there is no "best" way

Yesterday I took the day off, and was surprised, pleased, humbled… to find so many people tagging my work (both positively and negatively) on LinkedIn and Substack.

I’m trying to care less and less about what people think of my work / writing, etc… as this seems to be one of the keys to doing better work. You do more of it, more aligned work, get feedback faster…

One I particularly liked was from James Cantwell and then a comment by Craig Uhlenkott:

You can read the full post here:

I happen to agree with both of them, though it may not appear like it from the title of this post, my book, etc.

For example, I think if you’re going to pick a custodian, you should look at Altruist, however… I was just talking to an advisor in Portugal this week that works with expats, and Schwab is the better choice for him and for his clients.

James Cantwell and I are doing different work, IMO. I’m not saying the stack I’m picking is the literal best for every firm and every advisor. Clearly, it’s not.

I’m trying to scratch an itch I’ve been blessed with going on 7 years when I first taped a 4’ version of the Kitces advisortech map to the wall next to my desk.

I’m trying to find the “best” advisortech stack. It may not be best for “you” specifically, but it’s an example, a guide, a way to measure your current stack against some newer alternatives…

Hence why I’ve been putting this disclaimer on my books / writing which is kind of a joke / kind of not:

“This is not tech stack advice. Consult with your advisortech professional or fractional COO before demoing or purchasing any advisortech.”

Every situation is different - I acknowledge that.

I think what’s important for every one of us is leaning into our particular “itch”. Michael Kitces’ itch was to make a pdf map, set some guidelines and categories and then keep it updated over years and years. He’s done a phenomenal job.

James and I will probably never do “the Kitces map” better than Kitces has. James actually sits down with firms and helps them choose tech stacks. Kitces doesn’t do that.

I use my creative ability, intuition, conversations with advisors, and a little bit of voo-doo to pick “ultimate stacks”… I’m not aware of anyone else doing this - so that’s my thing.

I’m reminded of some of James Conole’s comments during our podcast:

Joe says things like - “a niche video podcast on Youtube is the golden bullet.”

Functionally, yes, it’s a terrific idea:

• video is a huge trust builder

• especially if you’re talking to people very similar to your prospects so they relate

• running a video podcast is waaaay easier than talking directly to the camera

But video podcasting isn’t for everyone.

Find your thing. You find it by doing a lot of not quite right things. You also find it by committing to something and doing it for a long time even while “it’s not quite right.”

To be honest, I’m getting pretty bored of writing about advisortech. I want to shift gears entirely and go all in on organic growth. And maybe I will someday, but not right now - it’s not my skill set per se. I think my skill set lies more in RIA operations, advisortech, stringing words together in weird ways.

So ends my rant. It was fun… I’ll try to sum up: Lean into your intuition, find work you enjoy doing, sometimes do work you don’t enjoy, but do it well for a long time until you enjoy it.

And… follow the money. Money is a friend, a guide, to bring us back to reality every now and again.

And so I’ll get back to writing about advisortech… and the money part of it.

Part III of the Ultimate stack coming soon.

To Epic Human Stories,

Joe