Happy New Year and welcome to the January edition and the beginning of the 3rd year of our e-newsletter – Removing Your Roadblocks To Success.

I’m writing this e-newsletter on January 12, 2007 @ 6:30am EST at the London, ON airport after completing two successful speaking presentations in Toronto and London and completing a full week of working with my clients on the phone.  The good news, I will land in Comox, BC before lunch time and I’m off for the weekend … well … until I leave for the airport on Sunday, January 14th to speak on Monday morning in Calgary, AB.

Our clients are strong out of the gate for 2007 and a number have said;

"Based on my results for the first part of January, I believe that when I set my goals for 2007 back in December, I set them too low".

The December 2006 e-newsletter included an article entitled 31 Secrets To Guarantee Success In 2007 And Beyond.  This edition of the e-newsletter includes many strategies on “implementing” the 31 Secrets.  If you missed the December 2006 e-newsletter and the 31 Secrets you can receive them by clicking here: 31 Secrets To Guarantee Success In 2007 And Beyond.


Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
sreilly@leadingadvisor.com
1 877 248 6019

This edition of the E-Newsletter Includes:

• How To Use Communication Styles To Enhance Your 2007 Vision & Goals

• The Portable Office
• Using Words & Giving Thanks To Enhance Your 2007 Vision
• New Web Resources Section – Under Construction
• Reader Feedback
• Subscribe To Our Free E-Newsletter
• Vision Board To Enhance Your 2007 Vision
• Affirming Your Vision – Putting To Practice
• Calgary, London & Testimonials
• A Message From Paulo Coelho from The Alchemist
• Simon Reilly Gets The Test
• Messages, Qualifying Questions & The Right Of Passage
• Free Video – Removing Your Roadblocks
• Rich Is A State Of Mind
• Phil Hauser’s Attraction
• What Is Your Practice?
• Coming To A City Near You
• Tell A Friend

Enjoy the read.

 

How To Use Communication Styles To Enhance Your 2007 Vision & Goals

Writing the December e-newsletter and 31 Secrets To Guarantee Success In 2007 And Beyond, reminded me of the power of being aware of the way that we communicate.  We are either (or a combination of) Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic in our communication styles.  The same theory would then apply to how we integrate our vision and our goals.  In other words some people like to see or visualize their vision and goals, some like to talk about it and some people need to get a feeling or maybe a combination of all three.

This reminds me of an experience that I had over the holidays with Laura and her friend Susan.

Laura and Susan were talking about their appreciation for original art.  I found myself hearing/listening to their conversation and then visualizing the art that they were talking about.

As time went on, I became connected to a feeling about art that I have not had for a while.  I was really inspired by what they were talking about to the point that I affirmed that I wanted to take more of an interest in art and that one day, I may even take up painting or some other form of art like a 57 Corvette or 69 Camaro Z/28.  The feeling got so strong that I noticed how important art and the visual experience is to me, and I was thinking of ways that I could express this.  No, don’t worry … my hot rod days are over.

I started out by doing a little visual office reorganization which included a trip to Staples and Future Shop.  Staples provided bulletin boards, a white board and paste.  Future Shop provided a Cannon Color Printer for the office, a portable Cannon Color Printer for the road and an array of additional electronic gadgets to make me road ready.

The Portable Office

Here is a picture and a list of all the gear that I take on the road to create a portable office.

Here is the rundown of the photo going clockwise.

• Tablet computer
• Cell phone charger
• Cell phone spare battery
• Cell phone
• Cell phone headset
• Power point clicker, cable and case
• Wireless mouse
• Analogue headset, headset router and power supply
• MP3 recorder and cable for voice recognition software
• Internet connection cable
• Digital camera connection cable
• Portable printer toner, connection cables and power supply
• Headset for airplane
• Portable battery for tablet computer
• Air card for wireless internet connection

 

Using Words & Giving Thanks To Enhance Your 2007 Vision

On December 30th, I was writing my giving thanks in my journal at the end of the day and this turned in writing thanks for all off the amazing gifts that we have received in 2006.  As I was getting to the end of my list, I was running out of things to give thanks for and as I paused and was searching for something to write down I came up with one word – Success!

