Sheryl Clark used to put a high priority on work. Her marriage and her daughter, Katie, provided the grounding needed to go out into the world each day and do her thing in construction accounting. Clark has always been good at her chosen profession and has almost always enjoyed the jobs through which she practiced it.

In 1991, her world teetered off-course as she and her husband divorced. In 1997, it spun out of control when Katie died in a car accident. Says Clark, "My life was completely different after her death. First I was a mom, and then not; I went from living with someone else to living alone."

Having found a new line of work in the back offices of several fee-only planning firms after her divorce, Clark had her own practice and her own clients by 1997. "I felt so blessed that the clients I was working with were and are so very supportive. Many of them listened as I talked through my grief [over losing Katie] and still, today--over five years later--they ask how I'm dealing with her death," says Clark.

The totality of these experiences taught Clark the true meaning of balance. "Before Katie's death, I'd have said I have my work, I go to church periodically, I have friends, and some hobbies, so it seemed like balance," even though Clark admits her schedule was a bit top-heavy with work, which she didn't mind.

After Katie's death, one experience in particular highlighted her life's imbalances. While cleaning out Katie's room, Clark came across a note her daughter had written: "Mommy, I wish you could pick me up from school." Clark says, "The most important thing for me became relationships. That's what everything boils down to now."

Clark made dramatic changes in her work style. Wanting more control over her time and not getting all the flexibility she desired from her last employer, she finally bought her clients and set up her own shop in December 2000.

"Since the clients had been on annual retainers, we transferred them at the end of the fiscal year which made for a pretty clean break." Clark took 35 clients and has since added another 17.

She only wants to serve her primarily-middle-income clients from a home office, and has determined she will spend no more than three days a week doing it. She doesn't want employees. She does want a six-figure income, and she gets it.

The business model/service mix that makes all of this possible is a fee-only comprehensive planning and investment management service, including tax return preparation, all provided from an LLC platform dubbed Sunrise Financial. "Because I knew I wanted to work three days a week, I backed into how many clients I could handle and how much income that would produce." The cash flow, she found, would be adequate to provide her the earnings (including a long-term savings element) she required. And Clark's still not at capacity. She believes she can add about three more clients for an even 50.

What does Clark do for her clients? She says, "I change their lives." Usually, when an advisor makes such a statement, she's into life planning and/or coaching. While we all use some aspects of these disciplines when relating to our clients, Clark changes lives by doing what she knows best--accounting.

"I draw in clients with budgeting issues. It's one of my favorite things to do with clients and it's the one place I can make a huge impact." Unlike most other advisors, Clark does her clients' tax returns too. But hers is a comprehensive service so, while these are the things she enjoys the most, she still reviews investments, insurance, estate planning, and makes comprehensive financial planning recommendations. Using Charles Schwab & Co. as a custodian, she has limited trading authority over clients' money, charges an annual retainer fee rather than an asset-based fee, and implements the asset allocation strategies she recommends. On top of all of this, she meets in person up to four times a year with each client to review investments, plan tax strategy, collect data for return preparation and do year-end planning.

By now, you're probably questioning how Clark can do what she does in only three days a week. Either she's got her facts mixed up, or there is some extraordinary efficiency going on here. Says Clark, "When I talk to other advisors, I find many of their systems sound similar to mine, but when I mention what I make and how many hours I work, their jaws usually drop. My efficiency is partly in my nature, and partly in my systems. I don't spend a lot of time on the Web, and I'm not obsessive about checking my e-mail."

Perhaps the practice that most stands out, though, is Clark's tendency to get things done while in the client's presence. She says, "Ninety-five percent of the returns I do I finish in an appointment with the client. She leaves my office with a completed return. If she's come in for help on a refinancing, I get the mortgage broker on the phone while we meet. I don't do a lot of work behind the scenes." It also helps that Clark's clients don't tend to be financially complex--complex enough to need sophisticated advice, but not so complex as to require hours of number-crunching.

If she loves her work, though, why the insistence on only working three days a week? "In 1999, I was clear on the fact that I was not done being a mom. I brought my [adopted] daughter, Galina, home from Russia in September of that year. She was 13 months old. I took two and a half months off from my work to be with her and begin the bonding process," says Clark. By then, she was convinced she did not want to work full time.

"So far, this is working better than I dreamed," she says. "I work every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so that we have four days to do what we want. Galina and I often go to museums on Monday when we can avoid the crowds, or we may just go to the park and hang out together." Since Galina's only four, they're still limited in their activities...which works both ways. "On Friday I feel like I've hit the jackpot. I'm able to do a lot of fun reading when Galina naps," says Clark.

These hours not only give Clark time for her daughter, but time to administer the Katie Clark Memorial Fund for the Homeless, a project she initiated after Katie's death that has captured many hearts in Tucson, Ariz., where Clark practices.

After all the changes she's been through, Clark's philosophy isn't totally unexpected: "I believe that balance in our lives is what this decade will be about. I hear from my clients how they are struggling with this issue. I present a model for them that this can be done. I think it is important that, as we work with our clients, if we give them advice on how to achieve what they want out of their lives, that we should also be looking at our own lives. This business has given me the life I would have dreamed of, if I could have dared to dream that big. I now understand that my goal is not to make the most money, or work the hardest, or work the longest hours, but to have time for relationships and experiences."

Author Comment

"Practice profiles" appearing in the financial planning media traditionally feature advisors whose success is premised on growth--growth of assets under management, employees, clients, or all of the above. Behind the scenes, though, many of those "successful" advisors, though admirably client-centered, work long, stressful hours, display less-than-impressive business acumen or organizational skills, and neglect their family and community

By contrast, this column seeks to define the "successful advisor" as he or she who has his total act together, who is client-centered but who has also done his own life planning and is making the time and money for all of the things he truly values. This is an exclusive club, but if you think you or someone you know in the industry meet these criteria, please e-mail your nomination to me at dd@daviddrucker.com.

Thanks, Dave Drucker.