Reflecting on ‘whirlwind’ first year of running an advice firm

One year after launching their own financial advice businesses, these two advisers share their reflections with Money Management.

Early last year, Money Management spoke with two advisers who had taken the leap of faith in opening their own advice practice.

Robert Rich, director and financial adviser at Unite Wealth, previously realised that he needed to operate his own firm to focus on the real reasons why he became an adviser.

Similarly, Dylan Pargiter-Green, director and adviser at Bold Wealth, was looking to open an advice practice that directly represented his values, alongside his two business partners.

Some 12 months later, the two advisers spoke with Money Management again to reflect on their journey into becoming directors of their own advice practices.

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“It’s all gone just fantastically – I couldn’t have scripted it any better. It feels like less families are looking for the super polished, suit and tie-style advisers who push products or talk about their money 24/7. The clients we work best with are looking for an adviser more interested in their happiness than their bank balance,” Rich ruminated.

“We prefer to have a deeper personal connection with the people that we work with – hugs are very common, I even have two interstate weddings to attend this year!”

For Pargiter-Green, the past year enabled Bold Wealth to overcome hurdles the team has faced and strengthen their overall client experience and internal processes.

“Like any new business, the first year is a whirlwind of new processes, hard work and excitement. I think developing a client-focused decision-making framework from day one has meant we’ve been able to overcome these new challenges a little easier than if we hadn’t built our processes,” he reflected.

Both advisers echoed each other when sharing one particular challenge: the temptation to go “100 miles an hour” with growth as a smaller practice.

Rich said: “We don’t have aspirations to become a large business. Growth is slow and steady and measured. It’s been really awesome, but we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves – even if that means referring on some opportunities to other advisers.”

Rather than attempting to take on every client that comes his way, Rich is prioritising maintaining high service standards for existing clients, instead of delivering suboptimal results.

Likewise, Pargiter-Green said Bold Wealth is not trying to reinvent the wheel in the first year of business but is instead focused on building a strong foundation for long-term success.

“It’s really tempting to go 100 miles an hour and do all the new exciting marketing things, but we’re incredibly conscious of making sure our existing clients are looked after, while also growing a new client base.

“We made the choice deliberately to organically grow in the first year, before charging ahead with new marketing and focus on building the business. There are so many things to learn, develop and implement within the business in the first year/s, so we needed to make sure we had these 100 per cent before trying to grow,” he explained.