A financial advisor can’t serve everyone.

In fact, to start a successful practice, an advisor has to find a niche, said Jane Newton, managing partner and wealth advisor of Morristown, N.J.-based RegentAtlantic at the 2017 Invest In Women conference in Dallas last week.

“Being a generalist in this industry is the kiss of death,” Newton said. “There is a risk in narrowcasting, but there’s a bigger risk in trying to go after everything else.”

After a stint at a major bank serving New York’s financial district, Newton has developed a niche working with high-powered women on Wall Street.

Yet financial advisors’ niches don’t always need to focus on high-asset, wealthy individuals, said Rianka Dorsainvil, founder of Your Greatest Contribution, a location-independent planning firm working with young professionals.

Through she decided she wanted to become a planner at a young age, she didn’t always have a niche in mind.

“When I started, I took on everyone, but I eventually figured out that I couldn’t do that,” said Dorsainvil, who also spoke at the conference.

Dorsainvil took an additive approach to creating a niche. As a younger planner just growing her book of business, she was able to design her practice from the ground up.

While still a college student, Dorasainvil began providing advice to her peers, realizing that she wanted to work with young people.

After college, Dorsainvil took a job with a more traditional financial firm, blogging and helping her peers on the side. She found that her company would not let her work with her niche, so she started Your Greatest Contribution and set out on her own.

“Millennials are pigeonholed with stereotypes, and it’s really not fair,” said Dorsainvil, “For one thing, there’s 74 million of them, so they’re not really a niche.”

Newton, on the other hand, had to carve out a niche from her existing client base.

“I enjoyed working with women, and I think women are underserved by our advisory community, but women are not a niche,” said Newton. “How can 54 percent of the population be a niche?”

Groups like women and millennials can’t be niches, said Newton, because they don’t necessarily share a common set of problems. They can’t be targeted with specific financial advice and services because their lifestyles and their needs are too diverse.

Dorsainvil was able to whittle down her niche by telling her own story. She realized that she wanted to work with motivated, entrepreneurial young people wherever they were.

“I wanted to make personal finance personal, so I named my firm Your Greatest Contribution,” said Dorsainvil. “I didn’t want it to be about me. It’s about my clients. I ask them ‘what is it that you want your greatest contribution to be,’ and they tell me their wildest dreams. It may be someone who is interested in transitioning from employee to entrepreneur. That’s characteristic of the type of client I want to work with. Climbing the corporate ladder is second nature to them.”

As a millennial herself, Dorsainvil found that clients in her niche felt an affinity for her and were eager to work with someone their own age. In many cases, her clients came to her or found her via word-of-mouth.

Newton, on the other hand, leveraged her connections to launch the RegentAtlantic Wall Street Women forum, something she said she would not have been able to do at her former employer.

“I realized that I had to go out and meet men and women on Wall Street,” said Newton. “If you’re going to develop a niche, you need to go out and physically penetrate that market and learn about its constituents.”

Working with Wall Street women meant that Newton was at times preaching to a choir of clients already well versed in theoretical financial knowledge and aware of current market conditions, but without the time or expertise to manage their personal finances.

Wall Street women were eager for like-minded financial advice, too, that could be delivered in a manner that was accessible without being condescending.

“I’ve walked in their shoes. I understand their environment,” said Newton. “I knew where to find these clients. If you can’t find the people in your niche, how are you going to help them?”

Both Dorsainvil and Newton said that they use panels of individuals representative of their niches to create best practices and vet new ideas. So as Dorsainvil’s clients age, and as Newton’s clients continue to accumulate assets and enjoy success, both planners can keep up with the times.

Dorsainvil, who calls her panel a "mastermind group," also uses it to benchmark her services,

“If someone is starting out in the profession today, find yourself a ‘mastermind’ group,” said Dorsainvil. “They will be your saving grace. Clients ask me how am I doing compared to my peers. We need to be asking the same question.”

Learning about a niche involves leaving the confines of an office and financial planning software and engaging with potential prospects in settings that may be unfamiliar. Both women encouraged advisors to get out of their comfort zones to learn more about the people they want to serve.

Advisors can further immerse themselves by becoming involved in social and professional groups that serve a niche. For example, Newton has used the RegentAtlantic Wall Street Women Forum to research her niche.

Most importantly, said Newton, if you’re going to serve a niche, make sure you like the people.

“You have to want it. If going after a target market doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t,” said Newton. “In hindsight, I’m surprised at how much time I spend with the Wall Street community. Make sure it’s something you’re really passionate about, because you’re going to be living it and breathing it in your practice.

“When you’re passionate and resourceful, you can do anything.”