Ash explains how attending industry events like Think Tank gatherings lets advisors absorb knowledge and build relationships that compound over time. Showing up and engaging creates a reciprocal network that accelerates learning far beyond isolated study, and beats the "Lone Ranger" approach common in the infinite banking niche.
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It's really this simple? Yeah, that's— it's ridiculously simple.
Is just surround myself with the wealth of knowledge that's there, that's present, and just, just be a fly on the wall and listen to and take in and absorb as much as I possibly can within that short time period, because I know it's going to be a long time before it comes back around again, before I have the awesome and excellent opportunity to go and attend another one of these events. And, um, I also look at it as like compounding, right? So you're— the more you attend there, my number one focus when I walk away, although information is great, it's relationships.
What have you noticed, or what would you say has been some of the key takeaways or advantages of making sure you attend those type of platforms that are in the space that you, you spend your time now?
That's a great question, Richard, and I love the point that you brought up about information. You know, learning through osmosis is one of the best ways, right? And that's that proximity influence that Jason talks about all the time. And I completely agree. And what I would also say is my number one objective when I go to any of these events is just surround myself with the wealth of knowledge that's there, that's present, and just be a fly on the wall and listen to and take in and absorb as much as I possibly can within that short time period because I know it's going to be a long time before it comes back around again before I have the Awesome and excellent opportunity to go and attend another one of these events. And I also look at it as like compounding, right? So, the more you attend there, my number one focus when I walk away, although information is great, it's relationships.
Hmm.
I love being surrounded by like-minded people that are all moving in the same direction with the same goal to help serve and improve the lives of those they come in contact with every single day. And if you can be in a group like that, in an atmosphere like that, that's the ultimate energy driver and motivator to want to go back and repeat that feeling and that experience time and time again. And I've been able to see— I've been able to do that 3 times so far in this short period of time. So, I'm telling you, like, it works and it will pay for itself over and over again. But you have to show up. You have to be in the rooms. You have to be part of the conversation. And you really have to pay attention to and nurture those relationships so that not only that you are getting out of what someone's offering, but also that you're giving back to and contributing to that relationship so it's reciprocal as well.
I love that. And Ash, when we were chatting early this morning, we were chatting about a gentleman who's going to be joining our team. For the benefit of everybody who's watching and listening, what would you say to an advisor out there who feels stuck or isolated in their current environment?
That's a great question, Jason. I would say if you pay attention to the success that's in the environment that you're participating in, if you look to an organization Or you look to a team of people that have the processes in place, that have the platforms already there. If you can find an organization that has the proven success and you can plug into that, learn from that, contribute to that, and grow with that, why wouldn't that be something that you would want to do? You can always go it alone. But operating alone isn't always the best recipe.
Well, and all that proximity influence you talked about and the feeling of being in that environment of people, you— what you're identifying about, you know, the timeframe around the clock or a year between a Think Tank event, which is a once-a-year opportunity, coaching academies with the NNI, they're maybe 2, potentially 3 times a year. In fact, there's one coming up in Calgary, Alberta this year. In September, which I'm excited about. There's a lot of individuals, advisors in this space, specifically in the, you know, the infinite banking world where there's this often feeling of feeling like you're a Lone Ranger, you know, and even Nelson talks about the Lone Ranger syndrome a little bit in his book. He's more referencing the consumer, the person who is doing this way of implementing things in their life, and maybe they feel like, oh, well, no one else I know is doing it. And so, but Nelson would say, well, he would say, well, good, you're the one that's right. So it doesn't really matter what everyone else is doing. But even from an advisory standpoint, you know, if, if, if you're so far around from being around that environment and connection, it, it can maybe feel a bit lonely. It can feel a little bit, um, you know, difficult to keep that motivation and that fire going, even though you have the passion. And being that you get to embrace that on a regular basis, I mean, there's, there's weekly opportunities to connect with our team members. What do you think is the difference between someone who maybe doesn't have access to that versus what you've been able to tap into since you've been on the journey actively now teaching this message to other people?
It's great that you bring up those points, Richard, because it really comes down to that when you say proximity influence. If I want to condense my learning and knowledge transfer into the shortest possible time that I can, How am I going to do that? Well, I'm going to tap into resources and experience that's already in the industry and for people that are already doing it. So, if you're not in a team environment, if you're not part of a team, it's going to be more difficult for you to condense that learning timeframe and get to a higher level sooner.
Right.
So, I would say that Once again, it comes back down to those relationships. There are people in this community of advisors and practitioners that are more than willing to take time to have a conversation with you. They are more than willing to pass on the knowledge that they have. You just have to ask. And if we're staying true to Nelson's principles and we're trying to achieve and reach the tipping point, Get that 10%. If we're trying to do all that, then we need to leverage the people in the community to help us all get to the same destination, because there's no— where you're not going to be able to do that by yourself. Only as a group of practitioners are we going to be able to achieve that, and we have to be on the same page promoting the same message so we can help as many people as we can possibly reach. And when it comes to competition, there is a very small percentage of the people, the population across North America that know about this and that are implementing this.
