Episode 35: A Firm Worth Building - The Digital Family Office with Michael Clarke

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Future-Ready Advisor, host Sam Sivarajan sits down with Michael Clarke, veteran financial advisor and author of A Firm Worth Building. Michael shares his journey from surviving the early years of the financial industry to creating a thriving advisory firm. He discusses the evolution of financial advisory practices, including the concept of digital family offices, and emphasizes the importance of structured client engagement.

Michael also dives into actionable insights for financial advisors, including the value of genuine referral networks, the transformative potential of a client bill of rights, and the importance of deliberate and methodical work. This conversation is packed with strategies to help advisors innovate, build meaningful client relationships, and thrive in a dynamic industry.

Key Takeaways

• Relationships matter—genuine partnerships lead to better outcomes in referral networks.
• Digital family offices can democratize wealth management and make it accessible to more clients.
• A client bill of rights builds trust, accountability, and quality referrals.

Key Quote

• "The foundation of any thriving firm is built on genuine relationships and deliberate work."

Sound Bites

• “Survival in the early years lays the foundation for long-term success.”
• “Structured client engagement is key to building retention and deeper relationships.”
• “Digital family offices democratize wealth management and bring it to a wider audience.”
• “When you focus on understanding clients’ needs, expertise follows naturally.” – Sam Sivarajan
• “Advisors who prioritize genuine connections outperform those who chase perfection.”

Topics Covered

[00:00] Introduction and Background

[06:09] The Importance of Building Infrastructure

[12:12] The Concept of a Digital Family Office

[19:02] Building Strong Referral Networks and Partnerships

[21:45] A Structured Intake Process for New Clients

[29:48] Creating a Client Bill of Rights

[33:50] Advice for Innovation and Building Future-Ready Practices

[38:47] Conclusion and Where to Learn More

Resources Mentioned

A Firm Worth Building by Michael Clarke

Stay Connected with The Future-Ready Advisor

• Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode.
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn—share your thoughts and connect with other forward-thinking advisors.
• Explore more insights on Sam’s website.

Keywords

Financial advisory, digital family office, referral networks, client engagement, business growth, accountability, client bill of rights, innovation, wealth management, Michael Clarke, trusted relationships, deliberate work, client retention

Well, if you're talking about just any professional decide what you want, decide what kind of business you want to build. Decide who you wanna work with, decide what makes you feel fulfilled as a professional. I think it's we insist that everybody at our firm right out, for example, their ideal client profile. You know, if you're gonna go fishing for salmon, take gear that.

Right, baby.

Will help you.

Catch salmon, you know.

Look, I think this is a great point and it's we touched on it earlier, I think and and it ties into your first tip about do the work. I think if you're doing the work, do it.

Literally think about what it is that you want to achieve and why you're doing it and and put that into action as opposed to kind of accidentally doing it because that seems to be the the next logic.

This is the future Ready Advisor, a show about transforming your financial advisory practice. I'm your host, Sam Sivarajan, a wealth management consultant, behavioral scientist, and keynote speaker.

In this podcast, I dive deep into the real Challenges advisors base and bring you insightful conversations with top industry experts.

Together, we'll explore practical strategies grounded in behavioral science to help you better serve your clients, optimize your time, and build a future ready practice.

Hi everyone I'm your host Sam Sivarajan. Welcome to today's episode of The Future Ready Advisor. Today I'm here with Michael Clark, a veteran financial advisor and the author of the book a firm Worth Building. Michael, welcome to the show.

Yeah. Thanks. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Delighted to have you and looking forward to our conversation, let me quickly introduce you to our audience. Joining us today is Michael Clark, the author of the book, a firm Worth Building, a guide for professional businesses to scale and thrive by focusing on running the business well rather than just their technical specialties.

Michael grew his advisory firm from modest beginnings to managing half a billion dollars, becoming a driving force behind the National Referral Network. His book offers 30 essential lessons for business owners, including building client trust quickly and leveraging professional networks for.

Michael and this team are forward thinkers who believe in building what should exist.

Not just what currently does.

