PROSPECT LIKE A STOIC

I was reading an email from the Daily Stoic’s Stoicism 101 course this morning and I realized that the Stoic recipe for happiness is also the perfect recipe for success in the early years of one’s business.

Here is how the Daily Stoic laid it all out. 

Conditional happiness is a never-ending journey chasing “I will be happy when…”

The Stoics counteracted the concept of conditional happiness with three simple concepts:

1. Focus only on what you can control.
2. Think about yourself less.
3. Realize you have everything you need.

As I read through the email, I was taken back to my early years as an advisor.  I was chasing accolades, ”I will be happy when I win this award.”  I was chasing income, “I will be happy when I hit six figures.”  I was chasing security, “I will be happy when I have $10M, $20M, $50M under management.”

Of course, the truth is that you are either happy or you’re not, acquiring any one of those conditions does not make it so.  (If you haven’t experienced it yet, trust me on this one!)

And the Stoic recipe for happiness is the perfect antidote to this conditional thinking.  Let’s take a look at it through the lens of a new advisor. 

Focus on what you can control. 

Can you control how much money you make in a month?  How many clients do you get in a quarter?  Not directly.  The only thing you can control is YOUR ACTIONS.  How many times did you ask for referrals?  How many networking events did you attend?  How many times did you follow up on a lead?  How many Discovery EXPERIENCES did you offer?  How many did you complete?

Taking the focus off of the outcome and putting it onto tracking and evaluating the elements you control is the only way to stay sane in the early years!

Think about yourself less.

I have written a lot about the conflict that many great advisors feel about prospecting.  They don’t want to feel salesy, shwarmy, or selfish.  They don’t ask for referrals or offer Discoveries because they feel like they are asking for a favor or shamelessly promoting their own self-interest. 

When you have a Discovery process that is truly an act of service to the prospect, then it isn’t about you anymore.  If the prospect’s financial and emotional well-being is improved just by experiencing the meeting, then you aren’t “taking” from anyone.   You are “giving.”  You are serving. 

The key to audaciously prospecting is having a process that serves and thinking about the impact on the prospect, instead of yourself.  (But it has to be truly of service or it’s just another bait-and-switch manipulation). 

You want to get to the point where NOT offering a Discovery is selfish because of the positive impact you are withholding. 

Realize you have everything that you need. 

Some people thrive on the pressure to produce (sell).  I am not one of them.  If you give me a big, fat, seemingly unattainable goal, I will stare at you and think…”That’s not gonna happen.”

For me, the key to success is removing the pressure to produce so that I can do the work and be of service and not be focused on myself.  In that state of mind, I can do powerful things.  I can sneak up on my goal in that mindset of service and impact instead of “selling” my way to the goal.

When I work with newer advisors, I always start with a personal/business budget to determine their burn rate.  I look for ways to streamline their finances to reduce the financial pressure on them and help them keep their focus in the right place. 

The old-school mentality at my first Broker-Dealer was to get advisors to live large and buy expensive houses so that they had to produce in order to survive.  I take the exact opposite approach.  

Let’s help new advisors realize that they have everything they need and can live simply in the early days.  Once the success starts rolling in, there will be plenty of time to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I hope that you can see that the Stoic recipe for happiness is also a perfect recipe for success in the early years in the business.  This is a really hard business to get established in.  I firmly believe that managing one’s mindset is the key to making it through the crucible of the first three to five years.

Whether you're new in the business or starting again building an Advice-based Financial Planning practice, I believe these principles will serve you well. 

1. Focus on what you can control.  
2. Think about yourself less.
3. Realize you have everything you need. 

If you would like to learn more about Stoicism, I would highly recommend signing up for the Daily Stoic email and participating in the challenges they offer throughout the year.

And if you aren’t sure how to deliver an initial meeting that is truly of service to the prospect, you should check out The Discovery EXPERIENCE Online Course where I teach you a turn-key process to do just that and get you hired with the RIGHT clients for advice in one meeting.  

If you have any questions about the Discovery EXPERIENCE or anything else, you can always reach me at  [email protected] .

I hope this serves you,

-Lucila