Pathways with Amber Stitt

The Smell of Money: Conscious Financial Freedom & Meaningful Wealth with Derrick Kinney

• Amber Stitt

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🎙️Welcome to this episode of Pathways with Amber Stitt featuring legendary money expert and bestselling author, Derrick Kinney, America's Financial Educator!

🏦 In this inspiring conversation, Derrick Kinney and host Amber Stitt dive into rethinking how we approach money, wealth, and financial freedom. 

☕ Derrick shares his signature philosophy: it’s not about restricting your life (no need to skip that daily coffee!), but about learning how to make more money doing what you love—so you can make a bigger impact on the causes you care about.

🎤 You'll hear Derrick’s personal journey from successful financial advisor to national thought leader, his move to speaking on major platforms like Dr. Phil’s network and Fox News, and actionable tips for both new and veteran financial professionals. 

🤳 From the power of coffee-shop meetings to building relationships, embracing technology AND personal touch, and finding your own “generosity purpose” in business, this episode is packed with gems for anyone eager to level up their business and life.

🗝️ Key topics include:

💸 Why shame has no place in your financial story.

💸 Building wealth around your passions and values.

💸 Real-world hacks for meaningful networking (goodbye, stuffy luncheons!).

💸 How to use your uniqueness as a growth advantage (even if you’re an introvert!).

💸 Crafting a business and brand that inspires your team and clients.

💸 The power of keeping it simple and focusing on the problems you solve best.

💸 Derrick’s annual “sabbatical” for clarity and success planning.

💪 This episode is for financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to make money work on YOUR terms, while doing greater good in your community.

📽️ To watch this episode:  https://youtu.be/01diawRV17A

🔗 For more information on Derrick Kinney, visit his website: 

📲 Website:  https://www.derrickkinney.com

📲 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrickkinney/

📲 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derricktkinney/?hl=en

📲 X: https://x.com/derricktkinney?lang=en

#pathwayswithamberstitt #derrickkinney #moneymindset #financialfreedom #amberstitt #purposedriven #personaldevelopment #entrepreneurship

📻 Thank you for tuning in to Pathways!

🔗 Connect with Amber on Social Media:

📲 Be sure to visit Amber's website:

www.AmberStitt.com

And remember, let's take action today!!!

Derrick Kinney [00:00:00]:
Because I see a lot of shame attached to money. For example, there's so much of a voice out there that says if you go to Starbucks every day and buy your favorite latte, you have no chance of ever retiring. You are a terrible money person. And because of that coffee purchase, your life is going to hell in a handbasket, quite candidly. And I couldn't come at that harder because I say, look, if you like your coffee, I say that coffee is the smell of money. When I go to the coffee shop and I'm spending $4, I'm with somebody I love, I'm building a new relationship, I'm doing a business deal. Coffee is an investment for me. And if coffee makes you feel good, buy your coffee.

Derrick Kinney [00:00:39]:
But you need to find a way then to make $3 more per day. So what I like to do is say, "Don't budget yourself to financial freedom. Let's make more money doing what you enjoy, impacting the causes you care about." And we want to teach people how to make more money and then do more good with it, which actually then motivates them to want to keep making more money for the causes they care about.

Amber Stitt [00:01:03]:
Hello and welcome to Pathways. I am your host, Amber Stitt and today we welcome Derrick Kinney to the show today. Welcome, Derrick.

Derrick Kinney [00:01:11]:
Amber, thank you so much. I'm so excited to be with you today.

Amber Stitt [00:01:14]:
So we share common ground. We like talking about money, finance. We've been in financial services for a bit. We're going to talk about your pathway into some moves that you've made as a younger entrepreneur, which I can't wait to dive into that. But let's first talk a little bit about you and where you've been. There's rumors that you might be on Forbes now, out there speaking to the masses about money mindsets. You have a best selling book. So can you talk a little bit about what's happening with you today, Derrick? And then we're gonna go back in time a bit and talk about how you got here.

