Financial Modeler's Corner
00:08:23 · Paul Barnhurst
[00:08:23] S0: Yeah. It's not exactly long for this world in 2016. And so I decided I need to find a new job. I reached out to a guy by the name of Ken Fick, and I said, hey, Ken. I'll give you a $20 Starbucks gift card for thirty minutes of your time. And he responded with, I'm happy to meet with you. I don't want your gift card. I want you to write an article for my website. And my thought was I suck at writing, but okay. So I wrote the first article. He liked it, and he actually offered me a $100 to write one a month. I did it for a couple months. I wrote a few. And I shared him on LinkedIn. And this was... When I shared him on LinkedIn, it was all about trying to get a job. Right? It wasn't, I'm gonna start my own business. And so what happened is that led to FP and A Trends had one of the biggest communities globally at the time on LinkedIn when groups were big, and they asked me to moderate the discussion. Then she asked me to be on a few webinars. And so I started to build a little bit of brand again, all trying to find a job, and I started posting more and more. And then I wanted to work for a software vendor. They'll remain nameless, but an FP and A software tool. And they... I applied for the job, and I shared something on LinkedIn following, like, 2,000 in hopes of getting the job. They selected the other guy. I was the one or two finalists. And then another FP and A tool came up, and I've always thought it'd be a fun area. I've always liked the mix of FP and A and tech, and so I tried to get that job. They talked to me, but they wanted someone that was local. I wasn't... They weren't willing to interview me. So, again, I shared something on LinkedIn about that tool. Then all of sudden, all these vendors reached out to me wanting me to see their tool. This was COVID. And so everybody was creating a tool because all a sudden cash flow and scenario planning were critical. If you worked in FPNA like I did, you were doing one every day going, when is this nightmare gonna end? Because you had no idea what your business was gonna look like tomorrow. I mean, I think everybody remembers that. And so that was really the impetus of where it started. And then from there, I had an Excel website at the time that I was just doing reviews of, hey, what's the best resources for learning Power Query? What's the best resources for this?
00:10:18 · Paul Barnhurst
Because I said, I could share my views on this, but there's already a million people that are better than me at Excel sharing their views. And I remember I paused one day and said, what's easier? Building a business talking about Excel or building a business talking about FP and A software as far as a brand? Not so much a business, the thoughts that entered my mind, but more of a kind of a brand in the sense of helping me with job, helping me with awareness. And as I continued to build, I started to realize, hey. This might turn into something. And in one month in December '21, three vendors reached out to me in a week in the FP and A software space. Two tried to hire me. One wanted to do a big collaboration. A friend... An acquaintance, I should say, the time, now he's a close friend, asked me if I could build some training on Excel, and someone else had a fifteen hour part time job. So one night, went to my wife, and I'm like, I think that I can turn this into a business. I might have had 5,000 followers at the time on LinkedIn, and I had a commitment for a $150 in revenue. That was it. My wife kinda looked at me like, wait. You think you could turn this into a business? I'm like, yeah. And I talked about the different things, and she was pretty nervous as rightfully so. And so we talked about it. I go, I'm not doing a business till you're a 100% comfortable. And then kinda out of the blue is about six weeks later, it's February one morning, she goes, I'm comfortable. I go, are you sure? She's like, yes. I trust you. I know you do a great job. I'm like, so I'm gonna put in my notice today. And I did. I put in my notice that morning, got out of there four months later, and here I am today. So that's kind of the backstory. There are other things in there, but that's the one that I think most people kinda enjoy.
00:11:49 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:11:49] S1: Yeah. I think one of the things, the stories that you've told me that I really liked as well, bearing in mind, in general, I think LinkedIn is a cesspit of nonsense. You you posted every day for almost two years. Right? [00:12:01] S0: Yes. [00:12:02] S1: And again, the observation I have about you is, like, I I value what you post, and that... That's a hell of a commitment to to stick to where you're actually sharing things that I think, certainly from what I saw, were useful to people. It wasn't just endless cheat sheets. Why did you stop? It was it was two years enough? I'm guessing it was.
00:12:21 · Paul Barnhurst
[00:12:21] S0: What I realized... So I started at 5,000. I ended up at 60 something thousand at the end of the two years. And there were days it was garbage. There were days, really simple post of, I gotta get something out there. Yo. And I threw out a meme. I can't say all five hundred days by any means were great content. They were not. So I'm just gonna put that out there. But when I stopped, what happened is I realized I was just continuing to post every day to keep my goal going, not that I needed to. And I said, is this really the best use of my time? Are there days where it'd just be better to take a day off? And I realized, yes. I'm still gonna post a lot on LinkedIn. It's still a key part of my business growth, but I realized it wasn't necessary. So I said, what's the point of keeping a goal going for the sake of a goal if you're... If it doesn't make sense? That's really what it came down to. It was just that moment where I was like, it's reached the point where this is kinda dumb to just keep the goal going for the sake of the goal. Every great modeler on this show says the same thing. Simplicity is a key skill. The AFM, the advanced financial modeler, is built around exactly that discipline. Clean structure, sound logic, defensible work. Join me in becoming an AFM. Go to fminstitute.com/podcast. That is fminstitute.com/podcast, and use code podcast for 15% off.
00:13:50 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:13:50] S1: Just pivoting slightly again, I I asked you how it started for you, you know, the the beginning of The FP and A Guy. Conscious, we're on the Financial Modeler's Corner. So my question to you is, what advice would you have to anyone watching? May... Maybe maybe at the start of their career, but actually maybe for people that were in a similar situation to you or that I was and many other people were where you're in a job, you know there's something within you that you want to maybe take a bit of a risk on, whether that's freelancing, starting a business. In 2026, do you have any advice for that person now? So there's a [00:14:25] S0: couple things. The biggest thing I'll say is everybody's like, it's so much more risky. It's really not. You can get laid off by any job tomorrow. At least you control things to a certain extent. You may not be successful, but you're gonna learn a lot. So when I started, I looked at it... [00:14:43] S1: Oh, your camera's gone. Okay. Camera's gone. It's Paul Barnhurst [00:14:46] S0: coming...... Closet. Alright. We'll be back in a second after a brief... We're back after a brief camera malfunction. So if they leave that in. It wasn't a wardrobe malfunction like some celebrities. [00:14:58] S1: Do you want me do you want me to re ask the question? [00:15:01] S0: Sure. Go ahead. [00:15:02] S1: Does that help? [00:15:03] S0: Yeah. That way they can find it up however they want. [00:15:06] S1: I've got to remember what I said now. [00:15:09] S0: The question... Starting business, I think it was.
00:15:09 · Paul Barnhurst, Giles Male
[00:15:09] S0: The question... Starting business, I think it was. [00:15:12] S1: Yeah. So, my question post technical camera issue was, what advice would you have to anybody that was kind of in the position that you and I and others would have been in? Me, it's a real gut feeling, right, that you're sat in a job, you just know that there is something you want to try, but you sometimes don't know how to make those steps. Would you have any advice to that person?