Richmond SCORE Chapter 12 A Form

Richmond SCORE Chapter 12
A Former National Chapter of the Year Award Winner.

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Richmond SCORE
Federal Building
Suite 1150
SBA Offices
400 North 8th Street
Richmond, VA 23240
Phone: 804-771-2400 Ext. 131

O'Brien Financial Planning

3761 Westerre Parkway, Suite C
Richmond, VA 23233
Telephone (804) 421-4020
Email dave@obrienfp.com
Website: http://obrienfp.com/welcome.html

SCORE interviewed David J. O’Brien, CFP®, a client of Richmond SCORE since 2006. He is the principal of O’Brien Financial Planning, a fee-based financial planning firm in Richmond, Virginia.

SCORE: Tell us about your business, and your background.
O’Brien: We are a small financial planning firm focused on individuals, families and small businesses. We have a focus on comprehensive financial planning and institutional investment management for individuals as well as qualified plans for small businesses – 401(k)s and profit sharing plans. I started this business after eighteen years as a senior leader at GE, in a number of businesses and industries.

SCORE: What led you to first contact SCORE?
O’Brien: I learned about SCORE from another one of their clients. I had spent over a year planning to start this business before I left the corporate world, and once I left, I realized the support network I had built over decades – all inside GE -- wasn’t too helpful any more. A neighbor of mine had recently started a business, and told me how much his SCORE counselor had helped him, so I decided to set an appointment to learn more.

SCORE: What were some of the initial things you learned working with your SCORE counselor?
O’Brien: Right off the bat, I learned how my corporate experience was only partially applicable to my new business. My counselors provided me with critical assistance in filling my knowledge gaps.
I was very fortunate to have been given two counselors at SCORE, Shelly Shapiro, who had significant corporate experience and was a past SCORE chapter president, and Fred Esposito, who had experience in my industry. Both were very experienced counselors and combined to give me support and guidance I couldn’t find anywhere else. One thing that really set SCORE apart from the myriad of “business coaches” out there was the personal nature of the coaching I received. These gentlemen really wanted to learn about my business and deliver the advice that was appropriate for me. I saw a lot of businesses ready to sell me a packaged solution, but never got the impression they were aligned with my best interest the way SCORE is.
Perhaps the most important guidance I received from Shelly was that a new business like mine needed a plan that focused on the first one to three years. I showed up with a business plan that had a five year outlook, and a ten year outlook, like we always did at GE. That advice is one of the things I point to when I identify early milestones in this business.

SCORE: What were some of the reasons you decided to return to SCORE for continued support?
O’Brien: When I was first starting out, as many entrepreneurs know, it was pretty lonely. I didn’t have much business, so I had time to plan the business, but also time to worry about the prospects for success. Shelly and Fred were excellent cheerleaders for me. They helped put things in perspective, and keep me focused on the progress I had made – measuring that progress was extremely important to keeping forward momentum. I needed unbiased feedback and support, and they certainly gave me both.
They also delivered tough messages I needed to hear, helped me get out of my own way when it came to conquering fears of developing my business. While I don’t view sales as my core competency, they made it clear that I had to get out there and sell myself and my business in order to grow. Without their well-placed advice, I would have had a much tougher time growing my business in the early days. I still rely on that advice every week.
Even after the first year of the business came to a close, I felt like the coaching I received from my SCORE counselors was important. While they had helped me identify critical success factors early on, my challenges were changing, and their insight and candid feedback was still important.

SCORE: You had a fairly extensive corporate background, how was the coaching you received from SCORE different from what you had learned in the corporate world?
O’Brien: In addition to shrinking my ten year plan down to a three year plan – that was a big dose of reality – I learned lot from my counselors. They asked me a lot of questions about how I worked, what I did with my days at work, how many hours I worked, and then they shed light on where I really needed to spend my time. While my corporate background provided me with a ton of useful skills, Shelly pointed out things I needed to do to market my business and build a support network. Since financial planning is a personal business, I had to get the word out about what I did – this was new territory to me, and I really benefited from the advice.

SCORE: What have your first year results been?
O’Brien: We are ahead of our plan. There’s still much work to do, but based on the early advice I got from SCORE, I have a realistic plan. Without that realistic plan, I’d feel lost. I’d be unable to achieve the initial targets I set when I was working from a five and ten year plan. I know that in addition to having a realistic plan, following some of the very direct advice from SCORE helped me acquire the clients I have to date.

SCORE: Your business has passed from the exploratory stage to the growth stage, how do you intend to use SCORE going forward?
O’Brien: I can’t imagine facing the challenges that lie ahead without the sage advice of my SCORE counselors. I hope to check in for assistance in more areas where I lack experience, such as how to evaluate and fund a potential acquisition.

SCORE: Do you have any advice for other professionals starting their own business?
O’Brien: Where else can you be connected with an experienced executive who will spend hours learning about your business and give you the very best of their thinking – for free? I always relied on a team approach to build business successes at GE, and know that the team SCORE assembled for me was critical to the success I have had with O’Brien Financial Planning. I would recommend SCORE to anyone starting a new business. No matter how much experience they have, it will be complimented by the caring and dedicated professionals from SCORE.

This article is intended for the sole use of SCORE for its internal publications and communication with members, affiliates and clients. Use beyond that purpose requires permission of David J. O’Brien, CFP®. 804-421-4020 dave@obrienfp.com