given it my best
and trying to be good in my role.
Yeah, so you were managing people in that role as well?
Yeah, I had two or three people on full time.
And there's a lot of paperwork,
a lot of red tape with licenses
and qualifications that need to be up to date, insurance.
And yeah, it was a good part of my life.
I initially enjoyed it.
COVID hit, things were a bit tricky.
I then worked more for one individual,
sort of subcontracted to him.
And yeah, that's where I ended up with that job.
OK, so you were a tree surgeon for 10 years, you said?
Yeah, 10 years.
10 years, managing a team, subcontracting with somebody else.
Yeah.
Outside in the wind and the rain,
I'm looking out the window today.
I'm back in England from Dubai and...
Great, so I want to get up in the morning on a Monday
and have to climb a tree.
I guess as well, you never could predict
whether or not a job would be on or off.
You couldn't, that's exactly it.
And it's like this morning getting in my car
with the wind and the rain.
I've still got a smile on my face.
So I'm going into an office for the day,
not up to some tree in the wind and rain.
So, yeah, that's one aspect I really don't miss.
And I used to find managing people rewarding, but tough.
Yeah, can be very tough.
What sort of things with the toughest part
of managing people?
I think people don't always treat a business as their own.
So they'd be turning up late or they wouldn't be giving it
at the 100%.
Had a few issues with punctuality and just being let down.
And there's a knock on effect to that
because I then net clients down.
You may have taken the death work to be around to let me in.
And it's just a knock on effect.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Being a business owner and then moving into an employed role
because you're now a trainee, wealth manager at Hoxton.
And we'll get onto that in a minute.
But those transferable skills really,
when you were managing people,
and I suppose your understanding of what somebody
who runs a business actually goes through,
can you just talk about some of those
and how that's transferred into your role here at Hoxton Wealth?
Yeah, so I think running the business
you've got to be a quite disciplined.
And I think also routine is so important,
whether that's your morning routine,
where you get up, do certain tasks,
right through to how you conduct yourself
of an evening, get ready for work the next day.
And I think those sort of disciplines rub onto any industry,
whether that's in finance or whether you're climbing up
and down a tree every day.
So I think those skills are transferable.
And I think if you turn up, put your show in,
give it 100%, I think you'll do okay.
So it's the attitude part.
A lot of it's attitude.
It's attitude and being committed to your role
and taking pride in what you do.
And it always pays to get extra mile,
whether that's an extra phone call
or just double checking something,
the extra mile pays dividends in the long run.
I think when you run your own business,
and you know the pressure's upon you
to be able to bring money in, right?
You've got to win new clients,
you've got to get out there and market your business.
When you run your own business,
you wear multiple hats,
you understand the pressures that are upon you.
So often when you move from running your own business,
then to become an employee,
there's a level of respect that you have
from a place of understanding.
Absolutely.
You kind of go into the role,
already know what you would expect
as the individual employing you.
You get an idea of what's expected of yourself
because you've already been that position with other people.
And I think that has definitely helped.
Do you find being employed
from being self-employed?
Do you find being employed?
It gives you a level of security.
It takes away a bit of worry about
where your next paycheck is coming from, for example.
That was always an issue because you'd have
a bit like in any industry,
you'd have strong quarters, week quarters,
and they often balance themselves out.
But having the stability of on a Sunday evening,
not thinking, what we're doing work
whilst tomorrow, the weather's bad,
we have to cancel, reschedule.
I now go to bed on a Sunday,
and exactly what I'm doing for the rest of the week ahead.
There's flexibility, you know,
some some evenings I might work a little bit later.
And at the end of the day,
I kind of feel the more you put in, the more you get out.
And that's exactly the same as when I was running my firm.
Yeah, I love that.
I've had the pleasure of actually getting to know you
a little bit and spoke to you on the podcast,
explore as your chat.
These are one of my favorite things to do
because I really can talk to somebody
without the cameras on them.
Because I can make you feel a little bit nervous
and the cameras are on you, right?
So I got the luxury of getting to know you
and I know mindset wise,
you were a very focused individual.
And one of the things that stood out for me massively,
that you were hugely grateful for this opportunity as well.
Now, I want to take our listeners just back
as to why you're so grateful for this opportunity
because when you were top of the tree
and you were cutting it down and maybe, you know,
when COVID hit et cetera,
and you were thinking to yourself,
were you thinking to yourself at that point,
what am I going to do with my life?