Michael, let's start and dive in. You've been an advisor for over 30 years. Can you share with us some of the pivotal moments in your career that significantly shaped your professional power?

Sure. And by the way, thanks for that introduction. I I hope I'm.

Worthy of it.

Look, I I started my journey in this business back in the 90s.

And I I I think for the longest time it was just about survival. It was just about, you know, how do we how do I keep the lights on, keep food on the table, you know, that kind of thing.

You know what? I wasn't. I I started out in the Commission part of the business. I started out as an insurance agent.

UM, and I think I saw it just as a sales job. I saw it as a Commission sales job. I I didn't see it as I'm building a business, OK.

So in a nutshell, it whenever I'm asked. OK, well, what was the biggest key to your success?

I'm just my answer is well, I I survived. I didn't die.

Because I've made, I mean every single mistake you could make from, you know, not hiring staff to not investing back into my business, to not taking the educational components as seriously as I as I could have as early as I could have. Just just everything. I I didn't know that.

What I had was an actual business, OK?

So I had to learn that sort of the hard way and there there weren't a lot of people around to to help me.

Or to mentor me into building a business. So, I mean, I was just sort of flailing away at it.

And just trying to survive. And I as I did that for.

I don't know. Maybe.

The.

First, almost first half of my career. Almost.

And then I started to get serious about building actual infrastructure and and getting on the road of, you know, what fulfilling what my long term vision was and and which means I had to think about what it was. I had to decide what I wanted and.

UM.

What you want to do is build the business.

That's so profound, and we'll dive into that a little bit more. And it's an interesting point that you've made that you are based in California and even within California moving from Northern California to Los Angeles. I mean, as you say, you're starting over again, you're building. Can you talk a little bit about that? Like what what was actually involved in terms of, if you will?

To start over again, and because you've said to me that look, you've made it every mistake in the book.

And presumably when you started over again, this was an opportunity for you to kind of undo some of those early mistakes that you've made. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah.

Sure. Would that I had the wisdom to have realized.

That.

I did not. It was jumping from one jungle to the next and just it was just surviving in another jungle basically.

But no, I think. But what I will say is so I came to Los Angeles for personal reasons, family reasons really. That's that's why I did it. One thing I did realize early on is that I will become like those I associate with. So I I I've always sought.

The right relationships, and I've always played this as a team sport from the beginning because I don't know any other way to do it.

So in associating with people who are more successful than me, I did learn a few things. OK, I learned how to interview really well, I think. OK, I learned that if I didn't know something or didn't feel like I was an expert in a particular area, I needed to work with somebody else who was.

OK, I also learned that I needed to build them up in the eyes of the people that I was talking to. I mean, our industry for whatever reason, throws us out as a bunch of lone.

Wolves.

And we're all solo acts for the most part.

But I learned that I I needed to borrow other people's expertise if I didn't have it myself. So there I I think at that juncture, there were a lot of things that started to.

Turn.

Even though I wasn't at the point where I was building the infrastructure that would see me having a real, honest to goodness business. But I feel like there were some some.

Very significant steps forward that I started.

In my experience, this is a process, right? You're not suddenly going to get all of the pieces in place. You have to start. It's a bit of a trial and error, but what I understand from what you say is that there's a process where you start thinking more deliberately, right and mindfully about what are you doing and why you're doing it. And there's a long term plan that may not necessarily reap dividends.

In the short run, but in the long run it's it's it's.

A good way of doing it? Yeah, I had to deliberately. I had to deliberately pay the rent I had deliberately pay childcare. Yes, there was a lot of deliberate.

And part.

No, but to your point, you're right that the surviving is an initial start for anybody in this industry. Yeah. And I I dare say that your experience is similar to mine and others that I've seen. I remember, like, early you take on any client, right. That wants to take it. I remember to me clear as light. There was a time where we had a very large.

Opportunity for a significant client. I went in with the team member to go meet with that client to do the the Dog and pony etcetera. And this client, you know, went.

To tell us that, like every year, he interviews 5 potential money managers and he pick.

Five and the following year he fires the the, the, the two worst performing providers.

