You need perspective if 6 years sounds like a long time. i am 12 years into my career in this business, i am 38. Do you think i am thinking about retirement? Do you think I am thinking how do i transition to the 25 year old getting into the biz? wow! wake up. myself, and people like myself are not going anywhere for 25 years. so i am still starting my career but would certainly be considered established. btw, a good friend of mine still at Jones owns and drives a 15 year old Toyota and he has been to the top producers meeting with jones on a couple occasions. never judge a book by it's cover. good luck to you.

Record: f-ing a, man. The point is, the broker’s old care doesn’t tell you

that much about him. If that’s what you’re all about, there is no way in hell

you can afford to waste your time trying to make a go in this industry. It’s

too hard if knocking on doors is going to make you “feel like a complete

loser” enough to prevent you from doing it. I have felt like crap many times

in building the foundation of my business, but that’s what happens when

you try to build something from the ground up.



The Goodknight plan alleviates some of that, but as others have said, it can

be a false sense of security… you are calling “your” “clients” but if someone

gave them away, there is a reason. Now, if you have that AND you bust your

tail to develop your own clients (no quotes needed in that case)—that’s a

recipe for doing quite well.

Cowboy, I didn't mean to offend you for driving a Hyundai.  Nothing wrong with that car at all.  I think you missed the point of my post.

Here's one of the interesting things to consider...most of the top wirehouse producers cater to HNW and UHNW individuals.  You make SERIOUS coin, and you have to LOOK like it to run with that crowd.  Most EDJ, AGE, Indy brokers cater more to the millionaire next door types, that are not real concerned about your car or how plush your office is.  They drove a '94 Buick to their last appointment, not a $100K Benz.  You can make a serious living catering to the $500k-$1mm crowd, and drive whatever you feel like.

Most of my clients are "blue collar" engineers, worked for the same local firm for 20-30 years.  They wear jeans and flannel shirts to work, make around 100K, and have 500K-1.5mm in their 401k's, in addition to 40K a year pensions that they will collect.  Most of them will have incomes north of 100K in retirement.  Most of them drive pickups.  I will take these people all day long, and drive an '88 Escort to work if I feel like it (not that I have ever had one, but you get the picture).

I get your point about the EJ IR's, but I think that it is a bit of a generalization as well.

As far as the GK plan, Cowboy hit it...it's a nice thing to have at the beginning of your career.  It helps teach you how to deal with clients, how to call "qualified" prospects, gives you some potential income, all of those things.  Nobody said (no, not even Jones) you could live off those accounts.  In fact, the prospecting requirement for GK brokers is the same as new/new brokers with no book.  They strongly caution against spending any more than 50% of your time on those accounts.  The REAL benefit is having the office, the vet to work with, and the practice.