#97 – Sustainable Success for Financial Advisors – Integrating Work and Life with Kristin Harad, CFP

Summary

Top Advisor Podcast – Episode #97

Sustainable Success for Financial Advisors – Integrating Work and Life with Kristin Harad, CFP
Host: Bill Cates | Guest: Kristin Harad, CFP
Date: September 10, 2025

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

In this episode, Bill Cates welcomes Kristin Harad, CFP, founder of Full Advisor Coaching and host of her own podcast, to dive into the concept of work-life integration—a refreshingly honest alternative to the elusive “balance” so often promised to high-performing financial advisors. Kristin and Bill examine why traditional balance doesn’t work, how high achievers can intentionally design their life and business for lasting fulfillment, and actionable frameworks and mindset shifts to move from friction to flow. Advisors get tactical ideas to create a sustainable path—where work fuels life, not fights against it.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

Defining Work-Life Integration vs. “Balance”

[04:04]

• Kristin throws out the old binary of work-life balance, describing it as “like trying to keep things even... something has to give on one side to get the other.”
• Instead, she urges advisors to view their whole life as the canvas and suggests intentionally designing their professional career to support fulfillment across all areas.
  • “How is it that we can use [work] to fuel our bigger life of fulfillment and satisfaction? How do we integrate it in?” (Kristin Harad, [04:52])

The High Performer’s Friction: Always Wanting More

[06:16]

• Bill notes that most high achievers have the sense they always need to do more, never feeling “enough.”
• Kristin identifies the “friction” as a lack of permission—advisors rarely allow themselves to hold personal goals in as high regard as professional ones.
  • “Are you giving yourself permission to pursue goals and pursuits that are outside of the professional realm? And it’s okay. You’re allowed to do both.” (Kristin Harad, [06:50])

Reflecting on Purpose: The “Version 2.0” Transition

[08:23]

• Many seasoned advisors reach a point where it’s time to redefine success—Kristin helps clients articulate their “Version 2.0” business and life, focusing on what’s truly fulfilling.
  • “That’s when we get into the what’s enough conversation—which changes for different people.” (Kristin Harad, [09:10])
• Bill asks about underlying beliefs driving the urge for more; Kristin highlights importance of addressing limiting beliefs, not just accepting overwork as the only path.

Recognizing Competition (Work vs. Life) Instead of Fueling

[10:06]

• Warning signs of unhealthy competition for time:
  • Calendar dread (“How am I going to fit everything in?”)
  • Sacrificing things that bring excitement or connection due to work overload
• “When you start finding yourself wondering how you’re gonna possibly fit everything in... it’s a time again to say, hey, how am I setting up my work to fuel my life versus the other way around?” (Kristin Harad, [11:45])

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THE FIVE-PART FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATED WORK-LIFE DESIGN

[15:23] Kristin’s tactical system for advisors to clarify their future and build a business that supports life, not the other way around:

1. Environment

• Where and how do you want to live and work?
• Are you intentionally designing your physical and work environments to support your best self?
• Example: Upgrading your office to feel inviting, investing in home-office tech for hybrid flexibility.
• Memorable Coaching Story: “Is that a crib behind you?” (Bill, [19:02]); Advisors need a dedicated, uplifting workspace, not just makeshift solutions.

2. Time

• What is your ideal weekly, monthly, or annual schedule?
• Structuring work to enable personal time (e.g., taking afternoons off for family, batching meetings, adapting growth plans).
• Example: A client dialed back growth plans to intentionally be home for her kids—structured the business accordingly.

3. People

• Who do you want to spend your time with—family, friends, community, clients?
• Ensure your business allows for meaningful personal and professional relationships. Don’t just settle for clients or colleagues by default!
• “Let’s make sure you’re working with people you like. It seems fundamental. But how many times...have you heard people say, ‘Well, if I could, I’d get rid of that one’?” (Kristin Harad, [25:08])

4. Well-Being

• How do you want to feel physically, mentally, emotionally?
• Integrate well-being into the business: healthy snacks in the office, supporting staff time off or exercise, cross-training so leaders can truly unplug.
• “I remember there was a time when my employees were getting a lot more time off than I was. I’m going, what’s wrong with this picture?” (Bill Cates, [27:06])

5. Experiences & Impact

• What experiences or contributions give your life meaning? Do you want to travel, volunteer, or support causes?
• Use your business as a platform for community engagement, supporting team philanthropy, or creating space for memorable adventures.
• Example: Firms advocating for team volunteer days or enabling projects tied to personal passions.

