Reverse Marketing and Celebrating Financial Wins

Darryl:
You know, René, I think we finally did it.

René:
What's that?

Darryl:
We put in the work, we hustled, we marketed, we planned, and now we're officially award-winning podcasters.

René:
Oh, yeah, that's right. That's awesome. We tame the hustle.

Darryl:
You know, I mean, sure, some people could win Oscars, some people win Stanley Cups, but can they say they are Discover Pods 2024 Best Business Podcast award winners?

René:
That's so awesome, man. That was great news. Thank you for that, by the way. You're the mastermind anyway.

Darryl:
Ah, it's a team effort.

René:
All the editing, all that work that you put into that, it's not left unnoticed. That's for sure, dude. Appreciate it.

Darryl:
Hey, I wouldn't be me without you.

René:
I am not. I'm not denying I'm. I'm pretty smart. I contribute. But you do do a lot of work and I appreciate that.

Darryl:
I did think that, you know, winning an award would come with like some champagne or fancy speeches or something, but turns out that it just comes with me updating my Instagram bio and maybe doing a little extra work now.

René:
Well, we'll just have some champagne next time we see each other in person. That's all. It's not off the table yet.

Darryl:
True, true. But on a serious note, I do want to say a massive thank you to our listeners, guests, and every hustler who's tuned in for René's financial game changers, my business and marketing hacks, and our real talks on the fun and not so fun moments in life.

René:
Absolutely, man. We appreciate you listening in.

Darryl:
You know what this means now though, right?

René:
We got to step up our game.

Darryl:
No. In like 20 or 30 years, we can be like those 90s bands that are still touring like 30 years later. Like, we could do a Taming the Hustle casino tour. This is Taming the Hustle.

René:
Or something of the sorts.

Darryl:
It is pretty cool to have won an award. I know. I joke around because it's a podcasting award. And that's not our 9 to 5 jobs. We don't actually work 9 to 5.

René:
If you only knew, we're balls deep in taxes right now. There is no way that we're nine to five. Jesus. I've had some 17 hour days, dude. Like, it's insane. Insane because, like, we can't have our regular operations affected.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
So we're doing taxes at four in the morning and weekends. And after Dinner. I'm not complaining. Life is very good and I love what I do. But we're not Dolly Parton here. It's not nine to five.

Darryl:
I. I won't lie. When I have 17 hour days, usually I'm on a set somewhere. We're being creative. It is hectic. It is crazy. But I don't have to think about taxes.

René:
Yeah, I'm thinking about your taxes right now. Bastard. All right, what are we talking about today there, big guy?

Darryl:
Today I want to talk about something that seriously is underrated in the marketing world and that's making other people do your work for you.

René:
Okay.

Darryl:
And I'm not talking about tricking your employees into taking on your workload. I'm talking about reverse marketing.

René:
Oh, yes. Okay, now that makes sense.

Darryl:
Where your customers do the selling for you.

René:
I was like, where's he going with this?

Darryl:
And here's the best part about reverse marketing, is that your customers are happy to do it.

René:
Yeah. It's also the most powerful form of marketing, in my opinion, at least from my experience in the business that we're in.

Darryl:
Exactly... all businesses.

René:
I'm not sure I agree that everyone is happy to do it because sometimes it's really tough. You know, like, we've had conversations where we're like, you know what? Maybe we should ask, you know, a handful of clients to do, you know, testimonials and stuff where it's a little bit more official. But you're like, man, I don't want to put them on the spot. And no one really volunteers to do that stuff. At what point do you have enough of a reputation for. For your people to voluntarily be a walking billboard for you?

Darryl:
Well, I'm going to get into that, and I'm glad you brought that up because, well, I don't. I don't want you to be mad at me. Say you're not going to be mad at me.

René:
Well, you know what? I'm going to change the topic for a second because I had a fucking dream last night that we got in a fight. And, like, I don't fight.

Darryl:
Like, fist fight.

René:
No. Something happened where it was like our. Our relationship was coming to an end. So the fact that you're, like, asking me not to get mad at you, and the fact that I dreamt that we called it quits and said, fuck it, we're just going to part ways.

Darryl:
I don't like that.

René:
Then I woke up, and today we're doing a podcast. And you're asking me not to be mad at you? How am I supposed to feel, Darryl? How am I supposed to feel? I can't make those kinds of promises. I dreamt that shit up.

Darryl:
Okay, just take your headphones off for a second.

René:
I won't be mad. I don't get mad.

Darryl:
Rene's wrong.

René:
Yeah.

Darryl:
And I know there are people out there who are thinking the same thing you just said. I don't have customers that do that. Right. And honestly, shut up. You do. I can't. I can't put it any other way.

