Read The Transcript Of The Episode:

Audio: 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 Bryan 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 practice's marketing to effortlessly attract new clients. What do you say? Let's jump into another amazing episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast.

Brittany A.: Hello, this is Brittany Anderson with your Ultimate Advisor Podcast . We are kicking off the next four weeks with a four part series where we're going to go really, really deep on who versus how. This is a topic that we are all really excited about, that we all completely believe in, buy into and are here to share some of our best insights with you. For today, we're going to kick off with mindset. Mindset by far it trumps essentially anything else. Because if you do not have the right frame of mind, the right mindset going into really any aspect of your business, whether it's growth, whether it's your clients, whether it's your team, whatever the case is, nothing else really matters. To start the conversation for today, I wanted to point out that... You may have heard the statement before, but you are truly the product of who you surround yourself with.

 When you think of about times that you're maybe in a little bit of a stinkin' thinkin' mindset, think about who you're around. Is it the people that bring you down, that may be caused some frustrations in your life, whether it's team members, whether it's non-ideal clients? It's friends that maybe just don't fill your cup, they drain it. That's really what the premise of today is about is getting your mindset in the right place, making sure that you are growth-oriented. Because if you're listening to this podcast, you are absolutely that type of individual. Really talking about how you can master your mindset, focus on the things that matter, and really focus on growth. I thought that Mr. Sweet would be a great one to talk a little bit about how you have mastered your mindset in the form of avoiding complacency. Bryan, I would love to hear some comments and insight from you on that.

Bryan Sweet: Well, it's great to be back Brittany. Thank you for that. Yeah, I think one of the things that is really interesting about the financial advice business is it is a type of business that's really easy to get complacent in. We get paid on a recurring revenue base for the most part, and you get to a certain level and you feel pretty comfortable with your income and how things are going, and clients keep adding money and so the markets go up. It's pretty easy to say, "Well, I don't really need to work hard because things are going pretty good." I think this is where a different mindset on where you want your business to go and what really value you want to add to clients and what impact do you want to have in their lives needs to be.

 Because I think if you look at that differently than I'm comfortable and I got enough money and you look at it from the standpoint of what can I really do to change and help people meet their goals, their dreams, make their lives better, I think that keeps you motivated to continue to get better and do different things. There was a really interesting book that we just read and it was actually an office project called The Outward Mindset. I'd highly recommend that to anybody. It was a really unique perspective. Brittany, maybe later on you could give the example of what we had in our office and how that worked so well to give a little meaning to how the book talks about changing mindset, but it's really trying to see things through client's eyes and to look at it differently.

 I'll have Brittany comment on that a little bit later, but I just think we have to be so conscious of complacency. I think by one, having the right mindset, and then also doing things on a daily basis that reminds you of the right things to do and the reasons why you're doing things. That's why we've written out our vivid vision for example. It's a constant reminder that it's more than just about me. It's about my team and improving my team. It's about helping clients generate results and get to their objectives. There's no better feeling in the world than when a client accomplishes something that's very important. You get that note or you get that call, and they're all excited. You literally just get goosebumps by having that happen.

 Maybe Brittany, I'll just turn it back to you and maybe give the example that we just went through on mindset on how one of our team members actually really went above and beyond. We really didn't even know about it until a staff retreat.

Brittany A.: Yeah. I'm so glad that you brought that up, Bryan. Before I give that example, I want to circle back to something. You were talking complacency and how easy it is in our industry to just get really comfortable. The thing that I want to circle to you is that part of the reason you don't want to be complacent is because you need to stay relevant. Without surrounding yourself with some of the biggest thinkers out there, even outside of your industry, right outside of kind of our box of the financial advisory world, which is what Bryan kind of alluded to, is really stepping outside of that and looking at what are people doing in business overall, how are people servicing the heck out of their clients and doing it in an amazing way that maybe you've never heard of. Really complacency is the opposite of relevancy.

 I think that's an important thing to master. Really when you talk about mindset, I think that is so incredibly important. I know Bryan will attest to this that part of the reason that we've achieved the success we have within Sweet Financial and built it the way that Bryan envisioned and giving him time off and all of those great things is because of some of the masterminds that he's been involved with. Some of the outside perspectives that have really pushed him outside of his box and helped him to master that concept of staying relevant. I just wanted to add to that because I think it's so, so important. But going back to the example, you know, Bryan mentioned the book The Outward Mindset. It was interesting. In a staff retreat just last week, we had one of our team members, they gave the example of a gal who was recently widowed. Really, really struggling through the process of that.

