Welcome to the June 2008 edition of Removing Your Roadblocks To Success.

I suppose the question that is taking up the space in our minds these days is “are we heading towards a recession or are we already in one”? In today’s market place it is not about going from good to great, it is about going from good & great to extraordinary because everyone is good & great which is just ordinary. Recession is a state of mind and when one’s mind is clear they are focused on being extraordinary and taking extraordinary actions versus being just good & great and through this they create their own economy.

This will be last edition of the Removing Your Roadblocks To Success E-Newsletter as we are clarifying our brand to Clearing Your Roadblocks To Success and you can read more in Branding & The Cure For The Unmet Needs Disease Article.

The later part of May & June have been very busy for us following the incredible response and success that we received from the Removing Your Roadblocks To Success & How To Thrive In A Recession Speaking Presentations that I did at The Independent Financial Brokers Summit in Toronto, May 27th & 28th. Click here to read the IFB Speaking Testimonials to Removing Your Roadblocks To Success & How To Thrive In A Recession in Leading Advisor Speaking Marketing Update and IFB Speaking Testimonials.

One of the reasons that I share what is going on with our business is to demonstrate how “pull marketing” versus the old school “push marketing” works. Push marketing is the old school cold calling, direct mail and newspaper advertising. Pull marketing is finding a niche where you can solve a problem, write about solutions in your website, e-newsletter and blog, develop your writing into speaking presentations, write for magazines & newspapers, go out and tell 10,000 people in your niche and never do another cold call again.

So having said the above about “pull marketing” we are having a conversation about being able to present at The Advocis Schools, I have been invited to write a monthly column for Advisor.ca, The Insurance Journal wants to do an interview, I have been invited to contribute to The Independent Financial Brokers Newsletter, I’m featured with an audio interview in The Elite Advisor Monthly E-Newsletter and I have been invited onto the faculty of CE-Online.

All of this corresponds with an article entitled The Vision Is Working.

Kind or tricky with all of this going on with A Radial Head Fracture.

Seems kind of busy and it is with speaking on behalf of Pro-Seminars in Calgary, AB on June 17th and Canada Life in Victoria, BC on Bear Mountain on June 19th and all of it will wind down to create space for our Summer Plans as these are the last two speaking presentations for us until September when we will be speaking on behalf of Pro-Seminars in Las Vegas.

This amazing photograph was taken at The Toronto Independent Financial Brokers Summit by Jo-Anne McArthur, and Jo-Anne’s work created the inspiration to create a new Leading Advisor Speaking Marketing Update.

With all of the buzz and our commitment to work with a select number of clients over the summer, please note that we only have space for five new clients before we sell out for the summer. I have limited the amount of clients this year as I want to complete my book, showreel and book, & speaking marketing. Given that we still have 13 booked appointments with prospective clients, if your are serious about doing something different this summer to create a strong start for September, give Laura a call at 1-877-248-6012.

To give you some insight into The Clear Advisor Coaching Program and Curing The Unmet Needs Disease … prospective clients who wish to become a client request a conversation with me, and I’ve included an article that is a cut and paste from e-mails that I have sent to some of these prospective clients from time to time over the course of this year in follow up to the conversations we had. Given that I don’t push or close prospective clients to work with me, there are some that become clients and there are some that do not move ahead who still want to think about it with the same mindset that they have been using that got them into the problems in the first place. Click here for The Unmet Needs Disease article that again is a cut and paste from e-mails that I have sent to some of these prospective clients from time to time over the course of this year in follow up to our conversations.

