Everything is a miracle; it is just the way you perceive it.

Here is an excerpt from Paul Ghezzi’s most recent e-newsletter about this economy;

• Anticipated $4 to $6 Trillion dollars of global fiscal stimulus from the G20
• Rapidly accelerating monetary stimulus from central banks across the globe
• Expansion of federal government deficits across the globe to fight deflation
• The birth of the “green global infrastructure” movement and the promise of millions of new “green jobs”
• Unprecedented levels of ‘cash’ sitting on the sidelines, waiting to come back into riskier assets 
• The end of deflation in 2009
• All the bad news in the economy is already “baked into the cake” ie the stock market has factored in all the bad news to come.

As Laura and I drove to Comox, BC for me to catch my first flight to Toronto via Calgary, we remarked that this is a milestone because this is the beginning of our fourth year of speaking at Pro-Seminars Conferences.

Hard to believe that I have spoken at 100 financial planner speaking presentations and to close to 10,000 financial planners in the past three years.

This is in alignment with what Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers where he writes that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to get really good and what Seth Godin writes about in The Dip that you have to commit to being the best there is and to what Chris Barrow told me to do; go out and tell 10,000 people.

Laura and I also talked about how far we have come in a few short years.

We took the time over the holidays to appreciate 2008 and it is with great joy that we start 2009 with;

• Written 90 day goals and actions
• Our free, planning, client, speaking and product development time is planned out on a year at a glance calendar. In doing so, we have identified the 13 open speaking time slots that we will market to financial planner associations, companies, conferences, MGAs and publications.

• Using a hard copy, old style, week at a glance written time management system to plan our time. I don’t know about you but I can’t see my time management big picture on a crackberry or crackpod.  At the same time, hand writing a time management plan causes one to own it as it is said that if you see it you will forget it, if you hear it you will remember it and if you do it you will understand it - as in own it.
• Identified more tasks that we can delegate to our Virtual Assistants
• The intention to improve the organization of our Client Relationship Managment Software
• A brand new web site
• A published book
• A coaching practice that is 93% full
• Scores of secured speaking opportunities
• Published in the January edition of Advisor.ca.
• Published in the January edition of The Insurance Journal
• Increased income, reduced unnecessary overheads, focused on debt reduction and increased savings

All of this sets the stage for our 90 day reinvention goals to;

• Identify 13 speaking opportunities from financial planner associations, companies, conferences, MGAs and publications.
• Identify financial planner associations, companies, conferences, MGAs and publications sponsors for our new live workshops.
• Improve my blog with more references to other financial planner blogs and publications
• Improve my blog with vlogging
• Update our coaching web site pages
• Attract more financial planner publishing opportunities

If this all seams a littler much … why not? We published a new book and web site in 2008 and that was just for starters.

What are you doing to reinvent yourself in 2009?

You are either reinventing or you are ….

Do, Do, Do, lookin’ out my back door … Global Warming or Ice Age?  Over two feet of snow and more on the way on Friday and Sunday.  Laura and I are going to head for the mainland early Saturday morning to see my mom for an early Christmas visit and get back on Saturday night before the snow on Sunday.

Happy Holidays … we are off until January 5^th.

Here are the first two steps to A Strong Start To 2009 that is article that is included in my December 2008 Newsletter;

1. Schedule one or two days of uninterrupted time in a place where you can be anonymous. Get away from your business and personal life so that you are not reminded of all your day-to-day busyness.
2. Review your 2008 calendar and write down everything you accomplished during the year in the different areas of your business. Consider: administration, computers, systems, customer service, financial, marketing, office management, planning, product development, production, sales, team building and training.

I’ve added one more step to make this process even more successful … Empty Your Head.

Using Microsoft Excel as an example;

1. Type in every idea, project, task and to do line by line until you empty your head
2. Next, review the following categories and ask what other ideas, projects, tasks and to does come to mind and add them to the list; administration, computers, systems, customer service, financial, marketing, office management, planning, product development, production, sales, team building and training.
3. Next, sort the ideas, projects, tasks and to does alphabetically.
4. Next, using another column in Microsoft Excel, label each item with the category that it relates to
5. Next, sort the categories alphabetically
6. Next, using another column in Microsoft Excel, prioritize by A+ - must be done before December 24^th, then, by A, B, & C priority
7. Next, using another column, identify what can be delegated
8. Next, schedule your A priorities and delegate for action

This simple and effective strategy will help you to create A Strong Start To 2009.

For more click here for Happy New Year With An Empty Head.

