Building a Financial Planning Career in Public: Lessons, Risks & Opportunities

What happens when you realise your relationship with money needs to change, and it ends up changing your entire life?

In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes speaks with Hannah Wooldridge about her journey from living with £10,000 of debt without concern to becoming debt-free and pursuing a career in financial planning.

Hannah shares the moment that shifted her perspective, how she paid off her debt within a year, and why that experience sparked a deeper curiosity about saving, investing, and financial independence.

She also opens up about leaving a job that no longer aligned with her values, how building an emergency fund gave her the freedom to step away, and what it’s like exploring financial planning as a career in real time.

This episode highlights the power of mindset, the importance of financial education, and why lived experience is becoming increasingly valuable in the next generation of financial advisers.

Key Takeaways 🔥

• Why debt often feels normal while it’s building
• The mindset shift that drives real financial change
• How paying off debt can spark curiosity about money
• Why investing feels complex (and how to push past it)
• The importance of emergency funds for life flexibility
• How financial security enables career decisions
• Why financial planning is becoming more accessible
• The value of sharing your journey before you’re qualified
• How lived experience builds stronger client relationships

If you’re thinking about improving your relationship with money or considering a career in financial planning, this episode offers a relatable and honest perspective on what it really takes to change direction.

Follow Hannah on LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok

Financial Planner Life is sponsored by Redmill Advance

Whether you're starting out, already qualified, or building a training academy, Redmill Advance delivers expert-led learning, exam support and CPD from Level 4 to Chartered.

✅ Trusted by top UK firms

👉 www.redmilladvance.com/fpl

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Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Transcript

Meet Hannah And The Big Plan

SPEAKER_02 0:01

And today on the Financial Planner Life podcast, I'm joined by the brilliant Hannah Woolridge. She works for me here at the Financial Planner Life. And guess what? She wants to become a financial planner. Now I am supporting her on her qualification and training journey to become an IFA. And we're even talking about setting up our own practice. So join us today as we dig deep into why she wants to become a financial planner, a community that we're looking to build, what it looks like to become a financial planner. And if you're interested yourself in joining the profession, perhaps you want to come on the journey with us as well. You're gonna love this episode. Hannah, welcome to the Financial Planner Life Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Thank you. It's weird being on this side of the studio rather than on the other side. Maybe. Well, this is my first time in the hot suit, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

So this is it. Well, you've been a host before, have you?

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Uh no, I haven't no, I have been a host. I have my own little podcast actually for a little while, but not in a studio. It was just me and my spare room and a laptop. So what podcast was that? It was called the finance hand because it was a bit of a play on. Do you remember the meme like I'm looking for a man in finance? Yeah. Looking for a hand in finance. That was the idea behind it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

A finance bro.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Well, just a finance hand, actually.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Here we go. For those that don't know you, Hannah, you are um the Financial Planner Life Operations Manager. And I got in contact with you. Oh, actually, you got in contact with me, Team. Will you tell the story? How did you end up coming uh and working for me here at the Financial Planner Life?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, so basically I am self-employed. I'm a virtual assistant, personal assistant, that sort of thing. And I have been playing with the idea of becoming a financial planner for a little while. Um and I've checked out the podcast, thought you've done a few episodes, so you must know what you're on about a little bit at least. Um, and reached out to you initially to get your advice on a company that I was, you know, toying with the idea of joining their academy. Um, but obviously, as we started talking, we realized that actually is a really great opportunity for me to help you with financial planner life in the interim before and during the process of qualifying as a financial planner.

How Hannah Joined Financial Planner Life

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Fantastic. So yeah, that was the idea, wasn't it? Because you were kind of like, I'm gonna go straight into it. I was like, well, why don't you just help me become operational? You do podcast support as well. So background in uh working in a podcast agency, that end-to-end. So there was loads, there was loads of synergies between us at the time. Um obviously you had an interest in financial planning. So for me, it was kind of like, well, could you work for me and could you well work for me, work with me, and could you then do your qualifications alongside it and let's see where it goes. And so many months later, we started playing with the idea of actually like, well, why don't you just do your financial planning qualifications? Become a financial planner.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

And now we're saying, let's build it in public and let's put it on the podcast and share what it's like to go on the journey of becoming a financial planner. Um, pre-qualifications, even.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Exactly that. Here we are.

unknown 2:51

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Why do you want to become a financial planner?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Do you know? I think for me, the main thing is helping people achieve their goals. And I know that that kind of sounds maybe a little bit cheesy and think, oh, you know, why don't you become a nurse or something instead if you want to help people and whatnot?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Very feminine.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

