Now is an exciting time at Second Level Capital. Exciting because we hold our destiny in our own hands. By exciting, I mean terrifying, but hopefully this feeling will go away in 10 or 15 years.
Over the last few months, we’ve been fortunate to connect with a multitude of professionals from a variety of industries; accounting, banking, real estate. Adam and I encounter the same two questions from most everyone: What’s our minimum to start investing, and what are we doing to get new clients? The former is for a different post, but the latter is on my mind today.
The pressure to grow rests on our shoulders everyday. We know a couple things:
- We want to grow, which requires meeting people. (Maybe I should look up local networking events or join a chamber or volunteer for something. But I shouldn’t do those things with the ulterior motive of getting new clients. I must be the first person to think of this idea.)
- Perhaps real growth happens organically, so I should focus on existing clients and those relationships. (Is this just lazy? Are these two things mutually exclusive? We are constantly talking about making ourselves better so maybe I should read something to increase my knowledge instead.)
- Advertising and marketing work. We need a bigger social media presence. (Should we be spending our money on this? Does this even work? Are people even reading this blog?)
The crazy crank inside my head gets turning pretty quickly and I start to feel like Nick Cage’s character in Adaptation.
I feel like I should be DOING something to speed up the process. I just can’t figure out the best way to approach it.
This must be the feeling many investors encounter when looking at their own portfolio. With countless ever changing variables, surely something can be done to juice returns, but what? Sell Boeing? Buy Boeing? Buy China? Sell China? Buy Cannabis? Sell Cannabis? Maybe I’ll call Adam and Brad and see what they think. Then you hear the same thing from us: do nothing, stay the course, blah blah blah.
The pressure to do something stems from the fear of missing out. “If I had just done this, then my portfolio would be worth that.” Recently, it was the 33rd anniversary of Microsoft’s IPO and CNBC reported a $1,000 investment in 1986 would be worth $1.3M today. This type of information doesn’t help investors invest prudently, it glosses over concentration risk as if it doesn’t exist.
Obviously meeting people, gaining referrals from existing clients, and networking are vital to growing our business. Rebalancing and consistent contributions are vital to growing your portfolio and reaching your financial goals. As a firm, we’ve decided to take some of our own advice. Taking care of our clients will always be our primary objective, and while we won’t be resting on our laurels, perhaps thinking too much isn’t helping our long-term growth.
Do you think it’s a possibility that just being trustworthy, experienced, and focused on long-term goals could be the key to this entire business? We’ll see…
-Brad