We recently celebrated Kalli Collective’s third anniversary! How did we mark the occasion? By forming an LLC!
Three years ago, Kalli Fedusenko started operating as a sole proprietorship DBA Kalli Collective. She never planned on owning a business. In fact, she wasn’t sure it would be anything more than temporary.
As an artist, Kalli wanted to make a living by creating. She pursued this ambition by receiving a degree for Mass Communication. Although she started her career in the marketing department of a large appliance company, she soon transitioned to the financial industry.
She worked in-house for independent Raymond James firms for ~6 years doing a combination of marketing and client services. During her in-house tenure, Kalli noticed a need in the financial industry for quality marketing. Important information was lost in industry jargon, poor design, and wordy explanations. Financial advisors needed a resource for quality, effective marketing strategies.
She continued her education in financial services in her “free” time by studying and passing the Series 7 and 63 securities exams (with a SIX HOUR long exam, advisors know this no small feat for a right-brain individual). While this expanded her knowledge and ability to market the financial services advisors offered, it also forced her to make a decision: marketing or advising. Because while all advisors need marketing support, most advisors don’t need a full-time marketing professional in-house. We know that’s a bold statement for a marketing firm to make, so let us explain:
An independent advisor likely has a budget of $30-45k for an unlicensed professional. We'll assume this individual will focus solely on the firm's marketing needs. The advisor is going to expect their new employee to do every single marketing task and do it well with little to no direction: strategy, writing, design, video editing, PR, all of it. However, someone in marketing generally starts their career at this income level, meaning the advisor is hiring an entry level professional. Most entry level professionals need lots of direction and management. Something a financial advisor is not going to have the knowledge or expertise to give. After all, the advisor is hiring the assistant to do this for him! What they need is a marketing director. Someone with experience who can create a strategy, give direction to the marketing team, and update the advisor on any progress or changes. However, that position pays upward of $60k. We argue that the advisor will see a ROI in time and with patience.
Faced with choosing between marketing or advising, Kalli picked marketing. She went out on her own as a sole proprietor, half expecting it to “get her by” until she could transition into a position in an industry that was more willing to invest in their marketing needs. After watching a family member struggle with their own business for years, Kalli had told herself she would never own a business. Still, the other half of her dreamt that she would actually create her own independently successful business.
As it turns out, she had more business sense than she expected, and Kalli Collective continues to grow each year!
Year after year, our client base, service offerings, technology, and Kalli Collective team continues to grow! With all our development, we decided that it’s time to make it official. We hired an attorney and an accountant for advice, and we legally formed our own LLC!
INCREASED CONFIDENCE: You can be confident that we take our jobs seriously and are continuously working to increase our professionalism and service.
UPDATED CONTRACTS: We will be delivering updated contracts to all our current clients.
UPDATE YOUR TAX DOCUMENTS: If you have a tax document on file for our work, you will need to update it with our new tax ID. Please email us for more information.
Folks, we're in it for the long haul! We will continue growing our team and service offerings to connect you with even more prospects and clients. Every day we are looking for new ways to complete our mission - Making Your Firm Shine!
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