But every every single new year, I'm always asking people, you know, what's your new year's resolutions? What's your goals? And seeing people achieve their goals excites me. And obviously, money is the key to unlocking a lot of those goals for people, whether it's, you know, living abroad or whether it's, I don't know, buying a particular house or having five kids or whatever it is they want to do, just seeing people achieve what they said that they were going to do is is great. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

So money plays a part in a lot of people's lives.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Do you feel like people don't quite understand how money actually works then?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think that I was very much a um like an example of this. Right. Um, I only really kind of started to pay attention to my own finances about four years ago or so. Um, and going on that journey has genuinely just completely changed my life. I was able to leave a job that I really wasn't enjoying to take that time out to see what's going to work for me, and then has led me on this path to us working together and becoming financial planner. So I love it.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Everyone's got like a money story.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Uh, what's yours?

Why Helping Goals Beats Numbers

SPEAKER_00 4:12

What's mine? Um, well, to be honest with you, I wasn't really aware of money growing up. And I think that that's a really um lucky and privileged place to be because we we didn't really have to sort of worry about that at home. I mean, some people have to really watch the pennies. But what it meant was as I grew up, that kind of followed through into adulthood. Um, and my mum and dad were very good in the sense of, you know, we're not gonna buy loads of stuff for you, you're gonna have to work for it yourself, would be great if you weren't able to get a credit card at the age of 18, which is what happened to me. Right. And, you know, I didn't get into kind of masses and masses of debt, but we were looking at kind of 10, 11 grand around about that point when I decided to finally sort it out. And what's kind of ironic was I didn't really see myself as in debt at all. I just saw a credit card as like an extra allowance almost. Um, and then I was listening to a podcast in the gym. It's called The Vault by Financial, and it's a female focused personal finance coaching platform. And I remember just being on the gym machines, and one of the hosts said, you know, no one's come in to save you, no one's coming to take this away from you. And I kind of had a bit of a, you know, it a bit of a come to Jesus moment, if you want to call it that. And um yeah, then the rest was history basically. I'm I'm very once I once I start something, I'm very much like a dog with a bone. And I managed to pay all that off within the space of just under a year, I think. But then once I paid all the debt off, I started looking into investing and making sure that I was financially secure as well. So emergency funds and stuff. And I thought this is so cool. Like, I think people think that finance is very numbersy and not very fun and interesting. But when you realise it's the key to unlocking the goals for your life, then all of a sudden it's it's a lot more interesting, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

I love it. So debt, it's very interesting. So I've had so many people on the podcast talk about how debt got them into becoming financial planners because of the journey that they actually gone on and the transformation that actually happened. And, you know, the understanding also that when you get out of debt, the next stage is actually building wealth. And not many people really understand how to build build wealth as much as they don't understand about how APR and debt and credit cards actually are really damaging. And they were designed to get us in debt and get us into situations where it were traps, and that really sucks. Um, before we get into a little bit further down the line, I just want to go back again, like because there was a platform that you said you went and used um and it was like a coaching platform. Yeah. And it was aimed at women because you heard it on a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah, it's not women only, but it's female focused. Um the reason for that is because um their kind of philosophy is that women are responsible for the majority of the world's spending. I'm not sure exactly what the number is, but also a lot of debt is actually aimed at women. So, for example, if you look at the likes of Klarna and ClearPay, it's all pink and very branded towards women. Right. Um so that's the reason that they're female focus.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Okay, so they're sort of oh right, okay, so they were niche marketing down on women because women tend to be marketed to around um debt to buy things, perhaps things like clothes.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Stuff like that. Okay, very, very interesting. And when you so that's really interesting because did that sort of do you feel you were more drawn to a female than you would be drawn to a male talking about that scenario?

The Debt Wake Up Moment

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I think so, yeah. And it's funny because I feel that I get along with men and women about the same. Like I'm not particularly drawn to um like communicating with just women in my day-to-day life. But I do think, and you do see this across kind of financial advice as well, there is a stereotype for people that are good with money, and it's usually men. And if you are in a position that might not be the strongest at the time, it just feels a little bit more approachable and seeing people that have been in the same position as me that were also women, um, just made it a little bit more relatable and actually, oh, you know, it's it's quite a normal thing to happen, you know.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

