/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments
There is a great chance that you have a can of WD-40 under the sink or in the garage. Most people do. In fact, you can find it in the garages of homes in 160 countries. Everybody knows WD-40. What most people don’t know is the origin of the name.
The Rocket Chemical Company was founded in San Diego, California in 1953. It created a product to displace the standing water that caused corrosion in nuclear missiles. The first thirty-nine attempts to perfect the formula failed. Success was achieved on the 40th attempt. WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. In 1969, the company name was changed to simply WD-40.
We have all heard of similar struggles by Walt Disney, Theodore Seuss Geisel and the Coca-Cola Company. If we’ve learned one lesson from these stories, the lesson is, don’t be in a hurry to become a success.
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It Takes Extraordinary Patience to Build a Successful Business
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments
There is a great chance that you have a can of WD-40 under the sink or in the garage. Most people do. In fact, you can find it in the garages of homes in 160 countries. Everybody knows WD-40. What most people don’t know is the origin of the name.
The Rocket Chemical Company was founded in San Diego, California in 1953. It created a product to displace the standing water that caused corrosion in nuclear missiles. The first thirty-nine attempts to perfect the formula failed. Success was achieved on the 40th attempt. WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. In 1969, the company name was changed to simply WD-40.
We have all heard of similar struggles by Walt Disney, Theodore Seuss Geisel and the Coca-Cola Company. If we’ve learned one lesson from these stories, the lesson is, don’t be in a hurry to become a success.
Read more
Emotional Intelligence Enables Us to Manage The Emotions of Others
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
You and I like to think of ourselves as objective thinkers. We try to put our emotions aside. We live in a world of research and numbers. Our recommendations are black and white. Investment results are there for all to see. Our advice is either good or bad. The plans we recommend either work or they don’t. Clients say yes or no. We open the account or we don’t.
Our clients, on the other hand, are subjective thinkers.
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The Only Thing People Are Buying Is You
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices, Don Guest Authoring at... / 4 comments
This is Don Connelly’s latest guest post for FA Magazine.
I was having lunch with a friend recently. My friend ordered a Coke with his food. The waitress told him they didn’t serve Coke. Would a Pepsi do? Without hesitation my friend said yes. He didn’t care if he was drinking Pepsi or Coke. He just wanted something to drink with lunch.
Clients think like my friend thinks. They don’t care if they are drinking Pepsi or Coke. Clients want to hit their goals.
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A Sense of Resilience Will Overcome a Sense of Uncertainty
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Making a decision is essentially making a prediction. We know going in that some decisions will be bad ones. That is why uncertainty always creeps in. How we deal with that uncertainty is a function of our resilience.
Resilience determines how we get strong and healthy after something bad happens.
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Stress Management Will Help You Get Your Stress Level under Control
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Stress is a two-edged sword and it’s important you find the proper balance. Stress occurs when things happen that disrupt our routine. Too little stress and we’re under-motivated. Too much stress and we could be heading for an early grave.
The stress of building a business, hitting goals and asking for commitments never goes away.
You’re not going to escape it. You must learn to manage it. Your career depends on it.
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Why Some Clients Love Their Advisor
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices, Don Guest Authoring at... / 0 comments
The latest guest post by Don Connelly for FA Magazine is about what makes some Financial Advisor so special; why some clients love their Advisor. Here is how to blog post goes.
When I speak at client events, I arrive early and stay late. I have fun chatting with clients. I like to know what’s on their minds. Their concerns are varied yet predictable. There are rarely any surprises…
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It Takes Persistence and Perseverance to Keep Doing a Difficult Thing
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Do you think it’s possible for you to become one of the best Financial Advisors in the world? How about in your firm or in your town? Is it possible for you to be great, to be admired and looked up to? How about rich? How about famous? Or are the rewards for the other guy? Have you thought long and hard about what it takes to become great?
It has been said that advice is what you seek when you already know the answer but wish you didn’t.
The good news is that all those things are within your grasp.
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Self-Confidence Will Make You Unstoppable
/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments
I was speaking at a Financial Services conference in Australia and heard an insurance company CEO issue a provocative challenge to the audience members.
“If you stand on any street corner in Sydney and ask everyone who walks by to buy life insurance, every eighty-fifth person will. The questions is, do you have what it takes to hear the word ‘no’ eighty-four times in a row?”
The failure rate in the Financial Services industry is north of eighty percent.
This industry hires a small fraction of the people who apply. We provide good training, good products and good internal and external support. Yet most fail. And they are good people who got hired for good reasons.
Lack of self-confidence doesn’t mean lack of ability.
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Make Sure You Are Not Just Moving, but Moving in The Right Direction
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, What's New / 0 comments
Brian Church, business consultant and author, was our special guest on the recent April 30, 2014 Webinar. Participants from around the globe watched and listened as Brian put forth his ideas on how Financial Advisors can and must keep their businesses, their ideas and their client relationships moving in the right direction.
We must focus on LIFT, Brian’s term for growth; bettering our delivery, making the best use of our time, and growing our revenue through thick and thin. As fees continue to get compressed, we must increase the value of what we offer to the public.
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