You're listening to Financial Advisor Marketing, the best show on the planet for financial advisors who want to get more clients without all the stress. You're about to get the real scoop on everything from lead generation to closing the deal. James is the founder of TheAdvisorCoach.com, where you can find an entire suite of products designed to help financial advisors grow their businesses more rapidly than ever before. Now, here is your host, James Pollard.
James: Welcome, fam, Financial Advisor Marketers, welcome to the show. I hope you're well rested and I hope you're ready to take in the message I want to share with you today because speaking of being well rested, I'm feeling especially good today because I got a sleep score of 94 last night.
Jonathan: Here we go with the bragging.
James: Here we go again with that sleep BS. I am finally and I put these podcasts together a little bit before we're recording them here, after almost a year of testing and tweaking, I am officially getting consistent 90 plus scores. That's a big deal for me. [0:01:07.3]
Jonathan: That's how you get all this work done.
James: Yeah. It's part of the reason why. And it took me about a year of tweaking, taking things out, adding things - I mean, I would get a sleep score of 85, 88 and that would be a good day. I'd be excited. But then I would be okay, what did I do? What changed? And I would get a 93 and I'd be like, oh wow, this is better than ever. Then 94, 95 and then it's dropping and it's 89, 91 around that time or around that range I should say. It's a big deal for me. I know a lot of financial advisors are like, what is this guy talking about? I track my sleep, pretty religiously and one of the biggest things that I do in my free time, if you can call it that, is refine my sleep process and try to optimize for performance and a sleep score of 90 is basically elite, meaning a very small percentage of the population can achieve that on a regular basis. [0:02:08.2]
That may not be a big deal to some people, but it is for me, and it's really cool. I think the thing that took me over the edge, because I was really close for a long time. My average was 88 and I got it up to 90 and then I just consistently started hitting it. What did it I think was bumping my caffeine cut off back a few hours and the science behind all this - this is not a science show and this is not a sleep show but caffeine has an average half-life of 5-7 hours. So you really want to cut it way before you go to bed because let's say that you have your last cup of coffee, or maybe your first cup of coffee, I don't know … maybe you have it at 2 p.m. That means by 7-9 at night, you're only halfway through cleaning all of that caffeine out of your system and I don’t even have caffeine every day, but when I do, it's about 90 minutes after I wake up. [0:03:03.0]
I mean, I've timed it that way because it's the time where the caffeine has the biggest impact, and we're not going to get into the science behind it. It is. Right? I mean, just take my word for it. I also have it on an empty stomach. I do not eat breakfast. Is that…do you eat breakfast, Jonathan?
Jonathan: No.
James: No? Really? Okay. I would not have guessed. You're not brainwashed into the breakfast thing.
Jonathan: Dude, I'm on a fast. I fast in the morning.
James: Yeah, okay. Are you doing 16/18 or 16/8 or what?
Jonathan: 14 usually.
James: Okay. Yeah. Okay. Good for you. Man, you are on it. You impress me every day.
Jonathan: Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sleep man.
James: The majority of the population is brainwashed into the thinking that they need to eat breakfast - and time to put on your tin foil hat - I've been studying the history of marketing because this is The Financial Advisor Marketing Show and I'm going to share some marketing with you. The idea of breakfast being the most important meal of the day was actually a marketing campaign done by a cereal company - shocker -
Jonathan: Kellogg's. [0:04:06.9]
James: Back in 1944. They did a radio campaign where it said nutrition experts said that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. They used that credibility from nutrition experts. They brought them on the show and they said…they had these experts say, nutritionally, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. They just kept repeating it again and again and again so people would buy the cereal. It's a good marketing technique. Kudos to them. They got the job done. Now, I would tell people to stop eating breakfast and yeah, it may be difficult at first and yes, you may be cranky because you're not used to it, but when you eat food, your body diverts resources to your stomach for digestion. That's what happens. You don’t want that. You want the resources going to your brain so you can think clearly. You get to work on your most important tasks. You can do that. [0:05:00.6]
I tweaked and refined my routine over the past year and this is what I'm currently doing because surprisingly enough, people are really interested in this. I'm really shocked. People really want to know. So I wake up naturally, every single morning between 7 and 8 a.m. It's right around 7:30 or so. I will drink water immediately after waking up. It's like a big glass of water. Then I will stand in front of my window. I have a big window and I have a lot of sunlight coming in and it really wakes me up. It lets my body know that sleep time is over. I didn't use to do that. I actually hired a very expensive sleep consultant and we worked out that I should probably be getting natural sunlight as soon as I wake up and a lot of it and that's … in my experience, that's helped me. Then, if I'm working at home, I will head to my home office and I will get started on my to-do list, which I always plan out the night before and I watch the clock. I track my time. I use Toggl; it's t-o-g-g-l to track my time and once 90 minutes goes by, I will head back upstairs. I will make coffee if I'm having it and I take my supplements with it. [0:06:08.9]
Then I head back downstairs. I feel like such a douche just going through my schedule. I'm not that important. People… and people have emailed me and they want to know. I would have never guess. People are like, hey what does a day look like for you? I just don’t…I can't believe that people care. But anyway, I then head back downstairs and I will work for three more hours. I take some breaks in between. I'll walk around or whatever and then after all of that, after 4 and half hours, then I'll have lunch. That will be my first meal of the day. I set up my routine like that because it allows me to be the most efficient in reaching my goals. Now, you may have a different routine. Your body may respond differently to certain things, like you should not just take this and put it into your own life without doing your own thinking and research. But that's what works for me. [0:07:01.0]
That's why I feel weird sharing this because I know it's not going to work for everyone, but there you have it. People are like how in the hell do you only work 20-25 hours a week? Well, that's it. Four hours a day times six days a week - I work six days a week. That's 24 hours. That's how math works. We did some math, everyone.
