THE ULTIMATE ADVISOR PODCAST

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EPISODE 18:

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

In this episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast, we jump into part two of our four part series that focuses on WHO versus HOW. We discuss how to evolve your business by letting go of some past habits, involvements, as well as learning to say no to what no longer serves you. So, push PLAY and join us as we delve into defining your next level growth and how to get there!

 

 

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Speaker 1: This is the Ultimate Advisor podcast, the podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful, and scalable practice. Each week we'll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals, your team, your marketing, and your business operations. Helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets and create the advising practice that you've dreamed of. You'll be joined by your hosts, Brian Sweet, who has more than half a billion dollars in assets under management. Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to hire, improve their operations and company culture and Draye Redfern who can help you systematize and automate your practices marketing, to effortlessly attract new clients. So, what are you saying? Let's jump into another amazing episode of the Ultimate Advisor podcast.

 

Brittany: This is Brittany Anderson with your Ultimate Adviser podcast, part two of our four part series, going deeper on the who versus how, is going to start off by talking about the famous quote by the Dr. Marshall Goldsmith that says, "What got you here won't get you there." So last week we talked about mindset and how important it is to surround yourself with people who force you to level up, with people who have your best interests at heart, who are excited for your growth, excited for the positive changes in your life, and how important that is to really set the framework for the who versus how, for really letting you go deeper into that topic.

 Now, the thing that I want to point out here, is that you absolutely cannot grow to the next level and by next level that can be defined in a myriad of different ways. Maybe your next level growth is not necessarily revenue or asset-based. Maybe it's in spending more quality time with people you care about. Maybe it's in taking time for yourself. Maybe it's in helping your team level up and really having you kind of step away and relinquish some of that, the micromanagement stuff that you've got going on. So again, you have to define what success means to you. You have to define what leveling up means to you, but really you can't get through that ceiling of complexity without leveling up your thoughts.

 So that being said, in order for that to happen, it means you have to let go of some past habits, past involvements, and you need to learn to say no to the things that don't serve you. So Brian, I would love for you to talk a little bit, because I think you have done a really good job. It was maybe a little bit of a struggle at first, but a really good job over the last few years, especially, about kind of letting go of the things maybe don't serve you in the direction that you're going anymore. And just talk about a little bit about that process and how you've managed to do that.

 

Brian: Absolutely, Brittany. One of the things that I have always been a big believer in, is learning from others that are better than I am. So I've always been getting coaching from different individuals or groups in lots of different topics and usually doing multiple ones all at the same time. But as you alluded to, I think one of the things you really need to be conscious of is, as you grow and you develop in your practice increases, what you did in the past may not actually further benefit you and you may need to move on to something different or learn some new skillsets.

 And so, a couple of examples of that would be, I've been in Strategic Coach, I think this is my 21st or 22nd year. And when I started out in Strategic Coach, I had one of their regular coaches, they worked out great, I actually used multiple ones just to get a little bit for flavor, because they all had different backgrounds and all different perspectives and how they coached was different. And so, that was always very interesting. But I got to the point where our business developed to the extent that I really wanted to kind of learn from the master, if you will. And so, then I moved up a level to be with Dan Sullivan, who's the founder and the creative genius behind Strategic Coach. And that has been, you know, just amazing hearing him speak about concepts and this who versus how concept, is actually a Dan Sullivan concept and it was created in a Strategic Coach class I think also with Dean Jackson, and they were talking about things and then Dan's taken this to a whole new level. 

 He teaches all day classes on who versus how, he's writing a book with Ben Hardy on the topic. And once that's released I would highly, highly, highly recommend you keep an eye out for that and we'll actually be talking about it on the podcast, I'm sure. And then, the other thing is as you try to grow your team members, you need to get them involved in learning things that you've been doing or that you want to start delegating and help them grow. So for example, one of our specialties is retirement planning or working in people in retirement. And so, for years we did the Ed Slott IRA training, but it got to a point where my time I had available and the interests that I had caused me to say, "Well I probably have to give up something to continue growing in other areas."

 But what I simply did is, we didn't miss out on Ed Slott. I just turned it over to the head of our wealth solutions department, who actually probably deals with it a lot more in all the client design issues that we do. And actually, that's turned out to be an amazing thing. And thinking back I probably should have done it sooner, just because he can apply the information so much more quickly to benefit our clients.

 So that being said, I did want to reference one other idea. Brittany last podcast mentioned that I might be the idea guy in solutions and ideas, so here's one more. I do have a book that I'm reading currently, and it's fascinating because it's dealing with, it's called the Three Box Solution, and it deals with the three boxes being, box one, your present company, box three, the future company or the future things that you want to get involved in. And then the most important box is box two, which is the past, or all the things that you need to get rid of to allow you to develop your company to box three.

