Archive for the ‘Female Financial Advisors’ Category

The more I do the tougher I get, the tougher I get the less I feel, next thing you know I find myself on auto pilot feeling nothing and just doing.  Sure I get a lot done but I often become more callous in my approach to dealing with people.  I really noticed this last week when I spent 7 days in California helping my Mom get readjusted after losing my Dad.  My “Get it done, take charge” button was definitely pushed.  It’s so easy for this button to turn on, in fact it just happens automatically, the real challenge comes when I need to turn it off.  I’m sure many of you Female Advisors can relate, especially the working Mom’s!

Even after returning from California I was still in that “Take no prisoners” mode so when we had a few discussions with some of our kids about getting jobs and taking charge of their lives you can imagine my role in this process, it wasn’t pretty.  While the message needed to be said had I been in a “softer” place I probably would have had a greater impact.
There are times in our lives when we can become overwhelmed with responsibilities, kids, work, health, family and before you know it you’re not even thinking you’re just doing.  While you may feel accomplished odds are you may be losing an important part of yourself, the part that fills your soul and nurtures your spirit. This is really the part of you that others love.

Take some time this week:

• Listen to beautiful music
• Take a scenic walk
• Journal about what you love in life
• Listen to “The Power” CD (my favorite)

If you are a task master like myself, give yourself a soft task every day and put it at the top of your list.  This simple exercise can help balance the scales and bring out the softer side of YOU.

Mentorship programs are the rage especially in financial services firms. In their efforts to help more women achieve success as a financial advisor, firms are creating networking groups and mentorship programs.  While as a woman it feels good to connect these programs are NOT making a big difference, women’s numbers are NOT increasing.  So why isn’t it working?

In order to get more female advisors to achieve success we must change the way they DO business.  Most women who have succeeded have done so by conforming to the industry standards using methods that have worked well for men but do not necessarily work for most women, those women who have made it,  through networking groups and mentorship programs are reinforcing these same methods continuing the same cycle.  Most women (not all) who have achieved success have done so by persevering and surviving, it is rare to find a woman who is THRIVING.

To help women succeed we need to turn the business model on it’s head and start totally fresh, redefining the way business should be built as a woman.  There are typically 6 steps to redefining the way you as a woman do business and creating a business model where women truly THRIVE:

1.       Understand your purpose – Really understand why you are a financial advisor and who you are passionate about helping. This becomes the foundation to everything you do.
2.       Relish your Uniqueness – Just because something hasn’t been done doesn’t mean it CAN’T be done.  Don’t use the industry as your guide, follow your heart and what gets you excited.  When your peers are looking at you funny odds are you are doing something RIGHT.
3.       Embrace Your Value – Start recognizing what you do well on a daily basis. Don’t beat yourself up for what didn’t get done, stay focused on the compliments you get, embrace them, own them.
4.       Question Tradition – Just because things have been done a certain way question EVERYTHING using your female filter.  Realize that you as a woman are different and may need to do things a different way.  Different is GOOD.
5.       Build your Network – Stay connected to women who also recognize it’s time to break out and do things differently.  Women who encourage you to try new things, think creatively and leverage your strengths as a female financial advisor.
6.       Attend my Breaking the Mold Conference – My Breaking the Mold conference for female financial advisors is unlike any financial services conference out there.  The whole purpose is to turn the business model on it’s head and re-define the way business is done, the new woman’s way.  Learn more here:  www.BreakingtheMoldWorkshop.com

Most financial advisors are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition, as a woman you are already different, USE IT, LEVERAGE IT and THRIVE.

Sometimes my job coaching female financial advisors makes me sad.  So many women I start working with are bright, very successful with great production but come to me as if they have been faking their success, as if they don’t deserve it.  Their confidence is low, they are often exhausted and have lost their drive and spunk. Yet In just my first hour of coaching I can already see their strength as an advisor, their uniqueness as a woman and the amazing value they bring to their clients, to me it’s clear as day.

These are the clients I enjoy the most, they have so much to work with they just need someone (me) to help them see who they are as a female financial advisor.  My role is to encourage them to embrace their difference and recognize it not as a deficit in a stodgy industry but a breath of fresh air in a business struggling with ethics and trust.

It’s so easy to focus on the things we are not doing always recognizing what didn’t work, what hasn’t been done, this is a recipe for disaster especially for a woman.  We women are different creatures and must recognize that we must manage ourselves as much as we manage our clients.  The tables often turn within the first few coaching calls while I would like to think I’m the solution it’s really the simple exercises I ask the women to start doing on a regular basis and it often starts with your vision.

Create Your Vision: You have heard this a million times but do you have one?  I mean a fun, lofty vision?  Vision boards are a great way to clarify and reinforce the life and business you want.  I have one and so should YOU.

1.        Purchase a foam board from Staples, I prefer poster size
2.       Gather together a pile of magazines that you can pull from
3.       Turn on some great motivational music and grab a glass of wine if you are so inclined. (This is always fun to do with other women)
4.       Begin by cutting out pictures that reflect the life you want (remember dream big).
5.       Paste your pictures on your board, be creative or not.
6.       Post this board where you will see it every day

Have you met Betty the Bag Lady?
You may not think so… but you have.
We all have.

As women, we bring a lot of baggage into the workplace – and our inner “Bag Lady” can really hold us back.

But hey, perhaps not all of that baggage is garbage!

What if I told you that some of your “baggage” is actually really valuable?

It’s true! Some of the things we think of as baggage are connected to our unique feminine strengths. They make us GOOD at what we do!

Unfortunately, in a male-dominated industry, these traits can feel like baggage that weighs us down.

Take women’s intuition, for example. The logic-centered working world calls it emotional fluff, saying it’s not “fact based.”

But if we embrace the idea that women’s intuition is actually “diffused awareness” (your brain collecting bits of data that help you form a good assessment and make great decisions), that “fluffy stuff” becomes a huge asset.

This is just one example of the many ways women struggle to honor their feminine nature in a masculine industry… until now.

I’m here to tell you that your feminine abilities are NOT baggage.  Your intuition is a very powerful business-building gift – and it’s just one of many biological traits that help women be effective in the financial services industry.

Want to know more?

I invite you to come and talk with me at my next Breaking the Mold Conference (exclusively for *female* financial professionals). I promise it will be an insightful event that you will never forget. Click here www.breakingthemoldworkshop.com for more information.

As a woman it’s natural to be humble, we have been taught from an early age not to talk about ourselves yet our male counterparts are quite competent about talking about their strengths and the value they can provide.  Women must learn that there is a difference between promoting vs boasting.
As a female financial advisor your prospects and clients must feel confident in your ability to manage their wealth.  They must feel and hear your confidence in order to build trust and commit to doing business with you.
While women are great at building relationships with clients and prospects many struggle to convert that “Like” to business.  Yes it’s important that prospects and clients “Like” you but what’s more important is that they gain the confidence that you are serious about managing money. They must know that you have the ability to make important and often tough decisions with their money.
As a female financial advisor if you are getting in front of a lot of people but are not closing enough business or perhaps your closing business but never getting the big assets odds are they “like” you but don’t feel confident in your skills as a money manager.
Your job as a female financial advisor is NOT to be everyone’s friend; your job is to convince clients and prospects that your first and most important priority is making smart decisions with their money. If you’re not closing enough business or struggle to get all the assets learn how to turn off the likeability and infuse more promote-ability into your presentation skills.