Jonathan: Nice.
James: And that's how I do it. A 90-minute interval and then three hours and there you go. But that helps me reach my goals and I love setting goals and I love it when financial advisors approach me with their goals because you must have long-term goals. You have to. You got to have them in order to persevere in the face of short-term difficulties. Long-term goals help you get past short-term difficulties. But a lot of advisors throw in the towel way too early in their careers because they get hung up on a short-term problem. Not getting clients is a short-term problem. [0:08:01.9]
A lot of financial advisors think that it's this big deal. I mean, I talk about this many episodes ago where they think they have complex problems, so they look for complex solutions. This can be fixed. Not getting clients can be fixed. Not having a good marketing strategy is a short-term problem. That can be fixed. You want to have this big overarching goal that you can focus on when these little short-term difficulties arise. I mean, if your goal is to build a business and have a legacy for your entire family, you can beat procrastination a little bit easier. You can keep going. When one marketing campaign doesn’t work, you can wake up, you can be more determined than ever. When you get rejected for what seems like the thousandth time this week, because you've got a big goal, you're going to get it no matter what. A lot of people, they could completely change their lives if they thought about where they want to go and why they want to go there. [0:09:00.2]
Hey, financial advisors, if you're looking for a way to set more appointments with qualified prospects, I invite you to sign up for James' brand new webinar about how financial advisors can get more clients with email marketing. Go to TheAdvisorCoach.com/webinar to register today. On this webinar, you'll discover why email marketing is able to generate upwards of 4400% ROI for smart financial advisors, three fatal mistakes nearly all financial advisors make with their emails, and the proven three-step process for converting prospects into booked appointments using email. All you have to do is head on over to TheAdvisorCoach.com/webinar and register today.
James: Do you want to make half a million in personal income? That's awesome. But why? And is that "why" strong enough and does it lead to a strong enough vision that you will keep going when those short-term difficulties arise? Be honest with yourself. You really go to have accurate thinking and brutal honesty, and I'm not going to be like, oh having a big why, it can take you anywhere and you've got to have a huge why for what you're doing, but it does help. I'm not going to lie; it helps. [0:10:12.7]
That's not the end all, be all. I could have a why and never take action. I could have a why and never invest in myself. But having the why makes things easier when I am investing in myself and when I am taking action and I know this is a financial advisor marketing podcast, so I will tie this to marketing. Sometimes a financial advisor will try a particular marketing strategy once and then give up on it if it doesn’t produce results right away. Case in point - a financial advisor told me he tried direct mail and it didn't work. He sent out these brochure looking things to everyone. He just picked a certain zip code and sent out brochures. There was no response whatsoever, no direct response whatsoever. No proven marketing strategies. No call to action. Literally just a brochure to everyone in a zip code. No targeting. Nothing. [0:11:07.0]
He just …if you think of spray and pray or shotgun marketing, this is it. He just took the little trifold thing and put it in every mailbox in town and no wonder it didn't work. But the advisor with the big, long-term goal and a vision would say, "Okay, that didn't work but I am determined to learn why it didn't work and I am going - no matter what - I'm going to make this marketing thing work, come hell or high water, I will succeed." And I'm being transparent - you don’t need my help. You don’t need it. I have a bunch of products designed to help financial advisors get more clients and you don’t need any of them, not a single one. Financial advisors, they've been successful without me and they will continue to be successful without me, but I can damn sure help you get there faster. Is that funny to you, Jonathan?
Jonathan: Short cut, baby. Pay for it. Right? [0:12:05.5]
James: Exactly. And the financial advisors who are goal oriented, they understand that running a real business that is designed to leave a legacy for them and their family, that requires investment. So they come to me for a little help and when it comes to all this stuff, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news for you. The bad news is that your life is 100% your fault. Where you are right now is the result of all the choices and all the decisions you've made in your past to get you here right now. So if you're not in a good space right now, maybe you're not where you thought you'd be, it's totally your fault. There are some people and some marketers who will be like oh, it's not your fault. I'm here to save you and invest you and coddle you. No, I'm not going to do that. The people who fail in life, they're the ones who blame everyone else. And I listened to a Jim Wern recording not too long ago. He talked about when he was 25, he was blaming the government and prices were too high. He had a list of excuses. [0:13:05.8]
He turned his life around by realizing that it was 100% his fault, and people think this way. They still do. They're like, oh, it's my parents' fault. It's my mentor's fault. It's my company's fault. It's the market's fault. Whatever. It's got to be someone else's fault because they're so freaking perfect in every way. It can't possibly be their fault, oh no. But in reality, it is. So that's the bad news. The good news is this: It's 100% your fault, which means…
Jonathan: Huh?
