"Don't wait until everything is perfect to get started."
Robinson Smith operates Smith Consulting Group Ltd, out of Victoria, B.C, on Vancouver Island. He has an extensive history in the investment space, both international and retail. Robinson has a double major in Chinese Studies and Economics from the University of Victoria and an MBA in International Business from Simon Fraser University.
Robinson spent a total of just over seven years studying and working in China in foreign trade and investment banking including serving as Vice President for The Balloch Group, a boutique international investment bank based in Beijing founded by the former Canadian Ambassador to China. He has dined and mingled with the likes of Henry Kissinger, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and the Premier of China, yet somehow still manages to maintain a staggering air of superiority…Robinson joined his father, Fraser, at Smith Consulting Group Ltd. back in early 2006 when he returned to Canada from Asia. Over an advisory career spanning 12 years, Robinson guided over 500 families on the implementation of The Smith Manoeuvre mortgage conversion strategy and built a nine-figure book of business.
In the middle of 2018, Robinson sold his advisory practice to write his book, Master Your Mortgage for Financial Freedom (which hit #1 in 22 categories on Amazon on launch day), develop the new and improved Smithman Calculator, and develop and deliver The Smith Manoeuvre Homeowner Course for Canadians who wanted to expand their understanding of the strategy. Robinson has also established The Smith Manoeuvre Certified Professional Accreditation Program whereby financial professionals from across Canada earn accreditation as Smith Manoeuvre Certified Professionals to best serve Canadian homeowners. Robinson now dedicates his time writing, speaking, and training homeowners, educators, and financial professionals in The Smith Manoeuvre strategy to continue with his father’s original mission to allow every Canadian homeowner to say, “Yes” to the question, “Do you want to make your mortgage tax-deductible?” He lives in Victoria, BC, with his wife, Heidi, and their dog, Harley.
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Table of Contents
Let’s learn a little about you and get to experience what makes us tick – starting at our beginnings. Where did your story begin?
Robinson Smith: Back when I was deciding which courses to take for my first year at university, I had a couple of elective spots open and after discussing this with my father and telling him I was thinking of taking Japanese, he asked me why Japanese? “Because everybody’s studying Japanese!” He replied, “Well, then, maybe you want to study Chinese…” And considering in my eyes he had never been wrong before, I enrolled in Mandarin and loved it.
And that began the journey of my eight years in China initially studying in Shanghai but then working for six and a half years in Beijing in various positions – trade diplomacy, energy development, and investment banking – utilizing my Mandarin skills combined with my 6’5″ height and ability to drink the Chinese ‘white lightning’ with the best of the locals. I learned a great deal about the culture and international business but by 2006 it was time to head back to Canada and open an investment advisory practice alongside my father.
Meeting with hundreds of Canadian families was an eye-opener – there is no better way to come to understand just how ‘underserved’ the majority of people are when it comes to the provision of financial education. For a dozen years, I dedicated myself to assisting Canadian families to create wealth from their mortgages via the implementation of the tried and tested financial strategy my father developed way back in the early 1980’s – The Smith Manoeuvre. In 2018 I sold my advisory to be able to educate Canadians from coast to coast rather than one at a time across a desk as an advisor. To that end, I developed a national training program for financial professionals and published my book, Master Your Mortgage for Financial Freedom, which hit #1 in 22 categories on Amazon on launch day.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up?
Robinson Smith: The biggest test of my new career as an investment advisor came shortly after I started it. After beginning training in the middle of 2006 under my father in his strategy, The Smith Manoeuvre, I quickly built up a successful advisory and acquired a significant number of clients. But we all know what happened to the financial markets not long afterward in 2008-2009.
The big one hit the markets and I quickly discovered that as an investment advisor, you make your money in the good times but you earn it in the bad times. The market route was a rude welcome into my new career as a young advisor. I recall right in the middle of the market crash my father and I went out for lunch as I had something unrelated to our business that I wanted to talk to him about. After we chatted about what I wanted to he confessed that he thought I was going to tell him I wanted to leave the business considering how difficult everything was.
Quitting and leaving my clients had not even crossed my mind until he said that, but I remember thinking that I wished he hadn’t put that seed in my head because it was indeed tempting… I also learned that during such difficult times, an investment advisor is more a psychologist than anything. Of course, the natural tendency when the sky is falling is for people to want to sell their investments – it’s actually what the wealthy and professional traders are counting on – but my clients that stayed invested through the scary times ended up being very glad they did; and I’m glad I stuck with it too, as that whole experience led me to where I am today – helping Canadians across this big country become more financially secure.
Resilience is critical in critical times like the ones we are going through now. How would you define resilience?
Robinson Smith: I would define resilience as the ability to simply stay on the road. When one is starting a new business, most times we do our research, do a S.W.O.T. analysis, create a business plan, map out how we’re going to get from where we are at that time – pretty much Point A – to where we want to get – Point Z. We can show our friends and family members, potential investors, exactly the straight-as-can-be highway we’re going to speed along. But what we may not understand at the time is that on this journey there’s going to be jaywalkers we have to have avoided, ambulances that slow us down, there’s going to be construction and road closures and detours and we absolutely will find ourselves at some point on a single-lane dirt road. But the resilient among us don’t stop and turn around to get back home. We stay on that dirt road and take it until we find our way back on the highway.
