I’m just back from a trip to Egypt with my family, and the wonders we saw shifted our perspective on history, archaeology and ancient technology. It’s a trip I highly recommend if you have the opportunity. From Egypt, I flew directly to the first Retreat of our Limitless Adviser coaching program, where I experienced results that expanded my own perspective on what it takes to shift your thinking and step up your success.
Of course, we cover all the best practices for building a wildly successful practice, including a proven success model for generating $1M+ in revenue and taking 4 months off per year. But what sets this work apart is that we’re addressing the whole adviser, not just the part of you that shows up in professional attire and pontificates on planning and investment strategies.
I couldn’t be more pleased to share that the results our advisers are getting have been staggering. Not because I or my coaching partner are geniuses. Quite the contrary, we’re ordinary people who expanded our thinking around what it takes expand our success. And when we did, the results were massive. (insert link to article where I’m living the dream).
The question I ask myself daily is why so many advisers – even the most successful among you – still settle for so much less than is possible?
The answer is mindset. I’ve written extensively about how our brains work and work to hold us back (insert link), how our views on the world are often fear-driven and seek to maintain the status quo, and how we’ve grown accustomated to being “uncomfortably comfortable”.
Our brains would rather have us stay in our comfort zones than strive for more, because the brain’s primary aim is survival. The problem is that not dying is not the same as truly living.
I will keep writing about how advisers can shift their thinking and expand their success, but this month it seemed to me I should share some real-life examples of such shifts, and then highlight what made them possible.
Success Example #1. Jane a capable adviser that is struggling to charge financial planning fees that are commensurate with her experience, cost of delivery, and the value she delivers.
Jane learned to truly comprehend the value she delivers, eliminate the belief that she wasn’t worth higher fees and gain the confidence she needed to charge fees in line with her value.
After 6 weeks in coaching, Jane quoted $10,000 for a financial plan that she admitted she would have hesitated to charge $4,500 for in the past. Jane’s client happily agreed, and they are now engaged in work that will add value to both their lives.
Success Example #2. Bob is a successful adviser with a $1M+ practice, but his time is consumed by his work, leaving little time to enjoy his success. He knows he needs to standardize his operations, but is concerned it will take away from the value he delivers to clients.
Bob was convinced that if he scaled up his practice, he would water down his value. Bob re-framed his thinking about how he adds value, and realized that creating systems would better serve his clients, and his practice. He’s since re-segmented and tiered his client base, defined services, and established fair fees for the value he delivers. His team is ecstatic as they now know who gets what, when and why and are happily launching the new client service model. He’s in the process of meeting with all clients to shift them into the offering that is right for them, and for his firm (both in terms of their needs and his economics).
Success Example #3. Jack has been meeting with seminar prospects during evenings and weekends for years, leaving no time for a personal life. He’s driven to keep hitting his growth goals at the expense of a personal life.
As it turns out, Jack was giving prospects the option of meeting outside of office hours. He re-framed his thinking to realize that he never signed up for having no life, and he eliminated the belief that if he didn’t see prospects outside office hours they wouldn’t see him at all.
Jack refreshed his prospect intake, eliminating meetings outside of office hours. He shared at Retreat that he “has a life” and now spends hours on the weekends doing the long runs he loves. Now, instead of being a slave to his practice, he’s serving clients that appreciate his value, and living a life that he loves.
Yes, each of these advisers relied upon best practices in practice management to execute changes to the “methods” in their practice. But these methods are just content. This is a column about mindset, which is the soil in which such ideas can be planted.
What each of these advisers learned is that the only limits we have are the ones we place on ourselves. I invite you to challenge your own limits, and embrace shifts that can expand your success.
