Work out what you want to deliver, and relentlessly focus on building a business that does it.
The late Dr Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is so well known that it’s almost a cliché. As such things go, it’s one of the better self-help books. If that sounds damned by faint praise then so be it: there are a gazillion similar publications. Most of them are dross.
One of Covey’s habits was to ask that we “begin with the end in mind”. How does this apply to building a high-profit, low-stress lifestyle IFA business (all the while complying with the onerous, pointless regulation)?
Every prospect who walks through your office door/Zoom portal (more on this will follow) essentially wants YOU to answer ONE Key Question. The prospect won’t emote this directly. She will come in and immediately want to talk about the financial product that’s causing her concern eg “My pension pot - is it invested correctly?” or some such nonsense.
But really she’s desperate for someone to help her answer the One Key Question.
If you can answer this, and keep on answering it in the positive over the years and decades, the prospect becomes a long-term and potentially multi-generational client.
She will also become a source of introductions - if you want them. Clue: you need to ask for them. It doesn't just happen.
Logically it follows then that you must - beginning with the end in mind - build a business totally and only focused on answering The One Key Question. Everything you do is with this goal in mind. Ask yourself at all times, “Does this help me answer The One Key Question for my clients?”