Progress (not perfection) at Bradshaw Financial

Trent Bradshaw's problems appeared obvious, and the solutions simple, but fixing a financial advisory practice takes time. Two months after shooting the final episode of Practice Makeover's first season, the Salisbury, N.C., adviser who had too many clients and a staff that was overburdened is about to double the size of his staff. Mr. Bradshaw said his firm, Bradshaw Financial Planning Inc., is set to extend an offer to a registered sale assistant with eight years of experience and he is looking to add an associate wealth adviser. “We accepted early on [in the Practice Makeover process] that human capital was our biggest issue,” he said. “And we have really been working on this.” Over the past six months, Mr. Bradshaw said there have been times that he has been frustrated that progress wasn't occurring more quickly, but by working with Robert Sofia and Platinum Advisor Strategies, he knew his practice was in good hands. “Now, I think that we are on schedule,” he said. “We are going to reach all of the goals that we set by the end of 2014 and I think these changes are going to enable us to double production within the next couple of years.” Mr. Bradshaw, who admitted to working 80 to 100 hour weeks before beginning his makeover, said his top priority all along was to improve his quality of life and spend more time at home with his wife, Crystal, and their two children. “I want to spend more time with my family and every candidate we interviewed understood that,” he said. “I have made the commitment to the new staff that, outside the 40-hour week, I don't want them here because I want everyone home with their families.”