You are welcome to receive value from my Blog and I have listed some of the best articles that I have written in the last few weeks;

• Business Ramp Meter
• Client PMS
• Coaching & Manure
• Money’s Too Tight To Mention

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

This edition of the E-Newsletter Includes:

• Radial Head Fracture
• Branding & The Cure for The Unmet Needs Disease Article
• Leading Advisor Speaking Marketing Update
• Pro-Seminars in Las Vegas
• The Elite Advisor Monthly E-Newsletter
• The Unmet Needs Disease
• The Vision is Working
• IFB Speaking Testimonials

Radial Head Fracture

So there I was, 4:30pm Wednesday June 5th, and I’m cycling in top gear going through an “s curve” through a parking lot and then lining up to go between two concrete barricades which I have gone through a hundred times and then I lost my focus thinking “I wonder what’s for dinner” and bang, my front wheel hit the concrete barricade and the bike is going down with me going over the bars and I can see the ground coming up real fast to do a face plant so I throw my arm out … and Laura I left the Nanaimo Emergency Ward at about 11pm.

I managed to ride the bike home, had a shower to clean out the small cuts and one fare sized road burn on my leg and Laura bandaged me up.

I said to Laura that I will be alright … as time went by my arm started to really ache and my fingers started to swell up so off to the Nanaimo Emergency Ward we go, kind of odd having to drive 25 minutes to a hospital and they confirmed I have a radial head fracture which is kind of like an elbow dislocation.

The good news, it’s my left arm and I have to do is wear a sling, instead of a cast and I can even type as I am doing now.

In hind site, I've have the bike for over five years and my riding is getting more and more intense and faster as my core and length strength improves and this is the first time I have had anything happen on the bike after hundreds and hundreds of rides.

Branding & The Cure for The Unmet Needs Disease Article

You know branding is an amazing process which requires getting all of the pieces labeled or branded so that they are all packaged together and it has been a challenge for us because our business, like most is in an evolutionary process. So here goes another go at fine tuning the branding … keep in mind that this is a draft and it just might be fine tuned again.

Names - Titles

Business - Leading Advisor™
Elevator Speech - ( to be added )
Book Title - Curing The Unmet Needs Disease™
Speaking Presentation - Clearing Your Roadblocks To Your Success™
Advisor Needs Analysis - The Clear Values Program™
Coaching Program - The Clear Advisor Program™

Here is the story that ties it all together;

Leading Advisor™ works with financial advisors through The Clear Advisor Program™ which is a three step process to;

1. Clear their Unmet Needs
2. Clear their Limiting Beliefs
3. Clear their Limiting Emotions

As you know, there are many, many challenges that financial advisors face that include;

• Not having a written vision and business plan
• Not asking for referrals
• Not delegating

Take Asking For Referrals as an example …

• The Unmet Need related to Asking For Referrals is Approval which generates
• The Limiting Beliefs of; I am not good enough and I don’t know enough and the client may say no and The Unmet Need and The Limiting Beliefs generates
• The Limiting Emotions of anxiety and fear and these all continue to lock in the
• The Unmet Need & The Limiting Beliefs & The Limiting Emotions
• The result is no Referral and worse yet, their client often picks up on The Unmet Need & The Limiting Beliefs & The Limiting Emotions

Another example is Delegating …

• The Unmet Need related to Delegating is Control which generates
• The Limiting Beliefs of; No one can do it as good as me and if I delegate it, the person will make a mistake and The Unmet Need and The Limiting Beliefs generates
• The Limiting Emotions of anxiety and fear and these all continue to lock in the
• The Unmet Need & The Limiting Beliefs & The Limiting Emotions
• The result is not Delegating and worse yet, the financial advisor is frustrated and angry about the amount of paperwork and the client often picks up on The Unmet Need & The Limiting Beliefs & The Limiting Emotions

The reason that we focus on Curing The Unmet Needs Disease™, which is the title of my upcoming book, is there is an expression, Values are like Turtles, they only come out when it is safe. The Unmet Need & The Limiting Beliefs & The Limiting Emotions will dominate Values.

Through the use of The Clear Values Assessments™ and The Clear Values Program™, we help our clients to become;

1. Clear on their Values
2. Clear on their Positive Beliefs
3. Clear on their Positive Feelings

Values are the DNA of Vision and Vision is the DNA of The Business Plan which helps the financial advisor become a Leading Advisor™ in the industry.

This segues into the copy from the main page of our Web Site Main Page ( to be edited to suit the above ) which is at the bottom of this e-mail.

Web Site Main Page

You are an established and successful Financial Advisor ...

