Tag Archives: Productivity

#97 – Sustainable Success for Financial Advisors – Integrating Work and Life with Kristin Harad, CFP



Many advisors build thriving practices, only to feel trapped by the very work they love.

What if your career could energize, rather than drain, your life?

In this intriguing conversation, Referral Coach Bill Cates, CSP, CAPE interviews Kristin Harad, CFP®, founder of Full Advisor Coaching, who explains how financial advisors can embrace work-life integration rather than chasing an elusive balance.

Kristin unpacks her five-part framework for designing a business that fuels a life of fulfillment, freedom, and intention.

Kristin and Bill Discuss:

  • Why “work-life balance” is a myth and how to think instead in terms of integration
  • Common friction points high achievers experience when pursuing both career and personal goals
  • Her five-part framework for envisioning an integrated work-life future 
  • The importance of mindset shifts like embracing progress over perfection
  • Practical steps advisors can take, including calendar audits and giving
    themselves permission to prioritize life alongside work
  • …And more!

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Connect With Kristin Harad:

Resources: 

About Kristin Harad:

After years in financial services marketing with companies like Visa, Charles Schwab, and JPMorgan Chase, Kristin Harad set out on her own in 2006.

She founded VitaVie Financial Planning, the first fee-only financial planning firm focused on expectant parents and growing families in the San Francisco Bay Area. Starting from nothing, she built it into a six-figure business in under three years.

The freedom of entrepreneurship brought Kristin the satisfaction and fulfillment she had always craved, sparking her desire to help other firm leaders achieve the same. In 2014, she transitioned full-time into training and coaching independent financial advisors. She launched her coaching business to share the strategies and systems she had developed to grow her own firm and create a life she loved.

As Kristin began sharing insights from launching and scaling her successful RIA, she discovered the joy of helping fellow entrepreneurs reach their dreams, both within their businesses and beyond. She has since guided hundreds of financial advisors and understands what works for solo practitioners, boutique firms, and enterprise RIAs alike.

Kristin is passionate about helping advisors renew their entrepreneurial energy, focus on what matters most as leaders, and discover the success and fulfillment they’ve been searching for.


Feature

Episode #56 A Simple Weekly Strategy for Elevating Financial Advisor Productivity with Brian Margolis



It’s not an accident that Productivity and Proactive start with the same three letters. 

Pro can mean For and Forward. I’m all for moving forward, how about you?

If you’re like most advisors, there are days where you feel very productive and know that you are moving your business forward. You probably have other days (too many?) where you’re simply being reactive.  You’re doing things you know you need to do, but those days don’t often feel as rewarding.

Is it possible to go from a reactive practice to a proactive practice? 

Is it possible to decrease your time working, while simultaneously increasing your revenue?

In this episode, Referral Coach Bill Cates interviews Brian Margolis, Founder of Productivity Giant and author of “The Index Card Business Plan.” 

Brian and Bill explore the power of using pillars to maximize financial advisor productivity. Brian explains the three categories of pillars and shares strategies for overcoming internal resistance. He also emphasizes the importance of focus management and shares real-life success stories of advisors who have implemented The Pillar System.

Bill and Brian discuss: 

  • The three pillars essential for financial advisor proactivity: activity/consistency, learning/effectiveness, and strategic.
  • How to identify skills with the highest ROI – so advisors can make intentional choices related to focus and skill development.
  • The role of support staff in helping advisors maintain the right habits for success.
  • The concept of focus management, which emphasizes the need to protect and manage one’s mental energy.
  • Real-life case studies of success where established advisors have transformed their businesses by focusing on specific pillars adapted to them – including one advisor who doubled their yearly AUM growth while working one less day per week.
  • The value of the Friday night feeling, indicating the satisfaction of completing key tasks as a reliable measure of success
  • …And more!

 

Resources: 

Connect With Bill Cates:

Connect With Brian Margolis:

About Brian Margolis:

Brian Margolis is a former environmental scientist turned entrepreneur. He is the founder of ProductivityGiant.com and author of the book “The Index Car Business Plan for Sales Pros and Entrepreneurs”

Brian’s Pillar System helps sales pros and entrepreneurs create a strategy so simple, it fits on an index card…but so powerful it’s helped create 7-figure earners and has been licensed by some of the largest companies in the world to train their teams.

Brian has been a partner or consultant in multiple ventures ranging from startups to national brands. He has worked with everyone from Shark Tank Entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies. Both his accomplishments and failures span a variety of industries.

In addition to his above work, and appearances on some of the largest business and sales podcasts in the world, he is still in the trenches having done thousands of individual coaching sessions with sales pros and entrepreneurs.