Why Do Financial Planners Make Such Great Entrepreneurs?

March 10, 2021

There are some people out there that say you can’t teach somebody to be a great entrepreneur, it’s something that you are born with or learn from life experience. The thing is, although some people are natural business leaders, there are a number of skills that all business owners need and you can absolutely learn those things.

Many people out there have honed those skills already without even realising it, especially in the world of financial planners. A lot of financial planners go on to run successful businesses, just take Wayne Blazejczyk, for example. He started out working in the financial services and has since headed a lot of incredibly successful businesses. But what is it about these people that makes them so well suited to business? Here’s why financial planners make such great entrepreneurs. 

They Manage Money Well

No prizes for guessing that this would be top of the list. If you want a business to succeed, you need a good grasp of the financial side of things. So many startups fall apart in the first couple of months because they spend and spend until they run out of money, only to realise that they’re not bringing in enough revenue yet and they can’t sustain themselves. But a financial planner is much less likely to run into cash flow problems because they plan finances for a living. They know how to be cautious and invest money in the right areas, and most importantly, they know how to get out of a financial bind

They’re Good With People

People tend to think that financial planners are number crunchers who are unlikely to have very good interpersonal skills, but that doesn’t make sense because their whole job is about people. Even though the numbers are obviously important, financial planners spend most of their time meeting with clients and building long term relationships with them, and those skills can be directly translated to the business world. It’s important to go above and beyond with customer service, especially in the early days of a business. Financial planners are great at building relationships with clients and they have good insight into connecting with potential customers. A lot of new business owners underestimate the importance of interpersonal skills and it really holds them back. 

They Pay Attention To The Small Details 

Business owners tend to think of themselves as the big picture guys and their employees as the ones that handle the details and bring their vision to life. But if you take that approach, you’ll lose control of what is happening in your business and you won’t notice problems until they start to spiral out of control. Financial planners are great at keeping on top of things because they pay attention to the small details. It’s part of their job to manage financial portfolios and try to predict how small market movements will affect their client’s finances. They’re constantly making slight adjustments to their strategy and they can take this approach to business as well, constantly straightening the ship to make sure it’s headed in the right direction. 

If you’re going to go into business with anybody, make it a financial advisor because they make amazing business leaders.

Mark Asquith

That British podcast guy, Mark is co-founder of Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast host. A Harvard, TEDx, Podcast Movement and Podfest speaker (amongst many more!), he's a wildly approachable Brit and Star Wars/DC Comics geek.

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