Picture this: You’re at your desk at 7 PM, surrounded by compliance paperwork, with three client calls to return and a marketing campaign you’ve been meaning to launch for months.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Nearly one-third (28%) of advisors say they don’t have enough time to spend with clients, instead spending an average of 41% more time each month on compliance and administrative duties than their more growth-focused peers.
Many advisors want to grow their practices but feel trapped in a cycle of operational tasks that eat away at their capacity for revenue-generating activities.
But there’s never been a better time to focus on growth. The financial advisory industry is projected to grow at 13% annually, much faster than the national average, with assets under management expected to reach $85.14 trillion by 2028.
And growth is absolutely possible when you take the right steps to offload the noise and focus on what moves the needle.
1 | Get Clear on Your Growth Goals
Growth means different things to different advisors. For some, success looks like doubling their client base. For others, it means deeper relationships with fewer, higher-net-worth clients. Some prioritize profitability over asset gathering, while others focus on building a sellable practice.
Define what growth means specifically to you. Are you targeting 50 new clients this year? Aiming to increase assets under management by 30%? Looking to boost profit margins? Whatever your vision, make it measurable and time-bound.
Here’s proof that clarity pays off: Silver Oak advisors average 20% more profitability than industry benchmarks because they’ve aligned clear growth objectives rather than chasing every opportunity that comes their way.
2 | Audit Your Workload (and What’s Holding You Back)
Take an honest inventory of how you spend your time. Research shows that just 13% of financial advisors feel like they have complete control over their time. If you’re spending more hours on compliance reviews than client meetings, or wrestling with technology issues instead of prospecting, you’re limiting your growth potential.
List everything that eats away at your time: compliance documentation, tech troubleshooting, administrative tasks, back-office coordination. Now ask yourself: what am I doing that someone else should be doing? The industry faces a 100,000-advisor shortage over the next decade, making productivity gains essential, but productivity doesn’t mean working longer hours. It means working on the right things.
This is where Silver Oak’s seamless compliance experience and modern tech stack become game-changers. When your platform handles the operational heavy lifting, you can focus on what actually grows your business: building relationships and serving clients.
3 | Find a Supportive Community
Growth doesn’t happen in isolation. Today’s evolving landscape—from AI integration to changing client expectations—requires advisors to stay ahead of trends through continuous learning and collaboration, which means surrounding yourself with peers who challenge your thinking, share best practices, and provide accountability
Seek out a network of like-minded professionals. Whether it’s industry conferences, mastermind groups, or formal advisory communities, investing in relationships with other growth-focused advisors pays dividends.
Silver Oak’s community creates this environment by design. When you’re surrounded by advisors who are scaling their practices, growth becomes contagious.
Step 4 | Choose a Partner that Grows with You
Not all platforms are built for growth-minded advisors. Many are designed to maintain the status quo, not accelerate your trajectory. When evaluating potential partners, look for:
- RIA flexibility that lets you operate your business your way
- Tech and compliance support that eliminates operational friction
- Access to equity ownership that aligns your partner’s success with yours
Silver Oak’s hybrid RIA/BD model offers scalable infrastructure that grows with your ambitions rather than constraining them.
Step 5 | Recommit to Why You Started
Remember why you became a financial advisor. Was it to spend your days buried in paperwork? Or was it to help families achieve financial security, guide business owners through complex decisions, and build lasting relationships centered on trust?
When operational tasks drain your energy and steal your time, you lose touch with the purpose that drew you to this profession. You can’t outwork this reality, but you can offload what drains you and double down on what matters.
Silver Oak was built by financial professionals, for financial professionals with this exact mission: to help you rediscover the joy in your work by removing the barriers that keep you from serving clients at your highest level.
Turning Intentional Action into Growth Opportunity
You don’t need to stay stuck. The opportunity for growth has never been greater, but it requires intentional action. Follow these five steps and partner with a firm that prioritizes your growth, not just its next acquisition target.
Build your legacy here. Silver Oak is ready to welcome you home.
Ready to break through your growth plateau? Contact Silver Oak to learn how our platform and our community can help you reclaim your time, accelerate your growth, and rediscover why you love being a financial advisor.