When you went through that process, got yourself out of debt, and then started looking at the investment side, what happened then mentally? Did you kind of wake up a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah, I think for me, like I was finding the whole debt pay down uh journey really exciting. Like I found it really, really fun to see that number drop every single month. And whenever I had any spare cash, I just put it towards it. And I still wanted to see that same um progression, if you like. Um and I can see why a lot of people would fall off the wagon or would just kind of um finish at the point of saving an emergency fund because when you first look into investing, it is an absolute minefield and it does look really, really complex and complicated. Um so I think for me, like I'm naturally quite analytical, and I don't know, it was just it was just a a real interest for me just to kind of see those numbers still progress, but I can see why people quit at that point because it is confusing when you first start getting into it.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Okay, so on that platform, it's like a coaching platform.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Um yeah, it is like a coaching platform. It's more like I don't want to call it a plan, but a process that you self-guide through.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Yeah, like a blueprint.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

So from like debt to recovery or something like that. Or from debt to prosper or to debt to invest or something.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yeah, I think they call it the playbook. So great.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Okay, really, really good. And you were em you were employed at the time when you were doing that, were you? Yes, yeah, exactly. Did getting yourself out of debt, learning how to invest money, did it and build your um emergency buffer, did that give you confidence to go self-employed? Because you started getting self-employed, right? That's how you that's where you are now.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah, exactly. So at the time I was working for a podcast production company, but I just wasn't happy, the culture just wasn't really the right fit, and I found myself kind of really burnt out. And you know, when it gets to the point where it's just affecting who you are on a day-to-day basis and who you are outside of work as well. Um and it just got to the point where I just thought, you know what, I just can't do this anymore. And I think had I not had that emergency fund and little pots of money here and there, I would never have just been able to throw the towel in. Like, you know, when you get to the point of real sort of desperation, you think, oh my god, I just can't do this anymore.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

If I hadn't had that emergency fund built up, it would have been, well, you have to, you know. Um, so to have that security has literally meant that I can take the time out, decide what sort of route I want to go down, which was being self-employed, um, and then has led me here. So it can't be too much of a bad thing.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Not bad at all. No. I I like the psychology around it all um because a lot of people get trapped in jobs they absolutely hate. Um and I would just like to understand what was the amount of months worth of emergency fund, was it, that gave you the confidence to take a risk?

Apply To Guest Or Start A Show

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Yeah, so for me it was I decided on six months' expenses, um, which some people want more, some people want less. I haven't got any children, and also I'm married and we don't have huge outgoings. Um, so that was enough for me. But the plus point is for somebody in a similar position, it really doesn't take that much to be able to walk away from something that doesn't really align with you anymore. So that's the good news for it.

Emergency Funds And Quitting Burnout

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Oh, sorry for interrupting the Financial Planner Life podcast. I hope you're enjoying it. Now, if you think that you would like to be a guest on the podcast, because you have a product, a service, or a business that you would like to promote, maybe you want to attract some new talent to your business, there is a link in the comments where you can actually apply to come on the Financial Planner Life Podcast. You get that full end-to-end experience that you're so used to from the Financial Planner Life Studios. And if you feel like you've got a podcast that you'd like to start, or maybe a video project, again, click the link in the comments section and book a meeting and let's discuss that project and get it going in 2026. Now, back to the show. Amazing. So you took a plunge, you thought, well, I'm gonna go self-employed. But at that point, you weren't thinking about financial planning, becoming a financial planner. What were you doing around finance at that point? What was your journey? Because you obviously scratched a niche, and like you said, you saw the money Jesus and you thought, hang on, this is a route that I'd like to go down. But at what point was it that financial planning showed up?

SPEAKER_00 12:29

So it was interesting. I had considered looking into being a financial planner about a year before all this had happened. And it was just when I'd just paid off uh my debt and realized how much I love money. And I had a family member who was going through the financial planning journey at the time. And I sent him a message and I was like, hey, I know that you've just qualified. How have you found it? And basically, he just kept saying to me, Oh, Hannah, it's it's really hard. Like it's really hard. And uh I kind of put it to bed a little bit because he kept saying how hard it was. So I was like, okay, you know, we'll we'll leave that one then. Um and then I spoke to a financial planner as a networking event that I had when I was doing more of the VAPA stuff, um, and said to her exactly the same thing that I've just said. And she said, no, no, it's not too hard. Like you'll you'll be fine. And that's what really kind of sparked me looking back into it, um, looking at academies, the solo route. So yeah, that was the second trigger.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Was that a female that you spoke to? Yes. Right, okay. Do you feel like speaking to a female? It was a different conversation.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah, I think so. And again, it just feeds into that stereotype of who you think would be good with money and seeing people that were, you know, similar to me and not too dissimilar in age and lifestyle was I think, especially after being told that it was going to be really hard for me to do.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

