• Build your new-client ramp now. It’s a good idea to have onboarding capacity built out before you need it. If you put off doing this until you have a slew of prospects morphing into actual clients, it will be too late because you won’t be prepared to bring new clients aboard in a way that sustains their business and encourages them to increase investment. This move is contrary to bean-counter logic, but your firm’s growth will be hampered if you hold on to all of your beans.

Nobody ever said going independent was easy, but it holds rewards for advisors who market and develop clients with a well-defined strategy. By doing so, you stand a better chance of finding, signing and pleasing new clients, and thus growing your practice.

Dave Sheaff Gilreath and Ron Brock are the principals of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC, an equities management firm in Indianapolis that has HNW clients in 48 states. They started the firm with $60 million in assets 10 years ago after leaving Morgan Stanley. Today, the firm has AUM of about $1 billion, 10 business development people nationwide and six client-experience people.

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