#397 Chris Carlin – Transcript

James Wrigley
Okay, welcome back to the podcast. I’m James Wrigley. Today I’ve got the pleasure of speaking with Chris Carlin from Master Your Money Now. Now some of you listening may have seen Chris’s put up a post in the Ensombl forum thing there the chat, asking for some questions for today’s podcasts, which is fantastic. So we’re gonna get stuck into those. But Chris, thank you for joining me. Pleasure to be speaking with you again.

Chris Carlin
That I always a pleasure to speak to you, Mr. Tiktok. Superstar James. Yeah, no, thank you for the opportunity to share what’s been a interesting 12 months, that’s for sure. I’m sure we’ll dig into that. And I’m very glad to hear that. A lot of people are interested. And I guess struggling with the same issues that I’ve been struggling with over the last 12 months. So glad to be able to give back to the financial planning community. That’s been so good to me.

James Wrigley
Yeah. So you’re so you’ve just recently sold your business which will which we’re going to jump to very quickly but but before we do, maybe just briefly on master your money now what that you know, what their business is, was who you worked with just a brief on there, and then we’ll get into the main part of today’s podcast.

Chris Carlin
Yeah, so mostly money now founded in July 2018, with a real emphasis on looking after millennial nurses and teachers with their finances, based in Geelong. But we had clients Australia wide. We were using. We were using Zoom before COVID made it famous. And yeah, just helping everyday Millennials with their with what was really important to them. So buying their first home protecting their loved ones getting started invested, investing, so they can retire earlier. And with more and by the time at the moment, we’ve got about 130 140 ongoing members and a team of five which transitioned across to now Vista Financial Group.

James Wrigley
Not so quite a business that you so what five years or so you would you’re doing it on your own? Yeah, yeah. Nice. So you mentioned VISTA just there. So you’ve recently sold your business. Can you talk us through like what what transpired to make you get to that point where you decided you it was time to sell?

Chris Carlin
Yeah, so we’re recording this in May 2023. And if you told me 12 months ago, this would be the position that I was being I would have said that you are absolutely crazy. But it’s been an interesting 12 months. event it was couple of key events happen. Firstly, I was 28th of June 2022. I was almost killed in a car crash. Just driving down a house driving down a road near my house or driven down 1000 times before and then a car completely ignored a stop sign had to be gone twice limit clean straight through my fronts and and kept going. And half a second later. I was able to walk away from it but half a second later would have hit my driver side door and I would have met my second daughter Chelsea who was born see Six weeks later, so something like that really messes with you. It’s really makes you think of, I guess, your mortality and what’s actually really important to you so and kind of, I guess, kind of brought on semi mid midlife crisis. I’m only 34. So hopefully it’s come a little bit early. But yeah, it really made me reassess Well, what’s important and what’s not on that as well, Chelsea was born six weeks later that she’s my second daughter, my oldest Charlotte is turned to. So going from one to two for certainly for me, and my family is a massive step up. Zero to One was as easy as the mail. If you’ve got kids, James, it’s, it’s easier for them out when there’s only one. But when there’s two and the numbers are even then it’s, yeah, that was a real challenge for us and as a family, so. And yeah, in terms of where the business was at, we were in a good position. We’re kind of caught between that guess that black hole for lack of a better word between a sole person operator, and then been able to really expand to that, you know, multi advisor office and things like that. But I just got to the end of the year, and I was, I don’t want to make it sound like I was, like, overplay it by saying I was depressed and things like that. But I was definitely, I was definitely feeling it mentally. I was definitely very tired. And I think I just ran out of ideas, and a lot of the things that we set out to do, being an Online Advisor for millennial nurses. What’s what were unique ideas five years ago, we’re now below minimum standard, or others hadn’t moved into that space, as well, social media, then online and things like that. So I just realized, I got to the point that I either needed to keep growing the business or to get out where we were in, or if I just stayed sideways, there was no real benefit to myself, my team, my members, my family, if we just went sideways for a few years, as we went through, I guess, the young family phase. And so I didn’t want to be an absent dad, I didn’t want to be spending 60 hours a week and have been a burden on that front on my family as well. So we just got to December, I just said to wife, look, I think I’m done. I think it’s now time to pass this on to someone else. And she was very quick to say yes to that. So. So yeah, I can definitely say yeah, yeah, there’s just, I was just juggling too many bowls, James, and I knew and I’m sure you’ve seen as well, and everyone listening this has seen it. We’ve seen other financial planners who sadly hold on a little bit too long, whilst going through tough times, especially solar operators, and it’s an it’s a terrible outcome for members and, and entered their financial planners, families and everyone else. So I didn’t want to be like that. I knew my limits, I knew I’d been exceeded my limits are new, I just couldn’t, I just couldn’t grow it anymore. And so it was just, it was time to give it to someone else who had the time, the resources, the energy to take massive money now to the next level and ultimately make it better. So yeah, that was that was the process to get to where we are and