René:
Oh, I don't disagree. I don't disagree. Because I think you have to prove yourself first before people will actually be willing to stick your neck out for their reputation.

Darryl:
Yes. And the big thing is when I have people say, I don't have customers that do that, how do I even bring this up? It's like you have to give them the right tools to make it happen. So today I want to break down those tools and how to turn those customer testimonials, user generated content, word of mouth, getting them to do it into the biggest sales tool. Okay, let's get into the first step, because it's making people want to talk about you. And here's the thing. People love to talk about brands they feel connected to. And we've talked about this before. They also love to talk about brands that piss them off too.

René:
Yes, absolutely. Maybe even more so.

Darryl:
I'm not a Karen, but I do love to bitch about brands that are bad.

René:
Yeah, you are. You are a brand bitcher.

Darryl:
Well, here's the thing. The trick is to make sure they're talking about you for the right reasons. And no, it's not enough just to have a decent product or service. You need an experience worth sharing. Think about the brands that people actually rave about. There's usually something unique about the way they operate. Maybe it's incredible customer service, unexpected freebies, or even just killer packaging. I know that sounds so fucking stupid and simple.

Darryl:
The goal is to create moments that make people say, oh, I have to tell somebody about this.

René:
Yeah. And we've had these chats in prior podcasts.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
Is it fair to say that it's a lot like a sense of belonging? You know, we talk about brands like Starbucks, like Harley Davidson, like Lululemon. The list goes on.

Darryl:
Well, let me give you an example. I ordered from a small candle company a little while ago, and when the package arrived, literally it's a cand candle, but inside there was a handwritten note that said, we made this while listening to our favorite 90s hits. So we figured we'd share our playlist. Enjoy. And there was a QR code that brought me to a Spotify playlist that was 90s music, and I listened to it. Now, did they actually do that? Did they have this playlist on when they were making the candle? Probably not. But did I immediately tell a ton of people about this? Absolutely.

René:
It's the first I hear about it. Maybe that's why I was mad at you in my dream.

Darryl:
Maybe I didn't share my candle playlist.

René:
I love 90s music. Why didn't you share that shit, Bouley?

Darryl:
You make fun of my music selection all the time. Anytime I say, here's a great playlist, you're like, oh, you're such a Debbie Downer.

René:
Depressing.

Darryl:
Just because I like 80s ballads doesn't mean I'm depressing. Okay, step two. Turn testimonials into a selling machine. Now, here's the hard truth. What you say about your business matters less than what your customers say about your business. A glowing testimonial from a real person is worth way more than any ad you could do.

René:
Oh, my God. I could not agree with you more, dude.

Darryl:
Yeah. And if you're not collecting testimonials, I always tell clients is, you're leaving money on the table. But I want to go back to the point you made, because I think a lot of people look at generic comments where you had mentioned that, you know, you asked people for testimonials, and they may give you, like, a generic one, like, oh, you guys are so great. And those are nice to hear. But when you put that shit online or you spread that on your website or on your packaging, it's so fucking boring. It doesn't hook anybody, right? So when we do testimonials with clients, and clients want to do them with their customers, we tell them to ask for specifics instead of, how did you like our service? Because that's just gonna be like, well, it was great. Ask, what problem did we solve for you? What made you choose us over the competition? Which will get them to give you more detail, be more persuasive in their testimonials. And here's the real trick.

Darryl:
Just collect these reviews. Use them. So, like I said, put them on your website, on your social media. Here's one that no one ever thinks of, even in your email signature.

René:
Really?

Darryl:
So in your email signature, if you wrote Rene Boudreault, and you're going to put, yeah, cfp.

René:
Yeah, you know me.

Darryl:
Yeah, you know me. Put a little quote. It's a Quote about you. And again, it's something great, like a problem that you solve. Like Rene got me out of a tax, you know, whatever..

René:
We call it a pickle.

Darryl:
Yeah, a tax pickle.

René:
Rene got me out of a tax pickle one time.

Darryl:
And that's the thing. Someone reads that in your email signature. Exactly what you just said, Rene got me out of a tax pickle. It gives people a laugh and they're going to remember you. They're going to remember you. Just for that, they're going to tell somebody, oh my God. My CFP sent me this email today. I got to read his signature because it's funny, but it's a real testimonial.

Darryl:
You're not bullshitting. Someone actually wrote that. You can even quote them, you know, Dan from Toronto or whatever it is. And here's one. And again, I mentioned it a minute ago. Slap those testimonials. If you sell a product, slap it on your packaging if you can. If you have the means to do it.

