Why one adviser made the move from self-employed to join Openwork

Having spent the past two years building up her social media presence, Allen decided she was ready to support other advisers in running their businesses.

Upon announcing her career switch, some questioned her motives for moving from self-employment to a national network.

The better place the more advisers are in, the more consumers will be helped and that’s where I can make maximum impact.Robyn Allen, Openwork

“In the seven years I’ve been running the business [Robyn Allen Solutions Ltd] I had never considered going back into employment,” Allen told FTAdviser.

“I have chosen to do this. I didn’t need to do this.”

Lots of people across the profession, having watched Allen create an online following through her LinkedIn videos and day-to-day TikToks, were shocked to hear the news - announced last week.

In the 24 hours that followed the announcement, many were asking ‘why?’

“The assumption has been that I was unhappy,” said Allen. “But this decision wasn’t driven by wanting to leave a business. I was still getting business enquiries the week I was finishing up.”

For Allen, the role at Openwork was the right opportunity at the right time.

“I was part of the family already,” said Allen, who operated her business under the network’s permissions. 

“I’ve been saying to people ‘instead of a step child, I’ve been formally adopted’,” said Allen.

“If you’re an advocate, it’s an easy step to make.”

Allen is now working with Openwork’s partner firms to help them get ready for the regulator’s incoming consumer duty.

When I first started, I was told you couldn’t be your brand.Robyn Allen, Openwork

While her specialism is protection, she’ll be helping on a whole host of fronts. 

“I loved every part of the Openwork role,” said Allen.

“It doesn’t require me to stay in one box. I want to help advisers and support them in running their businesses.

“The better place the more advisers are in, the more consumers will be helped and that’s where I can make maximum impact.

“It was not an easy decision and it involved lots of conversations at home. I decided to take a bit of a leap, but I would have happily continued the business.”

Protection landscape

While it is hard for a protection adviser not to think about commission, Allen said if something goes wrong in a client’s life which causes them to cancel the policy there is not much an adviser can do.

“The most important thing is the moral obligation, to ask if they’re ok and if they need support,” she said.

With the effects of a cost of living crisis now being felt, there has been a growing worry that customers are starting to cut monthly outgoings - including their protection.

In November, nearly one fifth of advisers reported being contacted by clients about reducing or cancelling their protection policies as a result of the cost of living crisis.

Some firms have safety nets in place, such as cancellation fees.

Last year, FTAdviser reported on a debate amongst advisers over charging cancellation fees for pure protection products. 

While some said they are rarely ever doing it in the best interests of their client, and more often than not the fees are the result of bad advice, others felt cancellation fees actually protect an adviser in a scenario where they might do all their due diligence and then find another adviser undercuts them.

Allen, who took out a bounce back loan during the pandemic, said she was receiving new business enquiries right up until the last week of running the business.

She has now moved her clients over to Folan Brookes Financial Consultants Ltd, an advice firm which specialises in protection, alongside mortgages and investments.

‘Vanity metrics aren’t for me’

Since the pandemic, Allen had taken to social media to advertise both her business and the benefits of protection. Her online presence has, as a result, “snowballed”. 

“When I first started, I was told you couldn’t be your brand,” she explained.

“But now, I get messages from people saying these videos made their day. Vanity metrics aren’t for me. If I’ve made one person smile, that’s great.”

Allen said she was nervous knowing that what she would post following her move to Openwork would be very different. 

“Just because I post a lot, doesn’t mean I’m not human,” she said. “But it’s been very strange not posting, because I really am my authentic self online.”

Over the next 12 months, Allen said advisers will need a lot of support with change.

“Protection advisers with a customer-centric process won’t have too much to change,” she said.

“But I don’t think you could speak to any adviser who didn’t want anything to be done better. In a perfect world, we’d have payouts the next day, and GP reports would be sent next day delivery.”

Ian McKenna, founder of F&TRC, recently said he has become increasingly aware of issues where families have been left facing huge debts, simply because GP surgeries have taken weeks - even months - to return forms to insurers.

“But we can’t have a perfect world,” said Allen. “As long as we’re talking - for example, I’ve been part of the Protection Guru forum.”

When she was a business owner, Allen spent a lot of time in the local business community.

“To me, platforms like LinkedIn are a 24/7 networking event,” she said. Many of Allen’s videos have been based around local events, drawing together businesses from across the country.

Allen intends to stay in the advice world, but on a consultancy basis.

“There’s a rebrand to come,” she said.

ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com