Intentional Design:

• “It’s all about intentional design and leading with the life first and saying, ‘What do I want in my life?’ and then, ‘How do I make decisions around that in my work life to fuel that or enable that?’” (Kristin Harad, [28:55])

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MINDSET SHIFTS: FROM PERFECTION TO PROGRESS

Progress Over Perfection

[32:15]

• Kristin’s most popular podcast episode centers on “progress, not perfection”—high-achieving advisors often struggle to make changes unless they can do it perfectly.
  • “When it comes to the delivery of financial advice, you really do need to be more perfect...but with work-life integration, we’re just trying to make incremental progress. We don’t need to be perfect.” (Kristin Harad, [33:10])
• Bill echoes that the mindset shift is about permission—to experiment, to rest, and to be a little different than what got you here so you can get to what’s next.

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ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS & TACTICS

Practical Action Steps

[35:21]

• Calendar Audit: “Take a look at your week...I challenge everyone to free up a two-hour block in the next week.” ([35:21])
  • Push meetings, cancel non-essential tasks, delegate.
  • Use that time for something non-work: a walk, a hobby, just rest.
  • “Find that hour and do something different or new in a time where you wouldn’t usually do it just to feel the discomfort and be okay with it.” ([36:33])
• Pattern Interrupt: Bill highlights the value of not squeezing life around work, but integrating it into the workday, not just the fringes—doctor appointment at lunch, workout mid-day, and be fine with shifting patterns.
  • “That’s the integration. Right—integrate that thing into the day, into the workday.” (Bill Cates, [38:19])
• Release Old Guilt: Kristin notes the lingering guilt (sometimes generational!) about not being in the office constantly. Challenge this outdated framework and ease into new freedoms.

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MEMORABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS

• “Are you giving yourself permission to pursue goals and pursuits that are outside of the professional realm? And it’s okay. You’re allowed to do both.”
  — Kristin Harad [06:50]

• “When you have intentional design and the vision of what you’re creating, it informs your day-to-day decisions.”
  — Kristin Harad [24:00]

• “Let’s make sure you’re working with people you like. It seems fundamental.”
  — Kristin Harad [25:08]

• “I remember there was a time when my employees were getting a lot more time off than I was. I’m going, what’s wrong with this picture?”
  — Bill Cates [27:06]

• “When it comes to a lot of things in our life...we’re just trying to make some incremental progress. We don’t need to be perfect.”
  — Kristin Harad [33:08]

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RESOURCES & FURTHER LEARNING

• Worksheet: Kristin’s “Work Life Worksheet” for applying the five-part framework (linked in the episode show notes)
• Connect with Kristin:
  • fulladvisorcoaching.com (Request a call directly via the site)
  • Connect via LinkedIn
• Bill Cates’ New Book: thehiddenheist.com – A business parable on beliefs about money

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FINAL THOUGHT

This episode offers financial advisors a practical, honest reframe: sustained success comes from integrating, not balancing, the demands of work and the joys of life. With intentionality, tactical design, and a mindset of permission and progress—not perfection—advisors can fuel both personal fulfillment and business growth.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Top Advisor podcast, brought to you by Proudmouth's Pod Rocket Academy. I'm your host, Bill Cates, creator of the Cates Academy for Relationship Marketing. In each episode, I interview one of our industry's top performers, getting them to pass on their secrets to success to you so that you can impact more lives and generate more income. Now onto the show. Welcome. Welcome. Even though you have created a successful business, do you ever wonder, how will I be able to sustain this level of success? Or have you ever wondered when your life can be more than just about working? Today's episode, we're going to set aside the overused concept of work life balance. I never actually knew what that was. Anyway, with our featured guests, we're going to be discussing work life integration, what it is, how to put it to work, and how it can help you achieve sustained success. But first, did you know my newest book has just come out? This book is unlike anything I've written before. It's a business parable co authored with Jeff C. West, that's suspenseful, insightful, and surprisingly fun. The title is the Hidden Heist. Stop Robbing Yourself of Lasting wealth, an irresistible tale of financial redemption. The story is set during a bumbled bank robbery, so there's a mix of fun and tension, and the book explores the beliefs and assumptions that keep so many people from building wealth or seeking financial guidance. It shares essential financial decisions and lessons without ever feeling like a textbook. One reader called it a Netflix thriller meets the only money guide you'll ever need, and the book makes a strong case for hiring a financial professional or like you. While the Hidden Heist is especially geared towards adults aged about 18 to 45, I believe everyone will find the story interesting and the perspectives helpful. The Hidden Ice is also a great resource for financial professionals, ideal for sharing with clients and their adult children. You can use the book as a way to bring more value to your clients and their family members, as well as start a conversation about generational wealth planning. Curious? Go to thehiddenheist.com that's thehiddenheist.com now. The top advisor podcast is sponsored by the folks at Proudmouth who help advisors increase client engagement and attract more ideal clients. And this episode is sponsored by Ironclad Family, who bring you Ivault X, a financial advisor enablement tool focused on upping your game as a holistic advisor. More on both these folks in just a bit. Now on with today's show. I'm thrilled to welcome Kristen Herrod to today's show. Kristen is the Founder of Full Advisor Coaching and the host of Full Advisor Coaching Podcast. She's a business and marketing coach who helps advisory firm leaders design businesses that actually fuel their life, not fight against it. We'll explore what work life integration really looks like, why balance is a myth, and how to create momentum through progress, not perfection. Kristen Harrod, cfp, zooming in from San Francisco, California. Welcome to Top Advisor Podcast.