Speaker 3
yeah, that’s so did you and things are good.

James Wrigley
Had you. So the like the you know, you’re talking about that you’re stuck in that black hole of being a single operator to do take on other advisors or and try and try and grow it. Did you? Did you give any thought whilst you’re going through that process to taking on a business partner of sorts? Or or it was you were set on? Passing over the whole business to someone else?

Chris Carlin
Yeah, so in terms of business partner, I think and reflecting on that experience as well, I think, look, and I know everyone’s different. Not everyone agrees. Listen, I know, James, you’ve got multiple business partners in your business, but I think there does need to be one boss, one CEO. Yeah. And so yeah, I didn’t want to I don’t think a business partner was the right move for me. And also, I guess the other part as well, when we set out the intention in December to sell the business. It was with the intention that we’ll see the year in Australia but but then move back to New Zealand to be closer to my wife’s family and get that much needed family support. And so obviously, you know, while I’m in New Zealand, I can’t be an advisor so that one wasn’t an option for For me, at least as an advisor, I could have done a non advisor role. But yeah, that wasn’t an option for me. So I look considered it. But at that stage No, I didn’t think it was the right move for me personally.

James Wrigley
Gotcha. So you’re in New Zealand now or you’re thinking you’re going at the end of the year? What’s the New Zealand?

Chris Carlin
Yeah, so yeah, the intention was, when we put it on that year, we’re going to move to New Zealand 2012, or I’m still in Geelong at the moment 20. Specially spent a month in New Zealand in March, which was after we’ve not we’re in exclusive negotiations with Tyson at that point. And just going through the legal process, but we spent a month in New Zealand and it was actually like, this is economically New Zealand is in a lot of trouble. And we just realized we could not be here. As much as we want to be in your family, when you can’t feed a family for front of 500 bucks a week. Nurses are paid about 50% less than what they own Australia 10% of all nurses have left New Zealand to come to Australia, in the last six months, I would have if there’s no financial planning roles, I could see about 80 grand. And yet property prices are higher and interest rates are in the sevens and eights as we’re speaking. So it was just not going to work. So we did the month there and went, No, we’re not going to go to Australia. So we’re going to move to New Zealand, we’re crossing out so yeah, so fully had to go back with Tyson on that one. And thankfully, he said, Well, look, I’d really be open to staying on. So we’re certainly discussing that. That’s and I guess, yeah, taking the time to figure out what my next steps is going to be. And let’s sit down and figure out what the next steps are gonna be and go from there.

James Wrigley
So maybe talk us through the sale itself. So how do you sell a financial planning business? Luckily, and I’ve not I, I work in a business, as you said, with with multiple partners or so as far away from being a solo practitioner as you can possibly be had, how do you do it? What do you even start? And what does the process look like?

