Next gen view: 'Starting a firm is like parenting, you're learning daily'

Wensons managing director Hiren Panchal said in all the excitement of going solo he took on "far too many" clients when he set up Wensons, just outside London, in 2015.

Speaking to host Adam Carolan on the NextGen Planners podcast about being a new advice business owner, Panchal said: "As you are growing your business, you are literally taking every type of business on board because you are building that income stream, building assets under management, so you do not have to worry about your business costs or your monthly personal [finances]. 

"[I took on] far too many clients. But you're learning on the game, and it's very similar to parenting, you are learning on a day to day basis."

Wensons started with just Panchal. Now it boasts a core team of four. Alongside Panchal there is Saša Bjelogrlić, head of technical operations, Dorianne De Pao, who is client engagement officer, and Wayne Stanley, the firm's data and cyber security manager.

Panchal said building the right team around him has been fundamental to his success over the last eight years.

He said: "Saša was my key hire. I was fortunate that throughout my journey in financial services, we have worked together as sort of two brains for the benefit of the clients.

"Things that I would say from an advice side he would see from a technical side. He was the crucial part of having that peace of mind to say, ‘well, actually, it's not going to be just me and there is somebody [else] that can actually read through this'."

Panchal revealed he is a big fan of investing in tech as well as human assistance. During the pandemic he became a devoted convert to online scheduling tool Calendly, which he called a "game changer".

He explained: "The amount of tools we used to use to just get a client in the diary, and now being able to put that in depending on what stage of the journey the client's at, [from] meet and greet, discovery, planning or even just a progress meeting. It's all there, and clients know exactly where they are."

Mentoring is a key part of the next gen financial planning community. Panchal said he benefited hugely from working under some "unofficial mentors" in previous firms before setting up on his own.

He said: "I was fortunate in having mentors, business owners who were fantastic in unofficially mentoring, in their 50s and 60s, so there was some learning to be had there and not making similar mistakes. 

"I appreciate people tend to learn best from their own mistakes, but sometimes it's better to learn from others and leapfrog."

Unlike many of his peers Panchal's was a deliberate decision to enter financial services.  

He said: "I tend to hear a lot around people falling into financial planning. I'm going to have to say that that was the opposite. I got into financial planning to learn the rules, and how to play by them."

After some years working in insurance sales for a big American provider he switched to independent financial advice, working his way through a number of firms before launching Weston.

Panchal said the final push that spurred his decision to make it the right time to channel his own father's entrepreneurial spirit came once he became a father himself.

"My father has always been an entrepreneur, so seeing him have the flexibility when we were growing up and helping within the family business, I wanted to have the autonomy and try and find that work life balance [as a parent]."

Laura Miller is a freelance journalist