The Distraction-Proof Advisor Podcast: Recent Episodes
Paul Kingsman
Recapture the clear vision and enthusiasm you had before distractions stole your time and energy! On the Distraction-Proof Advisor podcast, we provide real-world-tested solutions and practical steps to help you hone in on what’s important.
As a former financial advisor himself, your host, speaker and author Paul Kingsman, understands what financial advisors need to thrive in the real world. And as an Olympic medalist, he knows the challenges and importance of focusing over the long haul to achieve big goals. Paul’s inspiring conversations with his guests and solution-focused episodes bring you insights and actionable ideas to get the clients you want, the money you need and more control of your life.
Change your default from overwhelmed to on-top-of-things. Hit subscribe and get ready to learn how to focus on what matters most to build the distraction-proof business and life you want.
Many busy advisors explore using LinkedIn, but soon become overwhelmed and confused then end up ignoring it. After all, isn’t it mainly a job seeker and recruitment tool, and why should they spend their limited time there? LinkedIn expert Jennifer Darling says no businessperson can afford to ignore LinkedIn because it can be a powerful marketing machine for your business – if you set up your profile in the right way. In this interview she explains the three areas to concentrate on to simply set up your LinkedIn profile the right way, for lead generation, sales and even client retention.
Why would a financial advisor want to write a book? Cynthia Zigmund says there can be a range of reasons – from a brief introduction to a deeper dive into your business philosophy and showcasing how you use your expertise to positively impact your clients’ lives. If done well, it can make a huge difference in connecting with your ideal clients. But many aspiring authors don’t know what to expect or have misconceptions about what creating a useful book entails. Many don’t understand that creating a well-published book is much more than simply printing a manuscript. She discusses what makes a successful book and how her team at Second City Publishing Services provides direction and resources to ensure a great end result.
Mitch Anthony has been creating innovative discovery approaches for financial advisors to use for more than two decades. He helps advisors understand the necessity for listening and hearing people, then provides ideas and solutions for doing just that. He’s certainly experienced to do this: he’s helped his local community significantly by establishing their first suicide/crisis hotline and saw first-hand the necessity for listening to people during their most deep and personal times of need – much like financial advisors do when listening to their client’s plans, regrets, and aspirations. In this episode he discusses important mindsets and skills necessary when beginning conversations with people; patience, empathy and an approach that will set you apart from many advisors and have people opening up to you, seeing you as the professional they need, and beginning healthy relationships with you. He says that advisors need to understand the importance of getting to the heart before going for a product. Every one of us has a story; the sooner someone sees you as genuinely interested in hearing theirs, the sooner they’ll trust you, tell you more, and permit you to become valuable in their life.
LaRae Quy was an FBI undercover and counterintelligence agent for 20 years and spokesperson for the Agency’s San Francisco Division for another 4 years. Today, she marries neuroscience and social psychology to help people develop mental toughness so they can effectively manage their emotions, thoughts, and behavior in ways to set themselves up for success. In this episode she discusses key processes for developing a strong mind, which all start with facing reality and self-awareness. She says, while life can be hard, and pain is inevitable, growth is optional. She is on a mission to equip people with tools to choose growth and enjoy the results.
Brian McArthur, creator of the Medicare Execution Process™, understands why Medicare is the most overlooked part of the financial planning process: it’s convoluted, constantly changing and creates minimal revenue. Advisors know Medicare planning is a need for all their clients who reach age 64, yet industry education has been lacking in equipping advisors to guide their clients to effective Medicare results. Clients’ confusion is only multiplied when they are bombarded by the Medicare insurance industry’s fear-based marketing material. Brian provides a way for advisors to have clients look to them for the advice and guidance they most need at this perplexing time.
Meghan Hyland is a Financial Advisor, CFP, MBA student, newlywed, Ironman triathlete, and mentor to girls from developing countries. How does she do it all? Discipline. She says while she is disciplined by nature, it is also a skill that she has intentionally nurtured because she has seen how well it has served her and others in the past. Rather than seeing it as a limit on her freedom, she believes it gives her more freedom to choose activities that make a difference in her life and the lives of those she advises, works with and mentors. She dives into details of WestHill Financial Advisors’ philosophies which drive everything they do and their continued high growth, from insisting on financial planning, having less frequent portfolio reviews, sticking to the AUM-fee model, and passive investing approach.
