Office Clutter…time to take it seriously

Okay, I will admit we all have different work styles.  I myself, prefer order.  A place for everything and everything in it’s place.  I like lists…lists of things to do, lists of things I want do…lists.  A way to keep order and compensate for my horrible short term memory.

Still, I occasionally go into client’s offices and what I see is nothing short of a natural disaster.  It looks like a funnel cloud ransacked the place.  Piles of papers, files, post it notes, magazines, books…you get the picture.  And enviably, they tell me, “but I work best in chaos” and to that, I say…what a crock!

Noboby works well in that kind of situation and let me tell you what I believe the biggest reason for this is (in my opinion)…it’s overwhelming, it’s depressing, it’s a big reason that so many people become “frozen” by their daily work and can’t make any progress.

Additionally, when you keep files and loads of paper in your office, you reduce the efficiencies in your office by slowing down retrieval and access by your staff or yourself to documents you need.  They are not where they should be and subsequently, this slows down the flow of work, sometimes to a crawl as you and/or your staff take precious time to search for what they need, many times that being one piece of paper.

Here is a link to a book on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Office-Clutter-Cure-Don-Aslett/dp/1593373325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248962895&sr=8-1# that for $9.95 will walk you through decluttering your office space (and along the way address your excuses for not doing so and the rewards of completing this task).

It might not sound important but it is!  It can, in extreme cases, have a large impact on how much you and your staff get accomplished and feel about your workspace and in very extreme cases, cause a compliance nightmare or something to be dropped or poorly handled for a client.

Now get moving!

Call me if I can assist…Ginny

Get over it…

I am frequently amazed when I work with advisors and we begin a discussion of their personal goals, most of the time which include working less hours and then they say to me “Oh, I can’t cut back that much, I’ll be working less than my staff”.  Seriously, this is what they say and I say “Yes?”.

For some reason, you folks have it in your brain you have to be the first one there and last one to leave.  To that, I ask, why are you hiring staff then? 

You are the team’s leader and you have a responsibility to be clear-headed, thoughtful in your actions and forward thinking.  How can you do this if you are always exhausted by working, probably getting very little (or worse, no) exercise AND on top of all of this, during these turbulent markets, worrying about your clients all the time.

TAKE SOME TIME FOR YOURSELF EVERY WEEK!  Take an afternoon off, take time in the middle of day to exercise, read, spend time with your family, whatever but do it away from the office and get over the fact that your staff are there working.  That’s what you are paying them for!

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Mid-year review

Despite the fact that I cannot figure how it is already Memorial Day, it is.  With mid-year quickly approaching, now is a good time to gather your team (or make some time for yourself if you’re solo) and review your strategic plan.  If you don’t have a formal strategic plan (seriously?), then at least sit down and review where you wanted to go this year and how close you are to reaching that point.

If you have made good progress in your goals, congratulations!  You are managing to keep yourself on track and away from most of the day to day distractions.  You have either outsourced well, hired a competent COO or you’re a great time manager.  Great job!

If however, you have not made much progress, now is the time to look at why you have not.

• What is distracting you from your goals?
• Do you have the right staff or outsource partners?
• Are your clients confident in your abilities and not calling all the time?
• Are you a bad time manager?  Do you work from a model day?
• Are you overwhelmed, under served by staff or outsource partners or just generally drowning?

If any of the above described you, I beg you, get a good business coach to help you sort it out and stay focused and on task.  Hire a competent COO to run your business or switch outsource partners if need be. 

I know it sounds painful but in the long run, you will be so glad you did.  Just ask the folks who are “trucking along…”. 

Let me have your thoughts and input on what is dragging you down.

Thanks@

You want me to do what?

Okay, okay, I know, you hate to hear it.  That phrase “track your time”.  I mean after all, you employ an AUM or retainer model so you don’t have to be like a lawyer right?

That’s not why I’m suggesting you do it.  Just like driving a car or playing golf, we pick up bad habits over time.  Time management is very similar.  We get so used to doing something one way, we lose track of what we should be doing and before long, boom, we’re wasting time on things that don’t produce revenue or service our clients.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some back office things you must do.  It’s unavoidable in all businesses.  But if you’re not spending AT LEAST 60% of your time servicing your existing clients or working on gathering referrals, you are slowing your growth significantly!

