I grew up in Fergus Falls, a rural community in west central Minnesota. My father, brother and cousin worked at a General Motors dealership that my grandfather founded in the 1920s. I studied journalism cinematography in college and became a TV reporter. However, I had always been interested in securities, so for a year and a half I worked as a realtor and studied for the Series 6 exam at the same time. I talked to Dean Bosworth, E.F. Hutton, and a few other firms before selecting Investors Diversified Services, a precursor of Ameriprise.

I started in my late 20s. Talking to people about what they needed was fascinating, but I also needed to learn a lot about technical information and regulations. In 1984, the company asked me to become a district manager in St. Cloud, Minn. I taught new advisors and helped make the veterans' jobs easier. As one of my managers said, sometimes successful management is just kicking the stones out of the way. Next I trained advisors on our financial planning process. I had to find ways to make the material exciting even if it meant I held the technical information until later. After they phased out the position in 1990, I re-entered the field as a manager-advisor in Roanoke, Va.

I was a little older and a little smarter. I had learned what motivates people to take action and I was more careful about choosing clients. Some people are not advisor-receptive. If you have to talk a person into becoming your client, that's not a good relationship.

If I were an advisor today, I would concentrate on creating systems that would allow me to focus most of my time on client service. We're moving toward ensemble practices where several advisors go into business together and share a staff and a couple of paraplanners. The knowledge level needed, the processes and the complexity of regulations require it.

I've gotten used to a downturn occurring every few years. This one was severe and it happened very quickly. It's been a tiring year for advisors because clients need additional attention and reassurance both from a financial and emotional standpoint. However, times like this underscore the importance of having a financial plan.

In my leisure time I'm building a timber frame house in the Blue Ridge mountains that resembles an old English country Tudor home. I'm laying the stone and plastering the walls myself. I enjoy leading two different lives, communicating with people during work hours and working with my hands in my off-hours.

As Told to Pat Olsen