Yeah, I always had that thought it was too late in my life.
So I've also got a young family.
So financially, there was always not pressure
but responsibility.
I was blessed in the sense I was supported
through doing my training,
my partners have held the thought as it were
for the few months I was off doing that.
And it was always a case of it's too late.
I didn't leave school, I didn't do my A levels,
I didn't do my degree.
And you kind of think I'm in the 30s now
so you go times ticking away.
But thankfully, the intensive course with Samuel Leach
was like a foundation degree put into three months
so I was able to study quick.
Let's stop there because you've mentioned in Samuel Leach
and for those that don't know who is him,
what was that course all about
because you move from tree surgery, gave it up.
Yeah, sure.
And then straight into a course, right?
Yeah, so Samuel Leach is a person I've been following
for a few years.
So as one of my hobbies when I was still doing the tree work,
I used to do investments, trading,
and always had a keen on financial markets.
So I actually did a course with him
a fast track level five diploma.
And I really do feel that that gave me everything I needed
for this role.
So it gave me, didn't give me all the information I needed,
but it gave me a very good understanding of products
that we work with, how the financial markets operate.
And I think that was crucial.
And although it wasn't a bog standard degree,
it was still compliant for what I needed to take on this role.
It gave you enough information to feel confident
that you could move into a role like this.
OK, how long did that course take you then to do?
That was just over three months.
So yeah, 14 essays in three months.
We were also live trading and account as well with Sam.
So getting lots of experience on the Thunder Trade floor.
Fantastic.
And yeah, it was a really, really good bunch of people.
We all learnt it was part of being in that sort of industry
with like-minded people.
So we'd all get ideas from each other, which really did help.
Whereas, in our sort of background at home,
people don't really know an awful lot about that industry.
OK, it's interesting, isn't it?
When you have an interest in something,
but you're around people that don't,
you almost feel like you don't have confidence.
But when you walk into a room and you find
a tribe for the people that are all in the same place as you,
on the same journey as you, and has the same interest of you,
it's transferable energy.
It is.
We learn of each other, we banks of each other.
Everyone's in the same position.
It's wonderful when you then got somebody like a Sam Leech,
who's then able to give you the training and development
and the guidance and the mentorship
to be able to answer those questions quickly.
It's a very quickly-connected dots for you
to put you through a structured process and a structured pathway.
And that's one of the things we're doing here
at Hawksdon Well Fry.
We've got the training well for manager role
where you can come in without any experience, right?
And that's what you did.
And we're going to get into that in a minute.
And then once you've gone through that,
you can then move through the pathway
and the pathway is taking you from basically being a business
developer in here as a training wealth manager
where you're learning the ropes
and like I said, we're getting into that in a minute.
And then you can move down that pathway point.
And I think it's so, so, so important
that not only qualifications running alongside it,
but good strong mentorship and development
and training on the job, life training,
is in place with it as well,
just to make sure you're getting 110% from the experience.
And what I've noticed is it accelerates people
through the process a lot quicker,
but gives them the confidence and the knowledge
knowing they're doing the right thing
in a regulated business.
That's a really, really important thing here
especially from the financial planning profession, right?
So just, let's just look at this in a minute, okay?
You've gone to this course with Sam.
Yeah.
Did you actually do that at home or did you,
what, you know, did you move?
So I moved for three months,
found some accommodation on Airbnb.
And, yeah, commuter to back every Friday.
So it came up early hours on the Monday.
So three half through in the morning,
did my studying, did my lectures,
and then came home on a Friday evening,
spent time with the family,
and then repeated for the three months.
So for three months, you decided to leave your family.
Yeah, at home.
Get in your car three, three in the morning,
drive to, where?
What for?
Hartfordshire, yeah.
Hopped to that side of Watfordshire.
Just that side of Watford, yeah.
And go on that course that you paid for
to push your career forward,
because that was what you wanted to do.
I think that's amazing, you know?
When people say there is an opportunity out there
for people, and there are people like you
making opportunities happen for yourself,
it proves to me it is about mindset,
it is about attitude,
it is about putting yourself out there.
And that is exactly the type of people
that we want here at Hoxton Life.
People that are go getters,
that want to go out there and make it work.
So I love that.
I love that energy that you bring into the table there.
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
Now in that three month period then, right?
You did that course?
It finished?
Yeah.
Then what?
Yeah, quite a difficult time my life.
So I returned.