I think, you know, the person saying it wasn't hard was just trying to give you some kind of, you know, it is hard. Yeah. Um, they're just gonna just try to hit you with some real um, you know, some realism. And I think guys tend to go say that to each other, like, you know, it's hard. Yeah, but I can do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

You know, whereas girls just want to hear a little bit more about the actual job itself. So, what was it about the job that she's explained to you that made you go, that sounds brilliant. I don't care if it's hard. I want to now do it.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Yeah. What was it? Do you know it's a really funny story? She was saying about um she had a client, and one of the biggest wins that she had for her client was um it was a guy who was a bit of a petrol head, and he'd finally treated himself to a cob bike. And I know that that sounds like, what? You know, why has that inspired you to become a financial planner? But it was everything else that they had wanted to do. You know, they'd set their grandchildren up for university, they had the house they wanted to be in, and it's just the really fun stuff. We've all got those fun goals, haven't we? Um and just the really, really fun stuff that makes a difference to people's lives, I think, in the day-to-day, being able to indulge a little bit. Um, so yeah, just again, the goal setting was the main thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Do you think representation does play a part in how someone sees themselves in this in this profession?

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah, a hundred percent. Because if I had just stopped there um and not spoken to this lady, then you know I might not have gone down this route at all.

Coaching Versus Regulated Financial Advice

SPEAKER_02 15:05

I love it. And that's what you're here today as well. It's it's all about representing people who are thinking about doing something and they're putting themselves off, whether they're doing it themselves or they're, you know, reading something or they're speaking to the wrong person. Yeah. And it's all about representation. That's what the podcast is all about. You know, we've had over 270 odd episodes of different people from all different backgrounds, all different stages in their career, employed, self-employed, admin, power planner, compliance, business owners, self-employed. And I think it's super important that people get to see a variety of people that go through the journey and go through the profession. And they can see themselves in that person. Yeah. You know, they might not see themselves in Dave or they might see themselves in Julia. You know? Neither have been on the podcast.

unknown 15:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

So you started your journey through a coaching platform, right? You spoke to a financial planner about you didn't see yourself being a coach at all. You didn't think to yourself, well, actually, maybe I could be a coach and and do that. Didn't so did you ever weigh up the options between being a coach and being a financial planner? Because you see more coaches than you see financial planners, say, on YouTube or on social media, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

I did look down the coaching route, but for me being really analytical, I like to really get into the nitty-gritty of, okay, how are we going to do it? What are we going to put where to help you achieve those goals? And honestly, I wouldn't rule out the coaching later on down the line and kind of combining that. But um, yeah, I like the nitty-gritty.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

So do you think as well, not having the qualification or the um the right, I guess, to be able to actually, or the authorisation to actually be able to give the advice in the end was a piece of the puzzle that was missing in coaching?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah, and I think, as you said, there are a lot of coaches out there at the moment. And the fact that coaching is pretty unregulated, I'm sure it is unregulated in in being a financial coach. I think just kind of having that clout of having a recognised qualification was really important to me as well. Um, just for kind of client peace of mind, I suppose, moving forward, but also for me, um, you know, I might might get a bit of imposter syndrome otherwise, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

So, but when you think about the journey that you've been on with coaching, which is like usually the first entry point, and I always say to financial planners, like who run firms, I was having a conversation yesterday at Titan Wealth, like you should totally get a coach. You have somebody on like YouTube talking and coaching and trying and advising and and you know, um sharing, you know, real simple things like getting out of debt and all of that, because it is communicating to the children of the clients that you talk to as well, but it also kind of creates brand awareness and it's simple enough to draw people actually in, and then you can hit them with the financial planning angle, right? Do you feel like combining the two together is something that you want to do when you become a financial planner?

Starting R01 And Study Reality

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Yeah, I think so. I I do think that coaching obviously tackles a whole side of skills that financial planning it is just different, is a different um type of skills, I guess. And even though they overlap, you know, you've got to have those soft skills in financial planning. There will be different people at different points of the journey. Um, and something that does appeal to me is taking somebody right from the position that I was in all the way through to being able to be their financial advisor as well.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Okay. Let's look at the future then. Let's look at the vision because you want to become a financial planner. Where are you in the joint journey right this second?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I'm literally just on R01. So right at the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Great. Let's just talk about that. What are you doing around R01 at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Uh so at the moment, I'm using Red Mills training materials. Um we they're great because they have both the textbook uh sources, they've also got the videos that you can watch. So working my way through that. I'm only on module two, so super, super early. Um, but I'm hoping to get all the exams done within kind of 12, 14 months. So yeah, I've gotta I've got to keep the pace on basically. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Um, haven't picked the books up for a while, perhaps, haven't studied for a little while. What's that like?

