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PRACTICE MANAGEMENT News You Can Use
This issue's article is by Joseph J. Lukacs, Business Coach and the founder of International Performance Group LLC., a professional business coaching company delivering customized coaching and training. | | 
"Your Daily Game Plan" (part Two)
(from Chapter three of his new book, Practice Power - 12 Steps to Take your Business to the Next Level, reprinted by permission)by Joseph Lukacs
Book-Ending Your Day
Let’s go through the process my clients experience when I work with them personally, beginning with “book-ending” your day.
What do I mean by book-ending? It’s your beginning and ending goals that hold everything else that you do together in the middle of your day. (Visualize a pair of bookends.) For example, what time are you absolutely committed to coming into your office? And, even more importantly, what time are you absolutely committed to ending your day at the office?
Most advisors don’t have an endpoint to their day and eventually start playing a mental game with themselves where they continually say, “I will do that later” or “I can stay a little later. I will get that done after the market. I will get that done at 6:00 tonight” or “I will just stay late tonight.”
What happens is they develop a pattern where their day gets longer and longer and longer yet their productivity doesn’t in crease. The truth is, 99.9 percent of us don’t get paid by the hour. So, to me, the hours you put in are not a good gauge of how well you are doing in your practice.
There have been people who contacted me swearing they spend 12, 14, 16 hours a day in the office. Always busy. Overwhelmed and overloaded.
When I ask how they’re doing income-wise, it invariably comes back that they’re barely scraping bottom, barely making $60,000 to $70,000 a year. Believe me, if you’re working 14 to 16, hours a day, coming in on a Saturday morning and are not doing hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal income, there is something wrong with this picture.
Step #3: Write down the amount of time you are absolutely committed to spending in your office. Determine what time you will arrive and what time you will leave.
Of course, there will be exceptions. You may have some child care issues, you may have to stay late because of a client situation, or there is some extraordinary event or project you must work on. These are your guidelines, not absolutes, because you need to remain flexible. Part of that flexibility includes breaking your day up into two mini-days. I am a big believer in having a “morning” and an “afternoon” day.
As an example, here is how my day is divided:
- I am up every morning at 5:30.
- My first client meeting is between 5:30 and 7 a.m. (and has been for the last 10 years.) Between 5:30 and 7 a.m.
- I do what most people do in the morning, get up, take a shower, have breakfast, but I also add a couple crucial things during that time that I’ll be discussing shortly.
- I go through a half-hour sequence that I call my “power time.” This is when I review my goals and daily game plan, which is basically my schedule. I prep. Do some motivational reading. Maybe listen to a tape. I may do some yoga or go for a walk or run. I’ll do anything that is going to put me in the best shape to hit my day running hard and running successfully at 7 a.m.
- From 7 a.m. until noon, I am on the phone constantly. I am off one call and on to another. That's my “morning day” and it’s pretty much what I do every day.
- I then take a two-hour break from 12 to 2 p.m. and this time is absolutely sacred. You can never book a time with me then, because during those two hours I go to the gym, take a walk or have lunch with my wife. This allows me to mentally break up my day so I can better focus on the task at hand.
- I come back at 2 p.m. and work until 7 p.m. I work a 12- hour day, but when you really look at it, it is a 10-hour day (or more precisely, two five-hour blocks with a two-hour break in between.)
While some of you will panic and say, “Joe, there’s no way I could take off a couple of hours mid-day. It just wouldn’t work.”
Think about it, though … if you take that time and go to the gym, take a walk, meditate, or do whatever you can to cultivate your energy, in the afternoon, when a vast majority of the people in this industry are literally falling asleep at their desk, you’ll have the energy to complete your task during the second part of the day—or during the second “mini-day.” More in our next issue!________________________________________________________________________
Author's note: Joseph J. Lukacs, Business Coach, is the founder of International Performance Group LLC., a professional business coaching company delivering customized coaching and training, by telephone, to financial and insurance professionals. International Performance Group LLC. is based in Melbourne, Florida. Joseph can be reached at 321-255-2889, by e-mail to JJL@jpginc.net, or visit our Web site: http://www.jpginc.net ________________________________________________________________________
This Month's Registered Rep Opportunity
This B/D's mission is to provide the highest quality products and services to their professional financial planners so they can help their clients achieve their financial goals. Their success is measured through the valuable relationships they have with their Reps and their clients, the sponsors of the products and services they offer, and their staff. Each day they strive to provide Value, Service and Reliability to all they serve.
Putting Reps First
Putting Reps First is their motto, because they believe that strong home office support can increase your business and better serve your clients. While other broker/dealers strive to become as big as they can as quickly as they can, they've implemented a smarter strategy. Their policy of controlled growth has allowed them to maintain a steady increase in the number of Reps, while watching Rep revenues more than double within six years and company revenues almost triple.
Their Principals
They concentrate on retention of qualified personnel, providing personal service, and giving their Reps access to the principals of their company. The same principals who have gone on record that the company will survive them. They're not being bought. They're not being absorbed. They're not being told who to work with. They have a core staff of experienced financial experts, and a few energetic upstarts who provide differing viewpoints and keep us up on industry changes. Like you, they're independent. A boutique firm where the Reps voice can be heard.
Product Support
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Technology
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If you know anyone who would be interested in this or other rep opportunities, please have them contact Jason at 727-725-8876!
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Here are some additional opportunities from Turning Point, Inc.:
Consider membership in the Wealth Advisor Institute, www.wealthai.com. Educational opportunities, professionalism, research, networking and group benefit programs are all part of your membership in this organization catering to the advisor with a focus on the high net worth marketplace.
TURNING POINT in the MEDIA!Turning Point's President, Mitch Vigeveno, was recently quoted in Sydney LeBlanc's new article for Broker Dealer Magazine, "One Recruiter's Rules for Hiring and Retaining." Click here to see the article. TURNING POINT PARTNERS:
Are you getting the most out of your business? Are you operating at peak efficiency? How about your marketing, your compliance, or your HR? We have some friends who can help you out. Just visit our Partners section in our website for links to a variety of services that are helpful to building your business! Quote of the Day:
"The person who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed."
Gordon Parks
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