Darryl:
It lets your customers, salespeople. When that package is traveling through the post Office or through FedEx or whoever, it reaches so many different people and their hands get on the package. So it's not just enough to have your name on the package. If you have customer testimonials that are catchy, like Rene got me out of a pickle. A financial pickle. Right. Or a tax pickle, People read that and it's like someone in the post office, the hundreds of hands that touch this package. That sounded very sexual.

Darryl:
That's not what I meant. You know what I'm getting at?

René:
What if you don't have a package, how do you put your testimonial on it? That's very gender specific marketing. You have to have a package to be able to use this tool.

Darryl:
Well, and the same goes for you. You have a service, but you, well, you're my financial planner. I get documents from you all the time in that packaging, in that envelope on the back of it. If we just print it on the envelope, some customer testimonials or something creative like that, it now generates more eyeballs on this envelope than anything else you ever did.

René:
That's actually genius, Darryl.

Darryl:
It's not bad, eh?

René:
Yeah, I like it.

Darryl:
All right, step three, encourage user generated content. And we've talked about user generated content before in a previous episode. And if you don't know what I mean, go back to that episode, listen to it. It's a great one, but that shit is gold. It's free advertising that doesn't feel like advertising and user generated content real quick. It's when people make a video about you and they post it on their own social media saying, oh, I love this product, I love this service, whatever. It's free advertising that doesn't feel like advertising. And this could be anything from, like I said, a customer posting a picture of your product to someone tagging your business in a story because of how much they love what you do.

Darryl:
But here's the thing. People don't just randomly post about brands unless they're mad or they really love it. You have to give most people a reason to do it. So how do you make this happen? Well, the first one, and it sounds so fucking simple. Just ask them. Most businesses never do this. Again, I'm going to go back to like sending a package in the mail. You put a little card in every order saying, tag us in a pic with your purchase for a chance to be featured on our website or on our Instagram.

Darryl:
Show us how you use the product and get a special discount, whatever it is.

René:
Yeah. Win a hoodie.

Darryl:
And you have to make it shareable. And by that I mean your product or what you do has to be good. It has to look good. People will want to show it off if it looks good. Beautiful packaging, fun branding, or even a cool unboxing experience makes a huge difference. Like your wife has her makeup brush line. One simple girl. And the great thing that she does is it's packaged so fucking pretty.

Darryl:
When any person gets these makeup brushes, they open it up, it's just stunning. It makes you feel warm inside. You're like, oh my God, this is beautiful. And I haven't even got to the product I bought yet.

René:
Yeah. The label, actually, the whole packaging, the color of the envelope, the logo, everything, it stands out from like you say, the person that's handling it in the mail room, all the way to the consumer.

Darryl:
Yeah. And it makes a huge difference.

René:
Yeah, absolutely. And she has a little thank you card on the inside and it's handwritten by her for every single order.

Darryl:
Well, and that's the thing. Think about this. You have the shit on the outside of the package that's generating some advertising for you, like testimonials. Beautiful packaging which is making it shareable. They open it up, they get their product, then they get a thank you card as well, a handwritten one inside. That is an immediate follow up to the purchase.

René:
Yeah, absolutely. Very intentional.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
And appreciative. Right. So you build a connection.

Darryl:
Exactly. You can do other things like run contests? Something like post a photo using our product, tag us to win free. Whatever. Companies do this all the time.

René:
Yeah, I see that everywhere.

Darryl:
We talked about it last episode. People love free shit, but they don't love junk. If you're going to give something away, make it nice. Doesn't have to be expensive, but make it something worth wanting.

René:
Yeah, everyone loves something for free, but when it's something really nice, it's even better.

Darryl:
Exactly. Okay, the last step, harness the power of word of mouth.

René:
Sounds like a line from a Spider man movie.

Darryl:
It's actually the title of my sex tape, but yeah.

René:
Yeah, speaking of tools and packages.

Darryl:
Word of mouth marketing is literally the most powerful marketing there is. Nothing beats it, period. You trust recommendations from your friends more than you do ads. Everyone does.

René:
I hear it so often from new clients that were referred to us who'll be like, we're ready to work with you, right away. I already trust you because my brother works with you and raves about you or my neighbor or my best friend works with you and just raves about the work that you've done and that, you know, what sets you apart from the rest. I already trust you. That's word of mouth, man. It's very powerful.

Darryl:
Yeah, we have clients all the time, ask us, like, how do we do this? How do we get people actively recommending our business? And there are a few ways. The first is be the fucking best. Simple as that. Whether you sell the product, be the best product out there. If you have a service, be the best at what you do. Go above and beyond. Don't cut corners, be great. Strive for something better.

