Transcription of Video

This is Ned Van Riper with Independent Financial Partners and I am speaking to you from our corporate office in Tampa. I wanted to shoot a quick message about office space because office space is often times a very overwhelming and daunting part of the conversation. It’s typically the most fun part of the conversation, but for breakaway financial professionals that are considering establishing their own practice for the first time, it can be pretty overwhelming – they’re not really sure where to start.

As an independent financial professional, there’s a lot of flexibility and options around office space and I just wanted to tell you about a few of them.

Renting or Buying Office Space

We have many financial professionals across the country that rent office space. Many financial professionals actually purchase their own building and build out office space for the first time. That’s certainly dependent upon what part of the country you live in. An executive suite, something like a Regis, is a great, low-cost solution. I tell financial professionals it’s a really nice short-term solution. Some financial professionals are there full-time. But an executive suite can give you not only an office, but an administrative assistant to help with the phones in addition to a very nice conference room to meet clients in.

Home Office

Other financial professionals actually work from a home office and I know for wirehouse financial professionals that can seem like a crazy choice, but we have many successful financial professionals that work from home and quite frankly wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s the lowest cost, it’s very convenient, and some financial professionals even meet clients in their home office if they can accommodate them. So, it’s certainly not for everybody, but not something to be overlooked as well.

Consider Cost

Also, you know, as an independent financial professional, keep in mind that you’re a business owner, so often times the cost for office space is one of the largest costs you’re going to have. So, be smart about office space. For a solo financial professional, you don’t need to have more than 800 square feet or so. For a small team with staff and other financial professionals, 1,500 to 2,000 square feet can be an ample amount of room for your team, but you have to make smart decisions because this is your largest cost.

Technology

From a technology perspective, you know, the good thing is that in these days you need more than really good Wi-Fi, a land line, a laptop, and a cell phone. You can run your practice from no matter where you are from one of these devices and it’s low cost and it’s simple. So, you don’t need to have a server room in your office. You just need to have really good Wi-Fi and, again, a phone and a laptop.

Final Thoughts

To wrap up, make smart decisions about your office. Lean on your firm. Here at IFP, we have financial professionals here in Tampa and in Phoenix that use our office for their full-time office. How great is that? They’ve got beautiful office space, they’ve got staff, they’ve got conference rooms they can use any time. So, lean on your firm because they’ve got the resources to help you identify and find office space.