 And it's kind of amazing if you start thinking about that. There's so many things that you're so used to doing, but they're actually really holding you back from becoming the firm and growing as much as you possibly can. And not until you really give it some thought and analyze it, does it become a little more obvious or apparent that, gee, just because we've done this forever and ever, it doesn't mean I need to continue it. So if you like that topic of how you create the future, forget the past and manage the present, that's an excellent book. I'm not done with it yet, but I'm halfway through it, it's amazing. So Brittany, other thoughts?

 

Brittany: Yeah, I think you brought up a really good point Brian, and just talking about ... I referenced in the beginning of the podcast about defining what success means to you and defining what leveling up means to you. And part of Brian's focus over the last few years is really, where are my skills put to use in the best way? But part of is leveling up, is encouraging his team to take initiative and encouraging, you know, the people that are on our team who are so talented, who are just exceptional with our clients, who truly have their best interests at heart, to be able to really take their strengths, go to the proper trainings, and then like Brian said, take them and implement them way faster than we would have if it had to kind of filter down the train. So I think that's a really important thing to keep in mind when you think about the whole topic of what got you here, won't get you there.

 I think that's important to keep in mind is leveraging the who's that are around you day. And sometimes especially in the entrepreneurial mind, sometimes we get so focused on what is external to us, versus utilizing the strengths of the people that are near and dear to us, that are around us on a daily basis. So that is just such a great point and I think it ties Draye into kind of what you can bring to the table, what you can offer here too. About how you've grown your business and how you've really also been focusing on the whole concept of what got you here, won't get you there. So I'd love for you to share kind of from that non-financial advisor perspective, but more so what you've done within your agency.

 

Draye: So you know, I think that if there's something that I weigh-in on, and I think a lot. And those are the two I's, I refer to it is innovate and iterate. So in order to innovate, you have to come up with new ideas. You have to be around a bigger thinkers, you have to find the who and you don't have to necessarily worry about the how. And as long as you can take that idea and innovate on it, once you start building that momentum, it makes it much easier to iterate on that idea, because momentum creates change and change, while it may be uncomfortable, many good things come as a result of change, but humans generally just fear change. And so, by living in this sort of I and I box, innovate and iterate and surrounding yourself with people that sort of challenge the way that you think, it really keys you up for success.

 So I mean, I wouldn't say that I'm absolutely in love with change, but I'm certainly much more willing and willing to be acceptable of these things and iterate much faster, because in this day and age, speed-to-market with an idea or a concept is what wins. And there's plenty of ideas and concepts around like, you know, taking an idea to execution and what I would say 99.9% of ideas never actually make it to execution, for a variety of reasons. Number one, it's probably uncomfortable. And number two, people get so stuck on the how, well if I don't crank this lever, if I don't move this widget, if I don't file this paperwork, if I don't - whatever the scenario is, instead of worrying about the how, they'll never really get there. So one of the things that we've done, is really just be more willing and adaptive to change.

 Is that, do we love it? No. But that being said, the current Redfern media agency that we have now, has basically iterated four or five times in the last six years. It is not even remotely close to the same company that it was five or six years ago. Light years different. And I think it's different for the better, because we offer greater service, we have more knowledge base, we can do much more things for the particular client base that we serve. We can help in a whole variety of different ways. But was that how we started? Absolutely not. We innovate and iterate on top of that and it's this constant game of almost like an improvement avalanche. Where like, you know, just one little idea, a little snowflake, is the last one to fall, then it turns into something else, then it turns into something else. But as that thing is just keep building up momentum and whatever else, you can't get all of your eggs in one basket.

 You don't want to be too emotionally tied to that one idea or that one thing. You got to be really, ready and willing to start rolling down the mountain with something else at the same time. So not necessarily saying you want to have too many eggs in too many baskets, doing too many things because we're all entrepreneurs. A lot of us are very ADD, and it's like, squirrel? And then we're onto the next idea. That's not what we want to have. We just want to be more willing and open to change. Because naturally as humans, change historically going back hundreds of thousands of years, change usually meant death. Whereas if it's a new environment that we don't know, we don't know the hunters or the species, whatever it is, and eating plants or a predator would have killed us.

 So this is like hardwired into our brains and thinking why we want to avoid these things. But I've found the people that we work with, and Brian's a perfect example of this, is that the individuals who are more willing to actually take a step back, take a pause, take a reprieve, whether that's a reflection day or a gap day or a thinking day or whatever it is, and find ways and holes in the business, in which you could take the time. Maybe you're away from the office, to think on some of these things. You can innovate and iterate. And one of the best ways and the most fastest ways to get there is finding that who, not the how. So Brittany, I'm sure you could take some of that and wrap it up and tie it up in a pretty bow.