I am sure that you have heard that it rarely snows on the south west coast of Canada - Here’s an 8pm, Wednesday December 17, 2008 photo after a few hours of shovelling it. It’s 6am Thursday morning and we have no electricity so it’s coaching by candle light … thank goodness for my laptop and an Aircard.

Here’s an excerpt from my December 2008 Newsletter…

Imagine that it is December 31, 2009 and you are looking back at the year. Ask yourself the following questions and write down your answers: What did you accomplish? What goals did you set and achieve? What made you happy? These questions can be asked in all of the following categories:

• Personal - consider education, fitness, travel, income, relationships and your own sense of well being.
• Business - think about your vision, administration and office or computer systems, finances, marketing, office management, production, products, sales, your team and training.

How will it make you feel to have achieved all of these accomplishments by December 31, 2009?

Now, imagine that it is five years into the future, December 31, 2013 and that you are dealing with exactly the same clients, products and service that you are now.

How does that make you feel?

Change doesn’t fail because it is too early; change fails because it is too late.

It’s 9:30am, Sunday, December 14th and I’ve just had my breakfast after shoveling the snow off the driveway and it is still snowing. I’ll go out again after I’ve finished this final newsletter of the year as the temperature for the week will be an unusual low of -10C° and a high of -3C° and I don’t want the snow to freeze on the driveway.

I’m thinking of what to offer you as we approach a challenging 2009. The best two things that I believe I can offer you are:

1.) Don’t create a vision, business plan and goals in 2009 … do it now in 2008 before the start of 2009!

2.) Give thanks for everything that you were given and for every result in 2008.

Create the time now and work on your vision, business plan and goals from December 22nd – 24th or December 29th – 31st.

Make a decision now to seize these days before 2009 seizes you like years gone by without a vision, business plan and goals.

Choose to make 2009 a year like no other year.

Create a holiday activity list of business and personal activity from December 22nd – January 4th that can include;

• Stay clear of mind over the holidays and choose to limit the consumption of alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, food, salt, sugar and television … especially Constant Negative News.
• Dream big.  Use a journal to give thanks for all areas of your business and personal life. Write your vision, business plan and goals. Read A Strong Start To 2009.
• Purchase a hard copy “week at a glance” 2009 time management system.  Stop kidding yourself that you can run your life on a Crackberry of Crackpod. For certain success, you need a big picture time management plan and the screens of a Crackberry of Crackpod are just too small.  A big vision requires a big plan.
• Learn to eliminate fear. Read and complete the assignments in my book, “Curing The Unmet Needs Disease”
• Create a list of things to improve on in all areas of your business and personal life.  After the list is complete, choose to take action on the ones that will help you to have a strong start for 2009. One of my business examples is I purchased more filing cabinets because I realized that one of the reasons that paper is piling up is because I have run out of space. Here are some other examples:
  • Visit with friends and family
  • Give to community service groups
  • Walk in nature
  • Drink lots of water and take Echinacea and vitamin B & C to counterbalance the overindulgence of the season
  • Exercise
  • Attend a church service
  • Practice deep breathing, meditation and prayer
  • Be silent for a day
  • Wash your car – weather permitting
  • Clean out your closet of all ill fitting and out of date clothing
  • Complete one home repair item
  • Commit to taking a course on personal development
  • Start to read an inspirational novel

Commit to practice. Malcolm Gladwell writes in his new book that there are no over night successes and that it takes 10,000 hours to get really good at what you do.  This is about working on your business versus working in your business.

What you practice in private, you will be rewarded in public.

Your outer business practice is a reflection of your inner personal practice.

What is your practice?  Are you addicted to looking for what is wrong about what is right?  Just like the media are committed to reporting on Constant Negative News?

This brings me full circle to reminding you that you have two things to practice over the holidays, giving thanks for 2008 which lays the foundation for A Strong Start To 2009.

Giving thanks over the holidays reminds me of a story which I have entitled, You Are In The Wrong Place that a client of Tony Robbins told the Anthony Robbins & Associates Franchisees, which I was a part of back in 1991/1992.

May you choose to commit to your inner practice to be the best that you can be and through your practice, may you meet and exceed your dreams for 2009.

Happy holidays from Laura and Simon Reilly.

This edition of Clear Your Roadblocks includes;

• A Strong Start To 2009
• You Are In The Wrong Place!

