Meeting with Rob Pasick (Part 3)

Today I conclude my notes from a meeting with executive coach Rob Pasick just over one year ago.

As opposed to starting an investment advisory (IA), Dr. Pasick suggested branding myself as a domain expert and marketing that way. He said much of industry today is centered around knowledge. I mentioned this blog, which I use to keep myself on task. He asked how many followers I have and I said I don’t publicize it or track analytics since it doesn’t serve a marketing purpose (nothing to market). He talked about potentially self-publishing a book (he has two, which he gave me gratis).

He suggested I could also start a podcast, make professional use of financial media, and increase my exposure to the point that others would seek my services. Many people are simply too busy to manage their own money or just flat-out don’t want to deal with it and are willing to hand this off to “professionals.” He is aware of the migration to robo-advisors in modern-day asset management.

A related question he asked is whether I have any special sort of intellectual property (IP) to sell or whether my success is due to hard work. I said I feel strongly about options, which I discussed in this blog mini-series. However, I don’t want take up the cause of why options are better and the traditional approach to asset allocation is bad, which echoes more along the lines of IP (see second paragraph here). While I could be a small voice in a [relatively small] chorus, some individuals already dedicate themselves to pounding that table. Besides, while I do think traditional garden-variety asset management (sans options) is lackluster, I still believe they offer significant improvement (fifth paragraph here).

Finally, Rob extended an invite to his Leaders Connect monthly networking event. I really didn’t see how something like that would help me. In order to network and build my business, I need an asset management business (an IA) to build.

I asked him if he has worked with IAs before in context similar to my own. He said he has never worked with someone looking to build from the ground up. He has worked with existing IAs to build their businesses, though, and he has worked with financial advisors for national firms looking to become independent. He sounded confident in being willing to work with me…

…but as mentioned in the beginning, things like this have a price. His charge is about $300/hour. He suggested a three-month time frame to start at a cost of roughly $1,000 per month. He suggested it might take six months to really make an impact at a cost of roughly $5,000. In the beginning, he mentioned asking for a percentage of my new business as a fee. That would be more akin to a fee schedule I can see myself accepting.

If I knew up front this would grow into something successful, I’d bring multiple checkbooks. Since I don’t, as mentioned in the third-to-last paragraph here, the decision is very difficult for me to make.

Meeting with Rob Pasick (Part 2)

Today I continue reviewing a meeting I had roughly one year ago with executive coach Rob Pasick.

As a second alternate to starting an investment advisory (IA), I could form the previously-mentioned “option trading workgroup” with the primary focus being practice of various option trading strategies (not the research discussed near the end of Part 1). Once familiar enough through practice or backtesting, perhaps, I should feel more comfortable adding different strategies to my regimen. These could serve as future profit centers.

Pasick tried to get at my true motivation for starting an IA by asking why I am not content sitting at home and continuing to trade for a living. I said it feels like a logical next step if I am able to trade successfully for myself. I also said it would also be a challenge—meaning that it would force me to practice weaknesses that I can hopefully turn into strengths.

Starting a business with actual clients would help reclaim my professional edge. This is a reference to getting “soft” rather than having soft skills. Working for someone else requires us to meet explicit goals and requirements. We typically have a dress code (other than sweats and underwear). We have places to be and deadlines to meet. We have presentations. We have protocol to organize and keep straight in case the supervisor makes a surprise visit. All of this represents solid discipline that, for the most part, I don’t need when working for myself (although I believe retaining these practices would increase probability of success even in the latter case). Here is an interesting post about working for oneself.

I explained that I could make some of these things happen just by spending a bunch of money. I could spend money to start an IA or hedge fund. I could hire someone to build me the automated backtester. As discussed in the fourth paragraph here, though, it’s really difficult for me to do these things when I don’t see a clear path to assets. I said the one thing I can’t guarantee by spending money is a successful new business venture.

This is where I need the plan and a vision. A business coach could probably help with this.

I’ll conclude next time.

Meeting with Rob Pasick (Part 1)

Upon recommendation from a friend, I met with Dr. Robert Pasick one year ago. I composed this post (never finished) to serve as personal notes of that session.

Rob is an executive coach. I’m not sure if my referral had friendly contact or business in mind, but Rob is all business and he made that quite clear.

Not that I should really expect anything less—and I don’t. If ever the end product is making money, then it would seem a willingness to pay for the service is in order. I discussed this in the second paragraph here.

I started by reciting my 60-second elevator pitch:

     > After working several years as a staff pharmacist and pharmacy manager, I retired
     > to start a securities trading business at the age of 36. This has been a journey
     > without clients or co-workers that has required extensive self-study, intrinsic
     > motivation, and outside-the-box thinking. I have since learned a great deal about
     > the mechanics of trading and investing. I have succeeded at replacing a six-figure
     > pharmacist salary by posting average annual returns in excess of 15% from 2007
     > onward. Having risked my own hard-earned capital to learn the craft, I now seek
     > to manage wealth for others.

I explained some of my road blocks. The main one is lack of a sales background (see fourth paragraph here). Another is the fact that I trade options, which the financial industry views as extremely risky (as discussed here). He later noted the lack of a network of wealthy individuals who say “here’s a few million for you to manage… we love you, Mark!” is another block for me.

I have recently felt the need to really “network my *ss off” to get this business going. I also consider networking to be a weakness since I am not practiced at it.

Rob did not understand my sense of loneliness, which I proceeded to clarify. I said I have been unsuccessful at finding other full-time, independent, retail traders like myself (not of retirement age, but that’s not as important provided they have sufficient interest and dedication to collaborate) who trade for a living. In the absence of an investment advisory, which is probably #1 on my list of desired next steps, I could potentially form a research team to build the automated backtester (see paragraph #8 here) and proceed with my extensive list of research topics. That could shape my future trading* and/or serve as a foundation for professionally managed accounts.

I will continue next time.

* — I have since become more interested in trading futures, as discussed in many posts since (e.g. here).