Chris Carlin
Yes. So I, I did mine through a broker. I went, I’ve seen you’ve received email from growth, focus. I think like most financial planners, I’m on a couple of different news. email newsletters, where businesses for sale was actually looking at a small business for sale actually, that they had and called them up. And they said at the time it was sold like, Okay, fair enough. Well, well, I’ve got you. This is, this is my numbers. This is what I’m thinking, what do you think is worth, and I had an idea what it was worth my head and that, which was I said, that was realistic if if anything was slightly under was slightly under in the end. And so, like, here’s the process of where you go. So once I once I said once I had the chapter the wife and and felt yep, this was the right thing to do. I decided that selling was yet we went through the process, and the broker went through that. So yeah, went through. Yeah, like I said, growth focus. Steven fine. Matt Sweeney, pretty much took care of the whole process, which was great. So firstly, it was getting all the data ready. You know, going through clients making sure what your spreadsheets that we’ve all gotten matches what’s in what’s actually on the on the revenue reports, things like that. So that was a very much an administration process to put together the memorandum for the business and and then that enter item and I guess the for sale sign was put on the website, if you go on to growth focus website, you can still see my, I believe my ad still there in the in the sold section. So you can take a look at this afterwards. But yeah, so they manage the, I guess the relationships and the introduction. So and it was it was very well received. We had 40 inquiries five or six interviews, and all those people wanted different things, which was quite was quite an eye opener as well and a different feedback on the business as well. So went through that process. And then once we’ve once we’ve verbally agreed to, to, to the witch who we wanted to go through, it was then a legal process and that legal, getting the contracts done, did take a little bit longer, but at the end of the day like to go from to agreeing to proceed in like December 15 And then settling on April 15th. So I mean four months and two months. So that was the legal process like it was a pretty fast I was really surprised how quickly that it all happened. So I Uh, yeah, that was nice. Yeah. So we’ll go through the brokers and then the network’s the opportunities and, and make sure that it wasn’t just about the best price but make sure I had the best fit for myself and my clients and potential fit as well.

James Wrigley
And so the so the business that you’d built up, did you build that from zero? Did you buy new client bases along the way that some people do or it was all from scratch,

Chris Carlin
or from scratch? Coming from a and Zed, one or two clients followed me out to a couple more insurance only clients followed me. But everything was three primary referral, referral partners and social media marketing. That’s how we’re able to grow the business to where it was.

James Wrigley
Yeah. Nice. Yep. And so and so what’s life like for you now? So you’re, you’re unemployed advisor working with your same clients that you that you sold into the business? You’re still working with them? But what what’s life like for you now?

Chris Carlin
Yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s, we get, I’ve got the, I’m in the privileged position where I can get to choose what I want to do next. And yeah, so I’m looking after my existing clients. And we’re going to be doing a bit of marketing on the side as well, which is what I enjoy. So just yet really, to be able to just focus on the things that I enjoy, which is financial advice, and doing a bit of marketing and not worrying and not worrying about all the other stuff. Thankfully, I’ve given up the mortgage broking side of things, we’ve got a great guy Shane, that looks after that, thank heavens, because that was two, three days a week don’t have to manage staff don’t have to do all the yucky stuff. We’ve got. I’ve got a good administration, and power planning team with Natasha and Mary, that looks after me there. Yeah, it’s just just to go to clear the headspace and just focus on what I enjoy doing is I’m really surprised how much I’ve enjoyed it. And, and how much I’ve really enjoyed. Just been an advisor again, and like I said, I sold this with the intention of accidentally at the end of the year, but I’m really, I’m that Tyson and the new arrangements is definitely been acquired and appealing. To for me to stay on. So that’s what we’re working through the family as to what my next moves will be and what that looks like what’s actually important, what’s not. But yeah, I’m really loving just the simplicity of being an advisor. I love being running my own business, don’t me wrong, I absolutely loved what we built. And I was very successful. But I know what it takes to build a successful financial planning practice. It’s a lot of blood, sweat, and tears and long hours. And I just don’t have that anymore at this present point in time. And the it is to be an advisor, when you’ve got an established book, and you’re not really fighting hard to bring in clients.

James Wrigley
Yeah. And so what’s on the family front of the homefront outside of work. So it sounds like a big driver of why you went down the selling the business route was to do with maybe more important things outside of work. How’s that? It might only be early days. But how’s that playing out for you?

Chris Carlin
It’s very nice to be able to walk away at five o’clock or six o’clock and not have to turn on the computer again until the next day. I don’t have to do weekends. I don’t have to do any nights. To be able to fit it back into the proverbial nine to five has been good. And I’m still able to get some flexibility as well. Like one of the things that I do is I take my eldest daughter to Charlotte to little kickers, which is soccer training, you know, with a two year olds run around causing chaos like so Thursday mornings are not in the office till midday, because that’s something that’s really important to me is to be able to take her and eventually Chelsea when she’s old enough to little kickers. So yes, I’ve still got some flexibility. And and yet that’s which is good. And like I said and still getting a salary as well. So it’s all at the moment. It’s all positives. I’m haven’t really come across any negative so far.

