Who Are Brown & Brown’s Clients? Retirement Through Purposeful Planning

Posted @ 11:06 pm - Filed under Real Estate Investing, Purposeful Planning, Boise, Retirement, Builders

Several times monthly I’m asked a recurring question. If someone doesn’t have a ton of money to invest, would I still consider working with them? Before I answer that question, let me shed some light on what makes me tick.

I love the part of this business that allows me to take folks from where they are today, to a very nice retirement — hopefully earlier than they had anticipated. It’s like a drug for me. If I don’t get to talk with new people with enough frequency I begin to get a tad jumpy. I love it. It’s those first couple conversations that puts me in a totally different state of mind.

Athletes call it the zone. I’ve also experienced it as a bodybuilder, and most recently as a college baseball umpire. But when it happens at work — there’s simply nothing better. I work harder for that feeling than I do for money — cross my heart.

Last night I nearly ODed.

Between talking with a very cool Brooklyn couple, and again to Bill (from Boise seminar - spoke about him the other day) and his wife Jenna, I was nearly unconscious.

Since both conferences took place after work hours, while at home, my (trophy) wife had to put up with me walking all around the house as she was trying valiantly to do some work for her company on her laptop. She long ago reconciled herself to my pacing. (Sometimes at the office Josh and I will both be on the phone, with both of us pacing like hungry lions. With non-verbal communication we figure out which patterns the other is using, and weave our separate laps without running into each other.)

After the second phone conference was concluded, I sat down to relax. But no luck. I was already thinking about what I could do to help them get going. In what region should I put them? Would the latest builder deal we made work for them? Oh, stop it, and relax. Good luck.

Neither couple has tons of money. Do I work with relatively sophisticated investors who are fat with cash? Yep.

Is my relationship with them any different than with my clients who start with just enough to get them in the door? Nope.

I get a bigger kick out of taking newbies and getting them from point A to point WooHoo! than I do working with those who’re well-healed by years of impressive success.

I still work with the bigger fish, because they’re just as cool, and they let me know how much they like what I bring to the table. Still. the younger couples who just aren’t sure what to do — I love them to death.

So who’re Brown & Brown’s clients?

They’re regular folk — no matter how much money they have.

Here’s a peek at the latest group to join up with us.

A 30-something couple with a couple kids making $50-70,000 a year. Refinanced their home to get started.

A young couple with one child (more planned) making $40-45,000 a year. Like so many others they just took some cash from their home’s equity, and are chomping at the bit to get going. They’ll buy one property to get started. He’s 25 — wow. His company is paying for his slow but sure march to a college degree. After I spoke with him the first time, I was higher than a kite. Talk about starting from ground zero. He and his wife have a super vision of their future — and I’m jazzed to be able to contribute.

A pharmaceutical salesman, who travels more than a diplomat during a crisis. $Six figure income. Married with one child. Late 30’s — I think. Again — refinanced home to get going.

A executive in North Dakota, married and in his 30’s. Again, refinanced to get some capital. Will start with one property and work from there.

A father partnered with his son and daughter-in-law. The father is a retiree in his 70’s — the son is a truck driver making $45-60,000. Between them, cashing out annuities, they’re starting with a few hundred grand.

See what I mean? Regular folk.

And they’ll have something in common down the road apiece. They’ll be retired — with a bunch of dough coming in every month. And they’ll all be using their Social Security for spending money.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Real Estate Investing, Purposeful Planning, Boise, Retirement, Builders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.