Stop Chasing 20 Percent Growth and Change the Game Instead

Nick [00:00:00] High-level advisors don't think about their practice as their practice. You think about it as their business. You guys are technically very good at what you do already. You're gonna get better at it. That's not about that. This is about thinking about your business as an actual business Well, this adviser story isn't about one adviser at all. It's actually about producer groups in general, and it seems to be something that pops up more and more. I've worked with lots of producer groups over the years, and a whole bunch I'm working with right now. And it seems to me, with producer groups, there's a lot of value in doing that.

Nick And companies encourage, uh, adviser to come together to create producer groups because they know that one-on-one equals three. They tend to do better together. There's a few different ways to think about how you could be successful in a producer group, and that comes with some challenges because oftentimes, advisers, like, are equal in terms of at least the vote that they get and how they come into a producer group.

Nick But also producer groups do well when they have advisers that are different places in their business, and so you tend to get this, you tend to get this overview where people want different things out, out, out of the [00:01:00] producer group itself. And then that also then compounds with the fact that there's-- the leader also has to do, run their practice, run their business, but also think about the producer group overall.

Nick And so wherever you are in a producer group, yes, it's a good idea to get into a producer group. But even if you're established but you haven't got the defined outcomes you want, meaning like how do you handle bonuses? How do you set-- Do you pro rata that? How much goes back into the business? You've got to be thinking about a couple of different things together.

Nick So here's my feedback and thoughts around producer groups for right now. Wherever it is, whether you're in a producer group, you've been there for a while, it's established, whether you're thinking about doing it or you're just starting off, there's a couple of things to consider. Number one, you've got to consider where that aggregate bonus might go.

Nick my recommendation would be to think about maybe paying some of it out, but also make sure you're holding a lot of it into the producer group itself. Here's the fundamental thing to think about here, is that individual advisers think about their business and how they can go forward and how they can, you know, get 10, 20% each year 'cause tend to h- tends to be how advisers think, and [00:02:00] then ultimately their producer group grows 'cause of that, which is true.

Nick But I would also encourage you to think about the producer group as an entity itself, 'cause it can't talk for itself, and it's not a person. So if you think about how do we grow the producer group itself as an entity rather than how do we grow individually, it will give you a different viewpoint as how you can scale and create the real leverage that's available through a producer group.

Nick Welcome to another adviser story. Real stories, real advisers, real clients, real life. This, again, another one of my favorites, is compressing time here. this advisor took on the fact that just the same principle I'm working with for my sabbatical that's, happening or upcoming, depending on when you're watching this here, is that, you wanna make sure that you can use times in our life in order to get some urgency.

Nick You know, use time for our outcomes. Now we do this naturally with the seasons of our life, right? We plan the beginning of the year because holidays come up as a natural [00:03:00] understanding or expectation that we plan and execute in different times of the year. Depends where we're at, like, you know, time in, in the summer is a bit different because people are off.

Nick Time at the end of the year is a bit different 'cause we have, you know, holidays. Summer beginning of the year is a bit different. But what if we could be more intentional about saying, "Okay, this particular month or this particular few weeks, this particular," you name it, "specific period in time that we define as the right time for us in our business," and say, "This is where I'm gonna push a stretch.

Nick This is where I'm gonna go for a sprint. This is where I'm gonna carve out that time" and say, "This is what this is about." And that is the whole concept really of sabbatical overall. Not necessarily to sabbatical to be away, but it could be that just that sprint. So rather a sprint sabbatical, whatever it might be, and this advisor said, "Look, I'm gonna go on vacation.

Nick I've got some stuff coming up, come up in August. I'm gonna use that vacation as a deadline for me to push a sprint in my business. And this time I'm just gonna get really clear about it. So I've got that in my mind through this period of time, through this month. What is it I really wanna be focused on?

Nick What is this month gonna be about such that I can [00:04:00] put everything else to the side and not be confused with many, many different things at once?" Because if everything has a continuous date to it, it's hard to know what to prioritize. But if someone says, "Hey, you need to get it done immediately," this is why I love when I make commitments to certain things.

Nick If I put my, my money and my life on the line, or I put my word on the line, or I've made a commitment to a bunch of people at the same time, then I know I'm gonna deliver on it because I said that I would. And whatever the timeframe is, I'm gonna make it

Nick happen to get there And so there's a lot of power in doing that. And so think about that for yourself. If we- where- wherever time it is you're watching it thinking, "Oh, what's the next month that's coming up? What's the thing that you could do and focus on in that particular month that will allow you to change the game?"

Nick depends where it is at the time of the year, right? August is a great way to think about this because you could say, "Okay, well, August really is the gateway to September. September's our last month in Q3," and it's-- and like oftentimes Q4 is a, is a big deal, in financial services. And so we wanna think about, okay, if I-- what could I change in August so that I start September at a higher level such that I can go into Q4 [00:05:00] at a higher level than normal as well?

Nick Not again, not more effort, more leverage to start at a different point. Hey, one of the things that I'm aware of right now, right, as the Olympics is on here, as I record this, that if you think about the 100 meter, 100 meter sprint, now how close those guys are. Imagine having a 10 meter stead-- headstart in the 100 meter race, just 10% headstart.

