Welcome back to the 299th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!
My guest on today’s podcast is Tim Regan. Tim is the founder of PrairieView Wealth Partners, a hybrid advisory firm based in Orland Park, Illinois, that oversees $100 million in assets under management for 190 client households.
What’s unique about Tim, though, is how he leverages the independence he gained by transitioning from an insurance agency model to becoming a hybrid with Thrivent Advisor Network to focus his firm on faith-based planning and restructure his own back office by shifting it into a separate company that also partners with other financial advisory firms to offer them middle and back-office support as well.
In this episode, we talk in-depth about how, after realizing his firm was too big to be a solo and too small to be big, Tim decided to split his firm into two businesses where PrairieView Wealth Partners remains a financial advisory firm that focuses on the front office aspects and Focus Forward focuses on middle and back-office support so that he could create capacity for his advisory firm to focus more on the client experience, why Tim was inspired to offer middle and back-office support through Focus Forward to other advisory firms (separated by what Tim refers to as an “iron curtain”) in the $75 to $250 million AUM range that were also struggling with having the support and capacity they needed to grow and scale past the founder, and why, since Focus Forward was already knowledgeable in the day-to-day operations of the firms that they support, Tim decided to incorporate continuity agreements with his advisory firm so that advisors can have the peace of mind that if something were to happen to them, PrairieView could ensure their practices would continue their legacies.
We also talk about why, after two decades as a captive agent for Thrivent Financial, Tim decided instead to join their RIA platform, Thrivent Advisor Network, so that he could have more independence to offer his clients a wider range of solutions than just what was available through Thrivent, how Tim got comfortable concentrating on faith-based planning in today’s environment, because as Tim puts it, his faith is simply an authentic part of him and he wants to work with clients who similarly believe in the importance of aligning their faith and values with their money to live up to their God-given potential, and why even though Tim outsourced his middle and back office services he keeps his marketing support in a full-time, in-house role… with a strong focus on not just external marketing so that their story can be told the way they see fit but also internal marketing to work on enhancing their existing client experience (and get more clients talking about them to potential referrals).
And be certain to listen to the end, where Tim shares how, despite being a goal-setting type of person, he ironically struggled with actually achieving the significant growth goals he set for himself (as once they were achieved, the motivation to grow was gone) and instead ultimately decided to focus his energy on what he calls “goals that have significance, rather than goals that are only significant at a single point in time”, why Tim believes hiring the right people early is always a good idea (even if there is a fear of spending money) as when the time comes for needed support it’s already too late to have the time it takes to find those right people, and why Tim believes in the importance of daily affirmations as a way to set ‘mini-goals’ that help him focus on being a better husband and father, to pray, and to make time to take care of himself, too.
So, whether you’re interested in learning about why Tim split his firm so that he can offer back-office support to other advisory firms that are similar in size, how and why Tim implements faith-based planning to his clients, or why Tim also offers continuity planning for the advisory firms that his business supports, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Tim Regan.
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