[B]

Thanks, Bill. It's great to be here. Happy summer to you. Even though people may be listening later in the year, I can tell you we've got the fog year round, so it's as thick as it can be right now.

[A]

Yeah. San Francisco is a weather center all unto itself, without question. But when the sun's shining, it is absolutely beautiful.

[B]

It's amazing why we all stay out here, I guess.

[A]

Why don't we start with you providing a bit of a definition or explanation of what you mean by work life integration.

[B]

Absolutely. This is definitely a concept that energizes and fuels me and has throughout my career. I've always been quite fascinated in the interplay of how work work fits with leading a fulfilling life. Now, traditionally, people have talked about work life balance, and when you think about balance, it's like trying to keep things even, right? Like we have to give up one to get the other to keep the sort of seesaw from tipping right. Like something has to give on one side to get the other to make it balance out. But what if we thought about it as looking at what is your, your whole life? What is your, what brings you fulfillment at a whole life level? How is it that we can have intentional design to take your professional journey and use it to support the whole life, knowing that your, your career, your professional track is only one element in who you are as a person and what it means to be fulfilled. So we're really looking at how do we integrate work, which takes up a lot of everyone's day and time. And frankly, where many of us, especially in this industry, are really excited about the work we do, how is it that we can use that to fuel our bigger life of fulfillment and satisfaction? How do we integrate it in. And we'll talk about that today on Tactical ways to do that.

[A]

Yes, you use the magic word when it comes to the listeners tactical. But we also got to talk about principles, guiding principles, strategies, and then ultimately tactics. You know, I used to joke when I first got started in this business, man, I was working so much, I often joke that, that I'm not qualified to talk about work life balance because I Didn't know what that was. I know you work with a lot of high performers. The folks have been very successful in this business. Um, and they run into what you like to call friction. You know, what is. What is the friction they run into? Even though they're successful, there's still this. This bit of friction along the way. Talk about that a little bit.

[B]

Sure. Well, I think that shows up in a. In a lot of ways. And as being a high performer myself, I totally get it. And you always feel like there's something more you could be doing to advance yourself forward. And you're always moving that goalpost to try to achieve more, do more, be more. And. And I think one of the biggest friction points is not giving yourself permission to allow for work goals and life goals and to give them the same level of importance. You know, we always set a business plan and how much money we're going to make, or what's the business goal or what's that look like? Are you doing the same for other parts of your life and other areas your life? Are you giving yourself permission to. To pursue goals and pursuits that are outside of the professional realm? And it's okay. You're allowed to do both? And this is really something where I think high performers, like, have trouble say, let me take. They're trying to squeeze everything in on the weekends or the evenings or in the early mornings because they had to work. They had to work, they had to work. And what if we structured life and work to fuel what it is you want across the board? So giving permission to themselves to be able to allow for personal goals and personal advancement.

[A]

I'm hearing a few things. I'm hearing, especially with quote, unquote, high achievers, high performers, there's always more, right? We want more, always want more. And sometimes I don't know if you do this in the work you do, but sometimes I think we maybe need to reflect on why are we feeling that, right? Why do we have that sense to always have to do more? Do you ever get into that conversation with folks? I mean, what's driving that? Or do you just accept the fact that they're driven and help make it work?

[B]

Well, some people want to explore that and look into that. The biggest piece on that, I think, is what's, you know, what's stopping them from giving themselves permission to change what they're shaping or doing? Because a lot of times we get started and we. And we're excited and we grow, grow, grow. And then you get to a certain stage in your career or your life or your, you know, family growth, and you're like, hey, I want something else. And so a lot of the people I work with are shaping this, what I call the version 2.0 of their business and even their life at that point, to say, all right, what's really important to me? What do I really care about? What do I want? What's fulfilling to me? And that's when we get into the what's enough conversation.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

Which changes for different people. Some people want to expand and, you know, create the enterprise firm and keep growing, growing, growing. Other people are like, I'm in a good spot. I like this size. I like what we have. I want to maintain what I have. And I want to start to free up other things to do, you know, outside of work. So I think it depends. We don't try to go back in time. You know, I'm not a therapist.

[A]

Right. Understood.