And if you'd asked me a few years before, I would have, you know, sat there and tried my darndest to try to get that client. I said at that point. Sorry, I don't think we're the right fit, and I excuse myself when we walked out and I think this is illustrative. What we are talking about, about being deliberate and thinking through this.

But that comes with a little bit of experience, a little bit of confidence, a little bit of understanding. This is who I was, you know, serve and this is who.

I don't right?

You make you make a great point there because I I think there came a point when.

I had to focus on who I was going to work best with, and I think I my hand was forced. I was about 10 years into the.

OK.

Business.

And again, I was just kind of I was doing OK, but I was just kind of.

Surviving but I.

Wanted to align myself with these other professionals that were also in our business because they had access to a marketplace in Southern California that I felt I could help.

But the barrier to entry for them is I had to double my production in one year, OK, which is?

A.

Giant challenge I managed to do that because I started saying no to those people that I had formerly been chasing with the mindset that I need everybody, OK?

MHM.

And I started becoming a lot more focused on on what I wanted, who I was gonna work well with and started, you know, just.

Throwing a lot of throwing a lot of fish back as it were, and I I and I think that was the year I learned how powerful that was. Like somebody once said to me years.

MMMM.

MHM.

No.

You make more money saying no than you do saying yes and I, you know, to your point, I think that's what you were saying as well.

So on that note, you talk about in your book a firm worth building. You emphasize the importance of running the business well, not just focusing on professional specialities.

Talked a little bit about how this perspective is influenced the way you see the future of financial advisory practices. I mean how your experiences shape writing the book and how you think the book is shaping your own view of how the the industry is evolving?

Well, the industry is evolving. I personally think it's evolving away from being transactionally oriented.

And it's evolving towards building relationships.

Mm-hmm.

I think we focused on building relationships now for a long, long time, almost the entirety of my career.

So I I think that's one thing I I advisors should really be focusing on what their clients really are there for and why they're considering hiring them.

And most of that has to do with outcome and less to do with mechanics and.

All the things we feel like we're expert in, in other words, a trap that I fell into earlier. I use this as an example, so once I start to understand the science of investing, OK, I start to understand things like portfolio theory and its origins and all that kind of stuff.

I was really excited to share it because I thought it was cool and I thought it would make people trust me more because I could speak about this and then.

I discovered no one cared.

And because it wasn't speaking to them, it wasn't speaking to what it was they were talking to me for. So I think that.

I think a lot of things haven't changed. I mean, speak to you. We call it speaking to the listening I guess, but it really is, is all about why are your clients there. And then again I go, I go back to representing being part of a team, if you can, we need we need to all be working in teams these days that that's like I think there has been a seismic shift in.

Our business and our industry as it relates to how we interface with our clients, other advisors, their attorneys, their tax people, whomever they're working with, we all need to be sitting at the table together and not working in silos. We need to be working. We're working on behalf of clients of common clients. We should all know each other.

OK.

We should interact occasionally.

And the other thing I'll say is most advisors don't build infrastructure properly. They're, I mean, there are a lot of things advisors do, they just shouldn't be doing, you shouldn't be.

Processing paperwork, for example or now it's new account paperwork is all done virtually now.

But.

There's some administrative things our our advisors shouldn't be doing that. What we should be doing is studying the business, studying people, continuing to educate ourselves, staying up on the things we need to stay up.

On and being forward thinking with regard to how are we gonna provide tomorrow's solutions, not just the ones we.

Today.

I like that and it reminds me what you say of a of an old boss that I had who always used to tell us, work on the business, not in the business. And I think you have to do both, right. It's a bit of walking and chewing gum at the same time, but but I think you're 100% right that too many people get caught in the day-to-day the urgent.

Yeah.

Versus the important right, they're solving today's problems and neglecting what may be the opportunities, the the game changing opportunities that are around.

The corner, yeah.

I and just one of the things I learned early on and and was and I actually learned this in my former career before I got into this industry is.

If something's in my hand like a piece of paper or whatever it requires my attention, I'm going to do it right then and there, unless there is some huge reason why I can.