James: But that's great news though because it means you're in control and you can change everything and perhaps the best way to get fired up and get off your lazy butt is to have a solid reason for why you should succeed. I will admit that having that, it does help. For a lot of people, it's their families. They want to make sure their children have everything they didn't have growing up. [0:14:00.5]
They want to make sure their spouses are cared for because honestly, you are in control of that too. I know this is going…this is going to piss a lot of people off, but if your kids are not taken care of right now, it's your fault. If your car is a piece of crap, it is your fault. But like I said, it's good news. Good news. Because it means if you can put together your vision, you could start to change everything. Here's another quotable for the show, sometimes hitting rock bottom is your strongest foundation. Man! I'm hitting them flamers today. I have noticed that some people have this weird psychological need to hit rock bottom and I'm sure you've seen this, producer Jonathan…
Jonathan: Of course.
James: There's some weird psychological force, just making it their destiny to hit rock bottom so they can rebuild. Deep down in their psyche, they want to see if they can do it. If that's you and you've already hit rock bottom in your life, I want you to use it as your foundation. [0:15:07.1]
Put a stake in the ground and say never again am I doing that, and strive toward your goals every day. And I'm thinking of a family member of my own, in my own family. This guy went bankrupt. I mean, he made a bunch of money and went bankrupt, lost it all and bounced right back. I've always thought did you have to?
Jonathan: That looks like it hurt.
James: Yeah. It looks like it hurt and you know, it's funny to think of it that way but maybe there is something to that. Maybe there was something deep down where he just needed to prove to himself that he could do it. Right? I don't know. Is that crazy?
Jonathan: Yeah. Well, I mean, whatever motivates you. Use it.
James: Sure. Yeah. I mean, I don’t think that I'm that type of person. Thank you. I'll learn from your mistakes. I don’t need to make them myself, but yeah…there's got to be something. [0:16:01.8]
I've seen it with a lot of financial advisors, where they just something weird happens, something freaky happens and takes everything away from them. They have to rebuild. All I'm trying to do with this episode is just knock some sense into people who need it. Yeah, I'm exaggerating my personality a little bit and I'm getting a little angry, stuff like that. The people who say they want to grow a business, but they aren’t taking the necessary steps to do so…it's goofy. The people who say they want to make a million bucks a year but then whine and complain about a $99/month newsletter - people need that common sense knocked into them. The people who say they have what it takes but they really don’t? Those people. They're the ones I'm trying to reach. Now here's another quotable, another gem: Most people believe they don’t have a future so they act accordingly.
Jonathan: Yikes.
James: Maybe the reason you're not making huge strides towards your goals is maybe it's because deep down you don’t believe it's possible for you. We talked about this on a previous podcast episode. I can't remember which one, so go back and listen to all of them. [0:17:06.0]
Jonathan: Twice.
James: Maybe you're not making progress with your goals, that you have some mental block or there's some emotional block that you can't get past. Maybe it is because deep down, you don’t believe that it is possible for you. You're not creating the life that you want because you just truly don’t believe. It is scary. I am not the expert here with this stuff. I am not claiming to be some prophet that can tell the future and help you with your goals in every way. I am not that guy. I just am pointing out some obvious truths for financial advisors and if they pick up a few and it helps them in any way, awesome - I've done my job. I'm making a difference in the world. I'm not the one that's helping you with your psychological problems. I'm just pointing out that I see it all the time. Financial advisors, they get a lot of the success and … especially the ones that grow up in relative poverty or lower middle class where they didn't have a lot. [0:18:01.9]
They get into a career where they can make a bunch of money. They help a lot of people. Their heart is in a good place. They have great intentions and the world rewards them for it. They make, I don't know, $6-700,000 a year and whether or not you think that's a lot is beside the point, but they're on top of the world because they've never had that. Nobody in their family has ever had that and they're like rocking and rolling and then this stuff happens and they lose it all. It's maybe that needed to happen in order for them to reach their goals. Then we're going to wrap it up. With all that said, make sure you have at least one big goal that you truly believe you can achieve that will propel you forward in the face of difficulty. Dig deep into understanding why you want to achieve that goal and begin to seek out ways to help yourself get there. Help yourself. Figure this stuff out. That's the only real way to accomplish your goals. If you want even more help setting and accomplishing your goals, I encourage you to check out Goal Setting For Financial Advisors, which you can find by going to TheAdvisorCoach.com and clicking on the products tab. Like I said, you do not need this. Financial advisors can reach their goals without this product, for sure, but it can help you and it can help you get there faster. So…[ 0:19:18.5]
Jonathan: Short cut!
James: Any questions, producer Jonathan?
Jonathan: Man. Tough love today. I like.. I liked the tough love. I'm going to tell you that I really enjoyed that. Going to wake them up. Great, great, great. Another financial advisor marketing is in the can, ladies and gentleman. We will be back inside your ear buds next week. Thanks for tuning in.
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