With John Kehoe's, "thoughts are real forces" in mind I then thought about how many words I could come up with that meant success.  To my surprise, I was only able to come up with seven.  If "thoughts are real forces" then "words are real forces" and I had better enhance my list of words for success.  Here is the first seven and the full list that I created through a little research;

1. Accomplishment
2. Achievement
3. Winning
4. Victory
5. Championship
6. Completion
7. Success

• Accomplishment
• Actualize
• Authority
• Bring about
• Bring to pass
• Carry out
• Carry through
• Carry to completion
• Championship
• Celebrity
• Close
• Completion
• Conclusion
• Contrive
• Enact
• End
• Execute
• Expert
• Finish
• Fortune
• Fulfill
• Gain
• Good luck
• Leader
• Master
• Outcome
• Perform
• Produce
• Profit
• Progress
• Realize
• Seal
• Settle
• Solve
• Somebody
• Star
• Succeed
• Success
• Tops
• Triumph
• Victory
• VIP
• Wind up
• Winning
• Work out
  
  

The next morning I spoke with my friend Pat and shared my experience of my vision work, giving thanks and the success words.

Pat has been a student of spiritual and personal growth for decades who subscribes to a strong daily practice of awareness.  Pat shared that in his planning for 2007 he did not include goals, but rather qualities and that his success would flow from these qualities.

Here are some of the qualities that Pat shared with me;

• Awareness
• Bliss
• Enquiry
• Liberation
• Love
• Openness
• Practice
• Trust
• Union
  
  

I really believe in Pat’s concept, and it ties beautifully into creating a vision which is more about the ongoing experience.  By setting goals, you are measuring, and this can sometimes limit us to being too specific, too measured, too driven to action, and too limiting as the ego can judge the vision before it is realized. It can judge the vision as being unrealistic and too limited or pressured by time.

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A - Action-Oriented
R – Realistic
T - Time-focused

Remember, "be" then "do".

Pat also acknowledged the success that Laura and I have experienced in 2006 that included moving to Vancouver Island all the way through to developing a national practice and speaking nationally.  A few days later, this success was also echoed by Debra, who is another one of my very old friends.  Debra also reminded me to balance, as the success is going to continue to build.

Pat's ideas caused me to ponder the similarities between qualities and values.

So with the following experiences and references to visual, auditory & kinesthetic, Laura’s & Susan's discussion about art, enhancing my visual experience, giving thanks, creating the distinction that “words are real forces”, and speaking with Debra and Pat, I continued on my journey.

New Web Resources Section – Under Construction

This e-newsletter is a bi-product of my visual realization as you will note that we have posted the e-newsletter into a new format into the Resources section on our web site.  The Resources Section includes some additional sections that we are developing that include;

• Conferences
• E-Newsletter Archives
• Industry Alliances
• Industry Articles
• Recommended Reading
  
  

Thank you Kim Black for your commitment to making our Web Site, E-Newsletter, Blog and all our Multi Media into an ever evolving work of art.  More kinesthetic :-) .

Please note that you are invited to make the Resources Section yours by contributing to the above areas and you will be acknowledged for your contribution.  So if you know of any Financial Advisor Conferences, Industry Alliances, Industry Articles or Recommend Reading please e-mail me at sreilly@leadingadvisor.com.

Reader Feedback

Simon,
 
A note of appreciation to you.

You are so on the right track! It is wonderful to hear someone who "gets it" and is adding that to the world. You will continue to have great success.

I am passing your e-mail along to those who I think may be ready for your message and who may want to sign up.

I'd like to suggest that you don't limit your message to Investment Advisors, there's a whole world out there who needs to hear it.

Thanks for the steps you are taking in making a difference!

Have a wonderful Holiday Season.

Jane Donald CIM
Investment Advisor
RBC Dominion Securities

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Vision Board To Enhance Your 2007 Vision

After all of these experiences and with the purchase of a new Cannon Color Printer, I had a Vision to create a Vision Board.

Over the years, I’ve read countless books on vision and goals and a number of them have mentioned the concept of a Vision Board.

Creating a Vision Board involves completing your vision and goals and then finding pictures in magazines that correspond to your vision and goals. Then cutting them and pasting the pictures onto a board and keeping the Vision Board so that you can visually remind yourself of what you want to attract.  I believe the continued seeing will cause you to say it, and the process will help to complete the whole experience.

My first step was to use Mind Genius  to mind map my values, qualities, business goals and personal goals.

The next step was to use the internet to research and save pictures of each of the values, qualities and goals.

The next step (you guessed it) was to print out the pictures that were searched and saved in wallet sized pictures on the new color printer.

So right about now, you may be echoing what part of me was feeling as I was going through the early stages of the time that this project was taking.  Yes, my ego was having a hay day about the time and that I could be making better use of it but I kept staying associated to the feeling that I experienced when Laura and Susan were talking about the art.

The next step was to take a poster board, and I posted the values & qualities mind map in the middle along with all of the pictures that relate to the values & qualities.  My reasoning was that the business goals would go on the left side of the board and the personal goals would go on the right and the middle values and qualities would serve to inspire the goals.

Then the feelings of the vision really started to take hold.  I really started to get what people talk about when they create a Vision Board.

Here is a picture of my Vision Board.