Derrick Kinney [00:01:41]:
Yeah, so I mean, what you described are the highlights of what I get to do today. Keep in mind, all of our lives are sort of a highlight reel. We sort of look back at the big moments, but what I enjoy doing now is really helping make money be simple for people. One of the things that holds people back so much as you know, is money feels so complex and it's made to feel like you've got to have this special key that unlocks all of the knowledge that people have. And that's simply not true. So I want to really bring actionable, simple, shame-free advice to every American. And a couple things I enjoy doing,

Derrick Kinney [00:02:17]:
Dr. Phil, some of you may know, just launched a brand new network. So I'm on his network every week helping bring money topics in an easy to understand way. And Fox News, CNBC, all those things I love doing. But what I do, it hearkens back to when I was a financial advisor, was when I go on, the camera's on, of course, but I'm thinking about who's a person watching right now that has a financial pain point, that I have the medicine to help solve their problem. And so throughout the interview, I'm simply talking to that person, much like you and I are talking now. I'm talking to you, but I'm thinking about a person listening, that they know they can do better with their money, but they don't know how to do it. And if I can give them just a quarter twist, as I like to say, that can really help change how they feel about money.

Amber Stitt [00:03:03]:
In our podcast, we talk about focusing on talents and then you can focus on your money. Sounds like you're customizing to the individual and it's really breaking it down for each person. It's not the same for everybody.

Derrick Kinney [00:03:14]:
It's not. And you know, I've got a framework and a kind of a step-by-step process I walk clients through. I sold my financial planning business a couple years ago. The reason I did that was I wanted to reach more people in a shorter amount of time. I wanted to go national and really impact people because I see a lot of shame attached to money. For example, there's so much of a voice out there that says if you go to Starbucks every day and buy your favorite latte, you have no chance of ever retiring. You are a terrible money person.

Derrick Kinney [00:03:46]:
And because of that coffee purchase, your life is going to hell in a handbasket, quite candidly. And I couldn't come at that harder because I say, look, if you like your coffee, I say that coffee is the smell of money. When I go to the coffee shop and I'm spending $4, I'm with somebody I love. I'm building a new relationship. I'm doing a business deal. Coffee is an investment for me. And if coffee makes you feel good, buy your coffee. But you need to find a way then to make $3 more per day.

Derrick Kinney [00:04:15]:
So what I like to do is say, "Don't budget yourself to financial freedom. Let's make more money doing what you enjoy impacting, the causes you care about." And we want to teach people how to make more money and then do more good with it, which actually then motivates them to want to keep making more money for the causes they care about.

Amber Stitt [00:04:33]:
I know you talk about having more purpose behind some of the steps in the framework. So we're going to get to that. And you're talking about this coffee shop and spending the money. Let's make the money work for us. I know that you're calling has switched gears now. You're out there advocating for this. Previously, you were an advisor, you were helping other families with their money. But you see that there's this bigger calling.

Amber Stitt [00:04:57]:
Now at this point, what was the transition point? And maybe it was a strategic partnership, the right person to take over. But when did you know I need to move on and do more because this is where my talents lie. I have to move on. But as a successful business owner, sell that practice.

Derrick Kinney [00:05:12]:
Well, let me tell you a personal story. So this is something I began doing about 10 years ago. I go away on a yearly sabbatical, so I take about five days once a year completely by myself. I love the beach, love the water. So typically I'll go to the beach for about five days and my family joins me after that. So it's a great, productive time. And the purpose is, I realized as sort of an A personality, which many of your listeners may be, that I was running really fast toward things. But if I didn't know what I was running fast toward, I could find myself running in circles.

Derrick Kinney [00:05:43]:
And that was frustrating. So what I realized was if I'm going to run fast 52 weeks out of the year, I need to take one week and figure out and clarify what am I running hard toward. And so that's what that five days is for. So I asked myself 3 questions. What can I do to be a better father? What can I do to be a better husband? And what can I do to be a better business owner? And those 3 questions guided my purpose of what do I want the next year to look like? Because things start coming at you fast the moment you get back from vacation and you sort of have these goals, but the chaos overwhelms that. And so this was July of 2019, and I am asking myself these questions and I feel the need to write a list out of all the things I would enjoy doing. So I wrote out, coach, speak, consult, write a book, launch a podcast, create another million dollar revenue stream per year in a different business.

Derrick Kinney [00:06:40]:
And surprisingly, as I went down this list. What wasn't there, which became glaringly obvious, was being a financial advisor. And I knew in that moment it was time to call my wife and say, "Honey, I feel like the time is now to sell." And so I call this Derrick 2.0, where I wasn't selling to retire and I wasn't selling to go to another job. There wasn't anything lined up. I just realized my heart wasn't fully into it anymore. And it's that analogy I give where when you watch your favorite athlete and you think, "Boy, they should have retired two years ago when they were on top. And now they're traded, they're not doing well," they stink it up.