And the person I was working for pretty much full time
on a self-employed basis had replaced me.
He no longer needed my services.
So I've had three months of no earning potential,
and obviously paid for the course,
paid for the accommodation, and essentially unemployed.
So I managed to get on the phones,
phone a few old clients,
drummed up some tree work,
but that was only a day or two a week.
Also focused on looking after my two-year-old son.
So my partner was able to really maximize her
earning potential, getting her out on jobs.
And yeah, long story short,
I was able to meet Chris Bull.
So Sam had actually spoken with Chris
and Chris came into the office in November,
and did a bit of a presentation on Hoxton,
what they're about, what they offer.
And yeah, applied for the job in January,
and started in the March.
So I think I got the job offer in the February
and started on the fourth of March.
It was all quite a quick turnaround.
Get some accommodation sorted out.
Thankfully, by January time, I had found work.
So I was out four or five days a week doing some tree work.
But I was very excited to know it wasn't a long term.
Because it was always in the back of my mind,
I've spent all this money on this course,
which I've really enjoyed.
And you start the course thinking three months
is a long time to figure out what you do when you get back.
But the 12 weeks, like a flash, it's gone.
It was all over.
I spent all the money, and it was a case of,
I need to make this qualification work for me now.
Now, I've worked for it.
It needs to be, there was always a reason why I did that course.
And it was just very lucky that I was able to be put
into the line of Hoxton.
Great.
Just for clarity for our listeners and our viewers,
that course, that 12 week course
and the qualification you gained at the end of it,
it wasn't a financial planning qualification.
What kind of qualification was it?
Yeah, so it was in advance trading.
So it covered equities, bond went quite deep
into the bond market, fiscal monetary policy,
how the governments run things.
And it was quite deep, a very broad overview
of the financial markets, how they behave.
And it just gives you that slight edge
when you're talking to potential clients,
you know a bit about what you're talking about.
And I've had a couple of really interesting conversations
with clients, potential clients,
where I've actually enjoyed having a half an hour chat
about the markets because they're obviously interested
and we just bounced off each other.
So it's given me that knowledge
which I think you do need.
Yeah.
Well, it's fantastic.
Chris had that connection then with TAB, the company.
Sam, that's true.
He's come into that office where you were training,
did a presentation on what Hoxton wealth was all about
and what a career there looked like.
And to you, it really made you go, oh my God,
that sounds amazing.
I did, yeah, it basically ticked all the boxes
of what I was looking for.
What were you looking for then and what boxes did it tick?
So progression mainly because I was under the illusion
that you have to work your way up on these roles.
So I was more than happy to start with a training role
and work my way up.
And what really excited me about Hoxton was the growth
and how quick they've grown.
And you've got a very good captain at the helm.
He's young, he's enthusiastic and he's driven.
So he's like a role model at the end of the day.
And you want to be in a contest fast paced
and it doesn't sit still, it's constantly evolving.
Which is what really appealed to me and hence why I applied.
Fantastic.
And you applied to become a trainee wealth manager.
So for those listening to this podcast now,
they're listening because they're interested.
They want to know what that role is all about.
So let's talk to them a little bit about what that role is.
How long have you been in that role for?
Yeah, so I've been in seven months now.
I've just started for my exams, my revision for my exams.
So the idea is within 18 months to be qualified.
I've got three exams to sit between now and then,
maybe two years.
And yeah, but by that point,
I've got a very good understanding of how the whole job
works because I would have started
with managing, helping advisors.
And the idea will be a qualified advisor within two years
from now, where I'm hoping to build my own book
of clients and look after them.
Fantastic.
So long term, short term, you're in a role
of a trainee wealth manager.
So you've got no experience of working
in a financial planning company before.
But there is a clear career framework
to get you to the levels that you want to get to.
And the most beautiful thing about this, Nick,
is I've seen it.
I'm working on the pathway now.
The pathway from start to finish.
You can join this business without any experience.
And you can leave selling a book of business back to
Hoxton and retiring with a nice lump sum.
And that's the career journey.
All in one place.
And if you want to do that within the UK,
you can.
If you want to go to France, like Mike Yul's doing,
you can do that.
If you want to go USA, South Africa.
If you want to go Australia, or you can go and join me
in Dubai, in the headquarters of Dubai.
There's so much of vast opportunity
on the international space.
Or you can just sit here in the UK and advise the US clients.
So that, to me, was really exciting.