Darryl:
Don't strive for middle of the road or just in the mix. Be the best. That's the best advice I could give you. The other ways are is to create a referral program which gives customers reason to bring in their friends. Something as simple as refer a friend, and both of you get 20% off your next order. The next one is, and I've talked about this before, make your.

René:
You said lastly. You're out of them. You said lastly.

Darryl:
The last step is the harness the power. Jeez, get off my back. Just because you're mad at me from our pretend fight in your dream doesn't mean you could take over my podcast.

René:
I think it was Tom Segura, one of his stand ups. He's like, you know, you wake up in the morning and your wife's not talking to you because she dreamt that you slept with someone with another woman. I'm like, I'm so mad at Darryl right now because I dreamt that we broke up. I'm sorry to ruin your chain of thought there.

Darryl:
It's okay. I'll give you the last two points about harnessing the power, word of mouth, and that's making custom customers feel like insiders. We talked about this last episode. Give loyal customers early access to new products behind the scenes. People love feeling like VIPs and deliver consistently amazing experiences. Right. That wow moment strategy I talked about last time. No one's going to recommend a business that's like, meh.

Darryl:
It's okay.

René:
Mediocrity is not a recipe for success.

Darryl:
No. You need to be so good that people want to tell others about you.

René:
100%, man.

Darryl:
So here's a wild stat, and I'm not making this one up. This is a real percentage. 92% of people trust recommendations from family, friends over any other form of advertising.

René:
Yeah, I believe it. And you know what? If I can add from experience, is the 8% that's left over. You probably don't want to work with them.

Darryl:
Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Reverse marketing isn't about you doing the selling. It's about creating a business that people want to talk about. It's about letting your customers become your marketing team without having to put them on the payroll. So here's my challenge to everyone listening. Pick one of these strategies and put them into action this week.

Darryl:
Maybe it's reaching out for better testimonials. Maybe it's revamping your unboxing experience. Maybe it's setting up that referral program. Just pick one to start. If you don't start, you'll never do it. And then watch what happens, because when you do this right, your customers start marketing for you. And that is the best fucking marketing there is.

René:
You're right. These strategies work, man, and they're very, very impactful.

Darryl:
Exactly.

René:
It's not easy. Got to bust your balls.

Darryl:
Yeah. Bust your balls and let lots of people handle your package.

René:
There you go.

Darryl:
We'll be right back.

Darryl:
I'm sorry we broke up last night. Yeah.

René:
That's okay, bud. We're good, I think.

Darryl:
Sure.

René:
Like, we're good enough to do a podcast, but, like, if you recommended something to me, like, I'd probably be that 8% right now.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
I'd be like.

Darryl:
All right, what are you talking about today.

René:
Well, I don't want to get into any stats and I don't want to talk about product and I'm not going to prove to anyone my expertise today.

Darryl:
Okay.

René:
But I want to share some of my life experience in this business.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
And one thing that I think is very impactful and we were talking about being underrated earlier in your topic.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
Is celebrating your wins when it comes to your finances. We do that as advisors, looking after our clients on very small levels and sometimes very large levels and everything in between. So for a number of years, you got to remember, I'm old enough now to say I'm 25 years in business.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
So I've seen pretty much every color of the rainbow. But when we have certain clients that reach a milestone, you know, like I know this one couple in particular, they were at the bank and this is going back, way back, I think they had like $6700 and you know, the local bank wouldn't give them the time of day. They didn't have enough of a portfolio. And they walked into my office to see if I can help them with some planning because they wanted to take control of their retirement plan so that they weren't going to work forever. Of course, they were in the mining industry like the typical Kirkland Laker.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
And you know, you know, our philosophy is that we work with everyone because, you know, as long as we can help them, if it's someone that is not going to take our advice and never work with us, we're going to kick them to the curb, unfortunately, because we have enough people that want to work with us and we're going to focus our energies on that and be more productive that 8%. So we started looking after them. We created a plan, we had a plan of attack. We implemented a strategy. Every year we looked at their tax situation to be more tax efficient, topping up their RSPs, you know, just helping them pay off their mortgage, like all of that stuff and they became millionaires.

Darryl:
That's amazing.

René:
So when they reached the million dollar mark, you know, we cracked open a bottle of champagne and it was like, we have to celebrate this win because this is a major milestone.

Darryl:
Right, Exactly.