Derrick Kinney [00:07:19]:
You can tell they're not playing their best. I didn't want to be that person. So I wanted to retire at the high point because I owed it to my team and my clients. But what it did was for me, what I needed is to back myself into a new corner and bet on myself heavily and say, "Okay, Derrick, you did it. Once you built this great financial planning business, can you do it again?" It's that burning the ships analogy. So now that was 4 years ago. So I've written the book, launched the podcast.

Derrick Kinney [00:07:46]:
I've got several initiatives in play. But what I've realized is it doesn't always happen as quickly as you want, but you've got to let the routine rule the day. There's days where I don't want to do stuff, but I'm like, you know what? In this case, the routine is my boss. Just simply do what the routine says and it gives me a quicker pathway to success.

Amber Stitt [00:08:05]:
There you go. You know I like that. Not everyone can do the Brady and go in and go back. You know, and still kind of like be that one on top, so very good. When you stick to these systems and processes, it's a bit agnostic. So if you're having a rough go, the kids got that...they're home with the cold, or whatever it is. You just got to stick to the program.

Amber Stitt [00:08:24]:
No one can be offended by that. And so, we have to build that out. I know that you help people with that. Let's switch gears a little bit. And I appreciate you sharing all of that. And I want to talk to that younger advisor out there, because if you could say anything to them as a younger advisor, is your advice the same for them as the 20 year plus advisor when it comes to revenue goals? Because we know in our industry, or financial services, we'll just say, it could take over 5 years. And people don't always last. It's tough.

Amber Stitt [00:08:53]:
So do you have anything you could sprinkle in for the new and the old expert?

Derrick Kinney [00:08:57]:
I think if I'm a new advisor right now, if I'm just starting, or I'm a couple years fresh in the business, this is sort of a unique competitive advantage that I think they have. Even some of the other more experienced advisors, and here's why. They understand AI, they understand technology, but the very understanding of that, I don't want them to fool themselves with this fatal mistake. And that is thinking that AI, or technology will be their prospecting tool. What I find is when things get high tech, you've got to go high touch to really stand out. And so I would tell a younger advisor, use your AI prompts, use the technology, but don't think that's in place of getting face-to-face and voice-to-voice. Face-to-face wins the race.

Derrick Kinney [00:09:43]:
Voice-to-voice is the best choice if you can put yourself face-to-face with people and risk rejection face-to-face. That's how the successful advisors scale more quickly. Because here's what's happening. Think about when you talk to someone, asking them for their business and they tell you, "No." Well, you could choose to take offense at that. But here's what's really happening. In most cases, secretly inside they're like, I really respect that person for going eyeball-to-eyeball with me asking for my business. And inside they're like, "One day I may want to work with that person."

Derrick Kinney [00:10:17]:
So don't think because they say no, they're shoving you off, they actually respect you on the inside. But I would just tell you, younger advisors make it a point to go to two or three coffees a week. Coffee is the smell of money. People love coffee. Don't go to lunch. You're going to find yourself trapped in a squeaky booth. If you don't like the person, you're stuck for the ordering a meal, the dessert, that's a two hour torture session. Bad date. Coffee, you can break it off in 10 minutes, it can go 30 minutes.

Derrick Kinney [00:10:45]:
But coffee, there's a vibe of net worth creation happening. So go to coffee two to three times a week and you'll find yourself scaling your business fast.

Amber Stitt [00:10:54]:
You're listening to Pathways with Amber Stitt. For more episodes like this, plus so much more, check out the podcast page at: www.AmberStitt.com. Let's take action together! Now let's get back to our episode. AI prompting using technology. One of our steps on Pathways is innovate. And that could be personal branding. That one-on-one, that coffee, you never know. You never know who you can help.

Derrick Kinney [00:11:18]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:11:18]:
I think conversation is the currency of life. Since the beginning of time, people need to work and talk with people. How in the world then did you end up as we just glossed over this Dr. Phil, just like a quick, "no big deal." But you're talking to this younger advisor. Go out there and get the two coffees. Because at some point you might be on stage, on tv. You never know what your relationships can bring to you.

