Paul Kingsman

Just because something is simple to understand, doesn’t mean it’s easy to do.

When we hear explanations that are straight-forward and uncomplicated, often we move quickly to assume that doing them will be easy. When we find that it’s not, we become angry – even frustrated. This is compounded by the fact that we then feel worse for failing at something that initially looked effortless.

Let’s use weight loss as an example.

Think about losing weight. Losing weight can be boiled down the following formula: Expend more calories than you consume.

Simple.

Yet apparently anything but easy. Weight Watchers 2009 revenues alone were $1.5 billion with the entire US weight-loss market exceeding $55 billion.

While expending more calories than you consume (losing weight) might be simple to describe and understand, doing it successfully and safely is not easy.

When we assume we know the amount of effort required to reach a goal or objective based upon our ease of understanding, we can open ourselves up for disappointment. Ease of achievement is not necessarily correlated with ease of understanding. Simple is more of a cognitive response, still requiring a physical and emotional doing and result. Just because cognitively we can understand it, doesn’t mean physically make it a cake walk.

We often revert to breaking things down into smaller pieces, thinking that by making them more understandable, they will become easier to execute. Don’t be fooled and frustrated by this.

When you’re pursuing goals:

Understand that even when things sound simple i.e. picking up the phone and dialing, it is not necessarily so.

Don’t diminish your assumption of the effort needed to achieve the task just because it can be articulated briefly and with few words.

Don’t get discouraged by what sounds simple turning out to be difficult.

Instead,

Realize that the main thing is getting the task done.

See that because it’s not easy, most people will not carry through and complete the task properly.

Understand that by you doing so, you deepen conviction for what you’re doing and increase your chances to grow your business and deepen and develop as a person.

While advisers are provided with a load of information about the importance of focusing on relationships, the most important thing is to know the ‘X’ number of perfect relationships you need based upon the assets you need to manage to enjoy the lifestyle you want – it’s that simple.

It sounds great to talk about deep relationships, but you can have 5 awesome relationships and chances are, unless one of them is Warren Buffet or someone of his bank balance ilk, you’re going to starve to death. You have to know the ‘X’ number of people you need at that particular asset value, then go relentlessly hunting, find them and bag them.

There’s nothing wrong with getting clinical. In fact, by getting clinical about exactly what you need, you’ll more quickly set up strategies to then find the people you wish to work with.

If you intend to charge 1% on AUM, and are on an 85% payout structure, you’ll gross (without office, admin. and other operating costs being removed) $8,500 for every $1mm client you find – $4,250 for every $500K client.
If you want to make $85K annually, you’ll need to find 10 of these people if you average $1mm each time – 20 of these people if you average $500K.

If you want to be generating $340K in 4 years, you’ll need to find 40 people who have $1mm, or 80 people who have $500K.
You could find 10 or 20 per year for the next 4 years straight and there’s your $340K!!

Not bad.

Whether you need 40 or 80 clients, who gives a rip – once you’ve got them, there’s you’re $340k. That’s pretty good and I say worth shooting for.

Yes, first you must know why you want what you want. But after that, once you have your dream TARGET goal locked in your mind, go and get it.

It’s that easy…well actually, the next steps take some effort, but they’re worth it.

Stay tuned to learn them.

Last week I watched Man on Wire, the true story about Philippe Petit, the French tight-rope walker who walked between the roofs of the World Trade Center buildings on only a thin cable, 1350+ feet in the air with no net.

What struck me more than the actual event was his insistance that he needed a picture of the Twin Towers while he was planning his endeavor. He needed to visualize clearly the circumstances he’d be facing. When he decided to walk between the Towers, it was before they were built, yet he insisted on finding a drawing so as to frame his challenge. He eventually obtained an architect’s ‘final version’ of what they would look like at completion.

Learning Point: You must visualize the task that you’re undertaking and see the desired result clearly. The more vividly you can see the circumstances, the less unfamiliar you’ll feel during the actual activity and the greater your chance of success will be. Mentally you’ve ‘been there before’ and now it’s simply a formality of just ‘doing it.’ Imagine your appointment, ’see’ the client listening, ‘hear’ yourself asking the right questions and ’see’ them sign the documents and become a client for life.