Between Now and Success

I'm convinced that one of the keys to success is to have extreme clarity. But clarity can be difficult to define, and even harder to achieve. In our business, many advisors don't do a thorough enough job defining themselves to an ever-more-crowded marketplace. "We help you achieve your financial goals" might fit well on your website's masthead. But does a phrase like that really say anything meaningful about who you are as an advisor, what kind of value you bring to the planning process, and who your ideal clients are? To help us all achieve some … well, clarity on these important issues, I sat down with the "King of Clarity." My guest today is Steve Woodruff, who is in the business of helping people discover their fit and then craft the words that become their verbal business card. He's also the author of a great book called "Clarity Wins: Get Heard, Get Referred." In our conversation, Steve discusses the five questions he believes all business owners need to ask themselves about their branding and messaging, especially when it comes to your website. And make sure you listen to the whole episode, because at the end we hold some advisor websites up to the King's clarity standards. Steve's feedback on the good, the bad, and the ugly of clarity will make you look at your own marketing in a whole new way. (Don't worry. Names have been disguised to protect the innocent. And the guilty.)

If I only knew then what I know now … As advisors and business owners, we all think about this from time to time. But how often do you actually put what you've learned into action? Right now, you're probably sitting on a lesson or idea you could use to transform your business. In fact, you might have enough "A-ha!" moments stored up to do something really exciting, like starting your dream RIA from scratch. My guests today did just that. Dennis Morton and Katie Brown are the co-founders of Morton Brown Family Wealth in Allentown, PA. They used lessons learned during their previous 10-year working relationship at another firm to grow Morton Brown from $0 to over $100 million in AUM in just 12 months. In today's show, we discuss the specific ways they designed their firm from Day 1 to be an enduring business with no regrets and no more "if onlys."

A master class from Sterling Shea on how to revamp your business and thrive as a world-class financial advisor, taught by someone who literally writes the book on where our industry is going and how the best of the best stay at the top.

How can financial advisors build an enduring business with sustainable value? Contrary to what we often hear and read, it's not all about tech. It's about being indispensable in your clients' lives. Today's guest, Brie Williams, says there are four areas we should focus on to create sustainable value. Be authentic to what you represent. Set, manage, and deliver on client expectations. Remember that perception is reality. Optimize to realize your long-term vision. These four areas can form the core of your client-centric approach to business. Brie is Vice President of State Street Global Advisors and Head of Practice Management for the Global SPDR Business. Before she entered financial services, Brie had a great career in advertising and research where she managed big brands like Frito-Lay, McDonald's, and Target. In our conversation, we explored some of the key drivers you need to put in place to build a sustainable business in our fast-paced world. In particular, Brie talked about the lessons she learned on Madison Ave. that have translated into helping advisors build better practices, and how you can use technology combined with human empathy and curiosity to help clients understand how to engage with you and your team when their money needs and life needs intersect.

Capitalism is taking a beating right now. Rising wealth inequality and low social mobility have been festering for decades. The median income of Americans hasn't budged in 30 years. The overall share of GDP accruing to capital has risen significantly relative to labor. And I could go on. So is capitalism the problem? No. We don't need to ditch capitalism, we just need to evolve it so more people can benefit from it. But how do we do that? For some answers, I reached out to Anthony "the Mooch" Scaramucci. You may know him as the short-lived communications director in the White House. But he's also the founder of a multi-billion dollar alternative fund, organizer of the SALT Forum (BTW, I'll be podcasting from the SALT Forum so register to attend and I'll see you there), and a fun guy to talk to. In today's show, we talk about capitalism. We discuss what works, what's not working, and what would it take for our country to evolve capitalism so it helps all Americans live the American dream.I hope you enjoy today's show.

Seminars work. I've had multiple advisors on my podcast in recent months who are all killing it with seminars. In fact, today's podcast guest, Bill Keen, raised $90 million in AUM last year from seminars. Sure, it seems old school in the age of Facebook, YouTube, and Zoom, but people still value human to human live contact. You can only Google, click, and swipe so much before you just want to hear an actual person give you some good, solid information about how to live the best life possible with your money. If you're behind the curve on seminars and you aren't sure how to start, my guest today, Bill Keen, is going to help you catch up. Bill's firm, Keen Wealth, has almost half a billion dollars in AUM, and seminars have been pivotal to Bill's success. On this episode, Bill details the 5-step process he used to perfect his seminar process and it could help you get on track to raise tens of millions in new AUM. Yes, there's more to it than just slapping together a good PowerPoint. But if you commit to Bill's process and throw in some personal touches, you'll be on your way to grabbing an audience and growing your client base.

A growing financial advisory firm needs lots of top talent. What are you doing to deepen your roster of advisors? Do your brightest employees see a path for themselves from, say, a business or marketing degree to CFP® certification? And if so, what can both the employee and the employer expect during that process? Well, confession time: it's been a couple years (actually decades) since I got my CFP®, so I don't think I'm the best person to answer those questions. I decided to go to a better-qualified source. Andrew Jones is a representative in the high-net-worth area at one of the country's leading investment management firms. Andrew recently completed the CFP® program and will soon meet the work requirements to become, officially, a CFP®. Andrew told me that one of the reasons he decided to pursue his CFP® rather than an MBA is that he saw himself as more of a people person. Your firm needs to attract and cultivate millennials like Andrew who recognize that there's more to advisory than just managing money. Advisors who are skilled communicators and who are empathetic with an ability to connect with your clients as people are vital to the future of your business. On today's show, Andrew shares his best advice for studying and passing the CFP® exam. He also talks about the resources his company made available to him and how studying with other aspiring CFP®s created a sense of camaraderie and accountability that was critical to his success. We also hear from a special guest who was particularly instrumental in helping Andrew earn his CFP®. As you're listening to Andrew discuss this process, ask yourself what your firm could be doing to encourage young employees to pursue CFP® certification and how you could foster a workplace culture that would improve their chances of success.

David Bach is one of the most well-known names in personal finance and the RIA space. In 2018, AE Wealth Management ranked as the second-fastest-growing RIA in America according to Investment News and Financial Advisor Magazine. David is also an 11-time best-selling author, including 9 New York Times best-selling books that have sold over 7 million copies and been translated into 19 languages. His latest, "The Latte Factor," is also a huge hit. And on top of all that, David's massively popular "Smart Women, Smart Retirement" seminars are currently being taught coast to coast by his licensed advisors. On today's show, we do a deep dive on marketing, with a focus on seminars and the kind of storytelling David uses to connect with prospects and grow great businesses.

Rohit Bhargava is the founder and chief trend curator of the Non-Obvious Company, which helps companies and leaders win by learning to see what others miss. He's also the founder of three successful companies, and advisor to multiple startups, and a bestselling author of five books on a wide variety of topics, including the future of business, how to build a brand with personality, and why leaders always eat left-handed. We talked about some key trends from the 2019 edition of "Non-Obvious" that financial advisors are going to want to pay special attention to. The rapid advances in technology, media, and marketing have put our business in an "accelerating present" for more than a decade now. Rohit's observations will help you stay ahead of the curve.

As technology automates much of the "mechanics" of money, advisors need to evolve to the more emotional aspects of money. After all, simply helping rich people get richer isn't usually a driving motivator for advisors—or clients. In my conversation with Doug Lennick, the co-founder of Think2Perform, an author, and former EVP of Advice and Retail Distribution for American Express Financial Advisors (now Ameriprise Financial), he shared four words that he believes underlie the real value financial advisors deliver.