Pivoting Niches While Remaining Mission-Driven

June 03, 2020

#XYPNRadio Feature Image Episode 258

We are thrilled to have XYPN member, Angie Furubotten-LaRosee, owner of Avea Financial Planning, a fee-only firm in Richland, WA, on the show today. Angie shares her unique experience in the world of entrepreneurship, having launched her firm once in 2011 and then again in 2018. She expresses the challenges she and others have faced when starting a business, particularly in those first few years.

Join us as we talk extensively about niches: from 2018 when Angie’s niche was college planning to today, where she now serves women in the STEM industries. Listen as she discusses how she leverages the support of coaches, training, and her network to help her not only stay motivated, but to hone her message and her niche.

If you're interested in understanding how to pivot a niche, then this podcast is for you.

Listen to the Full Interview:

 

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What You'll Learn from This Episode:

  • A current overview of Angie’s firm and career (00:02:48)
  • Angie’s decision to serve local clients vs. creating a virtual firm and how her starting niche -college planning - played a part in that decision (00:06:34)
  • The start of Angie’s career post-college and how she got introduced to the RIA space (00:12:13)
  • Why Angie left a fee-only firm in 2011 and decided to launch her own firm (00:16:09)
  • Angie’s first year since launching her new firm, Avea Financial Planning, in 2018 (00:20:37)
  • How to run a firm despite the lack of income in the first year of business (00:28:33)
  • Angie’s desire to help women take better control of their financial lives and how that has continued to motivate her in running her firm (00:30:59)
  • Continuing Education programs that have helped Angie and her firm (00:40:54)
  • How Angie’s business coach experience has helped her find her niche and continue to be successful in running her business (00:45:34)
  • Leaning into the community for support (00:50:22)

 

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Narrator: [00:00:01] Join your host, Maddy Roche, as she brings you into a community, a fee only financial advisors who are successfully building profitable businesses that serve the next generation of clients. Learn from innovative advisors whose unique stories will inspire you to dream big and take action on your goals. Are you ready to live your best life and hope your clients live theirs? Then you're in the right place.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:00:24] Hello and welcome to this episode of #XYPNRadio. I'm Maddy Roche, your host. I'm excited to have XYPN member, Angie Furubotten-LaRosee, owner of Avea Financial Planning, a fee-only firm in Richland, WA, on the show today. Angie has a unique experience entering the world of entrepreneurship; she's tried it more than once. In 2011, Angie pursued her CFP® and opened up her own RIA, offering financial planning to those in need. However, after a few trying years, she closed it and didn't reopen her doors until 2018 when she found XYPN. Angie talks a lot about the challenges she and others are up against when starting a business, especially in those first few years. When Angie started her most recent RIA, she went deep into the college planning niche, but she has since pivoted and tells us why. Today, she serves women in the STEM industries, specifically those who work at the Hanford site, a major employer in her hometown. She relies heavily on the support of coaches, training, and her network to help her not only stay motivated, but to hone her message and her niche. Angie doesn't feel like she's met her full potential in terms of the impact that she can have on this world, and she cannot wait to continue to provide meaningful and lasting relationships to the women in her community. If you're interested in understanding how to pivot a niche, then this podcast is for you.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:01:47] Avocado toast. Selfies. A mountain of student loan debt. Gen Y is anything but traditional, and with over seventy five million people, it's a population you don't want to ignore. Learn more about how to serve this unique population in our guide called "Attract and Profitably Serve Millennial Clients in your RIA." Discover three key ways to tap into the millennial market and six things that they want from their financial advisor. Visit xyplanningnetwork.com/millennials for your free copy.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:02:18] You can find any of the resources we mentioned during this episode at xyplanningnetwork.com/258. Also, be sure to go to xyplanningnetwork.com/VIP to join our private group just for #XYPNRadio listeners. It's the community of advisors we've all been looking for that's there to provide support when we need it the most. Best of all, it's free! I encourage you to check it out. Again, that's xyplanningnetwork.com/VIP. Without further ado, here's my interview with Angie.

 

[00:02:48] -- swish --

 

Maddy Roche: [00:02:48] Angie, welcome to #XYPNRadio. How are you?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:02:51] I'm doing great. I am so excited to finally be here and be talking to you, Maddy!

 

Maddy Roche: [00:02:57] I know! I have so looked forward to this! There-there's so much to talk about today; I feel sometimes limited with the- with only having an hour for our podcast, but I think we can, we can put in a lot of good information today and certainly give you some credit for what you've done over these years, so I will let you do the honors, Angie, per usual. Go ahead and introduce your firm door listeners: where are you located, who do you work with, how many clients.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:03:21] Okay! I am located in south-eastern Washington State, the wonderful state of Washington.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:03:28] Awesome!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:03:29] And we call it the Tri-Cities; it's made up of three cities - Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland - so I'm right here in the bottom right corner. My firm name is Avea Financial Planning and I've been in business since- I call January 1, 2018 my start date, so it's just the end of two years now. For the first year and a half solid, I was really marketing and doing the niche thing towards families with college bound kids because that was me. That is me. I am a parent with two kids. My-my oldest is now in college, so we've kind of gotten to that point, but I started back on with Joe's program back in 2017. I think I was part of his inaugural group, but all of that, so I just love the material. Really spoke to me. I saw a lot of value in that type of thing, but I just really did not find that there was demand because I was really marketing locally in my area. My area has about a population of roughly 300,000, so we're not close to Seattle, we're not close to Portland, not close to Vancouver or Spokane, which are the major areas around here. And, I just struggled. I struggled with that niche, so since about, I want to say, March or April of last year, I actually started coaching with Brewer Consulting back in February, March timeframe. And through that process, I changed my niche completely to a very specific employer, part of our economy here in town. It's not just one employer; it's kind of hard to describe, but we call it the Hanford site, and what it is, is basically the Department of Energy runs a nuclear facility out there that goes all the way back to World War II, the Manhattan Project, the Cold War developing plutonium for the bombs... Now the mission is cleanup, and so they're not making plutonium anymore thankfully. They're now having to clean up the messes of all of that plutonium creation, and so it's a, It's a huge project. It's funded by the Department of Energy, but the way I describe it is that we have the DOE, they have major contractors and then they have subcontractors and then so on and so on.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:05:56] Wow.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:05:56] So even though it's not one employer, it all kind of ties together. People relate: "I work at the Hanford site." That's kind of what you say. And so even deeper, however, I made the choice to focus on women in STEM careers because that Hanford site employs women in STEM: scientists, engineers, educators, you know, that type of people. And so I've just systematically made the decision that I wanted to work and market toward women in STEM careers who work at Hanford.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:06:33] Wow!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:06:33] So that's who I'm working for.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:06:35] From-from one niche to another, what an incredible journey. And I'm-I'm looking forward to getting a little deeper on that, and I guess I'll-I'll just get right to it: I'm interested in your decision to remain local versus kind of creating a virtual firm. We talk to a lot of members that service clients almost exclusively, virtually -