James Wrigley
So, next bit that I wanted to tackle. There was some some questions from the ensemble, I guess community. Before we move on to that, was there any anything else you wanted to add in the, I guess in the first half of our of our podcast around the sale? Now?

Chris Carlin
I think I think the main thing is like you’ve got options. And I think I think sometimes I couldn’t get over how simple the process was. And there was a lot of there’s been a lot of toggle. I got to spend 12 months to get your book ready and all this kind of stuff. Oh, no, I didn’t do any of that. If, you know I said I went from having the idea to settlement within four months. So that’s that’s how quickly can move. And also don’t assume what people want as well, I think that was one of the big eye openers for me was that, even though on paper the offers were like the five or six people that we interviewed and put in offers were all virtually identical. They all wanted different things. Like some people wanted me to stay on a couple of people’s made it clear they didn’t want me to stay on. Some people wanted to keep the massive money now brands, some people didn’t. Some people want to keep our office, some people did not those little nuances. Really they do? You don’t think of it at the time, but they do actually make a difference in the final? The final offer so yeah, I’m really yeah, don’t assume what people want. Even the fact that like my my client base is definitely a lower fee paying client base, which some people I’ve definitely seen commented things are negative, but as a couple pointed out, well, it means there’s a lot of upside, and particularly with the millennial client base as well, I’m not sure you could say the same about retiree base. But for a millennial client base, like there’s plenty of upside, as they grow their wealth and move into the future. Whereas a fully priced client base, you know, that are currently being charged 812 15, grand, whatever it might be, there’s very little scope for them to go higher. So like, like this, like there’s so many different opinions, again, don’t assume what you’ve built is yet don’t make unnecessary and negative assumptions about what your what your business is. Because there’s someone out there that wants what you want. And and Yeah, and like I said, there’s, there’s so many options out there. And if you’re able to take that the take profit, so to speak, and use that money to either invest and generate X amount of dollars or use it to buy, we’ll probably use hours to put a deposit on a family home we’ve been renting for the last few years, because that’s the only option we could done with a young family and self employed. But you know, and still have a job on the other side as well. There’s a lot of pros, yes, there’s some negatives. But on the whole, there’s a lot of pros for it. And I’d be very open, I’ll be very, I would encourage people to at least have the conversation about what their options are. Because it surprised me what the options were. And I think it would survive surprise a lot of people out there as well.

James Wrigley
You sound like a big advocate for it. So that kind of leads into the first question from the from the ensemble communities, Andrea Jenkins asked, What are the pros and cons of, of going back to being an employee?

Chris Carlin
The pros I get, I guess it all depends where you go back and what you want to do. But certainly the pros are obviously a guaranteed salary. That’s good. I did have that with Marcy money now for the last couple of years. But it’s good to get back to just a salary, especially being in a bigger team as well. To not have to do everything. It’s been great to say that problem Oh, wait, that’s not my problem anymore. I can pass it off to Tyson or someone else. So that’s definitely been a good feeling. The negatives again, it depends where you go. I guess the big one I think a lot of people have is that what I refer to the loss of creative control. But thankfully, Tyson has given me a lot of leash, to be able to and wants me to continue doing a few of the things I’ve been doing with and also incorporate that into VISTA as well. So it really wants to take my strengths and put that into the business. So but I acknowledge that for some people, that’s not a consideration, especially if you’re moving into a an established business with well with processes, for example, in marketing in my case, so I mean, that will be one thing. Yeah, there’s Yeah, I mean, and I know that’s a big thing for some people losing their creative control and having a boss and things like that. And dare I say it having to put down the ego for lack of a better word and, and submit to someone else. Like that’s a big thing for a lot of people so yeah, but for me, I’m it’s to be able to not have to won a prize, to not have to worry about making all the decisions for me and where I’m at right now is a is a really big thing for me. Really.

James Wrigley
Andrew Courtney had a couple of questions. The first one was what valuation method did you use and why was the client base segmented? In terms of that valuation? Can you talk through the valuation method?

