#85 Francois du Toit – Transcript

Louis van der Merwe
Welcome to another episode of Ensombl advice South Africa. Today I have with me in the studio yet again, Francois de Toit. Francois was the guest all the way back on episode 21. And if you’ve listened to it, you will know that Francois is a Creative At Heart, someone that loves tinkering with anything new, but also someone that’s pushing the evolution of financial advice forward. Francois, thank you so much for joining me.

Francois du Toit
What a pleasure to be back, Louis, really appreciate it. You know, it’s not often that one gets to make a comeback. And I’m gonna take it with both hands today,

Louis van der Merwe
You are allowed to rectify anything you said on the previous show. And we can revisit that. But I want to talk a little bit about skills other than the normal things that we expect a financial planner to know, you know, the technical stuff, going through your education, maybe obtaining your CFP designation. And now I think almost everyone is probably aware of the fact that they need the human side, right, they need to have a little bit of skills around self development and maybe even coaching. But a skill that’s neglected, in my mind is talking about, number one, the creative process, but also getting comfortable creating content sharing information, and that might be speaking, that might be creating different forms of content. You have now created for the third year, the speaker and influencer program, which I’m very excited about. But rewind a little bit. Tell us the story behind why this came about. And what kind of led you to building this.

Francois du Toit
Yeah, and I look lovely, I wish that I could take the credit for for coming up with the idea for this program. I’m very good at recognizing when something is of extreme value, and something that’s very much needed, and something that could really change lives. So that’s my superpower. But the brainchild for the person behind this brainchild is actually Adam Allen from nicotine planners in the UK. And when we sort of started, you know, talking to one another a few years ago, he mentioned this, and I just immediately say to him, but well tell me more. And as he then shared with me what this was about, I said look up, we’ve got to bring this to South Africa. But then also on the other hand, I knew is is going to be a big job, you know, and somewhere by chance result which ties in from pray for me and myself got talking. And we then became the hosts for the first time that we brought it to South Africa. And from there now we are really the South African face for the speaker influencer program, the international speaker and influencer program. But I think, you know, the whole idea of us is born from I know that when I was at school, there’s nothing that you could do to get me on a stage and talk to a group of people. For a long time in my career, I didn’t want to do that. And just, you know, speaking to somebody that I don’t know, well even was a challenge. And it was it was really something that I think for me was a big, I wouldn’t say a challenge, but it’s definitely something that made me very uncomfortable. Then in about to entertain, I think it was around about 2010. I worked for a product provider here in South Africa, I worked for them for quite a long time. And I was branch manager and they then had the sessions that they wanted to roll out across the country where the branch managers got all of the sort of the advisors that were looked after, together and then added at a uniform message that we wanted to deliver to all of them. So as part of that, I had to go for Speaker training. And that really is where the call it the buck started biting me to say but this is really an incredible skill to have. And it’s an important skill to have. Because it’s not so much about getting up and being able to talk it’s more about crafting your message and being able to deliver that message in a way that’s memorable and that actually gets people’s attention but I think more to that is to get them to take action on the other side of it. So that’s where it was born so many many many years ago. So we are when I saw this from Adam and then I said like this got this has got to come to South Africa and I’m very happy that he said yes,

Louis van der Merwe
front show and want to know a little bit more about that training because it sounds very different from something like Toastmasters, where they would help you in a project your voice and talk to your audience with this almost sounds a little bit more like storytelling. It’s like crafting a really good story that’s pulling your audience in.

Francois du Toit
Yeah, I think you’re hitting the nail on the head here, Louis. And so the international speaker and influencer program is really about one, I think a big part of it is that, you know, we, I think a big part of the mission is that we want to change the face of financial planning conferences across the globe. So it’s not only South Africa, but But everywhere. So to do that, you need new voices, new faces, but often these new voices, new faces need help. So this is very different from a Toastmasters or that I’ve never been to a Toastmasters session myself. What we focus on heavily or in this program, is to help people put together their message and exactly what you said, is to use the story. But there’s other methods as well. So they stories, you know, and there’s acronyms, and there’s all sort of these models and things that you can use to put together a message and then deliver it. So the delivery and the how you talk and even delivering it virtually, we focus a lot on doing it virtually, because at the end of the day, everybody that participates and successfully completes the program gets to speak at the global financial planning conference that we host in May. Now, at that, they get to do a 10 minute slide free talk, you know, it’s it’s nice, it’s energetic, it’s, it’s fast paced, it’s dynamic. And there’s such incredible stories from the scarlet first time speakers, because by far, the majority of them haven’t got any speaking experience from from from from before. So this program then enables them because you can see, as we go through the program, that the biggest thing is crafting the message, getting everything you want to say, into a 10 minute space, coming up with a title, you know, formulating all of that, that’s really the big challenge. Nobody is so concerned about what am I gonna? How am I going to say this? They’re all focused on the content. And I think that is the powerful thing, because it translates to other things way beyond just speaking from a stage via the virtual or in person stage.

