Archive for the ‘Women Financial Advisors’ Category

Mary walked into the Breaking the Mold Conference wondering, “What have I gotten myself into?”  Coming from one of the most prestigious wire houses on the street, Mary had very high standards… and she could tell this event was going to be different, just by the way the room was set up.
As presenters, we could see her critical eye perusing the room, assessing our level of professionalism. Little did she know that’s exactly we wanted. Mary was being set up.
Within the hour, Mary started to get it.
As soon as she met “Betty the Bag Lady,” she realized there was a method to our madness. By noon Mary was sitting forward in her chair, cautiously contributing and starting to have fun.
We gradually exposed Mary to a whole new way of looking at her business, and while that was exciting and refreshing, it also caused her concern. It just wasn’t the way she was trained.
Yet by the end of the conference, Mary was relaxed and open minded, and she was really enjoying the companionship of the other female financial professionals. She had embraced the concepts we presented and knew she would need more coaching to shed the old behaviors and incorporate new ways of doing business.
With Breaking the Mold as a foundation and further coaching from Adri, Mary created a new professional reality for herself – one that is more authentic, more engaging, and far more profitable.
Today she is far less stressed and much more relaxed, and enjoys more time with her family. Mary is far less concerned about industry protocol, and much more focused on what is important to her and her clients. Her new focus and vision is driving her production and daily activities, and her business and life have matured to a whole new level.
Please consider this your invitation to join us at the next Breaking the Mold conference. Come experience for yourself the depth and value of a new approach to financial services. Want to know more? Check it out

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.

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?