Working around that pathway in the journey
and seeing exactly how Hoxton, not only as a wealth tech
company, but as a good training ground,
are taking people through that journey
to be the best financial planner so they can be.
So glad you got on the bus and you're excited about that.
But let's just take it back, OK?
Because you're in the wealth role right now,
the training wealth role, OK?
Now, you tell me what you're doing on a daily basis.
So yeah, most of daily routine is very varied.
So every day, I'll have a slightly different plan.
But it normally starts with, in the office,
I'll have my seven, quarter to eight.
A bit of admin, check my emails.
And then I'm making calls to potential clients
who've asked about the BigQuery, or they've
done in one of our guides.
So we give them a quick courtesy call.
Then I have a discussion, find out what the situation is,
take some notes, get them booked in,
get them in front of a qualified advisor,
and then continue booking the meetings.
So second meetings, third meetings.
And basically keep them in the loop
as the client's case is being progressed.
Any questions they've got?
I can then act as the middleman with the advisor.
And alongside, obviously, training for my exams,
we also had five new guys start in August.
So I'm helping with their many questions they've got.
I'm trying to give them a bit of a hand.
And yeah, it's a very, very role, no two days
the same in the sense of you have different cases on the go,
and it's exciting.
Let's break it down even further.
Yeah, OK.
Because you're talking to people on a daily basis,
they've come in through our fantastic marketing
that we put out.
We do paper, click advertising, stuff through Instagram,
stuff through Facebook, stuff through Google.
We've got a huge database of clients
that we can actually market too.
And a lot of these people show an interest in our products
and services, whether it's a 401k IRA role over it,
it could be something the USA couldn't it,
it could be somebody's living over into buy or Australia,
or it could be somebody in the UK,
and marketing and bringing those individuals in.
And there's lots and lots and lots of leads.
But when you get lots and lots of leads,
you've got to turn over a lot of stones.
You've got to kiss a few frogs,
and you need to be able to ask some questions
to ascertain whether or not the services that we can provide
are there for them.
So technically it's a bit of a fact-firing mission, isn't it?
It is a fact-firing mission.
Yeah, and it's delving in people.
You often find their initial inquiry
is not the biggest part of what they really need help with.
So a lot of people are taught to,
it might be with regards to their UK pension,
but their US assets are on a bit of a mess.
And so, oh, can you help with that as well, of course.
And you find you can really delve in
and give them a broad level of service, even to a will.
Have you got a will up to date?
Oh, no, I haven't thought of that one.
So the initial inquiries, like, not always the main thing
where you can actually help an individual.
Uncover and discover.
Exactly, yeah.
If you're not asking those questions,
if you're not engaging with customers or potential clients
on a regular basis, how are you supposed to learn?
How are you supposed to be the best financial planner
that you can be in the future?
I'm a firm believer you need to get stuck in at the deep end
as is Chris Bohr, which is why at Hoxton Wealth
and on our career pathway,
the most important bit is at the beginning,
which is getting on that telephone
and having conversations with people.
You mentioned a little bit about the administration
in that position as well.
Yeah.
Just talk a little bit about some of the admin you might be doing.
Yeah, so admin wise, it's not tricky business.
It's just you've got to be very on the ball with it
because you forget to do certain things.
It can create an absolute nightmare
if you don't record meetings that have been booked.
So my diary, my team's calendar is like my lifeline
and I can tell you exactly what's happening every day
for the rest of the month by looking at that.
Also spreadsheets, I keep a very good spreadsheet
of where we are with clients.
And so one of my managers can ask,
where are we with this client and I can give an answer.
Let's manage people's expectations, okay?
Because it's a tough role that you're doing.
It's not like an administrative role
where traditionally in financial planning,
you might have to someone join as an administrator,
do admin, work their way up to power planner
and then hopefully get trained to be a financial planner, right?
And it's kind of like a long-winded process
to becoming a financial worker.
And the bit that's missing is the actual,
why would consider prospecting,
getting out there speaking to people,
having those ultimately warm conversations,
but let's not be around the bush,
they're cold conversations, right?
They've not engaged with our business apart
from downloading something and asking to be called back.
Yeah, right?
You have to have a prospecting call.
You have to ask open questions.
You have to close them down to book them in for a meeting,
have those exploratory chats.
You start to understand the journey
from the very, very, very beginning.
And just how important the prospecting side of it actually is,
which obviously gets overlooked a lot
within financial planning.