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:06:54] Yeah.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:06:54] - and that's what they're proud of, but then we've had other members on the podcast, and other advisors, talk about how they really had a desire to do something a little bit more local. One of the reasons you mentioned for kind of moving away from the college planning was that the local market wasn't biting.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:08] Right.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:07:10] What is your connection to the local market and why did you choose to remain somewhat local?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:15] So I'm from here. This is my hometown.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:07:17] Awesome.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:17] I actually live in the house I was raised in. This room is my brother's old room.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:07:24] Haha what fun!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:24] It was kind of funny, so you know, whether or not that rings with people or not, but when they go to my website and if they've taken the time to read about me, you know -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:07:34] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:34] - and they they realize that I am here, I'm here to stay, and I think that -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:07:38] Wow.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:38] - has some validity right there. Ironically, though, back when I was getting started, my very first two clients were from the Bay Area and they were college-planning focused families -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:07:48] Interesting.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:48] - so that kind of kicked me off in that direction, but it was like all that and then nothing, you know, after that, so I really worked hard. I -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:07:58] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:07:58] - I connected with the local high schools, I attended FAFSA nights, I- they have a big, long college week here that all the colleges come to town for one week and they hit up all of our, I don't know, 9 high schools that we have here in town, and I had a booth, you know, and I passed out flyers and I got names and e-mails and things like that, and it just... It- I did classes! It just didn't go anywhere, so... I think, you know, undoing that was tough. It was a tough decision because you invested a lot of time -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:08:26] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:08:26] - and energy and all that into that, but the local aspect, I just felt like that was more natural to me.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:08:33] Yeah.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:08:33] And we have a... We have - especially by the niche that I've moved into - there's just plenty of opportunity.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:08:40] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:08:40] Definitely. And especially speaking to women, because I really feel like we may all say, if we talk about it, is we're underserved. And so -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:08:49] Yeah.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:08:49] - I feel like I have plenty of opportunity just right here, my back yard. And I do like to meet with people in person. I mean, -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:08:55] Yeah.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:08:55] - I offer virtual meetings and, you know, now with the coronavirus and all that stuff, that's becoming a better option if that's what people want to do, but ultimately, I do like to meet people's face-to-face. And I think people here also appreciate the face-to-face part, so...

 

Maddy Roche: [00:09:11] Absolutely, and I love the location niche! I think your credibility - that this is a location that you have a lot of buy into and you've spent time in - gives you a lot of credit in the eyes of clients, especially local ones. And I always think of Jennifer Harper, one of our original XYPN members, and her focus is on Chattanooga locals. And yeah, it really is very much a psychographic niche in a way, that you've got to love where you live and you got to love what you're doing there, things like that. You mentioned Joe - Joe Messenger -

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:09:41] Yeah.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:09:41] - with Capstone College Planners, and -

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:09:43] Right.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:09:43] - I know he and Dave have a really great program, and I'm wondering, at what point did you decide it was time to switch? Because we know some folks have a lot of success in the college planning area and others don't. I'm wondering...

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:09:54] Mhmm.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:09:54] That decision is not easy.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:09:57] Mhmm. I'm pretty sure I started to come to that conclusion around this time last year.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:10:03] Hmm!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:10:03] But even last fall, which is when the high schools bring in the colleges, I still attended the college fair and spent a whole week.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:10:10] Mmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:10:10] I mean, literally morning to night at- five days a week at the area high school, so I still kind of gave it one last push, and-and I hosted a two night event through my community education and got absolutely no turnout, you know?

 

Maddy Roche: [00:10:27] Mmm!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:10:27] And it was just... It was kind of the-the nail in the coffin -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:10:33] Yeah.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:10:33] - so to speak! It was tough. And by then... By then I had been into Brewer, you know, Consulting a few months, and so I was really convicted to my new path. And now... I was just listening to Meg Bartelt's, one of her... I think her last podcast, actually, I was listening to that recently and she talked about... It took her time to find her own voice.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:10:54] Mmm!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:10:54] And I think that's where I'm at right now, is I'm, I'm really excited about this new direction and it's already resonating with me. I've had several prospects and I've already had several people comment, "your website speaks to me" because I've been working on it about the last two -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:11:09] Oh!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:11:09] - months, just changing the language, adding a little bit of photos and just-just the language primarily. And they honestly are saying, "it speaks to me. I feel like you're talking to me" and like, how awesome is that! I hadn't had that before, so it is confirmation that I feel like what I'm doing is going to be just fine, because what I've been doing has not been just fine. Haha!

 

Maddy Roche: [00:11:34] Mmm, absolutely. What a good feeling to -

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:11:36] Yeah!

 

Maddy Roche: [00:11:36] - feel that.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:11:37] I'm optimistic.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:11:38] Yeah! And to be told that by people, that it is working. I'm wondering the name of your firm, Avea, what a beautiful name. What-what connection does it have or where did it come from?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:11:50] From, you know, looking online.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:11:53] Hahaha!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:11:53] I don't even know that it has a meaning, to tell you the truth. It has -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:11:56] Yeah.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:11:56] - it's... I think it's got some Latin-based -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:11:59] Okay.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:11:59] - parts like "bird" -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:12:00] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:12:00] - or something. But I have to make up a story because I get this asked a lot, and it's like I don't have an answer for that because there really isn't. I just kind of wanted a short name that started with "A".

