Steve Sanduski

I’d like to share with you some personal observations about what’s happening in China based on my recent visit to Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai and Hong Kong. While there as a tourist, I made a point of talking to the locals and keeping my eyes and ears open for anything that would help me figure out whether this Chinese growth story will save the world economy or whether it’s a bubble ready to burst.

You might think that doing the most productive thing at every given moment means that you should always be working or always doing something tangible that moves you closer to your goals. In reality, top achievers realize that there are numerous “things” they can do, that on the surface may not appear to move them closer to their goals, but in fact actually do.

As an advisor, are you the equivalent of an “economic good” or a “free good?” Advisors who want to succeed in the future must make sure they are an “economic good” type of advisor and not a “free good” advisor.

The key is turning that overriding motivation into actual results in the real world.

Here’s a sad truth—you can spend your days absorbing knowledge and becoming very intelligent, but if you don’t do anything with that knowledge, you’re no better off than somebody else who sat around eating popcorn and watching reruns of Fantasy Island.

Forget reinventing the wheel. Just copy what other top producers are doing. Better yet, hire a coach who has already identified those “best practices” and then pay them a fee to share the ideas and hold you accountable for implementing them. Is that really the key to success as an advisor?

if you want to get the most out of your staff and in turn increase the growth trajectory of your business, you would be wise to view them as essential to your success.

When you talk to the public about the Japan situation, begin by recognizing this is first and foremost a human tragedy.

The financial advisor’s equivalent of the real estate agent’s “location, location, location” mantra is “communication, communication, communication.” Given the events in the Middle East, you have a perfect opportunity to communicate with your clients, deepen your relationship with them and position yourself as a thought leader with the investing public through a timely, well-written update letter.

In the past 11 years, we’ve had two major bear markets and experienced the near collapse of the world financial system. Not surprisingly, many advisors lost revenue, lost clients and some even lost confidence in their ability to protect their clients’ assets during times of turmoil. Yet during this 11-year period of global upheaval, a select group of advisors prospered.

While Jobs’ ideas are applicable to broader business, upon close examination they seem tailor-made for the financial advisor in particular.