Second Anniversary Thoughts
It’s that time of year again – my anniversary for Forward Thinking Wealth Management. I did not realize it until I started getting some comments via LinkedIn. Similar to last year, I figured I would share a bit of what I learned in the last year.
- First, the bad stuff – I have been terrible about sitting too long. I mentioned last year how I will lose track of time sitting at my desk. I was using a timer to let me know when 20 minutes passed by, however, it seems as though if you do not reset the timer it will never go off. I will do better.
- Do NOT plan to buy a new house shortly after you start your own business. We learned this the hard way when we decided to move last summer. When I launched we were not considering moving and I never thought about how mortgage companies would not consider my income since I was a brand new business. Fortunately, we found the house we wanted using only Jen’s income. However, now Jen threatens to throw me out of “her house.” Talk about tough love!
- I frequently hear from people asking for tips on communicating about their respective businesses. This is not my area of expertise and something I am always trying to improve on. The one thing I will share is based on my feedback – Educate First! Most of us work in highly technical fields, however, if you can explain things so others understand it and become more knowledgeable, well, you are not only helping others but you are well ahead of your competitors.
- I continue to hone down how I run my practice and who I accept as clients. The nice thing of being stable and having constant inquiries from potential clients is I really get to focus on accepting people I can help and I LIKE. I cannot stress this latter point enough. Man, I seriously do not miss the old days at my old firm hoping certain clients would not call in.
- I’m continuously amazed how important it is to have a strong online presence now. I have clients all over the place – Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee and more. Most of these found me online. Oh, and make sure your online presence is accurate too. My old firm has now been sold to a larger firm yet they still have their website up and running, which includes listing me as an advisor there. Genius!
- I have started to contract certain tasks out to people who specialize in those areas. For example, I have a group who runs my financial plans for me. Because this is all they do, they are able to run plans more efficiently and effectively than I can do it. I used to be afraid of delegating tasks, but now I am looking for other areas to do the same.
Those are the highlights, and a couple of lowlights, associated with hitting year two in my business. Thanks to all of you for reading and sharing my thoughts on a regular basis. Hopefully my year three highlights will not involve me admitting I continue to sit too long.