Amber Stitt [00:11:40]:
So can you speak to your relationships and how that brought you to this point?

Derrick Kinney [00:11:45]:
Well, I'll tell you, one of the problems I struggled with early on, and that was a lot of social anxiety. So I basically am a fairly introverted person. But what I realized was as a financial advisor, I was an introvert living in an extroverted world. And so I had to learn to manage my energy. You know, you hear the term chief executive officer. Well, actually, all of us listening are chief energy officers. And you've got to know when to sprint and when to run the marathon. So what I learned is that when I'm in front of clients, I've got to bring it.

Derrick Kinney [00:12:17]:
Now, let's say that you're with your clients 4 times a year. If one of those 4 times you're feeling down, you're feeling overworked, overwhelmed, and they sense that, well, they're going to be thinking for six months, "Oh my gosh, is my advisor okay?" And with the number of other advisors who want your client to become their client, we don't want to take any seeds of doubt for granted that you are not on your A game. And so what I realized was as a very young advisor, I looked like I was 13. Okay, I was 26 years old, but...

Amber Stitt [00:12:48]:
Give me some gray!

Derrick Kinney [00:12:49]:
I was like, put some in my hair. So I had this idea. Now keep in mind this is like the late 90s. Okay, so we're going to go back in time here, Amber. So I reached out to the local TV stations by fax, of all things. And I said to them...

Amber Stitt [00:13:02]:
I remember the fax.

Derrick Kinney [00:13:05]:
You remember the fax?

Amber Stitt [00:13:06]:
Oh, yes.

Derrick Kinney [00:13:08]:
So I said to them, when you need a financial advisor to talk about complex money topics in an easy to understand way, call me. And I gave them a couple examples. I can talk about 3 ways to reduce credit card debt, 4 steps to save for your kids education, 5 ways to save for retirement. Always put a number in there so it sounds catchy. And after about 3 months of this, the call came from the local CBS affiliate here in Dallas, Fort Worth. And they said, "Hey, could you come on?" I said, "Happy to. Love being on TV." Having never been on TV before.

Amber Stitt [00:13:39]:
The introvert that wants to be on TV!

Derrick Kinney [00:13:43]:
So I just practiced, practiced, practiced. And the whole goal was I had a clear visualization. And the visualization was when I finish this interview, they're going to say to me, "Derrick, you are made for TV. We want you to come on on a regular basis." The interview went great. It was just like I practiced it. It was simply, I was like walking through the script of what I had done so many times before to get ready for that. And the producer said, "Derrick, that was so good.

Derrick Kinney [00:14:07]:
Would you consider coming on on a regular basis? We really like you." That was the start. And so what I would say to that is, now, does everyone want to be on TV, or on podcasts, or on media? No. But if you want something, you have to act on that something to get something. If you think of it, but don't act, your likelihood of getting it goes down dramatically. So ask for what you want. Even if they say no, people respect you for making the ask.

Amber Stitt [00:14:36]:
There's that reputation, digitization of your reputation. And that's the thing with advisors. You have compliance watching. You know, if you want to write something. It's not that we're trying not to be compliant, it's just, it takes extra steps. But the coffee meeting, getting out there, your brand is you and having that integrity, that self-worth and people can feel that. And there's a, like you said, a vibe that you can bring at any point. But get out there and take some massive action.

Amber Stitt [00:15:02]:
Introvert, or not, I think you're saying there's no excuses, right?

Derrick Kinney [00:15:05]:
Yeah. I'll tell you one thing as well that I don't want to go overlooked here because I know you talk to so many advisors. Keep it simple. Many advisors I talk to think that if they want to make an impact in the community, they've got to give thousands of dollars to these events, they've got to buy the table, sponsor the golf tournament, and it only leads to frustration. And so what I would tell you is just a couple of sort of behind the scenes hacks that worked for me really well. One is I kind of stumbled on this, but this could help a lot of people if you listen carefully. So one of the biggest challenges I had is when people would call and say, "Derrick, can you sponsor the event and do the table." Well, now you've got to fill the table up.

Derrick Kinney [00:15:44]:
And ultimately it's hard to do that. And you end up inviting your friends and you name it as a client appreciation event just to justify it. Okay, I think we've been there. What I found was there were two ladies in the community that I befriended, and they were low on money but high on relationships. And I would tell them, "Hey, Gara, I've got this event. Let me have you fill up the table with your favorite people and leave one seat for me." Well, what happened was every event I went to that I would have her do that, I would meet fantastic people who all loved Gara, and because they loved her, they loved me. And it was easy relationships without the worry of having to wonder, "How will I fill up this table?" So those are some simple hacks.

