5 Best Practices For Achieving And Maintaining A Flexible Work Schedule As A Female Financial Advisor

Do you ever find yourself feeling the desire to have true control over your schedule day in and day out?

Work life included.

Flexibility when it comes to your schedule is often one of the top reasons people choose to become a financial advisor.

Here at Consolidated Planning, our decades of experience has helped us implement an ideal work week that both prioritizes flexibility in a financial advisor’s schedule as well as their income potential.

You can have both. And for female financial advisors, that sentiment means a greater deal. Here we want to help you understand practical tips to achieving and maintaining your desired work-life balance, and how tools can help you streamline your processes, all for a successful financial advising career.

 

Building Out Your Flexible Work Schedule

Not only is this industry one of which allows you to “move through the ranks,” if you will, exponentially quicker than any other industry but it allows you to create a flexible schedule that makes sense for the season of life that you’re in.

And for female financial advisors, seasons are always changing. Between trying to manage your schedule and your children’s schedule – efficiently building out your schedule matters in achieving success and the illustrious work-life balance.

 

#1 Tracking Your Activity 

Having a clear framework for managing your week is essential here. Your framework with such a flexible career means identifying metrics and working until you achieve them.

The good news is – it doesn’t matter when or where you achieve them as long as you do to keep yourself on track. You owe it to you and you alone to keep yourself on track.

These metrics are based on your activity level – the number of meetings held, number of prospects you contact, and possibly the number of clients that indicate they want to move forward with the planning process.

If you are on track with your metrics – take that day off. But, if you have yet to hit the goals you set for yourself, you can’t stop working quite yet.

While there are many tools to actively track your activity, advisors at Consolidated Planning use SmartOffice which easily integrates with Outlook. All of your activity, all in one place.

 

#2 Follow The 1-3-1 Method

Now, for the framework of your weeks, the 1-3-1 method carves out your ideal work week. 1 day for admin work and “catching up” at the beginning of the week and the end of the week, and 3 focus days for your prospects and clients.

We know it can be tempting to let others dictate your schedule and veer away from this but this method keeps you from constantly switching gears. Here you have structured days where you are JUST doing a certain kind of work. 

This better allows for both proper preparation for your client meetings as well as transition points between meetings.

And proper preparation = showing up as your best self = better meeting outcomes.

 

#3 Schedule Your Non-Working Weeks

Yes, you read that right, SCHEDULE your non-working weeks. Because you have such flexibility as a financial advisor, it can be hard to schedule time to turn it off.

And you have to turn it off. You do.

Advisors at Consolidated Planning are encouraged to have 12 non-working weeks a year. This time can be spent as vacation, continuing education requirements, or anything else for the season of life you’re in.

It’s really important that these non-working weeks do include your continuing education credits that are required for various designations. Failing to keep up with these or make it to certain courses and/or events can set you back when it comes to building your practice. Sprinkle these in throughout the year – don’t let these pile up.

 

#4 Setting Boundaries

This is perhaps the most important factor to achieving and maintaining that flexible work schedule that you desire. Boundaries. Setting boundaries and maintaining boundaries. This can be hard for women in the workforce.

What’s unique about a career in financial advising is this is perhaps one of the only industries where you have the ability to set your boundaries to this extent.

There is no expectation and there is not someone constantly checking the status of what you’re doing. Sure, your mentor will ensure you’re staying on track but HOW and WHEN you do that is completely up to what’s best for you and your personal life.

Oftentimes, new advisors especially, feel like they need to answer an email or call immediately, or meet whenever a client or prospect says they can. Wrong.

This is why utilizing the 1-3-1 approach like we discussed is incredibly beneficial. You are able to proactively set clear expectations in regards to your availability when it comes to your clients and prospects, which might look like:

• The days and times you are available
• When they can expect you to return a call or email

If you think you might have trouble setting these boundaries with a client, try setting these precedents from the start:

• Offer the same staggered meeting times each week
• Offer them the ability to book through your meeting link
• Help them understand that they will need to book a few weeks in advance to obtain their desired day and time

Remember, what you allow is what will continue. Let yourself show up as your best self by setting your boundaries and making them known.

 

#5 Utilizing Technology

Fully utilizing and embracing software and technology as a financial advisor will make a world of difference for schedule. Gone are the days where you have to actively publish and post…anything.

One tool incredibly useful for financial advisors is the SmartOffice platform. SmartOffice helps you grow and scale your practice in a few ways:

• Run reports of your clients for cross selling purposes
• Identify any business opportunities
• Knowing when and for what you need to schedule a meeting for
• Manage ongoing communications, such as email campaigns and scheduled text messages

These opportunities help you deliver the customer experience, make additional money, and help you maintain boundaries. 

You can actually spend LESS time on doing this kind of work by properly leveraging this technology. That means more flexibility in your schedule to passively prospect and service your clients all at the same time.

Even if you prefer to work at 11:00pm, your clients won’t need to know that. You can take time each month, even at 11:00pm, to schedule out your email workflows and client text messages. Your clients won’t know the difference and you won’t need to spend additional time crafting individual messages or wondering who you’ve communicated with.

Because, full circle, SmartOffice will track this all for you.

Streamlining your processes is allows you to control

WHEN you’re working,

WHEN you’re communication, and

WHEN you’re out of office.

 

Are You Driven Enough To Have A Flexible Schedule?

If you are nodding your head that you WANT more balance when it comes to your personal and professional life, becoming a financial advisor just might be the right path for you.

However, maintaining a high level of activity (to reach your income goals) and balancing a flexible work schedule is not for the faint of heart.

You will undoubtedly work hard in this career but you might also find yourself actually enjoying and disconnecting during your non-working weeks more than your current career.

To better understand how your skill set makes for a successful financial advising career, talk with a team member on why female financial advisors are thriving at Consolidated Planning.

 

 

2023-164456 Exp. 11/2025