Tejal Gandhi of Money Matters got a friend as her first client while she went to him for advice.
Tejal was a sub-broker with IL&FS (now HSBC) when she started thinking of starting her own advisory practice and decided to seek advice from one of her friends. Not only did this friend support her but also offered to give her Rs 5 lakh which he had acquired as an inheritance to manage. However, Tejal then did not have any concrete plans in mind and this offer of managing such a sum at this very early stage of profession came as a surprise to her. But she took it up as a challenge.
From her early days, Tejal has believed in diversification and so she recommended a few balanced funds to her friend. Tejal didn’t charge any fee from him. Tejal says “My first client has given me confidence when I needed it most. He taught me how to deal in stressful conditions with a simple approach. I believe that product knowledge is most important thing in financial advisory business and you have to manage client’s money the same way as you manage your own money.”
Vinayak Sapre of Insights- An advisor coaching firm
Vinayak’s first client was his senior colleague who was impressed by his presentation on SIP.
In 2002, when Vinayak was working in Sales with an AMC, one of his senior colleagues had asked Vinayak to make a presentation on personal finance. Vinayak gave a presentation on the power of SIP. His colleague was so impressed that he told him that he would want to start SIP with him whenever he started mutual fund distribution. A few years later when Vinayak decided to venture into advisory business, he approached the colleague. Sticking to his words, he started investing with Vinayak. His initial SIP mount was Rs 50,000. Now, that person has gained decent returns on his investment. He has also referred 5 clients to Vinayak. Vinayak says “I have learnt that opportunity comes in everybody’s life but the need is to convert this chance to make it work for you.”