In your opinion, what makes your company stand out from the competition?
Robinson Smith: I quite frequently get people asking me who my competition is and truthfully I have difficulty with that question. On one hand, I define ‘competition’ as someone or some firm that is offering a similar product or service as mine. In that respect, I have no competition. The financial strategy that I offer Canadian homeowners is unique. It is an idea; a process. There is no other organization, no other strategy, that can provide Canadian homeowners the financial benefits that The Smith Manoeuvre can. So I have no competition.
On the other hand, I could define my competition as the established financial services industry such as the big banks and the large investment services corporations which proclaim to be able to improve the financial well-being of their clients. The problem that this ‘competition’ faces, however, is that any advice they give their clients requires that they reduce their standard of living if they want to ‘get ahead.
Typical advice we hear when we engage financial professionals is that to have a bigger nest egg when it comes time to slow down or retire, we need to either take more money from our pockets and pay down consumer debt, make extra payments against our mortgage, contribute more money to our savings and registered investment plans, etc; or we need to downsize our homes, buy a cheaper vehicle rather than a more expensive one, don’t go to Hawaii for a two-week vacation, just take one week off work and get a B&B a few hours from where we live. The common thread of all these common ‘solutions’ to our financial challenges is that they require a reduction in the quality of our standard of living – either more money leaving our pockets or accepting fewer nice things in our lives. The Smith Manoeuvre does not require any additional cash flow, nor does it require we sacrifice our standard of living.
What do you consider are your strengths when dealing with staff workers, colleagues, senior management, and customers?
Robinson Smith: I’m sure we have all had varying yet similar experiences when dealing with bosses, colleagues, management, employees, and customer or clients. We have seen those who believe leading from a position of power is the most effective way to ensure a successful business, and we have all seen those who believe that success is derived from all the people working towards a common goal. When I was an investment advisor, one could have viewed me as a salesperson – if I didn’t sell the investments that made the strategy work, I didn’t eat. But the way I treated my prospective clients back then is quite the same way I treat my contractors and employees today.
An environment of collaboration, understanding, and encouraging a sense of ownership in all stakeholders makes a tremendous difference to productivity and the generation of respect and trust. Maybe I would have sold more investments if I were a hard-seller. Maybe I would have higher revenues now if I was a tougher leader. I don’t know. But what I do know is that I don’t want to make more money if it means I can’t be compassionate, have some fun, lend an ear or ask others who work for me for advice and guidance.
Being a CEO of the company, do you think that your brand reflects your company’s values?
Robinson Smith: I don’t think my brand reflects my company’s values, I think my company reflects my values. Personal finances are a very serious subject. Without financial security and stability, we are putting ourselves and our family in jeopardy. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with it. And bringing some lightheartedness into a serious subject makes it more accessible, more relatable. And the more people are attracted to or at least not threatened by the subject of personal finance, the more they look into it and eventually embrace it.
I believe that we should all have a good time while we can, get a little silly sometimes, be able to make fun of ourselves every once in a while. And that is how I hope my company and the stakeholders in it can come across. Let’s make learning about tax deductions, mortgages, and compound growth a good time. If we can do that, we can get people to pay attention and therefore learn more.
How would you define “leadership”?
Robinson Smith: I define leadership as being able to get people to work toward a common goal in harmony, in my case the goal being the financial betterment of Canadians. I know if you left everyone to define leadership in their own words you would get as many different answers as people were answering the question, but it boils down to being able to achieve set goals most efficiently. How that gets done is up to each ‘leader‘, but for me, it’s making sure that my mission and values are understood by those working alongside me and further, that they not only understand where I’m coming from, what I want to accomplish and how I want to accomplish it, but that they share a desire to deliver our goals the same way. Cohesion, a common perspective, and shared values are key.
What advice would you give to our younger readers that want to become entrepreneurs?
Robinson Smith: Just do it (sorry Nike). When I decided to sell my investment advisory, I took a risk. A significant one. But I didn’t let over-analysis stall or stop the closing of that one door to leave me no choice but to push forward with what I knew I had to do. I understand that people have responsibilities and the older you get the more true this becomes, but if you are young, take a swing. Do your research, make a plan, line it up, but don’t wait until everything is perfect to get started. It will never be perfect. Sometimes you have to burn a bridge behind you on a life that isn’t you to leave you no option but to press on and find your path. How’s that for too many metaphors…?
What’s your favorite “life lesson” quote and how has it affected your life?
Robinson Smith: I don’t remember how old I was when I first read this poem, A Bag of Tools, by R.L. Sharpe, but it has been with me ever since. As for how it shaped my life, I think it makes it clear:
Isn’t it strange
That princes and kings,
And clowns that caper
In sawdust rings,
And common people
Like you and me
Are builders for eternity?
Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass,
A book of rules;
And each must make –
Ere life is flown –
A stumbling block
Or a steppingstone.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Robinson Smith for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Robinson Smith or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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