There are 3 ways financial advisors sabotage their businesses:
1) Do nothing. Just coast along with the markets and seemingly happy clients. And hope the next bump in the road doesn’t throw your business back into the depths of the 2008 meltdown. That’s wishful thinking…a recipe for disaster.
2) Shelf Help. Advisors attend webinars, sit-in on free lunches, go to conferences and maybe throw a few backs a training program. But then they do absolutely nothing with the things they learn. The trouble with that is obvious.
3) Pink Floyd Starvation. “If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?” This happens a lot. This story will explain what I mean:
Back in my early days as an advisor, I was quick learner. Show me a good way to grow my business and the next week I had it done. I was always among the top producers and innovators in my peer group.
The ’87 crash wasn’t fun…but it didn’t stop me from growing.
But a few years later, I hit the inevitable plateau. Growth ground to a standstill. And I couldn’t seem to find a solution. Given the “ego” I had developed, I felt like a loser even though my business was still the envy of others.
So I decided to “reinvent” my business…from top to bottom.
I bought, consumed and digested more information than any one human could possibly find useful. Before I knew it, I had the best “business plan” imaginable. A big lumpy, step-by-step guide to take my business to unimaginable levels.
One problem…plans don’t produce results, actions do.
At that time, no one or no thing could distract me from my mammoth plan for massive growth. Even though I was choking on all the hours I was working. Even though I was still stuck on the same damn plateau. Pink Floyd was playing in the back of my mind…
“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding.”
In other words, dinner must come before dessert. I had abandoned my instincts for staying in motion. A tedious, mind-numbing “do it all” attitude was crippling my business.
In truth, I was starving the fuel that had fired my success.
That’s not how elite advisors really work. The markets, new business opportunities and client needs dictate the constant digestion of new ideas. Gobble up the best and discarded the rest.
Who cares if you eat the pudding before the meat?
Sure, you need a clear vision, a passion for being the best and the right amount of discipline…but they need your energy. They require action. Action based on accomplishing your most important priorities.
Think of it as the 80/20 of personal productivity.
Thankfully, I stopped walking that plank. I quickly realized that 10 to 20 percent of my ideas were having the biggest impact on the most important parts of my business. So I cherry-picked the best ideas from my mammoth plan. And BOOM…I went on to have my best month and quarter and year ever.
Lesson learned…plateau in the rear view mirror.
What’s the moral to this story? If you are in motion, if you’re not just sitting around hoping the good times will last….If your ideas are turning into actions and not just collecting dust, then please:
Enjoy the pudding. Don’t starve the energy that drives your business.