We recently connected with Anastasia Gray and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Anastasia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy running your own firm? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

The thought of “wow, it would be so much easier to just work for someone else” is a place that my mind will drift if I’m having a hard day. Whether because I have a meeting that didn’t go as planned, or someone cancelled last minute, or I made a mistake that could have been avoided.

About a year ago, I was two months away from my wedding, moving homes, running and growing my business, studying for my CFP and feeling good about the progress that I made and excited for the well-deserved time off to celebrate my wedding and honeymoon. Then, on a Friday afternoon, my business partner’s husband had a stroke and all of a sudden, I was not only responsible for one book of business, but now two. Fortunately, I had my assistant to help carry the load, But, two weeks later, my assistant quit. All of a sudden, over a matter of two weeks, I went from growth mode to survival mode.

The thought of having paid time off, paid sick days, and getting paid just for showing up and doing a good job was looking pretty tempting right about this time. To think that as long as I showed up and worked hard, I would have a guaranteed paycheck coming in every two weeks seemed like a much better alternative to the sudden shift to long days filled with service work and uncertainty of time and income, with really no guarantee or sight of when it would end.

So why did I stay? I have job offers all the time…why stay in a job that is seemingly not giving me the return on investment for amount of time and energy that I put into it?

Aside from the fact that I have wanted to be a Financial Advisor ever since I was 5 years old and watched my mom getting ready for work, becoming friends with her clients, and as I grew older, realizing the impact that she had on people’s lives, I knew, for sure these truths that kept me going no matter how difficult things became.

1. I don’t believe that happiness is found in circumstances. I have an inherent joy in what I do, which means that even when I don’t feel like it, I push through because the bad days are part of the overall purpose.

2. What I do helps people live with purpose. I know that what I do for work helps people, and if I quit because I have a hard day, then my clients and all my future clients may never have someone reach out to them to help them create the life they’ve always dreamed of.

3. This is not about me. What I do, how I work, who I help…it’s not about me. I am here to serve and that means that I will persevere to do what I am called to do.

To answer the initial question, “Are you happier as a business owner?”. Yes, because I know that this is where I am supposed to be, and this is where I have the greatest impact. Do I still sometimes dream about clocking in and clocking out and not thinking about my business after 5:00? Sure do.

Anastasia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Growing up, my mom was a Financial Advisor and my dad would go into different country clubs that were struggling, troubleshoot them and turn them around to make sure they were being well-run.

One of the things that I always loved about my childhood is that my mom was able to be home with me and my sister. I would go on trips with her to visit her clients, not really knowing what we were doing, but I remember becoming friends with this one couple in particular. They were in their 60s at the time and I was 5 years old. If I could have drawn up the perfect grandparents, this couple would have been them. The wife would make us fresh from scratch cinnamon rolls in the morning and teach us how to craft. They lived out in the country and grew all of their own food and had animals.

What I didn’t know is what exactly my mom was helping them with, which was their financial plan. Make sure that things were in place for when they got to retirement and for whenever one of them passed away, since they had a special needs child. Fast forward 20 years. My mom is no longer a Financial Advisor, but a couple of years ago, the husband of this couple passed away, somewhat unexpectedly. Although not their Advisor anymore, one of the first people that she called was my mom to thank her for all the planning that she helped them do. She could grieve the loss of her husband without worrying if she is going to be okay.

As a young Advisor in my 20’s, I already knew that what I was doing is important, but all of a sudden I was able to have the conviction and point of view of the impact that a financial plan can have, not only for the couple, but for the generations after them.

After college, I had moved down to Florida to play golf professionally. Although that ended up not being the path I ultimately chose, it was an invaluable experience that taught me how to win well and also how to lose well.

I typically work with young families who have children under the age of 10. Most often the frustrations that I hear my clients share are:
– “I don’t want to make any big mistakes that are going to negatively impact me down the road”
– “I want my money working as hard for me as I am working for it.”
– “I want to be intentional with my money so I can find financial freedom”

The things that my clients have found valuable:
– Putting together a comprehensive plan that encompasses retirement, college, short term goals, long term care, disability and life insurance.

Ultimately, whether or not I am the right person for someone to work with, I just want anyone I come in contact with to be better off for having talked with us.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Depending on what field you are in, you may have heard the term “COI” or “Center of Influence”. This is similar to that, but a little bit different because most of the time when you are cultivating COIs, they are other professionals that complement your business well and you can introduce people back and forth. The problem I’ve had with that is that it is not always reciprocal, and I don’t always have a really clear understanding of what my clients would experience if I were to refer that professional to them.

I call this “your biggest fans”. Everyone has someone in their life who wants to see them succeed and is willing to support you. Whether it’s your grandma, your best friend, the family friend that has known you since you were 2, or even your spouse.

One of the most efficient ways that I have grown my business is to be intentional about meeting with these people who are my biggest fans and making sure that they are very aware of what I do and how I help clients. Regardless of if these people are ideal clients, they will be your loudest voice for you. Instead of you finding each and every client yourself, you are able to maximize your reach by having someone else talk you up. As we all know, it’s much better for someone else to talk us up, than ourselves.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I have found that most of the time, people would rather work with someone that they trust over someone that appears to know everything about a certain topic
inside and out. Don’t get me wrong, actually being good at your craft is extremely important. But most of my new clients are people who have similar interests as me, whether its church, golf, or reading. I am intentional about spending my time doing things that I love and that I’m passionate about, and then by association, a lot of those people naturally become my clients because they know and trust me.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://anastasiagray.nm.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnastasiaGrayNM
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-gray-769b40139/