Top Resources You Need to Succeed as a Financial Planning Firm

February 25, 2020

When you first launch a company, you’re siloed: You’re going through this exciting — but isolating — experience, and your friends and family might not be able to relate or give the advice you need.

That’s why it’s so important to have a support group of like-minded professionals. Having someone to bounce ideas off of, to share ideas with, to lean on, to celebrate the highs and commiserate the lows with, makes running a company so much easier.

When Katie Burke and I launched our own financial planning firms around the same time, hers in 2015 and mine in 2016, we became each other’s support system. Even though I’m in California and Katie’s in Pennsylvania, our weekly calls and email exchanges made a world of a difference. We all know we need the standard resources to run a business, but we often forget how much we need community to succeed.

The Seven Resources All Female Founders Need

As two female founders, we’ve discovered that the following seven resources are essential to successfully running a firm.

1. Business Coaching

To grow your firm, stay on track, and stay accountable, consider investing in a business coach. Your coach can provide the outside perspective, expertise, tools, and training you need to keep operations humming smoothly, while growing into the future. They can also answer the business questions that keep you up at night, from hiring to cash flow.

2. A Support Network

When running a company, you don’t only need funding (financial capital) and skills training (human capital) — you also need “social capital” in the form of powerful support networks. Whether it’s a formal network of finance professionals or an informal support group of entrepreneurs, find your tribe who’s there for you.

3. Efficient Technology

A solid technology infrastructure is crucial to the long-term sustainability of your business, and to the service you provide your clients. Some of the technology you will want to have in place for you and your clients include a CRM system, streamlined billing features, a financial planning software subscription, electronic client invoicing, and 24/7 IT and tech support.

4. Marketing

To build brand awareness and scale your business, you will want to hire a marketing coach or consultant. This person serves as an outside advisor that supports you in creating a marketing plan, developing and implementing marketing strategies, defining your business’s brand voice and message, and ensuring you are promoting your business to the appropriate target market of potential clients.

5. Compliance Coverage

The compliance process can be time-consuming, leaving you little time to focus on other areas of the business. You will want to hire someone to do compliance oversight for registration, compliance documents, marketing, and more.

6. Errors and Omissions (E&O) Insurance

You will need robust E&O insurance that covers the biggest claim issues in the industry, such as cybersecurity and wire fraud.

7. Portfolio Management Solution

You will need access to portfolio management resources, portfolio implementation support, and custodial relationships to help support the service you provide to your clients.

Join Equita Financial Network Today

At Equita Financial Network, we provide quality resources that allow for the best financial planning, the best portfolio management, and the best coaching and growth for each woman’s autonomous brand. If you’re interested in joining our network, reach out to us today.

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