Business
Financial advising is a profession that draws in an eclectic mix of individuals who come from different backgrounds and whose career paths haven’t always been straightforward and predictable. Today’s guest formerly served in the military as a forensic accountant; now he not only runs his own financial practice, he’s also the world’s first (and probably only) forensic accountant blockchain professional. He joins the show to share what he’s learned from his military experience that has helped him serve his clients and grow his practice on referrals alone. Robert Watterson is the owner of Watterson Financial Solutions, a firm that handles financial planning, accounting, compliance, insurance, asset protection and tax services. Listen to hear what Robert has to say about how working in forensic accounting informs his current work, how he remains focused with so many different areas of practice, and how his interest in blockchain technology helped him develop an audit-ready bookkeeping system. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: How Robert moved from military forensic accountant to advisor (5:00) How his military experience informs the way he acquires clients (9:10) Staying focused while providing different offerings (18:40) How the different parts of Robert’s business build on one another (21:40) The blockchain’s impact on the financial industry (23:40) Robert’s audit-ready bookkeeping system (30:30) Robert’s biggest challenge in growing his practice (35:10) Why service is the most important part of running a practice (38:00) Links and Resources: Watterson Financial Send Robert an email Quotes by Robert: “In the military, one of the things that they taught us was never look for what’s good for you; look for what’s good for the overall project you’re working on. And if you’re working with a client, that means the overall good for the client.” “Make yourself referable… If you are referable, they will come back to you for work or they will have somebody come to you for work.” “If you don’t worry about making money off every client, the client will worry about making sure you make money.” With Robert’s different interests and areas of expertise – forensic accounting, blockchain technology, compliance and financial planning – it can be difficult to see how everything fits together. And yet, he’s able to pull knowledge and skills from different areas to create a unique practice in a way that we can all learn from. How Robert’s military experience informs the way he acquires clients Robert’s obsession with learning Robe