Over the years of running my own practice, it amazes me to find that investors continue to buy insurance policies with the primary objective of saving tax and investing in stocks to make a quick buck. This is in spite of the fact that there has been a drive now for a decade wherein financial advisors, columnists and personal finance commentators have tried to educate investors on the importance of buying insurance to protect their family and invest in stocks for the long term.

In much the same way, I keep hearing from my friends about how lucky I am to be running my own practice and why they also want to set up their own practice some day soon. When I ask them why they want to set up their own practice, I normally advise them to stay in their jobs.

Here’s why I tell them to stay in their jobs – what I call the 5 myths of setting up a practice.

If I provide great advice, clients will flock to me

I’m sure a lot of you are great fans of Aamir Khan and Satyamev Jayate. I definitely am. However, in spite of the pertinent social issues that each episode raises and the huge fan following that Aamir Khan has built over the years, he is on television, radio and in the print media aggressively promoting each episode. If Aamir Khan needs to break through the clutter so aggressively, I don’t think you and me have a choice.

Thus, in spite of your great advice, you have no option but to promote your practice, your services and yourself. Remember, there are very few advisors out there and the whole world is your potential client. Unfortunately, you still have to  make great efforts for them to find you or you to find them.

My job is to provide great advice

When I set up my practice, I believed that my practice was all about providing the highest quality advice. An abnormal amount of effort went into ensuring that I provided the best advice that I possibly could. However, over the years I have realized that “high quality advice” in the eye of the client is more than just the advice that you give them on their goals and their portfolio.

It is also about the phone calls that you return without fail, the quality of the reports that you provide, the ease with which you allow him to execute transactions, the constant engagement model that you run with your clients and the quality of interaction that he has with your team. A significant amount of your effort needs to make everything around your practice better, not just the quality of the advice.

Since I have worked with a particular kind of client , I only want to work with a particular kind of client

Whilst there is great merit in having a clear target market and focusing on acquiring clients from that target market, the need to have an open mind is critical for anyone who is setting up a new practice as well. Having an established brand behind you when you worked for a bank or a large financial institution many a time opens doors for you, which your own practice may not open.

Thus, you may need to change the type of client you work with when you set up your own practice. Keep your mind open to the opportunities in other segments of the market –  you may be pleasantly surprised by what you find. You need to live out of your imagination, not out of your memory.

You are your own boss

This is probably the biggest myth about setting up your own practice. In the corporate world, most people tend to have one or two bosses. In my practice, I find that I have more bosses now than I had in my entire corporate career put together – multiple clients who boss over me and tell me what they want and by when they want it, regulatory agencies that boss over me about how and why I should run my practice in a particular way, my employees who boss over me about what they will do and what they will not as a part of their job, and of course, my dearest boss Sadique who will set a deadline on when this article should reach him.

Nevertheless, I have never been enjoyed getting bossed over as much as I do in my own practice. The only thing that I never tell anyone is, I am my own boss.

Own practice means greater flexibility

One of the most inspiring quotes I have read about entrepreneurship and setting up one’s own practice is “There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.” So far, this has also been the most untrue for me. I find that I work in my business in the day and dream about it in the night.

Ultimately, if you are going to have the most accountability, you are probably going to have the least flexibility. When you set up your own practice, it is often about keeping your head above water. And I can assure you, its very hard to be flexible when you are saving yourself from drowning at the same time. Of course, I have the flexibility of making lesser powerpoint presentations 🙂

I remember reading somewhere – Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.

 

Authored by,

Vishal Dhawan

Founder

Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors Pvt Ltd

Mumbai

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