And I've operated that way for so long that now if you walk into my office, excuse me, my desk has nothing on.

It.

Because habitually I'm taking care of things in the moment, and I find that to be so much more productive, and by the.

Way.

Ohh my gosh, what a stress reliever.

OK.

Because I don't want to walk into my office and.

10 things that I have to do there are leftover from yesterday.

Yeah, yeah.

You mentioned something about building infrastructure and when we talked before Michael, you talked about this specific concept around infrastructure, about building digital family offices. Can you explain a little bit what a digital family office is and why you believe that that's both an opportunity and the future of wealth management?

Sure. Well, I you know, we're all familiar with with what a family office is. It's the ultra Uber wealthy solution. You know, you you go to one place and you get everything, everything from wealth management tax.

Estate planning to travel arrangements if you want to go on.

Insurance.

A trip to.

But it is a solution that up until very recently was available only to those that were really.

Really wealthy.

The idea of the digital family office.

To bring that solution to just to anybody, by bringing together groups of advisors the the CPA, the attorney in some cases may be a business attorney, it could be CFO, it could be a lot of people.

Whoever.

Should be sitting at the table with regard to moving.

And managing somebody's wealth.

That's the idea. And so typically where we begin.

And.

Is by introducing ourselves to our clients, other advisors and saying, hey, since we work for a common client, maybe we should know each other.

And and maybe.

We should consider being on each others team versus just knowing each other. There's a difference between.

You, knowing an attorney and what they do and the two of you being on one another's team for the sake of common clients. It's a different experience for the client.

So build the really building the digital Family Office is nothing more than just bringing everyone together, OK?

And and establishing those lines of communication and you know, running point for the clients and and talking about how how all of this is working, we should be asking our clients.

If they have needs beyond what we do, I'm always asking clients what's the condition of your state plan? Do you have one? Does it need to be updated? Is the attorney that did it still an attorney? Often they aren't.

It's important that we're asking all these questions because I I.

Get.

All kinds of responses that are about you know.

Yeah, we need to do that.

MM.

Can you recommend someone?

The more I do that, the more of those calls I get.

Because I know that my clients are seeing me as the point person in the world, kind of like the quarterback, that's who I want to be.

I want to dig into that a bit more, Michael. I think this this concept of digital family office, I I understand that this is aligned with your general view that you need to build strong referral networks. But when we discussed you had a really good point that too many advisers think about.

Yeah.

That referral network is almost like a Rolodex, right that.

You have the business card, you have the name and number, etcetera. But what you are thinking about is something a little bit more deeper and more nuanced. Can you explain that?

I.

Yeah, I am. And I'm glad you brought that up.

But the industry has always told advisers go get to know a couple of CPA's go get to know a couple of attorneys, and the way we've always approached this, hey, take them to lunch and tell them how great you are. They'll send you clients.

OK. And how well does that work? It don't so and we all kind of know that which is why everybody gets frustrated with it.

Doesn't work that way.

Yeah.

What I'm talking about is building an actual honest to goodness partnership where we're actually assisting each other in one another's success. It's different. I have if you're an attorney or CPA, I have to be valuable to your practice when she's every single time I talk to you, I have to bring you something you can use.

OK.

Now, often that's information we create a lot of content of various varieties from a lot of different people, but it also could be in the form of, hey, you know, my industry teaches me how to interview really. Well, maybe I could bring some of those benefits to you and maybe it could enhance the way.

Where?

You interact not only with your existing people, but with with new people. We a lot of the data shows that attorneys and CPA's don't market to their existing clients at all.

All. But if they did, they would raise their revenue per client by as much as I don't know, maybe the numbers 30 to 40%, something like that. It's not a small number.

So when I am building a partnership with another professional, this is what I'm saying to them. Look, I'm gonna. I'm gonna help you be better, OK? As a means of being valuable to you and which just means I'll share with you what it is we do. Well, and you can use it.

For your own purposes or not, whatever I'm telling you, you have to.

But I think there's a lot. There's a lot we can offer and I think so if I'm showing up as that person who has a stake in your success, it it's a different kind of interaction and it's a real partnership.