Derrick Kinney [00:16:26]:
And also, I would tell you, if you do sponsor an event, make yourself the de facto greeter. This has paid in spades. So I know this sounds funny. You gotta have a set on you to pull this thing off sometimes. But what I will do is if there is a big citywide event, or there's gonna be several hundred people there, I'll get there an hour early and I'll just open the door for people. "Hey, welcome. We're glad you're here." "Oh, Derrick, are you the greeter?" So now they kind of know, "Hey, Derrick's the greeter."

Derrick Kinney [00:16:52]:
Because the worst case is you go to this event, you sponsor the table, you're only going to see probably your core 10 to 20 people around you. This way, your ROI goes up dramatically. You're going to see almost every person who walks in and they see you. The greeter is always the loving person. Everybody loves the greeter because the person cares and they remember that person.

Amber Stitt [00:17:13]:
Ah, that's a great tip. Or, we'll say hack, but tip, yes. And we do a lot of nonprofit work here locally in Arizona, so that's interesting. My ladies in my chapter are listening. They're listening to you.

Derrick Kinney [00:17:25]:
Use it wisely. It'll pay off.

Amber Stitt [00:17:27]:
Yeah. And is it in your book you talk about owning a relatable problem, or is it one of those things that you just speak about on podcasts, or both? Can you talk about that?

Derrick Kinney [00:17:37]:
Yeah. The relatable problem actually is not in the book, but there's a lot of problems we solve in the book. But the relatable problem is a situation where an advisor will come to me and say, "Derrick, why are other advisors getting all the high net worth clients, and I'm not?" And we'll begin to talk about how they're positioning themselves in their local community because I believe there's plenty of business. When I had my financial planning business, I would always have my office near the highway. And the reason I did that was I always wanted to see the cars coming into town because I was an aggressive marketer. But here, these are new people that have never heard of me. So I always had to be marketing every single day.

Derrick Kinney [00:18:16]:
But also I would see people going the other way on the highway, which reminded me some people might be leaving never to hear from me again. And so I was always be ABM, "Always Be Marketing". So the reason I say that was when you think about other advisors that are more successful than you, somehow they're doing something better than you are. Let's just be honest. I want to be a voice of truth. And so the key is no one will typically work with you because, "Well, I'm a CFP," or I have this, or that. Well, that's great, but that's more internal recognition than actually the real world. But what a high net worth customer, or client, has is they have a problem.

Derrick Kinney [00:18:52]:
Their problem might be, "I've worked so hard, I don't want to spoil my kids and give them money they haven't earned and then they'll lose it all." See, that's a real worry that high net worth people have. Or someone may feel like, "Boy, if I were to pass away, I want my spouse to be well taken care of financially and have a guide that can walk alongside them," or, "How will I save, or build a business?" All of those are problems. And so when you as an advisor can identify, here is the problem I know many people have and I understand that and empathize with it and have a framework to solve it. Well, now you have a go to marketing strategy that will help you stand out as the go to advisor. And Amber, let me ask you this, let's say that you were about to run a marathon, okay? But suddenly you're...half marathon....Okay, you're about to run a half marathon.

Derrick Kinney [00:19:45]:
And suddenly your knee has a problem. Well, you could go to the general practitioner who knows a little bit about a lot. Or, you could go to the knee specialist knowing that the person works on knees 24/7. Well, you'd probably go to that person. And many advisors unfortunately and unknowingly position themselves as the general practitioner. But you've got to be the specialist and realize when you do that, yes, you're narrowing the pie, but you're going to go deep. And what happens is when you say to people, "I specialize in solving this problem," well, it may rule them out, but often there's this attachment theory that occurs of, "Well, I know I don't fit that exact category, but would you consider working with me?" And by narrowing it down, you actually broaden your appeal as an advisor.

Amber Stitt [00:20:34]:
So what you're saying is we're not supposed to be out there posting about this flashy car we just bought because we're so successful. Work with us. I've seen people do that. You know, it's maybe going to work sometimes. And I know people go to you for more of that marketing mindset you have. It's that honest integrity, that feeling you give somebody. And I know that in marketing world, it's what, 3 to 7 seconds max. You can have that effect.