Chris Carlin
Yeah. So I think the two valuation methods out there still the recurring revenue and EBIT? Ah, for me EBITA was not a got that acronym right? If it wasn’t, wasn’t a good valuation for me. So we did by recurring model. My client base wasn’t segmented by fees, it was segmented by revenue type. So Advisor service fees, insurance and mortgage revenue. So there was slightly different Varick saw slightly different valuations on those three revenue streams. But it wasn’t segmented in terms of client value. I think some may have tried, but they didn’t get through to the interview stage. So no, it was taken as a whole, just segmented by revenue type. And was there a second part to that question?

James Wrigley
Yeah. So yeah. So he had a second question. So you went you answered both parts of the to the question there. Thanks. But, but he did have a second question. And so what what is it about the business that you sold to that attracted to you to them most? So as you said, you had five different interviews? What was it about the the final one that attracted you most?

Chris Carlin
Yeah, I think it’s for me, Tyson. Similar boat to where I was at. He’s two years older than me, he’s got one child and but also he grew up need your Lumberg place called Kollek, which is about 30 minutes down the road. And I refer to it as country values. And I just felt we shared that status, country values, the importance of looking after our clients. We use a phrase sharing the sheet not skinning, it’s charging fairly profitably, but fairly and not overcharging clients. And just having Yeah, and I think the team as well at Vista, a lot of them are in that in their 30s. So a similar demographic. Yeah, it was really a cultural fit that I felt that yeah, Tyson for me, was very closely aligned to massive money. Now in terms of cultural, very different client base, they’re very much an established high net wealth probe, dominantly retiree client based, whereas obviously, we’re Millennials but from a cultural perspective, we felt that was by that was, for me, the biggest driver, it was a good fit and like a couple of months in my team has settled in very well with VISTA and I think vice versa as well. Which just reinforces that yeah, culturally, I think is the was the the was the key thing. That that that’s feeding, not saying the other other offers, or people would were, you know, bad people or anything ridiculous like that. Absolutely. not that impressive businesses and but just a culture that probably just didn’t 100% align with, with what we’ve got with the city here. So yeah, it goes back to that point. Everything’s a little bit different.

James Wrigley
And does Vista I haven’t looked at VISTAs website. Does the VISTA have multiple advisors? Or is that a single kind of advisor business?

Chris Carlin
They’ve got ISON and aged care specialist, Sonya and an up and coming advisor called Patrick, I hope it’s chip or cryptid. No, Patric chip. I’m pretty sure. Sorry, Patrick. But definitely remember that night, he’s, he’s 28. And on the rise, he’s, he’s got a phenomenal future ahead of him to be able to mentor anyone bit of social media and advice and stuff I’m really excited about. So three on that side, plus a mortgage broker, and then we had myself and Saclay. So now we’ll have five advisors and one mortgage broker. So yeah, very, very good team. And one that’s we can, yeah, having conversations about scaling and so forth.

James Wrigley
Okay. Adele, Martin had a few questions for you. And you commented underneath her post saying other, bringing on the tough questions, but I don’t think that they’re too tough. So we’ll get get into Dells questions. So the first one that she asked was, would you do anything differently if you were starting again now?

Chris Carlin
Yeah. The I pondered that question a lot. On a couple of different levels. Firstly, I definitely want it started today, what I would what I did five years ago, because the world has changed in the last five years. And as I said before, like in 2018, when I started being an online advisor was a real competitive edge. Now it’s below minimum standard. There was no advisors in the nursing space. When I started now, there’s there’s a few more four or five. I know Dells done a little bit in that space. Grant Miller’s another guy who I know does. Nurses have quite a few more in that allied health professional space, which generally encapsulate nurses so yeah, you’ve got to be you’ve got to build a business that’s right for the times. And like I said, when I As I said, before I was out of ideas as to what I think a practice should look like for the next five years. I’ll fully admit that. So yeah, I probably would do some things, I would have started probably different business to what I’ve got. Now, if I was to start from scratch again, so they

James Wrigley
mean working with a different type of client. Do you mean?

