Scaling Without Burnout: Systems, Staff, and Smarter Growth
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
Release Date: 01/13/2026
The Conversation Advisors Should Be Having With Business Owners (But Often Aren’t)
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
This episode is a repurposed conversation from Get Your Fill: Financial Independence and Long Life, where Adam Koós joined the show as a guest to talk candidly about what actually happens when business owners approach an exit — and where advisors often underestimate the risk. In this discussion, Adam breaks down why the majority of business owners never monetize the asset that represents most of their net worth, and why “I’ll deal with that later” is one of the most expensive assumptions advisors inherit from business-owner clients. Rather than focusing on tactics or deal...
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Scaling Without Burnout: Systems, Staff, and Smarter Growth
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
In this repurposed episode, Adam Koós joins Scottie Taylor for a wide-ranging conversation on what it actually takes to grow a financial advisory practice without working 70-hour weeks. Adam shares the real lessons from building and scaling multiple businesses — including his RIA, Elevate & Exit (focused on business transition and exit planning), and Adrenaline Advisor (education and community for financial advisors) — while staying focused on systems, delegation, and long-term sustainability. This conversation goes beyond surface-level growth tactics. Adam and Scottie dig into...
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Global Value Cycles, Home-Country Bias & the Discipline Behind ‘Good Losses’: Part 2 with Meb Faber
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
In Part 2 of Adam’s conversation with Cambria CIO and researcher Meb Faber, they dig into the realities of global investing, why home-country bias hurts more portfolios than advisors realize, and how disciplined rules can turn “losses” into part of a long-term edge. They also discuss value cycles, trend signals, real assets, and why diversification still works—even when it feels uncomfortable. Whether you're refining your portfolio process, rethinking risk, or helping clients understand how markets really behave, this episode offers clear, practical insight advisors can put to...
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“Trend Following, Market Volatility, and Portfolio Strategy: Meb Faber’s Guide for Financial Advisors”
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
In this episode, Adam sits down with Cambria CIO and renowned researcher Meb Faber for a candid, high-impact conversation on what advisors consistently misunderstand about markets. They dig into trend following, global diversification, performance chasing, drawdowns, investor behavior, and the uncomfortable truths that shape real-world outcomes for clients. Whether you're building portfolios, coaching clients through volatility, or refining your own advisory process, this episode will sharpen how you think about risk, return, and discipline in an industry full of noise. Episode...
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Carl Richards on Sketches, Conversations, and the Future of Advice
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
Adam Koós welcomes Carl Richards, speaker, author, and creator of the Sketch Guy column in The New York Times. Carl shares the story of how a simple whiteboard sketch changed the trajectory of his career, leading to books, speaking events, and his new release, Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in Simple Sketches. Together, Adam and Carl explore the intersection of money, meaning, and communication, and why advisors must focus on presence, listening, and guiding clients through uncertainty. From “conversation grenades” to the sketch advisors use most (“Less Wrong Tomorrow”), this...
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Decoding Market Psychology with David Keller
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
Adam Koós sits down with David Keller, CMT - President and Chief Strategist at Sierra Alpha Research, former Director of Research at Fidelity, and host of Market Misbehavior. David’s unique background in music and psychology led him into technical analysis, where he’s spent decades helping advisors and portfolio managers understand market cycles, manage risk, and avoid costly behavioral biases. From Bloomberg to Fidelity’s legendary chart room, to launching his own research firm, David has built a career around making complex market ideas clear and actionable. This conversation is...
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The Hidden Fuel Behind Explosive Practice Growth
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
In this special episode, we flip the mic - Adam Koós joins The Purpose Focused Advisor podcast with Rob Brown to unpack the strategies, mindset shifts, and systems that led to massive growth at Libertas Wealth. Adam shares how he doubled his firm’s AUM and revenue in just two years, not by chasing gimmicks, but by committing to systems, vision-driven leadership, and client-first experiences. He dives deep into why he calls Libertas a “marketing firm that happens to do financial planning,” and how that shift unlocked new levels of trust, growth, and fulfillment. You’ll hear...
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High Performers Don’t “Wing It”
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
If you want to scale your advisory practice, grow with intention, and spend more time in your zone of genius, this episode is for you. In this solo episode, Adam Koós shares the same 5-part planning framework he teaches inside the Adrenaline Program. You’ll learn how high-performing financial advisors reverse-engineer their ideal life, align their calendar with their values, and focus only on the work that moves the needle. This isn’t fluff. It’s the operating system behind firms that scale without chaos. Whether you’re tired of feeling reactive or ready to build a business...
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Tactical Models, Trend Following, and the Mindset Shift That Changed My Practice
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
In this episode of The Advisors Fuel Podcast, Adam Koós flips the mic and joins George G on The Aligned Money Show for a candid conversation about managing money, market uncertainty, and the hard lessons that shaped his investing philosophy. He shares the story of how two major crashes nearly drove him out of the industry, and how discovering technical analysis and trend following not only saved his practice but reshaped the way he serves clients. Adam pulls back the curtain on his hybrid investment approach, combining strategic models with tactical trend-following, and explains how he...
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Unlock the Power of Tech in Finance: Automation Strategies for Advisors with Arielle Minicozzi
The Advisor's Fuel Podcast with Adam Koos
In this episode of the Advisors Fuel Podcast, host Adam Koós interviews Arielle Minicozzi, founder of Sphynx Automation. Arielle shares insights on how financial advisors can work smarter by automating business processes using low or no-code technology tools. Drawing from her extensive background as a financial planner, Arielle emphasizes the importance of proper documentation, understanding workflow, and leveraging automation to minimize errors and free up time for more meaningful client interactions. They discuss common misconceptions about automation, the benefits of AI, and practical...
info_outlineIn this repurposed episode, Adam Koós joins Scottie Taylor for a wide-ranging conversation on what it actually takes to grow a financial advisory practice without working 70-hour weeks.
Adam shares the real lessons from building and scaling multiple businesses — including his RIA, Elevate & Exit (focused on business transition and exit planning), and Adrenaline Advisor (education and community for financial advisors) — while staying focused on systems, delegation, and long-term sustainability.
This conversation goes beyond surface-level growth tactics. Adam and Scottie dig into the mindset shifts advisors must make as they move from “doing everything” to building firms that can grow without them being the bottleneck.
If you’re an advisor who wants more leverage, better clients, and a business that doesn’t depend on your constant presence — this episode will resonate.
⏱️ Episode Highlights
- Why most advisors struggle to scale — and how control is often the real bottleneck
- The difference between marketing that builds familiarity vs. prospecting that creates action
- How automation and systems create freedom (not distance) from clients
- What it really means to hire the right people — and when the wrong hire caps your growth
- The shift from “financial planning firm that does marketing” to “marketing firm that does planning”
- Why growth isn’t about working harder — it’s about removing friction
- Lifestyle practice vs. scalable firm: choosing intentionally, not reactively
🔑 Key Takeaways
💡 Growth doesn’t come from one tactic — it comes from building an entire system that works together
💡 Delegation only works when the right people are in the right seats
💡 Advisors have a responsibility to market ethically — not a discomfort to avoid
💡 The ultimate scale comes when clients trust the firm, not just the founder
🧠 Notable Quotes
🗣 “If you know, but you don’t act — then you don’t know.”
🗣 “We’re not a financial planning firm that does marketing. We’re a marketing firm that happens to do financial planning.”
🗣 “The badge of honor isn’t working 70 hours a week — it’s building something that runs without you.”
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Threads: https://www.threads.com/@adrenaline.advisor
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Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adrenalineadvisor
email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com
Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com
Connect with Adam Koós:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos
Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com