Financial Modeler's Corner
00:15:35 · Paul Barnhurst
[00:15:35] S0: So the thing I say to people, I think the most common thing people worry about is they feel like it's a big risk to start your own business. The reality is it's a different risk. I would argue in some ways it's less of a risk than continuing to work for somebody. You can't control whether they lay you off. You can't control what happens when you're in your mid fifties, and then there's age discrimination. You can't find another job, and you're at a really high level. There's a lot of things you can control when you start your own business. Does that mean you're gonna be successful? No. I'd say you won't. But will you learn a lot along the way? For me, I looked at it and said, okay. I'm trying to create this brand of being the FP and A Guy, being known as, you know, somebody who provides educational content and having connections all over the place in the field. After doing a bunch of training, having, you know, all those connections, if I can't find a job if this fails, the problem's me. It's kind of the way I looked at it. And I said, I had a big enough runway with one of the deals I had early that I... And savings and everything. I had at least an eighteen month runway. So I'm like, yeah. Let's go for it. And I would tell people, give it a try. Now don't be stupid. You need to think, be smart, have some money saved, think about how long you have, make sure you go into an area that there can be enough of a market to build a business. If it's something that nobody's interested in but you love, keep it as a hobby because, you know, you still have to provide for yourself. So be smart about it, but don't fear the idea of, but I won't have a stable paycheck. That was the hardest part for me at first was getting used to the idea I could work all day and and earn no actual money that day. Like, I was so used to being on a clock. Now there could be a week go by and I might think about it once for a couple seconds going, oh, I didn't earn any money this week. I guess I better do something.
00:17:20 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:17:20] S1: So I was really just... Was agreeing with you that, you know, there's that sense when you think about leaving a job and potentially going off on your own that it's risky, as you said. But for me these days, especially in the world of AI, and we'll come on to talk about AI a little bit later, but how much security do you really have at a company? I don't know the answer. [00:17:41] S0: Well, I mean, the reality is no more than you do on your own, really. I mean, right? Look how many people that... It's like some people say, hey. If you learn AI, you're safe. And I remember seeing somebody commenting on it. Yeah. I'm a machine learning person who build a bunch of AI for company, and then they laid me off. So, I don't know that you're safe if you know AI. [00:18:00] S1: Okay. So we will... We're gonna talk about AI in a little bit. There's a couple of other questions that I I wanted to to ask you before we get into there. Again, really with the thought of people that might want to learn or take those steps following in your path or others, are there any people out there that you would suggest others follow other than you, obviously, [00:18:21] S0: kind [00:18:21] S1: of in our space or in our space with finance and AI? There's a lot of great people to follow. I mean, one
00:18:21 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:18:21] S1: of in our space or in our space with finance and AI? There's a lot of great people to follow. I mean, one [00:18:27] S0: of my people I've learned a ton from... I mean, obviously, I think you're great. We'll put that out there, so I'll give you a shout out. But Carl Seidman's one of my favorite people to follow. I think he does things the right way. I really appreciate how thoughtful he is. He's one of the first people I connected with, so I've always kinda looked at him to... As a mentor. So I'll definitely put them out there. Ron Montoya, I think, is great. He doesn't share as much on LinkedIn, but does a lot of training. He's written a book called Love Mondays. He's really good. I think Christian Wittig has done some great things with Wharton online. And there and there are several others out there. Those are mostly in the FP and A. You know, in the modeling space, I think one of the most prolific people on LinkedIn is probably Chris Riley. [00:19:06] S1: Yeah. Chris. I... Do know, I haven't heard from Chris for a while, I I like Chris. I like I like what he does.
00:19:06 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:19:06] S1: Yeah. Chris. I... Do know, I haven't heard from Chris for a while, I I like Chris. I like I like what he does. [00:19:11] S0: Yeah. And his work is outstanding. You're not gonna find somebody better on the training side as far as just online training that shares a ton of free resources. Doesn't mean there aren't other great trainers. I think FMI is a great one to follow. You definitely should be following Financial Modeling Institute. Obviously, I'm biased. They host a podcast, but even if they didn't, I would still say to follow them because I believe in the work they're doing. What about you? Who's one or two people you recommend? [00:19:38] S1: I've got a few. So actually, one of my favorite people in financial modeling altogether is Hilary Smart, who works at Operis. She... She's fantastic and, you know, an ex world champion of the predecessor to the competition that runs now, which is Modeler. I think the obvious ones, people like Dim, obviously, Dim Early for anyone in esports or Financial Modeling is so generous with what he shares. [00:20:05] S0: If you want your brain to hurt, just try to do what he does. [00:20:08] S1: It's it's wild what he he does. And for me, he's the bar of, you know, broad and deep Excel knowledge, both together, bizarrely. Michael Jarman, I I wish he posted more, but I think Michael Jarman is so busy with life. He's he's got a new job now. [00:20:24] S0: Well, and he also... I think he recently got married as well, if I remember right, in the last year or two and moved across the country.
00:20:24 · Paul Barnhurst, Giles Male
[00:20:24] S0: Well, and he also... I think he recently got married as well, if I remember right, in the last year or two and moved across the country. [00:20:31] S1: Yeah. And the last person I'll mention who I know you know really well is your friend, Glenn Hopper, who I think is [00:20:38] S0: absolutely incredible. AI, Glenn is as good as they come. He's working on his fourth book. He has about 12 training courses out there between LinkedIn Learning and Corporate Finance Institute. And, you know, I have a podcast with him. He's great. You're not gonna find someone better. He's not into the self promotion, so he's not as well known. That's really hard for him, but he he knows his stuff as well as they come. [00:21:03] S1: I listened to one of your interviews with him recently, and I just found myself nodding the whole time. Like, none none of it was hype based. It was just very real, insightful, honest communication, which I thought was great. Alright. One other pivot of a question before we talk about AI. You and I have done training together. I can probably count on one hand the number of people I would trust and recommend as trainers. So I don't wanna lose too much time on here, but for me, like, it's a real skill, and I've obviously seen you do this really well. What's your experience like as a trainer? Like, do you enjoy the process of virtually or in person, like, trying to lead a training group?
00:21:49 · Paul Barnhurst
[00:21:49] S0: I do. I really enjoy training. I've had a... Got it a lot better at reading the room. My training partner is much better at that than me. And it'll be times like pick it up or let's take a break or... Because he really reads the room, and I think that's a very important skill you have to develop. But for me, the joy of training is when it makes a difference. When you know somebody actually took it away and they come back like, oh, that saved me hours or I still use that. Or the other one that I always find interesting is you share something that wasn't necessarily in the lesson. You're just kinda talking, and they come back, and that's the thing they remember. Right? When you ask them, okay. What's the takeaway? And you're like, that was just kind of a throwaway line. I didn't even think about that. And so for me, I think the biggest thing is just seeing when it actually helps people and knowing that they can use this to help in their career. Because let's just say it took me a long time to get promoted. I was way too detail oriented. I could go on and about a lot of things. And so helping people realize and not have to go through some of the pitfalls I did is rewarding.