So, you want to be a financial advisor...

John Mark Griggs, CFP?, CRPC?, APMA? , Financial Advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC , is no stranger to the long road of entering the financial industry. While he started out on the public accounting track, John Mark quickly realized that his passion belonged to a more hands on relational role. And so began his journey to becoming a financial advisor. Now with over ten years of experience in this field, John Mark graciously shared wisdom that he’s learned along the way and parts of his story that now might be helpful for you!

Q: What advice would you give to someone looking to enter the financial advisory industry?

1. Enter the industry with humility.

Don't be afraid to work in a support role initially. There's going to be a lot to learn and this is a really great way to do it. You get to learn before you have your own clients. Not that long from now, current senior advisors are going to want to sell their practice to somebody. So if you can come in, get to know the culture, get to know the clients, a lot of those advisors are going to want you to eventually take over the practice. That can be a really great way to build your book without having to go out there and hammer the phones. You build your career through relationships. You take care of your clients and then you get referrals from those clients and it doesn't have to be this cold calling type industry.

2. Enjoy the ride.

There's a lot of test taking on the front end. You have to be patient through that process. It’s not an industry where you're going to come in and realize your full earning potential right away. But the long term opportunities are amazing. It’s a job that can be really rewarding emotionally, spiritually and financially. At the same time, in those first few years just try to enjoy the ride and learn what you can along the way.?

Q: What encouragement would you share with someone who is a couple of years into their financial advisory career and who is looking to grow in this space?

1. If you’re already an advisor…

There's a lot of pressure to bring on new clients and certainly it’s always important to be looking for areas where you can expand your natural market. But it's often overlooked that one of the best ways to build a sustainable practice is through taking care of your existing clients. Look for ways to innovate and add value to your existing clients. The more that clients feel taken care of, the more they're going to refer you. Referrals are our favorite way to build the practice. So, for younger advisors, as you bring on your own clients and receive clients from older advisors, invest the time to build those relationships and take care of them well. They will reward you by talking to others about your amazing service.

2. If you’re working towards the advisor track…

Look for ways to add value and innovate for those advisors who are ahead of you. As an advisor, when I see team members saying, “Hey, I saw this problem and I came up with this way to solve it,” I see that as such a huge value add. Additionally, look for ways to present in meetings. When I was underneath our lead advisor, I would ask to present certain portions of meetings with clients. This gives you practice being an advisor before you eventually step into that role.

3. Not everyone has to be an advisor

Our operations manager started off as a client relationship manager where she was doing a?lot of forms and spent a lot of time doing back office servicing for our clients. She's incredibly?organized, a very hard worker, and she's so valuable to our team. We wanted her to?be an owner of the practice as well. She's not a selling advisor, but she's the glue of this office. So if someone is looking at getting into this industry, but they're not necessarily pumped about having to go out there and sell as an advisor, that's OK. There is a huge need for people who are great with clients, organized and hard working in this industry that could eventually move up to something like a COO role or owner in the practice.

John Mark finished his interview explaining the ‘why’ behind what he does:

“Money is incredibly powerful, but it comes with many temptations. To be a Christian advisor in this space, it’s a powerful and weighty calling to be in the business of helping clients build wealth to bless their families and their communities. That’s what gets me in the office every day - we want this money to be something that makes the world rejoice and not something that becomes the end goal in and of itself.”

Thank you, John Mark! To learn more about Ameriprise and John Mark check out his LinkedIn here .