Louis van der Merwe
How are you positioning the value of the skill, because if I think back to my early days, in my career, I probably didn’t expect that I would have to do presentations in front of groups, you know, maybe talk to employer groups around some benefits. And it’s something that, I think, as always excited me yet, I didn’t really know that that is a skill that was required to become a financial planner, is the same true here, where you’re planting that seed for someone to work on it. Because even now, like if I look at the podcast, 85 episodes in, I’ve worked on the skill, it’s not just something that I could say, oh, I’ve done one. And, you know, now I’ve kind of mastered it. It’s really a kind of evolution. So are you seeing this as the kickoff of building that skill? Or is it just giving someone a taste of what it feels like to present?

Francois du Toit
This is this is the thing that look, I mean, I guess on the other side of this program, somebody’s gonna feel like nah, I was right. It wasn’t for me. We haven’t seen that. So it is possible. But most people and this is something I realized in December, the I was just paging through LinkedIn. And I just saw all these people that in the last two years went through the program. And this one is speaking on the radio, that one is on TV. This one is hosting events, these ones are doing webinars that I’ve never done before. And in that moment, I realized, like what this has done, because many of them, I had to have discussions with and say you’re not pulling out, you’re not giving up, you’re going to see this through, I see the talent, I see the potential, you’ve got to keep going so many of them. So everybody goes through that. And they get overwhelmed. And they get stressed because it’s a quite an intensive program. But then that’s where that, you know, I don’t know, lead, like if you’ve ever done something for the first time. And as you finish it, you go like, you look back and you go, I’m so glad I saw it through. And that’s exactly what happens. And that is the kickoff point, really, once they’ve done it for the first time, then they go and like what else is possible, and then they start doing it more and more. And I’ve got a very good sense of what you’re talking about, you know, the first episode to the 85th episode. It’s, you know, you learn every single time there’s something you think like, Oh, I could have done that. I should have done that. So it’s a forever learning process. But I think, you know, this is merely the, the, the spark that many people need to take the message to the world because the one thing is, most people have got a message in their heart that they really want to take to the world. But sometimes they just don’t have the courage to do it. And other times they think, Oh, what are people going to think about me? And this program helps you overcome that in a big way.

Louis van der Merwe
Almost like it’s some kind of commitment device to say, you’ve signed up for this. It’s like signing up for a race right? We’re going to help you You train. And when you finished any kind of running race, especially the big ones, you tend to say, Oh, I’m never running again. But two days later you start planning the next race, it seems to me as if this is very similar. Share with me a few of the of the emotions that have come up for people in the past that have done this, you’ve mentioned that you’ve had to kind of motivate Is this what you expected when someone signed up to say, I actually want to do this because they’re doing this voluntarily, right? You’re not forcing them to do this.

Francois du Toit
Yeah, so maybe if I can, can start off with what the process is. So this is a fully sponsored program. So you don’t pay to go through the program, which in itself is a problem. Because you know, when you get something for free, then sometimes, you know, it’s not as valuable to people. But we go through a rigorous application process to try and make sure that the people we select, and there’s only a select number of seats available every year, that they are the ones that we feel, have got a message. They are the ones that are most committed, and they are the ones that will see it through when things do get tough. And I must say over the last three years, by far, the majority of people saw it three way every year, there’s something that happens, you know, we’ve had people get very sick, and things like that. So there’s always like, between two and five people that do fall out. But I mean, if we choose 30 people, 25 of them go on to speak at a conference, which I think is great. To get your real on a question around the emotions. So there’s always this excitement, first of all, right? So I’m excited that I got in, and I’m so glad and thank you, everybody and all of that, then they start seeing the schedule. And then they realize like, Whoa, this is more than just, this isn’t as simple. You know, watch a few videos on YouTube. And there you go. Like, this is an intense program with international speaking coaches, we’ve got speaking coaches from South Africa, we’ve got all of these live sessions that they have to attend. And then there’s all this work that needs to go into there. They, they talk and they title and all of those things. So then it becomes overwhelming to them as well. And they become stressed. And they feel I can’t do this. And this, these emotions and feelings of doubt that sit in. So we see this every single year. But that’s our job. So you know, every time in the middle of the program, we have a whole get together with everybody. And then we have a chat to them and say, Look, this is where you are, it’s not the first time we’ve seen this. It’s okay how you feel, we are here as your support. And we do a lot of that. So we call them dropping sessions. So you get to book one on one time with us. Or you can do you know when we have these group sessions as well. But there’s a lot of support for them. And that’s the only way to get them through. Because if we leave them to their own devices, you know, I think all four of them would would probably decide no, no, no, this is not worth the stress. So it is a serious program, it is stressful, but the learning and the growth for outweighs the stress and the overwhelm that one needs to go through. And then at the end, there’s this, I don’t know what the right word is. But you can see it on their face when that 10 minute ends. And there’s 10 minutes. And it’s just like, not just relief, it is just they are so proud of themselves for just seeing it through. And I can tell you that the feedback we get every single year is absolutely amazing. And that’s what keeps us going. We already opened the whitelist for next year. So you know, we already know this is happening next year as well. And it’s simply because of the impact that we see this as from from that point,

