Before COVID-19 turned the whole world upside, some in the financial industry were preparing for the future. 

At Independent Wealth Connections, we started adapting six years ago. I wish I could say I had a crystal ball that predicted the ramifications of COVID. I did not. But the important thing is we were able to adapt to world changes. It meant we were ahead of the curve.

Small businesses can and should do the same things to modernize and increase their revenue.

Historically, work in the financial sector is hard. Margins have been shrinking since 1975. Financial planning done well is very labor intensive.

I took inspiration from a CEO at a top Fortune 100 company who preached four guiding principles to grow effectively:

•Automate where you can.

•Outsource next.

•Simplify.

•Eliminate unnecessary tasks.

Technology advancements made automating processes a piece of cake. Instead of using human beings to input data by hand, scanners, webcams, and computers could do the job and do it faster and, more importantly, more accurately.

Then, COVID made remote work the norm.

At times, we were doing up to eight web or remote meetings a day. The idea of remote meetings didn’t freak clients out. Rather, they were able to save time from having to drive to a physical location, and thus they could get more done.

Remote work is popular with employees and employers. Some businesses can’t function on remote work philosophies, but for many—why not?

We’re more productive because of the remote technology, which had been around before COVID, but most weren’t using it. Since then, we’ve become very comfortable with it.

If you don’t have the personnel to handle various high-level tasks, outsource them. This could be marketing, information technology, and even financial trading itself, such as partnering with LPL Financial, a registered financial adviser.

This outsourcing allows us to focus on providing “best in class” service to clients while growing business. Using virtual contract teams allows for talent acquisition without the overhead most small business owners run into in hiring, onboarding, training, and retaining key people.

It isn’t just a different way to do business; it’s a different mindset. Outsourcing parts of the financial planning process to other professionals, for example, has massively changed the ability of firms to scale and to be more confident in the end product.

Choosing less complex processes that still took care of core principles saves time and other resources. Using electronic signatures for documents, for example, is a combination of automation and simplification that has been a game changer.

Eliminating unnecessary tasks is one of the hardest things for small businesses to embrace, primarily because many business owners operate on the principal of “We’ve always done it this way.” Change can be hard from a psychological perspective.

We found that once we stopped doing certain things, it was a relief, and wondered why we didn’t stop doing “x” years ago.

The proof that these four guiding principles work is the increase in revenue.

Our business continues to grow. Yes, we’re investing some of the profits in outsourcing and technology, but in the long run, it allows us to focus on the relationships with our clients.

Financial consultant Donald Morgan owns Independent Wealth Connections LLC, of Spokane Valley.