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How Do You Build a Prosperous Business, Raise a Family, Support a Spouse, and Contribute to Your Community—All While Leading Your Clients Safely Into the Future?

Dear Advisor:

It’s a sad truth that few in this world really understand how difficult your job is and how rewarding it can be when pursued with passion, drive, determination, intensity, devotion and dedication.

Thankfully, one of our own totally understands you and your profession. His name is Bill Smith, CFP, a 30-year veteran advisor from San Diego and a long-time Horsesmouth columnist.

Scores High on Three Fronts

I’m pleased to introduce you to Bill’s first book, The Happy Advisor. I’ve had the privilege over the last 12 years to review dozens of books written by or for financial advisors. You’ve probably seen a few yourself.

And while nearly all of them contain commendable portions, it’s no secret to point out that very few of them simultaneously achieve a level of being well written, enthusiastically told and extremely useful. But The Happy Advisor scores high on all three fronts.

Bill is both a gifted writer and a keen observer of his profession as I hope you’ll soon discover.

Guide for Living in Interesting Times

I don’t think there could be a better time to introduce The Happy Advisor into the challenging world of delivering financial advice and leadership to private investors.

Historians tell us that most people are often too busy with life to fully reckon with the momentous times they live through.

Maybe so. But over the last decade, as advisors and citizens of the world, we’ve lived the blessing (or curse) of “May you live in interesting times.”

Think about it: You’ve been called on to lead your clients through very trying times: natural calamities, technological revolutions, political crises, terrorist attacks, wars, market collapses, economic dislocations, personal disasters, professional upheavals and other Black Swan events that weren’t supposed to happen but did anyway…

And despite all your best qualities and sharpened skills, you’re not Superman. No one is.

Yet you’ve been called on, by virtue of your chosen profession, to soldier on. To stay alert. To keep positive. To not give in to the gravity of events.

If you feel like Moses trying to lead your clients through the desert of the difficult times, it’s perfectly understandable.

Leadership can feel lonely. But rest assured that you’re not alone. And the world has successfully made its way through periods this difficult in the past. The Land of Milk and Honey is just over the horizon.

Deflects Slings and Arrows of History

But while we wait for the inevitable upturn—and there is always an upturn—you don’t have to endlessly suffer the slings and arrows of our place in history.

Bill Smith’s uncommon wisdom can provide the perspective you need to survive and thrive.

During more than 30 years as a successful advisor, Bill has analyzed every challenge and obstacle one could possibly face in the pursuit of a successful business.

And he’s come up with fresh approaches for overcoming each one.

You’ll find The Happy Advisor to be an endless source of inspiration and insight, one you can turn to again and again for just the right type of adjustment you need to keep on keeping on.

Yes, the challenges we face are substantial. But the rewards are sweet.

Who Should Buy The Happy Advisor?

  1. You’re an industry veteran and connoisseur of hard-won wisdom.
  2. The “Down Markets” keep you from feeling up.
  3. You’re worried that your clients are losing faith.
  4. You question the value you deliver your clients.
  5. The natural anxiety you feel about your business is keeping you from enjoying your life.
  6. You struggle with “time” and how to make it work for you—not against you.
  7. You feel like your psyche has been rattled one time too many.
  8. You feel like you don’t get the respect you deserve.
  9. You need an easy to access “go-to” source of motivation.
  10. You need a new way to think about this business and your role in it.
  11. You’ve had your fill of rejection, worry that it has temporarily gotten the upper hand, and are ready once and for all to put your boot on its throat.

What Does It Take to Survive and Thrive as an Advisor for More Than 30 Years?
The Answer Is Right Here.


An Advisor’s Creed

You Are Called to Duty for Such a Time as This

Rethink Your Attitude in the New Year

Become a Top Producer in 21 Days

Ten Ways to Break Out of a Slump


Bill Smith, CFP

Memorable Hands-On Read
The Happy Advisor is a tool that all financial professionals must have in their arsenal. Bill Smith is a master storyteller and jumps inside the heads of those who are on the firing line every day. He offers solutions and guidance with his hard-hitting stories, and is uniquely qualified to do so because he began in the trenches about 30 years ago.

"When Bill says ‘I know you’ in the first chapter—he means it from his heart.

"As a successful wealth manager, Bill’s observations and advice to advisors and brokers are powerful and cut right to the underlying issues that they face in business every day. The Happy Advisor is a memorable and hands-on ‘read’ for new advisors right on up to C-level executives. Advisors will find themselves referring to Bill’s book for years to come.”

—Sydney LeBlanc, co-founder, Registered Rep magazine.