Working Out for the Best

I think back to the time when our children were young. They didn’t come with an owner’s manual, showing us what to do each step of the way. We had to learn on the job. When you’re running your own business, there are many things you must learn as you go. The first thing you must learn is that you cannot possibly know everything you need to know. Also, you cannot possibly anticipate every twist in the road. You have to be flexible and accept the good with the bad. I happen to believe that all things will ultimately work for the good. Here’s a good example of this.

I received a call recently from a recruiter of a large independent broker/dealer. Now, in case you don’t know this, I am an RIA and have no affiliation with a B/D. This particular broker/dealer just happened to be the same firm I had intended to go with when I went out on my own last year. But because I had been de-licensed eight months earlier, as all financial planners were with the firm I was with, they wouldn’t allow me to be an OSJ. Even though they knew this for months, at the 11th hour, one week prior to my start date, they dropped the bomb. Needless to say, I wasn’t a happy camper. Now here I am receiving a call from this same firm, wanting to recruit me. Oh, the irony of it all. Looking back on it, I’m very glad it happened this way, because if it hadn’t, I would probably be with them and would never have known how much better it is to be an RIA. You see, all things really worked out for the best.