It’s my Financial Planiversary!
16 years ago today I became a financial planner.
I’m in the messy middle of Phase 3. It’s a new chapter, but it rhymes with the first two and I’ve realized…
Getting to the next level sucks (in the best way possible)
The major phases of building my business have been:
Phase 1: Build my book
Phase 2: Go independent
Phase 3: Build a team
They all started with the same naïve expectations about how much work it would take.
That naivety bundled with beginner’s excitement gives you the adrenaline you need to sprint hard out of the gates.
But that adrenaline doesn’t last the entire race. It eventually wears off, and that’s when you slow down and look around.
Neither the starting line OR the finish line are in sight. And that’s when reality sets in.
What did I just sign up for?!?! This is so freaking HARD!
Part of you wants to turn around and go back to the way it was.
But you’ve run too far and the only way out is THROUGH.
The messy middle is an unmistakable kind of exhaustion. You know it when you see it.
Your old existence is turned upside down and you’re forced to figure out this new reality.
The messy middle of the first two phases were way more scary. I had no backstop. My business could have imploded at either phase.
This one is much harder than the first two, but also more enjoyable because the worst case scenario is still pretty darn good.
That doesn’t mean that charting new mental maps, acquiring new skills and building new character traits isn’t hard as hell. It 100% is.
But I’ve run this race before and I know that what lies beyond the finish will be wonderful and exhilarating and worth every ounce of sweat equity I’ve invested.
(The hardest things usually are.)
