Advisor Freedom

“Anyone who's hired knows the first hire is the scariest ever.” (01:54–02:23) “LinkedIn is my main source of prospecting. That's where I get most of my people.” (03:20) “A prospect that's not qualified is honestly worse than not booking a meeting.” (06:36–07:03) “When you're looking at it, the first question you come to is, well, ‘how many clients can we serve in our existing structure?’” (07:56–0...

“I’m going to go live on a coffee farm in Hawaii and try to make a living as a writer.” (04:51–05:21) “I switched my profile to say, I’m a copywriter now.” (09:26–09:36) “I started posting… 14 posts in 14 days about 14 life lessons.” (08:34–08:57) “There aren’t a lot of ghost LinkedIn writing agencies for financial advisors… it’s the niche, niche, niche.” (12:49–13:19) “People don’t choose advisor...

“I started in aerospace engineering…and then I found I had a knack for computer programming.” (03:26) “I thought financial advisory would offer me that interpersonal engagement.” (04:24) “One of the very first things I was doing when I came in as an intern was helping prepare the portfolio rubrics.” (07:48) “That was the very first thing I thought…this is the one thing I really don't enjoy…buildin...

“I went to IBM, went through their three months sales bootcamp. And that was it. I was hooked.” (02:58) “Instead of just calling and talking about product, I started calling and saying, hey, do you mind sharing your portfolio with me so I could see where we could add alpha?” (07:08) “He looked at me and said, if you could build the ability for me to use my own phone with my own phone number and on...

“I had seven different jobs… I was just picking up all the work that I could pick up just to basically survive.” (02:54–03:22) “I was comfortable with rejection, which is, you know, in PR, you're always getting rejected.” (04:42) “I was working at the agency and my first day back was the day that COVID hit the US.” (13:42) “I had a three‑month‑old at home…and my husband's business was shut...

“I was handed a book of high‑net‑worth clients and just had rapid‑fire conversations.” (02:55–03:24) “It was more of a therapist than a financial advisor.” (04:46–05:19) “If I’m going to invest in anything, it’s going to be on myself.” (12:26) “Wild Iris — the name came from the flower: it dies and grows back, and that’s symbolic of life phases.” (18:20) “I don’t want to sacrifice quality just to...

“How much worse could it get? And I didn't have an answer.” (05:19) “Diversification doesn’t protect you when everything falls.” (05:46) “We can actually have a synthetic equity allocation with only about 13 to 15% drawdown risk.” (16:51) “If you build a portfolio that doesn't participate in the first 15% it’s a different journey — and sometimes a dangerous one.” (21:06) “It’s  remarkable...

“She started by knocking on doors. Thousands of them… Literally wore the heels off her shoes building her first book of business.” (01:20) “No shortcuts. No warm intros. Just grit.” (01:35) “No big office. No team. Just a card table and a phone.” (03:18) “The inspiration behind it all? My dad. He passed away the same year I launched the firm after battling Alzheimer’s.” (03:50) “People do not just...

“Within a month I was like, oh my gosh, this was what I was put on the earth to do.” (02:21) “I didn't know that this whole industry even existed and I didn't know that girls could do it.” (02:51) “It took me probably 12 years to finally say…‘I’m a financial advisor.’” (04:43) “My calling is helping women specifically take control of their financial future… They should have the driver'...

“We took our young talent, matched it up with the seniors and that system has been working really well ever since.” (05:11–05:41) “I started it so young, I could risk, I had a lot of time and I had a lot of time to make small incremental investments.” (13:06)  “You can risk two things in our world, in this world. You can risk time and you can risk money. And because I started it so young, I could...

“All I've ever wanted to do is, one thing. And that is running the biggest business that I can, that I think does something that makes a difference.” (01:53) “The massive problem: advisors struggled to explain investments; clients struggled to feel confident.” (16:10) “We lost that deal, but what we learned was actually much more valuable.” (26:04) “Our vision is confidence for the moments tha...

“Max is very much an accidental company. I was not looking to start a company at all. I was very happy as a banker” (15:09) “I created a synthetic approach. Open many accounts, keep each below the FDIC limit.” (22:43) “Those online banks change rates all the time... I started moving money to always earn the highest yield.” (24:03–24:31) “We decided to sell to advisors first... clients always ask t...

“I’ve built a $205M business serving mostly millennial tech employees.” (03:25–03:53) “I only work with 61 households — average client age 40, average household AUM $3.35M.” (03:25–03:53) “Nearly all my growth is inbound from Twitter, referrals, and reputation.” (03:25–04:22) “My top‑of‑funnel is a casual 30‑minute conversation to check fit.” (08:42–09:10) “We help clients navigate IPOs, tender of...