So, take the time to track your days for the next couple of weeks.  Broad brush strokes are fine.  I don’t care that you went to the bathroom from 10:21 to 10:23.  I DO care if you spent an entire day dealing with paperwork.

If, after you’ve reviewed these sheets, you find you are spending less than 60% of your time in income producing activities, you have a couple of routes you can go.  One is hire some help (a COO is a good start) or outsource it to someone like Jessica Riner @ Consider It Done! www.consideritdonecompany.com.

I’m attaching a link to my website where you can download a simple excel spreadsheet to use to track your time (http://www.backofficeadvisor.com/id75.html).  Let me know what you find.

Ginny

Just do it!

Okay, I know, that famous tag line belongs to Nike but I just like it so much because sometimes, you “just need to do it”!

Today, I’d like to ask you a question.  If you were totally honest with yourself, would you say you spend more time researching and reading about something than actually doing it?  Do you think you use it as an excuse not to do other things? 

I know many folks who do this and at first, you think, wow, these folks are really up to speed, they are in touch with what’s going on, etc.  But after you get to know them for a while, you realize that’s all they do.  They surf the net, they read every publication they can get their hands on, they attend classes but at the end of the day, what do they really accomplish?  Are they putting any of this knowledge to work?  Are they accomplishing any tasks?

I realize that a happy medium is really the best solution.  You can’t always be a reader and you shouldn’t always be a doer but instead should strike for a balance between the two.

I suggest you allocate some time period on your calendar each day for reading (I allocate 30 minutes each morning) and then move on to your To-do list.  That should allow you read all the great articles published in this industry but also allow you to accomplish the tasks you know you need to do (such as meeting with referral sources, talking to your clients, working on ways to improve your operations, service, etc.).  If you are having a hard time doing these things and are using excuses not to, I suggest you investigate working with a good coach who can work with you to find a style that fits you and then keep you accountable to it.

I’d like to hear from you if you have a better system for doing this.  This is an area I need help with as well.

Thanks!

I could play this excuse from a tape recorder…

As you know if you’ve read any of my recent blogs, I am in the midst of strategic planning for 2009 with all of my clients.

Inevitably, we get to the discussion of everyone’s responsibilities.  This leads to me asking the advisor’s staff, “so, do you feel like you’re getting the right amount of training from Bob (fill in advisor’s name here) and the answer is usually the same.  “Well, I’d really like to get more if I could so I can take on more responsibility”. 

So, I turn to the advisor and I say, what about it, do you think you should be doing more training? and they say “well, yes but I can do it so much faster myself sometimes” and there it is…the same excuse I hear all the time.  It’s not new, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last.

But when they say it out loud, the absurdity usually rings in their ears.  Seriously, do you hear what you’re saying?  You’re not offering continuing training to your staff because you can do it faster yourself  Okay, just in case I need to say it for some of you…one time, teach them one time and they can do it forever!  Doesn’t that make much more sense? 

Your staff, your fellow visionaries, are your MOST valuable resource for so many reasons.  One of the best reasons is they offer the leverage you so desparately need to grow your business and live the life you so desire.  Isn’t that one of the reasons you become an entrepreneur?

Please call me if I can help you manage your time more efficiently or help you become a better delegator!

Time keeps on slippin…

Time.  It’s such an elusive commodity.  We all complain about needing more and I’m sure that’s true for many but I think most of have plenty of it and we just don’t use it well.

As a financial advisor growing a business, time management is one of the most important skills you need.  You either have it or you need to learn it.  It’s that simple because when time is used poorly, it can be the difference between your success and failure.

There are many statistics out there but one that comes to my mind is that according to the Rydex 2008 Benchmarking study, the average advisor spends 26% of their day on client service and client meetings & acquisition while the best practices spend 49%.  That’s a stunning difference.  Additionally, the average advisor spends 18% a day on administration & back office while the best practices spend 5%.

What do you think the best practices are doing differently?  My guess would be they have highly trusted staff or outsource partners that take the back office and administration off of them.  They delegate effectively.  They don’t micro-manage.  They know their job is to service clients and build the business, not to stand over everyone else’s shoulder to see what they’re doing.  They check their emails once or twice a day, they turn off their PDA, they don’t leave the internet up and running on their computers and they have a list of what they want to accomplish that day and they stay on task.

