Carry the News

In another instance, Kaufman counseled a young advisor who had played high school football and wanted to return to his hometown one day. As it turns out, the man's father is the principal of the high school, and his mother a guidance counselor. The outcome: The advisor now sponsors a scholarship at the annual football banquet, an event that has heightened his profile and attracted a following.

Jennifer Khoury, an advisor for three years, says Kaufman helped jumpstart her practice when he asked her: What are you passionate about? Khoury owns, rides and shows horses. "It hit me," says Richmond-based Khoury, who, with a partner, manages $85 million in assets. "This was a way to expand my business through something I love doing."

As a result, Khoury has twice sponsored an annual brunch next to the grandstand at a prestigious show organized by the Deep Run Hunt Club. She has won two high-net-worth clients and is working on converting three other prospects that she connected with at the events. The exposure also led to an invitation to join the non-profit Thoroughbred Retirement Board, which takes care of rescues.

"It doesn't happen overnight, but this is so much more powerful than putting an ad in the paper. It's about getting to know people through a passion you share," she says. "It gets right to a comfort zone."

Kaufman joined Wachovia Securities in 2006 after working on the creative and business development teams of Richmond advertising agencies. An advertising major at Boston University, he started his career as a copywriter in New York City then moved to Boston where he created The Great American Meatloaf Contest and cookbook. He also wrote a weekly column, called "The Single File," for a Richmond newspaper. In one "pity column" he invited readers to write in. One of the 600 letters he got was from a nanny he later married. "We usually win the 'How did you meet?' contest," he says. Kaufman and his wife, Jennifer, now have four children who are pretty good about steering clear of their father's office: the family dining room.

"We're going to stay lean and mean for a few months, no fancy trappings," says Kaufman. Does he have a business plan? "Absolutely not. I thrive on controlled chaos. You put enough stuff out there, things happen. I know the kind of business I want and that is to work with a select group of financial advisors who want to do things over a period of time. I'm going to keep asking questions, and listening. I'm going to find that intersection — what you're good at and excited about — because then you don't have to force anything. It's doing what you love."

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Freelance writer Ellen Uzelac is based in Chestertown, Md.; the former West Coast bureau chief and national correspondent for The Baltimore Sun, can be reached at [email protected].