The year was 1997, and my wife Kerry and I had a son on the way. At the time, we were running a small coffee and sandwich shop at 100 Middle Street in Portland, Maine. We bought the business with a loan secured by her father’s mobile home—he was an entrepreneur himself, and always believed in us.
Truth be told, we didn’t know much about what we had bought. The menu was tired, customer flow was weak, and we had a lot to learn. But both of us had restaurant experience, so we rolled up our sleeves. We revamped the menu, focused on service, and soon business was booming—so much so that even the local police officers from across Middle Street became regulars.
When Kerry became pregnant in late 1996, we realized the business couldn’t support us if she stayed home to raise our son. So, we sold the shop, made a profit, and repaid her dad. Mission accomplished—but now I needed a real career.
I tried a few things—commercial mortgage brokering, acquisitions for a local real estate investor—but nothing stuck. Then I looked down the hall from our old coffee shop and saw an office: Dean Witter. I applied, interviewed, and was nearly immediately hired.
Back then, the role was called stockbroker. I had a strong grasp of the markets (finance had fascinated me since high school), but I wasn’t great at the “sales” part—especially the late nights of cold calling, pitching hot stocks and IPOs. It was selling first, planning second, and that never sat right with me.
As the industry shifted (thanks to the rise of “Do Not Call” lists), I decided to take a new path. In 2002, I teamed up with a few other advisors to go independent launching what is known today as Harborview Advisors. That meant no longer being a W-2 employee of a big firm, but instead working under an independent broker-dealer as self-employed advisors. We kept more of what we earned, but we also carried our own overhead—rent, staff, benefits, everything. That suited me just fine. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial streak.
We eventually switched broker-dealers (Boston worked better for us than the West Coast headquarters of Wells Fargo), and in 2014 we took the next big leap: registering our own investment advisory firm with the SEC as Harborview Advisors. I served as both Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for seven years.
By 2021, I was ready to step away from management and refocus entirely on what I enjoy most: serving clients. My partners agreed, and we joined another independent RIA, based in North Carolina. Today we operated under their regulatory umbrella but keeping the name Harborview Advisors. I’m still fully independent and free to serve clients without sales quotas or home-office pressure.
That’s where I’ve landed after nearly three decades: helping clients pursue their goals with the benefit of hard-earned experience, an entrepreneurial mindset, and the independence to always put their interests first.
The Mainer Montanan
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