There is a lot of what I’d call, “Financial Planner Groupspeak” out there. Some of it was good and OK to follow, some of it is not so good.  If you want to thrive as a financial planner, you need to develop a willingness to break the rules. I’m not talking about the ethics or legal stuff all planners need to adhere to - I’m talking about the so-called rules of how to be successful. This episode is about that. My rules for helping you break the rules. That makes sense, right? Outline of This Episode [0:59] An example of how we tend to follow what others say, rather than our gut [4:04] I had to learn to market the way I felt comfortable marketing [6:05] Going to innovators outside the financial planning industry is helpful [11:01] My rules for playing by your own rules OK - let’s get right to my rules for breaking the rules as a financial planner - you can get a better grasp of each by listening to this episode. Trust yourself I recently talked with a fellow financial planner who has started his own podcast. He wanted to do a solo show but gave in to the advice of many others who told him that he should do interviews instead. Why? Because THEY said it would be better.  He turned out to be unsatisfied with how his podcast was going - and that's when he reached out to me. Listen to hear what he did - and let it serve as an example to you of what YOU can do (because it fits YOU). Surround yourself with foxhole buddies who get you and what you’re doing -  In my journey toward building a practice and lifestyle that I love - I had to let some people go. It’s not that they weren’t good people or didn’t care about me. They just didn’t get me and what I was doing with my business. But I found others to surround myself with who DID get me and who COULD support me. It's made all the difference. Listen to learn how to go about picking the right foxhole buddies and to understand why they are so important. Follow people you like, watch what they do, take what makes sense for you Just about everything I’ve done that has been successful is something I stole from someone else. OK, maybe I didn’t outright steal them, but I definitely took massive amounts of inspiration and direction from what they were doing. One example (among many) that I chat about on this episode is my “Six Shot Saturday” email. It’s one of the best things I ever did and has proven to be a boon to my business. And guess what? It wasn’t my idea. It was something I stole from Tim Ferriss. Listen to learn more. Read, read, read and take what makes sense One of the pieces of conventional wisdom with which I fully agree is the old maxim that “Readers are leaders, and leaders are readers.” If you stop to consider the vast resources available to people who are willing to set aside time for reading, you will see why the statement is true. You get the opportunity to learn from some of the most brilliant minds in history simply by picking up a book. And if you apply what you learn - BOOM. You start getting the kind of results those smart people got.  As you know, I have more to say about this. It’s on this episode. Resources & People Mentioned The Rockie Ziegler Show The Retirement Answer Man Show The Stacking Benjamins Podcast My 6 Shot Saturday email series (check the bottom of this page) Agile Project Management Theory Tim Ferriss Connect With Roger www.RogerWhitney.com Subscribe to Financial Planner Freedom Click here and choose your preferred app Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK https://www.podcastfasttrack.com