Only Fee-Only
This podcast interviews fee-only financial planners to learn about how they are helping their clients and serving their specific niches.
Only Fee-Only
#124 - Leveling Up: Growing Pains to Growing Confidence with Allen Mueller
In this episode, Allen reflects on the pivotal transition his firm has made—from what felt like the teenage years of figuring things out to what now feels like a confident, grown-up business. He talks about raising fees to match his value, navigating rejection, and developing a marketing approach that feels authentic—focusing on LinkedIn, directory listings, and client referrals instead of cold calls.
He also shares the tools that help him run a lean and effective operation, including Guardrails Financial for planning and Quiver CRM for systematizing client service. Whether you're in the early years or looking to refine your existing practice, this episode offers grounded, real-world insights into building a firm with intention and clarity.
Allen's Social:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenrmueller/
x:@7Saturdaysaweek
Music in this episode was obtained from Bensound.
How's it going everyone? Welcome back, as always. We appreciate you being here. This is the Only Fee Only podcast and today we're doing a check in with Alan Mueller, who we've had on the show before and it's always a great time to get to talk to him. One of our favorite things to do is these check ins, and Alan is the founder of 7 Saturdays Financial. We got the chance to talk to him a little over a year ago, I believe, and he's back on the show to talk about the growth, the progress and where 7 Saturdays is today. So so excited for this episode. Enjoy it. And here is Alan Mueller on the Only Fee Only podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey, how's it going everyone? Welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only podcast. I'm Peter Travlo, I'm here with my co-host, brock Buckles, and today we're so excited to have Alan Mueller back on from 7 Saturdays Financial, very excited to have a check-in and see how things are going. So, alan, welcome back, man back man.
Speaker 3:Hey, thanks for having me back guys likewise.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're always so excited to see you, we see you at the conferences, uh, and we also see you all the time on linkedin and you have quite a following in your uh comments, so always love seeing your activity yeah, appreciate that you bet um. So for those who don't know who you are, you want to give just a quick kind of background of who you are and a little bit about 7 Saturdays.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So Alan Mueller, dallas area, and I started my firm 7 Saturdays Financial about two and a half years ago as a career changer. So kind of a different journey than most there. But yeah, I focus on right now. My main focus is retirement income planning, so helping those folks who have built the assets kind of unwind those assets and create retirement income from it in a tax efficient manner. So that's my focus Right now. I'm solo so it's just me running the show and probably be like that for the near future. So that's kind of my vision.
Speaker 1:Yeah and yeah. I mean you're helping people get to the place where they can have seven Saturdays, right, that's the goal.
Speaker 3:That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:I love it, man. So if you guys want background information, pause this episode, go back to episode 66, get yourselves caught up. But I mean, man, like you were in the thick of it, right, you were growing. There was a ton of things going on last time we talked. So compare your headspace Like what was it like when you were doing that? And then how are you feeling now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So last time we spoke it was probably August of last year and I just left my corporate job in July. So, for those who don't know, I was doing double duty, kind of building the firm on the side for about 15 months, which was intense but kind of necessary. I didn't want to go down to zero income and build from zero. I know there's folks that do that and more power to them. That's just not me. That was a little bit too risky for me.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I kind of feel like when I started, my firm was kind of like a little baby and that, like when we spoke last year, I felt like kind of like a little baby and that, like when we spoke last year, I felt like kind of a teenager, like okay, kind of figuring things out, and kind of feel like an adult at this point. So it's, it's been an evolution and you know, you know just client wise, marketing wise, kind of finding my stride, just feel like in a very different place at this point after having, you know, over a year to focus on the business full-time. It's really, it's really incredible how much creative energy gets unlocked once you clear out the mental cobwebs, clear out the clutter from you know, the day job or whatever else may be distracting you. So, um, yeah, it's been. It's been phenomenal. It almost, you know. It honestly feels like I'm retired at this point because I have control over my life.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, I love it mean. So let's talk about that, cause I know, you know we've had some good conversations like well, or maybe just some like general things, like maybe some head trash, or you know, like just starting out advisor things, that now that you say that you're retired, you know now like what do you wish you could say back to your you know earlier self.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I think it takes time to develop that confidence, like one of the things that I've done over and over several times probably three or four times is raising fees, you know, not on existing clients yet, although that's going to be a conversation at some point but just raising fees and being confident in explaining the value to new prospects.
