Change Your Game - Adapting to Changes in the Financial Advice Industry

"Learning is like rowing upstream; not to advance is to drop back."

– Chinese Proverb –

The financial advice business continues to evolve and the regulatory changes taking place will disrupt the market place. I believe this is the time to either disrupt your business or be disrupted. There is no standing still.

Embracing change is not easy but one of the easiest ways to deal with change is to seek knowledge from people who have different experiences than your own.

Here are three simple ways you can keep learning:

1. Find a Learning Opportunity

Regardless of who you are, how smart you are, or how many years you have been in the business, you can always learn more. I have never come away from reading a book or attending a conference without lists of great ideas to implement. Just one initiative properly carried out is worth a lot of money – either in actual dollars, time or improved productivity.

2. Learn From Experience

A conference or industry event is not just an opportunity to learn from keynote presenters; it’s also a chance to learn from each other. Imagine the combined knowledge and years of experience of all the attendees. The dinners, lunches and breaks, provide plenty of opportunities to swap war stories on what works and what doesn’t.

3. Support Each Other

To be successful today, we need to support each other. It can be as simple as sharing an article with a colleague or working closely with a small group of employees to take your business to new heights. I dare you to challenge your business partner, your staff or your team to be part of something bigger and to be better together than apart. Remember, we’re only as strong as our weakest link.

So, the next time you get an opportunity to learn from others, I encourage you to jump in and challenge yourself. You might just end up a little wiser; you might just change the game.