Louis van der Merwe
I read in your documentation that you have applied the ratio of 5050 having 50 men and 50 women present. Tell me why that is the case.

Francois du Toit
So we all about if you want to change the face of financial planning conferences, I think a good place to start is, you know, with a gender balance disabled, we want equal opportunity for men and women. And then in South Africa. I mean, there’s other challenges that we have. And if you look at the cohort we have this year, we are so excited that naturally, we have such a good split, you know, amongst not just men and women, but people from all races that are taking part as well. So we’re really, really proud that this program is helping to drive diversity as well. And giving people the opportunity look, the one thing that I will never do and something that I stand for. And I’m proud to say that is that we don’t just hand out opportunities, you’ve got to commit, you have to put up your hand, we’ll create the opportunities, we’ll make it available to you. But you need to first of all, put your hand up. And secondly, you need to do the work. So that’s the only basis that we that we decide on. And it’s quite an interesting process, because we’ve got this application that people need to write in. So there’s a few questions. Then we anonymized those questions, and we only there’s a panel of four, that we only look at the questions and then each one of us independently right whether we think somebody should be concerned it or not, and then we go through that whole process. And by the end, it’s just weird enough, like, when we got to the end, we were 1614. This year. So 16 women, 14 men. So that’s where we ended up just naturally without even knowing who it was, what gender they are, because the only thing we can see is the for for questions. So it’s quite an interesting process. And yeah, all we’re trying to do is just drive diversity. But I think more than that, is creating opportunities for those who want them. That’s the most important part.

Louis van der Merwe
What’s been the feedback from some of the other attendees in the previous years? Because I can imagine that they would say, Yes, I’m now better at presenting or I’m comfortable speaking in front of people. But is there any secondary benefits that maybe surprised you, or even some of the people that presented that they didn’t think they were gonna get from doing this?

Francois du Toit
So there’s one that jumps to mind. And we actually made a video because this person sent us a voice note, when he saw we were busy with the new code, and all of that he sent us a voice note to rizona, myself. And he was saying, like, we need it this and he was one of the guys that I had to talk to last year and say that you’re not dropping out, I don’t want to hear your story. I don’t want it like nothing, I was very harsh with him. And he saw it through. And now what’s happened off the back of this is that because he did a worker, younger, he did a, I talk around the advisor with a hat. And in this talk, he was undressing, you know, not completely at other clothes underneath his fancy clothes, but he got undressed, this

Louis van der Merwe
is suitable for family viewing.

Francois du Toit
And put a hat on and all of that. And that’s how he started. And he did this whole concept around the perception that people have, you know, based on how you look and how you dress. And then off the back of that what he sent us in the voice that I wasn’t aware of this at all, is the fact that he now they busy building a whole brand around the advisor with that there’s an actual brand now being created. He works for one of the bigger companies, and they are helping him to craft this because he got to then talk to a lot of other advisors within the business about this and why he does this and the experience of all of that. So that has now evolved totally. And he said that in a voice that he said I had my best year in 16 years. You know, so that’s something and there’s many more stories like that people went on to really start I mean, things like book clubs and all sorts of weird things that they that they did with this because they got comfortable doing things virtually number one, and then secondly, just being able to craft a message in a way that would attract the right people. You know, so so we actually are encouraging the past guys to send us some testimonials and send us just some what has transpired. And, yeah, so but Wilcos one is one that really stands out for me at this at this time. And it was something that I didn’t foresee, you know, I didn’t go like when he was doing his talk, this is going to be something, it’s something that just happened I’d think nobody thought that that would even even even be possible

Louis van der Merwe
power franchise, I’ve I’ve seen when people can actually exercise that creative muscle that something new is created. And they almost get energy from that, and you’re allowing them to do this. But in the same breath, you have done this in your personal life. I mean, that’s how you are making a living. Now, your YouTube channel has many, many viewers, and it’s a massive, massive commitment. Are you sharing a bit of your own personal story say, hey, this, this is what I’m doing. And this is how I’m, you know, creating my creative expression or platform?

