The Liberated CEO: The 9-Step Program to Running a Better Business so it Doesn't Run You

CHAPTER 10

AFTERWORD: READY FOR THE NEXT PEAK

I am writing this afterword in the South Pacific archipelago chain of Vanuatu. This unique area has live volcanos where you can stand on the rim and watch the volcano throw lava rocks hundreds of feet into the air. Vanuatu has one of the world's most accessible wreck dives in the world, the World War II supply ship SS Calvin Coolidge. We have visited multiple villages with no electricity, running water, or proper sanitation, but their biggest concern is how to charge their cell phones. As you walk among grass huts with no running water or electric lighting, you can hear the ring of cell phones. This diversity and juxtaposition is hitting me with a stark reminder that in less than three months we will be return to living full-time in the United States, when I will be trying not to allow myself to be unliberated by my company, Navigoe.

However, I am also very excited to return. My time away, and the liberation it has provided, has helped me to reignite my entrepreneurial fire. I have also thought a great deal about not only our firm but my entire industry and am eager to start working on a new goal. Small, independent registered investment advisor (RIA) firms, such as mine, are the fastest growing segment of the financial services industry. A 2012 Schwab Advisor Services RIA Benchmarking Study that surveyed over 1,000 firms (the largest of its kind of focusing exclusively on RIAs), found the median RIA firm showed an increase of 13.3 ...