And that was one of the reasons why I joined.
Was I love the actual process that they have here,
of putting somebody through the toughest part first.
Because at the end of the day,
you can't do that.
I'm sorry, you can't be a financial planner in my eyes.
I think that's, people are trusting you
with their lifelong assets.
And I think it's a big deal.
And they, people need to feel comfortable.
They need to feel that they can trust a,
you as a trainee, wealth advisor.
And as the advisor who essentially takes them on,
they need to have that trust,
because it's people's livelihoods
that they've worked all their lives for.
And it needs to be personal.
You need to better have a conversation.
And some people don't like that,
though, if they're from a banking background,
they're quite blunt to the point,
can you help me, can you not?
That's fine.
We can cater for people like that.
But then other people, we want to see,
what did you get up to the weekend?
How are things?
They will talk.
I love we've got the app, right?
So we've got the Hoxton Wellfap,
which is a powerful tool, powerful tool, right?
And it can be used really, really well
in the financial planning process.
But just touching on those types of clients,
those ones that want that quick,
transactional answer to their questions.
Here at Hoxton, we're working on the one-day client.
You know, we want that client to be able to log into that app
and be able to do business in one day with us.
That's one of the best things about the app.
So it traditionally is a very long-winded process
from having a call with an advisor
to actually moving things forward with the app
that gives the client potential client the power
to upload all the things that they've got.
And it does speed the process up a lot.
Are you finding that?
Yeah, yeah, a lot of people are speed too.
And it just assists them in their long-term goals.
Are they on track? Are they on track?
And as a company, it allows us to help tweak a few things,
to get them where they need to be.
And speaking to a lot of the financial planners over there
and to buy Jonathan J, for instance, as well in the UK,
wealth flow is a very powerful tool.
We don't say cash flow forecasting here
at Hoxton, wealth flow.
Wealth flow, okay?
And that's the tool that gets used.
But isn't it amazing that you sit on the sofa
and you can go through and start doing your own
cash flow forecasting wealth flow, okay?
We're going to call it wealth flow.
But you can do that on your own sofa, right?
But not only that, because it's an international app,
you can pull assets in from anywhere.
So you can pull everything that you have into one place.
I was blown away with the fact.
You can even put crypto on there.
You can even put crypto.
So I personally use the app
and you can pull in your hard grooves account.
You can have your, even your mortgage.
So you've got, no, your, every asset you own.
And yeah, it allows you to forecast
and you can see where you are,
where you may be able to improve.
What's brilliant as well as live updates
to the client can see it, you know, in action.
If you make some changes, the client can see it.
It also feeds nicely into a homegrown database
that we've built called matrix, which is
geared towards multi jurisdiction advice.
It's been built to our capabilities.
Nobody else has got this.
And it's a very useful bit of kit.
So as you start to see things update,
you update things.
The client sees that information on the app as well.
Now, if I was coming into a financial planning firm,
starting out as a financial planner,
I'd want to know that that company
are investing in technology.
Trust me on this one, I'm over in Dubai, right?
I know Mansell, who runs the whole business there,
when it comes to tech, he's got 25 tech developers,
and they are not stopping.
So we're going to have, I reckon,
probably the best app out there.
And I'm going to supercharge that.
I want to get it heard.
I want to get it seen because I think
more and more people are not in their pocket.
And our ambition, of course,
is to get one million people using that.
And it's free.
So for me, it's exciting.
You know, if I'm joining a financial planning firm
as a trainee, I want to know that tech's involved
because tech is the future.
People want things quicker, don't they?
Everything wants things instantly
and I think it's very easy to slip back with the old ways.
And those days are gone.
You have to be on the board tech because at the end of the day,
that's what's going to speed everything up.
Yeah, yeah.
Loving your journey so far, OK?
Because you've come in for seven months, right?
You've shown a real passion, drive, and enthusiasm,
because I don't think, you know,
you're quite a humble guy, actually,
because I would have just set it straight away.
You're still traveling up here.
Your family are still away, and you
are spending time away from them
whilst you're training to be a financial planner.
Is that right?
Yeah.
So I, some weeks I'll leave at Hubboss 3,
and then some weeks I'll leave on a Sunday night at 4 o'clock,
5 o'clock.
Yeah.
Hey, listen, I love that.
I love your mindset and I love your attitude.
With that mindset and with that attitude,
you're only ever going to be a success.
And it's been recognized already as well.