Francois du Toit
Yes, so we I actually was one of the coaches this year. So previously, I wasn’t this year, I was and I specifically talked about connecting with your audience virtually. So talking about the virtual connection. And it was it was a very practical session to say, you know, simple things, from the technical stuff to the how do you connect with a camera and make sure it how do you connect and engage with the audience and all of those things. So it’s a, you know, taking what I’ve learned, and I’m by no means thinking like, I’ve got it all figured out. Because every week when we do the show, I go I should have done this, I forgot that, you know, and some weeks you’re just not on your game, and then you press the wrong buttons and all sorts of things are happening. But it is that I think what we’ve learned is sort of what works long term. And what are the things that matter? And what are the things that people will engage with and what do they want to listen to? And what makes it easy for them to consume the content, you know, whether it’s being live and listening to something attending a webinar or attending, you know, a talk that somebody is having, whatever that situation may be, you know, we try our best and I think where most of that comes out actually is in the dropping sessions because that’s really where people can come and ask questions. As they pose their specific situation to us, and that’s where we get the opportunity to give input and feedback and sort of use what we’ve learned, because both of his own and myself have gone through this program in the first year as well. You know, so we’re giving back a lot from from that perspective, as well. And it’s just, you know, continuous, I think it’s about having the courage to try, you know, we don’t all have the answers. And by the time we figure something out, there’s something new happening again. But, you know, we keep going, we keep learning, and then we share that knowledge as much as possible.

Louis van der Merwe
Here, we tend to look at the people that have put in, you know, all the work and all the training and all the effort and, and we expect to just jump in there and say, Oh, if I could only do it that way, or if I could only have so many subscribers or so many listeners yet. They didn’t stop they they went through this journey, and people supported them. And I really liked this concept of what you’re saying is that the work happens in the droppings and in between the sessions that really reminds me of financial planning and even coaching to a certain extent, where we see the value being unlocked in between the sessions. What is there that you think we can maybe enhance that? Is the reflection exercises or journaling? Or do you think there’s tools that we could apply both to your speaking influencer program, but also to our financial planning clients? To squeeze out a little bit more value in between sessions?

Francois du Toit
Yeah, so I’m going to give a very, very unpopular answer, because most people dread this, and most people don’t do this. And in fact, they profess that they never ever do this, specifically people who are already experienced in speaking and that is, you know, I think one of the best things I did and where I learned the most, I learned a lot on speaking influence. I learned a lot from speaking to people like Adam, for example. But where I learned the most was watching my episodes afterwards. But not watching good self router, user work, and you know, all that stuff. I looked at it from just listening. What was I saying? How was I saying it, there was a time where I said, I’m a lot, I now do it less, but I now have the words like so. And like, you know, that I put in there. So, so this consistently, unless I listened to these things, you don’t pick up on those. And it’s also a lot less confrontational. If you listen to yourself, and you pick up by yourself, because it’s so easy. When you listen to yourself to find out, I can do that differently. I see I do this over and over something you never realized while you’re doing it, only afterwards, you know, that’s there’s so much value in that. And it’s much easier than for example, if I were to send you something and you were to critique it and tell me, you can do this better, you can do that better look at this, look at that. It’s much simpler and easier to just when you recorded something, just go back and listen to it. Because that’s just think about like sitting with a client, you know, whether it’s virtual, I mean, most people would anyway, record those today. So you listen to that, what you explain to the client, you know, whatever part of the process it’s in, whether it’s an onboarding part, or whether it is gathering the information, you know, sort of connecting with a client, asking questions, getting that deep understanding, or then presenting what you think the client should do. All of those different things, if you start listening to what you’re saying, you’re definitely going to pick up on things that you think that that doesn’t sound so great. Or maybe can’t I do it in this way. And then you try that and you listen to it again. So yeah, many people say they’d never ever listened to themselves ever. But I still believe that’s one of the most powerful ways to better yourself from a from a presentation point of view.