So what you're talking about is a much more proactive and deeper relationship than you know, perhaps the annual lunch where you talk about your golf handicap or anything else you're talking about.

Hey, by the way, I've seen this with my clientele. Is that something that you're seeing? Is that something I can help you with? Right. I mean, where as you say that you're you're creating a partnership where it isn't reactive. That one person isn't waiting for a referral from the other. It's actually. What can you do collectively to go out there?

Right.

And develop business together.

Yeah. And it's all about us telling essentially the same story. My story with my clients is I am going to try it to solve every problem I can, whether it means I refer you to somebody else to do it or whether we do it in house.

OK.

So what? We're talking to our partners about doing is having the same conversation saying look.

I'm in a state planning journey, but we can also, by extension address other needs because we have other relationships.

I'm going to ask you about what's going on in other areas and you just tell me how you're feeling about what's going on. It doesn't and.

It.

Doesn't matter what the answer is, you're going to be elevated in the eyes of your client simply for by asking the question.

I love that description and it makes me think of an analogy that I heard somebody use with me, which is that it it's akin to a family doctor or a General practitioner. Yeah, they're not the expert. OK, but it a good family doctor is going to refer their patient to the cardiologist, to the rheumatologist. Or what?

Have you but their jobs not done at that?

Right.

Once they, the patient goes to the cardiologist and gets a work up and there's a report coming back, the family Doctor is going to use that report and integrate it into their daily care to say because of what you've learned from the cardiologist, this is how we need to change the rest of your routine, right? That's what you're talking about and playing a role.

That, that, that, that.

With your clients.

Yeah, that's a that's a great way to describe it. I mean, I've, I've joked about it and said if I went into my dentist office and there was a second head growing out of my shoulder, I wouldn't expect they would know what to do with it, but.

I'd want him.

To say something, yes, yes.

Your example, which much more eloquent than mine by the.

Way.

Thank you. Look, I think on those lines, you're talking about being involved and creating, I think whether it's content or value at each step of the process. Yeah, when we talked, you had told me about your intake process.

With new clients and how you broken it down into four different meetings because you can't possibly cover everything in one meeting, right? With different educational material that you use in each of those meetings to stay connected and build trust.

Can you walk us through that four different meetings and what you're involved and what type of content you use and how that's?

Worked for you.

Sure. Well, let me answer that first by by talking about what we used to do, you know which was the standard sort of advisor intake, which took a long time. I was taught to send somebody a question there before I even met with him. The questionnaire was.

I mean, nobody filled it out. They looked at and went.

I'm.

Not going to do this, so you'd end up meeting with somebody and the intakes would take, you know.

Maybe two hours and and and and that was fine. I mean, you're you're you're trying to build a relationship, but.

M.

I think what we discovered is how much of it was retained not.

100%.

A whole lot.

Because it was just this big thing.

So what we've done over the years and I think COVID accelerated this because so many of us transitioned to a into a virtual way of doing business.

We took that intake process and we broke it up into four steps. The first step is risk tolerance. I'm gonna take somebody's temperature on what their emotional limits are regarding atypical portfolios behavior, and we're gonna go, OK, what about this one? About about that one. And I'm going to talk to them about.

In three weeks? Yeah.

Ohh Elizabeth, that's a big one, right? I mean, everybody's kind of doesn't know what to do and but if I I can tell you I had two clients who wanted me to make changes in their portfolio because of that event.

Freaking out.

Just two. OK, everybody else. I knew what their emotional limits are, and I knew what their tolerance for risk was. And nobody else called.

OK.

I mean, a few people here and there, but during.

Hmm.

That.

Period. You'd be shocked at the number of people that didn't call. I mean. And it's because, you know, we're taking the time to know that. OK, so I have to know what your limits are because I don't want. And by the way, the two people that said make changes.

So.

Those changes worked against.

Them OK.

Because they made emotional fear based decisions, so I have to know what your emotional limits are so you don't make an emotional fear based decision which 90% of the time is.

