It’s five years since we got excited about the release of the iPhone 6 (yes, really), five years since Adele said hi, and five years since Patricia Arquette made an impassioned Oscar speech about gender equality and the pay gap.
It’s also five years since Method Financial Planning was created. In those five years, Method has grown, like my own children, before my eyes. We’ve brought together an amazing group of clients that I’m so proud to be working with.
In collaboration, we help our clients to declutter their financial lives, ensuring that their money brings them joy, rather than causing them stress. Seeing our clients reaping the benefits of their new financial empowerment has made the first five years of Method feel like a dream.
But statistics show that 45% of businesses fail within the first five years. I honestly don’t think we could have done what we’ve done and seen the growth we have without one crucial factor. It’s the one thing that means the difference between success and failure, and it’s a sure fire way to help a new business thrive in its all-important first years.
Doing More of What We Love
Five years ago, the world felt like a very different place, didn’t it? I know that my clients must feel the same way about their own lives. You can change so much in five years, and go through massive, life changing events – or just put little cogs into motion.
Being a financial planner is an extremely privileged position, and it’s one I get a huge amount of satisfaction from but also take very seriously. I stand in steadfast support of my clients as they go through some of their lives’ biggest transitions.
It’s the planning whilst keeping the client’s current circumstances as well as their end goals in sight that produces the most gratifying results. It’s nothing short of an honor to help these transitions happen as seamlessly as possible, helping our clients to focus on the most important things for them in the here and now.
It’s also those big achievements in life. It’s watching my clients pull their finances together to buy their first house. I get a real thrill every time I know someone’s just put their key in their door and walked over their new threshold for the first time. And it’s helping someone to organize their kids’ college funds as soon as they’ve realised they’ve created a little life with huge potential. It’s helping my clients get new business ventures off the ground and watching them fly.
But it’s the little things too – one of my favorite parts of my job is just taking some of the weight off my clients’ shoulders as they go about their busy lives. It’s saying, “You enjoy some extra time with your family, I’ve got this.” I honestly didn’t know what an important part of my role that would become when I started Method Financial Planning five years ago.
Method Financial Planning in 2020
But who would have imagined the challenges we’d be seeing as we hit our fifth birthday? We’ve all been told that one of man’s biggest threats is a virus pandemic, but I think I was totally oblivious to the impact that it could actually have on our lives.
My husband and I are, like you, working parents in the midst of a pandemic, juggling our career ambitions with homeschooling and caring for relatives. We’ve had to work hard to keep really sharply focused; we’ve needed to pivot and take the time to regroup to make sure we’re staying on track with our personal and professional goals.
When this all kicked off, I thought it would be impossible to reimagine what Method Financial Planning would look like in a world blighted by Covid-19, when meetings with clients had to be cancelled to just talk on the phone or on a video call. But I think it must be true what they say, and that humans actually are the most adaptive species on the planet, because look at us now.
I recently started my webinar series – or our Virtual Happy Hour – and I’m really loving it. I’ve brought guest speakers in to virtually meet with an amazing collection of working moms who are interested in those crucial life hacks to help them in their day-to-day lives. It’s been a blast, and something I’m sure I’ll keep going even after Covid-19.
If you’d like to come along to one of our virtual happy hours, join me on Facebook or Instagram and I’ll make sure you see the invite!
How to Help a New Business Thrive
So 2020 has not been without its challenges for all of us. But thankfully, we’re doing okay through it all and sincerely hope you’re navigating all its twists and turns too. At Method Financial Planning, we’re concentrating on cultivating partnerships to continue to grow, so that we can provide our clients with the best possible experience.
But why are we in this exciting position of growth at such a challenging time for businesses everywhere? I truly believe it’s down to one key thing that I did just as we were setting out, and I think it’s the only way to help a new business thrive.
And this is where everything comes full circle. Just as we are here to support our clients and see them realize their goals, I built a network of supportive financial professionals around me, and I owe my success to them.
When Method Financial Planning was just being conceived of, a friend of mine was on the same journey. She was chasing similar dreams and facing similar challenges, and so we reached out for each other on our way up.
I think people are very quick to see their colleagues and peers as competition, and aim to lead and dominate. Some people see others’ success and measure their own against it. But right from the start, instead of viewing other people in my field as competition, I saw them as my lifeline.
So Equita Financial Network grew organically from that desire to team up, to learn from and to encourage others. I had a huge pool of knowledge and wisdom to dip into, from like minded professionals who had immensely valuable experience to draw from. I could bounce ideas off a variety of people, people whose perspectives always led to those first shells of ideas being padded out and refined.
More importantly, those people gave me the courage and momentum I needed to keep pursuing my dreams when it felt like the hardest option.
Build Your Support Team
They say if you want to help a new business thrive, you have to know your competition. But it’s so much more than that – you get so much more out of it if you surround yourself with them. Support them as much as they support you. This is not your competition, this is your team.
Method Financial Planning wouldn’t be celebrating its fifth birthday this month without that incredibly rich and diverse network of entrepreneurs that it’s part of. And I wouldn’t have grown without it either.
If you’re in need of tips or support to help a new business thrive, we can help you. And as always, if you’re feeling ready to get organized and speed your financial plans into action, we’re here to help too. Make an appointment to speak to us now, and let’s embark on the journey of the next five years together.
