Leverage Your Past Experience in New Ventures

Your path is not linear. Neither is mine.

Air Force → Software product management → Wealth management → RIA consulting.

Each role taught me something different. And I use all of it today.

The Myth of the Linear Path

Maybe you spent years in corporate before starting your practice.

Maybe you were a teacher, engineer, military officer, consultant.

That experience is not wasted. It is your competitive advantage.

Cross-functional experience teaches you:

• To see problems from multiple angles

• To borrow solutions from different industries

• To connect ideas others miss

• To serve clients in unique ways

Your non-linear path is a feature, not a bug.

My Competitive Advantage

I am not the most experienced RIA consultant. I am not the deepest expert in Wealthbox or Orion.

But I bring:

• Product management thinking to help advisors understand clients

• Software experience to evaluate technology solutions

• Military discipline for process improvement

• Financial advising experience to understand the day-to-day reality

That combination is my competitive advantage.

The Product Manager Mindset Applied to Financial Advising

As a product manager, my job was understanding the customer.

Not what I thought they needed. What they actually valued and expected.

Now I bring that mindset to financial advisors.

Example: The Dental Practice Owner

I worked with a firm focused on dentists who own their practices.

Most advisors say "I serve dentists" and stop there.

Product management thinking asks deeper questions:

• What do dental practice owners expect from a financial advisor?

• What specific challenges do they face?

• What outcomes matter most to them?

• What frustrates them with other advisors?

For dental practice owners:

• Tax planning specific to practice owners (Holistiplan & integration with CPAs)

• Business optimization and practice valuation (requires detailed scenario planning in RightCapital & integration with CFO)

• Fluctuating income and retirement planning (needs flexible cash flow modeling)

• Liability concerns unique to healthcare (estate planning with specific asset protection)

You cannot serve them well with a generic Wealthbox workflow and standard RightCapital templates.

You need to design your entire service model—and technology implementation—around their specific needs.

Your Action Step

List your past roles and experiences.

For each, ask:

• What did this teach me?

• How does this apply to my current work?

• How does this help me serve clients differently?

Then make it part of your story.

Your breadth of experience is your strength. Use it.

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