April 3, 2025 • 26 mins
What if the old rules for growing your firm no longer applied?
No cold calls. No in-person handshakes. No chasing local leads.
Just brand, trust, and content that actually converts.
In this episode, James sits down with Stoy Hall, founder of Black Mammoth and host of the No BS Wealth podcast, to break down how he’s scaling a modern family office by doing things differently—and why that’s exactly what today’s market demands.
You’ll hear how Stoy:
- Built a virtual-first firm without sacrificing trust or connection
- Attracts aligned clients by showing up loudly online
- Uses AI and content to scale without losing his voice
- Leads with empathy to create loyalty—on his team and with his clients
- Is shifting away from AUM to a more human, scalable model
If you’re tired of doing business the old way—and ready to grow on your terms—this conversation is your permission slip.
👉 Hit play to see what’s possible when you rethink what a modern advisory firm can be.
This episode is brought to you by Bill.com
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We help Bookkeepers, Accountants & Fractional CFOs generate consistent local leads, book perfect-fit appointments, and close premium clients, without cold outreach or ad guesswork.
Let’s map out your growth plan together → Book your free strategy call
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind
success, the go-to podcast forfractional CFOs and accounting
firm owners who want to attractmore high-paying clients and
increase their revenue.
Hosted by James Donovan fromNine Two Media, this podcast
dives into marketing strategiesspecifically designed for lead
(00:22):
generation and clientacquisition.
In each episode, you'll hearfrom industry leaders sharing
their success stories, and Todaywe're joined by Stoy Hall Stoy,
super excited to be diving inhearing a little bit more about
(00:54):
your story.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
what's helped your business grow?
I know you've got a podcast aswell that we can speak about,
but Black Mammoth Stoy Hall tellus a little bit about yourself
and the clients you serve.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm just a born and raisedMidwestern in America here and
sports was my avenue.
Food is my love, and I reallylearned early on that I cared a
lot about people and moneyreally wasn't a thing, right,
because I came from a backgroundthat didn't really have a lot
of money.
My mom didn't, my dad was neveraround, and so like money to me
(01:29):
wasn't the factor.
It was like being aroundawesome people whether that was
other families helped raising meand getting me to sports,
whether that was my mother doingbending over backwards to get
me to where I'm at.
I learned really early on thatyour network or your team and
your family, is what cantranspire you, and so that's
(01:50):
kind of what driven me to mycareer right Fast track.
I played football at DrakeUniversity, graduated from there
, went head first into thisfinancial game as an insurance
salesman, worked my way up tothe management side of things,
and then in 2017, when I had oursecond kid, I was like it's
(02:10):
time for a transition.
I want to be able toholistically help people, not
just through insurance it'simportant, but everything else
matters just as much and so Ijoined a firm out of Houston at
that point, but launched BlackMammoth September I think the
legal documents say of 2020 as amodern family office working
(02:30):
with women and minority businessowners the ones that some of
them are startups, but, as youknow, it's like that next step
right.
I started, I'm profitable, butI need help to get me to this
next growth and that's where westep in and really just own
everything for them so they canfocus on their little bit of
things.
And, like you said, I do have apodcast no BS Wealth.
We bring no bullshit to themoney.
(02:53):
Talk to the money game and it'sreally fun.
It's all encompassing, right.
Everything I do is integrated,so that way, it's the same
message over and over again andhopefully we can change the
industry a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
I also started my businessright before the pandemic in
2020.
I'm curious how did that go foryou?
I mean, we're here now talking,so obviously well enough, but
like, starting a business ishard.
Starting it during a pandemic,I would say maybe one of the
harder things to do.
(03:27):
So I'd love to hear a littlebit about that and how you kind
of persevered through it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, I say this a lot too is for me.
I was just moving my clientsfrom one entity to another, so
it wasn't like a brand newstartup, like someone launching
a business.
I had a core clientele, whichwas nice.
It actually, because of thepandemic, made the transition
and growth of our businesseasier, and I will always give
credit to the pandemic and COVIDfor helping our industry
(03:54):
because we were all the likeit's who you know around the
block right, not being able todo this virtual stuff, and the
financial industry needed toshake up badly because we need
to be able to reach out towhomever fits us right.
Growing up in this industry, itwas always like whoever breathes
, whoever lives around you,those should be your clients,
(04:15):
and I never really fit in withthat because they're not like my
people, like I don't want tohang out with these people all
the time, and as business owners, if you're having a
service-based clientele, youwant that relationship.
Well, guess what?
There are people all over thiscountry or all over the world
that will relate to you but havenever met you, and so the COVID
(04:35):
and pandemic allowed us to govirtual and now everyone does it
and almost regularly meet inperson, which is there's
drawbacks to it.
But that's what I what I sayabout it.
It was actually a blessing indisguise awesome.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
What's your take when , if you come across prospects
who, for whatever reason, theystill feel like no, I want to
work with someone local likethey.
Just they feel like I don'tknow the best person, for
whatever reason, is in theirlocal market, which is so crazy
because we get that a lot withsome of the outreach we do for
our clients.
But now even hiring new teammembers like it's a massive
(05:10):
blessing that you don't have tobe restricted to who's available
in your local market, whetherthat's talent you're hiring or
service that you're looking tohire, like your services or
whatever that is so like what's,what's your take?