Yet, are you facing Roadblocks struggling to get to the next level or bouncing against a barrier that you cannot break through?

Would you like to Clear Your Roadblocks To Your Success™?

Are you successful, yet consumed with the cumulative demands of clients, sales, personnel and market driven changes in profitability, niche marketing and service requirements?

You are trying to put the following key strategies in place;

1. Clearing Your Roadblocks to Your Success™
2. Create a Vision for the future
3. Develop a Business Plan made of Sharp Strategies and Robust Systems
4. Implement Excellent Financial Controls
5. Recruit and lead a Championship Support Team
6. Refine your Marketing and Sales Skills
7. Own a Unique Brand in an Affluent Niche
8. Focus on Specialized Products
9. Become the Recognized Expert for your Clients
10. Deliver Amazing Customer Service

At the same time, are some or all of the following Roadblocks holding you back?

• Lack of focus and a loss of the motivation
• Selling too many products
• Over demanding and unsatisfied clients
• Too many clients
• Failure to delegate and trying to do everything yourself
• Conflict and disputes with partners, management, associates and staff
• Not making enough money

…which means that you are working long hours, have no time to relax, and are disillusioned by business systems that are not working and by a lack of enthusiasm for your business.

Leading Advisor Speaking Marketing Update

Click here to read the IFB Speaking Testimonials to Removing Your Roadblocks To Success & How To Thrive In A Recession on the Leading Advisor Speaking Update page.

Pro-Seminars in Las Vegas

Find out about Pro-Seminars 2008 National Advisors Conference September 8, 9, & 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada

The Elite Advisor Monthly E-Newsletter

Click here to listen to my audio interview with Peter Lantos in The Elite Monthly E-Newsletter.

The Unmet Needs Disease

To give you some insight about The Clear Advisor Coaching Program and Curing The Unmet Needs Disease … prospective clients who wish to become a client request a conversation with me, and I’ve included an article that is a cut and paste from e-mails that I have sent to some of these prospective clients from time to time over the course of this year in follow up to the conversations we have had. Given that I don’t push or close prospective clients to work with me, there are some that become clients and there are some that do not move ahead who still want to think about it with the same mindset that they have been using that got them into the problems in the first place.

To make it easier to get the gist of this, I have organized them into categories.

Introduction

To confirm, the outcome of our work is not limited to the following list which we can expand upon as we work together;

• Work with you to clear your unmet needs, limiting beliefs and limiting emotions to enable you to …

Leadership

• Complete on the transition that you went through 911 so that we can focus on the vision of now
• Create more time off for both building the vision of the business and for personal time
• Create the time to build and execute on an empowering vision, and goals
• Deepen your understanding of the psychological side of yourself to magnify your strengths and to focus on a sustainable system to strengthen the areas that require you to strengthen via the values and behaviors assessments
• Eliminate fear
• Eliminate the power struggle that you have with your partner reestablishing the relationship that you have with your partner, reconfirming that you are the leader and that your talents are best suited for sales and best supported with an assistant to take care of the details
• Get clear of the need of respect that may be causing you to feel disrespected and over strive to gain the respect only to alienate some of those that you wish to receive respect from.  At the same time, you may attract those that will not respect you no matter what you do.  This also ties in with the hiring process
• Increase your bottom line
• Increase your cash flow and profit
• Re-inspire and reconnect with your vision, business plan and goals to eliminate procrastination
• Remove the anger that your ego is projecting towards yourself, your partner, your business and your clients

Management

• Create the space for you to increase your client base with qualified and profitable clients
• Deepen your understanding of the psychological side of yourself to magnify your strengths and to focus on sustainable system to strengthen the areas that require you to strengthen
• Eliminate the feeling of spinning your wheels to magnify the enthusiasm that you are already experiencing in your business so that you feel like you are moving  forward each and every day
• Increase your productivity and reduce your hours
• No matter how hard you strive, with the unmet need of approval, and the limiting belief of the ego mind that “no matter what I do, they don’t give me the approval” along with creating the limiting emotions of sadness all the way to anger … all of this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy because of the laws of attraction … you create what you think about and this is fueled or fooled by the ego mind
• Reestablish your time management system so that you can focus on both sales and the management of your business
• Strengthen your focus