“I didn’t start in finance, I started as a writer.” (01:29) “Clients were paying for great content but not using it... something deeper was off.” (03:50) “The three buckets: get attention, collect leads, then nurture.” (04:17) “Most businesses try to fix symptoms (more ads, more funnels) while the foundation is shaky.” (08:00) “You can spend half a million on ads and still get nothing if the found...

“We were placed at a life insurance agency that called financial planning, but the solution was always life insurance.” (00:32) “The plan was built first, but the solution was already decided.” (02:28) “I had two boys 16 months apart, living in a two‑bedroom apartment, just grinding.” (04:25) “AOL was sending out floppy disks for $16.99. That's what inspired our subscription mindset.” (05:50)...

“I started out in tech, then we were running a winery. Not a typical roadmap into advising.” (00:33) “A retiring advisor came up to me after a meeting and said, ‘I want you to take over my practice.’” (09:11) “Almost said no, then realized you don’t ignore a door like that.” (09:25–10:20) “We started trying to hire and found it was frankly really, really difficult.” (18:54) “I liked the women in l...

“I raised $10M in my first two years doing it the hard way.” (03:28) “I basically got about $50 million in the door of new assets.” (08:14) “It just started to become this referral machine.” (09:11) “I referred people to a CPA I trusted. That CPA became our best referral partner.” (11:07) “Today we have clients in 30+ states, many I’ve never met face to face.” (12:06) “Referrals convert faster: fi...

“At 21 I asked to do fee‑based planning. They said no. I left and became the youngest to join their RIA arm.” (06:18) “I was delivering real value, spending hours, and getting paid nothing.” (04:24) “I decided I’m only engaging clients who will engage me for the planning process.” (10:41) “I chose business owners, the hardest market, but the most rewarding impact.” (12:08) “I built a system called...

“You can pull full company histories, build investment memos, even generate portfolio strategies — all automatically.” (02:27) “You’re not spending hours building models. You’re reviewing them. In minutes.” (02:57) “With Fiscal + Claude you can export models into Excel or download statements to customize.” (04:24–04:50) “Having structured, audited data alleviates the trust concerns investors have...

“I didn’t want to inherit the client book… I wanted to build my own.” (05:36) “I love to write… long form content became my business development.” (07:05) “My book came out in 2020 and the timing was perfect with remote work.” (08:03) “It generated a few hundred right‑fit calls across the early 2020s.” (11:48) “Everybody starts with a financial plan — we charge a flat fee and then move to ongoing....

“My parents went through a divorce and both of them really struggled financially.” (00:31) “I had 450 clients and a little over a billion dollars in assets I was responsible for.” (05:23) “We were getting about 120 prospects a month put on my calendar at one point.” (13:23) “We hit the holy grail with Facebook ads.” (13:53) “I created a sister company for divorce planning so there’s a clear line b...

“What is the worst that happens if I bet on myself?” (02:53) “I’m fee-only and pretty thoughtful about how I grow and who I build around.” (05:45) “Calendar. Cashflow. Balance sheet, that was the framework.” (10:05)  “I’ll show them everything upfront, I’m the worst poker player.” (09:10) “I don’t think I want to build an enterprise, I want to reduce complexity.” (17:53) “One of the best parts is...

“I was promoted five times in eight years.” (2:27) “I joined Sunpointe with zero clients.” (08:10) “Calendar. Cash flow. Balance sheet. That was the framework.” (10:05) “We added 17 households and all of it primarily was from referrals.” (13:55) “I think that that comes with the work ethic of, you know, if you're dependable and you're trusted, you start to get different flexibilities.” (17...

“I wanted high‑resolution satellite imagery to try to trade commodity markets.” (01:25) “I started drawing everything out. By hand. One page.” (05:05) “I tripled my production the first year. Then tripled it again. Then again.” (06:29) “I built confidence in my process, and then I could walk into any meeting.” (13:20) “We lose people because we come in thinking they want an 80‑page report.” (19:31...

“My grandparents would come over on Saturdays and talk about how their investments performed.” (00:29) “I didn’t want to just look at spreadsheets—I wanted to work with people.” (03:18) “Financial planning felt like the perfect mix of numbers and people.” (03:48) “You can study all you want, but seeing real conversations accelerates everything.” (06:36) “There was no pressure to sell, just pressur...