Chris Carlin
Potentially, yeah, potentially different clients, different ways of doing things? I said, I’m not sure what that looks like. But what was again, what was an edge in 2018? is a lot of ways below minimum standard. Yeah, three. So yeah, that’s why people like, again, Patrick, like I said before, he’s got ideas and knows what the next generation wants. That’s where, yeah, what’s what’s going to take to grow the businesses over the next five years, we completely different to what the previous five years looks like. So yeah, that’s what I do differently. In terms of mastering money now, again, thought about adults question a lot. I did struggle bodies, but definitely two things. Firstly, I should have niched much quicker. It took me about two years to, to go down the nurses path. And I remember not listening to some very good wisdom, both inside and outside of the financial planning community about the importance of niching. I thought that would limit my audience. But it definitely didn’t. It opened up far more doors when people will like your advice advisor for nurses, and got opened up so much more doors than just being an advisor, like even speaking to a referral partner. I’ll be like, you know, just financial planner comm like, I’m not sure which clients was, we’ll see what happens. Of course, nothing ever happened. You say that you’re a financial planner for nurses, clients, like Oh, no. And us, I’ll send them straight to you that way that gets your foot in the door. You look after a couple of nurses, then they’re like, Oh, do you look after teachers as well? Yep. Great, fantastic. And that just opens the door that way. So definitely niching is, I’m a big advocate for now, after being a significant detractor five years ago, I was definitely wrong, you need to be Nishi. The second thing, and this sounds like a silly thing, but it’s a really important one is that I would have got a separate work phone. I think I’ve still got my personal phone here, which has got both Yeah. My wife messaging me and my clients message me on the same phone at the same time. And that was a huge mistake, I needed to have a separate workflow, because even now like, and that’s just a little thing, but even when I’m selling the business, like, if should I decide to leave, I’ve got to actually, you know, kind of take the phone with me. So I’ve got to start from scratch there. So. So I mean, that’s, that’s a small thing. But it actually is a big thing and also stops you from because I know we’re all at nine, eight or 9pm, checking our phones or in front of the telly winding down. You want to have a set, you want to have a personal phone for that not one that’s got access to your work emails and work texts and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, there’s two things I would do differently.

James Wrigley
What What were the best bits of being a solo owner was What did you enjoy most and what was the hardest?

Chris Carlin
The part that I enjoy the most was creative control. To be able to execute my ideas, and have a glass leave my voice on how I think advice should be and which was ultimately helping my mates with their finances. A lot of which probably would have been not being serviced if by most of the Community Financial Planning community, that’s the part that I really loved. I met so many great people networks had great opportunities. Some were fantastic, some were fantastic and then words and then some were just rubbish from day one, but it’s been a hell of a it’s been a roller coaster ride. And you don’t say you love every minute because there’s a few moments especially you know, that like I said, the hardest part to skip that part is definitely letting go of staff. We’ve had to do that a couple of times. That sucks. Particularly one or two of them were actually friends of mine as well having to let them go was they were they were dark days. been rough. They were rough. Yeah. But when it comes to you know, letting stuff go or taking the whole business down with you like that’s there that those sorts of conversations are just yeah, that’s not cool. So that’s definitely the hard part. And yeah, but I mean, like I said, it’s been a hell of a roller coaster and glad to be stepping off the roller coaster but thoroughly enjoy the experience I’ve met again met so many people got so many stories to tell from it. And so many opportunities that I would not have had I think if I was a PA ye PAYG employee only so love my time love what I did, but that season’s over. I’ve got to accept that, which is what I’m doing counseling for, amongst other things. But, yeah, except that career and priority career, and long hours at the office are just no longer my priority. Yeah.

James Wrigley
Yep. And Adele’s final question was about taking on a business partner, but kind of tackled that a little earlier in the conversation. So thanks, Adele, for your for your few questions. triona Thompson, hopefully, I’ve pronounced your name correctly. Apologies if I haven’t. Just an interesting question, which is, how did you negotiate your salary? So going from being a business owner, you would have paid yourself a salary and hopefully there’s some business profits? But yeah, as a PAYG. Employee, how did you negotiate your salary?