 Had an outside advisor, some insurance stuff going on. That advisor actually left, retired, and this whole case was dumped on this brand new face. Again, totally removed from us. They have nothing to do with this person. No connection to that outside advisor. Our team member sensed that our client was extremely uncomfortable, was so reluctant on what was going on with that whole insurance policy and that new relationship. She was just not comfortable. She's dealing with grieving the loss of her husband, right? She's dealing with the emotions of that. Our team member actually stopped everything she was doing to go join a meeting outside of our office. Nothing really to do with us if you think about it, but she sensed that our client needed somebody there and that client did not have anybody else that could go with her on that journey.

 Again, it's anticipating the needs of your client and paying attention, right? Really getting into the mindset of it's not just about me. It's not just about our process and what we offer. It's about the client and what they need. It's about being there for them and going above and beyond and anticipating their needs. She could have easily ignored and just been like, "Oh, she's just having a rough day because she's grieving or because she's just dealing with a lot on her plate." No, she took that extra step and decided to take action. She didn't get permission from anybody here. She didn't need to get permission from anybody here because she was doing what was in the best interest of the client. Again, it goes back to, do you want to stay relevant? Do you want to be front of mind with your client? Do you really have their best interest at heart, or are you going complacent?

 It's mindset. Mind over matter. I'm so glad you brought that up, Bryan, and I think that's just such a great book. Highly recommend it, Outward Mindset. Again, that's one that we would highly recommend you read and have your team members read because it forces them to think about situations that are outside the box. Now, Mr. Redfern, you're hanging out listening to Bryan and I talk about this, but I want to hear from you a little bit because I think you are another great example. You're so similar to Bryan in how you think about things, how you focus on mastering mindset. I'd like to hear a little bit about you and maybe share with the audience on what you do to really keep your mind in the right space.

Draye Redfern: Yeah, I think there's a lot to probably weigh in there. My story regarding mindset is probably a little bit different than most. When I was in elementary school, in middle school, I would be driving in my dad's car on the way to school, and we would have Tony Robbins tapes or Zig Ziglar or something else. When you're like eight, nine, 10 years old, that's like nails on chalkboard. That is the last thing you ever, ever, ever want to listen to. However, your subconscious is always running. I'm really glad that I had those experiences because it really teed me up for I wouldn't necessarily say success, but it teed me up to deal with much more difficult challenges later in life and have some sort of that resiliency. We've talked about it a little bit before, but when I was in my late teens, I was basically an elite athlete. I had underwent heart surgery at 19.

 When I was 21, I got T-boned by a car because this kid was texting and driving while I was riding my bike. He just plowed right through me. For all of these health things and things that come up that are sort of outside of your control. If you get stuck in this negative rut of a negative mindset, it's very difficult to sort of pull yourself out of it. But if you always sort of maintain this idea and this concept of things will always get better, there's always another tomorrow, I will push through this, I think that's certainly a way in which I have lived my life. That being said, if we take mindset in business, there's a quote by the French writer Alain de Botton who says that anyone who isn't embarrassed by who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.

 When I first heard that, that was like a gut punch because I felt like... I do a lot. I spend tens of thousands of dollars a year now in masterminds to consistently elevate my mindset. You touched on something really important a second ago, Brittany, is surrounding myself with not just people in the same industry because you almost have this like idea incestuous nature where only if you stay in niche, all of the ideas just get shared. But there's a whole other capable world of opportunities out there that you may just not be seeing because you're too close to it. This was described by one of my mentors Jay Abraham. This guy charges $120,000 a day now for his consulting advice. One of the reasons why he's looked at to be this marketing absolute genius because he simply just says, "I spend time in a variety of different niches."

