How to Start a Small Business
How to Start a Financial Planning Business
This advice is ideal for those of you who plan on opening a financial planning business. Read this article before you start!
Thinking about opening a financial planning business? We tell you what you need to know to get started.
Creating Business Plans for a Financial Planning Business
Does your financial planning business have a business plan? If not, your company is lacking a critical business tool. If you have invested time and effort in its creation, your financial planning company's business plan will serve as a blueprint for success.
To assist your efforts, you may want to consider enlisting the aid of a professional business plan writer.
Time and time again, the best entrepreneurs we see rely on professionally crafted plans to guide their decision making. However, outsourcing doesn't completely eliminate your responsibilities in the writing process.
As the primary stakeholder in your financial planning business, you will intentionally need to insert yourself in various stages of the plan's development.
Assess the Competition
Long before you open a financial planning business within your community, it's worthwhile to determine what the competition looks like. We've provided the link below to help you find competitors in your city. Simply enter your city, state and zip code to get a list of financial planning businesses in your town.
Before you open up shop, make sure you know what you will offer to your customers that provides a significant advantage over your competition's offering.
Learning More About the Industry
Once you've finished assessing the competion, the next step is to talk to somebody who is already in the business. If you think your local competitors will give you advice, you're being overoptimistic. It'd be crazy for them to teach you the business.
But, a person who owns a financial planning business in a different city may be more than happy to give you a few tips, once they realize that you are not going to directly compete with them in their community. In fact, they are often very willing to share startup advice with you. If you are persistent, you can find a business mentor who is willing to help you out.
How do you find somebody who runs a financial planning business in another city who you can speak with?
It's not that hard. Just use the handy link below and enter in a random city/state or zipcode.
Is It Easier to Buy an Existing Financial Planning Business?
Tough decisions are what business ownership is all about. And one of the first decisions you'll have to make is whether to start a business from scratch or buy an existing financial planning business.
Time and time again, we see entrepreneurs struggle to launch a new financial planning business when they could have bought a first-rate financial planning business. When you buy an established financial planning business, you gain access to a functional business operation with a customer base and a steady revenue stream.
Entrepreneurs who are committed to a highly unique value proposition may need to pursue a startup approach. But for the sake of minimizing risk and maintaining your sanity, a business purchase is often the right move for emerging financial planning business entrepreneurs.
Consider Franchising
Your chances for doing well in business are higher when you choose to franchise and leverage their successful brand and track record.
Prior to making the decision to open a financial planning business, it's worthwhile to assess whether franchise opportunities in your space might be worth investigating.
The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.
Entrepreneur Interviews
These interviews should be of interest to you.
- Interview with Mike Reiner, founder of Capitol Investment Advisors
- Interview with Edward Doughty, founder of Epic Capital Wealth Management
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