Speaker 3:And you know, charging essentially what we're worth. Right, because I think it's almost unavoidable. You're going to come out the gate with a brand new firm. You're going to be undercharging um cause you need to generate revenue and that's one way to get it is is to kind of provide a discount. But at some point you know you need to have the confidence and and understand the value that's able to be delivered and be able to communicate that value. So that's been a big thing that you know. Like I said, I've been more confident and comfortable with over time. But also just those sales conversations in general, it's like you know the more it happens, the more comfortable you're with it and you know just makes it easier and easier as time goes on no-transcript, unless you've already started a firm, sold the firm and then whatever you started to get back into it.
Speaker 1:You kind of know what to expect. Right, it's not, but you have to overcome a lot of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great point. And XYPN and some other places they do the research where you know you start a firm and it's unavoidable. The first year sucks, like there's no way to sugarcoat it. The second year sucks a little less. But in the third year is when you actually start hitting a stride and you start. You know, maybe those folks who have seen what you're doing you know it's kind of like that oh, you've been in business three months, like talk to me when it's been three years, folks are kind of like, okay, he's been around two or three years, like his, I don't think his business is going to fail. Maybe I'll initiate a conversation now and see what happens. But yeah, I think not only that, but once you build a client base you start feeling more comfortable with the revenue. It doesn't really sting as much. When you start getting those no's, it's almost like all right, cool, I've got thick skin at this point. So it takes a lot of no's to get to yes, right.
Speaker 2:All great points there. So I mean, where's a lot of your growth come from? I mean, is it LinkedIn, social media, COIs? Where are you getting it from?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of all over the place like a shotgun approach. If it was one thing, I would be able to hammer on that one thing and really turn it up, but it's kind of a smattering of things. So I would say it's probably about a third from social and that's. Linkedin is the main thing. Twitter is probably a side, kind of a secondary offering there. So one third from social, and anybody who says social media marketing doesn't work is lying. There's a lot of people that can disprove that.
Speaker 3:But if social media doesn't work, you're either doing it wrong or you're not giving it long enough. You're not being patient enough because it is a long game. So that's the third. The second third I would say is online directories like Fee Only Network and flatfeeadvisorsorg. Folks are specifically looking for a certain fee model and they go on those websites and they kind of narrow it down from there. And then the third one would be just referrals from existing clients or family and friends who know what I'm doing, and somebody said, hey, I need an advisor, and they're like, oh, alan, you should talk to him.
Speaker 2:So um yeah, it's really flattering.
Speaker 1:Those are the best kinds of like the people that are referring you to their friends and they can already vouch for you. It does not get better than that.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, yeah, you don't. Uh, you don't have to pay anything for that. You know free marketing, it's phenomenal, yeah man for sure.
Speaker 2:What were like some of those marketing methods you had to practice like? Were any of them forced to you? At first? They didn't seem natural. They were goofy. You're sticking your neck out like how did you match your marketing to your personality?
Speaker 3:yeah, so, uh, great question. I would say that, like, none of those three are really forced um from my end, like they fit in really well with my personality. So what would not fit in well is cold calling or door knocking, like I've literally never done that in my life, so it would really be a forced thing um for me to do that. So I really wanted, uh, inbound, which I think everybody wants, but that's kind of what I wanted to hammer was, you know, demonstrating expertise through social content, which for me it was relatively easy to get started Granted. I look back on my prior content from a couple of years ago. I'm like man, that was awful. So that kind of indicates growth to me. That you know I'm judging my prior self there. But yeah, all of it was, you know, right, fit in line with my personality, with my style. So I felt like you know, that's the direction I need to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it took that version of you to get to this version of you. See, that's the thing I was like, because I do the same thing. I talked to Peter like when we started BC, like we were literally working out of a laundry room Some people know that, some people don't, but like we were turning the dryer off and I look at people like it probably just looks like cement blocks in the background. What people don't know is if you turn the camera to the left, you could see a washer and dryer. So yeah, I mean that's totally relatable and like you look back but honestly, man, it like it builds that resilience. Those know it builds the resilience and over time it's like so what? Like a no just means I'm getting closer to the next. Yes, right. Like a no is not a bad thing. It builds the resilience and over time it's like so what? A no just means I'm getting closer to the next. Yes, right, a no is not a bad thing. It's the maybes I really hate Like call me back or get back.
