In this episode, we discuss how you have to work with the obstacles in your life if you want to take your life to the next level.
Full Transcript
Hi Everyone, welcome to the You’re Daily Cup of Joe Podcast, with your host Joe Bautista. In this podcast, my goal is to give you quick lessons that you can reflect on in your journal so you can grow yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and have a better career, better relationships, and better personal finances while you enjoy your morning cup of coffee.
I’m also the author of the book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to Get Better Every Day”. In this book, I wrote down over 30 tips to help you grow in those four cornerstones. I’m also the founder of Grow With Joe, where I combine self-development coaching and financial planning for Latino Professionals.
At the end of today’s podcast episode, I’m going to give you a prompt question to reflect on in your journal. The idea is to take one to five minutes to reflect on today’s lesson and write a minimum of one paragraph on how you can apply the lesson in your life life. You can use an actual journal, a word document like on Google Drive, or your note-taking app like Evernote. The idea is that you’re actually thinking about how to process the information to help you improve your life.
In today’s episode, we’re are going to talk about working with obstacles. Marcus Aurelius, one of my favorite philosophers, once said that if you accept the obstacle and work with what you’re given, an alternative will present itself. This also closely relates to another favorite quote of mine where he says the impediment to action, advances actions. What stands in the way, becomes the way.
Whatever you want to try to accomplish in this world, there are going to be obstacles that are going to be in your way. Obstacles can be a very good thing though. If there are all these obstacles between everyone and the treasure on the other side, that means whoever can handle that obstacle the best and get through it, will be able to reap all the rewards.
Government regulations can be very annoying at times but from a competition standpoint, they can keep fewer people from entering that field. If you want to become a financial planner and charge a fee for giving investment advice, then you have to get your series 66 or 65, and then you also have to registered for the state. To pass the 66, it takes about 120 hours to study. Plus if you want to sell investment securities like stocks and bonds, then you also need your series 7, which requires another 120 hours of study.
In the grand scheme of things when it comes to being successful as a financial advisor, this is the easy part. Then you have to spend time finding clients which takes a lot longer and is a lot harder. These are more obstacles to deal with, but if you look at the obstacles with the right perspective, then you will be able to find an alternative to help you get through the obstacle. It’s easier to deal with less competition than more, and these obstacles of finding clients and dealing with government regulations make it so that there is less competition out there.
Or you just need to find a whole new area where no one is operating from. This is known as a blue ocean versus a red ocean. A red ocean has all these competition and it’s very hard to survive because the market is oversaturated with a competitor or the barrier to entry is very low. A blue ocean is where there is not a lot of competition since people haven’t discovered it yet or they don’t have the right skills or capital to get in this ocean.
It was very tough to operate our of my last company. They had income restrictions on who we could make as clients, my expenses were very high, and I really didn’t know that much when I started the business. I recently went to a financial planning conference where they broke down the competition for a traditional financial advisor who went after clients with over $500k in investable assets and if ever financial advisor was to get an even cut, they would only have like 22 clients each. But if you did the subscription model, which charges people a monthly fee for access to the financial planner, then there are a lot more opportunities as a financial planner. This is what I’m doing now. I wanted to help out Latinos with there finances but the last model I was in, didn’t support what I want to do. Now I’m in a blue ocean and I love it.
This requires me to do more on my own and to wear more hats by running my own thing but I love it. Plus I’m gaining all these skills that I can use in the future that can provide me with more opportunities. From what I see online and it other places, there is not a lot of competition right now and there is a big opportunity with helping the Latino Community with their personal finances. This is why I’m in Mexico right now so I can learn Spanish.
There are a lot of obstacles that I’m dealing with right now as I’m in the first year of my business, but I just trying to learn as much as I can and take as much action as I can so that I get past them. Right now the biggest obstacle for me is just waiting for things to hit. I already have clients but I’m not where I am right now. This is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because I have time to study and learn from a bunch of different resources, but the downside is that I don’t have enough clients yet. But once I get enough clients, then the time I spending on learning and trying different things is going to decrease. So then I will need to make changes in how I operate so that I’m not miserable because of the inefficient system I created for myself. So right now, this my way of looking for alternatives to get through my obstacle of getting more clients. I’m just planting a bunch of different seeds and I’m waiting to see which one will grow the most.
So whatever messy situation you’re in right now, there is an alternative way of thinking to help you get out of this situation or to use it as leverage for another opportunity. There were tons of apps that started as one thing and ended up being something else like twitter being a podcast app before it turned in to social media app. The world has infinite possibilities that can be played out and we’re not stuck with anyone possibility for the rest of our lives. So be resourceful and start looking for alternatives.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it if you accept the obstacle and work with what you’re given, an alternative will present itself. This is so true and is currently working with my life. Don’t get mad at an obstacle, try to use it as a platform to get you to another level in life. Obstacles can crush you if you try to resist or just run away from them. You can go around the obstacle to get past it, you need to go through it. And it will be the action that you take that will make it happen. You might not want to take the action but it’s required. Once you’re on the other side though, things will be a lot better and you’ll have a great story to tell and wisdom to help you forever.
So in your journal, ask yourself, what is an obstacle that is happening in your life. What about that obstacle is making your life so difficult. What are some possible solutions? I was listening to a podcast with a therapist and she said you should draw out your problems. You might come up with an even more creative solution. So you can do this exercise as well. I think I’m doing to start doing this. The idea is that we want to be aware of the obstacle and then accept it for what it is, but then come up with a strategy to help you get through it. Just keep taking action and reflect, and you should be okay. If not, then go see a professional.
Thanks for listening today! To get a free copy of my book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to get better every day” just go to my website growwithjoe.me/book and just pay for shipping and handling.
I have a quiz on my website that grades your inner circle, so if you want to find out if your inner circle is an A, B, C, D, or F, you can take that quiz at growwithjoe.me/quiz
I’m also trying to do a feedback Friday episode, so if you have a question that you would like to have my answer on the air, just e-mail me at [email protected]
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Thanks for joining me today and remember if you go with Joe, you can grow with Joe, cause Joe knows Dough.
*Music outro