Amber Stitt [00:20:59]:
So the car's going whoop or coming, going back and forth. But that was almost like your own personal way of challenging yourself in that marketing realm while also being true to it. It's literally happening now. How do I make sure that people know me and that I can help them and they have a chance to really understand their money and be able to do it their own ways, is what I'm hearing is your path.

Derrick Kinney [00:21:21]:
I think you hit the nail on the head, Amber. One of the things I think that financial advisors do to cause themselves unintended trouble is they think people are hiring them because they're smart. They think people are hiring them because they want the advisor to extol all this information they have in their head. And actually, the opposite is true in most cases. Most successful people deal with complexity all day. They manage complexity. So the last thing they want to do is pay an advisor to make things even more complex. And so what I found and what helped me be successful was I would work with very successful people, but I provided the least amount of information to help them make the best decision.

Derrick Kinney [00:22:08]:
That was the key. And so oftentimes, they might bring in their spreadsheets and we talk about stuff. I would let them do almost all the talking. My job was to be the doctor, the surgeon, the specialist, to point out, "Have you thought about this? What do you think about this? Tell me about your goals," asking the questions and making this about their experience. Because when you think about "I'm not the smartest in the room," that can really be a way to let yourself off the hook and just say, the smartest person in the room asks the smartest questions of the greatest people in the room. You can simply lose track of yourself and just be about them. You're going to open doors and build trust.

Derrick Kinney [00:22:45]:
And, even when you go into these social settings and people trying to say, "Well, you know, hey, you want to buy this?" Or, "Here's what I'm doing." The goal in any social setting is for people to know you, like you, trust you, and to tell them, you know, I call it a "how statement." How people worry about running out of money in retirement. When somebody asks you, "What do you do for a living?" "Well, we help people solve that problem by..." and then insert what you do. And the goal is that you become memorable because they may not need you right then. But if you say, "Well, I'm a financial advisor," their eyes glaze over faster than a Krispy Kreme doughnut and you're out.

Amber Stitt [00:23:22]:
Yep. And I think a lot of, like, I probably was there at one point getting the extra designations. Alphabet soup, here it comes. "And now you can trust me because..." you know, like, when you're younger. And it does help. Some of that does help, but it's really just time in the meetings, the minutes in working and looking and absorbing and hearing the questions and seeing how things work themselves out. So I like how you talk about not being that general practitioner, but that specialist. Like, you don't want to see how the surgery is done, and that's what you've done. You've come in and you've done the operation, but you're giving that kind of that high level.

Amber Stitt [00:23:54]:
I think that if you don't do it that way and there's so much information coming into the room for your client, it's analysis paralysis, and then just nothing happens. And they don't feel like they're capable without you. The goal is to help them be capable because of you.

Derrick Kinney [00:24:08]:
That's well said. I like that.

Amber Stitt [00:24:10]:
Yeah. So let's talk about your book. We're not going to give it all away, but I want people to know as they are diving into this, how you can really help them think about money differently in their business.

Derrick Kinney [00:24:22]:
Well, let me tell you a story about a guy named Dave. So Dave was a longtime client, and he was one of those clients that you can read their body language pretty well. And when he came into the office, I could tell something was bothering him. And we began to talk. And Dave shared with me that he wasn't feeling motivated to go to the office anymore. This was a local guy, very successful, had a consulting company, but he felt like he was mailing it in. And I, for some reason, these words came out of my mouth.

Derrick Kinney [00:24:47]:
I don't even know why at the time, but I said, "Dave, is there a cause that you care about?" And I could tell the question caught him by surprise. He sat back in his chair and he began to tell me a story about when he took his family overseas on a trip. And he remembered vividly the tour guide talking about that this particular village they went to was in dire poverty, but how it could be turned around if they had a dedicated schoolhouse to educate the children, that could completely revolutionize that local economy. And he remembered exchanging a glance with his wife as if to say, "You know, wouldn't it be cool to fund that school?"

Amber Stitt [00:25:21]:
And so they both knew. He was like, "We're doing this."