Delegation

• Delegate more to your team
• Establish boundaries with your team so that you are not fragmented
• Get clear of the unmet need of control that will allow you to delegate and let go of B- and C clients and more of the things that you should not be investing your time in.  This will create the space for you to attract or develop more of the business that you want to attract.  This will also help us to lay the foundation and build a system to attract a business manager/executive assistant that has the right values and behaviors for the position that will also blend with your style.  The outcome is to be able to write more life cases
• Set up structure with your junior advisor so that there is recognition, accountability, actions and consequences

Relationship With Your Company

• I’m also observing that your ego may very well being using me as a weapon to covertly try to gain approval from the company because you want to use an outside coach.  At the same time, this could sabotage what we are trying to do. Going to the company and seeking approval may not be the right way to go and it may be a repeat of your past experience. The company may not give your approval because why would they approve of an outside coach? I see some companies and managers play small as their ego’s could not handle the idea of an outside coach because what would that mean about their ability? Having said this, this creates more fuel for your ego’s anger around not getting recognition.  So by not gaining approval that you seek which may not be possible, the ego creates a self fulfilling prophecy and you don’t get the recognition once again
• I don’t think that it is necessary to gain the approval, you are your own man, you are on commission and if you make an investment to improve yourself, you win, the clients win and so does the company
• You are at the stage where you should be working with a junior advisor and alas, this will likely not happen because your ego must keep everything to be the best, again to get the recognition that you so desperately seek 
• Your ego also creates a story that you don’t care about the money, you just want to make a difference.  Sorry, it is all about recognition

Marketing & Sales

• Appreciate the value that you provide your clients, growing from (with respect) what is a job into an actual business, growing to create and market a concierge service to enable you to maintain relationships with the strongest clients who will appreciate the added value of your service and pay your firm in kind with increased fees
• Build a nurture marketing system
• Clear the unmet need of safety to improve your focus and clarity and provide you with the certainty that you are on the right track and the compound results will be more confidence, referrals and sales
• Create a short term marketing and sales system to create sales in the not too distant future
• Eliminate the frustration that you are feeling with being stuck at your current income level
• Make cold calling easy and effortless although it is my belief that this will not be necessary because of the success of the referral and marketing plan
• Reestablish your marketing initiatives
• Remember, it is impossible to get an unmet need met outside of yourself and there is no person, position, possession, relationship or result that will meet the need and this is what leaves you unfulfilled and addicted servicing every product and type of client under the sun 
• Represent your value proposition and combine it with results and service
• Understand that you are the brand and the message eliminating getting stuck on having to have a company, manager and team

Niche & Product Focus

• Continue to provide value to the people that you serve and focus your attention of becoming an expert or master within a few products and a specific niche or client type – with this mastery, one can then grow their expertise in other areas coming from a firm foundation
• Get clear of you unmet need of security which is linked to your experience of money while you were growing up, there was a lot of pain, fear and there wasn’t enough money.  You are still trying to heal this wound today and it keeps you working with too many opportunities and some are not qualified … leaving you striving and succeeding without truly feeling fulfilled and still trying to gain the need of approval which got missed in your development because you were working at every job under the sun, just like you are doing now

