The Agile Entrepreneurship Podcast

The Agile Entrepreneurship Podcast


Delivering Financial Autonomy With Paul Benson

December 24, 2019

Subscribe & DownloadListen onApple PodcastsFollow us onSoundCloudListen on       Google PlayListen on       ​SpotifyGuest: ​Paul Benson ​Company / Business name: ​Financial Autonomy ​PodcastBusiness web site​​​ |​​​ ​​​​Linkedin   | Twitter​​​Paul is a financial planner and owner of guidance financial services. He helps Australians plan and invest so they can gain the choices in life that they deserve. In addition to that, Paul also hosts a very successful podcast. His podcast is called financial autonomy podcast.Books/Tools/resources​Book: The Lean Startup by Eric RiesTools: Gmail, Xero for accounting, and Intercom as a CRMShow Notes: ​Financial Autonomy podcast has been going 2 years, however Paul has been a Financial Planner for 20 years, running his own practice since 2006. Started the Financial Autonomy podcast following the realization that the traditional work/life plan is far too narrow, but most people don't get the choice to do anything else.2008-2009 period was very challenging with share markets diving – Paul reduced his staffing, his wife came in to assist so that we could retain cash flow within the household, focused in on a particular retirement strategy that held some appeal during this period - just didn't quit!Paul’s advice to entrepreneurs? You don't have to go all in from day one - build and plan - real life is not like the movies. Work out your marketing plan at the outset. You likely know your stuff, but unless you have a way to let the world know about it, you wont succeed. Monitor your cash flow - it's no good making a profit at the end of the year if you cant pay your rent in month 3. Don't fall for the prescribed life of having to work until you're in your 60's and then having to retire - life can be far more varied than that.​Episode Transcript (Click to expand)00:02Ramesh: Hello everyone. Welcome to the agile entrepreneurial podcast. This is your host Ramesh Dontha. This podcast is about starting and building your own business with purpose, passion, perseverance, and possibilities. Today I have a guest from across the world, the very first time from Australia. His name is Paul Benson. Paul is a financial planner and owner of guidance financial services. He helps Australians plan and invest so they can gain the choices in life that they deserve. In addition to that, Paul also hosts a very successful podcast. His podcast is called financial autonomy podcast. Hi Paul. Welcome.00:50Paul: Hello. Ramesh. Thanks for having me on. All right, so let's start with your podcast itself. You are a financial planner. Instead of just a having a financial services business, you wanted to start a podcast, why?01:08Paul: Well, initially the train of thought was a random marketing strategy. I guess the little bit of backstory there is, I’ve been a passionate podcast consumer for a long time now. You know, I had on runs and walks and that sort of stuff. I've have been enjoying listening to podcasts for a long time. And I guess, I know for your listeners it's about entrepreneurship and building up business. And I’ve been running my own business for a while and something that I’ve discovered that at least for myself and I think others too, is easy to underestimate, is how challenging it is to get a successful marketing strategy. Something that's repeatable and that generates a positive ROI. And so, I’ve tried all sorts of things over the years and I’ll have to say most of them haven't worked. And so along the journey decided, look, I love podcasts and how about we give that a go as a marketing Avenue and almost surprisingly, but it's actually worked. And I know that obviously you're a podcaster as well, so you've discovered a similar outcome. But yeah, it's one that's been successful for us as a marketing channel and something that we've expanded on in a few different areas since, which you could maybe touch on later, but certainly in terms of was start the podcast. It was about marketing to grow the financial plannin...