I made a lot of friends at that firm, but after 7 years, I decided to start my own firm. This turned out to be a very good decision. My practice grew tremendously. I was now married with three little boys, and we had moved to Argyle. Our office was still in Dallas, and the time had come to move the office closer to my house.Argyle was such a sleepy little town back then, but I had faith we could make it. The commute went from one hour each way to about 4 minutes each way. Times were slightly different back then. The dress code was a little tighter as we had to wear a suit to work each day and could not leave our office without our jacket on! We had no computers; they started showing up a year or two later. We had no cell phones, and again, they showed up a year later. My car was a 1985 Mustang, and the air conditioner would only last about 10 minutes before shutting off. Luckily, Texas doesn’t have hot summers! I lived with my older brother Scott and slept on his couch. I could not afford rent. I spent the next several months studying for my securities tests. I was obviously highly motivated to improve my situation in life, so I studied very hard and passed all my tests on my first attempt. I then entered the training program. They had me write down in a booklet all the people I knew and their phone numbers. So, in my little cubicle, with a phone and my booklet, I started my career. I quickly learned about handling rejection! My main goal was to make it to Christmas. I thought that by then, I would have enough knowledge to be able to have some success. I was not exactly an overnight success! But I wasn’t a quitter. I didn’t mention that I was on straight commission and did not get my first paycheck until May that year. I went five months without a paycheck! But ever so slowly, I started to get some traction. (more pg. 4) Happy Anniversary RFG continued Funny, even though I had a pretty rough start, I look back very fondly at those times. The best part of this journey has been all the wonderful clients and team members I have been so fortunate to get to know throughout these years. We now have four partners at our firm, and they are so talented. I look forward to coming to work each day. So, where do we go from here? I am very excited about our future. I have no plans of retiring; I love what I do way too much! I want to continue to help people reach their financial potential, which hopefully will greatly improve their lives. Chris 2014 2025