Because you've got a young family,
and because you're here in the UK,
we had to look at you slightly differently,
because if somebody say, for example,
wants to go out to Dubai, so we've broken the pathway
in this way.
So the trainee wealth role comes in two parts, doesn't it?
Yeah.
You can spend half your time here.
It takes about six months to prove that you can do the job
and achieve what you need to achieve, right?
And then there's the opportunity at that point
to go out to Dubai and then do the second part
of the trainee wealth role in Dubai
with the other business development team out there
and Kane heads out up, and we're
going to have a nice podcast with Kane talking about that,
looking forward to that one.
So slightly different with you, wasn't it?
Because you've got your family here,
you are not in a place where you can move to Dubai.
I understand that.
Just recently moved my family there.
It is very expensive.
It's a big move.
You've got to think about the schools and everything.
It's not to be taken lightly,
and if I was in a position where you are right now,
I don't think I would move there.
It was a younger man without any responsibilities.
I think I might have done, you know?
That's my personal opinion.
Everyone's different, and everyone has different financial
responsibilities, family responsibilities, et cetera.
But that's what I like about this place as well.
It's not geared just towards getting you out to Dubai,
and that's it, right?
Getting you out in Sniper, you can set your business up here,
you can start your career here, and you can stay here.
But you've been recognized as somebody who puts a lot of time
and energy and effort into their day-to-day,
their organization, their mindset, their attitude,
and that's got you a promotion already, isn't it?
Yeah, so I'm now a team leader of the five new people
that joined in August.
So I'm just kind of there to answer any basic questions,
give them a bit of guidance.
If there's anything they're struggling with,
can obviously heads up all of the guys overall,
but there's a lot of queries I can assist them with,
sort of, pressure off the cane,
and I also quite enjoy helping them out,
because it was only six, seven months ago,
I was in their shoes with the same sort of questions
that they're asking me, I had queries myself,
so it kind of gives you the edge to know how to help them,
and yeah, and they're doing really great job.
I've always felt that mentoring others teaches me.
So if I'm in a position where I'm having to look after other people,
answer their questions.
So I'm seeing it from a completely different perspective,
and it fine tunes, you know, it fine tunes me,
and my skill set, if I'm training other people,
it ingrains the habits into me,
because I'm observing from a different perspective.
Was it still sharp and still?
Yeah, exactly.
I want to touch on this relationship management site,
because again, hugely, hugely important
in a training financial plan of position,
it's important when you end up building your own client book
that you can hold strong relationships
with your clients.
And again, what I love about Hoxton Wealth is,
a lot of emphasis is on in the very, very beginning,
not only making sure you're organized,
doing your administration and everything along those lines,
so that's one part of it, right?
The ability to pick the telephone up, turn stones over,
have those teams meetings, create opportunities,
build relationships straight away,
recognize how you can help clients.
They're really, really deep skill sets,
especially when you haven't come,
you weren't selling much up trees,
were you?
Yeah, right, so you've got to sell yourself,
you've got to sell your services,
it's a dirty word in financial planning,
I don't know why, sell, you know,
sell yourself, sell your services,
sell the opportunities,
people need to learn how to do it.
If people learn how to sell,
we'd have way more better financial planners out here,
and a lot more people receiving good quality financial advice,
but a big part of it is relationship management.
Now you touched on that a second ago,
tell us a little bit more about in the seven months
you've been here,
what you're doing around relationship management
as well with those clients and the advisors.
I think one of the biggest things is communication,
so everybody likes to know where they are with things,
and so it could be something as simple as confirming
a client for a meeting and then letting the advisor know,
so at least the advisor hasn't got to ask you,
they already know, and it's been proactive,
and trying to be flexible with people,
every people are busy,
so you do get, it can be very frustrating
when people want to change times,
but we're all busy people,
you have to just accommodate it,
and it's difficult as that can be,
keeping people in the loop, I think goes a long way,
and ultimately making a bit of a connection with them,
so they feel that they can trust you,
because you're a trustworthy person,
you're a trustworthy firm,
and it's important that they get that bond and that connection,
because it's quite a big deal
with what they're looking at potentially doing.
So I think you've got to be set yourself into a position
where you get a relationship with them,
and take the extra 10 minutes to discuss
what they did at the weekend,
because it goes a long way.
Yeah, 100%.
Gonna ask you a question here, right?