Enjoy the read;
Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
sreilly@leadingadvisor.com
1 877 248 6019

A Strong Start To 2009

Now is the time to create a strong start for the year by creating a strong vision for 2009. This gives your business plan a foundation, allowing you to set goals you can use to reward yourself during your journey into the New Year.

Now is the time to create a strong start for the year by creating a strong vision for 2009. This gives your business plan a foundation, allowing you to set goals you can use to reward yourself during your journey into the New Year.

Without a vision and business plan, stress and exhaustion will seep in, which contributes to low self-esteem. The two, though, must go hand in hand. When you have a robust business plan without vision, there will be loads of work with little sense of direction or feeling of progress towards your final goal. When you have a vision with no business plan, the end result usually involves chaos and frustration.

When you have both, you become strong willed, enthusiastic and confident. To create a strong vision and the inspiration to go forward, you need to look at your past.

Schedule one or two days of uninterrupted time in a place where you can be anonymous. Get away from your business and personal life so that you are not reminded of all your day-to-day busyness.

Review your 2008 calendar and write down everything you accomplished during the year in the different areas of your business. Consider: administration, computers, systems, customer service, financial, marketing, office management, planning, product development, production, sales, team building and training.

At Leading Advisor, for example, we upgraded all of our computer systems, choosing to invest in our business this year, rather than add more clients, contributed articles to Advisor.ca, gave presentations to Advocis Ottawa, Canada Life and Funeral Plans-Canada, scheduled time for quarterly reviews, published my book, created a new website and sustained reasonable sales while we expanded our vision.

Most of all, we assisted our clients to remove the roadblocks that have been preventing them from realizing their full potential.

Next to each of your accomplishments, write down how each made you feel.

Thinking about your accomplishments and the feelings that they give you, write down the positive beliefs you have today as a result – those that will support and help you realize your vision in 2009.

For example, after we published a book to help financial advisors we felt certain, committed and confident; we believe we will get our message out to more financial advisors in 2009.

Remind yourself of what you have accomplished. Reviewing your accomplishments will inspire you to go forward. Unfortunately, most of us forget what we have accomplished and fail to give thanks or even acknowledge ourselves for the great work that we are doing.

Imagine that it is December 31, 2009 and you are looking back at the year. Ask yourself the following questions and write down your answers: What did you accomplish? What goals did you set and achieve? What made you happy? These questions can be asked in all of the following categories:

• Personal – consider education, fitness, travel, income, relationships and your own sense of well being.
• Business – think about your vision, administration and office or computer systems, finances, marketing, office management, production, products, sales, your team and training.

How will it make you feel to have achieved all of these accomplishments by December 31, 2009?

For myself, writing a book required hours of dedicated concentration and focus – not my natural style or way of doing things! There were many times when I felt like quitting. One of things that I did to inspire myself was to imagine that I was at the pearly gates being asked, “Is there anything that you regret not doing?” The answer was simple – I could not let my life go by without completing my book. This strategy caused me to do whatever it took, getting up early, staying up late and working many weekends during the summer months.

Once your vision is complete, create your 90-day goals. These bring your vision into short-term focus. They’re attainable and they make it possible for you to reward yourself along the way. Identify or define a few short-term steps and you can take action on now, instead of getting overwhelmed with the “perfect” plan.

As you work toward achieving your 2009 goals, answer the following questions, in writing, at the end of every week: What are your top five achievements for the week? Why are they significant? How do they make you feel? What further progress could you make?

The answers to these questions will allow you to acknowledge your achievements and make adjustments to your game plan along the way.

A strong vision establishes your foundation and gives you the commitment needed to build your business and properly serve your clients.

You Are In The Wrong Place!

John was in the brokerage business and having lost everything, including the money of his family and friends, he walked down to the shore.  John was planning to swim out and drown himself so his family and friends could get the insurance money.

As John was sitting alone on the shore, mentally beating himself up about how stupid he was, that he should have had made better choices, that he had been given incorrect information from his company suppliers, that the government should have put some safe guards in to prevent him from getting into this mess … his train of thought was interrupted by a voice that said “you are in the wrong place!”

He looked up to see a little old man standing beside him. The old man repeated, “You are in the wrong place. The ferry left from over there over half an hour ago”.
John looked annoyed and told the old man to go away and leave him alone and that he wasn’t here to catch a ferry.

The little old man persisted and again told him “you are in the wrong place!”

The little old man introduced himself as Abe and asked John why he looked so distraught. John told Abe that he had lost everything and that he had nothing left.

“Everything!” exclaimed Abe.

John said, “Yes, I’ve lost everything. I have no money left.”