[B]

To figure that out. But we do say, hey, what. What are the limiting beliefs or misconceptions you might have that say, hey, it's okay if you don't work on Wednesdays. Maybe you don't, and you go out and you do you play in the tennis league and, you know, enjoy yourself with friends or get, you know, get a hike in. In the afternoon. And you can do that without feeling.

[A]

Guilt, you know, So a lot of it's mindset. A lot of it's. Yeah, I. I get that. So what. What's the first sign of, or with the signs, if you will, of when work and life are competing instead of fueling? You like to use the word fueling. I like that it kind of. I mean, it's. It's an energy source. I guess that's what fuel is. Right. So talk about that. That competition versus fueling.

[B]

Right? Well, I think when you kind of first things first, when you look at your week and you look and you go, oh, super excited about my week. I'm excited about what I have on the calendar. I'm excited about what's there. And I think when people look at their calendar and they're overwhelmed or they're thinking, how am I going to fit everything in? Or I just don't have enough time, or, you know, that's. The calendar is one place where you can get that visceral feeling of like.

[A]

We can all relate to that. Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or, you know, another thing is when someone asks you to, you know, if you're thinking, oh, I'd like to go on vacation, or your spouse is like, when are we going to go away. Or you're like, oh, I'd love to go out to dinner with friends, but I don't have. When, when am I gonna. That can't fit it in. And so it starts to be like when you start seeing sacrifice on things that are interesting and exciting to you because you're, you're working or you're packing too much into any single day. I think that's another area where people, you know, when you start finding yourself wondering how you're gonna possibly fit everything in, then it's a time again to say, hey, how am I, how am I setting up my work to fuel my life versus the other way around?

[A]

Yeah, I love that. I mean, everyone can relate to that feeling of looking at the calendar, looking at the next day, looking at the next week and either tension or relief or something. Right. We're recording this during the summer. So I'm playing golf every Tuesdays and Fridays.

[B]

Oh good.

[A]

And so when I look at my calendar during the summer, I go, oh, okay, yeah, I work Monday, then I'm off on, on, on Tuesday and then yeah, I work a couple more days and then I'm off on Friday.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

I get a lot of joy from that. Kristen, in just a minute I want, I want you to talk about share your, what you call your five part framework. Also I want you to share some thoughts around mindset and what talk about putting these ideas into action. But first, let's take a quick pause for a word from Ironclad Family, the creators of IVAultX. I want to take about a minute to talk about one of the big trends in our industry and that is holistic financial planning. As you may know, holistic planning is not just about investments or insurance. Holistic planning is about creating a master plan where everything works together. Investments and insurance, taxes, estate planning, even your clients personal goals and values come into play. Many clients are loving this approach where their advisor connects all the dots for them. And this more comprehensive approach leads to clients gaining greater clarity, confidence and peace of mind. Now there's a platform that makes it easier for advisors to engage in true holistic planning. It's called the ivault X from the folks at Ironclad Family. Ivault X is a one stop digital vault for all your clients. Financial documents, personal records and even legacy plans. You help your clients get organized and secure for which they will love you. Financial advisor Mikkel Thorp said, as a trusted advisor, I offer the IVAultX service to my clients to protect their investments and build a relationship between myself and their family and financial advisor Salvatore Sofia wrote. I enrolled a couple with IVAultX and during our holistic conversation I uncovered a dormant 401K. I handled the transfer earning a $5,500 commission, and this couple referred their son to me to store shared assets, which made me his advisor too, before we even met. Your next step is to grab your free guide on how to make becoming a more holistic advisor easier for you and your team. Simply go to holisticadvisorguide.com to access this free guide. That's holisticadvisorguide.Com this link is also in the Show Notes. After you receive your free guide, you'll have the opportunity for a complimentary strategy session to discuss holistic advising and IVAultX. IVAultX just may be your key to bringing integrated financial guidance and the resulting peace of mind to your clients and their families. Kristen, as I teased before we heard from ivault X, you developed a five part framework that advisors can use to create their integrated work life vision, which I think it always starts with the vision. Right. That'll help them then drive their actions. So take us through these five parts and how advisors can start to build their own vision that will lead to this work life integration.

[B]

Certainly. And to make it easy for everyone, I did include a worksheet as part of it's in the show notes. It's called the Work Life worksheet and it's right there. There's a link in the show notes. You don't have to have it to go through this, but if you're going back and listening or you're at your desk, you might want to open that file and take a peek. It'll make it just a little bit easier.

[A]

Wonderful.

