This is my 100th blog post. I didn’t know what to write about for such a significant post. But two things happened. I came across this photo which is called Leap of Faith and I looked at the calendar. Bluewater Financial Planning opened its door two years ago today (I’m writing this on Friday). So this week, I am going to write about my own leap of faith. How did I get to where I am today.
I never wanted to work for myself. I was always perfectly happy being an employee and had no intention of ever going out on my own. In 2012 however, I found myself being made redundant. What do I do now? I still wanted to be an employee. I had plenty of experience and lots of qualifications so getting interviews wasn’t an issue. The problem was my view of financial advice had changed over the years. In my last job, my old boss, introduced me to lifestyle financial planning, and my view of how to give financial advice changed forever. The places I was interviewing for were still sales roles and the match wasn’t there.
A few old clients had stayed in touch with me and one in particular kept on encouraging me to go out on my own. He told me I hadn’t got the balls to do it and he was right. Where would I get the clients? I wouldn’t know where to start! What if it didn’t work out? We are brought up in a culture where if it didn’t work you’d be seen as a failure. I kept looking for a job, even interviewing for roles that I knew I would hate.
On 27 January 2013, I got an email from someone I had worked with for years. We had worked together on solving his issue of not having enough time to pursue the things he loved doing. In that email he said:
Also doing a trial run at cutting down on the work, I’m taking a short sabbatical for 2 months – which I can do thanks to your advice.
That was the clincher for me. I knew I could never get the same level of satisfaction from landing a big case than I get from helping people do the things that are really important to them. I told my wife that I was thinking of going out on my own; she told me “About time”.
I set about getting my Central Bank authorisation immediately and on 24 July 2013, Bluewater Financial Planning opened for business. It hasn’t all been plain sailing but I am on the way to getting to where I want to be.
When have you taken a leap of faith? How did it work out for you? Let me know by dropping me an email to steven@bluewaterfp.ie .