 "I can see that a real estate agent over here is doing one thing that could also work for a financial advisor over there. But because those two people never talk, they're never going to know the difference." You can position yourself as a marketing "genius" because of it. Not that he's not, but that sort of idea and philosophy also sort of pertains to mindset is that if you live in your current just status, you never get out of the box, you don't invest in mastermind groups or coaching groups or study groups or whatever it is that you want to call them, it's very difficult to sort of be that character that Alain de Botton sort of talks about is are you embarrassed by who you were a year ago? I would say for me, I am embarrassed. I've grown so much in the last year, and I hope that I'm embarrassed in a year from now of who I am today.

 I think just that sort of mentality and mindset of always wanting to level up in business, personally, professionally, in a romantic relationships, with colleagues and coworkers and culture and everything else, constantly having that, as Tony Robbins would say, can I constant and never ending improvement. I think if that becomes the mindset, everything sort of falls into place over time.

Brittany A.: You bring up... Well, first of all, I love that quote. I remember the first time you actually shared that quote with me and I was like, "Oh, this is a good one. We're using this. So" good. But as you were talking and talking about being in the car with your dad, Bryan and I immediately started thinking about you. I was thinking about your Aunt Jean, right? Bryan, you've had such a positive influence. We unfortunately lost a Jean recently, but I think about all of the little positive newspaper clippings that I've seen in our 11 years together. all of the little notes, the positivity that's been infused in you. Bryan, I think just talking about who because it's more than just other professionals. It's really just powerful people in your life. Just touch on a little bit about how Jean impacted you just with her positive thinking.

Bryan Sweet: Yeah, a really good point. I've got a big smile on my face because she really was a positive impact on my life. But kind of going back to you are what you... Some of the people you hang around and I think the thing is the five people you hang around most is what you end up like. Fortunately, my Aunt Jean was amazing in that she was kind of this positivity person and she really didn't know it. I'm kind of jealous of Draye getting to grow up with Zig Ziglar because he was also a hero of mine when I grew up. In an indirect way, my Aunt Jean was kind of like the Zig Ziglar in my family. She loved positive quotes. We have a book that we wrote and she was like the biggest user and implementer of it. She'd cut things out of the paper by Harvey McKay on different articles and things you should do and way you should treat people.

 I was constantly getting notes, newspaper clippings. I think having known her for, I hate to admit it, 60 years, I think a lot of that did rub off on me. That's kind of like how Draye's dad gave him that little background. She probably was that positive force. I think one thing that people can do is I'm like Draye and spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on mastermind groups a year. But I think the first thing to do for anybody, if you say, "Well, I can't get to that status, or holy cow, I don't have that kind of money to spend on that," I think the first step is to just do something every single day to start your day off in the right framework. There's lots of ways of doing that. One would be just read something before you start your day or when you get up or wherever that works best for you on mindset or something on positivity.

 We can put these things in The Ultimate Advisor coaching website, but there's a quote thing that we get everyday that I listen to. There's a service called DarrenDaily, which is done by Darren Hardy. It's a four to six minute video where he tells you things that you probably need to tell yourself frequently and how to have better days. There's a lot of things that you should be doing or can do that cost you absolutely zero, but at least get your brain engaged in the positive and the why. If you do that for a long enough period of time, you will absolutely see some remarkable changes. People get attracted to you because you have a bigger smile, your attitude is better, you're more outgoing. Those are things that people really want to be attracted to and so people will reach out to you.

Brittany A.: I love that. I think that Bryan, you're just so full of resources. That's one thing I have to compliment you on is if you ever need a book idea, a positive inspiration, a quote, I mean Bryan is the master of that stuff. I absolutely love that. That really kind of wraps up this initial topic when we're looking at mindset kicking off, like I said, the first of the four part series that really goes into who versus how. To summarize what we talked about today, just remember you are absolutely the product of who you surround yourself with. Find the people that force you to level up. Like Draye talks about, it's not just business, but it's amongst your team, it's with your family, your spouse, your friends. Kind of every aspect of your life can be so completely impacted if you don't have that positive state of mind.

 Choose who you're spending your time with. Look for those positive reinforcements like Bryan mentioned. We will go ahead and in the podcast notes, we will put the the book title, The Outward Mindset, along with the author just so that you've got that for quick reference, along with a couple other items that Bryan mentioned today. That wraps up this episode of The Ultimate Advisor Podcast. Next week, we are going to talk about how what got you here will not get you there. We'll see you next week.

Draye Redfern: 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. If you would like to access more of the show notes, additional resources and 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.