Building your dream practice: How incremental progress can change your business

It can be difficult to see our own potential. Sometimes you can feel it or know that a transition is on the horizon, but as far as seeing how far you can go… that often takes some perspective from the outside.

I was recently writing an email to a young woman who is just starting out as an admin in our industry. She has an ebullient personality and charisma. She is an adorable firecracker of a young woman. She has the potential to go a long way, but she doesn’t know it yet. She can’t see it.

As someone from the outside looking in, I could recognize it right away. Because I’ve had more industry experience, I can see that she’s in the phase of her life when it’s important to continue her education and earn a degree so when new opportunities arise, she’s ready. She even has the chance to go back to school for free through her employer. However, she believes she’s too busy.

This young woman has amazing potential, but she’s letting the days, months and years pass without marked progress. And I get it. Sometimes when you’re looking at something as enormous as getting your education or starting your own practice or even making changes in your personal life, it can be paralyzing.

But it’s something we must power through. I know because I’ve done it.

After communicating back and forth with this young woman, I felt it was important to share with her the philosophy that’s always propelled me to move forward: You can choose to make incremental progress, or you can choose to stay stagnant. Time doesn’t discriminate.

Time passes either way.

Until I was 30, there was barely a moment when I wasn’t working toward some educational goal.

• When I was in high school, I was taking college classes.
• When I was in the Army, I was in night school.
• When I was working full-time after the Army, I was finishing my degree.
• When I was working as a mortgage broker, I was getting my licensing done.
• When I was starting out as an advisor, I was studying for my CFP and then my ChFC.

Through my 30s, I slowed down a bit, but when I look back, I can see I was still making progress, feeding my passion for self-growth. I became fluent in Korean, received an associate degree in Asian studies and a bachelor’s degree in business. I became a licensed personal trainer and a financial advisor, getting certifications as a CFP and ChFC.

I’ve never once had the luxury to just study and be a student; it was always a side hustle. But my mantra that “time will pass either way” always served me.

Now, even though I’m 40, the same mantra serves me in my practice.

• People ask me how I write so much content: very slowly and very consistently.
• They ask me how I created all of the The Intentional Advisor processes: very slowly, through trial and error.
• People wonder how I built a practice that covers 100% of my financial needs via recurring revenue: very slowly and one client at a time.

So, what are you doing incrementally to improve your life and your business? The time will pass either way.

 

---

 

Lucila Williams CFP® is the founder of The Intentional Advisor, a practice management consulting firm dedicated to helping financial advisors build their practices with PURPOSE and on PURPOSE.  She is also the President of LOTUS Financial Partners, an advice-based comprehensive financial planning practice in Denver, CO.

Lucila shares her message with financial advisors throughout the country through speaking engagements at industry events, online courses and one-on-one consulting.  She is fulfilling her purpose to help alleviate financial stress in the world by donating 100% of the 2018 net speaking fees to financial literacy charities.