And how do I guess you addressprospects when they say that
Like hey, you're not, you're notlocal to us.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I tell them to grow up.
No, I'm kidding.
What we we try to do within ourbrands that we have is we have
a network of people.
We meet a lot of people.
Obviously, as a host, you meet alot of people, but in terms of
what we do as a family office,I'm always vetting out other
professionals in whatever rolesthere are all over the country,
and so when someone says that Ione try to sell them the fact
(05:51):
that it doesn't matter anymore,but two, then if that's the case
, I'm going to help them findsomeone who's relatively local,
that I have vetted out, that Itrust that's part of my network,
and go ahead and make thatconversation and be like, hey,
they're local, they're going todo everything that you want them
to do.
You know, here, because Ibelieve that there is no
(06:15):
competition in our industry, thecompetition is for those that
are not educated and do not havea planner, advisor, cfo,
whatever this service is, and weall need to come together and
when we're meeting people,people, and they don't fit us,
we should be able to have, youknow, a handful of people that
we can go to and say, hey, theyfit you perfectly, let's get
them onboarded that's great.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
What story.
What gets you out of bed andexcited about what you do on a
daily basis?
I know you you may have alludedto it a little bit at the start
, but like what?
What's that driving force thatreally gets you excited about
what you do Monday to Friday, oreven seven days a week?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I mean, we're business owners.
It's seven days a week, 24-7.
There's no time off.
I don't care what anyone saysup well before we do, for some
reason, even though we get up atfive, it truly is being able to
help more people find theirability to grow their wealth.
I say it all the time, andtoday on thread someone yelled
(07:15):
at me for it, but there's notone wealthy person or successful
person on this earth that hasdone it alone.
You have to have a team.
Whatever that team makeup willbe different for everyone, but
you need to have a team and youneed to have someone who can
kind of oversee and quarterback.
Most of it and so that's whatmajority of all our content is
(07:36):
about is getting people torealize that one, they're not
alone in this world, whateverthey're doing specifically
business owners.
But also they're not alone, andthere's people out here that
are resources for them, thatthink like they do will push
them and drive them to that nextgreat stage that they want in
their life.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Let's build on team a bit.
With the world being a lot morevirtual now, like you mentioned
, it's almost rare to havein-person meetings with
prospects or maybe even teammembers.
What's the makeup of your teamlook like?
Or do you have a lot of peoplein your local market?
Do you rely on a lot of teammembers who work remotely?
(08:17):
I'd love to hear a little bitabout that.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, my wife joined the firm in December, so me and
her here locally.
We do have a couple of ouraccounting staff that are local
but we meet virtually anyway,even though we're 20 minutes
away of them, are virtual, andthen we'll have some local
(08:47):
clients that will go grab lunchor let the kids run around,
which isn't like a meeting butis more local feel.
Otherwise it's like 99% plusthat are all virtual, even if
they are local.
We're still doing virtualmeetings.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, Just more efficient to jump on, zoom and
you're not dealing with trafficand driving around.
How do you go about buildingteam culture or client
relationships that are allvirtual?
I mean especially with team andyou mentioned.
Yeah, you can meet with acouple of clients in person, but
most of the work it sounds likeit's all virtual.
(09:17):
A lot of people are buildingtheir firms now following that
same path.
So, like what's been workingreally well for you, I guess,
building culture or evenretention wise in a virtual
world?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Slack.
We use Slack all the time, andanyone I hire, part of my
partnership or whatever aroundme, I let them know that like
this isn't, this isn't a job andwork like this is our life,
it's just lifestyle.
And so message me all the time.
And so we have a very opendialogue both with our clients
(09:50):
and any of our support staff oranyone who's involved with our
businesses of just like 24 seven, we can just chat back and
forth and be there for eachother, above and beyond just
business conversations.
Right, hey, what's going on?
How's it going?
How can we support you thosetypes of things?
And I think that inner, thatability to always have that
dialogue whenever things arehappening, really allows you to
(10:13):
be a lot closer to those peopleand then they truly start to
feel like family because it'sthat deep of a relationship.
Right, I have clients and Ihave other staff that are.
We talk more, probably 80percent of the time, about what
our kids are doing.
What's going on?
You know, I just had a clientthat's mother died a month ago.
So we've had thoseconversations, but those are
(10:35):
going on all the time.
It's not like a designed oh, wemeet once a month or once a
quarter or whatever, then we candownload it.
We are literally have an opendialogue 24 seven, if need be.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You're just being human.
Just being human, yeah, forreal people.
That's, that's the, that's thesecret sauce is being a human
and having a conversation withsomeone.
That's cool.
Tell me a little bit about how,how Black Mammoth the success
behind your growth.
Like, how do you guys findclients?
What's been working really wellfor you as a firm?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, I mean everyone's going to say
referrals or whatever.
I mean they're going to havethat.
But outside of that, right, youshould take care of your
clients and they love you andyou know people come on.
It's truly.
I asked this question to mymarketing team yesterday.
I was like, where's our bestlike route, like can you figure
it out?
And there truly isn't one,because we do everything
(11:29):
everywhere and we're so loud.
What I would say is it'sbecause we're building a brand
and we are.