Abe asked John if he knew how to make change for a dollar.

John said, “Of course I know how to make change for a dollar, doesn’t everybody?”

Abe explained to him how immigrants come to this country and they don’t know how to make change for a dollar.

Abe asked John if he could change a ten dollar bill and John said, “Sure I have two fives.”

“I thought you said that you had no money!” exclaimed Abe.

Abe asked John if he knew his way around the boroughs.

“What do you mean? Of course I know my way around the boroughs!” John replied.

“Well, immigrants who come to this country, they don’t know their way around the boroughs.” said Abe.

“What about the language?” said Abe, “Do your know how to speak the English language?”

With that, John started to understand what the little old man was getting at, and that he had assets that he wasn’t taking into consideration.

Abe asked John to go and buy a journal with his $10 and list every ability, experience, expertise, skill, strength and talent that he had, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Abe asked John to complete the task and meet him at the same place and time the very next day.

John agreed and set off to purchase a journal and went to work to complete the task that Abe had given him.

As John started to write, he could still hear his ego beating himself up about how stupid he was, that he should have made better choices, that he had been given incorrect information from his company suppliers, that the government should have put some safe guards in place to prevent him from getting into this mess … but he persisted and the more he focused and wrote and focused on his ability, experience, expertise, skill, strength and talent … the better and better he felt.

As he started to feel better, he started to come up with ways to reignite his business. He began thinking of products and services that he could offer that he had long since forgotten about. From his introspection, he realized he had gotten soft sitting on the laurels of a Bull Market and living off the spoils of easy commissions, and he had neglected to look after his client’s needs of critical illness, disability and life insurance.

John wrote well into the night and had completed a vision, business plan and goals for the next 90 days.  He couldn’t wait to meet with Abe to tell him about what had happened.

When John met up with Abe, John shared how much better he felt and that he now had a new found inspiration and passion for his business and to the clients that he served.

He thanked Abe with all his heart and the asked the old man, “How did you come to talk with me yesterday?”

Abe replied, “My wife of forty years, just died of cancer and I was feeling like it was the end and I looked up and said, “Lord give me a sign” and then I looked over and saw you and you looked in even worse shape than me.”

This story goes back to 1991/1992 when my partner and I had the Vancouver Anthony Robbins Franchise.  Even though our franchise had won number one in sales in 1991 for Tony Robbins’ Unlimited Power Weekend Video Seminar, we were still feeling a lot of negativity because sales results were unsustainable.

Looking back, this had nothing to do with Tony Robbins or the Franchise and everything to do with the Franchisees because many of us were in the wrong place.
All the franchisees were invited to the Robbins Research International Head Office in San Diego for a conference with Tony.  There was more than a fair share of blame, fear and infighting going one.

To our surprise, the opening speaker wasn’t Tony Robbins but a client of Tony’s. I’ve lost track of this persons’ name so let’s call him John. John’s opening remark was “You are in the wrong place.”

As you approach the end of the end of 2008 and look forward to 2009, remind yourself of your clients and the difference that you have made in their lives and notice how it makes you feel.

Thank you for sharing your time.

Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
1 877 248 6019

“Curing The Unmet Needs Disease”

While this serves their clients, the financial planner may become hypnotized looking for rules and when it comes time to write their vision and business plan for 2009, they have to make decisions about creating their own rules for their 2009 vision and business plan.

There is an expression that you are either living your vision or living someone else’s.

One rule that can help you to have a restful holiday season is to list all of your incomplete client tasks and projects and beside each one write down the action that you must take before December 19^th. This will allow you to take the time for some well deserved rest until January 5^th.

Another thought I have is forget the do not call list rule. I’m not a fan of cold calls so why bother.

Understand that the consultative financial planner identifies a niche where they can solve a problem.  They can communicate their message to the niche via an e-newsletter that reaches across regions and provinces with the intention of the reader in the niche to call the financial planner.

Today’s successful financial planner needs to break their rules about doing business across regions and provinces and view their business from 35,000 feet and get used to the idea that they may have to travel out of their region or province to attract more business that is within their niche.

Our business didn’t take off until we got that we had to break the rules and get out of our region and province … click here for our 2009 financial planner speaking schedule. Funny … they say that you have to leave town to get famous and note that we don’t have one financial planner speaking presentation booked in British Columbia for 2009 … yet!

Hats off to our webmaster Barry Ochsner of 1Cat.biz who just enhanced or Financial Planner Speaking Web Page!