Speaker 1:It's like, okay, well, let's just land on something here. Are there parts of it Like, is it smattering of things? You said LinkedIn is a primary, twitter is kind of a secondary. Is there something that you really like to do for me? I really like to do the videos like that, for whatever reason. That just is fun for me. Do you have one that you prefer over the others?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would say, format wise, it's really the ones that are graphical. So I'll create something in Canva and it's educational or um, you know something like that. But those, those seem to really resonate with folks. Uh, you know those who are visual learners, versus just having a wall of text on a post or whatever. But man, I haven't gotten into the short form video yet, but if I could start over again, like from day one, I would probably do that immediately.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure, yeah. So like, where are you at with the firm? I mean I know you're, you know, lifestyle based. I mean you're seven Saturdays in the main. Like, are you still bringing on clients? Are you trying to? What's your annual calendar look like as far as servicing? Like, do you do surge meetings? Like, how are you making seven Saturdays, seven Saturdays?
Speaker 3:Yeah, all great questions. So right now I'm at right at 30 clients ongoing. So my ultimate goal is to get to 40 and kind of close the gates for a while and take a very hard pause. So what that looks like is probably going through a few semi-annual surge cycles and just seeing, like, okay, where's the bottleneck? Am I comfortable from a time, investment and income perspective? Do I want to maybe outsource, you know, bring in a fractional admin or something, and maybe that enables me to take on another five clients or 10 clients, right? But, um, kind of want to get to that 40 level and just feel it out for a while and, um, you know see how it goes.
Speaker 3:But, um, actually, at this point in time I'm um, in the process of kind of temporarily pausing and saying, hey, I'm going to uh, to not be taking on any new clients the first half of the year and resume onboarding in July. So, really comfortable from an income and workload perspective at this point, but really just want to install some efficiencies into the business and tackle some of those projects that I haven't had time to. I'm obviously going to be going into surge meetings in the spring and I don't want to be onboarding folks through that, but I'm also going to be sitting down for the CFP in July, so I want to leave plenty of time available for that, and if that means I need to refer some folks to other advisors, so be it. It's a great community. I have no problem doing that.
Speaker 1:So there hasn't been that moment. You haven't thought to yourself maybe I'm doing the boutique thing like. I don't see you ever being like an enterprise guy. I don't think that you want to like try and spend all your day managing people like it. Just that's not like we've talked about that. I don't think that's your, your gig. But do you see any potential of it? Because we've. We've had some people back on. They're like we have successfully failed as a lifestyle practice. Right, like we. That was always the ideology, but now that's not what we're doing, like thoughts around that man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean that's a very real possibility. Like I could very well get to 40 clients and kind of get comfortable and say, like man, I'm actually pretty bored, like I need to occupy myself with something. So is that growing a bigger firm and hiring some advisors? Is that you know? Is that growing a bigger firm and hiring some advisors? Is that you know? Is that writing a book? Is that creating a course? Like you know something to keep busy? Because, you know, I don't really think I'll be just hanging out and waiting for the next search cycle. I think I've always got to be busy with something.
Speaker 2:Love it. So, like what are some pieces of technology maybe that have helped you grow Like what are some things that are vital to you, that you know you wish that you started with them earlier makes it super easy for us to create plans that clients understand intuitively and we can explain well with a guardrails approach.
Speaker 3:But that one, you know that's a total game changer. They actually asked me to be on their advisory board. So I'm going to be doing that next year and providing some user feedback and they'll be piloting some new features with us. So that's going to be awesome. Great opportunity there. That's really like probably the most critical one.
Speaker 3:I would say the second one that just operationally, because when you have 10 or 15 clients like you can keep it all up here. It's pretty easy. But you know you get 20 or 30 clients like you need to systematize, and that that was kind of my theme for this year was systematize and be able to position for that that next level of growth. But what really enabled me to do that was a CRM called Quiver next level of growth. But what really enabled me to do that was a CRM called Quiver. So it's built on Salesforce. It's designed by a guy by the name of Steve Drost and I think about him like the Elon Musk of advisor CRMs like dude, super brilliant, built a very successful, efficient firm and after onboarding with Quiver and getting everything straightened out with workflows and all that, I feel like I've got it together more than I have in the last two and a half years. So it's it's really good to kind of get those systems in place and feel comfortable like stuff's not slipping through the cracks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shout out, steve, steve's awesome. Yeah, he's a. He's a great guy. And I remember when I was talking to him he was like yeah, I'm a financial planner, I also have a CRM and I'm like, all right, tell me more about that. But what is it for the advisors listening? Because I think we should nail down on that a little bit more. Man, like, what is it about Quiver? That you really think separates it from some of the other tools that people use.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, A couple of things. So I would say the biggest one is the customizability of it. Like you can like it's built on Salesforce so you can put in custom fields, you can build in custom workflows and automations and stuff. One of the things that can trigger automations or workflows is, like age-based. So you know, let's say, a client gets to age 59 and a half, they can withdraw from retirement accounts without penalty. Like it puts a task on your calendar or you can set it up to put a task on your daily docket.
