- Life happens: not having a succession plan is risky for you and unfair to your clients.
- With succession planning, you can arrange to sell your book of business at a moment’s notice, even sock cash away to fund an emergency transition period.
It takes guts to go it alone in the financial services industry. And it takes planning to be an effective “solopreneur” against a competitive backdrop that includes larger independents and national brands.
But you’ve weighed the options and made your choice. Now, you’ve either made the leap to independence as a sole practitioner, or you’re counting down the days.
To make sure you’re maximizing time on customer care rather than operational busywork, you’re hooked up with the vendors you need, at prices you can live with. CRM, billing, compliance and other mission-critical functions are on your desktop or a quick call away. In place are benefits, like health insurance and a retirement-savings account, because you wouldn’t make a move like this without taking care of your family and your future.
That’s not all. Your clients admire the move you’ve made, and their new-business referrals put a spring in your step.
It’s all falling into place. You want a work-life rooted in an unwavering focus on the client, free from crippling hierarchies and soulless rigidity. And you’re well on your way because you know what you’re doing.
Then along comes the proverbial bus, traveling at a high rate of speed while you’re looking the other way.
You survived the impact, thank goodness, but you’re in traction. And once you’re able to get around a bit, physical therapy will take up your time for a good while. So maybe a full-time return to work isn’t in the cards, not soon enough to meet your clients’ needs, and not to the degree they’ve come to expect.
Or maybe your mom suddenly needs help.
You’re an only child, and you refuse to oversee her care from a distance. So you’re moving back. It’s the right thing to do. Your clients? Oh, you can look after them from afar — I mean, it’s new to them, and it’s not what they signed on for. But you can do it; probably, for a while.
In other words, life happens.