For the last three years, Blue Rock Financial Group, was the presenting sponsor of the Delaware Business Owner Summit.  The Summit is held in June and hosts more than 200 attendees.  Each year we’ve had the chance to create an agenda that focuses on Productivity, Efficiency and Succession.  There is a common theme that has persisted each year…We get to pick our hard.

On October 1, Blue Rock Financial Group joined AlphaCore Wealth Advisory. For many business owners and clients of said business, the word “acquisition” could sound like an ending. For this firm, for me and for our team, it was a succession decision, and one of the most intentional decisions since I left the newspaper business in 2005.

In 2005 I walked away from a paycheck at The News Journal, put my back against the wall and committed to not losing. In 2012 Blue Rock Financial Group was born in Wilmington. We opened a Rehoboth location in an office building in 2017 and moved my family to Sussex County in 2020 in the midst of navigating a new world. In 2022 we bought our current building on Route 1, while still maintaining our presence on the Wilmington Riverfront. Every one of those steps was a risk. Every step was a choice, and I got to choose my hard along the way.

This decision was no different. I’d been approached about mergers before and always said no. This time, when looking at where we were as an organization and where the business was headed after three years of substantial growth¹, the decisions ahead, were much different than those of the past.

A Business Only Grows to Its Biggest Constraint

At the 2025 Delaware Business Owner Summit, I shared a simple idea: a business grows only as far as its biggest constraint, and no further. That constraint changes as you grow.

There was a line from this year’s 2026 Delaware Business Owner Summit that stuck out as conversations with AlphaCore moved forward – what and who got you to $1 million may not be what and who gets you to $10 million and beyond.

Where Blue Rock Stood

As of 2026, Blue Rock was a nine-person team serving business owners and families across Delaware, with more than $400 million in assets. We are no longer constrained by the clients we serve; we have a fantastic model for clients who have between $2M and $20M in assets or they are business owners with profit north of $1M.  The constraint was obvious; we needed to build our internal team and leadership skills to match the growth.

Continued growth means a more specialized staff and clearer lines of responsibility. It also means, I had to look in the mirror. As you hit a certain point, you need to stop doing two jobs and start doing one. I was the founder and involved as a lead advisor and a person involved in our marketing and growth efforts. This is literally the bottleneck I warned the room about, and I was in the middle of it.

Build It or Join It

Once I knew where we stood, there were two paths to the next stage.

1. Build it ourselves. Recruit the specialists, build out a deeper investment research team, build the infrastructure that comes with a larger firm and develop leaders one hire at a time. It can be done, but it’s the expensive way: one mistake at a time and quite a bit of risk if you mess up – especially from a time perspective.
2. Join a team that has already made the jump. Partner with a firm that has already, strategically put these pieces together and has worked through the challenges that are squarely in front of me while also giving our current team members career growth opportunities outside of our 9-person firm.

At the Business Owner Summit I told the room to learn from people who have already paid their dues. I took my own advice. I felt it was better for us to partner with someone who had already done it.

AlphaCore, an independent wealth advisory firm based in La Jolla, California, had already built what our next stage required. They are thoughtfully growing their Mid-Atlantic presence through its Bethesda office, and Blue Rock brings deep experience advising business owners and affluent families. AlphaCore was also looking for a firm with strong systems and processes in place for Financial Planning clients.  I also learned that they were interested in our Marketing systems that have fueled our organic growth. These are some of the reasons I agreed to a conversation this time.

Succession Is About Your People

Most owners think of succession as “what happens to me.” The real question is what happens to our team and our clients.  Blue Rock has 26 published Values – number one is Always have a Fiduciary mentality – essentially, do what’s right for the client, first and always.  In my mind, this was no different.  I feel the same way about our team.

In my speech I said a great owner is a great landlord: you own the home, and you’re renting your team’s time. That puts the responsibility on the owner. One of the things most important to me was giving our team, especially the people in their thirties, a real career path. A small firm has a lot going for it, but when you look at broader career goals, the ceiling is real.

As part of a firm with a national footprint, our team can specialize, work across offices or take on bigger roles, all while staying right here in Delaware or not. I felt that was my responsibility. If I didn’t create those opportunities, I ran the risk of losing the people who committed themselves to Blue Rock’s growth.

What It Means for Our Clients

I’ve kept my ownership stake, and I’m now a Managing Director and Partner helping lead AlphaCore’s Mid-Atlantic wealth advisory business. I think that’s important for clients to know. I’m not walking away, and I’m not going anywhere. We’re here to stay.

The same team still serves you from our Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington offices. What’s new is what stands behind us: AlphaCore’s deeper bench and staff. We no longer have to build every area of expertise in-house to bring it to you.

The goal hasn’t changed since the day we opened: helping you Plan with Confidence.

Questions Every Owner Should Ask

In this month’s blog about Succession, I wanted to share my story, but I also wanted to leave you with some questions you may want to ask yourself if you are considering a succession from your business.  Your answers may be different from mine, and that’s the point. Succession isn’t always just a single event at the end of your career. It’s a decision you make, or avoid, at every stage. Start with these:

1. Where do my headcount and revenue meet (based on the table above), and what is my business’s biggest constraint right now?
2. How many jobs am I still doing, and which one should I keep?
3. Can I realistically build what the next stage requires, and what will the mistakes cost along the way?
4. Am I the biggest constraint in my business?
5. Is there a person I know who has already gone through what I’m dealing with that could help me with their insight?
6. If things stay the same size, do I risk losing critical people on my team? Am I helping them achieve their career goals?

I hope this article was helpful.  If you want to discuss any of these items with me or anyone from the team, we’re happy to set time aside for you.

Disclosure:

Any opinions expressed are solely the opinions of the author and are current only as of the time made. While the information and statistical data in this article are based on sources believed to be reliable, the author does not represent that it is accurate or complete and should not be relied on as such or be the basis for an investment decision.

¹ Substantial growth over the last 3 years is defined as 20% annual growth.