What Could YOU Possibly Learn...
...From THIS Idiot?
It was too late. I couldn't stop it happening.
What caused me to fall?
It all started the day before, 70 miles away.
I’d got up at the crack of dawn. I left Lynn to her slumber, tiptoed into the cockpit and out across the teak deck, which was covered in early morning dew. As quietly as I could, I raised the anchor from the clear water and slowly motored Spellbound between the other yachts that were anchored in the peaceful bay of Veruda, Croatia. Then, with the sun just lighting the sky in the east, out we went into the northern Adriatic. This is when the naughtiness and badness would begin.
The night before I’d reminded Lynn that it would be an early start, as we would be heading south east towards the tiny Croatian island of Susak. But instead, with Lynn fast asleep, I turned in the opposite direction, north west, and set sail on a perfect beam reach. With fresh coffee in hand and the rising sun warm on my back, Spellbound was soon flying through the water at 10 knots. We would be making good time, I thought.
Lynn arrived on deck around 10.00 with a smile and our breakfast. After which she commenced her mid-morning sunbathing ritual on the aft deck. Luckily, not once did she question why the sun was on the wrong side of the boat.
So, on a perfect sea, we sailed and we sailed. After a few more hours of sunbathing, Lynn tells me that she’s going down below for some shade and a nap. I have another beer and tweak the sails. Van Morrison ‘Into The Mystic’ playing quietly in the cockpit. Oh, what bliss! Everything is going to plan. She still hasn’t sussed it!
It’s 14.00hrs when Lynn returns back on deck with our tuna salad lunch and an ice-cold beer. “How much further to go?” she says. “About another hour” I reply. She looks ahead, out over the bow of Spellbound to see if she can see an island in the distance, I explain “…it’s very low lying so you probably won’t see it yet!” She returns to her favourite sunbathing spot to continue reading her book.
The hour passes. She looks up. “Where is it, then? This island?”
“Soon!” I say. “Soon!”
Then…. after 30 minutes… “THERE IT IS!” I shout!
All we can see at this stage are two lighthouses and a line of red and green beacons. I point Spellbound north, to pass between the channel markers.
“That’s a funny looking island!” She says!
Then I have to admit…. I lied about the island!
“Welcome to VENICE! Happy Birthday!!!!”
Sailing into the amazing port of Venice, on your own yacht, just in time for the love of your life’s 60th Birthday, is pretty darn special, I’ve got to tell you. She was absolutely blown away!
I had reserved a berth for Spellbound for 6 days in Santa Elena Marina, just a short walk from St. Mark’s Square and all the delights that Venice has to offer. WOW! I had to pinch myself! There she was, Spellbound, our own private space right near the centre of Venice!
Let the sightseeing begin!
Rialto Bridge leads to the bustling Rialto Fish Market. It must surely be the smelliest part of Venice. All the fish entrails and offcuts, all the blood and guts, are just swept into the Grand Canal. Nice.
So what did I do? As a keen photographer, I’m busy taking photographs, trying to frame each shot to fit in as much as possible of the exquisite Venetian architecture.
And then it happens. I step back, trying to fit just a little bit more into my picture.
Then, that feeling... you know... when time seems to stand still.
“Funny…” I thought... “EEK! No more pavement…..!”
That’s when I knew I was about to take a warm and very smelly bath.
Instead of panic, I felt this strange feeling of peace come over me “You can’t stop it, Paul. You can’t stop it. May as well enjoy it!” I thought.
S-S-S-SPLASH!!!!!
Lynn says it was weird, one minute I was there, next minute, gone! Until I popped back up to the surface!
Did she run to help? No. Did she see if I was OK? No. She - together with a few onlookers - just laughed. And laughed. And laughed!
I laughed too!
Somewhere in the bottom of the Grand Canal is my fancy Nikon camera and a hardly used guidebook of Venice.
But oh how we laughed. We laughed and laughed - until it hurt.
And I stank! Real bad.
So we had to return, all the way back to Spellbound, for me to take a shower - or three. And disinfect EVERY orifice! I cried tears of laughter in that shower. We never stopped laughing. I’m sure Spellbound was laughing too!
Despite this unplanned and very smelly swim, we had one helluva time in Venice. Then I announced to Lynn, on her birthday, that our trip to Venice wasn’t her real present. That was just for starters. Her real present would be a four week first class trip to Indonesia, staying first at Raffles, Singapore, then on to hotel Amanjiwo, Java, then on to see the Orang-utan on a house boat in Borneo, then on to the beautiful resort of Nihiwatu on Sumba Island.
Wow! What a trip that was! A total extravagance.