Louis van der Merwe
Frontal, just to clarify that after your episode has gone live, or after you’ve presented or after you’ve had your client engagement, then you would say, I can’t fix what’s happened. But I can learn from this experience. Is the this something that you are listening or looking at specifically? Or does it just jump out at you,

Francois du Toit
it literally jumps out, because once you do something over and over again, it because it will be a habit, you know, but it’s an unconscious habit, almost the things that we do and the way that we speak. And it’s okay to say, when you’re thinking it’s if you do it, you know, too much, for example, or something that I’ve often picked up on is that I explained certain concepts, we have a way of explaining specific concepts always the same in the same manner. And then that starts jumping out of you because you keep hearing it, you keep hearing it. And then you start thinking like No, no, but there must be a better way or there is a better way or you know what that is spot on. Like I just need to keep doing that. So suddenly it literally jumps out at you. In my experience, like it’s always good to hear something that’s glaringly obvious that I need to take a look at.

Louis van der Merwe
As you said that, I thought to myself, maybe it’s helpful to have a set of stories for clients, right things that we do over and over and stories that we tell over and over, but maybe something that has been crafted in a specific way to hit home with a client or to hit home with an audience. And that’s very much what you’re doing here. Right.

Francois du Toit
But I think the important part of those stories is, who does it depict as the hero? You know, is that me says, I’m either hero taking people through speak and influencer? Or is it the person doing and completing speak and influence really the hero? And I’m just the guide? You know? So I think, yes, absolutely, we should have the stories, but we need to be very cognizant of who we place in the role of the euro. And that should be always the client, because they are other clients like them who have gone through the journey before them. And we need to say, this is what they did. And then and this is how we help. So we just support for example, and you can have a very nice story around that. And in fact, you know, I guess the story doesn’t even have to be true, because the most powerful picture you can paint in someone’s mind, and this is something that Adam Dahl taught me is that is, the picture in your mind is so much more powerful than any picture I can show you. So if we are able to really describe things, well, you know, whether it’s a true story or not, that doesn’t matter. It’s about bringing home the concept and bringing them the message and getting people to take note and then to take action afterwards. But I think there’s also a big part to that. Really, I think the one thing we must be careful of is that we’re not the ones talking all the time, there needs to be engagement. And for me, engagement means meeting of the minds. It’s a bilateral conversation, you know, the client is physically applying their minds to situation asking questions as well. So it’s not a conversation or a story driven from just the financial advisor side is definitely engagement is a very important part of that of that recipe.

Louis van der Merwe
franchise, do you think we can expect an in person conference from propulsion at some point in the future? Or is this staying uniquely online?

Francois du Toit
So as far as the global financial planning conference is concerned, it’s uniquely online, because we’ve got people participating from all over the world. So getting everybody in the same room is going to be hard. We’ve We’ve spoken before about, you know, how do we do it? And do we live stream everything? You know, the South African portion, and then the UK and the US and Australia? And from all over? So? But yeah, I mean, that obviously comes through with with a lot of logistics, I don’t think we there yet. But there has been been discussions around that. But for now, it’s it’s 100% a virtual event.

Louis van der Merwe
Because I’m wondering if it’s not almost a little bit easier to start off online than to, you know, jump in in front of a massive audience. It’s, I know, it’s different. But do you find people are easier to engage in an online presentation than in person?

Francois du Toit
Depends on on, if you say engaged? Are you talking about the audience? You’re talking about the person delivering the talk?

Louis van der Merwe
The person delivering the talk? Does it take more guts to do this in person than online?

Francois du Toit
I think people have got mixed emotions about and I started smiling when you asked this question, because it’s great, I don’t know what you’re going to ask. And there are some people who are so uncomfortable staring into a camera, and not seeing anybody. And then on the other hand, if they were 1000 people, or 500 people, or whatever it was, last year, we had 1200 people attend the event, you know, they get also that’s also scary, and overwhelming. So I guess, you know, if I were to put my opinion on this, I would say virtual is always easier. Because with virtual, you have all sorts of things that you can have in front of you. And that you can refer to you know, if you get lost in your in your thoughts. Whereas in person, you know, you’ve got to have it really waxed. So I would say, starting our virtual is probably an easier route. And then from the taking it to in person. But those are two very different experiences.

Louis van der Merwe
We were joking beforehand that you just have to look at the right camera to remember to speak to your audience.