Derrick Kinney [00:25:25]:
Exactly. So they get back to the States, life gets busy, they forget about it. Well, as I mentioned this to him, it all comes back. And I said, "Dave, what if you did this? What if you got crazy here and you said, "I'm going to set a goal to increase my sales by 20% over the next six months, and I'm going to take half of that increase, which would still be a great increase, and use it to fund that school?" Well, his eyes got as big as saucers. A big grin came on his face. So we began to brainstorm, what could he do to do this? And so I call it your "generosity purpose", where you state to your customers, or clients, "Hey, when you work with us, we're also investing back in the lives of young people, or helping make a difference in this cause," so people feel like they're part of something bigger, which is so important to differentiate yourself these days. So on his website, he mocked up a picture of this school. He put a tab, that's a "generosity purpose".

Derrick Kinney [00:26:14]:
And he emailed all of his customers and said, "Hey, we just wanted you to know that this year we've made a commitment to have a "generosity purpose". So as you work with us, a portion of all of our profits are going to go to build this school." And what it did is it enrolled people in what he was doing. It actually grew his business because anybody can work with any consultant, but if you work with a consultant who's also making other people's lives better, it's like a double win. But the other big winner, surprisingly, was his team. His team was now remotivated because they were working for a purpose. And then the biggest winner of all was Dave. Suddenly, Dave was reinvigorated because now he wanted to go make more money, to do more good with It.

Derrick Kinney [00:26:57]:
And so that story has been so impactful. It was for me and it really was the impetus for me writing the book. But now it's helping thousands of financial advisors and other business owners, I call advice givers, anybody who's face-to-face with clients because it helps them stand out in their community as that caring, thoughtful, community-minded person who obviously does a great job providing great value and service. Those are table stakes. But when you're also giving back to the local community, to a cause you care about, ideally something sports related, or education related, or young people related, you are a local hero.

Amber Stitt [00:27:34]:
I think it was two MDRT conferences ago, there was a speaker that said they were talking about different trusts, like I think the DAFs, and different ways you could participate in charitable events. And he said they interviewed a lot of clients and if they would have opened that first client meeting where maybe they weren't...this is more of the first initial consultations...they interviewed their clients after the fact and said, "If we would have told you about our charitable endeavors..." they said, "We wish we would have known on day one." Like they actually were saying, "I wish I would have known that from the beginning because I would have changed maybe some of the goals." But it like reiterates that if there's a cause behind it, your clients want to participate and then you're having a lot of fun. So before we're done today, let's talk about how you and I don't want to use the word "referral" per se, like ask for a referral, but work with the clients you want to work with. And I think that's what you mean in some of your work is, "Let's build out the best clients for your practice," but you can have fun with them, too. So can we talk a little bit about how you help advisors see the fruit of that?

Derrick Kinney [00:28:32]:
Yeah. First of all, it's all about knowing what problem you solve. And so let me give you a quick exercise that every advisor can go through. And that is, after this podcast is over with, you want to write down who are your most recent 5 clients. And what that is, that's your most recent focus group telling you, "Here's why we came to you to work with us, and here's the problem that you're solving for us." So that's your recent 5 right there. Then you want to write down on a separate list, column number two, your 5 most profitable clients.

Derrick Kinney [00:29:04]:
These are the ones who vote with their dollars and put their name to yours. They're paying you the most and so they're taking your advice. Then ask yourself, what is a common problem I'm solving for that group of people? Then you're going to merge those lists together and just see. And there's no fancy Facebook ad, or marketing group you've got to pay. Let your clients simply tell you, "Here's Amber, why we're working with you." And so then you can ask yourself, "This is clearly what I'm good at." And then ask yourself, "Is this the problem I want to name as my relatable problem that I own?" And if so, it becomes easy.

Derrick Kinney [00:29:41]:
You're already doing it. The key, though, is to begin to brand yourself not as the CFP and not as the, you know, all these other acronyms. People don't care. I just want to be a voice of reason and say they don't. They care about themselves. And one of my mentors taught me that all of our favorite radio stations are WIIFM. "What's In It For Me? What's in it for me? And so what's in it for me is, I've got a problem. Can you solve it? But more than that, can you communicate that you understand the problem and that you have experience and understand other people like me who have the same problem. When they do that, that's the best marketing of all.

Derrick Kinney [00:30:18]:
Forget the seminars, all these other things. Just talk about when you have this problem, we have a solution. That's the most basic level of marketing you can have.

Amber Stitt [00:30:26]:
This goes back to you saying, keep it simple.