We do have the podcast, we areon all social medias, we do blog
posts, we do podcasts andreviews, we are everywhere that
I think that whole overall brandthen allows someone to relate
in relationship and then,wherever platform they're on at
(11:50):
that point, then that goesthrough there.
But I truly believe it isbecause we are providing so much
content everywhere and lettingeveryone know that we are here
for you, where you're at.
That it allows them to getcomfortable and that's kind of
what drives them the most.
So obviously, referrals andword of mouth is going to be
king, but it's that brand behindit.
When someone's you know searcha story or black mammoth or
(12:12):
whatever, that they're going tosee it and they're going to know
who we are pretty damn quick.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
That's awesome.
It's the omnipresence.
Just be everywhere and peoplewill.
Will see you.
What would you say to maybeother firm owners who aren't as
comfortable in front of thecamera or getting hung up on the
idea of creating content andthinking like, oh, I'm an
accountant, like content's notfor me, that's for influencers
(12:37):
and people who are dancing onTikTok?
Yeah, you got to do it.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
If you're in a relationship business, let me
back up.
Yeah, you got to do it.
If you're in a relationshipbusiness, let me back up.
If you're in the relationshipbusiness, you just got to suck
it up and do it, Because it'sthe same conversation I have
with my clients across the desk,or virtually Whatever you're
doing now.
You're just doing it in frontof a camera that's recorded.
So, first step, maybe do apodcast, maybe go to a guest
(13:00):
podcast spot, right, and justtry it, and then from that, as
you know, as a host, like now,we have all the ability to cut
this thing up to a hundreddifferent ways and post it
wherever.
But you got to do it.
If you're a relationshipbusiness, people need to hear
you because they care about you.
They don't care about the nameof anything that you do or what
you own, it's you.
(13:20):
And so if they're not hearingfrom you, it's going to be
harder, uh, for them to find you.
And then, on the flip side ofit, you're right, sometimes
you're like, damn, I createcontent.
I feel like an influencer.
You're not.
You're not, because what you'redoing is you're providing your
voice with the facts and advicethat you want to teach others
and I promise you, even ifyou're not seeing the likes or
(13:41):
the engagement, people arewatching and listening and
you're changing their lifewithout knowing, and it's out
there and I guarantee it is.
So if you care about others andyou really want to be a human,
you just got to do it Right,just Nike, just do it.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
That's great.
I was at a recent conferencewith a bunch of digital
marketers and very similarmessage was coming up and it was
about, you know, either being afollower or a creator and that
kind of mindset shift of maybefeeling like an imposter
creating content.
And well, someone else hasalready done this.
So, like, why are they going tolisten to me?
(14:17):
I forget the exact numbers.
I could find it in a book but Iwon't waste your time, but it
was wild.
I want to say over 99% ofpeople don't even post on social
media Maybe like 98, 1 and 1.
I forget If my mentor islistening he's probably going to
(14:41):
call me out on this, but it isthat idea of just just create
something because it's likely ithasn't been created before, and
the amount of people that areon social media.
They're just there lurking inthe background and, to your
point, that piece of people haveprobably seen it.
It's true, I've been on acouple of sales calls or
different demos and people arelike I've seen your stuff
(15:02):
everywhere.
I can't believe I'm actuallygoing to be speaking to you or
whatever it is.
So it's, and I don't feel likeI'm putting out insane, insane
value all the time, but it'sjust getting out there and doing
it and it is uncomfortable.
So it's refreshing to meet youand how much you are putting out
, and I checked out your sitebefore jumping on and like even
some cool videos there of howyou guys are getting people to
(15:23):
walk through your funnel likeit's.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
It's neat to see yeah , and it's different, but
everyone realize it's.
It's also difficult becausepeople aren't used to it either,
right?
So not only are we asprofessionals it's uncomfortable
, or started off uncomfortableand now you're good with it, but
also the people that you'redelivering the message to are
also learning a new style aswell.
Right, specifically in theservice industry.
(15:46):
I can't speak to the productsas much, but in the service
industry, having someone outthere always and talking to you
like that is a different way ofdoing it than the old days of
like, oh, it's just becausethey're around the block, right?
Or because my friend knows thisperson.
Well, now, since a lot of thosepeople are nationwide, they're
learning you from a differentplatform and if you miss them,
(16:10):
you miss them, right, and soit's not only uncomfortable for
us, it's kind of uncomfortablein a new learning style for them
that we're kind of, you know,integrating, and great things
happen when that happens.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Let's talk a little bit about AI.
I get the feeling that youprobably use some AI in the
business.
What stands out to you, or howare some ways that you guys are
able to implement AI to eitherhelp grow your business,
optimize your own lifestyle orhelp out your clients?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yeah, market team, outside of all the video stuff.
I don't know what they do,because they do it, but I assume
they use some AI.
How we use it in the businessis I'm a talker.
I don't know if everyonenoticed that yet, but I love to
talk.
It's easy for me to do this.
It's easy for me to articulatethis way.
I am an awful writer Both mypenmanship and just the overall
(17:04):
writing ability is not there.
And so I love AI because I'll beable to record something like
this in my voice and the way Iwant to speak, and then I'm able
to feed it exactly that and itspit out exactly how I want to
say it in a more you know, Idon't want to say professional
manner, but not my handwriting,not the way I speak to that
degree.