[B]

But essentially, all right, we're going to cover up on five areas that I think are the key parts of a vision. You obviously can add in whatever you want depending on your personal preference. But we're going to start first with looking at what is, what is it that you want in your life. And what I ask people to do is take a date in the future. So three years is a common date in the future. Still tangible, still something people can grasp on, but it's not so it's not so far out that they can't get a hold of it. But it's far enough that we can get past our day to day. Right. So if we think in the context of three years out, I want to step through these five areas and we're going to start first with what do you want in your life in that area? And then how does your work integrate to support you? And we'll probably go through this a little quickly, but you'll get the sense and people can go back and work through, through it. So the first section, the first pillar, if you will, of work life integration is environment. So when you're thinking about your vision and what you want, where and how do you want to live, like, what, what is your environment, what is around you? And think about this in terms of, you know, just your life, your day to day life. Like, do you live in the city now, but your vision is to live by the beach? You know, like, what is it you want to do across the next three years? Is anything going to change? Maybe you've added a remodeled in your home and you're like, we're enjoying the new patio or the new deck off our backyard. So, you know, what does that look like?

[A]

All right, Environment is the first one.

[B]

Okay, yes. Then when you think about the work side, how does work enable or, or support this lifestyle? So maybe you, your environment is that you, you have a really nice home office and you're working from home three days a week, and then you're in the office two days a week. So maybe you've structured the business so that you have policies that it's like, okay, you can work from home three days a week. We like to have everyone in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And you have the environment set up to serve you, to be able to do what you want in your workspace. Maybe your office space is designed so that it's super engaging when you come in. So when you come into work, you're feeling really good about it. Maybe you finally, you know, upgrade the chairs in the waiting room or you make, you know, you get a better desk for your office, something like that. Maybe if you're going to rely more on hybrid or remote work, you upgrade your tech style stack. You know, you outfit everyone in the firm, so you help the work, enabling a lifestyle that works for you. So if you want to be working from home, you make sure that the business is setting it up to work there. So I, I think that's really kind of a just fundamental space issue. You know, like, people are like, you know, I think during COVID we had to, you know, people had to work from home. They kind of made the kitchen table work. But then at some point it's like, when are you going to upgrade? When are you going to commit? You're laughing, Bill. I feel like, you might know what I'm talking about.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, we all know. I remember very vividly coaching one of my coaching clients. We're on a Zoom and we're talking. I go, is that a crib behind you? Yeah, yeah. I'm in my daughter's bedroom right now. We're working on a. Getting a new space, ready to work from home. Someone else had a sheet. They were working from their garage and had a sheet behind. I mean, we all kind of went through this, right? A lot of people did anyway, because we weren't on Zoom quite so much. So anyway. But I like the idea of whether it's home or in the office or both, a place where you step into it, it feels good, Right? That's kind of where you're driving with this, right?

[B]

Yeah, exactly. And that's different for everyone. Some people want to be in an office and they intentionally go, I'm going to set up the business so it's in person. You have to be there When. When we hire people, it's in person. Other people are like, oh, I just want to be on my. You know, we have this great rural property. I love it. And I have a great office space there. And so you make it work. So you get the concept. Right.

[A]

So we got environment and work. Are those.

[B]

Well, they go together. So environment. The categories. Environment. So the pillars. Environment. And it's like, how does your work environment. Supporting.

[A]

I see. Okay.

[B]

Like, how are you looking at the space around you? The next pillar. The next pillar is time. You know, when we look ahead to your future in your life, like, what is your ideal weekly schedule? Right. I see this especially from high performers who have reached that certain level, and they're like, okay, you know what? I only want to work four days a week. I mean, this sounds like your schedule, Bill. Like, in the summer, I want to go off two days a week. Week, you know, so it's like, what's the ideal schedule? And for some people, it's, we take, you know, six weeks off in the summer. Other people is, I don't want to work Fridays. Or some people are like, I only want to work nine to five during the week. And that's it. And that's their bill. Right. And so you kind of think about, again, looking in the future, what is it that you want in your whole life? Like, time to go to kids, activities, weekends with the family, whatever makes sense. But then how do you structure your work to accommodate the schedule that you want? This gets down to a lot around time blocking, especially if you're like, in my ideal world. And I had a client who was very focused on this. She was someone who was always driving forward, forward, forward. And she was like, you know what? I'm in a good spot. The business is good. I'm going to choose intentionally to just grow at a normal, regular pace. And I want to be home from work at 3pm two days a week so that I can pick up the kids from school because her husband was doing it or they had to stay in daycare. She's like, I want to be able to pick up the kids two days from daycare and not have to do any other work the rest of the day and just be a parent for Tuesday, Thursday afternoons and evenings. And so we structured her week and we actually change the work goals, the, the goals of the organization to, to pace accordingly. She was thinking to hire an ad so she could grow, grow, grow. And she dialed that back and didn't change her compensation or lifestyle in that way. It was more. She's changed her. She changed her life as a whole. Not her in the business. We just meant we slowed it down. She also has an assistant. She started having her assistant take the screener calls for people coming in and just doing the quick 15 minute because she was getting too many that weren't a fit, which we handled on the marketing side. But even so, I was like, you don't need to have those calls. She trained team members to cover for her if needed. And I've seen that work really well in organizations where the founder can start to take some more time off and then you can start to structure and bunch your meetings. I know people do a lot of work around surge or various, you know, meeting structures or plans, and so that they're able to just get intentional around the work schedule so that they can have the ideal weekly, monthly or, you know, annual schedule that works for them.