Chris Carlin
Yeah, great question. And again, I’ll go back to my previous point that my intention was only to stay for six months, and then leave. So look, I, I went a little bit low on my salary, my salary right now is probably as a nominal salary, which I’m totally okay with. Because I’ve got a pretty good, I’ve got a very good sale price for the business. So I think that’s the first one I made is don’t try and be if you are getting a good price for the sale of your business don’t, don’t go overs on your salary expectations, especially during that responsibility period, which for me, is 12 months of taking a step back, usually, it’s either 12 months or 24 months, you get your first payment, and then the next payment in 12 months, depends what left the business and so forth. Sometimes it’s 24 months for some people. So yeah, so for the first 12 months for me, my salary will be probably be a little bit low might what the markets paid. And I’m totally okay with that. Because, again, I’ve got a very good payment, and I didn’t want to put that payment at risk. Just again, an extra, you know,

James Wrigley
10s of 1020 grand in salary.

Chris Carlin
Yeah, exactly, to get the salary. So, again, what does that look like in 2024? On the assumption I stay under Vista, which is looking more likely, that’s, that’s a conversation I’m having with Titan, of course, but also my family as well. And totting up, for example, well, do I ask for a full time salary? Or do I go back and say, Hey, I only want four days a week, therefore, I’m only going to take a lower salary on Alpha three full, extreme example 300k salary, not asking for that Tyson. Don’t worry. I’ve got to bring in probably a million dollars worth of client revenue every year like to do that you need 60 hours a week to do that. Is that the right thing for my family? Right now? It’s probably not. So I’m probably going to be in a season where Yeah, I will be at this stage probably thinking that I’ll take a lower salary, just so I can have a bit more work life balance. But everyone’s in a different position. And

James Wrigley
and that’s something that’s going to change over time, too. Like you’re, you’re you’re wanting to spend time with your kids, whilst they’re really young. They’ll start school, they’ll eventually finish school, like, you know, you’re only in your 30s. So that, you know, there’s a there’s a bit of plenty of time ahead of you. And that can change over time.

Chris Carlin
And just being more exposed, because how old are your kids? James?

James Wrigley
Nine, and nearly six. So grade four and grade prep.

Chris Carlin
So yeah, so yeah, yeah, about 525, eight years ahead of me. So I have heard they’re a bit easier at that age. So yeah, maybe at that time, I’ll go back to full time asking and doing those longer hours to get the higher wage. So I had a quick workout.

James Wrigley
I had another question for you this. This wasn’t one that was in the, in that community post there. But just something I thought of as we’ve been, as we’ve been speaking, how did you tell your clients about you selling the business and how did they take it?

Chris Carlin
Yep, so we did a we sent out a video to them where I explained the reasons why I sold the business and I think because of its millennial client base. They were much more they were very understanding of, of, of you know where I’m at and things like that. They’ll definitely very reassured that I’m staying for the rest of the year. I think that’s a big one as well. I think it might have been quite different if I said 90 days I’m leaving Goodbye. Yes. I’m glad I’ve staying with someone that wanted me to stay long term. So and maybe taking a step back for those who are thinking of selling The business, don’t wait until the last minute, when you’re done, you don’t want to do advice anymore to sell it, you need to give yourself a year or two. We’ve got a year or two of energy left before selling. So you can do that transition as smoothly as possible. So, but yeah, we did a video out. And like I said, once the clients understood that, yeah, I’m staying around for the rest of the year. And at this stage, looking likely, I’ll stay on, ultimately for them. And add also that their fees are not going to change as well, that definitely came up a few times. They were pretty happy to ultimately for them was just a name change. In scared, they are pretty comfortable with that. So happy days.

James Wrigley
And you think so. So I’ve had a few conversations with other people are around? Is it? Is it really tough to be a to just be a solo advisor running your own business? Do you think the world that we operate in now in financial advice makes that difficult to be on your own? There is a bit of a safety in numbers kind of element to the world that we live in at the moment? Or do you think it’s still doable on your own?