Nick What's the chance of that person winning over 100 meters? Think about that in your business. And this person said, "Look, I've gone out on vacation. I've got the natural reward already baked in because I've gone on vacation with my family. Great. I'm gonna make this piece here about serving this particular set of clients.

Nick I know there's a lot more opportunity to move then to annuities. They, they've-- there's great set of clients here. I only need a few to hit the numbers I want to hit." Hello. This week's story is a conglomerate of stories, meaning that comes from a lot of advisors, a lot of the groups I'm working with. And really this subject of vision has been on my mind so much in the last-- really in the

[00:06:00] last year.

Nick There's so much nuance around vision work and goal setting, and I still feel so much resistance personally to vision work, and I see that in my clients as well. And it's so important, right? There's so many things out there. Everyone intellectually knows, like, if you don't know where you're going, there's no way you can get there.

Nick You know, and there's, there's so many quotes to come back to and, you know, start with end in mind is such an important way to s- to think about it as a quote as well from the late Stephen Covey, of course. And what I'd share is that I've been doing a lot of work around making this easier. Okay, what's the process to follow?

Nick How can we really do this really well? But I wanted to start with a distinction of what a vision is. A vision is nothing but a way that you see the future, but it is not there yet. Like something that could be. And you're saying, "Okay, this is what I want it to be. This is what it could be, and I'm gonna put it out there."

Nick We are not there yet. And a mission, a mission is something that you're doing right now that moves you towards where you're going. for me, my vision is to [00:07:00] impact 100,000 financial advisors by end of 2027. Something that doesn't exist right Now, my mission is to help advisors on their seven-figure journey without sacrificing time with their family or working on their health.

Nick And I just want to draw that distinction for you as well. So I've been working hard on creating a template. We're suck, sucking in loads more books around visions to give back out to you guys. So I really want you to think about, okay, look, you need to know where you're going overall, especially if you're in a produced group.

Nick And look, let me say this as well. High-level advisors don't think about their practice as their practice. You think about it as their business. You guys are technically very good at what you do already. You're gonna get better at it. That's not about that. This is about thinking about your business as an actual business and giving it a, a way of creating the best version of what it is for you and for your family and for your overall clients and the business as a whole.

Nick So you need to think about your business. The business needs to have a vision. It can be aligned with your-- It has to be aligned with your life vision as well, but all those things together. And without that, it's really [00:08:00] challenging to set 2025 goals. It's really challenging what is the best thing to do next.

Nick Because essentially like this, it's like if you're a junction with many different roads to go down, like, "Okay, which road do I go down?" Well, the only way to know which road to go down is to know where are you trying to go, meaning what's the destination of those roads such that you can pick the one that gets you towards your destination, or at least in the right direction.

Nick That said, if you're at that junction and you see all the different roads, like, I'm just playing around. I'm just playing around, so that road looks pretty good. That one looks fun. They've got some bells and whistles on that road, or that one just looks like really long and straight. I like the look of that, or that one's a gravel road.

Nick If it doesn't matter where you're going, you can just pick the road that you want that just feels the best at the moment, and that's totally fine. That's totally your prerogative, but my bet is that is not what you want. You're not just guesting and playing around here. You want to define your outcomes and be the best business person you can possibly be.

Nick All right. This week's advisor story really is [00:09:00] relevant for this time of year. There's always a story to be told depending on the time of the year, but right at the end of the year, where we're trying to simultaneously get everything over the line, run to get some revenue in, make sure that production is where it needs to be.

Nick But we're also trying to plan for the following year, sit back and think about what we really want and what's the strategic view of that, and also have some great family time, right? All those things at once, and so, flowing with that's really important. But what comes up so much this time of year as we're planning for the following year is to think about how we set out our practice.

Nick And remember, want to think about not being an advisor, but being a business person. And you might have, one assistant, maybe two assistants. Maybe you've got someone that does new business, someone... Maybe you've got someone that does service work for existing clients. that's, you know, that's typically the setup as a relative starting point as you're expanding your practice.

Nick But when you want to make a leap to that next level, you've got to start thinking about all roads lead back to understanding, okay, how do I have someone in my business that thinks not about delivering on [00:10:00] tasks, but working on strategy with me, who's part of me as we go forward and create the next, next season and the next evolution of where our business is.

Nick Want to stop thinking how do we get 10, 15, 20% more and iterate, but how do we change the game such that we can make a leap in this following year to come? So for me, all this leads back to thinking about, do I have a hub in my business? Do I have a chief of staff, a, a, a chief oper- operating officer, director of operations?

Nick That person to think about not only getting things done, but helping strategize going forward and where are we. A person that comes to you each week, maybe even each day, and says, "Hey, what are you doing, business owner, here to do follow through?" And they become someone you can really pitch and catch with on a regular basis.

Nick So my invitation for you is to think about what that looks like for 2025, whatever leap that you're making. Maybe you are finally getting really clear on your ideal client. Maybe you're segmenting your books and going, "I've got to be in this platinum place." Maybe you're all about making sure that you're never working Fridays and you've got [00:11:00] hours, you've got 10, 20 hours a week to really think about your business while you're still delivering for your top clients.

Nick Now, can that person help protect your time so that you are working and doing the things that only you can do as an owner, as a leader, and set that vision and work at with your top clients only? And if you want some more, let me know. I'll send you my free e-book just on this subject, identifying that hub.

Nick Go after it