Archive for the ‘Women Financial Advisors’ Category

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.

I can understand why women struggle to rise and succeed in the corporate world but why the number for female financial advisors is struggling is beyond me.  Women in the corporate world must learn to play the game by the man’s rules.  While female financial advisors do not have to play by these strict guidelines they constantly act like they do.
As a female financial advisor the only person you need to be accountable to is yourself. The only thing that determines your success is your numbers, bring in the clients, raise the assets generate the production and you answer to no one (excluding compliance) but yourself.  So if it’s that simple why are women struggling?
Learning how to do what is important vs what others want you to do is key in developing a successful practice.  Women tend to carry many other responsibilities as a wife, mother even daughter.  These responsibilities add additional demands on their time and energy as a result women must often squeeze more into one single day than their male counterparts.
Woman must learn to say NO, say NO to company meetings, say NO to training that sounds good but may add little value to your business, and say NO to the next wholesaler that calls to talk.  When there is something that you need in your business set it up, make it happen but if you do not know specifically what you will learn from a particular event, meeting or training …DON’T GO.  Your time is very valuable, be sure that the time you spend can have a direct impact on solving a problem, adding to a particular aspect of your business.  Remember, your time and energy is a highly valuable commodity don’t give it away freely.

What’s your vision? Do you have one? This week I visited with a number of financial advisors all of whom were interested in hiring a business coach.  In our 30 minute interview I asked them what is their vision and do you know not one of those advisors could answer that question?  Can you imagine a CEO without a vision of where he wants to take his company?  Without a vision what is the direction you want to go?  If you don’t know your vision you can’t communicate this to your employees and if they don’t know you are a boat without a rudder.

A vision is what it is you want to change or impact as a result of what you do.  Once you know this vision you can then define your mission, your mission is how you plan to do it. From there you can define the goals and steps to take in order to achieve the vision. Let me give you an example.

I know I love coaching female financial advisors, and when I think back I have always been focused and passionate about helping women but the question I asked myself is why?  What is it I’m trying to accomplish?

My vision:  As a female financial advisor I wanted women to become more engaged in their financial affairs, my ultimate vision was to create an environment where women looked forward to managing their finances. My mission was to inspire and engage women in the process in a way that they enjoyed and began to view their financial affairs as something positive.

Once I had a vision and a mission I was able to develop my goals focusing on activities that would impact my ability to transform the way women think about money.  Every decision you make your vision and mission must become your filter and guiding force. If your decision, action or strategy will not help you accomplish that end result then recognize it’s not right for you.

Today my vision is not much different, only bigger.  My vision is to transform Wall Street by empowering more female financial advisors to embrace their value and have the courage to speak up and redefine the way business is done. My mission is to inspire women to live by their purpose and build their business staying true to their principles and values as a woman.

As you read my blog and receive my emails you will see that most everything I do is designed to do just that.  I know where I am going and what I want to do, DO YOU?

It seems The Good Old Boys are alive and well in Penn State. As my family read about the scandal surrounding the Penn State football program it immediately takes me back to the early years in the financial services arena.  Women were very poorly treated in the industry for many years until the “Boom Boom Room” broke wide open creating greater awareness or simply FORCING the industry to begin recognizing women as a valuable resource to the industry deserving the same respect, both personally and professionally as the men.

While the ludicrous acts at Penn make me ill what bothers me the most is how the men protected each other, all for the glory of the game. That same attitude continues today in both football and financial services.  On my way to the top  in financial services I can tell you a number of situations I encountered that applied that same blind eye leaving the victim (usually a woman) to succumb to the double standards all for the glory of those who produce.  Where the hell are their principles?

As I was writing the prologue to my new book I shared my early experience as a Registered Sales Assistant and Female Financial Advisor, you wouldn’t believe the number of unethical and imoral incidences I encountered that after being reported I was either moved to a new position or I took it upon my self to quit and find  another job.  I was a single Mom, I needed the money and the security of the job but I would not nor could I work in an environment when I knew others (even clients) were being treated badly.  But was that the end of MY responsibility?
Here I was a young woman building a career, recognizing that production yields the power.  I knew something wasn’t right with how my broker was trading clients accounts,  I suppose I had a looming concern but on the outside everything seemed kosher, the Branch Manager was constantly involved so I assumed things were on the up and up.  But the day I was asked to lie to a client about the profits of his trade I knew it was time to go. After sharing my concerns with my manager  and being told “Adri your being  too sensitive” that was it for me.

But here is what I never told anyone and, for some reason makes me nervous even today.  After leaving Grant the broker at Prudential I was working locally for UBS. One day I received a phone call from a former Grant Ross client.  Hearing his name and voice caused me some concern, he shared that they had lost all their retirement savings as a result of working with Grant. They needed my help in order to get evidence that they weren’t the only ones.  I remember being on that call, like “Big Brother” was possibly listening in or tapping my phone.  I knew I had to do something so I quietly (I remember whispering)  gave them the name of a client whom I knew was in the same situation and how they could reach him.  I told them that was all I could do and they thanked me profusely.

A large case was brought up against Grant and Prudential Bache, Grant lost his license as well as the trader he was in bed with, the Manager lost his job and hopefully the clients became whole again.  I knew I did the right thing but it wasn’t easy and truly scared me at the time. But I did it because it was the right thing to do.

They say you have to be really tough and strong to play football? They are whimps with no internal strength of character, integrity nor honesty.  It is for this reason I am on a mission to inspire women to discard the traditional, protocol methods of building a business we inherited and redesign the New Paradigm, the Female Centric Paradigm when clients come first and decisions are made based on principles and values not by protecting the top dog on the block.

It’s time for Female Advisors to rise up and Break the Mold!

What is it about women that make us so masochistic, especially female financial advisors and other successful business women?  I woke up this morning really dragging, I felt it yesterday but just kept on going, and here it is today and I’m still feeling it.  The worst part was I wasn’t listening to my own advice.

I can’t tell you how often I am coaching female advisors about the importance of slowing down, and practicing self care. Most of these women (I include myself in this crowd) think slowing down is going to Hot Yoga (not exactly relaxing) or getting a pedicure while talking on the phone (not exactly the down time I was thinking about).  That’s not slowing down that’s just trying to fool our bodies in thinking we are rejuvenating.

The reality is some day’s life just catches up to you.  You know those days when you are just dragging, can’t find that boost of adrenaline that usually props you up all day.  You think “Why am I so tired, there must be a reason?” You reflect back on the past few days and because you can’t find a logical reason why you are tired you figure you will just work through until you start to feel better.

I did the same thing today until I had a BIG conversation with myself.  While I kept thinking about things I needed to do, wanted to get done my other brain the one that speaks from my soul said “Adri, your tired, stop doing and rest.” So for once I actually listened, I finished what I was doing and crawled back into bed in the MIDDLE of the day.

Later after resting I headed off to the movie theatre to watch a movie my husband would never want to see and eat a big bucket of popcorn that my husband would insist on sharing.  In fact after the movie in fact after the movie I went to one of our favorite restaurants and had a glass of wine all by myself, why?  Because I can.

Do something totally out of character this week, treat your self and let me know what you did, I’d LOVE to hear about it. Leave a comment below to share!