And so that's how I use it toenhance not only efficiency,
(17:27):
because writing takes a longtime, but to be able to pull it
and organize my thoughtstogether without me having to go
pen to paper and try to figureit out, which then allows us
obviously to create more contentfaster.
Our blogs, you know, notnecessarily our emails, but some
of the content you see that'son the website.
It just allows it to learn myvoice and speak it out there,
(17:49):
but it's not like I'm using itto go research for me and then
speak for me.
I'll do the research, I'llspeak to it and then let it take
my words into whatever platformor whatever I need it for.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, that's great and it's so cool because it just
it retains everything.
So it's not like, oh, I had areally great idea this day and
the next day you're just notfeeling it like.
You just ask it hey, pull fromall the memory, it already has
all of it.
Um, we've been playing aroundwith, well, just the idea of
kind of trying to dumpeverything out of team members
(18:21):
into ai so it's saved, and likethere's no need to retrain after
.
You can just pull from allthose the great resources that
you've dumped into it over timeand time again.
So if people aren't using ai, Ithink they're going to get left
behind.
It's just.
It's not a I don't even thinkit's opinion anymore, I think
it's just fact.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
If you're not using ai, you're going to be left
behind yeah, and truly get overyourself with the fact that,
like you're not writing it, yeah, everyone's doing it, writers
are doing it, ghost, right,they're using the same thing.
Just do it, but don't let itfeed the fake stuff.
Right, feed it, you still begenuine, um, and feed the
information you want it to, butit just makes it more efficient.
(19:00):
That way, you can get morestuff out to people quicker, and
that's really what we want todo as creators.
Right, we want to be able toprovide more content quicker to
you and less, you know, a lotless, or a lot more efficient
for us.
Because I remember five, sixyears ago, when we started our
podcast, it would take like 10hours an episode to get
everything cut up, get it postedand all of that stuff.
(19:22):
And now with, specifically, ai,we cut that down to like an
hour and a half, two hours,which means we can do more, and
that's really what we want to do.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
What's one of your like top AI programs or software
like in the tech stack that youguys are using?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
So it's funny.
I test them all the time,obviously, but currently I have
ChatGPT and and I use them fordifferent purposes.
I'll use ChatGPT to back upsome research, find me some
resources, but Claude to speakmore and we joke about this.
The marketing team jokes aboutthis a lot is we truly believe
(20:00):
Claude is a black dude, Like wereally do think he's a black
dude Because some of the thingshe puts out there, I'm like
that's how I would say it.
You just said what I would sayYou're on to something, but we
use those two a lot.
And then obviously, there'ssome internal stuff from another
perspective that most peopledon't have because they don't
(20:21):
have the financial stuff, butthose two we use to compete
against each other on somecertain items.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Interesting.
That's cool.
What's one piece of adviceyou'd give to other business
owners or entrepreneurs?
Just in, maybe in general.
I'll just leave it at that.
I don't want to, I don't wantto answer the question itself.
So just like one piece ofadvice for entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah, for business owners, you need a team.
I said it earlier, you got tohave a team and you got to
understand that that team isthere to support you.
Do not think you can wear allthese hats alone.
I know it might cost money, butin order for you to grow, both
personal development wise andbusiness development wise,
you've got to delegate and havea team be able to support
(21:07):
whatever movement that is.
That doesn't mean they have tobe internal.
That means they can be external.
It could be your buddy down thestreet that gets beers every
Monday afternoon.
You just have to have the teamand have them in the positions,
otherwise you're going to burnout and your business won't be
successful.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
That's so good.
What's the last question foryou, Stoy?
What's next for Black Mammoth?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh, that's a good one .
Really, we're just going tocontinue on what we're doing.
I think we're going to hit ourmetrics that we want already,
probably by July.
And so now I've been taskedwith a couple of friends, I
guess, from colleagues from theindustry that they're like a
couple of friends, I guess fromcolleagues from the industry
that they're like can youreplicate this right, whether
(21:53):
it's a franchise model orwhatever and so I've been tasked
with trying to build that andsee how easy it is to make it a
model.
So I would assume that'sprobably next, because we speak
a lot about the modern familyoffice, I believe our industry
shifting a lot to that and so,but it's the ultimate thing is
like how do you do it?
Like what is the right way todo it?
Because most advisors chargeAUM, we don't.
(22:13):
I'm trying to go strictly awayfrom that.
Thanks, regulatory body.
There's still some issues there, but we're really working
towards that because I trulybelieve every person should have
a family office and should havea team of people looking out
for them in their best interest,and the way we're doing it is
working so far and workingpretty well, so it's just a
(22:33):
matter of okay, can we replicatethat to others and provide that
for them.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
That's so good, Stoy.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing all of your insight
in this conversation.
It's been great.
How can people continue theconversation with you if they
want to pick this up?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Absolutely.
Just Google Stoy Hall, blackman with an OBS Wealth.
You'll literally find us onevery platform except for Reddit
, because I got kicked off Longstory short there.
Seriously, reach out.
I ask this every time I'm aguest, and even on my own
podcast, we want you to commentand like, share and all that
stuff.
Yeah, it's cool for thealgorithm.
(23:10):
That's not really why we do it,but in order to learn more
about you and provide bettercontent for you, we have to know
what's going on, and so justreach out.