Gonna go against you, OK?

Right.

The second meeting, once I know that, then we're going to take a look at how does your current investment mixture stack up against your risk tolerance? Are they aligned or are they not OK?

And if they're not, we're going to look at, well, how could we possibly improve this kind of spitball a little bit and go? OK, well.

What if we did this? What if we did this? What if we did this? OK, so they're gonna get a bit of a bit of a flavor of, you know, what direction we might go in if they came on board the third meeting, though. And I think this is one of probably most important is we're gonna do a very skeletal or basic financial plan for them. We call it an express plan. OK.

But it's going to give them an idea of where the road for them leads. So 99% of the people we meet with just want to get to a point in time where they have economic freedom. OK, but economic freedom isn't just about getting there. It's about staying there. OK, so we're going to put together a basic financial plan which will.

Illustrate for them if they can get there and stay there, and if there are adjustments they need to make before the fact, we can suggest those adjustments as well. But it's often the first time these people have seen this. It's like we get comments all the time. Nobody's ever done this.

MHM.

OK.

The fourth meeting is OK now that you've seen all of this, this is how we would work with you if you came on board majority the people.

Somewhere during Step 3, they're like I'm.

In.

OK.

So I think there is I I think we've found it to be a process. It's really, really effective. The other part of it is it takes me as an advisor, it takes me out of my own head.

M.

I've start listening to people. I have to start assimilating their answers. I have to start.

Really, at a much deeper level, understanding them as opposed to getting my.

Right. OK.

Which I think a lot of advisors, especially newer advisors, it's an easy trap to fall into. I want to make sure I do a good presentation. Who cares?

Talk to me.

Look, that's a great point. The the key there is there is an investment of time that you're putting in, but because it's structured because you're listening.

You are offsetting the the time that it's take by improving your success rate. From what I gather right I mean your success has gone up dramatically when you have this structured 4 step process as opposed to saying. Here's the presentation. I'm gonna go through it and go to follow up and ask you if you have any questions.

Right.

Follow up three weeks after that to ask you if you have any.

Actions. This process kind of indicates to the prospective client that you're methodical that your discipline, that you have a process, and there you're there to build a long term relationship instead of getting a quick win.

Right. And and what I would also say is and I forgot to mention this. So we do a lot of educational stuff, OK, we do at least one we do a town hall webinar every month where.

Bringing on a different professional to talk about what they do and we're taking on and tackling the issues of the moment.

And all that.

Stuff.

So we have this library of of of educational content and and between these meetings we will almost insist that the people we're talking to watch at least one of those webinars.

Because it fills in the gaps, they'll watch it and go. Ohh, that's what he was talking about.

And they'll learn it is such an effective tool when it comes to keeping, you know, keeping the interest on the fire burning. But it also gives them an idea. It gives them a way in a super non threatening way where they can take a look at us and go, Oh yeah, this is this is this is what these guys are OK.

But a lot of this even starts before that, because there, you know, the first time you meet with somebody, you're getting.

Acquainted.

That's when you really want to determine.

Whether it's a fit.

And and and and we do say in those meetings. Look, I am not here to sell you anything. I'm here so that you and I can decide if it's appropriate for us to work together.

The fit is right.

Right.

And that's not what the industry teaches.

Now.

And again, this is what we've talked about even from the outset, that this only comes with experience in developing your own business plan etcetera to say this is what works and this is the type of clients that you want.

Right. It's the industry doesn't teach you because like everything else it let's use driving for an example that's meant to teach the the average Joe driver how to drive. There are lots of people with drivers license that perhaps shouldn't have one right, but at least if I look at my local traffic. But I think that the idea.

Yes.

And most of them are driving Priuses in Los Angeles. But OK.

But the idea is that you have to take what you learn from general and then tailor it specifically to your needs. Your practice, your strengths, your niche, etcetera.

Apologies to all the Prius owners, by the way.

Anyway.

I want to go back to the the digital Family Office and the network partners. I think when we were talking, you had a, a, a, a really interesting concept of this client Bill of Rights that you used to ensure that interests and approaches are aligned. Talk to me a little bit about that.