René:
And we went on to do that with a number of clients, you know, at different milestones as we would send them home with a bottle of champagne and say, you know what, you remember like eight years ago we wanted to have your mortgage paid. You were supposed to have a 20 year mortgage. And we wanted it done and over with in 10 years. But we're eight years later and you've got your mortgage paid. Like, you need to go home with this bottle of champagne and you're going to sit down, enjoy this with your husband or you're going to enjoy this with your wife. And. Or if we knew that the couple was going to a family function where they were going to have their kids and grandkids at the table or whatever, that we would then encourage them to celebrate their wins. And you know what if we tie that in and I just kind of had a little moment there, my tiny little head is.

René:
That also goes back to, you know, your topic, is that, you know, they bring that bottle of champagne to their brother or brother in law's place and say, oh my God, you know what? We just reached a huge milestone, you know, financially. And. And Renee gave us this bottle of champagne to drink. And I've had those testimonials, like when, when I was making a lot of of my homemade wine with my friends. Yeah. Someone that appreciated a nice bottle of wine, I would gift them a bottle of Arbutro and say, listen, let's say it comes from an Italian family and they were going to their in laws and it was going to be a bunch of Italians there. And that's just, that's my culture. That European.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
Yeah, I love that. Like, here's a couple bottles of wine. You guys can share that the dinner table. And it's kind of a reminder of what the good old days were back home when you make your own wine and stuff. And it's just people talk about that. But getting back to my topic, dude, is celebrating wins encourages you being more attentive to your finances. It motivates you to move on to the next step and kind of take it to the next level.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
Right. So those are bigger wins, but smaller wins as well too. You know, we've had instances where we had people we felt we couldn't really help. We're like, you need to go home and you need to focus on your level of debt. And we will sit down with you when you're at this stage. Right. Because you run into people that they say that they want your help, but when you ask them to make some significant changes, they backpedal. You send them home with homework and you never see them again.

Darryl:
Yeah, right.

René:
So when you have a young couple that has like credit card debt and they have a debt on their four wheeler, they have a debt on their dirt bike or their camper or whatever.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
And it's like you have no cash flow to Start saving for retirement. You have no cash flow to expedite paying off your mortgage early. You need to service the expensive debt first, which we've talked about in other podcasts as well. And we'll send them home with a task list and say, okay, you pay this Visa off first. This one next, you pay the camper off because it's the highest interest, and these are the extra payments you need to make. And it's going to take you 14 months to do that or 16 months to do that. Rarely do we see people come back, but when we do, holy fuck do we celebrate, because two things happen there. We now understand the impact that we're having in the lives of these people, because if we were not guiding them, them and making them feel like we're holding them accountable to these challenges that we've given them, it's very impactful for us as a rewarding career to know that we're making a difference.

René:
But for them, we're legit changing their lives. So we need to make sure that they are recognized for taking action and taking our challenge seriously and making improvements to their financial lives. That is remarkable. And it's so joyful to see when we see people do that.

Darryl:
Oh, no kidding. I know for myself, like, when we first bought our house, we were young, we were kind of just starting our careers, and we ended up in lawsuits with our builder. And I reached out to you because not long after we had Lucas, and it was like, we're in the middle of lawsuits. We got a new baby. We have this new house that we're fighting to make right. And my initial thought is, and I know I've joked about this in a previous episode, was like, when can I start saving for his education? Because I wanted to make sure that he doesn't have to pay anything. And eventually we had Peyton, and we wanted to make sure we're taking care of them. And so you said, exactly.

Darryl:
You're like, you're in lawsuits, you're in credit card debt. There's not much you can do right now. You gave us a list and it was like, here's what you could do, you know, once the lawsuits are over, once you pay off this, that, and the other thing. And we were able to do that. And now Lucas, my firstborn, is going to university in September, and he's not going to pay for it. But in that moment, it never seemed possible to me. Even just now, in my mind, I'm already celebrating the win. I got the fucking banner up right now that says, congratulations, Darryl and Erin, you are making your kids go to univeristy for free.

René:
You know, I mentioned earlier is just time in this business allows you to recognize those wins. Right. And the impact that it has for future success. So my topic on financial planning today is to celebrate your wins so that you continue to see that success and you continue to be motivated to set other goals and objectives. Right. And it could be anything in between. You know, like we have people that are in business, you know, that are struggling and it's tough, Right. Dependent on the industry or where you live or whatever.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
But they make certain commitments to say, listen, I'm gonna really stick to budget and I'm gonna put a thousand bucks a month in my TFSA and I'm gonna make sure that my income taxes are always paid up to date and I pay my quarterly installments. And it's tough, but they report back to us and they're like, we're budgeting and we're making it work. I was hoping to have a new truck. I'm going to push it till next year because I'm really committing to this because I want to stick to my guns. Like, those are wins where it's like, you know what? Everyone needs a good tap on the back sometimes, whether they're asking for it or not, sometimes indirectly they're asking, they're like, well, you know, without saying it, please tell me I'm doing a good job because I'm fucking trying really hard now. But sometimes people are so focused on their finances, just keep their heads down and don't even notice if they're making progress that sometimes we just grab them by the back of the shirt and it's like, whoa. You realize how fucking much of a difference you're making? Like, you need to stop and smile. Like, I don't know how often Ryan and I are in a client meeting and we're running some updated projections for their plan and just doing a review.