Whether it's DMing us,commenting, whatever it is,
we're here to answer yourquestions to the best of our
ability, but if you don't, thenwe can't answer it.
So make sure you reach out.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Continue the conversation with Stoy everyone.
Again, thank you so much forcoming on.
This was great.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of CFO
Chronicles the secrets behindsuccess.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
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It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
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(23:59):
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Call.
It's time to position yourselfas the advisor your clients need
.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
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We've got more exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
(24:19):
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract more highpaying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
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Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
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Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
(24:55):
business's potential.
Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind
success, the go-to podcast forfractional CFOs and accounting
firm owners who want to attractmore high-paying clients and
increase their revenue.
Hosted by James Donovan fromNine Two Media, this podcast
dives into marketing strategiesspecifically designed for lead
(00:22):
generation and clientacquisition.
In each episode, you'll hearfrom industry leaders sharing
their success stories, and Todaywe're joined by Stoy Hall Stoy,
super excited to be diving inhearing a little bit more about
(00:54):
your story.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
what's helped your business grow?
I know you've got a podcast aswell that we can speak about,
but Black Mammoth Stoy Hall tellus a little bit about yourself
and the clients you serve.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm just a born and raisedMidwestern in America here and
sports was my avenue.
Food is my love, and I reallylearned early on that I cared a
lot about people and moneyreally wasn't a thing, right,
because I came from a backgroundthat didn't really have a lot
of money.
My mom didn't, my dad was neveraround, and so like money to me
(01:29):
wasn't the factor.
It was like being aroundawesome people whether that was
other families helped raising meand getting me to sports,
whether that was my mother doingbending over backwards to get
me to where I'm at.
I learned really early on thatyour network or your team and
your family, is what cantranspire you, and so that's
(01:50):
kind of what driven me to mycareer right Fast track.
I played football at DrakeUniversity, graduated from there
, went head first into thisfinancial game as an insurance
salesman, worked my way up tothe management side of things,
and then in 2017, when I had oursecond kid, I was like it's
(02:10):
time for a transition.
I want to be able toholistically help people, not
just through insurance it'simportant, but everything else
matters just as much and so Ijoined a firm out of Houston at
that point, but launched BlackMammoth September I think the
legal documents say of 2020 as amodern family office working
(02:30):
with women and minority businessowners the ones that some of
them are startups, but, as youknow, it's like that next step
right.
I started, I'm profitable, butI need help to get me to this
next growth and that's where westep in and really just own
everything for them so they canfocus on their little bit of
things.
And, like you said, I do have apodcast no BS Wealth.
We bring no bullshit to themoney.
(02:53):
Talk to the money game and it'sreally fun.
It's all encompassing, right.
Everything I do is integrated,so that way, it's the same
message over and over again andhopefully we can change the
industry a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
I also started my businessright before the pandemic in
2020.
I'm curious how did that go foryou?
I mean, we're here now talking,so obviously well enough, but
like, starting a business ishard.
Starting it during a pandemic,I would say maybe one of the
harder things to do.
(03:27):
So I'd love to hear a littlebit about that and how you kind
of persevered through it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, I say this a lot too is for me.
I was just moving my clientsfrom one entity to another, so
it wasn't like a brand newstartup, like someone launching
a business.
I had a core clientele, whichwas nice.
It actually, because of thepandemic, made the transition
and growth of our businesseasier, and I will always give
credit to the pandemic and COVIDfor helping our industry
(03:54):
because we were all the likeit's who you know around the
block right, not being able todo this virtual stuff, and the
financial industry needed toshake up badly because we need
to be able to reach out towhomever fits us right.
Growing up in this industry, itwas always like whoever breathes
, whoever lives around you,those should be your clients,
(04:15):
and I never really fit in withthat because they're not like my
people, like I don't want tohang out with these people all
the time, and as business owners, if you're having a
service-based clientele, youwant that relationship.
Well, guess what?
There are people all over thiscountry or all over the world
that will relate to you but havenever met you, and so the COVID
(04:35):
and pandemic allowed us to govirtual and now everyone does it
and almost regularly meet inperson, which is there's
drawbacks to it.
But that's what I what I sayabout it.
It was actually a blessing indisguise awesome.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
What's your take when , if you come across prospects
who, for whatever reason, theystill feel like no, I want to
work with someone local likethey.
Just they feel like I don'tknow the best person, for
whatever reason, is in theirlocal market, which is so crazy
because we get that a lot withsome of the outreach we do for
our clients.
But now even hiring new teammembers like it's a massive
(05:10):
blessing that you don't have tobe restricted to who's available
in your local market, whetherthat's talent you're hiring or
service that you're looking tohire, like your services or
whatever that is so like what's,what's your take?
And how do I guess you addressprospects when they say that
Like hey, you're not, you're notlocal to us.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I tell them to grow up.
No, I'm kidding.
What we we try to do within ourbrands that we have is we have
a network of people.
We meet a lot of people.
Obviously, as a host, you meet alot of people, but in terms of
what we do as a family office,I'm always vetting out other
professionals in whatever rolesthere are all over the country,
and so when someone says that Ione try to sell them the fact
(05:51):
that it doesn't matter anymore,but two, then if that's the case
, I'm going to help them findsomeone who's relatively local,
that I have vetted out, that Itrust that's part of my network,
and go ahead and make thatconversation and be like, hey,
they're local, they're going todo everything that you want them
to do.