Speaker 3:Like, hey, reach out to this client and let them know this based on their age, so you're not constantly trying to think about like oh, how old is this person? What do I need to let them know? It's like it's right there and you can queue up an email template ready to go, you know, inserts their name in there. You can also I their name in there. You can also I think they're developing this where you don't even have to touch it, Like if I've got a client, I put in their open enrollment date for employee benefits, like you could program it to say, okay, two weeks before this, send them an email, hey, we know your open enrollment's coming up. You know, feel free to reach out if we can help you make some decisions there. Right, and at some point you don't even have to touch it. So just being able to automate those sorts of things and stay on top of those recurring tasks is going to be a big one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day it's an advisor creating a platform or a CRM for other advisors. So who better to create a software than somebody that literally wants, like, wants to optimize it? I mean, that's as good as it gets.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and not only like do you get the piece of software, but you also get office hours with Steve and Will, who both have built super efficient firms. So if you've got any operational problem, it's almost like you get operations consulting included as part of the package. So that was a big one for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really cool cool. I've also seen the deliverables that you can generate to like the beneficiary reports and there's different items like that. So yeah, yeah, um, definitely a useful system and definitely need to have steve on here too to share the update, because I recently saw that they just um won. Was it like the upcoming tech? It was at the xypn, but they won something and I've seen them start to get on like it's a map that you need a hubble telescope to see company names.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's cool, man, that's cool. So for advisors, man, that, like, are just starting out right, so let's think of, like we're talking to alan, we, because we're talking to Alan back then we have long hair, it's long hair to Alan. What would you tell an advisor that was back in your shoes back then, man? Or like, if you could talk to yourself, what would you say to yourself and what advice or tips would you have?
Speaker 3:Man, I would just say be patient with the process.
Speaker 3:Like you always want it to grow faster than it's going, especially in the beginning, right, like you can't get clients fast enough, but, um, you know, just know that you're doing the right things, you're you're going through the reps, you're, you're going to be successful, right, as long as you have a long enough runway.
Speaker 3:Um, so, just try to, uh, try to be patient with it.
Speaker 3:And the other thing I would say is you know, perfectionism is one of the things that can creep in for us as we're building a business, and you know a lot of folks, myself included you know we want to get everything perfect before the clients are even available to go through the process, right, or you know, whatever email templates, or we want to find the perfect planning software and all this stuff.
Speaker 3:And it's like you know, I really wish I would have focused a lot more time on actually getting clients rather than trying to design the perfect process, because the perfect process, even if you design it, you know you spend all this time creating it it's going to change 15 times as you get people going through it. Right, you're going to identify the bugs, you're going to change some things. So, really, what you need to do is create a minimum viable product and, yeah, it's good enough, it's going to serve people well, but understand that it's going to change. You're going to change it, you're going to tweak it. So don't spend, you know, your entire life designing the perfect thing. You know. Find the clients and then put them through it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely Love it. So, alan, any like golden nuggets that you had, or anything else that you want to share to the advisor community that you had before jumping on here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I would say, you know, design your firm the way you want to design it. Don't let anybody should on you. Like there's a lot of people that say, like you know things that oh, the flat fee model is not profitable or social media marketing doesn't work, Right. So there's a lot of different ways, different angles that you can tackle this business and you just got to find the one that works for you and be confident doing it, regardless of the naysayers, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it, man. I love it, and you put out unbelievable content. So I would be remiss if we didn't ask you how can people follow along with everything that you're doing, all the good stuff that you're putting out there, man?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so LinkedIn is probably the best place you can find it. Just first name, last name Alan Mueller. Twitter my handle is at seven Saturdays a week, so kind of tied in with the firm name there I would say, yeah, that's really the big ones.
Speaker 2:Love it, Alan. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story.
Speaker 3:Yeah, great chatting guys. Yeah, man Always See ya.