Why Focusing on Numbers Will Slow Your Growth & Suffocate Desire

It didn’t make sense to me, here was a woman who had built a high income generating practice (while traveling the world) and she wants to focus on an aggressive 20% growth?

I bluntly asked her, “Being that you love your business and are enjoying your life, why do you want go grow by 20%?”… Not to my surprise there was a long pause on her end.

After some thought she shared, “Well that’s what they want to hear, that’s what we have always been taught to do.” Then as if someone might hear her she whispered, “To be honest I don’t really look at the numbers”. Those were the magic words.

Before she became my coaching client, she already produced over $750,000, had a great team, and she loved what she did. So, on her first day I asked her: What was important to her? and What she was passionate about?

She quickly began to talk about how she loved traveling and sharing experiences with her family. In fact, she was leaving soon for a 10-day trip to Ireland with her daughter and mother and her next trip was to Brussels with her husband and son. She was truly living her dream life traveling with her loved ones, and within her business life she was striving to grow her business by 20%.

As financial advisors, like with any business, you are taught to set your goals, review your goals (sometimes daily) and measure your progress on a regular basis. Never were we taught to consider the real questions you should be asking yourself.

Are you fulfilling your true purpose as a financial advisor?

What was the impact you had on a client today?

In what way do you add the most value as a financial advisor?

How can you build stronger relationships with your clients?

What is it you really want to accomplish in life and how can you achieve that with your practice?

For many (including me) focusing on the numbers will slow your growth and suffocate your desire. While it’s important to understand your numbers, the real driving force behind why the numbers exist are:

Understanding why you do what you do

Knowing how you are striving to make a difference in the world

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Financial advisors who reach out to me want to focus on women, not just because it is a smart business decision, but they are passionate about empowering women. I have found when you can tap into what drives your soul; the progress you make defies business sense. Your production and asset growth become a natural by-product of doing what you love, focusing on what makes you enjoy your work, and knowing what fires you to get up each morning to go to work.