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Do you know honestly, really intimidating? Um, when the books first came through the post, um, because I do have the study guide for R05, but when I kind of printed off the textbooks, I'm a highlighter, so I wanted to print it off. I was like, there is a lot of complex words in here. But what I found was at a first glance, yeah, it's really intimidating, but when you start to read through it, you actually know what a lot of it means. It's it's not quite as complex as on first glance. I'd say the main uh challenge that I found is just kind of trying to carve out the time to self-study. Um, obviously, you know, adult life is a lot busier. The last time I did an exam was about 10, no, 12 years ago. So just kind of getting back into that revision study mindset has been a big one for me.

Building A Practice In Public

SPEAKER_02 19:31

So it was important to you is being able to carve out that time to be able to do it. And often that can be quite difficult, isn't it, when you're employees, especially if you're in a role which is very demanding, um, because you've got to make that time to do it, and I suppose it's weekends, etc. You've chosen to get on a self-employed route, you work with me, you know, we have agreed um levels of work and productivity, etc., and expectations. But what we both agree on the fact is that you need time to study when you need to study, and that could be, you know, on a Monday or something like that, right? And I'm totally flexible with that, and I love the idea of it. For me, like, you know, I want you to become a financial planner. You know, you're working for me, you're doing a fantastic job, right? And I and I love having you in the business. I want you to become a financial planner. And also, do you know what? I want to start a financial advice business. Yeah, I've been doing this now for years, right? I know a lot about financial planning, I know a lot about businesses that are doing well and ones that are doing badly. I know a lot about the opportunity, and I see in you somebody who has a lot of ambition, is smart, and I know will be really determined in the right environment and with the right support, which is why I want to give you it, right? Yeah, and I want you to step into advice because I think together you and I could build a really good financial advice practice, and the financial planner life can be an amazing entry point into that practice.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

And along that journey that you're now going to go on, we want to be able to, through attraction and the laws of attraction, which I firmly believe in, right? Whenever I've told you to put yourself out there, have people come to you.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Have people supported you.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

My LinkedIn has popped off, as you know.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Yeah. Yeah, and this is it. So through this now, it's like, look, anybody listening to this and feels that they could help Hannah on her journey, right? So whether that's behavioural training, whether that's coaching, you know, whether that's just real real world examples, sharing a story, maybe coming onto the podcast and Hannah and you having a training session that could help her and help other people. Maybe it's coming in and building a community with us, yeah? Actually building a community where we can do things like training for qualifications, and maybe we get Red Medance involved. Maybe we have some behavioral specialists come in and teach us all about that and the first meeting or how to use technology or how to prospect, how to win new business. Well, you know, this right now is training. The part that I want to play in your journey is I want you to be so confident in yourself, right? Confident on camera, confident on social media, understand how to prospect, how to find people, how to sell yourself and build that confidence in yourself. I really, really want you to. Do that. And I really want you to think a little bit about carving out a niche. Because I do genuinely think that building a niche is a great thing because it worked for me, right? My niche is financial planners, and it I know 100%, if you carved out and chose a niche, you're going to find something that you can excel in, right? Now, you might be the key person of influence within that sphere, within that space, and you're still going to win business outside of it. It just means that you're known within an area and it gives you some area of focus, especially very early on in your career. So I'm really excited about working with you on that. And as we do that and as we build it, and we bring these wonderful people in that are going to reach out because of this podcast, because of the social posters you're putting on there, and we build this wonderful supportive community. I think that we can create something that will transform financial planning. I genuinely do.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Me too.

Self-Employed Adviser Life And Branding

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Academy 2.0. You know, I really, really do. Um can I just ask you a couple of things, right? Employed versus self-employed. When you think about becoming a financial planner, and let's talk about our business, right? We're, you know, we call it FPL advisory. Advisory. Yeah, FPL advisory, whatever we call it, right? What um how do you see yourself within that advisory? Do you see yourself as um an employee or self-employed?

SPEAKER_00 23:12

For me, it's self-employed. Um I know we've spoken about this before at length, but being self-employed was such a uh big thing for me. Um it was something that I always wanted to do. So I would like to carry on with that. Also, I kind of like the flexibility, but also as we um we grow the advisory and the community and academy and whatever that wants that looks like, I'd love to have a hand in kind of all of it. Um I love to keep things growing as well as seeing clients at the same time. Um, and I think in self-employed, it's the best way to have that sort of flexibility as well. And then also there's a little bit more um, I think the reins are less tight in terms of things like building your own personal brand. We've spoken about that on LinkedIn. Um, and you know, obviously the podcast as well. So yeah, it's just a little bit more free, I think.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Yeah, well, the freedom that you earn through taking the risk, right? That you've done already. I think once you taste self-employment and you um you keep your head above water, you realize like, oh my god, I can live my life this way.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

And it is really, really nice. So I'm all for that. I think that's really, really important. And I think you having your autonomy is really, really important as well. Because now, you know, I want people who are confident in themselves. I want people who are confident that they're going to go out and win business. And I think really stepping from employed into self-employed is a huge, huge risk, right? So I think somebody who's perhaps tasted it, has had an element of success, maybe understands an area or market and niche where they've worked within it and they know that they can build an audience within it is really important. Like I I love the idea of leaning into recruitment consultants. Recruiters, like good recruiters, have built a market for years, right? So you could have somebody all they do is focus on.NET developers, you know, you could have somebody that all they do is focuses on, I don't know, private bankers, right? So those people know that market, they know that niche and they know that environment. They've probably already built an audience and they probably have some really key decision makers within businesses, could be HR professionals that have kind of used their services, right? It could be uh regional heads of people that would open their door and probably say, What, you're a financial advisor now? Well, yeah, couldn't you sort of of course you can come in? So then you start to hang your hat on the fact that I'm the financial advisor for the private banking community. Yeah. Like, why not? Why not position yourself that way and build your brand around it and establish yourself within that small niche? If I can do it in the micro niche of financial planning careers, then a financial advisor could do it in any niche.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:26

And I've seen it and it works. It just takes a little bit of time and energy and effort, but it also takes personal brand, it takes um confidence and prospecting and speaking to people and going to networking events and doing all those things. Are you prepared to do that sort of stuff?

SPEAKER_00 25:38

I love that sort of stuff, honestly. Um, it's funny, isn't it? Like one of my favorite things about being self-employed was finding clients and you know, putting myself out there and attending different things and also just kind of really getting to know, getting the inside the sort of mind of I know that sounds a bit creepy, but of the person that you want to work with and you know, being able to choose who you work with to an extent. So I I really enjoy that side of it. I've also got a few niche ideas as well. I know it's so, so early. I'm literally on R01, but I've got a few ideas in my head.

Niches That Make Prospecting Easier

SPEAKER_02 26:11

So I'm all for that. Visualization for me and speaking things into reality, right? It works.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Okay. And I think, you know, we're often like one step at a time. No, visualize where you are, what you're doing, how you're doing it, the market you're in, what your brand looks like, how you're delivering advice. Is it like, you know, on a podcast or YouTube? Is it face-to-face? Are you standing up at networking events? Who are you talking to? I encourage that, you know, I so tell me, tell me what that is you're going to do.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Okay, well, I'm torn between a couple. As I said, it's kind of very, very early. Um, one has been done a couple of times. I'm really keen on helping um kind of younger women in business. I've got a lot of friends who are business women themselves, really successful at what they do, but don't have a clue about money. Um, so that's one, but I know that that niche has already been serviced quite well. Um, there's some great financial planners out there that work with just women. Um, and then the other one, which I haven't seen anybody else doing. So if it suddenly pops up, I know they've stolen my idea off the podcast. Um I used to work on cruise ships, it's where I met my husband and a lot of my very, very close friends. And you have a lot of people working on cruise ships that are in these high commission roles that are taken home kind of like five figure months very, very frequently. Um but again, if people don't receive that financial education, then they're not gonna know what to do with it. And sometimes people are great at earning money, but they don't really want to get involved in like the handling of it and growing of it. You know, it's it's two separate skill sets, isn't it? Making money and then growing it. Um, so for me, it would be looking at those that work on cruise ships. I'm really interested in the interested in the international space as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Um, it's a big life goal of mine to actually move to France. So it all just marries in beautifully. You were saying about visualising, meeting clients, and for me, it's kind of a beautiful seaside restaurant in the south of France. So, you know, what a dream. I'm up for that. You can come. This is it.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

We'll open up a yeah, a South of France, our financial advice business, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Exactly that. Why not?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Mike Yule's doing it. I went around his house, he's got a lovely chateau.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

I know, I saw that.

