There is so much to do every day and time is one BIG constraint for financial advisors. As a financial planner or advisor, there are many things to be completed.
- You have to meet prospects
- You have to do a lot of cold calling (applicable to a few)
- You have to do networking (attend events where you meet new people)
- You have to write articles on your blog(if you have a blog)
- Read other blogs and websites that helps you to build your practice
- You participate in seminars and workshops
- You have to update your current clients with newsletters
- You need to keep constant eye on your competitors
- You have to study about new products in the market
- You have to get certified ( to add degrees to your name)
- Some go and feature on TV channels ( to increase their visibility)
- Some spend a lot of time to copy others concepts and ideas (We are into copycat economy)
- You have to be on social media sites
- You have to make financial plans
- You have to present financial plans to clients
- You also have to sell financial products
- You have to take care of your client’s documentation and signatures.
- AND all your personal life activities that you can’t escape.
That is a HELL lot of work.
We have created structures in our practice that helps us to manage our time and overall business. In past we have failed number of times at creating structures. We have tried using various excel sheets and online tools to make our processes simple. Some of them worked and some of them failed, but we think all those experiments have helped us gain some very useful insights on how we can manage our day effectively. One of the best places to start with is to read a book called Eat that Frog by Brain Tracy. It will help you learn some tips on time management. The book is simple, yet effective.
So what is the secret to have a great productive day?
The secret is HAVE AN AVERAGE DAY AND STAY CONSISTENT.
Average is the new extraordinary in the world of business. We recommend building your practice by having an average day but be consistent. Let’s look at how much you can produce by having an Average Day (Sundays and holidays are not considered)
- If you write 3 pages a day = 90 pages in a month and 1095 pages in a year
- If you choose to meet 1 new people a day= 30 people in a month and 365 people in a month
- Helping 2 people solve their financial queries without fees=60 people in a month and 730 people in a month
- If you choose to call 3 people a day= 90 people in a month and 1095 calls in a year
- If you choose to write 2 blog posts a week= 8 in a month and 96 in a year (Manish wrote 500+ articles in last 5 years).
- If you choose to read 5 pages a day= 150 pages a month and 1825 pages a year (that’s 6-10 books)
And when you do all above how many clients you need in a year. Don’t you think you will be able to generate the business that you want to do in a year (We are able to generate ENOUGH business that we want to do by SIMPLY having an average day)
The greatest secret is design an average day and to be consistent with your average day no matter what.
It is simply, doing what you said you would do throughout the day. All you need to do is protect your day from any kind of distractions (they are most of the times tempting by nature). I don’t receive phone calls any time (except Manish’s call). I don’t even receive my family member’s calls if that is going to take me off track. I might have upset a few advisor friends who wanted to talk to me but I did not got on call with them.
Best Year & Average day
Most people try to have best day and end-up having an average day because having a “best day” can’t be consistent throughout the year. Do the reverse! Have an average day and you will have your best year ever.
We have a friend – Ashal Jauhri, who runs a very successful facebook group and has helped maximum investors on our Jagoinvestor Forum, which is meant to be a Questions and Answers Forum . He is a chemical engineer by profession and he follows an average schedule with a lot of consistency and enthusiasm. He gets online in night around 11 pm (after office hours) and starts replying to people’s queries (he just starts to help people). Today he has more respect and clients with him than some of the CFP certificants.
Take out some time and design your average day (RIGHT NOW). Look at how does your average day should look like? What would you like to produce each day that you got as GIFT from god? What kind of activities you would like to trade your time with? Share your average day schedule on this blog so that others can learn from it. If you have read this blog we invite you to share your learning’s. You can write to me at manish@jagoinvestor.com.
This article is written by Nandish Desai, Founder and Chief Blogger at Jagoadvisor - www.jagoadvisor.com, This article was first published on their advisor blog which helps financial planners and advisors to build their advisory practice.