 

Brittany: Yeah, let's put a bow on this. So I think this is, what you brought up is, is great when you think about the concept of change and you know, I think all three of us are so passionate on the topic of leveling up. I mean literally you talked to any one of us, any one of the three of us, on any given week and we're probably working on something that has us a little bit nauseous, right? That has us a little bit nervous, that's got us kind of on edge because we believe so sincerely in pushing yourself outside the box. And you know what we're doing, actually, the three of us are working right now. We are getting ready to lead up to a mastermind that we're launching in November, where we are really going to help other financial advisors to level up their business. So we're so fortunate, because like Brian said, he invests a lot in development a lot in surrounding himself with other people.

 Draye is the same way, we are all three exposed to some of the best minds in business and entrepreneurship, and creating an amazing experience for your team and for your clients. So we believe so passionately in this, that we are putting together an event to help give that exposure and bring it to the financial advisory world. So this is just something that we're so excited about, to be able to offer this to our audience, to be able to offer this opportunity to other financial advisors who are looking to grow. Who are looking to surround themselves with like minded individuals, who can really help them level up and push them outside the box. So all three of us so passionate on this topic. We are chomping at the bit for November to get here, because we are so stinking excited to be able to bring this to all of you.

 So if you would like more information, I'm going to make this really easy. Shoot me an email brittany@ultimateadvisorcoaching.Com, and I will send you the private link to be able to get some information on the mastermind, we're limited on the number of seats that we have available. So shoot me a note, I'm happy to send you that information direct and answer any questions you have, because we are just so excited to help people kind of get through that transition of what got them here is not going to get them there. So we're really excited to offer that.

 All right. As we wrap up today's podcast, Brian, Draye, anything you guys want to add before we really put a pretty bow on it?

 

Brian: I have one maybe slightly good word of wisdom. Hopefully it's considered that. But there's a saying in the office that we use an awful lot that says, Get comfortable being uncomfortable. And I think that four letter, you know the four words in that sentence, really tie-in with the topic today, in that what got you here won't get you there. Which means you need to be in constant change and upgrading and keeping your practice relevant and always seeking out the next best thing that can move you forward and differentiate yourself. So other than that, I thought great topic today, Brittany, thank you.

 

Brittany: Yes, that is a perfect lead-in Brian. As we do wrap up today's episode, because as we get into next week, we are going to talk about avoiding the shiny object syndrome that Mr. Sweet may or may not have been guilty of once or twice in his career. We're going to talk about picking one. How do you pick one, how do you move forward, get comfortable with that uncomfortable and really help you go deeper on this, who versus how concept and pushing you towards your bigger goals. So that wraps up today's episode of the Ultimate Advisor podcast.

 

Draye: Hey there, Draye Redfern here. And before you go, we just wanted to say thank you for listening to this week's episode of the Ultimate Advisor podcast. If you enjoy this episode, then please subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or Spotify, and be sure to rate us five stars on iTunes. Because when you do, you'll be entered into a monthly drawing for our Ultimate Advisor coaching program, which is a $2,000 value. And if you would like to access more of the show notes, additional resources in our free premium content, then please visit ultimateadvisorpodcast.Com. We look forward to seeing you in the next episode of the Ultimate Advisor podcast. We'll see you there.

ABOUT THE

PODCAST

The Ultimate Advisor Podcast was specifically created to help financial advisors unlock their ultimate potential by providing invaluable information and resources to improve your income, and the management, marketing and operations of your financial advising practice

The Ultimate Advisor podcast is a business podcast for financial advisors who are looking to grow their advising practices with greater ease and effectiveness. Ultimate Advisor was developed to help financial advisors master their marketing, sell their services with greater authority, generate repeat clients, and additional revenue in their business.

 

Each week, your hosts Draye Redfern, Bryan Sweet, and Brittany Anderson will share some of the closest guarded secrets from successful financial advising practices across the U.S.  

YOUR HOSTS:

DRAYE REDFERN

Draye is the founder of Redfern Media, a direct response marketing agency that helps professionals to improve their marketing, attract new clients, generate more referrals and consistently "WOW" their clients. 

BRYAN SWEET

Founder of Sweet Financial, CEO, Wealth Advisor, RJFS,  Creator of The Dream Architect™

Co-founder of Dare to Dream Enterprises

Creator of Elite Wealth Advisor Symposium

Author of 3 books – Dare to Dream: Design the Retirement You Can’t Wait to Wake Up To, Imagine. Act. Inspire. A Daily Journal and Give & Grow: Proven Strategies for Starting an Running and Effective Study Group

BRITTANY ANDERSON

Director of Operations at Sweet Financial, Office Manager, RJFS,  Co-founder of Dare to Dream Enterprises Author of two books – Imagine. Act. Inspire. A Daily Journal & Dare to Dream: Design the Retirement You Can’t Wait to Wake Up To

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