Most advisors who have passed $10K/month in production are struggling to find the free time that this industry promises them.

There’s too much paperwork, because they don’t have the people and the systems they need in place. They’re trying to treat all of their clients in the same way instead of segmenting their service approach. And they’re trying to please their clients by overpromising and then scrambling to keep those promises, instead of underpromising and overdelivering.

What would you need to be making more money and spending less time doing it? Here are ten things my team identified in a recent survey:

1. Know where you want to go, your goals and objectives. As one of my favorite 20th Century philosophers, Yogi Berra, said, “You have to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going because you might not get there.”

2. Employ the right strategies to reach those goals. Have a detailed plan—a roadmap—that you can follow every day

3. Get help clearing away your negative thinking.

4. Have and work a marketing plan designed to reach your ideal client. Don’t do any activity that doesn’t put you in touch with your ideal client or professionals who serve your ideal client.

5. Focus on your best existing relationships. Segment your client base and the service levels that go with them. Provide concierge service to your Top 20. Surprise and delight them. In a recent newsletter, James Clear, author of the best-selling book Atomic Habits said, “Double down on your best relationships. It’s the investment with the highest return.”

6. Mind your ethics and integrity. Aside from your expertise and your ability to connect with people, your ability to grow depends on holding yourself and your team members to the highest ethical standards.

7. Protect your time fiercely. Learn to manage your activities, focus, avoid distractions, and say NO. Warren Buffett once said, “The difference between a successful man and a REALLY successful man is that the really successful man says NO to almost everything.”

8. Lead your team. Don’t abdicate, delegate. Learn how to do it so that your team is working on agreements, not expectations, and there’s a documented procedure for everything. Every NIGO costs you and your team time.

9. Communicate effectively. Good communications with clients, prospects, team members, wholesalers and vendors will impact your time, by helping you avoid fixing misunderstandings.

10. Have a high-profit succession plan in place. Someone buying your book of business wants to know that clients are current and that you have systems in place for everything. They want it to be a “turn-key” operation–the very thing that allows you to have more personal time.

While you can put all these things in place on your own, I can help you do it faster and more effectively. Message me if you want to talk about how we can partner on this.

In the meantime, keep REACHING…