Cruise Ships France And International Advice

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Yeah, near Toulouse with his chickens and everything. And he's actually genuinely living the dream, man. The guy's a CFP, he's a super cool dude, he's intelligent as you like, he's all over LinkedIn, and he makes international financial planning sound interesting. He doesn't make it sound dodgy, and historically it was. People used to think, oh, that's dodgy, they're sending dodgy products. And look, there are some people within that space that aren't great, you know. And you know, I'm lucky to be working with and have worked with and currently working with at the moment firms that are in the international space that do things the right way. Titan Wealth, like international, one of the only chartered firms in the international space. I mean, to have Titan Wealth behind you over in the international space, whether that's the USA, Europe, Asia, Dubai, is powerful. It's huge. And they're not a Mickey Mouse company, so why are they getting into the international space? Because people are moving around, is cross-border advice. And the complexities of going across different borders is evident, but also repatriation as well to the UK, people coming back to the UK. So maybe there's something we can do with Titan Wealth, you know, there's an area for us. And this is the thing, I'm just so up for exploring all these ultrasounds. I know New Leaf have thrown their hat into the ring. Say I'm coming set up a business under New Leaf. Like we'll, you know, we'll do the training, we'll get the caste status, we'll get them going. Um, you know, we'll get the, you know, we'll get them into your own AR practice and we'll take care of it. And I kind of like the idea of that.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

I don't really want to take care of all the compliance. Yeah, I don't really want to take care of all the compliance and all of that. I want someone to really like who's skilled at doing that. And yeah, you might you you do like a payaway when you join a network, right? So um you might give them 30% or a monthly fee to um use their services. Um, but what they give you in return is um support, right? So they're like up to date with compliance, they'll have some really great uh uh products, services, they do a lot of research for you, investment research, and they help you out in lots of different areas. So it's not it's not a bad shout. The other option is like going directly authorize again. Like, you know, someone might be listening to this right now and say, no, don't do that. Go directly authorize, Sam. Um, hella, like I I want to do it. You guys sound like you've got a brilliant idea. Oh, reach out to us and have a conversation with us. We'll we're we're keen we're keen to find out. We just want to do what we want to do, we just want to explore, don't we? We've got 12 to 14 months. Like you could pass your qualifications, right? Level four qualified in 12 to 14 months, right? You don't have to worry about money at the moment. We got you covered, right? You know, there's only money to be earned in a financial plan of life. I just want you to make the right decision. I want you to play. I want you to explore. I want you to speak to people, turn up events with me, listen to the podcast, get people on the podcast. Let's build a community, let's build a supportive community. If people are listening to this and they want to connect with us, the financial plan of life, you know, reach out to us, reach out to Hannah. And let's let's get connected. Let's build a community and let's start getting good people in to help train and develop.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

This is the thing. I think, you know, we've spoken about this before already, but as I've started to build myself up on LinkedIn a little bit, what I've found is that there's so many people that aren't necessarily in an academy. I think when you're in an academy, you naturally get that community and that guidance. But people that are doing it solo, you know, like I am, you almost don't know what you don't know. So, you know, specifically people that are self-studying, it would be amazing to have them in the community as well.

Network Support Or Direct Authorisation

SPEAKER_02 31:26

I think different strokes for different folks, right? This is the whole point of this. See, people are identified with exactly what we've said. They're like, Do you know what? That's where I want to be. I set up the advisor academy uh a while back. It was it was like$19.99 a month, and it was doing your exams, and then within the community, uh, there'd be some sort of training and development around some of the skill sets required to become a financial advisor. We did that for quite some time. I must have had about 100 people going through it. I put that directly back into the next gen plan community. It was like a partnership, right? I don't see why I can't just do that again. You know, Redmid Advance have shown that their interest is there's lots of other people that have spoken to me about it. I just feel like, you know, it's just needs to be done. It's kind of like a pre-academy academy, right? It's a great area where someone can dip their toe in the water and they can decide before actually going two-footed into a brand new career is okay, well, this is actually for me. They can do a bit of searching around and and and and and understanding and hearing from people, a bit like what we do on the podcast, really. What do you think about that? Do you think that's good?

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Yeah, I think so. I think having something that is completely like standalone, if that makes sense, from different, you know, if somebody's going through an academy with one provider or another, they might feel that they can't kind of speak openly about it. So having, you know, that pre-academy academy, and then people decide where they want to go from there, just it's not necessarily whether one is bad or one's good. It's just the right fit for people. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Anything unclear or intimidating about becoming a financial planner? Does anything sit there with you?