Playing football in the NFL felt like SaVion Harris’ destiny – his brother and many close friends played, and he always thought he would be next. But a college season filled with multiple significant injuries brought an end to that dream and forced him to pivot. Knowing he had given his all to his lifelong dream, the transition did not leave him filled with regret; but instead feeling grateful. The game he loved had prepared him well for his next step in life – becoming a financial advisor. Hear how SaVion shifted his “big-dream” approach, teamwork skills, and honest self-analysis to the financial services industry, overcoming setbacks to successfully build a business based on serving his clients like family.
So many financial professionals end up trading their health for their career and don’t really take notice of their declining health until they get some shocking wakeup call. But, exercise physiologist and Certified Wellness Coach Stevyn Guinnip says it doesn’t have to be this way. We can avoid or even recover from “Advisor-Bod.” In fact, she says, advisors’ financial know-how is actually a super-power they can apply to reclaiming their health for good, staying on track forever, and retiring “wellthy.” She says the journey to physical health is almost identical to the journey to financial wealth, from starting early, to having a plan, to making small but consistent deposits. In this interview she talks about some of the most important (and obvious) health markers many advisors are overlooking and provides many no-cost, easy-to-implement activities to boost your wellness account balance, which is just as vital to a quality retirement as your financial account balance.
Brooklyn Brock, CFP®, CEPA®, ChFC®, CKA®, says financial advisors are their own worst clients. Advisors rarely do financial planning or retirement planning for themselves like they do for their clients, and most advisors’ business succession plans fail because they never get started. Brock, a 3rd generation financial advisor herself, is founder of Ellevate Advisors, LLC, the only advisory firm in the world that specializes in financial planning and exit coaching for advisors. She discusses why advisors need to hire a professional to advise them, despite often believing they can best take care of things for themselves. She also highlights issues people simply can’t work through effectively without outside/distanced input. Hear her specific advice for advisors about how to avoid distractions and shape your day-to-day activities to ensure you successfully achieve your end vision for both your professional and personal life.
The last two years have changed almost everything, and if you’re relying on old assumptions you likely have the wrong ideas about what your clients need, want and expect, says client insight and engagement expert Julie Littlechild. What has in the past seemed too “touch-feely” to be very relevant to financial advising is now key to effectively connecting with and leading your clients in ways that truly meet their needs, wants and expectations of their advisor. Julie emphasizes the difference between seeking client input (which focuses on how the advisor is doing their job) and client feedback (which instead focuses on how the client is doing). She says only when advisors ask the right questions to understand their clients’ feelings, concerns, and needs can they properly strategize how to effectively lead clients and deliver the best possible experience for them.
Matt Halloran respects how tough it is for financial advisors to run a practice, do effective marketing and live a life. He teaches advisors how to use podcasting to amplify their influence while being themselves, letting their passions shine through and creating strong brands that resonate with ideal prospects and centers of influence – all within our highly regulated industry of financial services.
The Family Business Whisperer, David Specht, says working with family-owned businesses is forever interesting because each family is like a unique puzzle. Yet, again and again he sees advisors make the mistake of focusing on product instead of people. And even those who do focus on people can undermine their efforts by leaving key people out of the conversation, failing to be genuinely curious about others in addition to the typical family business-decision maker, and not showing empathy. David talks about how to pay attention to the right people, ask tough questions, and focus on what matters most to bring value that creates clients relationships that last for generations.
Who are your ideal clients? Wouldn’t you like to work with more people just like them? But what will attract people like this to you? Why would they choose you over an advisor down the street? Steve Wershing says your clients know why you’re the best advisor for them and can tell you how to find more clients like them. He is the nation’s foremost authority on financial client advisory boards, and his firm, The Client Driven Practice, LLC, collects feedback from your clients and then coaches you to use it to create referral marketing that works. In this episode he talks about who should be on your advisory board (including the non-clients you want on your board), how boards operate best, and ways to focus on and know you’re delivering what your clients want most from you. He also shares great insights about helping clients feel comfortable working with a team, the real job of advisory founders, and why you may even want a curmudgeon to be on your board.
Part 2 of the process Paul Kingsman and his coaching clients use to set and achieve goals for themselves. After creating your TARGET Goals, which Paul shared in detail in Episode 11 – “Create Your 2022 Blueprint for Success – Part 1,” join him for this next part of creating your pathway to the success you want. He’ll explain how to turn your goals into practical, actionable priorities that will shape your daily activities. You’ll learn how to leverage the benefits you’ll enjoy when you achieve your goals to stay focused and motivated as you move toward your success as quickly as possible.
