How to survive your first year as a financial adviser

Like any other business, setting out as a financial adviser will involve surviving the first 12 months and building your business and client base.

During the initial period, you will be looking for clients while controlling your own costs. You will also be building your own network to get the best options for your clients and yourself in terms of the fees you can earn.

Regulated

One of the first steps will be to get yourself registered as an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The Financial Conduct Authority is the first port of call. The Financial Services Register is a public record that shows details of firms, individuals and other bodies that are regulated.

Potential clients will typically look here first, so this should be a priority for you, too.

The next issue you will need to address is the impact of software for financial advisers such as that found at sites like https://www.intelliflo.com/.

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Not only will these programmes keep you abreast of competitors, but it will also help to reduce your overheads in the long term.

Recognising how comfortable you are as a salesperson will also be crucial. Ultimately, you are selling yourself as well as your service. Clients want to have a comfortable one-on-one relationship and feel happy discussing major financial issues that are going to affect their lifestyle both before and after retirement.

Numbers game

Do not get despondent if some contacts do not turn into contracts; you will build your practice by being prepared for setbacks. It ultimately boils down to a numbers game, and the more pitches you make, the more clients you are going to acquire.

It is also important to think outside of the box. Increasingly, young self-employed professionals need advice about their financial planning. Set time aside to prepare presentations for this potentially lucrative stream of clients.

Finally, when you are looking at your startup costs, take note of the fact that many clients will be quite comfortable with virtual contact, and an expensive office is not going to be needed when you launch your business. Indeed, many clients are too busy to leave their workplace these days, so visiting them in situ is acceptable and may save you from shelling out the money on an expensive office rental.