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The Power of Pause: Why Making New Clients Wait Can Actually Grow Your Firm (and Protect Your Sanity)
By Andie Clark, CFP®, AFC®, and Sherry Irwin
In financial planning, it’s easy to fall into the “do it all” trap—serving current clients, onboarding new ones, running the business, and trying to squeeze in professional development. By early 2025, our two-person team was feeling the strain. Hard. So we did something we’d never done before:
We hit pause.
No new clients. Just a waitlist.
Not forever. Just long enough to breathe.
And it changed everything.
Why We Introduced a Waitlist
By late 2024, we were nearing a breaking point. With approximately 85 client households and a flat annual fee model (no asset minimums), we experienced about 15% annual churn. That’s a lot of movement.
The real challenge wasn’t the hours—it was the constant switching between review meetings (RMs) and new client onboarding (NCO). RMs were predictable and efficient. We knew the clients, the prep, the rhythm. Onboarding, however, was a different beast. It’s emotionally charged, document-heavy, and operationally complex. Doing both simultaneously was mentally exhausting.
So we restructured our calendar into intentional segments:
- RM months for existing clients
- NCO months for new clients
The waitlist made that possible.
Communicating the Change
We were initially concerned: Would prospects walk away if we asked them to wait?
They didn’t.
We were transparent: we’d love to work together, but onboarding would begin in a designated future month. In the meantime, prospects could upload documents to RightCapital, begin estate planning with our Trust & Will subscription, and get organized.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. By March, we had 10 prospects lined up for June—our full onboarding capacity for that month.
Operational Shifts That Made It Work
To support this new rhythm, we made several key adjustments:
- Engaged a paraplanning service to assist with June “Get Organized” meetings
- Aligned subscription start dates with onboarding months
- Updated meeting follow-up templates to explain the waitlist
- Leveraged Jump AI to streamline admin prep and ensure consistency
We also protected July as a meeting-free month dedicated to rest and strategic planning—a tradition we began three years ago that clients now respect and appreciate. June was capped at 10 clients, August at four to six. Anyone beyond that? They’d begin after Thanksgiving.
What Surprised Us
From February to April, the impact was dramatic. No more context switching. RM prep time dropped by a third. We finally achieved a 30-hour workweek—a long-standing goal.
But the biggest win? Mental clarity.
We felt in control. We could take time off without guilt. Even with new grandbabies, home projects, and health curveballs, the pace felt sustainable.
And here’s the unexpected bonus:
Clients didn’t just accept the waitlist—they appreciated it.
It even enhanced our marketing. Clients who experienced the waitlist became our strongest advocates. They saw the intentionality, the preparation, the care—and they told their friends.
We started hearing things like, “I heard you’re the firm people wait for—but it’s worth it.”
That kind of word-of-mouth? You can’t buy it.
What Didn’t Go Smoothly
It wasn’t perfect.
We underestimated the post-onboarding chaos—especially account transfers and Schwab-related issues that spilled into the next month.
Not every client moves at the same pace. Some June clients required more than two meetings, which pushed into August. While the paraplanning service helped, its work felt too checkbox-driven. We often had to revise it to match our style.
And August? It got messy. We hadn’t managed overflow as tightly as we did in June, and it showed.
Lessons We’re Carrying Forward
Here’s what we’re doing differently next year:
- Set onboarding caps—and stick to them. Six clients max in June and August. No exceptions.
- Pace operational tasks like meetings. Clients need clarity on their place in the queue for account transfers and onboarding logistics.
- Protect July. No client meetings but still a time for strategic upgrades and planning.
- Outsource with discernment. We need partners who think like planners, not just follow checklists.
- Embrace seasonality. December/January and June are onboarding hotspots. We’re planning around that.
A Cultural Shift
This wasn’t just an operational change—it reshaped our culture.
Clients began respecting our rhythm. In July, they’d email with, “I know you’re on break—this is time-sensitive.” That never used to happen.
Prospect conversations changed too. We stopped rushing to close. We focused on fit, preparation, and expectations. By the time onboarding began, they were more organized than most of our pre-waitlist clients.
And we changed. We stopped chasing growth for growth’s sake. We started pursuing sustainable, intentional growth.
The waitlist isn’t just a scheduling tool. It’s a mindset. It’s how we protect our team, serve our clients better, and stay sane.
The power of pause isn’t about doing less—it’s about doing the right things at the right time.
For us, that’s made all the difference.
Andie Clark, CFP®, AFC®, is the owner and founder of The Table Financial Planning and Sherry Irwin, who has a Series 65 license, is head of operations. Learn more about their firm at https://thetablefinancialplanning.com.
image credit: Adobe Stock Images
