Linda Booth says her third career, as a financial advisor with Edward Jones, is the most satisfying yet. Over the past nine years, Booth, 58, has built her practice in the small village of Chippawa, Ont., near Niagara Falls, to include 500 clients and $35 million in assets under management. Her goal is to increase her book to $50 million over the next three to five years.

If history is any guide, Booth will exceed her expectations. In her previous ventures, she has started at the bottom of the ladder and advanced rapidly.

After completing a banking course at Niagara College, Booth’s first job was as a clerk in a bank, for which she filed signature cards. She gradually worked her way up through the ranks, becoming a teller and then head teller before becoming a loans manager.

Then, after 10 years in banking, Booth discovered Aloette Cosmetics of Canada Inc., a company that sells skin-care and beauty products that are made from aloe. Booth was already interested in makeup and skin care, and often offered advice on the subject to friends and acquaintances.

After seeing the Aloette products demonstrated at a home sales party, Booth thought she could supplement her bank income by about $100 a month by selling the products in her spare time.

“The idea of making money by doing something I loved had great appeal,” Booth says.

Within three months, she became a sales manager for Aloette, even though she was still working at the bank. Soon, Booth began to see the potential of a new full-time career. She was encouraged by the manager of her bank branch, who told Booth she might regret it if she did not take the risk, and assured her that she could always have her job back.

Only a year and a half later, Booth was an Aloette vice president, with several teams of people working under her. She became the top regional manager on an international basis. Eventually, she headed up all of Canada, overseeing 25 franchises and owning three of her own.

“I was always looking forward to the next challenge,” says Booth. “Never in my wildest imaginings did I think it would turn out the way it did. But it’s a testimony to the magic of doing something you believe in.”

Booth bought an Aloette franchise in Ottawa, having moved there with her husband and daughter. Within a year, Booth’s operation became Aloette’s top-grossing franchise. She became involved in training and motivating others, as well as supplying products to an expanding network of sellers. She also bought franchises in Montreal and North Bay, Ont.

All of this experience has provided Booth with customer service experience and sales training that serve her well today. “I’m good at motivating and inspiring people,” says Booth. “I trained a lot of women to do what I did, and many became very successful. I provided the leadership, and showed them what they could do.”

Despite Booth’s business success, her personal life has been fraught with challenges. Her first marriage ended in divorce during her time at Aloette. A second marriage also ended in divorce, around 2000.

At that time, Booth was ready to make changes in other areas of her life as well. She had first learned about investing through the challenge of managing her own money. She took an interest in learning about stocks and bonds as a client of Edward Jones.

The thought had occasionally crossed her mind that there must be a lot of people like her who needed help with financial planning and investing, and that being a financial advisor could be a great career opportunity.

As a client, Booth found Edward Jones’ conservative approach to investing appealing. When she investigated career opportunities with the firm, she was impressed by the corporate values and the “one advisor, one office” approach.

There was another motivation: after owning her own business for so many years, Booth wanted professional autonomy and couldn’t imagine working regular business hours in an office for a boss.

After being hired by Edward Jones, Booth completed both the Canadian securities course and the professional financial planning course.

“It was a way to run my own business without a huge financial outlay,” she says. “I wanted to help individual investors and return to a small town.”

@page_break@Although Edward Jones had some locations available in Niagara Falls, Booth persuaded the firm to allow her to open her office in Chippawa, an adjacent village with a population of about 12,000 and a large segment of relatively affluent retired people.

Her clients live in various towns throughout southern Ontario, and she also has clients in Ottawa, thanks to the connections she had formed after living there for 18 years.

Booth hung out her shingle in late 2000, just as the stock market was in the throes of the technology meltdown. When she knocked on doors, she found many people were skeptical; but others were impressed by her tenacity. Booth hadn’t been responsible for putting those potential clients in the tech stocks that were collapsing, and could suggest other investments that were trading at attractive prices because of the market decline.

“In a small town, people are not afraid to open their doors and have a conversation with you,” Booth says. “I ask a lot of questions and listen carefully. It’s important not to do all the talking, or to talk at people or confuse them with complicated information.

“Trust is a huge factor in this business,” she adds, “and it’s important for people to feel comfortable.”

Two years into Booth’s career at Edward Jones, she was struck by tragedy: her only daughter died at the age of 32. Booth took four months off work, but her office stayed open with the help of her assistant and a nearby Edward Jones advisor. Her clients were strongly supportive, Booth says, and stuck by her.

“My concentration level was not there for a while, and I needed to take time to recover and gather my strength,” she says. “I lost momentum but never lost ground. When I returned, I worked hard and my practice took off.”

Booth says the largest segment of her client base is retired or near retirement, and more than half of her clients are women. As a single woman who has experienced marriage breakdown, Booth understands the issues that are important to many of those clients.

Knowing that most married women will eventually find themselves single through either death or divorce, Booth works hard to educate her clients about the importance of financial planning and makes sure they have an understanding of how their investments work.

“Each [financial] plan is individually tailored, and there are a variety of aspects to it,” she says. “The RRSP is only a small part; there are also things like life insurance or critical illness insurance that should be considered.”

Booth frequently holds educational seminars tailored to women, and is certified to teach a course designed by U.S. author David Bach called “Smart Women Finish Rich.” Booth also gears some seminars toward a general audience and finds many people are drawn to estate planning topics. She holds some events at local restaurants, but also invites clients to her office to hear speakers broadcasting on the Edward Jones educational network.

In Booth’s spare time, she is involved in a variety of associations that keep her active and provide a source of potential clients. She is a past president of the Niagara Falls Rotary Club and a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as being on the board of the Women’s Place of South Niagara, a shelter for abused women’.

Booth also belongs to a women’s golf league and a singles’ social club, and is an avid traveller. Even when she tries to keep an activity strictly fun, she says, it often leads to new business when people discover her profession.

“If you’re a friendly person, any social situation can lead to meeting a future client,” Booth says. She once struck up a conversation with a man at a mailbox; he is now a
client. IE