November 2012 Blog Posts on The Prosperous Advisor

Here are my blog posts from November of 2012 on my new blog:
The Prosperous Advisor

Does Business Coaching for Financial Advisors Work?

Financial Advisor Goals – What Kind of Goals Should You Have?

Coaching Tip of the Week – Create a Daily Success Schedule

October 2012 Blog Posts on The Prosperous Advisor

Happy November! I had a great Halloween and I'm looking forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving. Listed below are all my posts for October on the Prosperous Advisor.

39 Financial Advisor Marketing Ideas That Rock

Coaching Tip of the Week – The Human Mind and Your Email

Financial Advisor Marketing Ideas: Give Back with a Client Appreciation Event

12 Big Signals That You Need to Update Your Financial Planning Brand

4 Ways to Appeal to Affluent Prospects With Your Brand

Monday Motivation – Are You Committed to Success?

ENJOY!

Financial Advisor Business Plan Success

I've been busy giving workshops, working with new clients, and spending time on my passion which is writing for my new blog, The Prosperous Advisor. Since I became a little bored with my marketing tactics, my coach encouraged me to pursue making some videos right from my office desk. So the video above is about the sections you'll need in a Business Plan for a financial advisor. This video was really easy to do. I don't know why I put if off for so long. Please take a look!

Take a look at my Financial Advisor Business Plan Package!

September 2012 Blog Posts on The Prosperous Advisor

I've been busy in September creating some great blog posts on my new blog, The Prosperous Advisor. Here are the links for September:


Marketing Question - How do you target a specific niche in your marketing
The age old question is if you declare a niche, how do you target that niche. I think advisors can do a better job of narrowing down their target market therefore improving their results.

Monday Motivation - How to start thinking positively
We have to get out of the rut and turn away from negative people in order to find real success. There are many ways to begin to think in a positive manner. Here are a few ways.

Coaching Tip of the Week - Commitment to Succeed
Not everyone has the will to succeed. In this coaching tip of the week, I explain what gives. It takes real commitment and effort to be a successful person. You just have to dig deep and find that commitment.

Monday Motivation - Never Give Up
Some are more inclined than others to give up. Here's how to never give up.

4 Steps to a Successful End of Year Marketing Plan
Detailed post about how to go about getting the most out of the end of the year with your marketing. This post asks a few questions about the effectiveness of your current marketing plan and offers some tools to be more successful.

Monday Motivation - Moving Forward
Brief nugget about keep on keeping on.

The Great Work-Cation Experiment - Blending Work and Vacation
I had a month long working vacation on the coast. It was an experiment and a HUGE success. In this post I talk about how we can change the way we view vacation and enjoy life more.

See my Affluent Marketing Article in Practice Management Solutions
I'm proud to support the Financial Planning Association. See their digital publication with my article.

And, here's a landing page for my new and updated Business Plan Template for Financial Advisors

August 2012 Blog Posts on The Prosperous Advisor

It's hard to believe that I have been writing this blog for five years! Thank you to all my loyal readers. I have made some changes in my business that have allowed me to add a blog to my website domain. From now on I will be posting a monthly roundup here of the posts on my new blog.

Here are links to posts you might find interesting:

5 Things you Can Do in 10 Minutes Daily That Will Move your Practice Forward

3 Ways to Make your Practice Work for YOU So That YOU Can Create the Life You Want

Advisors, 4 Surprising Things Prospects Want to Learn When They Visit your Website

How to Find Balance Between Your Life Today and Your Future Success

The Financial Advisors Guide to the New Rules of Marketing

Are You Missing This Key Section of your Business Plan? Your SWOT Analysis 

Incremental Change Equals Coaching Success – 4 Strategies for Lasting Change

Selective Ruminations on Creating Success Rituals

I attended a conference a few months back where the speaker focused on the choices we make in life. He said that 92% of the choices we make are based on patterns in our lives, some good and some bad. In many cases, we are not aware of the damaging impact some choices have on our success.

This lead me to think about how much I have changed my patterns over the last eight years (post coach training). From getting better sleep, limiting alcohol, managing stress, and seeing happiness.

So I ask you, what can you do to create success rituals in your life?

Sleep – No matter how much sleep you are getting, you probably need at least one hour more.  I've always been a good sleeper but I've noticed that I need a very cool room in order to get into the deep sleep I need. Delta wave sleep is the goal and coolness is required to get there. When we sleep in a cool room our bodies release Human Growth Hormone which repairs damage to our bodies experienced during the day. So my husband and I installed a separate air conditioner in our master bedroom for the summer months. It gets really hot in Phoenix, so May through September I suffer from the heat.

Stress – The adrenal glands are responsible for producing hormones that manage stress. At times when we are under great stress, it makes sense to engage in rituals where we are doing our best to relax.  

If you are not exercising, practicing deep breathing, using visualization, and practicing meditation you could be missing out on natural ways to improve your health and decrease negativity in your life.

Alcohol – I love to have a glass or two of wine in the evening but I've noticed if I have more than two glasses on the weekends, I don't sleep well. I didn't understand why until I found out that alcohol breaks down into heat – energy is converted into heat in the body, which can prevent restful sleep. That's why a cool room is necessary for good health.