But it was a special birthday - for the woman I love.
You see my Mum never saw 60. Lynn did. And I had vowed, if she made it to 60, I would make damn sure that she would have the treat of a lifetime.
I think my Mum would endorse my decision. Life is not a rehearsal.
Not bad for a Council House lad, eh?
I left school at 16 to become an apprentice carpenter. Then I took myself to college 4 nights a week to become a trainee Quantity Surveyor. And then, at 22, I FELL into financial services and became a financial advisor. At first, like so many, I was just a busy fool. But eight years later I’d discovered a way of delivering financial advice that is life changing. It changed my life, for sure.
So much so, I semi retired at 45 to start sailing Spellbound around the world with Lynn. Because life is NOT a rehearsal.
Now, when I’m not sailing, I teach other advisors how to deliver financial advice in a way that is truly life changing - for them and, most important, for their clients.
I do this through my Inspiring Advisers Lifestyle Financial Planning 7 Step Success System. It's a fun and inspiring online training programme that gets results.
The big question is, can YOU learn anything from ME?
Can I teach you how to swim in the Grand Canal? Probably. 😎
Can I teach you how to sail? Yes. If you want. But others are more qualified to do so.
Can I teach you how to succeed and prosper as a Financial Advisor? Yes. I sure can. ✅
Can I teach you how to get your mojo back as a Financial Advisor? Yep. Try me. ✅
Can I teach you how to differentiate yourself as an ‘Alternative’ Financial Advisor? Yes. I sure can. ✅
Can I teach you how to tap into the one undeniable truth that no client can argue with, so they always choose YOU? Yes I most definitely can. ✅
Can I teach you how to be an inspiration in the lives of your clients? Yep. I sure can. ✅
Can I teach you how to WOW! your clients so you can easily justify your fees? Yep. ✅
Can I teach you how to easily and quickly differentiate yourself and your service? Yep. Easy. ✅
Can I teach you how to communicate your service so clients say to you “WOW! Why don’t ALL financial advisors do this?” Yes I sure can. ✅
Can I teach you some really important 'soft skills' that quite frankly aren't taught these days? You bet. ✅
Can I teach you how to pitch your fees, so clients naturally agree to pay you MORE? Yep. ✅
Can I teach you how to take the focus OFF financial products and investments and instead put it onto something far more important? Yep. That’s my speciality. ✅
Can I teach you how to protect your service from commoditisation, and ensure that you deliver value that will NEVER be under valued? Yes. I can. ✅
Can I teach you how to easily get MORE referrals - to the RIGHT type of clients? Yep. Easy. When you know how. ✅
Can I teach you how to do a great fact find / discovery meeting, by asking some really great questions that help clients to really engage with you and your service? Yep. That’s what I teach. ✅
Can I teach you scripts that you can easily use to get results fast, without you wasting time re-inventing the wheel? Yep. Sure can. ✅
Can I teach you how to ‘pro-actively’ get perfect referrals from clients and professional introducers? Yes I can. (Note how I say ‘pro-actively’) ✅
Can I teach you how to deliver engaging high value ‘forward planning meetings’ so you can deliver incredible value year after year so you KEEP getting well paid? Yes, I most definitely can. ✅
Can I teach you how to have LESS clients who pay you MORE money? Yep. ✅
Can I teach you a duplicatable, repeatable process so you and your whole team feel more in control and get a more peaceful life! Yep. I sure can. ✅
Can I teach you a service proposition that gives YOU plenty of time off so you have more time and more freedom to do the things that YOU want to do? Yep. I teach by example. We must walk the talk. ✅
Can I provide access to some marketing tools to make it even easier for you to communicate your service so you can get more of the right clients. Yep. Sure can. ✅
Can I show you how to be part of a growing community of Advisors globally who are having more fun - and getting more fulfilment from their work - than ever before? Yep. I’d love to! ✅
Can I do all this for you for less than the cost of a coffee each day. Yep. I sure can. (Crazy I know.) 🤩
👉 What should you do next?
Your next step is simple. Take a deep dive with me. Take a FREE 30 day trial of Inspiring Advisers and my proven Lifestyle Financial Planning 7 Step Success System. Hit the button below and I'll also send you two free books to get you started.
Anyway, I mentioned how Lynn laughed her socks off.
Well, this is a picture of her, age 3.
She looked EXACTLY like this!
Sign up now. And let’s have some fun.
And this is Kwame. He helped me to dry out.
He NEVER stopped laughing! 😂🤣😂
Let's get started...
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Offer also intended for advisors who may have lost their mojo; or have often thought: "THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY!" of communicating and delivering financial planning and financial advice.
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