Derrick Kinney [00:30:28]:
The simples win.

Amber Stitt [00:30:28]:
It's right there.

Derrick Kinney [00:30:29]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:30:30]:
Starts with yourself, and then you roll it out to the community and really leverage community. Could be you're out having the coffee, but then go back to your clients. Those focus groups that are just right there. It's not intimidating. They're right in the meat of it, and they can be helpful. So I'm gonna actually chart that down. Gonna do it.

Derrick Kinney [00:30:46]:
There you go.

Amber Stitt [00:30:47]:
You're helping with this project that's been on my mind for the fall. Okay, so before we wrap up, I need to know, do you do the Jeep wave?

Derrick Kinney [00:30:54]:
I do the Jeep wave.

Amber Stitt [00:30:55]:
Are you a Jeep waver?

Derrick Kinney [00:30:56]:
Matter of fact, I'm actually a pretty religious Jeep waver.

Amber Stitt [00:30:59]:
So, anyone gets a Jeep wave.

Derrick Kinney [00:31:00]:
That's everybody. Yeah, everybody does. Everybody. Even some of the funky Jeeps where you can't tell it's a Jeep. Like some of these are Jeeps from the front, but trucks on the the back. You know, it's like party on the front and business on the back. So they

Derrick Kinney [00:31:14]:
all get a wave. I'm an equal opportunity waver. For all Jeep owners. Yeah, I don't discriminate.

Amber Stitt [00:31:19]:
You have a Jeep currently, present day?

Derrick Kinney [00:31:21]:
So I bought it actually, funny story. So I bought my wife the Jeep the year when I sold the business. She's always wanted a Jeep and I always pictured her, the doors off, her hair waving in the breeze, the radio cranked up. I can picture her, I mean, just vividly right now. Well, once I sold the business, I tend to do kind of weird things to push myself to achieve goals. And so I then said, you know what, you take the Escalade, I'll take the Jeep if you're okay with it. She was like, "No, I'd rather have the Escalade right now."

Derrick Kinney [00:31:49]:
And so until I reach a certain goal, I will not buy myself another car. I'm going to keep driving the Jeep because people say, "Derrick, why are you driving a Jeep? Drive a Mercedes." No, it's great. I like the Jeep, but it's part of my goal path if I need to achieve something first to then be able to earn the right to get something else.

Amber Stitt [00:32:06]:
All right, so now I have to go back then. Just made me think of something. On those 5 days that you just go off grid, are you unplugged? They know you'll SOS and like, "Here's my hotel." But like you're unplugged. Almost like an author's writing the book. Maybe you're not always writing a book, but you are building out your business plan like a curriculum that an educational program would do every year you're doing your own. Is it off the grid? No interruptions, alone time?

Derrick Kinney [00:32:30]:
Well, we've got 4 kids. Now 3 of the 4 are out of the house. Our youngest is still at home. For the most part it's off the grid. I mean part of it, when I say off the grid is really my own self discipline of hiding my phone so that I don't access it myself. I can't even think of any really good ideas I've ever had by scrolling. Typically the ideas come from walking on the beach.

Amber Stitt [00:32:53]:
Yep.

Derrick Kinney [00:32:53]:
Going for exercise, workout, exercise, driving with the top off the Jeep, that kind of thing. So that's the whole goal, but it's really to clarify and you know, I'm a faith based guy, so just really praying and really asking for wisdom on, "Okay, God, what do you have for me? How should I invest my time?" Because all of us have, I'm convinced, all of us have assets. All of us as humans simply have to do an asset allocation to determine the most optimization of our assets.

Amber Stitt [00:33:22]:
Love that. Well, thank you so much for being here. There's so much juice in this orange to squeeze out today, so lots of takeaways. And we'd say, "Take action today!" You gotta take action. Little steps, big steps, whatever it takes. It's gonna be different for all of us. You definitely have them, so I really appreciate you being here.

Derrick Kinney [00:33:39]:
My pleasure. Thanks for the invite, Amber. I really enjoyed this.

Amber Stitt [00:33:41]:
Okay, we're gonna see you soon.

Derrick Kinney [00:33:43]:
Sounds great.

Amber Stitt [00:33:44]:
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Pathways. For more information about the podcast, books, articles, the blog, and so much more, please visit my website at: www.AmberStitt.com. And remember, let's take action today! Thank you for listening!