You know, here, because Ibelieve that there is no
(06:15):
competition in our industry, thecompetition is for those that
are not educated and do not havea planner, advisor, cfo,
whatever this service is, and weall need to come together and
when we're meeting people,people, and they don't fit us,
we should be able to have, youknow, a handful of people that
we can go to and say, hey, theyfit you perfectly, let's get
them onboarded that's great.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
What story.
What gets you out of bed andexcited about what you do on a
daily basis?
I know you you may have alludedto it a little bit at the start
, but like what?
What's that driving force thatreally gets you excited about
what you do Monday to Friday, oreven seven days a week?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I mean, we're business owners.
It's seven days a week, 24-7.
There's no time off.
I don't care what anyone saysup well before we do, for some
reason, even though we get up atfive, it truly is being able to
help more people find theirability to grow their wealth.
I say it all the time, andtoday on thread someone yelled
(07:15):
at me for it, but there's notone wealthy person or successful
person on this earth that hasdone it alone.
You have to have a team.
Whatever that team makeup willbe different for everyone, but
you need to have a team and youneed to have someone who can
kind of oversee and quarterback.
Most of it and so that's whatmajority of all our content is
(07:36):
about is getting people torealize that one, they're not
alone in this world, whateverthey're doing specifically
business owners.
But also they're not alone, andthere's people out here that
are resources for them, thatthink like they do will push
them and drive them to that nextgreat stage that they want in
their life.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Let's build on team a bit.
With the world being a lot morevirtual now, like you mentioned
, it's almost rare to havein-person meetings with
prospects or maybe even teammembers.
What's the makeup of your teamlook like?
Or do you have a lot of peoplein your local market?
Do you rely on a lot of teammembers who work remotely?
(08:17):
I'd love to hear a little bitabout that.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, my wife joined the firm in December, so me and
her here locally.
We do have a couple of ouraccounting staff that are local
but we meet virtually anyway,even though we're 20 minutes
away of them, are virtual, andthen we'll have some local
(08:47):
clients that will go grab lunchor let the kids run around,
which isn't like a meeting butis more local feel.
Otherwise it's like 99% plusthat are all virtual, even if
they are local.
We're still doing virtualmeetings.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, Just more efficient to jump on, zoom and
you're not dealing with trafficand driving around.
How do you go about buildingteam culture or client
relationships that are allvirtual?
I mean especially with team andyou mentioned.
Yeah, you can meet with acouple of clients in person, but
most of the work it sounds likeit's all virtual.
(09:17):
A lot of people are buildingtheir firms now following that
same path.
So, like what's been workingreally well for you, I guess,
building culture or evenretention wise in a virtual
world?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Slack.
We use Slack all the time, andanyone I hire, part of my
partnership or whatever aroundme, I let them know that like
this isn't, this isn't a job andwork like this is our life,
it's just lifestyle.
And so message me all the time.
And so we have a very opendialogue both with our clients
(09:50):
and any of our support staff oranyone who's involved with our
businesses of just like 24 seven, we can just chat back and
forth and be there for eachother, above and beyond just
business conversations.
Right, hey, what's going on?
How's it going?
How can we support you thosetypes of things?
And I think that inner, thatability to always have that
dialogue whenever things arehappening, really allows you to
(10:13):
be a lot closer to those peopleand then they truly start to
feel like family because it'sthat deep of a relationship.
Right, I have clients and Ihave other staff that are.
We talk more, probably 80percent of the time, about what
our kids are doing.
What's going on?
You know, I just had a clientthat's mother died a month ago.
So we've had thoseconversations, but those are
(10:35):
going on all the time.
It's not like a designed oh, wemeet once a month or once a
quarter or whatever, then we candownload it.
We are literally have an opendialogue 24 seven, if need be.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You're just being human.
Just being human, yeah, forreal people.
That's, that's the, that's thesecret sauce is being a human
and having a conversation withsomeone.
That's cool.
Tell me a little bit about how,how Black Mammoth the success
behind your growth.
Like, how do you guys findclients?
What's been working really wellfor you as a firm?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, I mean everyone's going to say
referrals or whatever.
I mean they're going to havethat.
But outside of that, right, youshould take care of your
clients and they love you andyou know people come on.
It's truly.
I asked this question to mymarketing team yesterday.
I was like, where's our bestlike route, like can you figure
it out?
And there truly isn't one,because we do everything
(11:29):
everywhere and we're so loud.
What I would say is it'sbecause we're building a brand
and we are.
We do have the podcast, we areon all social medias, we do blog
posts, we do podcasts andreviews, we are everywhere that
I think that whole overall brandthen allows someone to relate
in relationship and then,wherever platform they're on at
(11:50):
that point, then that goesthrough there.
But I truly believe it isbecause we are providing so much
content everywhere and lettingeveryone know that we are here
for you, where you're at.
That it allows them to getcomfortable and that's kind of
what drives them the most.
So obviously, referrals andword of mouth is going to be
king, but it's that brand behindit.
When someone's you know searcha story or black mammoth or
(12:12):
whatever, that they're going tosee it and they're going to know
who we are pretty damn quick.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
That's awesome.