René:
Here's the thing, especially people in business that are profiting from their friends and family in that. Right. Is that there's a certain shame in being successful because you don't want to brag that you're doing good for fear that someone will frown on your successes. That is very, very typical of business owners. Doesn't matter where you live. That's not Kirkland Lake, that's not small town communities. It's everywhere. But we'll say, listen, we're in closed doors and this conversation is not going anywhere.

René:
Do you ever fucking pinch yourself because of the level of success that you're enjoying.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
Like, you've busted your balls and made this happen. Like, you have a net worth of $10 million. You have a net worth of $15 million. Can you imagine that? And then you get a smirk, and they're like, well, I never really stopped to think about. I'm like, well, you fucking should.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
Because you've worked so hard to get here. Sometimes you have to just realize your successes. Right. It's really, really important. In my opinion, the success of your financial future is to just take a pause every once in a while, really celebrate those wins and the milestones and to take a moment to just be appreciative of what you've accomplished, whether it's a small, small objective and a challenge to, you know, reduce your debt or something on a much larger scale where you've reached a $5 million net worth, and you're like, fuck, man, this feels good. It's liberating to have that financial freedom or paying off your mortgage. Like Meghan and I having no mortgage. We bought a really nice bottle of wine, cooked a nice meal, fucking watched a nice movie, and just kind of chilled on the sofa with the dogs in a blanket. And it's like, whoa, amazing.

René:
Please, please take a moment and just celebrate your successes and your milestones when you can.

Darryl:
I've had the luxury multiple times of going to a function with you and meeting some of your clients. And the great thing is you're out there mingling with the crowd or whatever. We're at a barbecue. We're wherever. And I've had conversations, like you said, with the small win. You're like, you know, we paid off our mortgage or we got out of debt, and then we started investing early on, and it was amazing. We celebrated. But some really cool things that I never thought were possible was people that have worked with you who have retired, and they're excited about it.

Darryl:
I'm sitting there talking to them. I said, wow, that's amazing. And I like. They talk about celebrating that with you, that milestone of they retired with this great amount of wealth. And I'm like, what a celebration? Like, yeah, but just having that moment to celebrate. Because before we actually celebrated it was, I'm retired. I have all this money now. What am I going to do? I don't know.

Darryl:
We'll figure it out. But then when the celebration came, they got excited about, what could I do next.

René:
Yeah.

Darryl:
And they started talking about, like, I'm thinking about doing, opening a business. Even though I'm retired, I'm thinking about doing this.

René:
It energizes a person.

Darryl:
And it was so great to see those moments of they were happy, they celebrated. And then it turned the light bulb on and they were like, what can my next celebration be? They just didn't plateau. They just didn't say, I have $15 million accumulate.

René:
That's a huge reason why I brought this up is like, when you stop and celebrate, it fuels you to kind of look at the next objective. What is the next milestone? And it doesn't have to be a $3 million portfolio. It does not.

Darryl:
No.

René:
I have this little old lady. She managed to accumulate 150,000, and she was a single mom, never had a pot to piss in, and worked hard her whole career and retired with a small pension and had 150,000 that she had kind of accumulated for either a rainy day or renovations or travel. And she'd be like, I did good day, I did good, right? And she just was so proud that she had reached. That is unbelievable. I had this other lady, the sweetest fucking lady, and she says, I always managed to be the one who looked after the finances. My husband worked and was, you know, first generation Canadian. They all worked very hard. And she says, my man always looked at me and says, you look after things.

René:
Just let me know if we ever reached the million.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
So I tabulated her portfolio and all of her investments in her real estate, and she was finally, finally a millionaire. And she's like, oh, my God. Ah, he's gonna be so excited. We finally made it. She was later in life, and she had never really taken enough time to tally everything up until she started working with us.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
It was so cute to see the glow on her face that she was going to be able to share this.

Darryl:
No kidding.

