A Year Worth Writing About: Formynder Wealth Management Turns One

As a new business owner, I have to admit something to you... I'm a lurker. Yes, I quietly follow other advisors to see what works and what doesn't, what I like and what I don't like. Recently, an advisor I've been following recently published her 10 year business anniversary blog. (An ​awesome read ​BTW!) I thought, what a great way to document the growth and changes within the firm.

So, here we go - year 1, down! Enjoy me getting real with you (as if I would write any differently!).

The Goal of Getting Going

There is a lot to unpack. Starting a business is one of those things that looks terrifying from the outside and then you are in it and you realize, okay, this is hard but it is not impossible. Scary? Yes. Undoable? No.

I actually did not start out to own a business. I worked at another firm for a little while getting my feet wet. Turns out, I fell into the deep end! Formynder Wealth Management was formed from two pain points I could not overcome working for someone else, anybody else. First, I experienced trying to serve more clients than I felt I had the ability to serve "well", or at least what I defined to be well. So, I wanted to limit the number of households I served.

Second, having this weird sense of loyalty to people in positions of authority, (ekhem…not sure where that came from), I also had a really difficult time limiting myself to 40 hours per week, particularly when the work load was quite demanding and I was still in my base learning years. I realize this was probably a me problem, but a problem nonetheless. I simply felt I was letting clients down if I didn't get the work done, no matter how long it took. Other areas of my life began to suffer as a consequence.

There's really only one way to resolve these two pain points while continuing to do the work; you need control. And to have control, you need to be the boss.

You might ask, well, why didn't I simply go work for a smaller firm with a similar philosophy? (I'll just note here that I think it will be interesting to reread this a few years from now.) I've formed an opinion around any firm that hires. That when you hire someone like me, as a planner, there is an expectation of business growth - said or unsaid. I'm sure that there is a multi-planner firm out there where 40-50 client households for every planner is perfect and no one really cares about the "up and/or out" model of eventual equity ownership in a business that is never really growing. I just haven't found it. Perhaps I am naive that I can maintain a business that also caps it's growth, but that's where I'm at today.

Flying while Building the Plane

A year ago, I was sitting at breakfast with other members of the Military Financial Advisors Association on the first day of MilMoneyCon when an email pinged my inbox: The Commonwealth of Virginia approved Formynder Wealth Management, LLC as a Registered Investment Advisor! Between that approval and a waiting client ready to go, it was one of the best feelings in the world.

I set a goal of five client households by December 2025 and that is exactly what happened. When I set that target, I genuinely was not sure if I was being bold or foolish. Looking back, it was the right number. Ambitious enough to keep me focused, small enough to seem achievable.

The first 90 days were a lot of experimenting. On the marketing side, I really didn’t have a playbook other than to make a lot of spaghetti, throw it against the wall, and see what stuck. I tried things, watched what landed, adjusted, and tried again.

I was also working through what the client experience should actually look like. That balance took more thought than I expected. I wanted clients to feel the value of what they were paying for without drowning them in complexity. Too simple and they wonder what they signed up for. Too complicated and you have lost them before the work even begins. I am still refining that balance, if I am being honest. I doubt I'll ever stop, really. For both marketing and client experience, I have Michael Reynolds to thank. His generosity is unmatched.

There's No Quitting On People Cheering For You

What made those early months manageable were my first few clients. They were encouraging in ways I did not see coming. They referred people. They told me what this relationship meant to them. When you are building something from scratch and the people you are serving are genuinely cheering you on, it changes the whole experience. It is hard to quit when people believe in what you are doing.

My broader community showed up too. Several advisors offered me part-time paraplanning work just to keep my skills sharp while the client base was still growing. Their kindness is something you never forget. You file it away and you try to pay it forward when it is your turn, and I feel like it is my turn now.

I would be leaving out the most important part of this story if I did not talk about my wife. She was all in from day one. Not the kind of all in where someone says the right things and quietly hopes for the best. Genuinely all in. She kept me grounded when things were going well and when they were not. In the valleys and on the hills, she never doubted me. Not once. That kind of support is something you can’t manufacture. I am a better advisor, a better business owner, and honestly a better person because of her.

The Gift of Going Second

One of the best things I did before launching was stay plugged into the Military Financial Advisors Association and actually listen to the advisors who were willing to talk about what years one through three looked like for them. Not the highlight reel. The real stuff. The frustrations, the mistakes, the business rules they wished they had set earlier. I took those lessons seriously and built a few simple rules around them. It is genuinely hard to measure how much frustration and wasted time that saved me, but it was a lot. If you are in this profession, or any other profession, and not connected to a community like that, find one.

Protecting the Balance (Mostly)

I also made a commitment early on to protect my balance. PT is a must almost every day. Running, biking, church. I tried to limit how much this work touched my evenings and weekends. The honest problem with that plan is that I love what I do. So the lines blur, but in the best possible way. When you are working with clients you genuinely care about, it stops feeling like work most of the time. I do not take that for granted.

The Temptation to Bend

Now, the low point. Because there was one.

Late February was hard. It had been about two months since a well-fitted prospect had come through the door. The business was objectively fine. I knew that. But I felt the temptation to start bending my criteria, to consider taking on someone who was not quite the right fit just to keep the momentum going. I did not. And I am glad I did not.

A few trusted advisors reminded me that January and February are just slow months in this profession. People are not seeking financial guidance the way you might expect at the start of a new year. Still, knowing that didn’t make me feel better in the moment, but it did help refocus my efforts more on proper marketing than who was not booking appointments.

Staying in your lane when the lane feels empty takes discipline. I had already learned the hard way what happens when you chase the wrong fit. Although tempting, I did not want to unlearn that lesson under pressure.

I Told You So

Turns out, experience pays off, or leaning on other people's experience anyway. While focusing my efforts on marketing and committing to a specific niche of serving Active Duty Military 3-5 years from retirement, retirees, and their families, the right clients started coming through. The ones who fit and I knew I could serve well. (Yes, you!) The process actually worked! And with that kind of focus, I had no problem passing a few incompatible prospective clients to advisors and coaches who could serve them better than I could. That still feels good every single time.

Have It Your Way

This was actually one of my favorite learning areas this year. I learned what it means to build something that's actually mine. For instance, I started with a tiered fee schedule because that's what everyone else was doing. (I’d probably jump off a bridge too.) Not long after I started, I scrapped it for a flat-fee model. Easier to explain, harder for clients to accept sometimes, but it's the right fit for how I work and who I serve.

Other areas I changed… early on I fiercely guarded both Mondays and Fridays. Now it's just Mondays. In my marketing, if a blog post doesn't go out because life happened, and I need to prioritize client work or a meeting, that's fine. If a week of content gets skipped because I needed to be somewhere else, no problem. Getting comfortable with that kind of flexibility has been its own journey and really, I'm still on it, but it’s still awesome.

Here's to Year Two

To you, reading this right now: you are part of this story. Reading and sharing content, listening to podcasts, making referrals, the kind words, and for some of you, trusting me enough to become clients has meant more than you know. I am doing what I love, and a big part of why that is true is because of who I get to do it with. Without you, the reader and the clients, Formynder Wealth Management wouldn't exist.

Sincerely, thank you.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational, general information, and illustration purposes only. Nothing contained in the material constitutes tax advice, a recommendation for purchase or sale of any security, investment advisory services, or legal advice regarding estate matters. I encourage you to consult a financial planner, accountant, and/or legal counsel for advice specific to your situation. Read the full disclosure.