A Hat-Tip to Stuart Zimmerman: “Every 100 Documents Count!”

Stuart Visits Us in Oregon - Oct. 2014
Stuart Visits Me in Oregon – Oct. 2014

Wendy’s Wednesday Whimsy:
“Every 100 Documents Count!”

Read on for a nifty Content-Sharing Library discount offer.

Back when I was director of communications at an energetic young financial firm, I was privileged to work alongside one of its co-founders, Stuart Zimmerman. Others at this relatively small start-up firm may have had it over Stuart on nitty-gritty number-crunching skills, but nobody could beat him on cheerleading optimism. His “the best is yet to come!” enthusiasm was a virulent contagion; few were immune.

Stuart started our “Good News Friday,” for example, where we swapped tales of good deeds that had happened that week, whether it was launching a major new service or helping a family finally get its portfolio on the right track.

One of my favorite “Stuart-isms” is: “Hey, every [number] counts!” At first, the number would be modest. By the time I left The BAM ALLIANCE toward the end of 2008, that number had increased exponentially. But it wasn’t about size. Every client and every dollar entrusted to us did indeed count. This is a lesson I learned from Stuart and the rest of my BAM compatriots – and brought to my own little business.

101 Documents

This is why I am delighted to celebrate last week’s publication of the 100th document in my Content-Sharing Library. Continue reading “A Hat-Tip to Stuart Zimmerman: “Every 100 Documents Count!””

Fantastic Facts That Are Stranger Than Fiction

www-web_optimizedAs part of my daily routine, I keep an eye on a variety of news sources for ideas and inspiration. There’s the financial beat, of course, but I also have been known to wander farther afield, since I never know where the next “Eureka” is going to be. There’s wonder to be found in whimsy, any day of the week.

Here are a few of my favorite finds that seem too fantastic to be true … but they are. You may find them handy for using in a post of your own sometime.

Continue reading “Fantastic Facts That Are Stranger Than Fiction”

Tech Friends Indeed for My Advisor Friends’ Needs

www-web_optimizedWhile writing, editing and otherwise putting together solid sentences is a timeless talent, effectively delivering your messages to the audiences you have in mind requires some serious tech power these days. As I focus on helping investment advisors with what they have to say to the world, I receive plenty of queries about how they can best spread the good word.

“Do you know someone who can help us with …”

  1. Building (or updating) our website?
  2. Sustaining our social media and related activities?

Here are a couple of resources I’ve found helpful: Twenty Over Ten and Mineral Interactive.

Continue reading “Tech Friends Indeed for My Advisor Friends’ Needs”

Thou Shalt Not Testimonial (Or Shalt Thou?)

www-web_optimizedLast week’s launch of WWW (Wendy’s Wednesday Whimsy) was some fun. And it quickly generated an idea for this week’s post, when one U.S. adviser commented: “I noticed that [the] site includes testimonials, which is verboten here. Lucky him.”

Lucky indeed. Advisers who are based abroad may not know that U.S. Registered Investment Advisor representatives are strictly prohibited from including client testimonials in their advertising (website included). Thou shalt not testimonial is set in regulatory stone here; woe be unto the adviser who violates this commandment.

Flip that around, and many U.S. advisors may not realize that our prohibition on client  testimonials is not universal. In Canada and the U.K. (at least), they are A-Okay.

Continue reading “Thou Shalt Not Testimonial (Or Shalt Thou?)”