Do me a favor.  Keep track of EVERYTHING you do for one week, in 15 minute increments and then evaluate it honestly.  How did you spend your time?  Are you numbers in line with the average advisor or the best practices?

Email me and let me know the results.  Thanks!

Are you a victim of Analysis Paralysis?

Wikipedia describes analysis paralysis as “when the opportunity cost of decision analysis exceeds the benefits”. Hmmmm…now let’s think about that a minute.

No one is going to argue we all want to get the best technology solutions at the lowest cost. But how much are you really saving when you repeatedly spend your time going over and over the same information, constantly looking for the next great thing and worrying constantly about making the right decision.

I would say there are few service industries right now where this problem is more prevalent than the financial advisory industry. The influx of new and many times greatly improved technology has all of our heads spinning around. You keep thinking, there must be a silver bullet that will take care of everything (some would argue there is but I would say we’re not there yet). Surely they can’t really want that much money for the product right? Many times you can “try before you buy” but again, what is the opportunity cost of this approach.

My best advice is to make sure you have a budget and deadline in mind. Be honest, what is the most you can spend right now and then put a plan in place. If you can’t purchase it all right now, prioritize what is causing you the most pain at this point and then go from there.

But the most important advice I can give you is to trust your gut. If you like a product, it addresses the issues at hand and it’s being endorsed by your friends and industry experts just do it! There is some great help available out there…Joel Bruckenstein will sell you time to pick his brain and http://yoursilverbullet.com will tell you exactly what plays well together. If you’re just starting out, I would suggest you plan on attending the technology conference in February in Addison, TX (http://virtualofficenews.com). This is the perfect place to talk to the folks who developed the technology and really kick the tires. I have a client that spent 18 months trying to find the next best thing and after they attended the conference this past February, they were able to make a decision quickly.

The bottom line is, be thorough but don’t take any more time than is absolutely necessary. After all, you’re the real “product” here. The rest of this can be window dressing at times and you don’t have to “keep up with the Jones’” to be competitive.

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Okay, so I’m not the only one who gets my best ideas in the shower!

I’m here at the NAPFA National conference in Long Beach and besides being a wonderful place to recharge your batteries, the speakers and interaction with the members is just phenomenal.  I would encourage everyone to attend this event at least once.  You won’t be sorry.

Yesterday, the key note speaker was Dr. Robert Kriegel, PhD. who gave a wonderful talk about how we get so involved in our businesses on a day to day basis, we don’t stop long enough to give our brain a chance to really be creative.  He asked the group as a whole, where do you get your best ideas and almost with exception, everyone replied “in the shower”.

Ever wonder why?  It’s really very simple.  While you’re in the shower, you are performing a mindless, repetitive task which allows your brain to focus on other things.  It can pull ideas and information from the recesses of your brain because it’s not focused on high level tasks.

So what’s the point here?  The point is to take 30 minutes each day and step back from what you’re doing.  This does not include eating a meal.  It means get out of your office, get some exercise, walk around your building, sit in the park and just clear your mind.  You will be amazed at the ideas and solutions you will come up with.

Let me know your thoughts and if you try this, how did it work.

Thanks!

Delegation – A Vital Key to Your Continued Success!

There is no escaping it.  At some point down the road, you are going to have to delegate work if you’re going to grow.  You can delegate to in-house staffers or you can delegate to qualified outsource partners but either way, there is no getting around it.So, then it follows that you must be a good delegator or learn to become one quickly.  A few questions to ask yourself.

1.  Have I properly trained my staff or found qualified outsource partners that I feel comfortable delegating to?

2.  Do I recognize that there are different styles for getting to the same result and that my style is not the “only one”?

3.  Do I recognize the importance of delegating in my continued growth?

4.  Do I recognize that by not delegating I am directly inhibiting my growth by not sticking to the tasks that generate revenue and growth?

5.  Do I have a Practice Policies Manual in place so that I know my directives are being followed?

6.  If I know I’m a micro-manager, can I bite my tongue and allow my folks to do their job?If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you are not ready to delegate and you need to address these issues ASAP.

Get a good coach or some training to help you make all of these a “yes” and you’ll be ready for the growth that you worked so hard for!