You're now a team leader in that business,
you've got responsibility,
and as the business grows,
you're gonna have more responsibility,
and you're gonna start to be proud of that responsibility,
I'm sure you are right now,
but you need to make sure, don't you,
that the right people join you,
and the right people are in your team,
because I've managed people before,
you've managed people before,
it's a huge responsibility,
managing people is very different
from doing a job on your own, right?
I've gone from running a recruitment business
to now being ahead of creative for Hoxton,
and I'll be honest, if you prefer it,
I think one of the managers is a people,
and all their problems,
it takes a certain type of somebody,
like you, you've probably got the skill set,
to be able to do it.
Love mentoring, love training,
but I like to walk away as well,
you know, I don't want to deal with everyone's problems.
Now, if somebody was thinking about joining Hoxton,
and there's plenty of people out there,
wanna join us as a trainee, wealth manager, right?
There's loads of people,
because we offer a basic salary,
we offer a good performance-related pay structure as well,
and of course, we offer the ability to get equalifications
running alongside your training and development,
and a clear career path that can take you all the way through
to becoming a financial planner,
and as mentioned earlier,
even exiting the business later on down the line.
It's a one-stop shop,
you don't need to go anywhere,
and if you wanna go international,
the opportunity is there as well,
but we want a certain type of person,
don't we, in this business?
Now, tell me who you want, sat next to you,
to make your life easier,
but also to make sure that they aren't wasting their time
when they join a company like Hoxton, wealth.
Yeah, so I think there are very few companies
offer the, A, the, on the job training,
the ability to travel,
and obviously you've got a salary as well as performance-based income,
and I feel in order to make that work,
you just gotta be driven, motivated and driven,
and at the end of the day,
people of all backgrounds can join,
it can be, it's been proven.
So as long as you're willing to put the hours in,
and knuckle down and work hard,
I think maybe, you know, studying as well as doing the job,
it's gonna be intense, it can be a few late nights,
but you get out what you put in with this role,
and the harder you work,
you will get the benefit from doing that.
Okay, so we're looking for people who've got
a really driven mindset.
Drivers need to be driven, and also organised,
I think you have to be organised,
because if you get flustered,
then it's gonna be very tricky,
and the longer you're in the role,
the more things you have going on,
organisation is key.
Can you learn to be organised in this job?
So say for example, you might not be the most organised person
in the world, but you've got real charisma and charm,
and you're great on the telephone.
Yeah, of course.
I think if you can follow basic instructions,
then you can organise yourself,
and it's really not difficult,
you've just got to be organised,
and very focused on keeping things in line,
because the minute things get out of line,
it can get quite stressful.
Yeah, absolutely, spinning plates.
Yeah.
One of the things I'm gonna take away from what you just said
there was, also, remain teachable.
Yeah, don't think you know it all.
You, I think there are people who've worked here
for two years, three years, four years,
and you still learn different things,
and that's part of the joy of being around
like minded people without equally as driven and focused.
And there's always somebody you can ask a question to,
if you're not sure on something,
there'll be somebody within the firm,
whether that's from tech or a senior advisor,
to anybody, there'll always be someone
that can answer your query.
Yeah.
Let me ask you a quick question, final one.
What's the most enjoyable thing about this job so far?
I think it's helping people out,
and so it's people that have no idea what to do.
They've worked hard all their lives,
they're due to retire, and they need advice,
and you kind of feel like,
although I'm not the advisor sitting in the meetings,
you've still played a part,
and everyone likes to see people do well, so.
I like then, it's not my final question.
I've got one more for you.
I'm all about developing an attitude for gratitude.
When times get hard, I look for the good things, right?
I'm always looking for that thing
that I can be grateful for.
So, what are you grateful for?
Great for the opportunity to join,
and I'll just continue to do what I'm doing,
and better myself, get my qualifications,
and I'm excited to see where the journey goes.
Fantastic. Listen, I've joined Hoxton.
I'm grateful that you're in the business,
and you're in the UK,
and you are looking after those people
that are coming through that wealth management journey.
Grateful that you've joined,
grateful that you put that energy in your effort in there.
I know that you're going to be a success,
because I can tell you 100%,
you are going to be a success in this business.
No doubt about it.
So, keep up with that attitude,
because you're inspiring lots and lots of people
who are now going to be listening to this podcast,
and I'll tell you what, they're going to be wanting to join,
and they're wanting to be starting their journey
in your team, so well done, mate.
Sounds good. Thank you very much.
Cheers.