Here’s how one high growth advisor created his rocket ship.<\/p>\n
Jason Wenk’s story.<\/strong><\/h3>\nJason opened his first Retirement Wealth Advisors<\/a> office in Michigan in 2005. He focused on baby boomers and retirees using seminar marketing.<\/p>\nThe firm grew quickly.<\/h3>\n
Fast forward to 2010, Jason had added two employees and opened his first satellite office.<\/p>\n
![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/www.blueleaf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Blueleaf-Jason-Wenk-1.3B.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSounds perfect right? But, there was a problem.<\/h3>\n
Growth began to slow as scaling was difficult to achieve serving only local clients.<\/p>\n
But, like a lot of financial advisors, Jason is an overachiever<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThe backstory.<\/strong><\/h3>\nAt 19, Jason started his career as the youngest of more than 50,000 Morgan Stanley employees, building software for advisors to use internally.<\/p>\n
After years of working 80-hour weeks in their back office, he decided he could deliver advisory services at least as well as the people he was supporting<\/strong>. So he left and began to build the framework for Retirement Wealth Advisors, his SEC registered RIA.<\/p>\nA high growth mindset.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\nMissing his growth goals wasn\u2019t an option. But the growth and service approach Jason used when his business was small had become too time-consuming to continue.<\/p>\n
He could continue on his current path and grow incrementally<\/strong> by offering slightly better services than the competition, using old-school marketing, and waiting for referrals.<\/p>\nOr he could radically rethink his business<\/strong>. He could remove every part that was limiting him and replace it with new tools that could help him grow exponentially.<\/p>\nOpen minds see open opportunity.<\/strong><\/h3>\nHe started by envisioning a firm where, rather than focusing on the local market, he could attract and support clients nationally. By removing geography as a limit, Jason dramatically increased the size of his potential market and his firm’s growth potential.<\/p>\n
It also meant he could be more focused on the kinds of clients he wanted to work with<\/strong>. One additional benefit of thinking nationally was that his firm could pursue many growth strategies that weren\u2019t feasible at the local level.<\/p>\nIt began to work.<\/h3>\nHowever, the strategy created a new challenge.<\/h3>\n
Jason had to develop a new service model that could support a national client base<\/strong>. In-person meetings becoming more and more challenging. He realized he had to either open offices all over the country and staff them or find a more centralized way of serving clients remotely.<\/p>\nHe also needed to eliminate every process that clients didn\u2019t actually value<\/strong> and focus on doing the few things that clients cared about. Most importantly, he wanted to be better at delivering those services than local competition. For Jason, that meant leveraging his background in technology to find a solution.<\/p>\nHe needed a swiss army knife, not a fork<\/strong><\/h3>\nJason knew he\u2019d need to focus on a few key areas for clients.<\/p>\n
1. Service experience<\/h3>\n
He believed he could actually improve the service experience by improving client meetings. He knew he could make them more focused and eliminate the need to travel by conducting virtual meetings<\/strong>.<\/p>\nTo do it, he\u2019d need a very simple web conferencing solution that was easy for clients to use.<\/p>\n
He would also need a client portal that allowed his staff to walk clients through their situation in a simple, easy to understand format that was automatically up-to-date<\/strong>. In addition to focused meetings, using a live portal would eliminate hours of meeting prep time for his staff.<\/p>\nClient onboarding would become simpler and more automated<\/strong> too. But, most importantly, it would let clients see all their assets in one place from anywhere.<\/p>\nA client portal would also allow Jason to eliminate the traditional, quarterly reports<\/strong> in favor of on-demand information and an automated system of relevant client contact.<\/p>\nThe goal was better, more convenient service for more clients. His strategy was not either more clients or better service, it was more clients AND better service<\/strong>.<\/p>\n2. Self-service<\/h3>\n
Jason knew he\u2019d need to be able to service everything that the client owned even if it wasn\u2019t in his custody<\/strong>.\u00a0By allowing clients to add all of their accounts into the portal he could give better advice, and eventually those assets were likely to move to him based on his ability to service them before anyone else.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThat meant self-service account aggregation.<\/p>\n
