Advisor Spotlight:
Stephanie Bogan, Limitless Advisor Coaching

Running a seven-figure practice while taking 100 days off a year might seem like a daydream, but it’s the reality for many of Stephanie Bogan’s clients. As CEO of Limitless Advisor Coaching, Stephanie and her team teach advisors how to transform their businesses and their lives using the latest research in behavior, mindset, and practice management. She shared her story and gave a sneak peek of her upcoming webinar with Flourish.

Flourish: Tell us about your background and what you do now?
Stephanie Bogan: I started in the wealth management space right around when I was 17 as a receptionist at an insurance office. Long story short, I ended up in estate planning with a wealth management firm that worked with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

I was there for a few years and then, ripe with wisdom and experience, ventured out at 24 to start a consulting firm. I did that for 12 years. I very quickly gravitated to working with accountants, estate planning attorneys, and insurance advisors. Then, within a couple of years, I started working with financial advisors. 

Twelve years later, I sold the firm to Genworth and joined their executive team to run practice management. I joke that, in the four years I was there, I learned so much about how Fortune companies run that I no longer needed to work for one.

At the apex of my career, I walked away from it all and moved to a beach in Costa Rica. At one point, I was sitting on the beach with my laptop and did what all successful people do when they retire: I typed into Google, “how to be successful and happy.” It turns out that Google really does have the answer to everything. I found an article on mindset that led to neuroscience, quantum physics, and all kinds of very cool stuff.

I learned a lot about mindset and psychology, and realized the only limits we have are the ones we set. I realized that I’d already been doing this coaching thing throughout my career. The reason I've been such a good consultant for financial advisors is because I'm coaching too. I would work with them on the capacity, the numbers, and the benchmarks required to hit their financial goals, but then I'd also ask them, "Why do you even want to be a billion-dollar firm?" Those questions are just as important. From there, the idea of Limitless was born. 

Flourish: What types of advisors want to work with you?
Stephanie: We work with clients in what we call the ‘rent and ramen stage.’ You can make your rent, and you can eat ramen. Now, you need to make different decisions. You’re not chasing dollars now.

We work with growth-minded advisors who want to accelerate their success but also want to gain back their time and freedom. We have a formula that delivers deep value and creates a hyper-efficient practice. When you do that, you enjoy the rise in the rewards.

I've got billion-dollar firms that still say yes to people who ask for a discount. I'm like, “Why would you do that? You don't need them. You clearly don't need the money.” It's because the habit has been formed, which is that ‘yes’ is the only good answer. They’ve been conditioned for years that their worth is tied to ‘yes’.

No one trains you to say ‘no’ to clients or to get excited when someone says ‘no’. But sometimes nos are the very, very best thing. 

Flourish: Tell us about how you work. What is your typical process?
Stephanie:  We work with clients who want to build million-dollar, wildly successful lifestyle practices. The process goes through stages. Stage one is, how do I grow and generate clients? Once you get to a certain level of busy, then question two becomes, how do I service clients and grow my practice?

Stage three is when they get to seven figures and beyond. The question very often is now what? They’ve spent their whole career to get to this moment and now they are 40, 50, or maybe 60 and at their personal capacity. These advisors are asking, “Do I start hiring people? Do I change the practice?” We guide advisors through each stage of this journey. 

 
Flourish: What are some of the key questions advisors are asking these days?
Stephanie: Our clients ask us every possible question. They ask us why success is so hard. They thought it was going to be easier. How to take charge of their time? How do they keep up?

Limitless also works on the business side of things to help advisors asking questions like, “Which services should I be offering my clients? Am I setting my fees right? Should I hire an assistant? What marketing should I be doing? Should I have a podcast, should I not?”

The only things I don't cover are investment and compliance questions.

Flourish: What are some of the common growth hurdles advisors face? And what are some of the key tips you have for advisors looking to scale their business?
Stephanie: We are 95% likely to do today, think today, and act today the way we did yesterday because that's how our brains are wired. This means we must insert ourselves in that 5% to create change. Then we have to figure out how to create and sustain change. Anyone who has ever had a New Year's resolution knows that it isn't easy because the deck is stacked against you nine to one. Nine to one, you are likely to get up and repeat what you did yesterday.