Happiness – Why do we work so hard at being successful? What's it all for? If we are not engaged in social activities where we are meeting people, going parties, spending time with family and friends, then why work so hard? Happiness comes from within. Do activities that make you happy. Being with people makes me happy. Even though my job is solitary, I make sure to get out and socialize because being with people makes me happy.

What are you doing to be happier? What success rituals are you creating in your life?

Suzanne Muusers

Success Coach to Motivated Entrepreneurs

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Three Reasons Why I Love Generating Passive Income

I've had several businesses over the years. In Hawaii I had a wholesale fine jewelry business selling to an upscale department store. Sales were pretty good. I don't want to date myself, but this was in the eighties and Hawaii had quite a bit of tourist traffic.  I designed my inventory and had it manufactured in Hong Kong and Thailand and sold it in Hawaii. When I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona I opened two upscale retail stores selling artistic jewelry and objects d'art. I went on buying trips to Asia and Mexico and bought some of my inventory at wholesale trade shows in the U.S.

Both of these businesses required inventory, packaging, shipping, importing, pricing, office space, overhead, insurance, etc. You get the idea. A great deal of work went into making these businesses profitable and successful.

Now that I have my coaching business, I still do a great deal of work IN my business. However I have come to enjoy the ability to generate passive revenue from information products I have designed myself. How did I do that? I just looked at problems my clients were experiencing over and over again, created a solution and made it available for others to purchase on the internet without having to hire me.

I recently met one of my goals – attaining a nice big chunk of passive revenue. This led me to think about why I love passive income. So here are three reasons why I love generating passive income:

Once you've done the work, you get paid over and over again.

I don't mean to say that it's easy to create a product and sell it on the internet. First you have to create the product and bonuses. Then you have to have it designed (otherwise you'll look like an amateur). Then you have to load it to a webpage, get a shopping cart, and create the webpage copy. Then the hard part comes. You have to market the product.

Duh. You get income for doing nothing.

It's really nice to get a "Merchant E-Mail Receipt" in your inbox every time you make a sale.  I have set up my Outlook to send these receipts straight to my folder with a label of the same name. When there's a new receipt, the folder becomes bolded alerting me to check out what I've sold. That's a good feeling!

Passive income is "gravy" and allows you to enjoy the extras in life.

I'm not Tony Robbins (but I'd love to meet him), so I still have a regular job coaching independent financial advisors Monday through Thursday. Assuming you are still working in your main job, passive income makes life easier and can finance a month at the beach (which I'm doing this August), an international trip, or a renovation project.  

Those are my reasons for loving passive income. Getting paid over and over again for work I've done years ago really appeals to me. Getting income for doing nothing is wonderful. Enjoying the finer things in life is cool.

So my question for you is: what do you need to do with your business and your life to create your own passive revenue stream of income?

Suzanne Muusers

Business Coach to "Out of the Box" Advisors

Goal Setting Exercise – Make This Your Best Year Ever!

I have discovered that goal setting does not come easily for many people. Perhaps they have never created goals that worked for them or perhaps they have created goals that were not measurable. When you can't measure something, it's difficult to achieve success. That's why as a companion to my post about Personal Goal Planning, I have written a goal setting exercise to help you make this year the best year ever. Remember, shoot for the moon. Even if you fail you will land among the stars!

Goals

Please think about goals you would like to set for yourself for this calendar year. Examples could be: business income; new clients; new AUM; new skills; development of new strategies; new marketing tactics; # of referrals received; networking events to attend; new business relationships created; COI coffees or meetings; personal wellbeing; stress reduction; elimination of frustrating circumstances; vacations; work/life balance. 

Please create goals using the SMART GOALS process: 

Specific – Make your goals specific.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

Measurable – Create goals that you can measure. If your goal is to attend five networking events per week and you attend two, then you can measure where you need to step up activity.

Achievable – Make your goal something that you can reasonably achieve. If your goal is to work out three hours seven days a week, is that achievable? Probably not.

Realistic - To be realistic, a goal should be something you are both willing and able to work on. Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. If your goal is $500K in revenue but last year you brought in $100K, then it's not realistic based on past results.  

Timely - Establish an achievable time frame that allows you to carry out the actions to achieve your goal. If you were to focus on your goals over six months to one year, that is an achievable time frame.

How many goals should you have? I like to have business goals and personal goals. Here's a good format:

Business Goals: what are the three business goals you would like to achieve in the next 6 to 12 months? Be as specific as possible.

1.

2.

3.

Personal Goals: what are the three personal goals you would like to achieve in the next 6 to 12 months? Be as specific as possible.

1.

2.

3.

Consistency

It takes twenty one days to build a habit. If you have exercise goals then realize that you'll need to build your habits so that it becomes natural for you to go to the gym or go for a run on a regular basis.  You'll need to do the activities that will help you achieve your goals. So check in with yourself from time to time to ensure you are taking action.

Here's to your success!!!

Suzanne Muusers

Business Coach to Successful Entrepreneurs

Happy New Year 2012!

Happy New Year 2012!

The New Year brings with it hope for the future, better economic times ahead, opportunity, and prosperity.  Life is what you make it. What does your ideal life look like? What do you want more of in your life in 2012? What are the opportunities for you?

Use this time to think deeply about what needs to happen for you to enjoy your life…

I wish you peace and prosperity in 2012!

Suzanne Muusers

Entrepreneur and Business Coach