When you’re starting out in the financial planning business, it can often be difficult to believe in yourself and your ability to create a successful seven-figure independent firm. However, without the confidence in yourself and your business, you will likely never be able to reach the levels of success you want. This chicken and egg scenario can be a huge stumbling block for new advisors, and I talk in-depth about this concept in my video about boosting confidence. The key is to find ways to start building your confidence before you attain success as it will naturally lead to the success you desire. Here are some ways to get started.
Build a History of Small Successes
It’s tough to have a lot of self-confidence when you don’t have any ‘wins’ to celebrate. That’s why it’s so important to utilize a system that lets you build small successes into your daily routine. The important thing to remember here is they don’t have to be big wins. If you think bringing on a multi-millionaire as a client is the only thing that qualifies as a win, you’re going to be in big trouble. Wins should be attainable within the confines of a single day and should build on each other to attain bigger and bigger wins.
One of my favorite systems was developed by Andy Frisella and is described in his MFCEO podcast. It’s called a Power List, and it involves identifying five things you need to do every day to help you reach your big goals. For example, you could have items like writing a blog post, reaching out to three potential clients, or watching one self-development video on your list. If you can cross off each of your five tasks, you WIN the day. At the end of the week, if you have more wins than losses, then you WIN the week. It’s a simple concept that delivers big results and really helps those new to the business ratchet up their confidence levels.
Work on Physical Health and Image
Many advisors concentrate on taking their confidence to the next level by taking courses, learning from mentors, and making sure they can answer every financial question that comes their way. This is all good, but I encourage those advisors I work with not to forget that their physical health also has a huge impact on their confidence and overall success. If you look good, you feel good, and it shows. When you make sure to get enough exercise, watch what you eat and drink, and take the time to dress nicely and groom yourself, you can’t help but exude confidence.
However, if you’ve let yourself put on a few too many pounds, eat fast food every day, and keep forgetting to take your clothes to the dry cleaners, it will have a serious impact on how you feel about yourself and how others view you. You need to take care of yourself before you can effectively take care of your clients.
Consider Your Emotional Confidence
Your emotional health is all about what you let into your life and how you feed your brain. For example, if you hang out with a lot of toxic people and spend your free time watching reality television, your emotional health is going to be poor and this will lead to a lack of emotional confidence. If, on the other hand, you surround yourself with positive, successful people, read books that expand your mind, and carefully filter the media you are exposed to, you can build up a strong reserve of emotional confidence that will shine through and help you get through any situation.
Too many advisors believe the confidence only comes after success. The truth of the matter is, you need to build confidence in order to build success and not the other way around. When you build a history of small, attainable success and focus on both your physical and emotional health, you will slowly but sure increase your confidence levels and your overall business success will surely follow. If you’d like to chat more about building confidence, please reach out so we can talk more.