Well, that actually came about because over the years as we have referred out to many professionals.

Look, there's no other way to say this. There are.

A lot of knuckleheads out there, OK?

UM.

And what I mean by that is those that do not perpetuate the experience you're looking to perpetuate if you make a referral to somebody.

What you primarily care about is will they continue the experience that my client is used to?

And unfortunately for us, at least, a lot of times that didn't happen.

So we came up with the idea of the network as a way of holding everybody accountable to a certain standard.

And we developed the client Bill of Rights and I guess it's a lot like that patient Bill of Rights you see in hospitals. It's nothing crazy. It's, you know, return a phone call in 48 hours, answer an e-mail, be transparent in your fee structure.

Answer questions without slipping into too much industry speak, you know.

It's it's the stuff.

You really shouldn't even have to say, OK.

I love this idea and the reason I love it is I think one of the biggest fears that advisors have is making a referral. If it works well, you might get a slight pat on your back, but if it doesn't work well, it could cost you. Your relationship with your client.

Right.

Even though you had nothing to do with their bad experience, and so I think to encourage referral to encourage this team sport that you're talking about.

Which to me makes sense that that is the right approach and the approach to the future, because one person can't be an expert on everything. No, this idea of having a client Bill of Rights and having that conversation with the network partners to say this is the minimum standards that you know your client can expect from me if you refer them to me.

Can we assume that that's going to be the same in reverse, right?

Well, yeah, not yeah, we we're going to assume that the experience is going to be what we want it to be, but I I even go a step further. If I make a referral, especially for the first time, I will sit in on the meeting.

So if I make a.

Referral.

To let's say.

Interesting.

A trust attorney. And they're gonna meet for the first time. I'm at that meeting.

OK.

I wanna look at what people are getting y'all.

I mean, I gotta know that. And I if I'm going to be someone who's building partnerships, I have to know what they look like.

Yep.

Because this is happening on my wife.

And your clients or your clients OK with that, that they're sitting in.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, no, I say look, if it's OK with you, can I sit on the meeting?

Like. Yeah, please. OK.

Oh great.

So I don't think I've ever had somebody say no, they didn't want that. Now. Now, once the process is kind of underway, I'll back off a little bit because I don't. I don't.

Want to look over?

Anybody's shoulder either, OK.

Right.

But the other thing that I do insist on is that communicate with you. If you're working with one of my clients in an area that I don't work and communicate with me about.

What's going on? OK.

For example, if it's a trust attorney and you meet with the client, and they maybe even they pay you a retainer, which often happens.

And then now all of a sudden you can't get ahold of that client. You need information and they've gone radio silent, for crying out loud. Tell me about that, because I can jumpstart it, cause I'll probably talk to him before you.

M.

Will right, right.

So that's just another aspect of team play that's beneficial for everyone.

Makes sense?

Michael, what advice would you give to other advisors from the lessons that you've learned, advice for innovation and building practices that are ready for the future?

Well, #1, take a look around you and see who you want to associate with. If you if you're trying to grow associate with people who are bigger than you are and associate.

With people who?

Align with your values I think.

Associate with people who align with your thinking and learn to play this as a team sport. It's not.

About.

You.

It's about you and everybody else that's working on behalf of the people, you.

Want.

To work with and speak well of these people, we preach, and it's this is in the book. We call it the triangle of edification. It's nothing more than building up somebody else, and it's not, by the way, it's not just another professional that you might.

MHM.

Work with.

It's your staff, it's your firm, it's your and the more. And I don't mean in a disingenuous way. I mean find something genuine to edify and to amplify. OK. We amplify our support staff all the time.

Because they make us look good. You know, the majority of interactions that my clients have with my practice, they don't have with me.

They have with my support team.

And and that's by design. But the more I'm edifying, the people around me, I will get farther, faster doing that. And the last thing is always stay aste.

Didn't.

Stay a student of the business, stay a student of the market. As a student of what you and more than anything else, be it be a student of human behavior.

