Celebrating My 6th Year Of Blogging & 1790 Blogs!

Today marks the 6^th Anniversary since I started blogging along with my 1,790^th blog.

When we started out working exclusively within the financial advisor niche we would knock on doors and the reply was; “Who’s Simon Reilly”?

Honestly we couldn’t get a look in past the gate keeper.

I kind of felt like a person that introduced themselves to me at my first Anthony Robbins’ event in 1989 at The 5^th Avenue Theatre in Seattle as a JAFR … Just Another Frigging Realtor.

Back in those days ( 1989 ),  personal development was still the next big thing which was followed by coaching becoming the next big thing in 1994.

The days of “anyone that can fog a mirror can become a coach” are long gone and it takes commitment, consistency, contribution and conviction and drilling deep into a niche market to be seen as a recognized coaching expert through speaking and writing to reach high above the cloud of the competition.

Social media appears to be the next big thing.

I see myself as an accidental social media expert with my social media journey contributing to the financial advisor profession starting in December of 2004 with the launch of our Leading Advisor Website along with my Plan * Play * Profit monthly E-Newsletter followed by the launch of my daily blog in February of 2005.

Six years ago was a long time ago when I had no clue about the social media juggernauts that have turned out to be the big three of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter starting in 2002, 2003 and 2006 respectively.

In the early days of our web site, I guess you could say that I was old school adopting “if it is going to be, it is up to me” when I came to realize that while SEO gave me top Google rankings in the following categories, it was not giving me the calls and e-mails that I was expecting; “financial advisor coach”, “financial advisor coaching”, “financial advisor speaker”, financial advisor speaking” and “financial advisor training”.

The financial advisor profession, along with working with high net worth financial clients requires a consultative face to face sales approach and it isn’t going to happen because of your latest Tweet. It is about STP! See The People!

So with “if it is going to be, it is up to me”, I set out six years ago to STP and at the same time offer invitations to my web presence through speaking coast to coast in Canada & the USA at financial advisor conferences and tradeshows.

I’ve spoken at over 170 of the who’s who of financial advisor conferences and tradeshows that include; Advocis, Canada Life, Independent Financial Brokers, Manulife, NAIFA, Pro Seminars, The Million Dollar Round Table, and my speaking schedule for 2010 included speaking main stage for the best of the best including; Great West Life, HUB Financial, London Life and Sun Life.

We contribute by supporting the financial advisor profession as members of Advocis ( The Financial Advisors Association of Canada ) , the IFB ( The Independent Financial Brokers of Canada ) and NAIFA ( The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors ).

Along the way I’ve been written about in the Advocis Forum Magazine, Advisor.ca, NAIFA-Iowa’s Monthly Magazine and The Investment Executive. I am currently one of the top ten finalists in Advisor.ca’s ‘Name That Visionary Contest’ as voted on by their readers.

And speaking of writing, social media has helped me to find my speaking voice and my writing voice to publish my first book called, Curing The Unmet Needs Disease, and my second book is ready to be published entitled, Breaking Through The Plateauing Out Syndrome.

So with six years into social media, I am still a novice with having spoken to 15,000 – 20,000 financial advisors that narrows down to a Plan * Play * Profit monthly E-Newsletter readership of about 10%.

Our social media journey continues to improve working with Liz Urichuk as our Social Media Manager  and we look forward to strengthening our relationships with the our web and speaking contacts through FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

At this stage of drilling deep down into a niche through speaking combined with social media I’m celebrating that we are now knocking on the doors of financial advisor corporates and financial advisors and we are being invited in for a conversation.

Oh yes, there is the odd time that we receive e-mails like this one from Australia, Canada, the UK, and the USA from social media; “I’ve been reading your E-Newsletter and Blog for about a year and a half off and on and I’d like to have a conversation with you.”

After 6 years in social media it is clear to me that the financial advisor profession, not unlike any other profession, requires a consultative sales process that requires face to face and or telephone contact to create the sales.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that social media is going to replace the consultative face to face and or telephone contact that is required to create the sales in your niche market … social media is just another tool and it is not the next big thing.

What is the next big thing?

There is no next big thing.

Nothing works.

What works is you working what works – STP – spend more time to see the people, versus key the people!

Simon Reilly Makes The Final Round Of Advisor.ca Visionary Poll!

Dear All,

I’ve made the final round for Advisor.ca’s ‘Name That Visionary Poll’.

The Advisor.ca ‘Name That Visionary Poll’ started last April. The first step was nomination, the second step was shortlisting the top twenty and this final round is choosing a winner from the top ten so please click here to cast your vote for me.

There are two ways I could have played this:

1. Pretending to be a shy and demure Canadian, because that is what Canadians do, in the hope that people will vote anyway – ”I don’t take part in these celebrity competitions because it’s beneath me”
2. Bold, outrageous and provocative – ”asking for the business” – vote for me because I love the exposure!

Another reason that I am doing this is to demonstrate the power of E-Nurture Marketing & Social Media as you are a reader of my Blog or E-Newsletter and we were initially introduced through financial advisor speaking or via the internet.

Honestly, it would cost tens of thousands to receive the exposure that this poll can create.

So I’m asking for your help.

The next step is to vote for one of the top ten finalists and you can do this by CLICKING HERE & PLEASE VOTE FOR ME.

Again, why am I asking?

■ The exposure is absolutely great for my professional career development

■ The publicity is a vindication for all the hard work done with clients and the philosophy and ideas that we share in these and other pages

■ The encouragement to me to keep fighting the fight for quality career and independent financial advisors

■ My coaches and mentors all get to take a break as my unmet need of recognition is satisfied

To vote CLICK HERE.

Please note that given Advisor.ca is a publication for financial and investment advisors, I humbly submit that I do not profess to be a Financial or Investment Visionary as far as financial planning, products and services.

If one were to see me as a Visionary it may be because of doing my best to walk my talk as a Financial & Investment Advisor Coach, Speaker & Writer that uses systems like a E-Nurture Marketing & Social Media in their own practice and this is why I suppose I gained the nomination in the first place for Advisor.ca Visionary Poll.

To vote CLICK HERE.