With that being said let's get into our final topic of 2018, which is really 2019! Here is my number one question for you what are your goals for the New Year?

 

Let's talk business first. What is your revenue goals? Now what many of my advisors do is they'll get linear with their goal planning and what I mean by that is they'll pick one number.

 

They'll say I want to do $1 million or $5 million dollars in 2019. I find this to be a very dangerous concept because there are so many variables in our industry, there are market variables and there's the size of a new client, so you could have nearly a 10x to 100x swing with one client.

 

What I want are ranges. I want a minimum acceptable amount to what the brass ring would be. Do not sit there and be linear it is not a good idea.

 

Now let's move to the personal side for goals. We are in the personal development business and the more you improve yourself the better you are. My core belief is that you are the core/initial product. In other words, people don't hire because of your firm or what it says on your business card, instead they get a vibe or sense from you.

 

If you're the core product what are you going to do to improve yourself? If you're thinking you have that covered and you're good I would also say you are not very self-aware. There's always another level or something more we can be doing.

 

A lot of people will try to squeeze their goals down and say they don't want to commit too much. If they hit $1 million this year then maybe they'll say let's go for $1.1 million or $1.2 million. I usually say okay with this, but what's the top?

 

I want your top number to be scary and make you uncomfortable. I need you to say well I don't know if I want to write that down. In this case, you may think well I'll move it up then to $1.3 million or $1.4 million.

 

Now, why do I have people write a larger number down that they're uncomfortable with? Well here's the secret.

 

You have the lower end number where you can map it out and you have the higher number that makes you uncomfortable. Well, subconsciously you start seeing larger numbers and a higher level of success. Over time your mind starts conditioning itself to accept it.

 

Over time your brain will start looking at that uncomfortable number and say we can do that. If you never write it down because you're afraid to, your brain will never condition itself. 

 

Think about this we're doing things today we never fathomed we would 10 or 20 years ago. I want you to take the same approach in 2019 and challenge yourself. 

 

Forget about what the market is doing and thinking the bull run is over. The reality is you're going to have more baby boomers retiring in 2019, you're going to have more advisors retiring, and you're going to have one of the greatest generations passing on leaving their wealth to the baby boomers. 

 

Don't try and sell me that this year is going to be hard because there will be more opportunities than ever all the way through 2025.

 

Happy New Year and reach out to me if you have any questions!