Social Media Requires STP

Clear Your Roadblocks | July 2010

Welcome to the July 2010 edition of our Clear Your Roadblocks E-Newsletter.

What is all this Social Media chatter that is spouting from the finger tips of marketing consultants everywhere you look?

I am no Social Media expert, but the way these marketing consultants are going on and on you would think that Social Media is a brand new thing and that Social Media didn’t exist before The Big Three of FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

But upon close examination it appears that Social Media is not all that new with FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter launching in 2004, 2003 and 2006 respectively.

Marketing consultants are texting that you just have to be on The Big Three of FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter and all your marketing woes will be solved and one financial advisor coach said that “if the heirs of your clients can’t find you on Google, FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter, you don’t exist in the minds of Generation X, Y and the Millennials”.

But what is Social Media anyway?

According to Wikipedia Social Media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, micro blogging, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking and having said all this, once again I am not an expert on Social Media.

One thing that I know for sure is that one has to have Media for Social Media and the reason I know this is my social media journey started with the launch of www.leadingadvisor.com along with my Clear Your Roadblocks monthly e-newsletter  www.leadingadvisor.com/financial-advisor-newsletter/ in December of 2004 and the launch of my daily blog www.leadingadvisor.com/blog/ followed in February of 2005.

My web site has countless pages plus 67 monthly newsletters and 1623 blog posts and counting and I am at this late juncture of producing my July 2010 and I’ve no Media for my July E-Newsletter because I’ve invested so much time in creating PowerPoints for the financial advisor speaking presentations.

Perhaps it was because I failed to plan my Social Media, Research and Writing Time Blocking like I did in advance of producing my June E-Newsletter as this excerpt demonstrates;

Welcome to the June 2010 edition of our Clear Your Roadblocks E-Newsletter.

It is Wednesday, May 26th and I’m on a flight home from Winnipeg via Calgary and Vancouver after speaking at Advocis Westman in Brandon, Manitoba. This was combined with visits to Career Agencies and MGAs in Winnipeg.

I’m writing the June E-Newsletter now to get a head start because I will be traveling from June 11th to June 24th starting with a Vancouver rehearsal in advance of speaking at the MDRT on June 15th. Speaking at the MDRT is like winning the Stanley Cup, The World Series or being on the cover of The Rolling Stone, depending how you look at it.

It is hard to believe that was 8 weeks ago and where has the time gone?

The time has gone into speaking as the following speaking schedule demonstrates and I’m sat here on Wednesday afternoon writing this at The Hilton Niagara Falls in advance of speaking at the BFG Financial Conference on Thursday, July 22, 2010.

So is it “Social Media Requires STP ( See The People )” or “STP ( See The People ) Requires Social Media”?

What I mean by this question is; Would we have attracted this list of incredible financial advisor speaking opportunities ( See The People ) had it not been for my investment in Social Media that started back in December of 2004?

Then there is another question; Could we have just sat back and relied on my web site, e-newsletter and blog to develop relationships within the financial advisor and investment advisor niche that I serve to attract the list of incredible financial advisor speaking opportunities?

Then another question comes to mind; Can we just sit back now that we are reaching a Tipping Point and rely on my web site, e-newsletter and blog to maintain relationships within the financial advisor and investment advisor niche that I serve?

The answer is we must continue to combine Social Media and See The People.

Laura and I met with our friend Robert Gignac, speaker and author of Rich Is A State Of Mind for dinner in Toronto on Tuesday, July 20th.  In the absence of my own Media, I asked Bob if he had any great articles that I could share with my readers and Bob has offered the following to give you some perspective about your business through the eyes of your clients.

• Selecting A Financial Coach
• How Bad Do You Want It
• The Clock Is Ticking

Thank you Robert Gignac, enjoy the read and thank you for the opportunity to be of service.

Simon Reilly
The Financial Advisor Coach
1 877 248 6019

Selecting A Financial Coach

Among successful business owners, there is a belief that people should be able to handle their own personal finances, make their own decisions, and implement them by themselves.  Do I really need a financial coach?

When it comes to personal finance, why wouldn’t we call a coach?  Someone who understands your problems and issues, has seen it before, and can recommend a course of action. All the best athletes on the planet have coaches. Why?

Click here to read Robert Gignac’s article.

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How Bad Do You Want It

As someone who spends a great deal of time speaking to financial professionals and their clients about the concepts of personal finance and how to create a successful financial future, I’m often asked what the secret for personal financial success is. They are often disappointed when I tell them there is no big secret, no magic pill, and no quick fix that will bring them financial success. Trust me, if I had it, I would be bottling it and selling it as fast as I could.

Lacking the quick fix, I do have a snippet that I have been using lately in presentations and workshops that I borrowed from country music’s Tim McGraw that I think sums it up nicely….

To continue reading, click here.

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Clock is Ticking

I was having dinner in a Chinese restaurant this week and when I cracked open my fortune cookie after the meal it read:

“Have you prepared for your worry free retirement with more money than you’ll need?”

Ok, it didn’t actually say that, it said something more like:

“May you live in interesting times!”

When it comes to personal finance there is no doubt that we are living in interesting times. Mortgage subprime, global credit crisis, recession, whispered words about potential depression, and you cannot possibly pick up a daily newspaper without the headlines screaming the words…..

To read more….

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