I’m thinking of what to offer you in my December E-Newsletter as we approach a challenging 2009.  The best two things that I can offer you are;

1. Don’t create a vision, business plan and goals in 2009 … do it now in 2008 before the start of 2009!
2. Give thanks for everything that you were given and for every result in 2008.

Giving thanks is ringing true to me on Monday night for a number of reasons.

One reason it is the best way to inspire 2009.

The other is it will give me permission to take my hand of the throttle after December 19^th to experience a well deserved rest.

We have been going flat out since May completing my new book and web site and the completion has opened the door to loads of new clients - Halleluiah!

Once one completes a book and a supporting web site, the natural tendency is to market the book to financial advisor magazines and market speaking, market speaking and market speaking some more.

The truth is, the book was printed on October 31^st and we have been so busy speaking and coaching new clients and while the book had been introduced to every financial advisor magazine I could find in Canada, the UK and the US, we are not where I would like to be when it comes to marketing speaking to financial advisor associations and companies.

So we are giving financial advisor speaking marketing one last crank on the throttle this week and then we will let it go and coast towards 2009 with an organized plan, contact list and contact e-mails/letters for financial advisor speaking marketing in the New Year.

Sunday brought a rare snow fall in Lotus Land and here is a 3pm picture looking North East over Craig Bay on Vancouver Island towards the North Shore Mountains of British Columbia.

It is the last financial planner coaching week of the year.

Monday is a buffer day and then it is back to back coaching calls from Tuesday right through to Friday and I am looking forward to being off from coaching calls from December 20^th - January 5^th.

I’ll be investing December 22, 23, 29 and 30 in continuing to clean up from 2008 and building a vision for 2009.

Monday morning starts out with a call with my business coach Chris Barrow followed by a planning meeting with Laura followed by a meeting with Theresa our bookkeeper to gain information to finalize the 2009 Budget and I will invest the rest of the day and free time in the week to;

• Provide my clients with extra care
• Request client testimonials
• Request client referrals
• Review Pro-Seminars 2009 financial advisor speaking dates
• Send follow up communication to financial advisor public speaking prospects
• Research financial advisor public speaking opportunities with associations, companies and MGA firms
• Complete December newsletter
• Review the final updates for our web site
• Create a coaching offer to the readers of my book & e-book
• Update sales white board
• Investigate how to archive Maximizer and MS Documents, Outlook & Tasks
• Schedule COI meetings on our next speaking trips
• Complete 2009 project list

There is no question that my past financial planner coaching client has the constitution and will and can accomplish anything that they set their mind to.

At the same time, I offered my client some tough love and reminded them not to throw the baby out with the bath water.  According to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes 10,000 hours to become really good at something so don’t throw the 10,000 hours away that you already have in career development unless you have 10,000 hours and a hell of a strong constitution to reinvent yourself.

Here is my reply.

Hi ____________,

Thanks for staying in touch.

Unmet needs can be a blessing and a curse … they can drive us and left incomplete they make one think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence because the ego is still trying to get the unmet need met from outside of the self and in this case, possibly from the last career … which can never be. So the ego makes the present career wrong.  Unmet needs are what drive a lot of people into coaching and the ego tricks the person into thinking again, the answer is out there which again it is not … the coach tries to work with others and if the coach is not clear, the egos of their clients will eat them alive fore a client will bring the coach something that they have dealt with, something they are dealing with or something that they have never dealt with.

I would take a long hard look at if you really want to walk away from years of experience.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a new book called Outliers and talks about “the 10,000 hour rule” in that is what it takes to be exceptional in a business, career or profession.  Someone said, 10,000 hours to get good, 10 minutes to prove it.

Click here is a great excerpt out of the book.

You may be well on your way to having invested 10,000 hours in working on, not in your current career …

Do you have the constitution to put in another 10,000 hours in working on a coaching or consulting practice … before you get good?

Food for thought.

Wednesday morning was invested in taking a time out with all my financial planner coaching client files.

Here is an edited e-mail that I sent out to one of my financial planner coaching clients.

Dear Financial Planner Coaching Client,

In advance of Friday’s call I sat down and reviewed your file and I have the following thoughts and requests.

We are working on three different things;

• Strengthening you personal foundation
• Improving your business foundation and personal sales
• Creating a foundation for agents

Strengthening you personal foundation

• Congratulations on the success of your improved relationship with your assistant.
• I believe we have more work to do on clearing the unmet need of Respect. 
• Please send a copy of the Clean Sweep Assignment (attached).
• Please send me a copy of the story that relates back to the unmet need of Respect. 
• Please send a copy of the clearing processes that you have completed.

