established, much of your continuing service can be done via phone, email, and online.
Advantage #6 – Providing financial services is mentally stimulating. It's important to remember that the industry is large and diverse. With so many choices to explore, you are bound to find aspects of the industry that are a good match for your skills and interests. Rather than being a Jack or Jill of all financial trades, you may decide to specialize in working with particular lines of products. And, with the needs of your clients and industry offerings constantly changing, you’ll find yourself enjoying learning about new products that may be beneficial to your existing clients or help you earn the business of new ones.
In some ways, your job is to gather just the right materials and equipment (products and services) to build the dreams of your clients. You are a financial structural engineer!
Advantage #7 – There’s long term potential. The need for financial services professionals is huge. It’s on the Bureau of Labor Statistics list of “in-demand” occupations. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates for the ten year period from 2006 to 2016, 2.2 million positions will be necessary in financial services. See…what you do is necessary for the long haul. If you’re willing to do your part, you can build a lifetime career in this field. A large number of industries are dwindling, downsizing or dying every year, but financial services is not one that’s even on the edge of extinction.
If you’ll look up other statistics, you’ll likely find that average financial services counselors and re p r esentatives earn good incomes. That’s wonderful news but my goal in this book is to show you how to rise above average—how to earn whatever income you set your mind to.
I don’t know of anyone who has ever taken my training with the goal to become average. There was a time when mediocrity was acceptable. It was the standard—the norm. Achievers were seen as being pushy and aggressive. Or, worse. Many were considered oddballs. Not so today. Go-getters are admired and their progress watched. Clients want to work with someone who’s on the cutting edge of the industry. They want to be the first to know about new products that might benefit them and they’ll go out of their way to work with an advisor who has his or her fingers on the pulse of the financial world.
Improve Upon the Law of Averages
Even if you were born into an average family in which no one ever earned more than an average level of income, or if they never stepped out into the entrepreneurial world that doesn’t mean you can’t. You just have to choose to leave those old thought patterns behind and adopt new, more progressive, more rewarding ones. We’ve seen this in the movies where the average Joe or Joanne aspires to greatness beyond working in the mines, the mills, the manufacturing plants or whatever. They succeed because of their hard work and determination. They rise above the expectations others have for them by thinking differently, then acting upon those thoughts. You see thoughts really do become things.
I once heard the late great Earl Nightingale say, “You are and will become that which you think about most of the time.” Acting upon that single sentence, changing what I thought of myself, has made all the difference in my life. I was able to rise above the old me—little Tommy Hopkins who was not good in school, who was afraid to stand up and speak in front of the class, and was picked on for his small stature—to achieving a life I had previously thought an impossible dream.
I hope you have people in your life who are supportive of your career choice, but if you don’t, know that it’s possible to have whatever you want in life anyway. You just have to choose your own way. Then, act upon that choice. Mr. Nightingale was absolutely right. Action always follows thought. Think right. Act right and you’ll get the right results—every time.
Find new friends and associates who will support your dream of success as a financial planner, counselor or representative. That doesn’t mean ditch your old friends, though you may end up spending less time with them. It just means to stop allowing their choices and their expectations of you to limit what you do for yourself.
How do you do that?
Well, you can start with something as simple as affirmations. An affirmation is a positive declaration about something. It’s a statement of belief.
Here are some examples:
“I’m happy. I love my life. I’m always discovering fascinating new things to do.”
“I know that I have a wonderful future.”
“I work smart and deserve all the success I want.”
This process involves the use of self-talk. It’s the conversation you have with yourself. It’s always going on in your head whether you consciously realize it or not. These thoughts represent your core beliefs and they’re what made you what you are today. If you want to be someone different tomorrow, you need to start actively, consciously, talking differently to yourself. I know this sounds overly simple but it really is that easy. The hard part is that you have to decide what messages you want to give yourself and you must review them consistently until you catch yourself having those positive conversations in your head.
The more specific you are the better. Invest 15 minutes envisioning your perfect life and writing out its description in positive statements. The key is to make certain as you read each statement that it provides you with a clear picture of that life.
Our minds think in pictures, not words. For example, if someone says the word “car” to you, you may picture a Ford while the person standing next to you “sees” a Lexus in his or her mind’s eye. So, the more descriptive your words are the better your picture will be. And, the better, the clearer, and the more real your picture, the better your real life becomes.
The key to your success with affirmations is belief. You must believe in the power of affirmative statements for that power to enter your life. If you lack belief, say them anyway---regularly and sincerely. In a surprisingly short amount of time the proven positive results of your efforts will make a believer out of you.
Here are some sample affirmations you may want to use as they relate to your career:
“It’s amazing how easily I meet new people who need my services.”
“I’m terrific at remembering names. I remember a new person’s name right away.”
“I’m always excited to learn about the newest products I can offer my clients.”
“I keep in touch with my clients on a regular basis so they know I am here to serve.”
Keeping Up Appearances
Now that we’ve addressed what’s going on inside you, let’s take a moment to consider the exterior. I won’t dwell or ramble on here, but I feel the need to address the issue of your personal appearance as it relates to your image as a financial services advisor people will want to do business with.
Do yourself a favor. Get dressed as if you’re meeting a typical client and step in front of a full-length mirror. Look at yourself from head to toe. Adjust your posture if you feel the need to do so. Smile. Then, ask yourself this question: “Would I entrust something as important as my family’s financial future to the advice of this person?”
If you feel even the slightest sense of doubt creep into your mind, make a phone call immediately to a hair stylist, someone to give you a manicure, or someone