Network & Referrals

• Attract more of the type of clients that you enjoy working with
• Capitalize and magnify your focus on the 25% of your practice that is made up of business owners to attract more profitable business and referrals
• Capitalize on the relationships that you have within your network to elegantly magnify your marketing and prospecting – I am very excited about the resources that you have
• Effortlessly attract and ask for referrals
• Eliminate feeling like other’s cannot appreciate your success and through your strength others will naturally appreciate your success and they will want to be around you and provide you with more referrals
• Get clear of the unmet need of recognition because it is causing you to strive to get recognition from the company, even though you meet and exceed all expectations and while you are creating results, you are fragmenting your focus by servicing too many types of clients that include young families, working couples and seniors and you are spread far too thin going further and further afield outside of you realistic geographic area – this, eventually is unsustainable
• Get clear of you unmet need of safety and security which is linked to your experience of money while you were growing up, there was likely a lot of pain, fear and there wasn’t enough money.  You are likely still trying to heal this wound today and it keeps you working with too many unqualified opportunities … leaving you striving and succeeding without truly feeling fulfilled … at the same time I sense there is an unmet need of approval also
• In fact, this pattern is so deeply ingrained in you by your dysfunctional ego mind which gets a high off of the experience …. That you may not be able to see your way clear of it to make a decision to do the coaching. Your ego mind may trick you into thinking that you can work your way out of this only to come to a situation that was similar to what you experienced when the relationship ended with your last company … the unmet needs of you getting your needs of approval got in the way and again, there is no person, position, possession, relationship or result that will meet the need and this is what leaves you unfulfilled and addicted servicing every product and type of client under the sun 

The Vision is Working

Today, Monday, June 9, 2008 is a Buffer Day and I am investing the day into getting on top of my projects and their priority versus allowing my fear based ego mind turning them all into an “A Priority” and making all of it and me along with it into one big mess.
Having been confirmed to write a monthly column in a national financial advisor magazine is another confirmation that our vision is being realized and that the completion of the following;

• Branding & Packaging
• Book / Workbook
• Showreel
• Tradeshow Booth

… will all lay the foundation to get the message out to more and more financial advisors through;

• Hiring an assistant
• Hiring a marketing assistant
• Vlogging
• Upgrading our web site

… delivering our message through existing and new;

• One On One Telephone Coaching
• Live One On One One Day Planning Sessions
• Group Coaching
• Articles in International Financial Advisor Publications
• Blog, E-Newsletter & Website
• Books
• E-Books & Audio / Power Points
• Sponsored Public Speaking
• Private Workshops
• Sponsored Workshops
• Viral Marketing

….experiencing;

• More inspiration, research and insights
• More reinvention
• Getting the message out to more and more financial advisors
• More friendships
• More travel
• More health and exercise
• More and unique systems and ways to market

IFB Speaking Testimonials

“Great motivation!! Best speaker so far!”

Rey X. Olamit
Allied Partners Insurance Agency
reyzolamit @ rogers.com


“Excellent and inspirational presentation.”

Joanne Markanastasakis
Active Wealth Management Inc.
joannemarkanastasakis @ awmi.ca


“Dynamic presentation. Best pep-talk I’ve heard since companies did away with agency offices.”

Edward J. Uhraney
Uhraney Insurance
eulife @ 295.ca


“I like everything in the presentation especially the marketing aspect. It is so helpful in my business. I didn’t expect that by attending this presentation, I will get the free e-newsletter.”

Marilou Gelacio
360° Financial
marigel @ yahoo.ca


“The info on the slides and your personal presentation. Lots of powerful, pertinent life and business enhancing strategies.”

Taul Singh
Rick Auckbarauli’s Corporation
ts2007 @ rogers.com


“Pertinent quotes. This is the second time I have seen you speak. You have interested me enough to see the ‘Removing Your Roadblocks’ presentation again.”

Joe D’Aurizio
Dundee Private Investors
jdaurizio @ dpii.ca


“Made me get a positive outlook about the future of the financial services business. You have always been excellent every time I see you, so there was no reason for me to not expect the best.”

Nelson D’Silva
Advent Financial
ndsilva @ adventfg.com


“Open and to the point. A wake up call to get back on track.”

Andrew Hall
Mitchell Sandham
ahall @ mitchellsanham.com


“I was inspired. Knowledge about myself and what is preventing me from asking for referrals.”

David Moore
John Moore Insurance Broker Limited
dmoore @ excalibur-insurance.ca


“He is well rounded, and knowledgeable about spiritual truths. Great marketing ideas and practice ideas.”

Simon Maxwell
Maxwell Insurance
simon @ maxwellinsurance.ca

Thank you for sharing your time.



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