Twice this week I had a conversation with my financial advisor mostly because it is the end of the year and that is what we do in December. He is also breaking out on his own after being with his firm for the past 20+ years, so we talked about websites, business cards and corporate charters.
He first showed me his new business card, which he did himself. He was no graphic designer, so I whipped up a quick design in ten minutes for him. He has made and saved me a small fortune over the past decade and a bit, so it was ok I didn’t charge him. Besides, the “wow, you’re really good at this!” was payment enough.
The second conversation was about building websites. He had contracted with a firm that specializes in building sites for people like him in the investment industry and he wanted to know if he was paying too much. He had heard that most of this should be free, but the firm was offering space and content that was already vetted. With that one sentence, he had made an argument for using the firm. Even though we build and host websites, there was no way I was going to take on any of his liability.
And lastly, we had a phone conversation this morning about his corporation application (well, actually he had called for my charter and the conversation turned to him.) My advice was immediately, “have your attorney do it,” a conclusion he had already come to even though he had been told by some family members that he could easily do it himself.
I was being a bit selfish here, I must admit. I want him to focus on managing my portfolio, not trying to figure out the ins and outs of the Ohio Department of State and why they sent back his application for the third time because he didn’t complete this field or check that box.
Only a fool for a businessman does his own accounting, marketing and legal work. Hire good people to do what they know how to do. In the end, you’ll sleep better, have more free time to grow your business and stay out of tax court.