In my last episode I promised you a story about a particular person and it’s a very important story. It’s not an easy story for me to talk about, but I think as human beings we learn more through stories and metaphors.I was referred this advisor from a colleague of mine, I won’t get into names to protect this individual. In the beginning, he started out in the advisor role then he went into management, but now he’s back to being an advisor again.A little bit of background on this individual is he’s in his mid-50’s and doesn’t really have a daily game plan or ritual when he wakes up in the morning. He just reads the newspaper, has some coffee, and off to the office we go. He’s basically floundering through life and doesn’t have much of a vision.Just so everyone knows my process usually is I’ll do an introductory call about 30 minutes long. If I feel like we resonate and this makes sense for them then I’ll do a practice evaluation about 60 – 90 minutes long and I don’t charge for any of this time. I don’t have a team of coaches it’s all about just making sure you’re the right fit.Sometimes I will take people on that you know this may not intellectually make sense, but then people will surprise you. This isn’t about the money for me, it’s about if I know I can improve an advisor and help them make more money then I know they’re going to help more clients at a higher level, they’re going to help their family at a higher level, and they’ll help society through charitable contributions at a higher level.Related: How Advisors Can Improve Daily Habits to Achieve Growth
I am the eternal optimist.
Anyways back to the story, so I go through the business planning process with him, which is about 8 – 12 weeks long. I go through the morning ritual with him, get him back to the gym (he’s about 75 pounds overweight and drinking every night). This is all about getting him back to a better level. Now you can have great business calls, but if you’re flawed you will never accomplish that.Our income and business is a reflection of our psychology. If you want to improve your business, it’s not about how much money you need to make, it’s about thinking what this needs to look like to get to that next level.By the way this particular person they need more of a mental health pro or to go through a rehab program. But, for the next 90 days I worked with him and not every day was a rockstar day, but the days were trending in the right direction.One day in October I asked him on a scale of one – ten, ten being the absolute most successful in this business, where do you think you stand? And he said a three. I usually don’t get my breath taken away, but this did make me take a step back. I asked him to walk me through the three.He basically said he’s never successful in life and he looks in the mirror and all he sees is a failure. I ask him why are we here, since you don’t believe your successful, why do you keep paying me?He says I’m hoping you can get me out of my depression and I ask him if there is anyone else helping him besides me and he says no. This is not my area, I am a business coach. I deal with a lot of psychology, but you need to go see a mental health or addiction specialist. At this point business doesn’t matter. You need to do this for you and your family.Male or female this does not matter – this a high ego industry if you’re not in this business after five years it’s because you have an ego and you won’t admit failure.The problem is you don’t see what you don’t want to see whether it’s an addiction, a failing marriage, or any number of things. At the end of everything you need to be in a good place.This is not a job. If you have a j-o-b and you’re getting paid a salary you can fake it for a while, some people fake it for their entire careers, but this is not this industry.Our reality is a reflection of my operating system, my psychology, my habits, my rules, and my visualizations.I’ve always believed that human beings are happiest when their expanding. No, I don’t mean my waistline. I mean when you’re growing, doing new things, and you’re on a quest.Here’s the last thing I want to say to you – you have the power to make all the changes in your life that you want. You have to wake up one morning and say enough is enough.No, it’s not going to be easy and nothing in life worthwhile is. You show me any super successful person they work hard and put energy in. They fail and get uncomfortable. There’s no easy way to get fit – you have to sweat. There’s no easy way to get wealthy – you have to do the work.Make a decision and let’s get after it!