 

Maddy Roche: [00:12:11] Beautiful!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:12:11] And that's what I found.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:12:13] So let's take a walk through memory lane a bit and go back to kind of when your-your professional career started. Go ahead and tell the listeners about what you were doing post college and if you... You know, even in college, were you focused on financial planning? I'm interested in all the good details.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:12:31] Okay. Yeah, college? No.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:12:32] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:12:32] No financial planning at all. I was a international studies major. Really spent my junior year in France, you know, studied French for five years, that kind of thing. Right after college, got a job. And again, this was 1997, and I look back, I don't remember what the economy was doing, but I looked back and apparently it was a bit of a recession, and so... I didn't remember that or didn't necessarily feel that, but I do remember not having much for interviews on campus during that time, so I got two interviews. The first interview is with a company to bring teachers to Japan to teach English, and the second one was Lady Foot Locker for a manager position and -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:13:13] Wow!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:13:13] - I got both jobs. Two outta two! So I chose the-the job in Japan because it really fit more with my overall hopes and goals. You know, living internationally, you know, having some kind of international business career and so on. Well, that took me there for a year, it was a year contract, and I taught English in a particular school there, but then that evolved into more jobs, and I ended up actually picking up a husband over there. I call him my souvenir husband. He's not my current husband.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:13:43] Ohh!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:13:43] But, you know, so that kept me there five years, so I was there for five years...

 

Maddy Roche: [00:13:48] Wow!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:13:48] Yeah. And, you know, right after that, then we came back to America. Our marriage wasn't overly strong, so it didn't, it didn't last that long, but I moved back to the Tri-Cities -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:13:59] Mmm!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:13:59] - and my sister had a great idea.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:14:02] Oh?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:14:03] I had money burning a hole in my pocket because I had made good income when I was living in Japan. She wanted to open a beer store, and so this is -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:14:11] Wow!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:14:12] - the beginning of the microbrews. You know, Seattle microbrew scene and all that. And, "sure, okay, sis!" She's the older sister.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:14:21] Yeah?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:14:21] I went along with the ride and I had $30,000 in my pocket literally from just leaving Japan and having had savings and having split my half with my former husband.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:14:30] Wow.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:14:31] So we opened a beer store and that was my-my very first foray into business. My big takeaway from that, we were open for just three years and that was the lease agreement.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:14:44] Okay.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:14:44] But my big takeaway from that period was overhead kills you if you, you know, you can't afford your overhead; it's really tough. And, our overhead was super high because of the location that we had, so that's been a big takeaway with going forward with this business for sure. I'm going to fast forward through a couple of things. I did have a little -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:15:03] Sure.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:15:03] - part time job with MetLife. I met a person there, actually the MetLife guy who hired me, ultimately hired me 12-13 years ago now to be like an assistant in his new RIA, his new fee-only RIA here in town, and he partnered with another advisor, so they hired me and it was the three of us that launched their business, and they're still going today. That's the business that I left in 2017 because, I guess I would describe it, I-I was also a failed succession planning story... So in 2011, I got my CFP® and because I was somewhat disgruntled employee, not horribly - I did- I loved -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:15:43] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:15:43] - my two bosses and I loved being there, and I-I was actually there yesterday.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:15:47] Oh!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:15:47] Borrowing some software to do something. So, we have a great relationship still today, which is awesome, but I just felt like I needed to spread my own wings and I started my own RIA in 2011.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:16:00] Wow!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:16:00] By myself. All by myself, without you guys!

 

Maddy Roche: [00:16:04] Hahaha! No, yeah. We were not even a thought then!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:16:08] I know!

 

Maddy Roche: [00:16:09] So Angie, what gave you the courage? What- Where did you get the idea that going out on your own was what you could do?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:16:18] Well, I kind of always took care of the compliance where I worked. You know, I was- I met, I met Sergio - Sergio is still on my speed dial on my phone today - back in 2007, when he came to give us our technical visit back then when we were brand new, and I took care of the ADV updates and all of that every year. So, really, that's, that's all you need for getting stuff going: you need a bank account, you need a business name, you know, stuff like that. I didn't even have a business name! I was a sole proprietor for that first round... And I just did it. It took forever because I just didn't know what I was doing or how I should -

 

