Lloyd Williams

Ever wished you could understand your clients’ fears regarding the markets and their investments? The book The Science of Fear helps you understand the root of fear and will prepare you to better manage your own concerns and your clients’ fears as the markets volatility makes remaining calm difficult. This is a must read for advisors wanting to protect their practice and clients from the irrational fears that cause bad decisions. Highly recommended.

Studies now show that checklists actually improve the quality of deliverable service. What was once the tool of pilots and astronauts is now used by surgeons, hospitals, and money managers to improve there execution and delivery of value. The book Checklist Manifesto details the value of using checklists. This is a great summer read. Highly recommended.

Procedural checklists are an important part of every successful practice and I recommend them for all my coaching clients. The following are several links to important checklists you may find of value:

Pipeline Process - checklist for developing a relationship with a prospect in the financial service industry

Operations Manual - checklist procedures for running a financial service practice

RoadMap for Change - weekly task list to accomplish your most important dreams

Improve your practice by reading Checklist Manifesto and create a bullet-proof practice.

Ever wonder why the Harvard and Yale Endowments substantially outperform the markets, advisors, and investors? They use a Counter Intuitive approach to investing. This 2009 book Ivy Portfolio explains the process used by Harvard and Yale. To learn how to apply similar Counter Intuitive processes that can easily be used by advisors and their clients register now for the upcoming workshop.

Additional Reading

How Harvard and Yale Beat the Market - by Matthew Tuttle

Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment - by David Swensen

Foundation & Endowment Investing: Philosophies and Strategies of Top Investors and Institutions - by Lawrence E. Kochard and Cathleen M. Ritterreiser

The Endowment Model of Investing: Return, Risk and Diversification - by Martin L. Liebowitz, Anthony Bova and P. Brett Hammond

Every once in a while a book comes along that transforms your definition of business and practice management. The new book, Rework by the founders of 37signals.com is such a book. Order a copy now.

Creating a professional image is doing the small things right. Throughout my career we used a channel lock binding system to create hard cover presentations. ChannelBind is the best company on the market today. After you purchase your binding machine you can baind as many covers as you desire. We had the cover embossed with “Confidential” and our contact information so we could use them for any type of presentation.

The website includes a video that explains how the system works. This will separate you from the herd.

Occasionally a book comes along that helps us understand our own behavior in a meaningful way. Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art defines for us the nature of our greatest enemy and how to combat what holds us back from the results we desire.

Whether you are an artist, writer, entrepreneur, or professional this short book clearly identifies the source of procrastination and internal obstacles to our success in part one. The cure is clearly defined in part two. Like Robert McKee, who wrote the foreword, I too see in part three the effect of inspiration the same and the cause of inspiration differently.

This is a quick read and can immediately be applied to your current practice. Great books can change your life. This in one of them. For more information on The War of Art.

A client recently introduced me to 99designs.com and I am amazed at the quality of the design work. This site is a exchange where you can describe the project you need and thousands of designers will submit their designs, allowing you to select from the best.

The website says “99designs connects clients needing design work such as logo designs, business cards or web sites to a thriving community of 29,936 talented designers.”

If you need something designed this is the place to go first:

www.99designs.com

Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen revolutionized productivity, though many find it overly complicated. For those of us less inclined to be engineers or lacking follow through, we need a simpler solution. Thank you Leo Babauta for writing Zen to Done: The Ultimate Simple Productivity System.

This short book simplifies the entire GTD system down to very specific actions that are easily implemented into your current routine. No longer are you burdened with maintaining a large organization system. You can apply the concepts at you own pace and decide what is most important for your needs.

Leo writes a great blog at ZenHabits.net which is a valuable resource. Take a moment and read this short book, then apply one habit this week and add another when you master the first.