Francois du Toit
That’s very true. I have become so used to if I look at specifically now that I’ve got new cameras. But even before you know, I would find some times where I’ll be recording a audio only thing. But I’m talking to the camera as if that camera is on and then sometimes this no one this thing isn’t even on. So if you do it a lot and you your focus, so on that little round lens there in the middle of the camera, and whether you have a webcam, or whether it’s a built in laptop camera, or you’ve got a DSLR camera or whatever you have, you can see that little circle in the middle and as long as you stay focused on that. The one thing that I don’t know if you experienced this, but if you really hone in on that suddenly the whole world disappears and you forget about all the other screens and all the other things and you’re so focused on that. So for me, it’s also a distraction from the distraction if I put it that way. So yeah, but it took me a long time and even now like as I said earlier, you guys Go back and watch some of the things. I can see like some of my episodes this year, when we started a season four was I’m looking down and I’m looking all over yet, when I’m talking, I’m not focusing on the camera. So the last three episodes, I’ve been focusing heavily on the camera again, because I became aware that I’m looking all over the place. And the thing is, you want to look into the camera, because if I asked you to move to the left or the right, doesn’t matter where you move, it’s going to look like I’m looking you straight in the eyes, you know, but if I look just a little bit to the left or a little bit to the right, it’s a whole different story. So, you know, if you do it a lot, it almost becomes it’s just, it’s almost like changing gears in a car. It’s just what you do.

Louis van der Merwe
And so this, you pick this up through reviewing your video that you saw that, hey, I’m not maybe engaging with the camera enough is that

Francois du Toit
because it felt to me like I don’t connect, you know, if somebody doesn’t look at you, then you’re not connecting. And you pick it up very, very quickly from any video and can look at any YouTube video, for example, the guys are really good at this, they are focused on you, they looking you in the eye they are talking to you. So if you don’t do that, if you’re all over the place, then there is no connection. And that’s why I say relationships and connection have built it doesn’t have to be literally in person, but you’ve got to be able to look each other in the eye. And hence why I believe yes, articles are great. Audio is great. But video, at the end of the day is the thing that makes people feel over time like they know you, you know, because that we look each other in the eye basically, even though all I can see is a little glass with a hole in it. That’s basically all I can see. But for the person watching this, it’s a completely different experience

Louis van der Merwe
for lunch or for someone that’s maybe not comfortable doing online meetings with a client. So I’m thinking financial planners and advisors that really want to up their game. What has been the most valuable investment in terms of a piece of technology or a training course? To give to like, yeah, to up your game when it comes to virtual meetings and conferences.

Francois du Toit
It’s like you see, now I’m looking to the right for me, because I got to think now, the if I think about like, what are the things that makes the biggest difference for me is really two things. The one is obviously the audio everybody says that. But when it’s easy to listen to someone, because the audio is of good quality that makes the world of difference, it lifts the entire experience. But then the thing that most people do not want to do, because it is quite a costly thing is a better camera. You know, the built in camera, we all think like, that’s fine, I can use my built in camera, I mean, you’ve got an Apple MacBook Pro, you know that camera isn’t bad, that’s great. But you know, it’s not the same as using a DSLR camera or even just using an external HD webcam. So you know, you’re looking at at least like a 2000 Rand investment. And I mean, if you look at my cameras and your camera, it’s like 13 15,000 Rand for for that investment. But ultimately, it’s part of previous it was just how we dressed. But now this entire sort of look and feel of our things, the thing that I probably get the most comments on if I have meetings like Wow, I love your background, or Oh, you in your studio, you know, people are disappointed when I have meetings and I’m not in my studio. So they become used to the quality of what it looks like. So a great camera helps that and a very simple tip, by the way, and I give this to everybody and I think people laugh at me, and that’s fine. But clean the lens of your camera every single time before you have a meeting that is probably the biggest tip that makes the biggest difference to the quality of your video because as soon as you don’t have sufficient light, then those little dust particles and things really degrade what it is that you can see on camera. So even if you don’t want to buy a proper camera, you know at least in that lens every single time. But I would say you know at least a normal webcam like Logitech I love Logitech so they HD webcams. 10 ADP webcams have great

Louis van der Merwe
potential what to add to that, because I’ve had a few client meetings, where it almost felt like the client felt uncomfortable, because they saw the microphone and maybe had headphones on and it felt to them as if they were in a recording studio, which they’d maybe didn’t expect. And so I’ve been trying to sometimes tone down things a little bit. So just to accommodate the client, I know your type of engagements might be slightly different. But has there been a time where you felt the technology or, or the actual gadgets were an interruption or hindrance in the conversation?

