Financial advisors are entrepreneurs who have chosen to be in financial services. As an entrepreneur building a business, you will be called upon to answer three questions:
1. What role do you want to play?
2. How big do you want to become?
3. What is the requisite organization?
Typically, financial advisors start as a business of one. The primary activities are prospecting and selling. However, as they grow, administrative, underwriting, compliance and client service activities erode the time available to attract and retain clients. For those who want to get bigger, the challenge is to address the third question. Requisite is defined by psychologist Dr. Elliott Jaques as "required by the natural order of things." To grow, you have to decide what type of organization you require.
Financial advisors who choose to remain a business of one take on a number of tasks. Their challenge is to balance the multiplicity of tasks while retaining their focus on attracting and retaining clients. For most, it's difficult to consistently grow revenue beyond $120,000 to $150,000. The type of organization you build depends upon the role you want to play and how big you want to become. We work with three advisors who answered these questions differently.