René:
Like, think of your grandparents, right? Just think of your grandmother being told that she's a millionaire and she's gonna go home and tell her husband and, oh, my God, it's just the cutest moments. It's the major reasons why I'm in this business, and I enjoy it so much. But to see them go home and celebrate those wins, like you said it, you know, maybe not for an 80 year old, but anyone else, it often energizes them to look at the next step. You know, you're looking at debt elimination. It's like, okay, well, now how do we get rid of that mortgage? How do we start saving more?

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
And dude, on the flip side, we've talked before of clients that have saved so much their whole life that they forget how to spend.

Darryl:
Yes.

René:
But when I can get through a client and say, listen Darryl, you are never going to run out of money and your kids when you die will blow that money in about two minutes. So we need to figure out a way because you're 70 exactly at best, 10 years before you start having trouble getting travel insurance. If you want to travel, let's figure out a way to get you to do that. Right? Let's get you that nice car that you've dreamt of having. As simple as a really nice lazy boy. Because you love to watch tv. Spend your fucking money.

René:
So when I see clients like there's one in particular never spent anything and we convince them with evidence that they would never run out of money. In fact, they're still accumulating wealth in their 60s and 70s. They went out and bought a friggin motorhome and started traveling the country and wintering in the southern parts of North America and just seeing all sorts of stuff and living life and experiencing it. I'm like, how beautiful is that? And how rewarding as an advisor to see see that happen. Those are also wins to celebrate to say, let's have a beer together and I'd love to have it sitting under the canopy of your motorhome. Right?

Darryl:
No kidding.

René:
It's a beautiful thing.

Darryl:
Next time you're talking to that couple with all this wealth, tell them to get in the motorhome, drive down to Toronto. Trust me, celebrating a win by adopting a 45 year old grown ass man. There's nothing better.

René:
I've convinced so many of my clients that's such a common desire up here is to buy like a camper or a motorhome and travel and get to see the country. And so many of them are doing it. I get them to send me texts, they're sending selfies while they're doing a whole bunch of fun stuff in retirement and enjoying this camper life that they've aspired to do. Like, oh man, it's just such a beautiful thing.

Darryl:
No kidding. I'm crying.

René:
I could see that.

Darryl:
You okay? My eyes are watering. What's happening? You're not even cutting onions.

René:
Celebrate milestones, man.

Darryl:
Yeah, no, that's awesome. I love it.

René:
I apologize for not bringing a ton of content today, but this is to me, if you have a takeaway, if you can make time for this, this will help improve your financial life. I promise you. I've seen it time and time again.

Darryl:
We'll be right back.

Darryl:
All right, let's get into something that might sound completely counterintuitive, but it's actually one of the most productive hacks out there. And that. That's doing nothing. I'm talking about why taking breaks, slowing down, and just chilling the fuck out can actually make you more creative, more focused, and ultimately more successful.

René:
It's not just your opinion. It's a fact.

Darryl:
It is a fact. And I know there are some people out there who are listening right now and they're thinking, but I'm too busy. I have a million things to do. If I'm not hustling, I'm falling behind. But here's the reality. The constant grind isn't helping you. It's probably making you less productive. And that's kind of what I want to unpack today.

Darryl:
Why? Stepping back can actually push you forward, if that makes sense.

René:
100%. I get caught in that all the time, dude. I'm a workaholic.

Darryl:
You do. I know.

René:
It's. I just love what I do, and I don't stop doing it. So my stopping is a little bit later in the day than the average Joe. But when I go upstairs, I crack a bottle of wine and I have a glass of wine, and I prep a nice, fresh meal. Meal every night. And that's my way to decompress. And I make sure to get a good night's sleep. My doctor says the only thing you need to improve in your life is better sleep.

René:
Because if you don't have good sleep, everything else falls apart.

Darryl:
Well, I'm definitely not a doctor, but I want to give you a couple of my favorites.

René:
Okay.

Darryl:
Have you ever noticed that your best ideas. And you mentioned cooking a meal, having that glass of wine could be in the shower, could be just before bed or while you're making your coffee in the morning. You have some of the best ideas in those moments.

René:
Yeah, for me, it's at camp and on the weekend.

Darryl:
Exactly.

René:
You put your phone away so you're not constantly, like, stimulated with text, emails and social media.

Darryl:
Exactly.

René:
And you've got fresh air, and you've got the birds chirping, and you're cooking a nice meal over an open fire, and it's just like.

Darryl:
Well. And that's because you stop forcing focus. Your brain actually makes that connection on its Own. So instead of staring at a screen waiting for like inspiration to happen, you stepped away. You're doing nothing. You're letting your brain work behind the scenes while you're just taking everything in.

René:
For sure. Another one for me is snowshoeing. Kind of focusing on breaking trail and not getting lost.