This is where I left my planning for my Vision and Goals for 2007 as I am going to use Pat’s idea to focus on the values and qualities and the rest will flow.

Affirming Your Vision – Putting To Practice

Here is an affirmation with feeling that I wrote in advance of speaking at Pro-Seminars in Toronto, ON on January 9th and in London, ON on January 10th, 2007.

While I visualize and hear and feel myself delivering an animated, composed, confident, energetic, fulfilling, helpful, inspired, relaxed, sensitive, upbeat and wonderful presentation I request that the members of the audience see, hear and feel the Removing Your Roadblocks To Success Presentation and as a result they are encouraged, enthused, excited, exhilarated, intrigued, moved and stimulated to make positive changes to both their business and personal lives.

It should come as no surprise that the outcome of the presentations were outstanding.

I gentleman approached me at the end of my presentation and said;  

"I consistently make a million dollars a year and I have lost the enthusiasm for my business in fact it is meaningless to me.  I believe that you can help me to get my inspiration back".

Calgary, London & Testimonials

Calgary

Great mix of quick ideas – and simple to follow and very informative. I really enjoyed the piece on the  referral talk.

Your information is broken down into simple and manageable ideas and actions. I really liked how you incorporated your graphical representations of business values and behaviors – the seeing is the believing!

You remind one of the basic building blocks to success and how we must focus on that.

I really enjoyed the in-depth approach of your presentation, and your energy as a speaker is great.

Your presentation is an excellent wake up call.

London

I really enjoyed the ‘behind the scenes’ dissection of the sales process and your explanation of unmet needs and how they negatively affect my business, and what the solution is.

Understanding how unmet needs block my growth in my business and how I can plan to overcome and deal with my unmet needs – this was great material.

Your presentation really had me doing a self examination, and I saw myself in a lot of what you spoke about. I want to talk with you about working together.

The mind explanation of ego and unmet needs was very interesting. I want to get inspired, please call me for a debriefing session so I can get started working with you.

An awakening from complacency.

Toronto

Lots of information in this presentation and you gave me a different way of thinking about my business, and you inspired me to want to improve my business.

Your material is very logical and inspiring. What you talk about is so true and relevant in the industry today.

Great! Your presentation is in line with my practice and my problems.

You are upbeat, supportive and non demeaning. You are firm in your conviction that the future for Advisors is very good, and  I understand how important it is now to clarify and set a clear direction for my success.

A Message From Paulo Coelho from The Alchemist

Here is an excerpt from the book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, which is a must read.

The shepherd asked the alchemist if there was anything that he still needed to know.

"No," the alchemist answered.  "What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way.  It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream.  That’s the point at which most people give up.  It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one “dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon."

Simon Reilly Gets The Test

Please note - In my travels, I see many inspired advisors that are in their 70's and 80's.

When I'm in London, ON I'm reminded to stand guard on the door to my ego mind as it has an imprinting of a comment from someone about the London, ON audience at Pro-Seminars.  There comment went something like "most of the members of the audience are in their 70's and 80's and are all retired and the only reason that they attend is they need the CE Credits and it is better than Bingo".

I arrived at the seminar room 20 minutes early to set up as I was the opening speaker on January, 10th in London and as I was entering the room I saw an elderly gentleman hanging up his coat, putting on his sweater vest and putting on his slippers.  (please take note, that I am over embellishing the following to give the full affect.)  Bang, that was it … my ego mind is racing thinking that all of the members of the audience are in their 80's and I have come all this way for nothing.  I walked into the seminar room and my fears were confirmed as 20% of the audience was already seated and sure enough they were all elderly.

I immediately walked out of the room and walked to the end of the hall and looked out the window repeating the following affirmation a number of times and reminded myself about the reason that I was there;

While I visualize and hear and feel myself delivering an animated, composed, confident, energetic, fulfilling, helpful, inspired, relaxed, sensitive, upbeat and wonderful presentation I request that the members of the audience see, hear and feel the Removing Your Roadblocks To Success Presentation and as a result they are encouraged, enthused, excited, exhilarated, intrigued, moved and stimulated to make positive changes to both their business and personal lives.

I walked in the room and delivered an outstanding presentation.

That is when the million dollar advisor showed up.

Messages, Qualifying Questions & The Right Of Passage

Here a pic of the London office.

Life is about messages, if you get the message you get an attainment, if you don’t get the message, then you create a problem, if you don't fix the problem then you create a crisis, then you get the message.

I believe we are getting the message by asking qualifying questions and as a result we are getting attainments.

The message was to create very strong boundaries by qualifying new prospects that contact us requesting an appointment by sending them a few questions by e-mail that we would like them to answer in advance of our call which also enables us to provide them with far better service.