[A]

All right, so we got environment time. These are all pretty fundamental things. It just.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Just in taking the time, the attention, putting our attention on this and not just being reactive. Right. So three, number three of the five would be people. Okay.

[B]

Who do the people you want to spend your time with. And, and I think, just to note, Bill, you said the word intention and I think the whole thing around this is intentional design. Because when you have the intentional design and the vision of what you're creating, it informs your day to day decisions. So when you're looking and going, do I want to do, you know, add this into my calendar? Well, hold on, let me take a look at the bigger picture. And so you, you have something against which to measure, of course.

[A]

And to make decisions. Yes.

[B]

Right, right. So who are the people you want to spend your time with? You know, on the, in the personal side or in the life side? You know, it might be your family, might be friends, it might be your church, it might be your community, whatever it might be. And then how does your business foster meaningful relationships or allow for that? So some people, myself included, you get fulfillment and have meaningful relationships from your clients that you're working with or from your co workers. Right. Like, that is an important part of the fulfillment in terms of people and relationships in your life. So a lot of times it comes down to, let's make sure you're working with people you like. It seems fundamental. But how many times, Bill, have you heard people go, well, if I could, I'd get rid of that one? Well, can you? I bet you can. You know?

[A]

Yeah. Sometimes you just got to stop and say, okay, it's time. Right. This is not serving me. It's. It's antithetical to my vision. All right, Environment time, people. Next.

[B]

Well being.

[A]

Oh, that's a big one. Was that.

[B]

Yeah, this one's huge. So this is around. How do you, how are you feeling? You know, emotionally, physically, physically, mentally. And we, you know, we look into the future. We all, you. Everyone's like, well, I want to feel good about myself. I want to be fit. I want to have, you know, strength. And so it's like, how are you allowing for well being? And that can come across in many ways. But when you look at the work environment or helping enhance those feelings of well being, how does your work serve you on that? You know, maybe it's as simple as you have healthy snacks on site at your office. So I went into, I visited one of my clients out in Michigan and I showed up and I always bring my healthy snacks with me because I know that's not usually the case. I walked in, there was a full tray of like, a mix of a few chocolates, but then there were like the healthy granola bars or protein snacks and various things that I was just, just delighted because I was like, look at this environment they're putting together for people. And I thought that was fantastic.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I think, you know, things like encouraging, you know, just people to get up and walk and have meetings or this comes back to, again, the cross training where you can teach people how, you know, how to take over parts of your work so you can go on vacation and let go. That's common with a founder or CEO. They don't, they don't let go because they're like, no one else can do it. And I was like, well, if you just cross train someone and they can, you know, hold the ship while you're gone, you're fine. Go on vacation.

[A]

I remember there, there was a time when I, my employees were getting a lot more time off than I was. I'm going, what's wrong with this picture?

[B]

Hold on. That's not the plan.

[A]

That's right. Yeah, well, it was by default, unfortunately. But all right, so we got environment time, people. Well being, I know there's a lot more and we're going to get into some of the implementation in a minute. But just from a. Yeah, that's fine. A big picture. What's the fifth one?

[B]

Experiences and impact. So some people look for, they want to create experiences in their life and other people want impact. Some people want both. So, okay, what experiences or contributions make you feel fulfilled? What is it that you want to be involved in or do? And this comes out a lot to like, what are the, you know, how are you volunteering in your community or giving back or what kind of travel or excitement or new experiences are you taking on? And so this one, when you think about how can my business help with that? I've worked with firms that actually get everyone in the firm to propose like, which charities or events do we want to support? How do we help the community? And they'll take half days off and as a, as a firm go out and engage in the community and help and volunteer. Thrivent Network is, is quite well known for having giving funding for passion projects to their advisors to be able to go out and support causes that they care about. And I think also it just comes back to just thinking ahead to like, how is it that you're enabling time space or company resource to help allow space for your ability to have impact or engagement. And so it's really as you can sort of see, no matter what area you looked at across the board, you can see it's all about intentional design and leading, leading with the life first and saying what do I want in my life? And then how do I make decisions around that to in my work life to fuel that or enable that.