Paul Kingsman shares the goal-setting and achieving method he uses for himself and his coaching clients, so you, too, can avoid the frustrations and disappointments of New Year resolutions that are long forgotten by February. Learn what to do, step-by-step, to create the tools you need to stop wasting your effort and your time and confidently know you are doing what matters most to overcome distractions and reach your personalized ideal picture of success as soon as possible. While taking time out of your busy schedule to think about and plan your year ahead may feel unproductive, it is actually the best investment you can make to save future time, emotion and energy.
Entrepreneur, money maven, and wealth advisor Nicole Middendorf gets personal about struggles in her life that led to her a low point of feeling she had lost herself in a life she never wanted or imagined. She shares how her own process of figuring out how to start over, including reigniting an entrepreneurial passion she’d had since childhood, and creating a vision for the life she did want would eventually lead her to empowering clients, colleagues and audiences to make crucial positive changes in their own lives so they, too, can find happiness in their financial, professional and personal lives. Nicole tells how she keeps perspective and balance in her busy life, including regularly assessing what’s working and what’s not, seeking feedback, being authentic and transparent, as well even welcoming mistakes as opportunities to learn and improve.
The financial services industry landscape is fundamentally changing, creating great opportunities, if advisors are willing to shift their mindset and behavior. Mike McGlothlin, an expert in business-growth strategies for financial advisors, shares valuable life lessons learned while working with legendary Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight that, for decades, have propelled both professional and personal success for him and the business teams he has led in our industry. He and Paul dive into the value of processes, consistently executing small steps, controlling the “controllables,” and the critical advantage of collaborating with peers.
Now is an opportune time to build deep and lasting relationships with clients, and the best way to do that, according to Senior Regional Director, Advisory & Intermediary Solutions at Russell Investments, Tim Halverson, is to ask great questions, truly listen to their answers, show them empathy in these uncertain times, and keep them on track with plan. While he says there is always a place for great returns, what is even more important is clients’ assurance that you care for them and are there for them. The greatest ROI activity an advisor can do is to spend their time developing meaningful client relationships.
Over 70% of parents say their number one concern is paying for college, but most advisors do not have the tools, resources, or training to help guide their clients through this daunting and confusing process of making one of the biggest expenditures of their lives. Joe Messinger is on a mission to change the way America shops for college. He and his team have cracked the code. They help advisors help their clients know they’re not overpaying for college and ensure their children get great educations, without having to rob retirement funds or drown in student loan debt. Joe shares eye-opening realities about the college marketing machine and shares how College Aid Pro educates and supports advisors so they can stand out from the crowd and successfully guide their clients through the college-funding maze. Their solutions go well beyond the typical 529-plan and loan solutions and ensure every student having clients arrive at well-informed, affordable college-buying decisions, while simultaneously cultivating clients for life.
Molly Prues discusses ways advisors can better understand and address the unique needs of their senior clients who are nearing end-of-life and help empower both them as well as strengthen intergenerational relationships by supporting clients’ families. Molly has more than 25 years’ experience working with older adults and their families and also journeyed alongside her mother as her caregiver for 12 years. She founded her company VistaLynk to promote awareness of older adults’ needs and develop solutions to reframe our vision of aging and caregiving.
While we’re working diligently in the production studio this week, hear about some of what you can learn from upcoming episodes. Make sure to subscribe so you get new episodes as soon as they drop.
Paul Kingsman shares the main cause of distractions that result in so many of advisors struggling, the keys to creating an effective vision for your business and how to use it to help you identify distractions, direct your daily activities, and ultimately succeed sooner.
Go from surviving to thriving. Business transformation expert Jennifer Goldman discusses helping financial advisors make operational changes to end the frustration and overwhelm and create the businesses they always wanted, with happier owners, staff and clients. She highlights common challenges and solutions, that require time, but deliver results.
Wendy Boglioli and her teammates went into the 1976 Olympics with the deck stacked against them. After facing a week of devastating defeats in the pool against the systematically doped East German women’s team, the US women decided they were not leaving without a gold medal. Hear about one of the greatest races ever swum, the mindset to succeed in Montreal, and how Wendy then applied the lessons she learned to become a successful long-term care specialist, consistently ranked among the top producers in the US.
Calling all financial advisors — get equipped to build the business you want!
Frustrated with lurching instead of leading? Has your vision for your business become unfocused as demands and distractions grow? You’re not alone. Most financial advisors feel they don’t have control of their business.
But this new podcast will help break free from the frustrations and distractions that hold you back. Listen and learn how to gain control, work smarter, and succeed sooner.