Taking the time to step back from the day-to-day demands of the business to assess personal and professional goals is a critical yet often overlooked exercise that can help financial advisors define and achieve their best business life.
“But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Since this blog post isn’t set to music, you can’t hear Bono’s voice ringing out, conveying heartfelt pain, frustration and hope – all at once. It is a triad of emotions that many will feel, at a pivotal point in their career when they know something must change, that they are looking for something better, but they aren’t quite sure what that something is…yet.
How does this relate to financial advisors? The same way it does for everyone else. We are often our own worst enemies in term of achieving our ideal business life: settling for good when we could have great. We allow inertia to creep in. We allow our fear of change to take over. And honestly, that’s okay if you are happy, your clients are happy and your business is thriving. But if that’s not the case, financial advisors are fortunate to work in an industry where it is possible to get pretty close to your own personal “job utopia”. If you can articulate what that ideal looks like and are willing to put the time in to do some important research and exploration, you can find it. It’s a process. Here are some questions to ask along the way:
- What are your goals, both personal and professional?
- Where do you see yourself and the business 5 and 10 years from now?
- What are the “must haves”, in terms of products, platform, tools and resources?
- How important is full support and a fully built out infrastructure to the success of your business?
- How much ownership and control of the business do you want or need and just how entrepreneurial are you?
- Is monetization today important, or is increased cash flow and future monetization more appealing?
These questions are just a start. The important thing is to begin having an unfiltered conversation. Remove the obstacles and the preconceptions, and give yourself the opportunity to imagine the ideal situation, without immediately saying why it won’t work. You will never find what you are looking for unless you first define what it is.