Francois du Toit
Yeah, so it’s funny that you mentioned that because in the last while, I’m now busy looking at getting monitor speakers that I can run through my setup, because everything’s got to be connected in the right way so that you don’t get feedback without headphones. The biggest reason why I wear headphones is is that there’s no echo or picking up other sound etc. So I’ve become acutely aware that if I just want to do a talking eight video, you know, kind of thing where I just want to want to talk, but there’s no real like you and I’m ever conversations, or both of us are wearing headphones, maybe, or whatever. You know, in that case, I think people expect it. But what I found is that, specifically, if I want to reuse the content, you know, it just doesn’t look, I almost feel like people are just the webinar, you know, because as soon as there’s eight funds, it’s like, this is a webinar, instead of saying, well, now this is a proper informational educational video like we do, and not having this. So you’ll see, we recently released some stuff on LinkedIn, where I wasn’t wearing my my headphones. But I can only do that if I’m not talking to someone. So I think it’s actually a very valid point to say, you know, what, sometimes all of this is distracting, maybe not intimidating, but definitely distracting to the person on the other end, from that point, because they don’t necessarily, you know, what is the right word, they don’t go out to make things better, or to have this kind of setup. I mean, this is really when you really into content that you’ll do this. But the normal client on the street would not necessarily do that. So I think, you know, very important that that one takes note of that and then see, I still believe it’s almost like dressing one level higher, but not 10 levels higher than the client. So this is the new dress one level higher, I would say,

Louis van der Merwe
here, you don’t want to be rocking up in your tuxedo and the client is expecting to go to the beach. Is that still relevant to dress one level higher than a client? Is that something that has resonated with you?

Francois du Toit
Yes, it is. It is an interesting thing, Louis. So I mean, you can ask a lot of people that I’ve had meetings with me recently, I rocked up in my shorts and my propulsion shirt, and that’s it. This is the way I dress, this is the way I work. The only time I dress different is if I MCN event, or I have to speak on stage, it’s the only time where I’ll dress different than I will ask what the dress code is for that event. And then dress accordingly. I had an experience last year, where somebody said they would not refer other people to me because and when we dug deeper into that it was because of the way I dress they expected because they it’s something that’s very important to them. So you have one or two of those people in the audience, you know, and then it’s for them, it’s an issue. So one needs to decide like I am Why Am I dressed how I dress? You know? And then if there’s one or two people who doesn’t like it, then so be it? Or do you try and make everybody happy? I guess is the question. But there is a limit, I would say about how we should race I don’t think it’s as important. I mean, take Walker’s story with the advisor with a hat. Their stories, I listen to a podcast of a guy in the UK that started his own firm, you know, as the twos and all sorts of things, things that were taboo at his previous employer and he’s got loads of clients, you know, it just like you attract the right people, if you just our authentic was and by the way, being authentic is a big part of that session that I did for everybody. Because I think that is really my strong suit is around that not just authenticity, but being vulnerable and being open and honest and so forth in these discussions, I think those things are way much more than the way you dress.

Louis van der Merwe
This all ties into what you see is what you get right like from this brand, I can expect consistency I can expect good quality, and I can expect a great message which is what you’re tying in with the speaker and influencer program, Francois for anyone listening and they might be keen to join in on this number one is there still available spots? And if there is a few how do they go about applying for this?

Francois du Toit
Yeah, so this YES Program is already running. It runs from February until May but the waitlist is open for next year. So what happens is we opened the waitlist last week. And you can see there’s a website financial planning conference dot global and you can go there register your interest and then in September the applications open so everybody that joined the waitlist will send all the details of how to apply and the application forms and all of those good things. And then from there the process runs by December we announced who got in and then the program starts in February every year. So this year is full but next year if you want if you’re interested then join the waitlist.

Louis van der Merwe
And if we want to view these presentations like where do we go?

Francois du Toit
Yeah, so you think we selling tickets to the global financial planning conference they 349 grand a ticket and it’s all on our website. So propulsion.co.za ly forward slash GF BC 23 So that’s what level financial planning conference or if you just land up on propulsion dot Sierra data, you go to events and you’ll see that level financial planning conference day it explains exactly what it’s about. We announced the all of the speakers that are going through the program at the moment and then also You can book your tickets there. And whether it’s group bookings or individual bookings, whatever the need is, you can all do it through the website.

Louis van der Merwe
Franco, I do want to mention to you that it’s happened a few times now where I’ve Googled someone’s name. And you know, what comes up an interview that you did with that person maybe three or four years ago on your YouTube channel, and it’s so wonderful to see how propulsion and the work you’re doing is becoming a household brand for financial planners just moving this profession forward.

