Episode Transcription 

INTRO  00:08

This is the ultimate advisor podcast, the podcast for financial advisors who want to create a thriving, successful and scalable practice. Each week we’ll uncover the ways that you can improve your referrals, your team, your marketing, and your business operations, helping you to level up your advising practice, bring in more assets, and to create the advising practice that you’ve dreamed of. You’ll be joined by our hosts Bryan sweet, who is moving fast towards a billion dollars in assets under management, Brittany Anderson, the driving force for advisors looking to improve their operations and company culture, and Draye Redfern who can help you systematize and automate your practices marketing and to effortlessly attract new clients. So what do you say? Let’s jump in to another amazing episode of the ultimate advisor podcast.

Brittany Anderson  01:07

Welcome back to your ultimate advisor podcast. This is Brittany Anderson and I have with me Mr. Draye, Redfern and Mr. Bryan sweet. And we’re continuing on this journey of figuring out what we can do to avoid having our success measures on met. So what can we do? And what can we put in place, what tends to happen, that really hinders people from reaching their full potential, and the highest level of success that they can get to. So we’ve talked about fear, we’ve talked about investing in yourself, your team, your future, we have talked about lacking in a defined sales process and what that can do to your future growth. So today, we’re gonna dive into the danger of being a do it all, or do it yourselfer, or a know it all or I don’t know how else to say that. But basically, we’re looking at how can you make sure that you do not become too much of a control freak in your business to where you’re unable to relinquish control of the things you shouldn’t be spending time on? And how do you make sure that you remain humble enough along the way, to be open to new ideas, to surround yourself with people who help you reach that next level of success, and not feel that you’ve kind of been there done that know everything you need to know in your business. So I would highly doubt if you’re listening to this, I don’t think you’re probably know at all, or I would guess that you’re somebody who’s hungry for knowledge, because you probably would not be spending the time listening to this podcast if that wasn’t true. So I will real frame this topic by saying that you’ve got a few maybe a little bit type A ish personalities here. We all like things to go in a certain way we like to control things, maybe control freak may fit maybe one two or three of us, I don’t know. So we’re here to say that we understand that this topic that we’re about to dive into can be really tough. You know, it can be hard not to feel like you are you know, Superman or Superwoman doing everything. I mean, I have to be reminded of this frequently. And you know, it’s one of those things where you think you can master and do it all. And after time, there’s this little tiny thing that creeps in called burnout. And it’s a real real thing, you get brain fog, you get tired, it’s hard to make decisions, you’re in a state of overwhelm, you know, you’re not showing up as your best self for the people that matter to you. And that’s detrimental for obvious reasons. So when we’re looking at today’s topic, we’re gonna hone a little bit more on the Don’t be that full di wire for everything in your business, to really help you gain that next level of success. So you may be listening to this, and maybe you’ve been the person in your business for whatever reason that you up to this point, have really been doing the majority of the work. So you might be doing the onboarding, to the scheduling to processing day to day transactions to everything in between you’re meeting with the clients, you’re preparing for them, you’re debriefing, after and you’re doing every aspect of your business, you might be that person that’s worn every hat, that’s all fine. And well, to a certain point. You know, we all when we’re going through that initial build, you know, that initial phase of starting the business where you kind of have to be everything to everyone. That’s what gets you off the ground. But what we want you to do is to work smarter, not harder. So you need to do a measure of what are the things that you’re working on or that you have your attention focused on that are maybe $10 an hour activities $15 an hour activities $20 an hour activities, what are those things that can actually be taken off your plate to in turn free you up to focus on the big needle movers to focus on what brings revenue into your business to bring on more assets, whatever it is that you’ve defined as a measure of success is where you need to be focusing your time and attention. So I’m going to jump over to kind of that out of the DI wire into the Noah dollar. So if you’re listening to this, you know, with a mindset that, you know, I’ve learned pretty much a lot of what I need to know, that’s a different realm, too, you know, what that means is you’re probably not putting yourself in the right room, you may very well and I can liken this, you know, there’s conferences that all three of us here have been to where we walk in, and we sit down, and we absorb. And we come in with an open mind. And we look at our notebook after and we’re like, didn’t really get a whole lot out of the material out of the presentation. But I made some great connections, and I met some really great people. You know, we’ve all been in situations like that, where you do definitely outgrow certain levels of material. But that doesn’t mean that you know, it all, it just means you need to put yourself in a different room. So that’s something to really know and embrace that you want to be around people who’ve reached the success level, not where you’re at. But actually where you want to be. You know, you want to look at modeling after people who’ve created success in a way that you would like to create it, not to get into the comparison trap, because I don’t think that’s productive, or healthy or good either. But just learning from the things that worked. You know, I would say one of the best investments that we’ve all all three of us here have done is putting ourselves around people that are actually outside of our industry. And what that’s allowed us to do is in turn, come back to you, our advisor audience, if you’re in our coaching programs, if you’re in our mastermind, we’re then able to bring ideas from all different industries saves you the time and hassle of doing it saves you a heck of a lot of money. But then we’re able to vet some of the good ideas that are coming not just in our industry. So you go from looking through a singular lens, to looking through a multifaceted one. And it’s a whole big world out there. There are brilliant ideas and brilliant minds to learn from. And we just want to make sure that as you achieve new levels of success, that we all don’t get in our own way that we don’t think that that’s the end all be all. Bryan has said for a lot of years. You know that whole adage of if it’s not what is it, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, we’ll go to the other direction and say, if it’s not broke, break it, let’s figure out how it can be even better. And I would say that’s a huge attribute to the success that we’ve achieved and continue to strive towards. So the goal and your business, as you’re thinking about how can I avoid being the person who does it all? Who knows it all, it’s by putting really great people around you. It’s by hiring you know, exceptional individuals, by delegating effectively by saying no to the things that maybe don’t give you energy that don’t get you excited for your business. You know, we’ve done over the course of the last couple years summits and challenges and different meetings and our mastermind groups. And one thing that we’ve heard is, people get advisors in particular get to a point in their business where they maybe feel a little bit of burnout, maybe a little bit of loss of vision, maybe they start to forget, like why the heck am I even doing this in the first place. And I will tell you that nine times out of 10. It’s because they’re spending their time and attention on things that they should not have their hands in. They’re still processing paperwork, they’re still scheduling client meetings, you can hire great people to do those things for you. So you’re in turn freed up to focus on what you enjoy. So don’t let that state of overwhelm kind of take over and Trump your drive towards success, because there is an even better way to do that. So Bryan, I would love for you to share a little bit. You know, we’ve talked about how you’re involved with different coaching programs, and really what your journeys been throughout the year. But I know there’s one program in particular that I know you can share a little bit on that’s really helped you kind of keep your focus as an entrepreneur.