Maddy Roche: [00:16:56] Mhmm.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:16:56] - approach it, but I just, you know, you call people, you get questions answered and you just do it, so it was definitely doable... And I describe it though- because I was only working part time for those-those two bosses of mine, and so I technically had half a day to myself that I could pursue this, and I did. I... You know, I don't know if I shared this with you before, but basically I literally put a classified ad. We had a special part of the classified section in our local newspaper called the "Services Directory." It was meant for professionals. It took so long care. Three Grammar's idato financial advisers, you know, you name it. And once in a while, I'd stick my little picture in there as well. And it was probably fifth. Now it was a couple hundred bucks a month, but that stupid little ad brought me in some really great clients even back then, so you just never know. Thought of five people. I think what brought them in, though, is the fact that I was just doing planning at the time. I did not do investments at all, and-and they just wanted advice because most of these people were pre-retirees. They just wanted kind of that-that extra set of eyes that what they were thinking and doing was going to be OK and they could go ahead and retire. So that was a great experience. It really was. It did help me also get more confident in what I could do or couldn't do. And, you know, I didn't need by my bosses to help me through everything. I did it all by myself. So, yeah, there's was a big a big confidence booster for sure.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:18:32] Oh, I would I would totally imagine it being that way. Were your bosses supportive of you kind of starting this side hustle?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:18:39] Yeah. I mean, I had to tell them obviously, and we had to update the ATV to reflect that. And I'm pretty sure they just figured what what should you know. Yeah. Go go have fun. Go do your thing. And I did, you know. But ultimately what ended up happening is they de-partnered and I went full time for about two years, I think it was. And then at that point was when I started to get benefits and I, I got my first four one k you know, because I'd only been part time up till then. So it was just it was time to shut down that first alre go full time. Kind of continue to take care of the kids and things because my kids were in middle school about that time and I was really just planning my next month. I knew I wouldn't I knew I was going to do this again. I just didn't know when I knew I was going to do this again. So that's why I'm so happy to find X Y.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:19:38] Yes, absolutely. So when did you decide to close that? All right.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:19:43] 14. 2014.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:19:45] And do you recall how many clients you were serving at that point?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:19:49] You know, I did look back at one time. I don't have that right in front of me. But I want to say it actually kind of mirrored what I have experienced this time around to at least revenue wise. I can't remember the number of a client, a number of clients I had, but revenue wise was, again, kind of the struggling first two years. Right. And it was very, very close to that. So numbers of clients, I'm not sure. But also, ironically, I touched out, touch base with many of those people. A couple years ago, I wanna say, and I have one of those clients from back then is a client today and they're retired. You know, they weren't retired back then and now they're retired and they're doing fine and they're great. You know, I love them. They teach me stuff. They share stuff with me.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:20:37] Oh, that that is so cool. So let's talk about that first year in business. Fast forward to January of 2018, when Avea was-was becoming your second RIA. What was that first year like?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:20:53]  [00:20:53]It was very unfocused, [00:20:56] I would say. And, you know, now having gone through two full years, it's clearer to me when I'm looking back at maybe what I could have done differently. And I would say first: I think I just didn't know still what to do or how to do it, you know, just still figuring that stuff out, even though I had done it before. But, you know, gosh, 2011, honestly, that was almost pre pre Internet. But you free social media, I mean, there wasn't a whole lot of LinkedIn and things like that going on back then that I can recall, or at least I didn't take advantage of any of that. But I just felt like I was lost. That isn't did not know what I should be doing with every minute of my day or what what activities should I be doing day after day to generate clients, basically. So just very, very unfocused. And I feel like I got kind of pulled away from even trying to focus on those things by other activities that were fun. So I have a podcast. Right. And the podcast is fun. It's my very first project. I actually started on that. I want to say before I even got registered, you know, so. Again, Meg Meg is part of she helped mentor us about a year ago, right. And she was doing that for a small group of that group of us. And I remember her saying either to me personally or on the Facebook post or something about maybe your first things shouldn't be pushing on Kathy. Maybe you should go get clients first, you know. No, no, no, no, no. But I think it was just something I felt I could figure out how to do. And I did. I hadn't figured out how to get clients. And so that looking back, that was a mistake.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:22:45] I think that that's a really good point, though. And I don't know if you necessarily have to qualify it as a mistake. I think in hindsight, you definitely have different perspective. But I I want to give you some credit for for chasing after things that you want to do. I mean, I think what differentiates a lot of X Y advisers from other advisors is just this inherent drive that they have built to help and provide, but also to have their voice heard and to showcase their expertise and like you said, do something you knew how to do when you were good at. And there's no shame in that, especially while you're in that first year of twiddling their thumbs, waiting for those clients. But I could see that in hindsight, especially having been in your your first year for the second time, that you wanted to have maybe approached it differently. So I just talked to the listeners about how you would have approached that first year differently.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:23:32] Well, I think my mindset, too, was that this is a marketing tool. This was going to be a marketing tool. And it and I think it is to some degree, but I don't think it it was to what you had thought it was going to be. So if you're going to spend that kind of time and energy and marketing, it could have been spent elsewhere is what I would have said. I actually didn't know how to do podcasts. But what another kind of distraction that I let myself have was I. You know, and people touch on is when they talk to X Y in the podcast or on Kitces's podcast about we're helping profession. We like to help. Right. And I feel like I'm kind of guilty of that, too. And so I was looking to help my kids high school. They have an internship program for the seniors. And so I thought, what a great idea. I'll get in a high school intern for a few hours a week and they can help me put this podcast on. So I was actually killing two birds with one stone. I was helping a student get some work experience and I was helping myself get this podcast off the ground. But it really, you know. And I did that for two years. I had had two students help me. I don't have one anymore because I've. I'm trying to come at this with a much more business focused or business based decision making. And as fun as that was, as good as it was, as helpful as they were, it took a lot of time away from more other business building activities. And so I just had to stop that. I'm still doing the podcast. I'm I'm actually behind on Puck. That's great. But I don't have the interns doing that for me anymore. And I'll either just do it myself or I'm going to find somebody to help me get those out. So I do like the interview part in it. The other thing that I think it does for me is it opens the doors because I am local, I, I can go here somewhere in town and I want to talk to somebody is significant. By golly, they get pretty excited if you ask him to come on your. Yes. You know, so it can open doors as well. So yeah.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:25:33] Talk to us about how you did keep busy during that first year outside of the podcast. As a solo Kannur, you're often kind of finding yourselves in your extra second bedroom, waiting for for the clients to follow the sky: what did you do? How do you stay busy?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:25:54] Let's see. What did I do? I worked out of a coworking space then first year. First year to two. Yeah, part of second year, too. And I've actually dialed back from that as well just to cut costs. But I think, you know, just networking. I did a lot of networking. I've done quite a lot of coaching off and on over the last couple of years as well. You just you do things that seem so important at the time. And, you know, maybe they were. Maybe they weren't. But I'm not sure. Yeah, the college stuff, too, you know, trying to network and talk to and meet with high school counselors doing some of that. Mm hmm.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:26:32] You mentioned that it was a hard first year. And I'm wondering, are you interested or are open to sharing kind of the client numbers that you had by the end of the first year and just share some perspective? Oh, I don't know if you have it.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:26:44] Yeah. So I would say the I'm like almost everybody else where you undercharge first here. And I probably should have put what did I charge each of these. But the first year I had six clients.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:26:57] OK.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:26:58] And they're mostly short term One-Off type things. And so I'm going to I'm going to say I can tell you for certain that a few of those were at seven hundred fifty dollars. You know, just sort of a little a little plan. And. I had one ongoing client that had assets to manage, and my revenue for that year was just under five. OK, Grant or just write out five basically. So then my second year, which is twenty nineteen. I had eleven clients. And I would say that four of them were more that shorter term or one off type client and seven were ongoing and ongoing to me, I guess. My my services have changed actually from 19 to 20. So what would have been an ongoing client would have meant a 12 month engagement client, hoping that they would renew and continue on. They may or may not have had assets with me. So that's a different definition going forward in 2020, because I've just modified my service from 12 months to six. And people who do six month won't I won't have assets for. It's just it's more like a one time plan, but it's spread out over six months.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:28:15] Yeah.