With a client portal and account aggregation, Jason didn\u2019t want to get caught in the trap of having his staff maintain held-away accounts in a separate system and he didn\u2019t want to be in the position of middleman if accounts needed to be maintained. Clients would need to be able\u00a0to add their held-away accounts and ideally other accounts like bank accounts, credit cards and insurance.<\/p>\n
By allowing clients to login to the portal anytime they had a question he also hoped to reduce the number of support calls<\/strong>\u00a0since his clients would be able to answer a lot of those questions on their own whenever they wanted.<\/p>\n3. Communications<\/h3>\n
Jason is a big believer in the importance of regular client communications. In fact, he reaches out to his clients between 120-150 times per year<\/strong>. Jason realized that he need to automate at least some of these communications while delivering a highly personalized\u00a0experience.<\/p>\nJason meets Blueleaf.<\/strong><\/h3>\nSimplicity, transparency and a service breakthrough.<\/h3>\n
Jason first stumbled on Blueleaf\u2019s financial relationship management platform in September of 2011 in an Investment News article. After doing a little research, he became an early adopter because he believed in the Blueleaf vision of simplicity for advisors and clients<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"Blueleaf](\"https:\/\/www.blueleaf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/blueleaf_display.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Jason started introducing Blueleaf to his clients.<\/h3>\n\u201cThey loved it.”<\/h3>\n
“In the past, I\u2019d used a lot of client portals and had never gotten a single compliment on any of them. This is the first system where I regularly get compliments, phone calls and emails that make me blush.”<\/p>\n
“And because it\u2019s an automated communication system, Blueleaf is a referral generating machine<\/strong>. Clients love it, and they tell their friends about it. I also use their prospecting tools to court new clients. Once prospects see it they want it.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cWith any business, but especially a virtual business, it is important to regularly communicate with your clients,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlueleaf sends out a weekly automated email update which includes my name, my picture and the name my firm. Think about it, that equates to 52 automated client touches per year with exactly what the client wants to know: \u2018what do I have? & how am I doing?\u2019<\/p>\n
The firm grew quickly.<\/h3>\n
Fast forward to 2010, Jason had added two employees and opened his first satellite office.<\/p>\n
Growth began to slow as scaling was difficult to achieve serving only local clients.<\/p>\n But, like a lot of financial advisors, Jason is an overachiever<\/strong>.<\/p>\n At 19, Jason started his career as the youngest of more than 50,000 Morgan Stanley employees, building software for advisors to use internally.<\/p>\n After years of working 80-hour weeks in their back office, he decided he could deliver advisory services at least as well as the people he was supporting<\/strong>. So he left and began to build the framework for Retirement Wealth Advisors, his SEC registered RIA.<\/p>\n Missing his growth goals wasn\u2019t an option. But the growth and service approach Jason used when his business was small had become too time-consuming to continue.<\/p>\n He could continue on his current path and grow incrementally<\/strong> by offering slightly better services than the competition, using old-school marketing, and waiting for referrals.<\/p>\n Or he could radically rethink his business<\/strong>. He could remove every part that was limiting him and replace it with new tools that could help him grow exponentially.<\/p>\n He started by envisioning a firm where, rather than focusing on the local market, he could attract and support clients nationally. By removing geography as a limit, Jason dramatically increased the size of his potential market and his firm’s growth potential.<\/p>\n It also meant he could be more focused on the kinds of clients he wanted to work with<\/strong>. One additional benefit of thinking nationally was that his firm could pursue many growth strategies that weren\u2019t feasible at the local level.<\/p>\n Jason had to develop a new service model that could support a national client base<\/strong>. In-person meetings becoming more and more challenging. He realized he had to either open offices all over the country and staff them or find a more centralized way of serving clients remotely.<\/p>\n He also needed to eliminate every process that clients didn\u2019t actually value<\/strong> and focus on doing the few things that clients cared about. Most importantly, he wanted to be better at delivering those services than local competition. For Jason, that meant leveraging his background in technology to find a solution.<\/p>\n Jason knew he\u2019d need to focus on a few key areas for clients.<\/p>\n He believed he could actually improve the service experience by improving client meetings. He knew he could make them more focused and eliminate the need to travel by conducting virtual meetings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To do it, he\u2019d need a very simple web conferencing solution that was easy for clients to use.<\/p>\n He would also need a client portal that allowed his staff to walk clients through their situation in a simple, easy to understand format that was automatically up-to-date<\/strong>. In addition to focused meetings, using a live portal would eliminate hours of meeting prep time for his staff.<\/p>\n Client onboarding would become simpler and more automated<\/strong> too. But, most importantly, it would let clients see all their assets in one place from anywhere.<\/p>\n A client portal would also allow Jason to eliminate the traditional, quarterly reports<\/strong> in favor of on-demand information and an automated system of relevant client contact.<\/p>\n The goal was better, more convenient service for more clients. His strategy was not either more clients or better service, it was more clients AND better service<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Jason knew he\u2019d need to be able to service everything that the client owned even if it wasn\u2019t in his custody<\/strong>.\u00a0By allowing clients to add all of their accounts into the portal he could give better advice, and eventually those assets were likely to move to him based on his ability to service them before anyone else.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n That meant self-service account aggregation.<\/p>\n With a client portal and account aggregation, Jason didn\u2019t want to get caught in the trap of having his staff maintain held-away accounts in a separate system and he didn\u2019t want to be in the position of middleman if accounts needed to be maintained. Clients would need to be able\u00a0to add their held-away accounts and ideally other accounts like bank accounts, credit cards and insurance.<\/p>\n By allowing clients to login to the portal anytime they had a question he also hoped to reduce the number of support calls<\/strong>\u00a0since his clients would be able to answer a lot of those questions on their own whenever they wanted.<\/p>\n Jason is a big believer in the importance of regular client communications. In fact, he reaches out to his clients between 120-150 times per year<\/strong>. Jason realized that he need to automate at least some of these communications while delivering a highly personalized\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n Jason first stumbled on Blueleaf\u2019s financial relationship management platform in September of 2011 in an Investment News article. After doing a little research, he became an early adopter because he believed in the Blueleaf vision of simplicity for advisors and clients<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “In the past, I\u2019d used a lot of client portals and had never gotten a single compliment on any of them. This is the first system where I regularly get compliments, phone calls and emails that make me blush.”<\/p>\n “And because it\u2019s an automated communication system, Blueleaf is a referral generating machine<\/strong>. Clients love it, and they tell their friends about it. I also use their prospecting tools to court new clients. Once prospects see it they want it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith any business, but especially a virtual business, it is important to regularly communicate with your clients,\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBlueleaf sends out a weekly automated email update which includes my name, my picture and the name my firm. Think about it, that equates to 52 automated client touches per year with exactly what the client wants to know: \u2018what do I have? & how am I doing?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSounds perfect right? But, there was a problem.<\/h3>\n
The backstory.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A high growth mindset.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Open minds see open opportunity.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
It began to work.<\/h3>\n
However, the strategy created a new challenge.<\/h3>\n
He needed a swiss army knife, not a fork<\/strong><\/h3>\n
1. Service experience<\/h3>\n
2. Self-service<\/h3>\n
3. Communications<\/h3>\n
Jason meets Blueleaf.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Simplicity, transparency and a service breakthrough.<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nJason started introducing Blueleaf to his clients.<\/h3>\n
\u201cThey loved it.”<\/h3>\n
![\"Blueleaf](\"https:\/\/www.blueleaf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/weekly-email.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n