We recently connected with Sathya Chey Patterson and have shared our conversation below.
Sathya, appreciate you joining us today. Early in your career, how did you think through the decision of whether to start your own firm or join an established firm?
At the start of my career in wealth management, I was a young single mother with little savings and so I needed to begin my career with a salary where I felt I could continue to financially support myself and my daughter. I would have loved to start my own firm but having a salary and a client base from the beginning provided the stability that I needed in my life at that time. That is a consideration that many future entrepreneurs need to think about. Do I have enough in savings to support my lifestyle while I build up the income from my business? If the answer is no, then maybe setting more realistic goals and taking action to have a longer-term plan to eventually start your own firm will be less disruptive to your and your family’s life. In June 2021, after almost 14 years in my career was when I actually started my own firm. At this time I felt that my partner and I had enough in loyal clients and the revenue generated from them to support our business launch. I had also made sure to have enough in savings to support myself as revenues grew and was able to commit the amount of time needed when you launch a company. We are now approaching second anniversary and it has beena ton of work and hours committed to making sure the transition was seamless for our clients and the brand that we were building truly represented who we are as wealth advisors and the role we play in our client’s lives. It has been an enlightening experience and despite all the late nights, having a company that represents who I am in all aspects is so fulfilling.
Sathya, 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?
My life story could be shared so much more than a couple sentences, but I will share that my background being born in a refugee camp and having a family that survived the Cambodian genocide provided the backdrop for why I got into wealth management. I feel incredibly lucky to be alive and as I grew up saw so many Americans stressed out over their finances, never really feeling like they could pursue the passions they wanted to or retire was so painful for me to observe. I chose this career because I wanted to be able to take the stressful part of someone’s life, have a deep conversation about the life they want to create for themselves, create a plan, and help them bring those dreams into reality. Many people don’t realize that a wealth advisor is so much more than just managing your investments. Finances affect every part of your life and your ability to spend time with or do the things you love, why wouldn’t you pay someone to help you organize, monitor and implement so you have the best chance of living the life you’ve always wanted? Clients often come to me when at a point of tremendous growth, e.g. finally making a good income where they realize they have money left over and could be saving more, getting married and combining incomes, tremendous change e.g. death/inheritance, divorce, sale of a business or they simply want to become financially fit in the same way that someone chooses to become physically fit. Perhaps they are tired of feeling lost or unsure of when they can retire or whether they are doing everything they can to protect the people they love.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I think being authentic and servicing my existing clients well has been the most effective strategy for growing my clientele. Most of our new business comes from referrals from our existing clients. You really have to give “wow” service that is impactful to clients and is not just what is in their best interest but what is meaningful to them. In terms of being authentic, over my lifetime I’ve had unique experiences that give me an ability to provide advice and perspective that makes me different from other wealth advisors. Our value proposition as a company is founded on our unique experiences and values, so being able to show clients that we genuinely care and delivering on those promises is extremely important for clients to feel comfortable referring a friend or family member.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
We make efforts to regularly send out educational communications via email, update our blog regularly and post to all social media outlets (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram), as well as have a disciplined meeting schedule with our clients that cover a wide range of topics like an investment review, tax planning, financial planning, estate planning, insurance and so much more! We foster brand loyalty by making sure we are diligently documenting important details about a client’s preferences, life events and family and make sure we celebrate or provide support appropriately. I think clients who are most loyal to us feel that we have their best interest in mind and are always thinking about ways to help them lead better, happier lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ariseprivatewealth.com/
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/ariseprivatewealth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArisePrivateWealth
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arise-private-wealth/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/arise_pw