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:28:16] And so then as of today, I have 10 clients and five of those will be. Potentially ongoing. You know, they could convert, but they're not technically at this point. And then five investment management, ongoing type plants.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:28:33] Awesome. Thanks for sharing that. I love people being open about that stuff. It just gives our listener so much more perspective. Mike, my question for you is, is how did you deal with the lack of income in that first year? I know that that's a big concern for a lot of our advisors starting out. As you know, we really encourage them to have a lot of money in the bank to be able to get through the first, not just one, two, but even third year is they're building their base, possibly pivoting, Nicias, like you did. Service offerings and so forth. How did you make up for that income loss?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:29:07] So I've done a variety of things. I have pulled a small amount from my Roth hiring that I have. Happy to say, it's only about maybe thirteen thousand. It wasn't a huge amount for and because it just killed me.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:29:22] But as a planner.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:29:24] That has killed me. I've I've used credit cards and I have stuff on credit cards which also just kills me because that's just not something we've ever done before. Luckily, we have a rental house so that in some ways replaced my paid income from my prior job. But we had that income and I had my prior job, too. So it didn't really replace anything. But it's still there, you know. And luckily, we've had rising rents in this area. So it went up last year. So it's really helping right now to see the reserve. So, yeah. And then, of course, you know, I'm married, so I. I have my husband is the primary earner right now. And so my you know, my goal is to stop that this year. That's just got to come to an end. So that's kind of how we managed it. I don't know. I did not have a bunch of savings beside the retirement Roth account because we had saved money to go on a family vacation right before I launched this business. So, again, that was intentional. I mean, we save for several years to do that. And it was a very important goal, family goal, because I have kids who will be out of the house. And, you know, there there have summer jobs and things like that. So there wasn't going to be another opportunity, perhaps, to have the kids out of the house when we travelled for a month to around Europe. So it's a big deal. And we spent all that cash, you know, on that goal, which was just fine. So. Siphoned that it didn't have a bunch of cash sitting in the bank.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:30:59] Yeah, yeah. I'd love to talk to you about your why. And I love that you say that that we're in a helping profession. I just feel that so much. All of our X Y pen members are so giving in terms of embracing the abundance mentality and sharing what they've got. But what is your y. Have you ever sat and really kind of tried to define that by. Why have you given this to awesome tries running your own firm?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:31:24] I think I have a few different Ys and some are altruistic and some are more selfish. Really I've I've felt like I just haven't met my potential, my own potential. And so this is another challenge to me to have that level of success that I think I am. I'm I'm I should be able to obtain. And so that's one. That's the selfish one. I love that. But this is why I also changed my niche to what I'm working toward is because the more I talk to women and it does happen and this isn't a great argument to get out of your house, get out of your office and go talk to people, because the more I do that, the more I really feel convicted that women need my help. Women need my help. Everybody needs help. Without a doubt. To some degree. But I really feel pretty, pretty passionate about women needing my help. And stuff just always comes up. I was just set up. We have a local little meetup on Thursday mornings at the coffee shop and sat next to a woman who I believe is around 62. And we were talking about this and and she didn't know what I did. So we're just kind of talking about this and she leaves everything to her husband, you know? And I get it. I do. I totally get it. But I just wanted to, you know, come talk with me more. Let's let's talk about this. What happens if something happens to him? How are you going to handle that? Or does he know your opinions on things or or does he take your risk tolerance into mind? Or do you talk about this? Do you have monthly planning meetings? How do you guys manages and she just was really checked out of that whole part of her life. And that bothers me. You know, and I I know that's a bit of a shock when you call it, I guess, a bit of a age thing, perhaps, you know, the older generation and I'm I'm mid century modern. So I I'm getting, you know, generational thing, too. And I think it rings true for women of my and even my generation that we are not always so clued into our own financial lives. And so I don't begrudge her that opinion or the way that they've got a structure now. But it it it's just something to work toward to help women take greater control of their financial lives. So that's that's another one of my ways.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:33:49] Great. Have you ever written a mission statement for your firm?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:33:53] Probably somewhere. Some guy. I don't know. I don't have it on my wall. It's not reason.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:34:00] I ask because an X IPN, we we practice the entrepreneurial operating system, the EOS model. And one of the first things is really getting clear on mission. And I it as you went through your wise. I could kind of formulate a mission statement. I'm wondering who our members have actually created one then and really stick to it. I love this idea that women need your help. I agree that women as as an entire population have been underserved and kind of underrepresented in this industry. And it's been a theme on this podcast for a while. How are you feeling like your services are being conveyed to your potential clients, or are you feeling and sensing that they're a bit more in a phase of their lives where they can start taking control of their finances?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:34:45] I do. Yeah. And and that's kind of where this new niche. And, you know, I'm primarily using LinkedIn for connecting with people who are employed at the Hanford site. They're identifiable. I can I can find them and identify them by the companies that they work for and connect with them. And. So when they contact me and when we have both, either I now do a two step initial prospect meeting and the first one is more light duty. They're just kind of telling me what's on their minds, what caused them to reach out to me and so on. And then this if they're willing to go to the second meeting, that's where I've collected more information. And we just we just do a little more qualitative questions, little more quantitative questions. And it's really amazing what can come out in those meetings. You know, as far as I have one just the other day where I wouldn't call her an ideal client because she's not she would be this six month period type program. But she's got, I forget, 30, 40 thousand dollars credit card debt and makes no income in the range of one hundred and five or a hundred and ten thousand a year. She's she's very well paid, but she just doesn't know how to manage that. Doesn't know how to say no because she helps out adult children and her own in her own words, she said, I feel ashamed that she was in tears. And so, you know that that's a problem for somebody. And I'm like, you know what? You're not ideal client necessarily for me, but I can help you. I can't help you. And I don't know who else could help her. Really? I know there's debt. The debt counseling type folks and things like that. But, you know, I just feel pretty strongly when you hear stuff like that, it's like, yeah, you bet. I can help you. I'd love to work with you. So it's just it does just kind of. It comes out like in times you can't even hardly understand what they're saying because it just doesn't. I'm so in this. This is my world, but is not everybody else's world for sure.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:36:57] What is it about this relationship dynamic of the advisor and client that becomes so transformative?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:37:06] I think it's just so it's so intimate, it really is. And we we go deep. You know, I try to go deep and I, I feel like that is a bit of a differentiator. I hope to increase my skills and abilities in that area to as I as I progress in this career because I just feel like. Money is so much more than just buying stuff or even retiring. You know, we know that there's that behavioral side and that emotional side. And when I've even you know, again, I start with the kinder questions once people are clinging to life. I do start with the Quint Kindle questions. I've been doing that since my first time, 2000. Yeah. And I have never gone through Tinder. And so I see myself doing that down the road because it just so it so resonates with people. And I have multiple times. Typically couples will have even the husband in tears because he's going through the questions and there's some men there at some point that just kind of gets their heart and they're in tears. And it's I'm certain that was not expected. I'm certain when they came in thinking they're going to start doing financial planning, that they were gonna be in tears in front of their wives and a strange woman and talking about money in an app, why it means so much to them. So it's very intimate. It's a very intimate relationship.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:38:36] Yeah, it really is. And I think. This is a lot of X, Y, P and advisers are focusing on the younger generation, the younger generation, I think is a bit more vulnerable in that regard and that they're they're OK. Kind of taking off their their money clothes in front of people a bit it. Whereas, you know, when I tried to talk to my sixty seven year old mom about, you know, in my sixty five year old father about getting a financial planner, they're like, well I don't want them to see how much we spend on this me, you know, what the wine budget is and things like that. But I think younger folks are actually coming into this a bit more with with knowing that that money and in owning the relationship with money could be transformative in their lives and thus maybe possibly more open to these kind of relationships. But those Kintner questions, I agree, Rianne, get to the heart of it once. Once you do those three questions with your clients, what is the relationship to Big typically look like or what is your ideal relationship with your client?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:39:38] Well, so that's that is literally our very first meeting. And typically, people will either have already uploaded in and scanned documents to me, maybe not. Maybe they'll bring them in person. That meeting is always in person unless they're not living here locally. And so it just starts there. And then I like to try to review the documents if I have them with me, if not, that first meeting is really just about getting to know you and getting to getting some sense of what's important to you. What would you like to try to achieve with this planning process?