Bryan Sweet  09:08

Yeah, I’ve been part of Strategic Coach for 20 to three years now. And it’s been very, very helpful. And a lot of things that I do today are because of all the lessons and things that Dan Sullivan and the founder of strategic coaches is taught me. And one of the most simple ones is the concept of free focus and buffer days. And the most important days are scheduling free days. And so as Brittany is alluded to, I build my calendar every year, I take two months, four months of the year, I take two weeks off and every other month, I take a week off a month, and then I build my work calendar around that. That’s thanks to Dan Sullivan, and works great for me but he’s taught me to only do things that I love to control my own schedule, and be able to step away from the company, but build a company that sustains, sustains itself, and actually even grows. And all of those things can be done by having the right team in place. And you can make this whole conversation extremely easy. If you read one book, which is a book that Ben Hardy and Dan Sullivan just came out with, six months ago called, who, not how, and it is, if you think you’re doing too many things, or you’d like to learn, well, why should I delegate, read that book, and if that doesn’t have some substantial input on your thought process and how you run your business, then you’re probably doing it exactly the way you should be. I will tell you, for 99% of you, you will make material changes, because the things that bog you down and things that you don’t like there are others in the world that love doing those things. And it’s just a matter of finding them and figuring out how do I collaborate with them? Or how do I hire them to do that for my firm, so I can spend all the time that I have on things that I love, things that I enjoy. And at the end of the day, kind of feel like, gee, I didn’t even realize as I was at work, because I was doing all sorts of fun things. And I will tell you, if you do that, why would you ever retire? Because really, you’re not working anyway, you’re doing things that are fun, enjoyable, profitable, and keep you very alert and growing every day and meeting people. Why would you want to quit doing that? If it’s really not truly work. And so that book, to me would be done with a key method or rationale as to what you need to do. I’ve read it three or four times. And it’s had life changing way of thinking I’ve changed how I think and what I do to even a greater extent. So I’ll leave it at that because it can be really that simple by reading one book and the books not that long. So you can literally read it a day or two.

