Going Independent: A Practitioner's Guide to Launching Your Advisory Firm is a step-by-step playbook for financial advisors who want to leave a bank, wirehouse, or insurance platform and build a truly independent RIA on their own terms.

Going Independent is the field manual advisors wish they'd had before launching their own firm. Drawing on more than forty years in the industry—and the hard-earned lessons of building a fully independent RIA from scratch—Christopher F. Poch walks you through every stage of the transition, from the first "Should I really do this?" conversation to your one-year anniversary as an owner.

This practitioner's guide is designed for serious advisors who want control over their business model, client experience, and long-term economics—not just another recruiting deal. Poch explains the real tradeoffs between hybrid platforms and full independence, how to think about private equity capital, and why "more money" is the wrong primary reason to leave your firm. You'll find detailed, time-sequenced checklists, concrete examples, and candid warnings about the legal, compliance, operational, and emotional challenges that can derail a launch.

The audiobook includes a comprehensive 210 item "Going Independent" checklist, sample communications (including a resignation letter and memo to prospective team members), and practical guidance on culture, marketing, and brand positioning for growth minded RIAs. Whether you manage $75 million or $5 billion, this is a cleareyed, experience-tested roadmap to owning your future as an independent advisor.

If there was only one audiobook to listen to before Going Independent, this is the audiobook.