Improving your business foundation and personal sales

• I believe we should concentrate on building your vision and business plan for your business foundation and personal sales for 2009.  This will give you a foundation to grow the agency business that you want.  You must have a solid foundation in order to go forward or all you will have is a bunch of disjointed plans and actions that are driven by the unmet need of Respect.
• Please complete the Strong Start 2009 assignment along with the Budget Cash Flow.  I have attached an edited version of the article that is going in Advisor.ca.
• Let’s continue to talk marketing / direct mail letters / seminar strategies towards the niche markets that you can personally sell group insurance to.  Again, it is all about foundation to demonstrate to the agents that you serve.  We must build one McDonald’s Franchise and that is yours.  To this end;
• List all the things that you would consider to be a concierge service that you do over and above for the clients that you serve

Creating a foundation for agents

We have identified that the best way to market to the agents is to create a letter from the following resources;

• List all the things that you would consider to be a concierge service that you do over and above for the clients that you serve.
• List all the things that the agents are having trouble with in working with other companies
• List all the things that you do for agents

This is a demonstration of what I want for you in your business and it also demonstrates that one has to take a time out to get quiet to get clear on their focus on going forward.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again.  This e-mail demonstrates the things that are required and I look forward to supporting you to go to the next level.

Looking forward to Friday’s call.

Simon

• Advisor.ca
• Advisor’s Edge
• Advisor’s Edge Report
• Advocis Forum Magazine
• Broker Dealer Journal
• Canadian Insurance
• FA Magazine
• Financial Advisor Publications
• Financial Services Online
• Investment Executive
• Life Insurance Selling
• The Insurance Journal

 Do you know of any other financial advisor publications?

Here is a copy or the edited letter that I sent to the editors courtesy of our editor Linda Dessau.  Linda was the editor that edited my book.

December 10, 2008

Dear Editor,

My name is Simon Reilly and I have well over a decade of experience as a financial advisor coach and financial advisor speaker having spoken to 10,000 financial advisors coast to coast in the last thirty months.  I received a 90% rating for content and a 91% rating for Presentation for the speaking presentation that I delivered at The Spring 2008 Independent Financial Brokers Summit in Toronto, ON.

As a result of my experience working with financial advisors I have written a book to help financial advisors eliminate the roadblocks to their success.

I have enclosed a copy of my new book, Curing The Unmet Needs Disease - How to Prosper in Business by Meeting Your Unmet Needs ~ Financial Advisor Edition.

I believe your readers could benefit from reading this book, and would appreciate hearing about it through a story, book review or in the “What’s New” section of your publication.

Financial advisors who are suffering from The Unmet Needs Disease are:

• Unfocused without a written a vision, business plan and goals
• Struggling to ask for referrals
• Unwilling to hire and delegate
• Overwhelmed with C & D clients
• Avoiding higher net worth clients

Research indicates that less than one third of financial advisors have a written vision, business plan and goals.  Other research indicates that while 85% of financial advisors agree that asking for referrals is the best way to build their business, only 10% of financial advisors actually ask for them. 

The theory that I write about in the book is that if one has an unmet need, they have a limiting belief and they have a limiting emotion. The combination of all three is what keeps the financial advisor stuck in the same unproductive habits.

As an example, if a financial advisor has an unmet need of approval when they consider asking for a referral, they will be sabotaged by the limiting beliefs of “What if I make a mistake?” and “What if the client says no?” which will fuel the limiting emotions of hesitation and worry.  The result is the financial advisor does not ask for referrals.

What is sad is that an unmet need cannot be met from outside and can’t be met through work, money, success, possessions, clients, family or friends … it must be met from within.

Curing The Unmet Needs Disease - How to Prosper in Business by Meeting Your Unmet Needs ~ Financial Advisor Edition helps the financial advisor understand The Unmet Needs Disease and provides a series of assignments to assist the financial advisor to clear their roadblocks to success.

I can be reached at 1 877 248-6019 or at sreilly @ leadingadvisor.com.

Thank you for your consideration.

Simon Reilly

For reference, please find enclosed;

• Independent Financial Brokers Summit Testimonial Letter
• Advocis Forum Article - Are You Emotionally Retired? October 2007
• Advisor.ca Article - Are You Still On Course For 2008? September 2008
• Advisor.ca Article - How To Thrive In A Recession - October 2008
• Event Planner Speaking Testimonials
• Audience Speaking Testimonials