If you feel star-struck or insecure when you encounter old money, social standing, or power, you may have a form of Sales Call Reluctance that’s impeding your business-building efforts.  Here’s how to beat it. Jerry, a financial advisor, was building a clientele of up-and-coming professionals. ...

You know, the saying: “Don’t Count Your Chickens Until They are Hatched.” It’s build on an Aesop fable that goes something like this. A farmer’s son, is daydreaming as he walks to town with a pail of milk balanced on his head. His thoughts: “The milk in this pail will...

This is a fundamental question because at the core of every successful business is the need for clients to make decisions to work with us and buy our product or service. That said – decisions are difficult and getting more difficult every day. The chief culprit of this in western civilization is...

STOP trying to patch holes in your practice – there are no magic bullets. START with the end in mind. Step back and envision what your business will look like in 3-5 years then build a plan, find the right partners to make it happen. Makeover your business and never look back! DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT...

“People will find a thousand ingenious ways to withhold cooperation from a process that they sincerely think is unnecessary or wrongheaded” – John P. Kotter In Leading Change, Kotter outlines eight necessary steps to effective change. This article deals with the first of these. We’ve all...

Are you taking control of the first dollar you earn, keeping it in your hands the longest, before the tax department gets hold of it? If so, good for you–you are in the minority of those who will pull ahead in 2010 and build more sustainable wealth. Most Canadians helplessly and with resignation,...

In my experience, the key to building sustainable wealth for every taxpayer subject to source deductions, is the degree of success one has in incorporating tax planning with year round financial decision-making. The issue boils down to three things: take control of the first dollar earned, keep it the...

Agent Profile: Insurance Experience: 5 years Annualized Commissions: $60,000 Product: P&C Credit Score: 550 State: IN Debt-to-Income Ratio: 35% Situation: Agent X has been selling P&C insurance for 5 years building a strong book of business that has annualized commissions of...

Originally published in the National Post on May 20, 2008. Everyone in the securities industry will want to give Superior Court Justice Thomas Lederer a big hug after reading this article describing the March, 2008, decision in which he dismissed a client’s claim when he sought to have his advisor...

Originally published in the National Post on December 18, 2007. James Smith, Jim Smith and Jimmy Smith are all born on Aug. 27, 1962, and they are all engineers, but only one has been tried and found guilty of drug trafficking. How can advisors and dealers identify their clients and report any potentially...