In the past I have found myself getting in lengthy conversations, sometimes more than one, with prospects which did not turn into any business.

A few weeks ago, a prospect that I allowed to have at least three conversations a few years back e-mailed to say that they were ready to talk with me from where they left off a few years ago.  I e-mailed the questions.  The prospect replied back with requesting a phone call.  I e-mailed back with my fees and if they would like to proceed I invited them to contact Laura and provide her with a credit card number and Laura would confirm their appointment.  I never heard from the prospective client again.  

We have experienced a number of these situations over the past few weeks and again, the questions go out and the reply goes something like, "I breezed over your questions and I didn’t have time to answer your questions and I will call you".

:-)  No way!  My time is too valuable to sit and ask the same questions where the prospective client could take the time in advance of the call to answer the questions.  In essence the coaching starts right at the beginning ... what kind of client will the prospect make if they are not willing to answer a few questions?

Yesterday brought an open door invitation to speak to the Federal Government which we declined.  The message is do we really own our niche?  Are we willing to take hours of our time to edit our presentation to suit the audience and then deliver it and to what avail?  We work with financial advisors - period.

The attainment is as follows.

I have been affirming and intending on attracting a strategic alliance.

Two days ago I was contacted by a leading mutual fund company requesting an appointment to discuss a strategic alliance.  Halleluiah!

Free Video – Removing Your Roadblocks

During the Christmas holiday, Kim Black and I produced a 10 Minute Removing Your Roadblocks To Success Video, to make it easier to market our public speaking.

This is another reason that the speaking went so well this time around for Pro-Seminars in Toronto and London.

There is an expression that comes to mind that my old friend Teresia LaRocque said to me back in 1990;  

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

The video required me to watch one hour of video of Removing Your Roadblocks, frame by frame and it took me about 12 hours over the course of three days.

I then gave the video clips along with a few Power Point slides to Kim Black.  Kim and I chose the musical score and Kim created the video. 

Click here to view the video; 

Free Video – Removing Your Roadblocks

Rich Is A State Of Mind

While having a quick lunch between today’s coaching calls, while the Pro-Seminars event is still going on in London, ON, Phil Hauser directed my attention to Robert Gignac who was sitting at Phil’s luncheon table.  Phil had just seen Robert speak to the London, ON Pro-Seminars audience and showed me Robert’s book called, Rich Is A State Of Mind.  Phil mentioned that, Rich Is A State Of Mind has matching philosophy with the work that I do, and that I would have really enjoyed Robert’s talk as Robert is an excellent speaker.  Of course Robert’s book title caught my attention and I had the occasion to listen to some of the things that Robert was talking about and highly recommend getting a copy of the book and here is the link to Robert’s web site www.richisastateofmind.com.

Phil Hauser’s Attraction

Hi Simon, the video is really good! Congratulations.
 
I thought I would tap a few more seconds about Robert Gignac the author that spoke today. His book is called “Rich is a state of mind” it is written in a wealthy barber kind of fashion with a little more mystery and excitement to it. (I am devouring it and am already half way through) He says it is a story about a typical dysfunctional Canadian Family and how they relate to a financial planner. His talk was about vision and goals and being an example. He just spoke the language of getting it.
 
As I said, I decided I needed to put the law of Attraction to work and I wrote on my note pad three times “Roger Gignac - I will win his door prize”  I visualized the book in my hand, I visualized hearing my name called out.  I wanted the book and my mind was just racing about what to do with it (I think it could be a great thank you gift for referrals). So his presentation ends and Alex draws the prize and some other person’s name was called. Here’s where it gets exciting. I just KNEW I was going to be taking this book out of the room.  No sooner had he handed out the first book than he said Alex, I would like to give away one more book if that is okay?  I actually started to stand before he called my name.
 
I know it is just a book that I could easily afford but it did wonders to enforce what I have known for so long and it is just a piece of this whole big puzzle I am building with your help.
 
Take care, will talk to you next week.
 
Thanks!
 
Philip Hauser
financialplan @ philhauser.ca
Sterling Mutual Funds Inc.
London, On

What Is Your Practice?

What is your practice to build a strong practice?

• Do you rise early?
• Do you create quiet time for yourself at the beginning of the day?
• Do you give thanks at the beginning of the day?
• Do you plan your day in advance?
• Do you review your appointments and projects for the day and eliminate any negative thoughts that may be related to these?
• Do you write intentions for each appointment and project?
• Do you give thanks during and at the end of the day?
  
  

Coming To A City Near You

Here is a list of dates and locations of our Financial Advisor Public Speaking Engagements for the first part of 2007.

Tell A Friend

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Thank you for sharing your time.



Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
sreilly@leadingadvisor.com
1 877 248 6019