While most people think that the biggest fear we face in our professional lives is the fear of failure, the fear of success is actually much more insidious and damaging. Lisa, age 28, had been earning $40,000 a year at her corporate job and switched to a straight commission financial job working for one of…
“There’s just never enough time to do all the things that need to be done!” Dave, an insurance producer, told me during a recent workshop. “Is it possible,” I asked Dave, “that you’re focusing on the trivial many instead of the vital few, and that’s why you don’t have enough time?” I explained to the
To Whom Are You Offering/Selling Your Services? The wrong answer to this question is “I offer my services to everyone”. Financial advisors and coaches who tell me that they help [all] people reach [all of] their personal, career, or financial goals do not understand a critical truth about 21st Century business: clients want to work with experts and specialists. If You’re Everything
Baseball fans know that most of the great home run hitters also have unusually high rates of strikeouts. The most revered of these players, Babe Ruth, once advised a fan: “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” But most of us are too afraid of striking out to swing hard enough
Cheryl, an advisor who consulted me to help her find and keep more clients, was questioning why I told her to spend most of her appointment times asking questions, rather than telling her potential clients about her knowledge and abilities. “In the past,” she protested, “I spent as much time as I could telling them
Brad, a financial representative with a major Broker-Dealer, was complaining about email and phone interruptions. He knew he was getting so caught up in playing with his smart phone—trying to figure out how it could alert him only for certain contacts—that he was sacrificing hours of real work. “You make choices,” I told him, “about