 

Maddy Roche: [00:40:15] Beautiful. And then you didn't choose to offer investment management during your first try. All right, a space. Why didn't you and what prompted you to offer it now?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:40:28] I think because I had the job, I was still employed for somebody else. And I think that was sort of our arrangement with my boss, is that if somebody came to me and they said, yeah, I have a million bucks, what should I do with it? Manage it for me. I would have referred them to my my other self and my other job. And so I did. I just didn't think it would have. Ben, I guess a good idea for us at that time.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:40:54] You've mentioned a few different groups that you've been part of and programs that you've gone through. I can just sense that you're kind of this like a never ending learner. Like many of the ex IPN members. Would you mind talking to the the audience a bit about some of the continuing education programs that you're involved in, kind of your evolution through different coaching programs and why you believe that investing in those things can help you and your firm?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:41:20] Oh, yeah. You know, so a lot of times financial planners don't have their own financial planner. And I actually don't I don't have a financial planner either. But if I did, it's Elyssa al-Islam.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:41:31] Hey, listen, my girl.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:41:35] And yet I hire other professionals to help me in other parts of my life. So the coaching X Y is definitely a really important part of this because of the plethora of opportunities that you provide for education or marketing, coaching or sales, coaching, whatever that looks like, so there's a lot of tools there. And it's almost you almost have to stop and reconnect with X, Y and say, OK, it's been six months or has been eight months or a year. Am I taken advantage of? What have I missed? What should I be looking at? So there's always stuff there with x y for sure. I started with Brewer last year about March. I think it was the beginning of March and. Even though, in my opinion, it was was an investment, it was expensive to me, I feel like I got a lot out of it, particularly the Nitsch decision and the how to reach those people, particularly using LinkedIn in trying to connect with those people. Among other things as well. And using more video, using more online content, that type of thing, through LinkedIn. So big shout out to them. I am wrapping up my time with them because I feel like I've taken what I can and now I just need to really kind of spend more time implementing and doing, doing, doing, doing. So that was great. And actually started another different coaching program. I'm just starting that. We had a speaker come to town and she focuses on non financial advisors. It's not our industry specific, but it's basically she's that business minded person that I wish I had had two years ago to look at the numbers, to see what's driving things, to see what activities are you doing? What's your attitude and your emotion? What's going on to driving that business? Fast, faster. Six. It's called six. Figure something or another. And you know, this is what I feel like I'm meeting at this point in my career is the kick in the butt. So I know what I need to do. I know who I'm doing it for now. I just need the kick in the butt to keep keep doing and do do do it. So let's see what else. And then I think it was X Y that put us together with Meg and a few other of the X Y members just into a mentoring program. And Lucky Meg, you know, she's awesome. So she got a bunch of us and it was great. You know, it's just picking her brain and our our collective brains. Everybody was at different places in their careers, but they were relatively new to their businesses and to the X Y planning network. So just I do find that I respond well to coaching. I just I don't like being alone. I don't like working alone. And this has been a big challenge for me.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:44:37] Yeah.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:44:37] A solo opener here. So that's something that I thought I also kind of wanted to put out there, is that I don't know if there are other people who are looking to partner or to somehow collaborate on a deeper level. I'm not necessarily interested in hiring anybody, but I don't know if there's ways to share resources either through co ownership or partnership or something. But I would be open to talking to people about that. And I think I've even put it in the forums before. So because it is tough doing this all just by yourself. And I don't feel like I'm by myself because I have X Y, I have a wide circle of peers all over lots of different kinds of support here. And they're very, very important, though, there.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:45:24] I appreciate you bringing that partnership conversation up. It was it was something that a few years ago we all kind of started to suspect may be the future for a lot of firms is that they actually end up partnering and merging together. And I know I've cited this podcast a number of times since we've recorded, but the Michelle Smolen Burger and the Financial Design Studio podcast was half where she and three other members. Yeah, two other members. And then her husband all merged their firms together because it was just a meeting of the my right.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:45:56] And I knew one of the guys and he was in one of my marketing study groups, you know, so that's great.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:46:01] Yeah. And the idea that, you know, we could leverage each other's specialties and quite frankly, passion, because there's a lot to running a business that we don't all have to love. And yeah, definitely broadly well, all love. But this idea that there is some collaboration and partnering up. So, Nanji, I'm glad you put that out there. And listeners, please don't ever hesitate to reach out to M.G.. She did mentioned a couple things, that there was a there was a beta mentorship program that we did at X Y pian about a year and a half ago, nearly two years ago, and they worked together for six months or so. We do not have a full fledged mentorship program here at X Y, but there is a lot of peer mentorship and organic mentorship that kind of comes up through that. But I'm wondering about your business coach. Why do what I hear in your voice and I can sense it that you are very coachable. But what is it about the business coach that's that's so helpful to you? And why did you find that investing in a business coach was was worth it to you?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:47:00] So this this is the most recent one or Brewer?