[A]

Yeah. So Kristen, in a minute we're going to talk a little bit about implementation, a little bit about mindset. Both are very important. But first it's time for another short pause to hear from the folks at Proudmouth first. Proudmouth provides my structure to allow this Podcast to happen. They're the behind the scenes structure and lots of help in a lot of different ways. And they help advisors determine if a podcast is right for them as well all kinds of other marketing and growth ideas. So let's just take a second to listen to Proudmouth. I have coached and interviewed many advisors who report significant success with their podcast. A podcast can create deeper engagement with your clients and attract more right fit clients to your practice. I've been working with the folks at proudmouse since the inception of this show. Not only do they take care of the nuts and bolts of producing and hosting the episodes, but they've shown me how to increase my influence and attract more business. Proudmouth has a tool they call the Managed Influence Accelerator that creates a powerful content ecosystem that amplifies your voice, builds your influence, and drives real growth. And their sonic boom coaching program with podcast pro Matt Halloran will guide you through the entire process. They'll make sure you have the right strategies in place and then employ the exact right tactics for you. Podcasting isn't for everyone. And with that said, I think you owe yourself a look at how having a podcast can help you play bigger and build a better business. To book your free strategy session, go to proudmouth.com cates that's proudmouth.com cates and we're back, Kristen. Before we get into a little bit about mindset, a little bit about action steps, if our listeners are interested in learning more about you and how you help advisors grow, create this work life integration, sustained success, what should they do? Where should they go?

[B]

The best place to go is to go to full advisorcoaching.com and you can see my range of coaching programs and services there. But there's a button in the upper right corner that says request a call and you can just jump on my calendar and chat with me. And again, this work life integration is somewhat of a, a theme that goes through the work I do. Obviously we're getting into things like business development, coaching and marketing and things like that, but the, the sort of unifying concept behind it is how are you living a fulfilled life both personally and professionally. And so when I'm working with people, that's, you know, if that's something you're grappling with, that's a theme in all work that I do. So it, it's pretty exciting. So full Advisor coaching or LinkedIn also a great place to find me, right?

[A]

Beautiful. And that will also be in the, in the show notes.

[B]

Perfect.

[A]

So let's talk a little Bit about mindset. One mindset concept you like to talk about is progress over perfection. Why is that so hard for. For folks.

[B]

Yeah, this one. It's funny, Bill, because I have, as you mentioned, I have my own podcast. And, you know, this was an early episode of mine, and I am stunned. It's one of the top performers still, which is fascinating to me because I thought it would be on marketing strategy or maybe my interview with you also doing well, by the way. All kinds of different, you know, I thought it would be more strategic. And this one is around mindset, and that's the one that people are tapping into, because I think financial advisors especially, you know, when it comes to the delivery of financial advice, you really do need to be more perfect, right? Like, you need to be well researched. You need to know what you're talking about. Ideally credentialed, and you're literally dealing with someone's life savings and giving them advice. But when it comes to a lot of things in our life, such as looking at our calendar, looking at trying to expand our work, life integration, things like that, we're just trying to make some incremental progress. We don't need to be perfect. We need to try things out and just give it a go. And I think it's difficult to shift gears when you're used to working hard and trying to get it right and get things, especially in our industry where you want to give sound advice to just say, you know what doesn't need to be perfect. I'm just going to get out there and do something. I'm going to. I'm going to sign up and try pickleball. Maybe I'll like it, maybe I won't. You know, like, let me try out a class, Let me do something different, and you can just give it a go.

[A]

Yeah, makes sense. And that really is just. That goes back to that word you used earlier is permission, right? Permission to. To not be perfect. Permission to try something out. Permission to. To be a little different than, than what brought us to where we are now, but will take us to where we eventually want to go.

[B]

I think that's an important piece. You know, it may not have gotten you where you are, but especially if you're mid, you know, at a, At a level in your career where you are shaping your next version of, of yourself, of your business, of what you want, this is where you have, I think, a whole lot more freedom and flexibility to give yourself that permission and just be like, what is it that. What is it that I can try? What Is it that I can move forward just a little bit on, to take you in the direction you want to go. And I, I think that's a really important point.

[A]

Yeah. So. All right, so let's, let's talk a little bit about action, action steps. Can you give us a couple of things? Small things, big things, people, things people can actually do moving forward from this conversation to remove some of that friction, create some more energy?

[B]

Yeah. I think one of the biggest things you can do is again, do the calendar audit. Take a look at your week, especially if you start to get that feeling of. I challenge everyone to free up a two hour block in the next week. I don't know if it's possible, let's.

[A]

Say, how far ahead can we look?

[B]

Which week exactly? Yes. All right, let's go for an hour. So what, you know, if you, if you free up one hour in, in the next week, where is it that you can move a meeting, push something out, change a date, cancel something. Ideally, you know, what's on there that you don't need to attend, that you don't need to do during your work week. And then the fun part is what are you going to experiment or do or try? That's unrelated to work. That's something in your life that you're interested in. Is it reading a book? Is it taking a walk to a new place? Is it taking a pickleball lesson? As I had someone say, that was someone's idea but like find that hour and do something different or new in a time where you wouldn't usually do it just to feel the discomfort and be okay with it. Be like, it's okay, it's just one day, it's one hour, it's fine, I can try it out.