Our coaching is so effective because we're not just telling people to raise their fees, do this, or do that. We're coming in at the “who are you, and what do you want to build?” stage. When advisors are ready to make a change. Some of them quickly reach their goals, and some take their time. But it is the first time they have learned how to go from being disempowered, struggling, and frustrated.

If you just want to make money and grub and be miserable, I'm not the coach for you. We have plans for how to run a multi-billion-dollar firm, but we also teach our clients how to take agency over their business and life. It turns out that you get a wildly more successful business when you do that. You don't erode your margins, and you get to maintain and grow your joy, which is the lesson that I had to learn. That’s the coaching that we do.

Flourish: You focus not just on method but also on mindset. Why is that an important element for advisors looking to grow their business?
Stephanie: The secret to success in this business is literally having the discipline and the discernment to be brilliant at the basics. There's a blueprint. You need a profitable client model. You need to deliver services that come with a margin that supports a sustainable business. You can't be giving away things for free or working with clients that are too small.

It's all logical, and we all know it, but 80% of firms aren't doing it in an optimal way. Because they show up today and do what they did yesterday, which they copied from someone who was also mediocre and inefficient and checked their email 17 times a day. You have to be an outlier to run a really optimal practice. I'm in the business of attracting outliers, so it works out really nicely.

Flourish: Beyond just helping advisors build a better business, what else does working with you bring?
Stephanie: We're known for getting rapid results. Not just in revenue growth, but in quality of experience. There is a formula for success. There are nine areas; we know what they are, and you go in and make them happen.

It might seem like it isn't a formula for happiness and wellbeing. But it turns out there is. Our coaching program really brings the best of both of those to be a good practice owner and to be a good advisor. You don't turn that off and go home and be a different human.

You are the same human throughout the entire experience. It's how you're showing up. People have these visions for what they can do and what's possible, and they want to love their clients and do great work. Then everything gets in the way. What I have to tell them is the thing that's getting in the way is you. You are the roadblock, but that can freak people out a bit.

 
Flourish: How important are referrals for an advisor’s business? Does this only apply to early-stage advisors? 
Stephanie: No, I think it's anyone. Most large firms overlook referrals as well. If you want to turn on a growth engine that's not big, hard, or expensive, referrals are the first one you should look at.

Advisors worry about asking for more referrals. Why can't you ask for a referral? Are you kidding me? Someone literally gave you their life savings and said, “I trust you with it,” and you delivered. You delivered year after year. Now, the idea of saying, “Hey, you guys, we have a little capacity in the firm. We want to fill it with a very select group of clients who are nice people like you,” is too much?

I can say that with a straight face and not feel dirty or guilty. Why can’t most advisors? Because that story in their head gets in the way. Referrals are 88% of the average firm's growth, but only 8% of firms do anything about it."

Flourish: Why should advisors join your upcoming webinar with Flourish?
Stephanie: If you want to get a handle on how to drive organic growth without heavy lifts, then this webinar is for you. We're just going to talk about how a few simple tweaks to paying attention to what's in your backyard and getting brilliant at the basics can get you where you want to go.

Two of our advisor coaches have million-dollar, hundred-day-off practices. They both built that in under four years. So can you.

A little bit of a plan and a purpose will get you 80% of the way where you want to go. We do not need to overcomplicate or get intimidated by it.

Interested in learning more from Stephanie? Join our upcoming webinar on Tuesday, October 29 at 4pm ET where she'll be sharing a Roadmap to Referral Growth.

Limitless and Flourish are separate and unaffiliated firms. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. This material is provided for informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the individual being interviewed and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Firm. The inclusion of any external party in this interview does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the Firm. The information provided is not intended as financial, investment, or legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. This feedback may not be representative of the experience of other customers, and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.