 

Maddy Roche: [00:47:04] Let's start with the most recent one.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:47:06] OK, so she's just you know, her own story is very compelling. She was in, like, drama on Broadway or something. She worked. She was a secretary. She wasn't an actor. But she just has this very outgoing personality, just a sales. Oriented personality, and she just decided she wanted to pursue her own business. And I think it kind of started as consulting or something like that and it evolved. And, you know, she now has this seven million dollar practice and she's just helping other people get that fire because it's something, too. I feel like I have fire. I just don't always pull it out and find that fire. Get fired up. No. You know who you're doing things for. What's your message? How are you doing it? And to be actively working at it every day and to. And she's tough. You know, I feel that she's not she's not interested in hearing your butt. But, you know, or I did this sorta you know, she wants to have some results. And so she's very, very honest in a in a good way. You know, she's not mean or anything like that. But it's just sometimes what you need to hear, just like what we do with our clients is really how it relates. And so it's that tough love, but it's it's very numbers driven. You know, if you if you're gonna be wanting 100 clients thing, you need to do this, this, this and this. This frequently. And now, you know, the numbers game kind of thing. So, again, it's just the same message, but different voice, different approach, that kind of thing. And I find that the motivation is also very important. Just getting that that daily, weekly jolt is very helpful.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:48:49] And I really admire you to have kind of done a lot of practicing, a lot of self-awareness about where your strengths and weaknesses are is as you went through this and deciding earlier than I think a lot of folks do, that a coach is what you need. And I think us that are coachable kind of crave that all all of our lives. What is her name and and what is your relationship? Did you meet with her monthly or weekly or how long do you plan on engaging her?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:49:16] Yes, I've I've signed up for a year and her name is Suzanne Evans and her company is Driven Inc., and I want to say she's out of Charlotte, North Carolina. And I just you know, there's there's a there's group coaching, there's group calls, there's Facebook lives, there's individual coaching calls as well. So I'm just starting basically this is my really my first month. But I just I like the business focus. She's focusing on building the business, the numbers, the money, the business. You know, getting that really going not just a little bit. You know, she wants big outcome. So it's nice to hear that because I, I, I'm kind of that person, I think, to who I don't as a I wouldn't say I necessarily have big goals. I have small goals. But she's trying to get me to think bigger than I want to. And I think that's good because I can probably do better. I can do more than what I'm actually telling myself. So I think it'll be very, very helpful over time.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:50:22] Yeah. And like you said earlier in the in the recording that, you know, you haven't felt like you've reached your your potential impact. That is so cool. Yeah, I love thinking about that. I also really admire you, Angie, because you've been around the X, Y, P and community a lot. I mean, you really leaned in since you joined. And that means you you've shown up to the in-person events, you've shown up in the forums. You've really tapped the potential of the network. And I'm wondering, how have you done that just generally throughout these years? And then why was it so important for you to find value there?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:51:00] Well, you know, it's a resource. And if you sit back and don't use it, it's of no value. And so I, I really like connecting with like minded people. You know, we all have this very similar approach to what we think financial planning and money management should look like. And it's just when you're I don't have that here in my local area. I mean, I, I don't even have, like an FPGA group here in town. I don't have an app, a group in town. I have an estate planning council group, which is a wide variety of professionals that I just joined this last year. But I don't have even a small version of any NAPFA, nothing like X Y. So you are my lifeline. All you people are my lifeline. I love the podcasts. I may I probably listen to 90 percent of those as well. Kitces came to Spokane a couple of years ago, so I went is Baganda to make sure I heard what he had to say. And I felt special because I was like the only one there who was X Y, you know,

 

Maddy Roche: [00:52:00] I love that!