SPEAKER_00 32:53

For me, um, obviously, more is coming to light the more we do, the more podcasts we do, the more guests that we have on. Um it's great because when I'm reviewing the podcast, I'm just learning more and more. But what happens after the exams? I know that we need to get competent advisor status, but how does that happen? Do I have to go out and find it myself? What does that look like? Um, is it full-time? Is it part-time? You know, am I shadowing financial planners? Just the whole part of that, really. Um, I'm not too clear on kind of the the next steps after becoming qualified and what the options are there. So that would be a big one. Um, but then also I've never actually been able to see how an appointment goes with a client. Um, so I've been told about it a lot by lots of different financial planners, but never actually been able to see what it looks like on the ground if you like. So interesting.

Competent Adviser Status After Exams

SPEAKER_02 33:46

So I wonder if anybody's listening that could actually take you out, um, can show you the ropes, um, can take you along on the journey, uh, or even give a training session where they can articulate from start to finish what actually goes on in the client meetings. Um, I think that's super interesting. Um also what about the prospecting element of it? Like, you know, self-employed, you've got to go out and win your own clients, find them all. Yeah. I'm not going to provide them for you, you know. But we might do, it depends on, you know, we might have a great, we might have an amazing lead generation system. Yeah. Um, but this is why I'm quite interested in the whole niche thing, right? If I've had a financial advice business, I feel like I want people to come into my business that have got a niche and have got a kind of business plan outside of just friends and family. Because what I hear a lot is like when you advise your friends and family, it can sometimes become a bit messy. Um, and I don't really want that. I want that separation, I guess. And I think when someone's really thought about perhaps um an environment or a market that they can actually start to work in because they're skilled and knowledgeable in it, you just turn that skill and knowledge into something else. You just repackage it up as a as your expert within that field and you're a financial planner. You know, you've got these people that are well into e-gaming. We'll go and be an e-game financial planner to the e-gaming community. This is the thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

We were talking earlier about niches, weren't we? And you know, I remember before I kind of settled on, I haven't settled, but you know, I'm leaning that way, towards one particular niche. You think, oh, you know, there's not enough niches to go around for everyone. But everything that you're into, or it doesn't matter if it's micro-specific, there's probably thousands of other people that are exactly the same. So I challenge anybody, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:13

If you've got some weird little niche and you think it's not that interesting, type it into YouTube and you'll find somebody. And if there isn't, make a make a YouTube video, do some research about how many people are actually searching for it. And Janelle, it's really interesting, right? You know, people say like, you don't get that many views on your uh your content, Sam. It's like, do you realise like if I get a thousand listens and views of a podcast of mine within the first seven days, that's within the top five percent of all podcasts globally across all platforms. I get ten thousand people listening to my podcast on a monthly basis, sixty hours a day, right? 60,000 followers. It's bizarre, and that's the niche of careers within financial planning.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Yeah, which is a really small niche that you might think, you know, it's too niche, but there we go.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

And I monetized it. So we can do that in anything within financial planning. I had a really interesting guy contacted me, he's a stunt man, and I say, how much does you know how much do stuntman coordinators actually make? He was like talking millions, some of these people, right? You know, you know, he's he's been with you know Tom Cruise, some of the top directors, and you start to think to yourself, well, hang on, like this guy's got a really cool story, he's got a really cool niche. He could be the financial planet of the movie stars, you know, the financial planet of those that work within the movie or TV industry because he understands it, he knows it. But at the same time, he's got a whole story, a whole backstory, and it's fun and it's engaging. The time that I was, you know, a stunt double for you know Tom Cruise.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

I'm just thinking of the income protection on that.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Oh, yeah, yeah. This is it.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Can you imagine?

Commitment To The Journey

SPEAKER_02 36:41

The protection market. Now you're thinking, now you're thinking the way I like it. Listen, Hannah, that's a great insight and a great introduction to you. I tell you, I'm behind you 100%, right? I'm up for this, right? If you're up for it, I'm up for it. It's down to you. I will build with you a financial planning business if you're up for it.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

You know I'm up for it.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

And we'll train and develop you in all the areas that I can, such as coming on the podcast, upskilling yourself, building that confidence for you to get out there, get in front of people, build a brand, and be the best damn financial planner that you could ever be.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Nice one. It's a deal.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Love it.