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Here is how to make lasting changes in your practice so you can reach your goals instead of wasting your time and burning out.
A new year is always a great time to set your resolutions, make new goals, and reinvent yourself.
Early in my career, I’d set extremely ambitious resolutions that were borderline delusional.
For example, I’d only ever brought in $2 million in assets, but this year, I would bring in $50 million. And it was going to happen because I desperately wanted it.
Never mind that I never changed my practice to reach my lofty goal. I just thought that if I wanted it bad enough, $50 million in assets would magically land in my lap.
Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work like that.
If you do the same level of work you did last year, you will get the same results.
To outperform last year, you must outwork your former self. This doesn’t mean you must spend 80 or 90 hours in the office, but you must make changes to see different results.
To grow in the coming year, here is how to make lasting changes in 2024 for massive success.
Make sticky changes
Especially around January, we tend to make monumental transformations and try to restructure our entire existence.
You drastically change your diet or commit to extreme exercise regiments, like signing up to run a marathon, even though you’ve never run more than a mile in your adult life.
These dramatic changes last about 12 days before you realize you’ve overcommitted.
By the time February rolls around, all the prodigious plans you made the month before are worthless, and you are entirely demoralized.
When I meet with clients who have strayed off track financially, we talk about how important it is for them to make sticky changes in their financial habits instead of attempting to make a massive overhaul that will only lead to burnout and failure.
Sticky changes are little tweaks you can make that will endure with you throughout the year.
As an advisor, you must identify sticky changes you can make moving forward that will yield significant results.
Committing to calling 100 centers of influence a week is too much of a stretch − especially if your track record is only reaching out once a month.
What are some changes you can make so that you contact a COI once a week instead?
Find ways to build on your baseline to reach realistically sustainable goals incrementally.
Paying the price for success
When I talk to advisors who want to level up, I don’t necessarily care what their goals are. I want to know what they’re willing to pay to reach them.
I recently met with an advisor who wanted to bring in $100 million in assets. But he only has $20 million under management. Having $20 million AUM is a considerable accomplishment, but jumping to $100 million in a single year is unprecedented.
When I asked him how he would reach his goals, he didn’t have a plan.
The problem with goal setting is that everyone is quick to share their goals, but no one wants to share how they will get there.
I don’t want to dissuade you from setting goals; I want an honest conversation. Advisors should be set up for success so they don’t feel discouraged when they miss the unattainable mark.
Anyone who wants to make an extreme jump in assets under management, revenue, or another metric better be willing to pay a high price to get there.
Do you have a proven roadmap for success to guide you to where you want to be?
Do you have the processes and systems in place so that you can build from where you currently stand?
You don’t need to go from zero assets under management to $100 million in a single year. We’re lucky in this profession that our books don’t reset yearly, but you need a trajectory of success that you’re constantly working along.
Value over volume
It's easy to generate content for clients − sending out 100-page financial reports doesn’t take much work.
You know what’s harder? Distilling hundreds of pages of financial information into one or two pages that really moves the needle with the client is a lot of work.
If you’re asking for a price to pay for success, learning how to create one-page financial plans or simplifying the legalese in estate planning documents are surefire ways to boost client retention and win referrals.
The first dozen times you break down estate planning documents for clients will be brutal, but that’s how you can measurably deliver massive value.
Working harder doesn’t cut it
Many advisors say they’ll simply work harder or deliver more value to reach their goals. Okay, cool buzzwords. But what does that mean exactly?
Are you willing to sacrifice your Netflix time, Monday night football games, or doom-scrolling to pick up a book on business or spend a ridiculous amount of money on professional coaching?
It’s mighty hard to give up those comfortable vices − and motivation will only take you so far. I don’t wake up in the early hours of the morning motivated and ready to crush the day.
I wake up to the same alarm Monday through Saturday, drag my backside out of bed, and hit the program I have scheduled for the day. I get my work done using discipline, and from discipline comes the success that motivates me to keep moving.
I thought for years that gluing my butt to my office chair would make me successful. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
I didn’t start to taste success until I was willing to take action on the uncomfortable things necessary for growth.
Action items
What will you pay this year to make your dreams a reality?
Your payment could be in time or money; no matter your choice, you're not paying enough if the price doesn’t hurt.
What are you willing to do daily to pay your dues for success?
Refine your morning success rituals and establish sticky changes for 2024.
Micah Shilanski, CFP®, is a financial planner who achieves the impossible. Micah is recognized as a leader in the concept of lifestyle design for financial planners and has spoken at conferences across the country. Micah is an advisor with Shilanski and Associates, a founder of Plan Your Federal Retirement, and a co-founder of The Perfect RIA.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.