About this episode

Justin Brownlee discusses how he grew his advisory firm to $500 million AUM by targeting a specific niche and effectively using LinkedIn.

What if just the 10 'right' people seeing your content could grow your firm faster than 10,000 random viewers? Growing an advisory firm doesn't always require reaching the largest audience. In many cases, the right audience—clearly defined and intentionally engaged—can be far more powerful than broad visibility. Justin Brownlee has built a $500 million RIA serving just 75 households by targeting a specific niche and using LinkedIn with intention. In this episode, we break down how he created focused blog and podcast content for his ideal target client, strategically built a LinkedIn network inside target companies, and prioritized quality engagement over vanity metrics. Listen in to hear why Justin focuses on revenue-per-client as a key business metric , how his fixed-fee model attracts high-net-worth clients while increasing asset consolidation, and how Justin weathered the challenging early months of business ownership on his path to success. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/482

People in this episode

Host: Michael Kitces

Guest: Justin Brownlee

Topics covered

• client engagement
• LinkedIn marketing
• business growth
• niche targeting
• high-net-worth clients

Keywords

• advisory firm
• AUM
• LinkedIn
• high-net-worth
• revenue-per-client
• fixed-fee model
• business ownership

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: RIA

Places: LinkedIn

More episodes of Financial Advisor Success

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• Ep 485: Exercises to Help Clients Better Navigate the Transition to Retirement After Having Done It Yourself with Michael Kay · April 14, 2026 · 1h 30m
• Ep 484: Scaling To $1B AUM By Recognizing Your (Rainmaker) Strengths And Delegating The Rest with Jake Falcon · April 7, 2026 · 1h 30m
• Ep 483: Closing (More Affluent) Clients in The First Meeting with an "Approach Talk" Method to Create Urgency with Erin Botsford · March 31, 2026 · 1h 30m
• Ep 481: Leveraging Technology To Rapidly Scale Growth Delivering Financial Planning To Next Generation Clients with Adam Dell · March 17, 2026 · 1h 30m
• Ep 480: Growing To $660M Of AUM By Leveraging SEO (And Now AEO) To Build A Durable Pipeline Of Good-Fit Prospects with Helen Stephens · March 10, 2026 · 1h 27m

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