Francois du Toit
Yeah, it’s a it’s a, it’s a bit of a passion and maybe a curse on the one hand, because I say to somebody yesterday, that wasn’t the artist. That was yesterday, day before. On, I can’t remember now, like, somewhere because I have many conversations, even on the weekends and stuff with people. And I was just saying that, you know, I, it doesn’t feel like work, you know, so it means that I never stop, because a lot of people say like, do you ever stop? I’m sorry, I need to I did interviewed me on Friday and see, and the first question was, like, do you ever stop, you know, and it doesn’t feel like work. So it’s a blessing and a curse from that point, because sometimes I do run out of steam. But I’m very grateful and blessed that I, you know, sort of quit. Because when we started doing that, I mean, I’ve been around now for two and a half decades, it’s been been an eternity in my life. But it’s only since we started the show in 2020, that people are becoming more and more aware of what it is that we do. And for that I’m very grateful. And I’m very humbled by that. And still, you know, till today, you know, there’s a lot of good things that I can share with you that has happened off the back of that, but at no point can I really go and say, You know what, we did this, and then this happened. And this, we did this, and this happened. It’s all just how these things magically all work together. And, you know, if there’s, if there’s one thing that we want to do as propulsion is just, you know, we just want to give people, specifically financial planning professionals a place to belong, because we find that they’re very alone. And we all know that. Even if you’re working in a bigger business, we often find because you’re so entrenched in your practice that you you feel alone. So that’s a big thing. And then also people die, they battle sometimes to grow. You know, other people are very fortunate, it seems like whatever they do, their business just keeps on growing. For others, it’s more a case of it’s not so, so easy. And then you know, it’s this thing, do you survive, or do you thrive, and we want to create that, that platform where people can belong, where they can grow, and they can thrive. And that is what drives me every single day. It’s what gets me up in the morning, I remember fondly back in 2015, when I had a financial planning practice, I couldn’t get out of the bed at 10 in the morning, you know, so even though I have a passion for the for the profession, I have a passion for financial planning. I hate to doing the job myself, I really didn’t enjoy that. Whereas now, like I can’t even go to sleep, because my mind doesn’t leave me alone. I’m thinking about all this cool stuff that we can still do. And that’s the blessing and the privilege. I have Lee. So thanks for bringing that up. It’s, you know, it’s just a privilege to be able to do a little bit to help take the profession forward.

Louis van der Merwe
And well done for figuring out what it is that gives you energy and being okay with that. Because whenever we have conversations with someone that might have left the profession, they get to that point, but then they go completely in the other direction. And how cool is it that we can now get to do this and create content? And that is actually an option as a full time career?

Francois du Toit
know for sure. And it’s, you know, I think the interesting thing is when people start asking you, Oh, can you help me with this? And can you help me with that? You know, just because of the things like I had no idea till today, there’s many things, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. You know, you figure them out, and you try and you do things like that. But it’s, it’s definitely something I believe that, you know, just by having the courage to do stuff that others wish they did, gives them the energy also to go and just take this head on and try as well. You know that those other stories, it doesn’t matter what happens, or you know, how well the business does or doesn’t do doesn’t really matter. The thing that gets to me two things, if people find me and they say to me, I’m lost, I’m struggling, I don’t know, you know, I’ve just I shouldn’t feel like this. I love what I’m doing. I love this. So those are the things that resonate with me quite strongly because I know what that feels like. And then on the other hand, people that that will somewhere out of the blue send you a message to say like you have no idea what that has done for me that you did two years ago, blah, blah, blah. And those are the things I think that keeps me going it’s not so much the what the business is doing and what we busy building, etc. It’s the real impact that this has on so many people that we don’t even know about and that’s really what it is you just do what you do. And then good things I believe will happen. There’s one thing I say when I’m going to go to cut it off is that you do something for the right reason. You do the right thing for the right reason with the right intention. Everything else will follow and fall in place.

Louis van der Merwe
absolutely what a wonderful way to end fronteira all the best with your program and the content creation and selling of the tickets. I’m sure it will be a massive success and it will change the lives of both the attendees and the people that get to work on the skill.

Francois du Toit
Thank you very much, Louis, and thank you for the opportunity and well done. I know you’re on about like, I don’t know. 85 episodes as you mentioned earlier, people really don’t know what it takes to be this committed. So well done to you. Congratulations. And you know, it’s it’s it’s a real privilege to be able to work in this profession alongside people like yourself, so thank you very much as well.

Louis van der Merwe
Thank you Francois.