Brittany Anderson  12:42

Hey, Brittany here, stopping and pausing for a moment to talk about something that we’ve had so many of you inquire about and that is our ultimate advisor, mastermind. Now, I’m going to start by saying if you are not a growth minded individual, if you are not somebody who is focused on taking your business to the next level, if you’re not focused on engaging your team, and helping them to help you in turn, level up the business, the service model, how you provide that wow experience to clients. If those things are not your focus, just fast forward right now, because the ultimate advisor mastermind would not then be for you. However, if you are looking to take your business to the next level, if you want to experience exponential growth and feel supported along the way, if you want to start working smarter and not harder, if you want to help your team members to work within the God given talents that they were provided, and use those skill sets in a way they haven’t yet to help support you and your business to help them realize their biggest goals, their biggest dreams. If you want creative approaches to marketing, I know that can be an intimidating word. But we’re not talking here about the fancy Facebook stuff or you know the latest and greatest but rather looking at how you can market what you do, how you can express how you’re different and how you can truly differentiate yourself in a crowded market space. If those are problems you’re looking to solve, then you absolutely want to go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com to learn more about how we can help you on your path and journey to growth.

Bryan Sweet  14:42

Draye I know you you work a lot with Ben and I don’t know if you got any comments relating to the book or other things but time for your wisdom.

Draye Redfern  14:50

Another topic I love I mean it’s funny that we just there’s so much of this just builds on itself. Ben is a dear dear friend and it was actually here last week. in the office mapping out some stuff for him. And the idea, I think, especially around people and team is a couple different things. I am not a bee at all, no at all. And we’ve talked a little bit about this in previous episodes, it is entirely a who not how attitude in our company, which I think is one of the reasons why we’ve been able to grow so fast. But we also I am more than happy to onboard someone to the team that does not have the experience that we need at that exact moment. Again, me playing the long game, not the short game, sort of the same thing on the golf course, too. I like the long game and not the short game. But anyway, the idea is always thinking down the line of what you would like to what do you want to build, so who not how applies to us in a couple different facets, I want people to be on the team that have a future self a very much a bad concept, a future self that is significantly greater than where they are at right now. Now, oftentimes, what that means is the skill sets have not yet caught up to the future self that they want to be now that I can buy into that I can have someone on the team, I don’t mind spending the time to train them, or to educate them more to direct them. Because if their future self is significantly bigger and involves impact, or giving back and learning and all of these things that align with our company and our culture, although on the rise is pretty easy. The rest can be taught now there’s certain things that you know, wisdom, can take time to learn. And it’s experiences and it’s falling on your face. But you can shortcut that oftentimes with training and these sorts of things. So I don’t consider myself to be at all do it all. No. And although I, I’ve been better about it, let’s just say I used to be a do it all, where you know what, forget it, just give it to me, I’ll do it myself sort of thing. And it wasn’t until you do that one or two or a couple 100 times. And you eventually learned like, you know what, we’re never going to quite get to the growth that we want to if I keep operating in this same way. So with that in mind, I think that there’s definitely some things to take away. Don’t be the do at all, no at all. Yes, it may be faster for you to do it. Maybe faster to do it yourself at that moment. But how many times you know, how much time are you going to waste Keno continually doing that? Not allowing your team to grow faster in these sorts of things? So I guess with that in mind, Brittany, I’ll send it over to you usually wrap up this, this week’s awesome episode.

