Financial Advisor Success Ep 139: Plugging In For Large Firm Support To Refocus Your Time On Clients Instead with Michele Clark
Aug 27, 2019
Michele Clark, senior portfolio manager with 25+ years who ran an independent hourly planning practice, shares her nontraditional financial services journey. She talks about door-knocking to Schwab teaching, building an hourly RIA, pricing and scaling workflows, and why she decided to plug into a larger firm to refocus time on client relationships.
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Referral Growth Ballooned Her Workload
- Schwab's private client rollout assigned households to reps and boosted Michele's relationships, but word-of-mouth grew her roster from 100 to 300 households.
- That unexpected referral surge left her overwhelmed and stressed by workload.
Build A Financial Cushion Before Launching
- Michele recommends saving early and keeping low personal expenses to afford career pivots or starting a firm.
- Financial cushions make it feasible to endure the slow revenue ramp of launching an RIA.
Accept Referrals From Up-Market Firms
- Lean on local RIAs and firms with higher minimums to accept referrals they can't service.
- Offer to take their smaller or non-fit clients and preserve referral relationships with CPAs and attorneys.