It's the omnipresence.
Just be everywhere and peoplewill.
Will see you.
What would you say to maybeother firm owners who aren't as
comfortable in front of thecamera or getting hung up on the
idea of creating content andthinking like, oh, I'm an
accountant, like content's notfor me, that's for influencers
(12:37):
and people who are dancing onTikTok?
Yeah, you got to do it.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
If you're in a relationship business, let me
back up.
Yeah, you got to do it.
If you're in a relationshipbusiness, let me back up.
If you're in the relationshipbusiness, you just got to suck
it up and do it, Because it'sthe same conversation I have
with my clients across the desk,or virtually Whatever you're
doing now.
You're just doing it in frontof a camera that's recorded.
So, first step, maybe do apodcast, maybe go to a guest
(13:00):
podcast spot, right, and justtry it, and then from that, as
you know, as a host, like now,we have all the ability to cut
this thing up to a hundreddifferent ways and post it
wherever.
But you got to do it.
If you're a relationshipbusiness, people need to hear
you because they care about you.
They don't care about the nameof anything that you do or what
you own, it's you.
(13:20):
And so if they're not hearingfrom you, it's going to be
harder, uh, for them to find you.
And then, on the flip side ofit, you're right, sometimes
you're like, damn, I createcontent.
I feel like an influencer.
You're not.
You're not, because what you'redoing is you're providing your
voice with the facts and advicethat you want to teach others
and I promise you, even ifyou're not seeing the likes or
(13:41):
the engagement, people arewatching and listening and
you're changing their lifewithout knowing, and it's out
there and I guarantee it is.
So if you care about others andyou really want to be a human,
you just got to do it Right,just Nike, just do it.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
That's great.
I was at a recent conferencewith a bunch of digital
marketers and very similarmessage was coming up and it was
about, you know, either being afollower or a creator and that
kind of mindset shift of maybefeeling like an imposter
creating content.
And well, someone else hasalready done this.
So, like, why are they going tolisten to me?
(14:17):
I forget the exact numbers.
I could find it in a book but Iwon't waste your time, but it
was wild.
I want to say over 99% ofpeople don't even post on social
media Maybe like 98, 1 and 1.
I forget If my mentor islistening he's probably going to
(14:41):
call me out on this, but it isthat idea of just just create
something because it's likely ithasn't been created before, and
the amount of people that areon social media.
They're just there lurking inthe background and, to your
point, that piece of people haveprobably seen it.
It's true, I've been on acouple of sales calls or
different demos and people arelike I've seen your stuff
(15:02):
everywhere.
I can't believe I'm actuallygoing to be speaking to you or
whatever it is.
So it's, and I don't feel likeI'm putting out insane, insane
value all the time, but it'sjust getting out there and doing
it and it is uncomfortable.
So it's refreshing to meet youand how much you are putting out
, and I checked out your sitebefore jumping on and like even
some cool videos there of howyou guys are getting people to
(15:23):
walk through your funnel likeit's.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
It's neat to see yeah , and it's different, but
everyone realize it's.
It's also difficult becausepeople aren't used to it either,
right?
So not only are we asprofessionals it's uncomfortable
, or started off uncomfortableand now you're good with it, but
also the people that you'redelivering the message to are
also learning a new style aswell.
Right, specifically in theservice industry.
(15:46):
I can't speak to the productsas much, but in the service
industry, having someone outthere always and talking to you
like that is a different way ofdoing it than the old days of
like, oh, it's just becausethey're around the block, right?
Or because my friend knows thisperson.
Well, now, since a lot of thosepeople are nationwide, they're
learning you from a differentplatform and if you miss them,
(16:10):
you miss them, right, and soit's not only uncomfortable for
us, it's kind of uncomfortablein a new learning style for them
that we're kind of, you know,integrating, and great things
happen when that happens.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Let's talk a little bit about AI.
I get the feeling that youprobably use some AI in the
business.
What stands out to you, or howare some ways that you guys are
able to implement AI to eitherhelp grow your business,
optimize your own lifestyle orhelp out your clients?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Yeah, market team, outside of all the video stuff.
I don't know what they do,because they do it, but I assume
they use some AI.
How we use it in the businessis I'm a talker.
I don't know if everyonenoticed that yet, but I love to
talk.
It's easy for me to do this.
It's easy for me to articulatethis way.
I am an awful writer Both mypenmanship and just the overall
(17:04):
writing ability is not there.
And so I love AI because I'll beable to record something like
this in my voice and the way Iwant to speak, and then I'm able
to feed it exactly that and itspit out exactly how I want to
say it in a more you know, Idon't want to say professional
manner, but not my handwriting,not the way I speak to that
degree.
And so that's how I use it toenhance not only efficiency,
(17:27):
because writing takes a longtime, but to be able to pull it
and organize my thoughtstogether without me having to go
pen to paper and try to figureit out, which then allows us
obviously to create more contentfaster.
Our blogs, you know, notnecessarily our emails, but some
of the content you see that'son the website.
It just allows it to learn myvoice and speak it out there,
(17:49):
but it's not like I'm using itto go research for me and then
speak for me.
I'll do the research, I'llspeak to it and then let it take
my words into whatever platformor whatever I need it for.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, that's great and it's so cool because it just
it retains everything.
