Write Yourself a Reality Check

Article by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

Jim Carrey wasn’t always a superstar actor. That may be stating the obvious (after all, the man wasn’t born famous—in fact, he once lived on the streets), but what you might not know is that he once enjoyed a super-successful career as a stand-up comic. He was doing uncanny, rubber-faced impersonations of Hollywood legends that critics praised as the best they’d ever seen. But then he just stopped. Took his final bow before a standing, clapping, cheering audience, and vowed to completely change his act.

Why would he do such a thing? He figured that his career was on the same trajectory as old-time impressionist Rich Little, and that simply wasn’t good enough. (Haven’t heard of Rich Little? Then you still get the point.) This road would have ultimately led to headlining in Las Vegas. Jim Carrey may have wanted to see his name in lights, but he wanted them up somewhere besides the Strip.

What a risk! Carrey was willing to stop doing the one thing that had garnered him material success, not knowing whether what he did next would really work or not. As you know, it did. Carrey started to introduce oddball comedic commentary and strange characters to his act, and he often failed. But just look where he is today.

Helping people make smart choices about their money is no stand-up routine, but there are many lessons we can apply here. Financial professionals spend a good portion of their lives thinking about risk. What is my client’s risk tolerance? How much risk is involved in this particular investment?

But have you taken the one risk in your career that will make all the difference?

What are you doing that’s working and that, if you abandoned it and replaced it with something else, would propel you infinitely further than what you’re currently doing ever would—no matter how good you became at it?

In other words, what old “skill,” habit, or technique seems to work in getting you more business or netting higher commissions, but is holding you back? If you’re committed to becoming a Trusted Advisor, is there some old sales tool or tactic that you still pull out of the bag in a pinch? How much confidence do you have in yourself to pull off a career make-over?

Excellence expert Tom Hopkins used to say, “You’ve got to give up what you’ve got in order to get what you want.” And the boxer Joe Lewis once said, “Everyone says they want to go to heaven, but nobody’s willing to die.” Carrey was willing to die every night in front of hundreds of people. By experimenting this way, he remade himself, and the results were some of the memorable characters he brought to the TV show In Living Color and the characterizations he made famous in films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask. Today, Carrey is something of a phenomenon. Whether you like his work or not, you have to respect the fact that the man earns many millions per picture and has the luxury of selectively pursuing the roles that most interest him.
 

All-righty, then.

Salespeople simply do what works. Trusted Advisors, however, are willing to experiment—and even to fail. This is a classic principle from George Leonard’s book, Mastery, which outlines all of the necessary ingredients for superiority in any field . The willingness to fail is critical: the willingness to look bad, to let go of your vanity for the good of your career and your clients and your own personal excellence.
 

Carrey’s life so far has one more lesson to teach us: how to take a risk with absolute confidence in your own skill to pull it off.   Before his blockbuster movies ever hit the screen, he wrote himself a $10 million check.   He put that check in his wallet and carried it around with him until he could make good on the payment.   Imagine the day he walked into his bank and deposited that whopper check!
 

What are you worth?   If you were to write a big check to yourself, what amount would you aspire to?   Before you answer, think about this: the salesperson thinks about how much it is possible to earn based on what is working today; the Trusted Advisor will look to his or her true potential for the future.
 

Want to deposit a $10 million check to yourself someday?   My advice: Don’t be a salesperson; be a Trusted Advisor.
 

© 2000 by Bill Bachrach, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.   All Rights Reserved.

Bill Bachrach is the San Diego based author of the best selling, industry-specific books Values-Based Selling; The Art of Building High Trust Client Relationships and High-Trust Leadership; A Proven System for Developing an Organization of High-Performance Financial Professionals.   He is a top-rated speaker and is considered by many top producers to be the financial service industry’s foremost interview skills coach.   His one-year top-producer Trusted Advisor Coach™ program starts every January and is limited to 30 financial professionals. His 3-day Values-Based Selling™ Academy is open to everyone. Bill has spoken 3 times at the MDRT Annual Meeting, 5 times at the IAFP National Convention and virtually hundreds of recognition and national conferences for just about every major firm and association in our industry. For formation about his speaking services, The Trusted Advisor Coach™ program, 3-Day Academy, or to order his results-oriented books and Learning Systems contact Bachrach & Associates, Inc. at 800-347-3707 or visit their website: www.BachrachVBS.com. Request your free audiotape of Bill Bachrach ‘live’ via www.bachrachvbs.com.