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:52:01] Yeah. Yeah, and so there's just just so many resources and it does make you feel less alone. And I have you know, I have my study group that has shifted a little bit. We have people come. People go. But just having that constant support. Is so important.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:52:20] Yeah, I think that's such good advice, knowing especially how open we've been about it on the podcast over the years, just how hard the first few years are. And by the time you're in your sixth sense of it, it's still hard. It's just a different heart. Yeah. So you're you're dealing with different challenges, but that's that's the world of the entrepreneur. Angie, I'm interested in where you hope to bring this. Did you feel like you have a client number in mind? Do you feel like you have a definition for the impact that you want to have? What's what's your future going to hold for you?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:52:50] I do. Again, my goals are kind of small. Again, I'm a mid century modern, so I have in my mind maybe a 20 year career ahead of me. And I want to build it to about under 50 clients, under 50 ideal ongoing clients. I would describe that. And I just I just hope to continue to attract who I'm attracting, which is these women who are nearing or in retirement and are ready to take charge of their financial lives. Maybe they're married. Maybe they're not. You know, it doesn't matter either way. But that's kind of the size of the practice. I also do something that are pretty fun, kind of unique women's circles. And it's just a fun thing in the evening, four times a year. And the idea is that, again, this is something I learned I was trained by Elizabeth Jiten and Eleanor Blaney. And this goes back to 2014 when they came out to the West Coast and did a training set on circles then. But I've been doing them off and on since then, and I'm trying to kind of do more and do bigger. Just just this year it has already. I just have one on Monday, for example. And so I had about seven, I think seven of us. And I'd like to keep them under twelve so they'll never get super big. But I think that's another way to impact at a very low level, very personal level, because we meet, you know, and we're we're just sitting around a table in a circle and continue to do those. Those are fun things to do. Continue to do. My podcast on my podcast was really focused on the college stuff currently on. So now I have to, you know, start to adapt that and talk to different mostly women professionals who are of that Hanford site. I would say and, you know, learn more about what are their pain points. Learn more about what's going on with them. You know what what is going well, what's not going well. So those are those are still things that I like to do and I plan to continue to do so.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:55:02] Wonderful. I'm interested in those women's circles. Is that is that like a study group or are they the same women or what's different now?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:55:11] No, it's actually just open to the public. And I post them on social media and I've had them as small as three like me and two other people. Yeah. And I've had them, you know, as many as like ten or eleven. And so I'd like to keep them under 12. It's just a little bit too big once it gets beyond twelve. But no, it's the the concept is just starting the conversation around money, just trying to get women to talk about money. Sometimes it goes off into investments and portfolios and what in terms, you know, language, what's an irae, what's an ETF, what's an asset class, things like that. There's no teacher. It is it it's a circle for a reason. It's a leaderless group. I call myself the host. I bring people together, but it's really dependent on the people in the circle as to a what gets talked about, who does the talking. You're supposed to actually use a talking stick. And I have a little green toy soft toy ball that you can throw around. You know, I relax the rules. If the conversation seems to be going, it's just not you're not supposed to talk one on one to the person to your side and ignore the people across the table. It's not that kind of thing. So it is a group discussion. I have done things where I've put a theme. So I came ready on Monday to talk and market volatility, Francophonie Vires. And nobody was really interested in that. So I don't even my questions we'll we'll talk about what they wanted to talk about. And they knew they needed to learn about resources like how to learn more of this stuff. So we talked about Morningstar dot com or Vanguard or Fidelity or, you know, working. You go for consumer information. So it's a great concept. And Eleanor and Elizabeth have kind of clued a few of us into that. So. Oh, yeah, nothing that I think DFA is doing. Some women zirkel training as well.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:57:08] Cool. Oh, I'd love to look more into that. And as you talked about that, that reminds me a lot of we had Hello Katsof on the podcast a couple months ago. And you talked about his little blue box and how it happened, talking a talking shell in ad and he passes it around between families and it has to help the family begin to have that conversation. So I give you so much credit for for hosting your own women's circles, because going back to what you said earlier, sometimes women aren't aren't dialed into to the financial side of their lives. And I think that that's how we can help elevate as advisors, male or female, to be able to help anyone who hasn't dialed in to dial it. Yeah, if you can believe it, we are approaching our last few minutes. And I'm wondering, Angie, if you had the opportunity to give your young business owner self, whether it be at the beer store or your first RIAA, what advice would you give her?

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:58:03] Oh, that overhead. Don't pick that store. That store that stores do much square footage. You don't need that store and don't buy that brand new walk-in cooler, which was very shiny and pretty. And Honda didn't need that either.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:58:18] Oh man. I have an appointment to get one later today.

 

Angie Furubotten-LaRosee: [00:58:22] Oh, it was the shining light, the bright shiny thing in our store. It was beautiful. Mendis leg flocked to it. Oh my my other advice, though, Maddie was, you know, open a beer store, get a husband. It really did work. Wow. Wow. My, my my second husband and I reconnected there. That's right. You found your husband? We met in kindergarten, so we knew each other before that.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:58:50] Oh, how sweet. Yeah. Well, Angie, I've so enjoyed chatting with you today. I think we've had a lot of fun. And I think our listeners can take a lot from your story and your perspective. And thank you for being so open and honest about what you've built and the hard parts and the great parts. Thank you. Oh, well, thank you. It was a great fun to talk to you and I look forward to all the future podcasts with you. Awesome.

 

[00:59:15] -- swish --

 

Maddy Roche: [00:59:15] Avocado toast. Selfies. A mountain of student loan debt. Gen Y is anything but traditional, and with over seventy five million people, it's a population you don't wanna ignore. Learn more about how to serve this unique population in our guide called "Attract and Profitably Serve Millennial Clients in your RIA." Discover three key ways to tap into the millennial market and six things that they want from their financial advisor. Visit xyplanningnetwork.com/millennials for your free copy.

 

Maddy Roche: [00:59:46] Be sure to join our VIP community at xyplanningnetwork.com/VIP to hang out with other #XYPNRadio listeners, ask questions for future mailbag episodes, and finally, to find a community of like minded financial advisors. Thank you so much for joining me today. We'll see you next time.

 

Narrator: [01:00:02] You are not alone and you are not crazy. It's scary starting, building, and growing your own financial planning firm. And that's why we put together a free private community just for you, the cutting edge financial planner. Go to xyplanningnetwork.com/VIP or text XYPN Radio to 33344 and join a network of thousands ready to change the lives of Gen X and Gen Y clients.

 

 

 

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