As a financial planner you do brilliant work for your clients that can be life changing.
But are you fully behind what you do and willing to take a stand for your work?
This article is about why it’s now more important than ever to believe in what you do and unashamedly communicate the value that you can bring.
The rise of unqualified advice
In recent time there has been a huge rise in people giving financial advice on social media platforms.
The term, which you may well have come across already, is ‘Finfluencers‘.
Some of this advice is helpful and common sense. Yet some of it could easily lead to people making extremely poor choices. There are instances of ‘finfluencers’ straying into regulated territory (the FCA brought charges against nine people earlier this year).
Why are influencers gaining traction?
Simply there are people who are incredibly good are using social media and attracting people’s attention.
But this does not always mean they know what they are talking about.
In her excellent book, ‘Advice that sticks’, Moira Somers PH.D. points out:
‘The loudest voices or the websites with the highest rankings are given too much weight and awarded too much credibility. As a result, material that is useless or plain wrong often has too much influence on the consumer.’
The power of belief
As a professionally qualified person you have studied for hundreds of hours, passed difficult exams, and are required to keep up to date with your knowledge and skills.
Taking a stand for your work means being a leader and letting people know about you and what you can do for them.
I am not suggesting that you become a social media influencer, unless you want to, of course. However, what I am saying is that we can all pause, reflect, and realign ourselves with why we do what we do.
Author and speaker Simon Sinek famously said:
“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
If you think what you do is just arrange financial products or invest people’s money then, to me, this is selling yourself short.
Money is a means to an end, not the end itself. Real financial planning encompasses non-financial wealth as well as financial wealth.
Helping people get clear on what they want, creating a plan to get there and metaphorically holding their hand along the way is of great service to people. Without you in their life they are far less likely to realise some of their dreams and live the life they want.
Unleashing your inner power
Most of us are busy. There is always a lot to do. So, it’s easy to get caught up in all this and become disconnected from our sense of purpose.
Why does this matter?
Because when we connect to a bigger sense of purpose, beyond our own egoistic gain, we feel more alive. We are at our most powerful, convincing, and engaging.
Below are five questions I invite you to reflect upon.
Just take five to ten uninterrupted minutes and ask yourself each question without trying to force any answers:
*Why do I do what I do?
*What is the difference I want to make?
*What bigger purpose does this serve?
*How have I already changed lives with what I do?
*Who specifically have I made a difference to?
PS. Does this resonate with you? If so, I invite you to read ‘The value of knowing your value’. Click here.
