Monthly Archives: February 2015

I've had quite the travel hiccups the last 5 days going to and coming from Jacksonville. Between the 6hr delay-after-unexplained-delay at IAD (Dulles) on the way out and a delayed-and-then-cancelled flight on the way back, I could have very easily sat back and complained, whined, and sulked that I'll be over a day late getting home than originally planned. On the way out with my delays, I did in fact get in line with other passengers and complain to United and they did what they could to accommodate. As I sit here at…continue reading →

We are just over halfway through the first quarter of 2015, and with that, hopefully halfway through to a profitable and growing first quarter. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten or lost sight of the business plan that you did at the end of 2014. You know, the one that you spent time on between Christmas and New Year’s because…well…what else were you doing to do that week? If you haven’t looked at it yet, now would be a great time to dust off the plan (or open up the file on your computer) and…continue reading →

As advisors we all-too-often get caught up putting out fires and attending to the "crisis de jour" while doing our best to "move the ball forward" on existing opportunities that we have to grow our business. The important thing to remember, though, is that by having a process and system for everything in your business it allows you to take the emotional component out of running a business and rather just focus on what you have in front of you at the moment. Once you've built, customized, and trust your systems you can…continue reading →

We coach, advise, and (sometimes) preach to clients tirelessly the importance of saving and making deposits in their accounts. We impress upon them the return on that investment and the future growth. I’ll emphasize one word again in that previous sentence: investment. An investment signifies an intention to grow the original principal. We hope the return on that investment was worth the opportunity cost of what we otherwise could have done with the original principal. I’d encourage you to heed your own advice and make an investment…but make the investment an emotional one.…continue reading →

Process paperwork. If you’re still producing, populating, and processing paperwork for client acquisition and service issues, you’re costing your firm money. Plain and simple. Clients don’t choose to work with you because you’re really good at filling out a form. They work with you and are looking for you to plan with them, analyze their situation, and manage their financial affairs accordingly. Between technology solutions like LaserApp and your staff, your goal should be to touch as little “paper” (physical or electronic) as possible. Data Entry. This is a close second to #1.…continue reading →

I believe that a lot of advisors live in a fairy-tale type world. That is to say, what they think they spend their days doing and what they actually spend their days doing are two different things, or at the very least not in the same proportion as they think. As an example: we all know that, in order to scale and grow an already successful practice, an efficient advisor should really be spending their time doing one of three things: prospecting new potential client relationships, serving and connecting on a deeper level…continue reading →