105: How Troy Chapman grew his business through joint ventures

2019-07-30

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Troy Chapman is the founder of Country Wide Wealth, a boutique financial planning practice that has seen exceptional growth since it’s inception 10 years ago. As a business banker turned financial advisor, Troy Chapman recognised that to turn his practice into a business of substance would require more than just delivering outstanding service to clients. For that reason, he sought to approach local service professionals such as accountants to establish formal joint venture agreements that would hel...

Troy Chapman is the founder of Country Wide Wealth, a boutique financial planning practice that has seen exceptional growth since it’s inception 10 years ago.

As a business banker turned financial advisor, Troy Chapman recognised that to turn his practice into a business of substance would require more than just delivering outstanding service to clients.

For that reason, he sought to approach local service professionals such as accountants to establish formal joint venture agreements that would help deliver ongoing value for clients and for both service firms.

The net result is that Troy has since grown his practice into a business that now employs 4 full-time team members, with another advisor likely to join the team soon.

Though the JV formalises the process, like any good relationship, it still requires ongoing communication and investment into maintaining trust with each other so they can derive the full value. This means that occasionally, Troy will sit in a JV partner’s office, and so too will the broker’s that have joined his business.

The expansion into lending happened somewhat organically via a mortgage broking client whom Troy was already referring people to, and for which that broker is now an equity partner. The bulk of clients who are referred for lending is for refinancing, though as Troy outlines, the goal is to look at their whole situation and ensure that beyond a great rate, they are given a lending structure and strategy to pay their down as quickly as possible.

Key insights from the conversation with Troy include:

If you have an existing relationship with a referral partner and you want to formalise it, a joint venture can help make it more profitable for all concerned
In all instances, the relationship is founded on trust and the exchange of money should only happen once those values are established
Joint ventures can make it easier to remove any ‘weirdness’ around referral fees, as fees are paid to a business (the joint venture) instead of just being given to another party
Centres of influence (i.e. other professionals) have been immensely important in helping establish Troy’s business and deliver on average 3 to 4 new referred people every single week

Find out more about Troy and the team here: