Mindy McCubbin: The four waves to a $100M practice

How did Mindy McCubbin grow her assets under management from $0 to $100 million in less than five years?

She described the four “waves” – or phases of growth she experienced as she built her practice – during a webinar for the Equita Inspiring Insights Series. McCubbin is the founder of Truman Wealth Advisors in Columbia, Mo. She began her practice after spending 10 years in a corporate career and 13 years working in institutional asset management for an insurance company.

“During the time I worked in institutional asset management, I had colleagues who said I would be good at the advisor role. I love managing assets, but assets don’t talk back to you – people do!” she said.

McCubbin launched her practice in 2018 and experienced what she called those four waves.

Wave #1. From 2018 to 2019, “it was idea, concept, test,” McCubbin said. “I had this as a side hustle. I was exploring, researching. What does it really mean to be an advisor? What are the models? I didn’t really understand the retail side and I found out it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”

McCubbin said she also used this time to “make the investment in knowledge.” She attended Financial Planning Association conferences and talked with other advisors who became mentors. “It was all about putting yourself out there and understanding whether this is the direction you want to go,” she said.

The year 2019 was the first one in which McCubbin’s first had revenue. She made $7,000 in revenue that year.

Wave #2. McCubbin described that wave as “deploy.” By early 2020, she realized that her practice “was more than a side hustle.”

“It was something I liked to do, and I was generating revenue,” she said. “I was finishing my Certified Financial Planner designation.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I had the best-laid business plan, some resources set aside but then this completely unexpected thing happened,” she said. “I’m glad I had resources behind me so I wasn’t sitting here alone and wondering what to do because I couldn’t network in some of the traditional ways.”

Wave #3. From 2022 to 2023, McCubbin’s practice went through what she called its “growth and leverage phase.”

“Along with that growth and leverage, I had to make decisions such as, do I need to hire a virtual assistant? What are my client acquisition strategies?”

Wave #4. Now McCubbin’s practice is at what she described as the “invest and scale phase.” She hired another advisor, opened an office and began participating in mastermind groups.

“You can’t stay where you are if you want to grow,” she said. “I had to ask myself, how do I change the role that I’m in? What are the resources I need?”

McCubbin didn’t stop at the fourth wave. “Right now, I’m back at the ‘idea, concept, test’ phase. The next phase of growth will be nothing like the first four,” she said.

Today, McCubbin has 60 clients, and she said they fall in to one of three categories.

1. Professionals who are late in the accumulation phase or are entering retirement represent 40% of her clients and her AUM.
2. Business owners and entrepreneurs make up 50% of her clients but 10% of her AUM.
3. Family office clients are 10% of her clients and 60% of her AUM.

“Your business will morph into who you like to serve,” she said.

McCubbin said her greatest business decision was bringing a virtual assistant and two other advisors into her practice. “Coming from the corporate world, I saw the power of a team,” she said. “Having people around you who are good at the things you are not.”

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan.

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