Eric Brotman on Building a Collaborative Culture, Targeting Business Development Channels, Sustaining Scale, and Learning to Grow by Letting Go

Guest: Eric Brotman, CFP®, AEP®, CPWA®, is a Principal and the Chief Executive Officer of BFG Financial Advisors. Eric began his financial planning practice in Baltimore in 1994, and founded Brotman Financial Group in 2003, which later became BFG Financial Advisors. He and his team focus on supporting families and individuals by providing comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services.

Eric is also the author of Don't Retire... Graduate!: Building a Path to Financial Freedom and Retirement at Any Age.

In a Nutshell: As a founder/advisor, how does your role evolve over time?

I frequently have these conversations with my coaching clients where we discuss what does the advisor want their role to be.

In the early stages of your career, you have to do everything, but as the business grows, you have to decide what you're going to double down on and what you're going to let go of. There's no one answer that fits every advisor. Some advisors naturally and easily segue into a leadership role and give up most, if not all of their lead advisor client relationships. Other advisors do not enjoy the management role of running the business, managing people, and they prefer the relationship side of the business and business development.

Regardless of which route you want to go, you have to figure out how to build the team and the infrastructure around you so that every function within the organization is getting taken care of at a high level such that you can focus on what you do best, what you enjoy the most, and that moves the needle for the company.

On today's show, Eric Brotman and I have a wide-ranging conversation that touches on evolving your role over time, succession planning, transitioning clients, teamwork, scalable processes, and how to accelerate organic growth without losing a human touch.