So it's not like, oh, I had areally great idea this day and
the next day you're just notfeeling it like.
You just ask it hey, pull fromall the memory, it already has
all of it.
Um, we've been playing aroundwith, well, just the idea of
kind of trying to dumpeverything out of team members
(18:21):
into ai so it's saved, and likethere's no need to retrain after
.
You can just pull from allthose the great resources that
you've dumped into it over timeand time again.
So if people aren't using ai, Ithink they're going to get left
behind.
It's just.
It's not a I don't even thinkit's opinion anymore, I think
it's just fact.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
If you're not using ai, you're going to be left
behind yeah, and truly get overyourself with the fact that,
like you're not writing it, yeah, everyone's doing it, writers
are doing it, ghost, right,they're using the same thing.
Just do it, but don't let itfeed the fake stuff.
Right, feed it, you still begenuine, um, and feed the
information you want it to, butit just makes it more efficient.
(19:00):
That way, you can get morestuff out to people quicker, and
that's really what we want todo as creators.
Right, we want to be able toprovide more content quicker to
you and less, you know, a lotless, or a lot more efficient
for us.
Because I remember five, sixyears ago, when we started our
podcast, it would take like 10hours an episode to get
everything cut up, get it postedand all of that stuff.
(19:22):
And now with, specifically, ai,we cut that down to like an
hour and a half, two hours,which means we can do more, and
that's really what we want to do.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
What's one of your like top AI programs or software
like in the tech stack that youguys are using?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
So it's funny.
I test them all the time,obviously, but currently I have
ChatGPT and and I use them fordifferent purposes.
I'll use ChatGPT to back upsome research, find me some
resources, but Claude to speakmore and we joke about this.
The marketing team jokes aboutthis a lot is we truly believe
(20:00):
Claude is a black dude, Like wereally do think he's a black
dude Because some of the thingshe puts out there, I'm like
that's how I would say it.
You just said what I would sayYou're on to something, but we
use those two a lot.
And then obviously, there'ssome internal stuff from another
perspective that most peopledon't have because they don't
(20:21):
have the financial stuff, butthose two we use to compete
against each other on somecertain items.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Interesting.
That's cool.
What's one piece of adviceyou'd give to other business
owners or entrepreneurs?
Just in, maybe in general.
I'll just leave it at that.
I don't want to, I don't wantto answer the question itself.
So just like one piece ofadvice for entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah, for business owners, you need a team.
I said it earlier, you got tohave a team and you got to
understand that that team isthere to support you.
Do not think you can wear allthese hats alone.
I know it might cost money, butin order for you to grow, both
personal development wise andbusiness development wise,
you've got to delegate and havea team be able to support
(21:07):
whatever movement that is.
That doesn't mean they have tobe internal.
That means they can be external.
It could be your buddy down thestreet that gets beers every
Monday afternoon.
You just have to have the teamand have them in the positions,
otherwise you're going to burnout and your business won't be
successful.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
That's so good.
What's the last question foryou, Stoy?
What's next for Black Mammoth?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh, that's a good one .
Really, we're just going tocontinue on what we're doing.
I think we're going to hit ourmetrics that we want already,
probably by July.
And so now I've been taskedwith a couple of friends, I
guess, from colleagues from theindustry that they're like a
couple of friends, I guess fromcolleagues from the industry
that they're like can youreplicate this right, whether
(21:53):
it's a franchise model orwhatever and so I've been tasked
with trying to build that andsee how easy it is to make it a
model.
So I would assume that'sprobably next, because we speak
a lot about the modern familyoffice, I believe our industry
shifting a lot to that and so,but it's the ultimate thing is
like how do you do it?
Like what is the right way todo it?
Because most advisors chargeAUM, we don't.
(22:13):
I'm trying to go strictly awayfrom that.
Thanks, regulatory body.
There's still some issues there, but we're really working
towards that because I trulybelieve every person should have
a family office and should havea team of people looking out
for them in their best interest,and the way we're doing it is
working so far and workingpretty well, so it's just a
(22:33):
matter of okay, can we replicatethat to others and provide that
for them.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
That's so good, Stoy.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing all of your insight
in this conversation.
It's been great.
How can people continue theconversation with you if they
want to pick this up?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Absolutely.
Just Google Stoy Hall, blackman with an OBS Wealth.
You'll literally find us onevery platform except for Reddit
, because I got kicked off Longstory short there.
Seriously, reach out.
I ask this every time I'm aguest, and even on my own
podcast, we want you to commentand like, share and all that
stuff.
Yeah, it's cool for thealgorithm.
(23:10):
That's not really why we do it,but in order to learn more
about you and provide bettercontent for you, we have to know
what's going on, and so justreach out.
Whether it's DMing us,commenting, whatever it is,
we're here to answer yourquestions to the best of our
ability, but if you don't, thenwe can't answer it.
So make sure you reach out.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Continue the conversation with Stoy everyone.
Again, thank you so much forcoming on.
This was great.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of CFO
Chronicles the secrets behindsuccess.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
(23:59):
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
Call.
It's time to position yourselfas the advisor your clients need
.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got more exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
(24:19):
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract more highpaying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
(24:55):
business's potential.
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