Chris Carlin
It’s doable? Until things go wrong? Yeah. And that’s our Look, we all are not sure, exactly. If you started as a solo operator, James, but I think a lot of people started as solo operators, and I’ve got no issue starting there or being there. But I don’t think you want to finish there. And like for me, we had a second advisor, we’ve had mortgage brokers on and off. So we had a bit of team when, when that was going well, that was really good for me. But yeah, we didn’t get that final push to be able to keep that consistently and have more than myself and one other advisor. So I think that’s going to be a big shift over the next five years that especially as licensee fees go and spy and all that kind of stuff gets higher and higher and higher. We’re gonna see more consolidation in the industry, that’s probably, if I get my crystal ball out, I think that’s going to be one of the big changes. So yeah, I do think that we will be having these conversations more and more. And also, as the economy tightens up as well. And there’s potentially for certain segments, less opportunities to obtain clients as well. But yeah, I, I do think that you need to have a plan to either scale up quickly. So it’s not just you, or it’s, or you’ve got a plan to merge with someone else. Because again, going back to the car crash that I had, like, at the end of the day, like and one big reason, the thing that always play in my mind is that if I haven’t forbid, died in that car crash, or was TPD, or whatever, there would have been no one that would have had either both the skill sets and the motivation to be able to sell the business, my wife wouldn’t have a clue. I wouldn’t know what to do, the licensee would have helped a little bit but ultimately, like, yeah, if if ever these things go wrong, like, like, I’ve got, yeah, I my family would have walked away with nothing. But now they will have, you know, a very significant lump sum that’s going to set up our, my wife and I’s future my kids future and potentially my children’s children as well. So that’s a real motivator to, you know, to be able to feel motivated to sell the business because what they say a bird in the hand is worth much more than two in the bush.

James Wrigley
Yeah. Yeah. And I think the just by the questions and the engagement that you’re posting, he only posted up a few days ago in ensemble there that the number of people that have either asked questions or commented saying they’re looking forward to the episode. I just, yeah, it is a sense check on whether it whether you’re a business on the acquiring side, or if you’re a solo operator on the on the selling side, there’s a lot of interest in this topic at the moment. So thank you for putting your hand up to be to be part of it. And joining me on the podcast. Was there any any final comments or anything? Extra that you want to add as we as we kind of round out the episode today?

Chris Carlin
Yeah, I’ll just give a very quick shout out and I promised I would because I spoke to him before but my legal person, William atto. Legal Made Easy. Definitely recommend him. He was fantastic throughout the process that the legal process is a it’s a it’s a tough process. Because it does sadly make you think the worst of everyone. It’s, yeah, not fun, but we’ll make that process so easy. So I promised him a shout outside. I’ll just quickly squeeze that one in but again, like I said before, you know where as I was actually as I said in my when I do my roadshow to for the AFA back in 2020. Just before COVID Ironically And no one, no one got to their best deathbed and wanted and regretted not spending more time with the office, they wanted to spend more time with their family, they want to spend more time with their kids, they want to spend more time with themselves. And whilst I absolutely believe in, you know, we’re professionals, we work hard, and we get fantastically rewarded for that. We are ultimately humans as well. And, and particularly, you know, I’ve been open about my struggles with mental health. And I said, I’m looking forward to this year, one of my goals is actually to get my head right, and do the work and spend time with, with professionals and non professionals to work on some of the things I’m working through, both related to the sale and, and unrelated to the sale. You’ve got to, you’ve got to look after yourself first, because a good you how it can, it’s a better adviser a better spouse or better parents, you’ve got to look after you first. And there’s nothing wrong with except if you are in a similar position. To me, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying I’ve hit my limit, and I just can’t do it anymore. I’d much rather you have that conversation and take the six months or whatever it is that it takes four to six months it takes to sell your business rather than just ignore the signs ignore the limits and everything just crash and burns. And you’re in a market where you’ve got so many options. So look after yourself, have a chat to myself or growth focus are plenty other brokers or in some nodes, a great financial planning community. And, and, and again, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, we’ve the financial planning community is a real camaraderie is a real family feel and the amount of information that I have gained from advisors, I’ve been in the industry now 12 years, the amount of information they’ve been given me from advisors has been phenomenal for me. So to have this opportunity to be able to give back a little bit to the financial planner communities for Manuel. So thank you again, James, for the opportunity. Thank you to insightful as well for the opportunity to thank everyone for the questions and hopefully it gives you food for thought that your options and and yeah, I hope you do what’s best for yourselves, your families and your members as well. And yeah, wish you all the best.

James Wrigley
Thank you, Chris, thank you for joining me. So if anyone wants to reach out to Chris is on the ensemble platform there. You can find him on LinkedIn, Instagram as well. You’ll be able to find him. We’ll put some links to different places in the show notes. But Chris, thanks again for joining me. Really great chat. Appreciate it.

Chris Carlin
Thank you very much James.