[A]

Yeah. I think in neuro linguistic program they call it a pattern interrupt. So it's like, oh yes, yes, we're interrupting the pattern. That creates a whole level of awareness and, and opportunity when we do that. So.

[B]

Right. And I think it's interesting, the guilt that like especially, and I don't know, it could be generational, I'm in my 50s. I don't know the thought of the fact, you know, it used to be you had to go to the office, you worked for nine and if you had a dentist appointment, for God's sake. She had to plan like when were you possibly going to squeeze that in? And now, I mean I, and I've had to work really hard to be like, it's fine to work out at lunchtime. You don't have to work on Wednesday afternoon, go to the wrestling tournament or the wrestling duel or see the kids. And I've done it, I've taken the steps, but I have grappled with the discomfort of being like, of that tension of I'm supposed to be working, but I'm here doing this thing and, and I just kind of have to accept it. I'm like, you know what, that's a, that's an, an outdated framework. I don't have to hold on to that.

[A]

Yeah, let me piggyback on that because that's something I've discovered, you know, used to be when I was scheduling dental appointment or working out with my personal trainer or whatever it could be. Yeah, let's do it at the fringes of the day. Right. Let's do it early in the morning, let's do it in the afternoon. Let's do it, you know, where it doesn't interrupt the rest of the day. And now actually I've started making sure it interrupts today so that I can have perhaps a more relaxed morning or you know, leave work a little early and then do the dentist, do the whatever and then not necessarily come back to the office, but just, you know, enjoy the shift. So I think that's it, that's something that everybody can do. Right? Just stop trying to make it on the fringes. So you squeeze everything in and this other thing. But just, that's the integration. Right, right. Integrate that thing, go into the gym, whatever it may be, into the day, into the workday. I think that's, that's kind of what you're talking about, isn't it?

[B]

100%. Because you know that you can get, I mean they've done plenty of studies that, that if you only worked four days a week versus five days a week, you can actually be more productive because, you know, you have limited time. I mean that's like they, they've been studying the four day workweek versus the five. And, and there's definitely evidence of that. And I think when you make those choices, I love the dentist example. Be like, you know what, oh good, you know, I have, my day will be done at noon because I have to go to, you know, I have a lunch and then I'm going to the dentist and then, hey, maybe we'll go out to dinner or something later.

[A]

Just brush and floss before you go to the dentist. Look, my featured guest today has been Kristen Harrod, cfp, founder of Full Advisor Coaching. Obviously you can tell there's a lot more behind what she was able to share here today. So I encourage you to go to her website, connect with her on LinkedIn. Kristen, first of all, thanks a billion for being our featured guest and also for all the great work and the great contribution that you've made to our industry.

[B]

Thanks, Bill. It's been really fun to be here. I enjoy conversing with you. I love the work you're doing. I can't wait to read that new book too.

[A]

The Hidden Heist.

[B]

Yeah, the Hidden Heist. I love a good heist. So if I can, I like a heist film and a heist book. And if I can, you know, learn something or share it with someone, I absolutely will.

[A]

Well, you know, the Hidden Heist is about beliefs around money and I found a clip from Danny DeVito. So I'm going to do a terrible Danny DeVito impression and it's from his movie called the Heist. And he says, everybody needs money. That's why they call it money. So if you can imagine Danny saying funnier. So Top Advisor podcast is sponsored by the great folks at Proudmouth who help advisors increase client engagement, attract more ideal clients. For more information on proudmouth go to proudmouth.com forward slash Kate's proudmouth.com forward slash Kate and this episode is sponsored by Ironclad Family who bring you Ivault X, a financial advisor enablement tool focused on upping your game as a holistic advisor. For them, go to holistic advisor guide.com it's a free guide holistic advisor guide.com to you, the listener of this podcast. If I can ask a small favor. If you like the episode, like the podcast in general, please leave a five star review on the platform which you listen to this show. Don't forget to check out newest book thehiddenheist.com thehiddenheist.com it's jam packed with free resources for you, for you to share with your clients if you wish and talk about free resources. We have a ton of [e-mail] resources referralcoach.com resources I like to say that they're free to you, but I think you'll find them quite valuable. This has been Bill Cates reminding you that ideas do not make you more successful. Only acting on those ideas will bring you the success you desire. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you for listening to the Top Advisor podcast brought to you by Proud Mouse Pod Rocket Academy. I encourage you to Visit my website referralcoach.com for links to my books, online courses and to register for the Cates Academy.