Darryl:
When I've went snowshoeing with you, it's not doing nothing for me. I'm focusing on not having a heart attack.

René:
Yeah.

Darryl:
I find there's no creativity there. I'm trying to concentrate and I have my thumb ready to hit 911 one on my phone.

René:
Risa from our office brought some friends up from Toronto. Then they wanted a Northern Ontario experience in the winter. So I took them snowshoeing. And of course, they're less than half my age.

Darryl:
Yeah.

René:
So we're trekking through the woods and I don't know, we ended up doing, I think 5k or something.

Darryl:
Nice.

René:
They got back home and they said the ride said, whoa. Like, René's like in really good shape. I just do it all the time.

Darryl:
Tell me about it.

René:
Yeah, yeah.

Darryl:
Anytime I do any physical activity with you, my brain really turns on because I get lots of rest after that.

René:
Yeah. I've seen it with my own eyes.

Darryl:
But think of this like, rest isn't wasting time. Like, that's the big thing I want to stress is a lot of people will say, oh, you're, you went out snowshoeing, you went home and you laid down on the couch and watched a movie. It's not wasting time. That's fuel. And if you think resting means falling behind, I don't believe it does. Studies have shown that people who take strategic breaks actually get more done. Like there's studies that just came out. And I bug my wife all the time because I love a good weekend nap.

Darryl:
I'm an old lady. I love ginger ale and I love afternoon naps.

René:
I don't disagree. You are an old lady.

Darryl:
I know, I know. And the thing is, there's studies right now that proves that napping actually makes you more productive and can get more done in a day if you take that 20 minute nap and your brain just needs that recovery time. Right. It's just like a muscle overworking. It leads to burnout, not results.

René:
Yeah. You know what? When I can make the time for a noon nap, I'll have a bite to eat and I'll just doze off in my chair for 10 or 15 minutes. Set my alarm for 15 minutes to go back down. It's a game changer.

Darryl:
100%. I want to bring up Steve Jobs for a second, and not because I'm looking at my Mac here. He took long walks just to think. And at one point in time, he was the busiest man on the planet who would pause in the middle of the day to go for like a two, three hour walk. Einstein. He used to stare. He's famously known for staring at the wall for hours. And neither of these two guys were wasting time.

René:
He's got a staring problem.

Darryl:
He's got a staring problem. They were just making space for more genius ideas, genius thoughts, breakthroughs that they're going to do you. If you want better ideas, stop flooding your schedule. If you want to become more productive again, make the time to pause. Give yourself that room to breathe.

René:
I feel like you're giving me a lecture today.

Darryl:
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Well, you were mad at me. We fought. I'm trying to. Trying to tell you to pause sometimes and think about me in a better light. Jesus.

Darryl:
Okay. Doing nothing isn't lazy. It's necessary. So I want to challenge anybody who's listening right now. Take at least five minutes every day to unplug, pause, and let your brain just be. Maybe it's a walk. Maybe it's that quick coffee or maybe it's staring out the window. Whatever it is, and I do this, schedule it.

Darryl:
Put it in your calendar that five minutes. So you got the alarm that goes off that says you have a meeting. And maybe it's only five minutes or ten minutes long, but literally put it in your calendar as a meeting so that you have the time to do it.

René:
Getting a good night's sleep as well, too, right?

Darryl:
Oh, big time.

René:
That's definitely doing nothing. But if you're. If you're not resting enough your body, you're talking about muscle. You know, athletes with muscle performance. You need to get that rest. That's one of the most important equations. However, on the flip side, though, don't forget that if all you do is nothing, you're not going to be very successful.

Darryl:
That is true. I'm not saying don't do nothing.

René:
Please don't make the takeaway. Don't do anything ever. You'll be super successful and you're going to have a bunch of genius ideas.

Darryl:
Yeah, that takes short times to do nothing.

Darryl:
All of a sudden people are losing their jobs. Like that Taming the Hustle podcast. They really fucked me over.

René:
Darryl said, do nothing and great things will happen.

Darryl:
Yeah.. I quit my job.

René:
Talk about misinterpretation.

Darryl:
Okay. Do little nothings and watch how much more productive, creative and focus you'll become.

René:
I love it.

Darryl:
All right, that's it for today. Give yourself permission to slow down, do nothing, and soak it all in. And while you're at it, hit the Follow button on Instagram, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to us right now. Now, if you enjoy listening, don't keep us all to yourself. Share us with a friend. Because hoarding a great podcast, that's like not sharing the wi fi password, and. And nobody likes that person.

René:
That sounds like reverse marketing.

Darryl:
Thanks for tuning in.

René:
Take care, guys.

Darryl:
Bye.