Welcome back to the 367th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!
My guest on today’s podcast is Kimberly Enders. Kimberly is the Lead Financial Planner and Managing Partner of Enders Wealth Management, a hybrid advisory firm based in Sterling Heights, Michigan, that oversees $50M in assets under management for 85 client households.
What’s unique about Kimberly, though, is that after building a practice jointly with her husband, in 2015, she had to reinvent herself after a divorce left her without a practice and starting over with just 12 clients and $7M in assets and how, in the 8 years since, she has built herself up by developing a highly customized 12-month onboarding process for new clients that has driven her ability to generate rapid growth through referrals .
In this episode, we talk in-depth about what Kimberly learned through entering and then exited a business relationship with her husband that was, unfortunately for her, not structured in a way to fully protect her claim to the clients and revenue of the practice, what Kimberly did to turn her career around through honing in on her ideal target client and steadily pruning away those who are no longer a good fit , and how Kimberly has structured her 12-month onboarding plan for new clients that focuses on comfort with the technology and advisor/client relationships with her before she even starts to approach financial planning after a full 6 months with a new client… a system that has allowed Kimberly’s firm to grow almost entirely from referrals alone.
We also talk about Kimberly’s journey of trying every “Food Group” in the industry (all the different industry channels where you can work as an advisor) before starting an independent practice with her now-ex-husband , the way that Kimberly and her ex-husband grew the practice but each focusing on their individual strengths (where he drove marketing and business development, and Kimberly was focused on the client portfolios), and how Kimberly realized that while growth is good, too much growth too quickly can be detrimental to both her clients and her own ability to serve them to her high standard (which helped her get comfortable with letting go of early clients who were no longer the right fit).
And be certain to listen to the end where Kimberly shares why she suggests all new advisors try out a lot of the industry’s “Food Groups” before picking a path (as she notes that knowing and getting experience in the other paths in the financial advisor industry helped round out her own knowledge, and find the path that truly aligned to her own values ), the unexpected surprises that Kimberly struggled with while starting her own advisory firm, including managing coworkers, starting an LLC and the headaches that come with payroll and benefit packages for her employees (beyond the client and portfolio work she was so comfortable with), and how Kimberly’s definition of success has increasingly focused on the autonomy and control she has over her time to do with it as she pleases… while recognizing that business and financial success are what provide the money that allows her to have more control of her time in the first place!
So, whether you’re interested in learning about how not to run an advising firm with a close friend or spouse, how to maintain a stable job regardless of the number of different companies in your employment history or how to create a practice that is so client-centered that everyone you serve can’t help but tell everyone about it, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Kimberly Enders.
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