Brittany Anderson  17:41

Yeah, you know, there’s one thing that kept popping in my head as both of you are talking. And that’s this is the Darren Hardy adage. So Darren Hardy was the founder of Success Magazine, if you’ve been listening for you know, how many 100 plus podcasts that we’ve done. You know, we’ve talked about Mr. Hardy before, but he has this whole thing where don’t read 52 books in a year, read one book 52 times. And I think, you know, if you’re thinking here about how do you avoid doing it all yourself? How do you avoid kind of that the no at all mentality. It’s really understanding where your focus and energy should be when it comes to kind of sharpening the pencil when it comes to sharpening your own skill set. And if you’re committing to reading, you know, 52 different books every year, like that’s like a badge of honor that people where they’re like, Oh, you’ve read 50 books, I’m gonna read 100 books this year. That’s crazy. Like, how do you even implement or execute on anything if you’re constantly putting too much input and not enough output? So I think when you think about where should your time and attention be, pick that one thing that’s going to be a catalyst for your own growth. The thing that I think about this is actually the first takeaway that I have for you is reading the book, who not how, you know, go to Amazon, it’s very easily available. It’s by Dan Sullivan. And Dr. Benjamin Hardy. It’s a great book. And it’s one that I think if you read multiple times over you know, like Bryan said, he’s read it at this point three or four times. Now that’s something that when you find a concept that resonates, when you find one that you just know is going to be a game changer for your business. Don’t just absorb it once and tuck it on the shelf to get dusty. Make that your guide and make it like your you know, your Bible that you take with you every day. That becomes something that every time you read it every time you absorb it, maybe you’re an audible person, maybe you like Audible, you like to listen to your books. You listen to it again. And again, you’re going to pick up something a little bit different every time because your brain may be looking for different solves maybe looking at different problems. So I think that’s something to just be so mindful of. So I know I jumped into one of the first takeaways, but Draye Bryan, anything else that you would add before we wrap?

Draye Redfern  19:59

Yeah, I think Who not how is an amazing book, I’d love to just reiterate that I’ve probably read the darn thing two or three times at this point in time, I know that all of our mastermind members were given that book probably about six months before it came out by Ben himself. So amazing concepts there, I really think that book, it could be the life changing business, changing the level up secret weapon that so many business owners are after, to really take things to the next level this year.

Brittany Anderson  20:29

I love it. Alright, so continuing right along. So the first takeaway was read who not how it will be a game changer, I couldn’t have said it better than what Draye just said right there, that was amazing. Going into the to the second takeaway, it’s making a list of the things that you are currently DIY that you know, needs to get on somebody else’s plate. So again, that’s those things. I mean, I’ve talked to very successful advisors, seven figure producing advisors, who by whatever chance, for whatever reason, are still scheduling their own appointments. That’s just not the best use of your time, that’s something that somebody else can do. So make that concerted effort to either delegate those items to a team member, or to actually hire for those needs. You know, we are huge advocates of hiring before you’re in desperate need of it. So that that person can help you grow and help you get to that next level of growth, versus you just putting a button a seat because you are way past overdue for that. The third takeaway is to really decide what rooms you both should and shouldn’t be in. Again, if just because you’ve done something or attended something or been part of a program for you know, x period of time, it doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s where you should be allocating your time for forever. So looking at what should you say yes to as far as helping you to up your game in your business. And what you should say no to. And I want to give a little context to this, you know, with our mastermind, we actually have people go through an application process, we believe so strongly and making sure that if we have an advisor coming in, you know, if they are at a point in their business, where we’re like, you know, what, you’re kind of already doing all the things that we would teach, we would not take your money. And on the flip side, too, if you’re somebody coming in who’s looking for a quick bandaid fix on things, that’s also not who we serve, because we believe that anything, anything that’s sustainable as far as growth, you have to play the long game. So you know, we have advisors go through an application process, so that we can help them decide what rooms they should and should not be in. If you want to, you know through that process or take a peek at what I’m talking about. Just simply go to ultimate advisor mastermind calm, and you can see the application you can see how we vet people. This is something that we believe that you should do for clients to have them go through whether it’s you know, an on on the phone kind of survey or application per se or you have them do something physical depending upon your your target demographic, and if they’re savvy online or whatever the case is, but have some sort of vetting to make sure that you’re both an equally mutually ideal fit for each other that ensures that they get in the right room. And you know, in turn when you look at it from the aspect or prospect of growing your business that helps you get in the right room too. So that wraps up today’s episode of your ultimate advisor podcast. We will be back here with you in the next episode.

Hey there, Brittany Anderson here. If you are loving what you’re hearing on our ultimate advisor podcast, don’t keep us a secret. Share us with other advisors that you think would benefit from the messages that you are hearing. The easiest way to do that is to simply send them to ultimateadvisorpodcast.com. And if you want to learn a few other ways that we could potentially serve you as an advisor, go check out ultimateadvisormastermind.com. As always, we are so happy to have you here with us as part of the ultimate advisor community and we look forward to a continued relationship