Ohh, I couldn't agree with you. More human behavior is probably the one constant for the most part, but the markets changing technologies, changing regulations are changing. It's the the the clients needs and their expectations are changing, but they're still based, I would say on on the same fundamental principles of safety, security.

Purpose.

Meaning, engagement. All of those things that has existed since time immemorial, they're just manifesting themselves in different ways in different periods.

Michael, this has been a great conversation. We're coming to the end of our podcast. So I have a few final rapid fire questions for you that I asked all of my guests.

OK.

Rapid fire.

So when you're ready #1 profession professionally, what is the most important lesson you've learned over the years?

I'm ready. I'm ready.

Ohh wow.

Go to work.

I mean it. Well, what I mean is.

What do you?

By that.

Every day I have to make a decision about where my energies are most deserving. OK, like what is the most productive thing I can do today?

And then I have to execute whatever that is on a daily basis. So it really happens in short time increments. If I've learned anything.

Focus on what I can control right now and focus on what will make a difference.

Cool.

And secondly, what is 1 practical tip you would offer listeners keen on applying your insights from your book from your practice?

Well, if you're talking about just any professional decide what you want, decide what kind of business you want to build. Decide who.

You want to work with.

Decide what makes you feel fulfilled. As a professional, we insist that.

Everybody at our firm right out, for example, their ideal client profile. If you're going to go fishing for salmon, take gear that will help you catch salmon, you know.

The right gate.

Look, this is a great point and it's we touched on it earlier, I think and and it ties into your first tip about do the work. I think if you're doing the work do it deliberately. Yes, about what it is that you want to achieve and why you're doing it and and put that into action as opposed to kind of accidentally doing it because that seems to be the the next logical.

Well.

I using that did you? Did you watch the the men's basketball gold medal game this past weekend? Did she see Steph Curry at the end? Yeah. So Steph Curry, just.

Yeah.

Went insane for like 2 minutes. OK.

That's not an accident. Steph Curry shoots. I think somebody said 300 free throws a day.

OK.

That should teach us all something about the value of deliberate work, OK?

Which is what you're talking about. So yes, work deliberately.

Those that do that are the ones that succeed. It's it's not. It's not a radical concept.

No, it's a great. It's a great example, Michael. This has been a really fun conversation. If listeners want to learn more about you, your book, where do they go?

Yes, OK. So the book is a firmware building. It's backwards here on the screen. It does say a firmware building. It's available on Amazon. Everything I've talked about here today is in the book and then some. OK. The book is a sum total of our experience. It actually is a lot of it is derived out of mistakes.

We've made and also things that we're now doing that have been very successful for us. So that's where you can.

Get the book.

For.

If you're a professional CPA and attorney, whatever I think you're going to find it really value.

Great, Michael, thanks for joining us today on the future Ready Advisor Podcast.

Mike, thanks so much for having me, Sam.

In this episode, I spoke with Michael Clarke, financial adviser and the author of the book a firm Worth Building. Here are my three key takeaways from this discussion #1 build for long term success, not just survival. Michael emphasizes that success isn't just about making it through tough times.

Advisors should shift focus from simply staying afloat to deliberately building infrastructure, defining a vision, and investing in the systems and people that enable growth.

#2 the power of saying no, learning to say no to clients who don't align with your values or business model can be a game changer. By focusing on ideal clients, Michael doubled his production and found more satisfaction in his work.

#3 leverage teamwork and partnerships.

The future of wealth management lies in collaboration. Michael's concept of the Digital Family Office integrates advisors, attorneys, and other professionals into a cohesive team, ensuring a seamless client experience. It's not about working solo, it's about building a network of trusted partners.

These insights remind us that intentionality and collaboration are the keys to a thriving practice. Thank you for tuning into today's episode of The Future Ready Advisor.

You've been listening to the future Ready advisor. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or a rating on Spotify, or share your feedback wherever you listen. Be sure to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. For more insights on how to keep your practice.

Future ready visit www.samsivarajan.com.

You can find the link on the show notes. There you'll find free tools and resources along with exclusive bonus content from these podcasts. Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to sharing more strategies with you in the next episode.