Are you completely satisfied with the financial success — and quality of life — provided by your business? Most financial advisors today have pretty good incomes rather than great ones, and most find their lifestyles acceptable, not wonderful. But why are things this way? Why don't more advisors have the fantastic careers and businesses they once dreamed of? What can you do, starting right now, to reclaim those dreams?
Consider three reasons why many advisors aren't nearly as successful as they could be:o They think that more time in the business somehow automatically leads to substantially greater success o They confuse activity with productivityo They don't take notice of or implement what works — empirically and experientially proven success strategies
A Matter of Time: Not!First, many advisors think that it's "just a matter of time," that if they continue to do what they've already been doing, they'll eventually achieve far greater financial success and a better lifestyle. But our research here at CEG Worldwide does not bear this out.
In January and February of 2007, we conducted a comprehensive study of 2,094 financial advisors, across all advisory channels, that classified advisors into four quadrants based on net income (before personal taxes):o Quadrant 1: 150 or fewer clients and net income of $300,000 or lesso Quadrant 2: more than 150 clients and net income of $300,000 or lesso Quadrant 3: more than 150 clients and net income of more than $300,000o Quadrant 4: 150 or fewer clients and income greater than $300,000
As the table below shows, the most successful advisors — those in Quadrant 4 — were among the youngest of the advisors surveyed, and were practically tied with the Quadrant 1 advisors for the least number of years in the business. Obviously, then, longevity does not necessarily, or even usually, lead to success.
Doing What WorksUnfortunately, many advisors confuse activity with productivity. You can be as busy as a bee, but if what you're doing is irrelevant or ineffective, while it may assuage your conscience or make you look good, your basic situation won't change very much. What counts is being busy doing the right things. In fact, if you keep doing the same things and keep getting the same results — yet you keep hoping for different results — well, that's very close to one of my favorite definitions of insanity.
Instead, consider the flip side of this tendency to be constantly busy with the same-old same-old: implementing empirically proven success strategies. Think about it: If certain advisors have been in the business no longer than you (and in some cases, less time) yet are much more successful than you, then what might explain this? In a nutshell, they must be doing what works. In all probability, you haven't been.
So instead of sitting around for another five or 10 years waiting to be successful, why not begin today to implement one or more of the following proven strategies? You can simply sit around waiting for some kind of time-based magical transformation of your business, or you can get very focused and deliberately do certain things that work.
Five Keys to SuccessHere are five strategies that can make a significant difference to your financial success and quality of life:
