The Moves at a Glance
In two separate transitions totaling approximately $325mm in client assets, advisors Les Smith and Rick Batey each chose to affiliate with LPL Financial through Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJ) partners, demonstrating a growing trend among advisors seeking the freedom of business ownership paired with the support needed to grow.
While their backgrounds and journeys were different, both advisors arrived at a similar conclusion: they wanted greater control over their futures, but not at the expense of having access to experienced guidance, infrastructure, and resources.
For both, the OSJ model offered a compelling middle ground between traditional employee models and building an entirely standalone business from scratch.
What’s an OSJ and Why is this Path Gaining Attention?
Many advisors exploring independence discover that ownership comes with both opportunity and responsibility. Running a business requires more than serving clients—it also involves compliance oversight, technology decisions, operational management, and strategic planning.
By affiliating through an Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction or OSJ, advisors can maintain ownership and autonomy while leveraging support in areas such as compliance, operations, business development, and practice management. For advisors like Les and Rick, that balance proved especially appealing.
Though their stories began in different places, both were motivated by a desire to build businesses on their own terms while retaining access to experienced partners who could help support future growth.
Les Smith: From Detroit Tigers Prospect to Entrepreneurial Business Owner
Les Smith spent 11 years building his practice at Edward Jones, growing approximately $180mm in client assets through the same determination that once helped him earn an opportunity with the Detroit Tigers organization.
After baseball, Les entered wealth management and built his business the traditional way—through door-knocking, cold-calling, and a relentless commitment to serving clients. Over time, however, he began to feel constrained by limitations that no longer aligned with his vision for the future.
Les wanted greater flexibility in how he served clients, more control over business decisions, and the ability to create enterprise value as a true owner. He also envisioned building something larger than an individual practice, with aspirations to recruit advisors and eventually lead a billion-dollar enterprise.
As he evaluated his options, Les quickly discovered that the sheer number of available paths created as much confusion as opportunity.
Diamond Consultants helped simplify the landscape, providing objective guidance and helping Les and his wife, Katie, evaluate opportunities through the lens of their long-term goals rather than competing sales pitches.
Ultimately, LPL Financial, combined with JFC as an OSJ partner, emerged as the ideal fit.
The structure provided the entrepreneurial freedom Les was seeking while offering the support, infrastructure, and resources necessary to help him continue growing. Just as importantly, it allowed him to begin building equity in his business without assuming all the burdens of launching a fully independent enterprise from day one.
Today, Les operates Smith Complete Wealth in Spring Hill, Tennessee, serving clients with greater flexibility and ownership while pursuing his vision for long-term growth.
Rick Batey: Building a Business Without Building It Alone
Rick Batey spent 14 years with VALIC (now AIG Retirement Services) building a successful practice serving clients throughout North Carolina and managing approximately $145mm in client assets.
For years, Rick was drawn to the idea of becoming a business owner. The challenge wasn’t whether he wanted independence—it was determining what form that independence should take.
His due diligence process stretched nearly two years as he carefully evaluated multiple affiliation models, including both the RIA and independent broker-dealer channels. Throughout that journey, Diamond Consultants worked closely with Rick to help him understand the advantages, trade-offs, and long-term implications of each option.
What became clear was that Rick wanted ownership and control, but he also valued having a support system in place.
Rather than building every aspect of a business from scratch, he preferred a model that would allow him to focus on clients and growth while relying on experienced professionals for guidance and operational support.
That search ultimately led him to LPL Financial and Elevate Private Wealth, an OSJ partner that provided the combination of autonomy and support he had been seeking.
Today, Rick operates his business from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with the freedom to run his practice according to his vision while benefiting from the resources and infrastructure of a larger support organization.
Why Transition
Although their motivations differed in some respects, Les and Rick shared several common objectives:
- Greater control over their businesses and futures.
- The opportunity to build enterprise value as business owners.
- Increased flexibility in serving clients.
- A desire to grow beyond the limitations of their prior environments.
- Independence without sacrificing access to support and resources.
Why Use Diamond Consultants?
The path to independence has never offered more options—or more complexity.
Diamond Consultants helped both advisors navigate the increasingly crowded landscape by providing objective guidance, market intelligence, and a structured due diligence process focused on their individual goals.
For Les, that meant simplifying a confusing array of opportunities and helping both him and his family gain confidence in the decision-making process.
For Rick, it meant evaluating multiple affiliation models over an extended period and helping him identify the structure that best aligned with his desire for ownership and support.
In both cases, the outcome was not simply a new affiliation, but a thoughtful business decision designed to support long-term growth, client service, and entrepreneurial aspirations.
Diamond Consultants is pleased to have represented Les Smith and Rick Batey throughout their respective journeys and looks forward to following their continued success as independent business owners.