This is part 3 of a three part blog.  You can find part one here and part two here.

I’ve mentioned that the speakers we fantastic at the IFP conference.  However one of the aspects of attending a conference within your profession is the opportunity to meet other professionals, share ideas and best practice and gain thoughts and ideas about upcoming projects.  Which brings me on to my third (and last) key learning point from the IFP conference:-

People are generous

One of the opportunities I had whilst attending the conference was an opportunity to chat to some of the ‘brightest and best’ of the financial planning community.  I learned about how other people run their businesses, what tools they use, what challenges they face and how they have managed to overcome previous issues.  It also gave me the opportunity to share the same information as well as talking about some of the challenges we face as a business.

Being the sole director of a owner managed business can sometimes be lonely, even if you employ a number of staff, have a mentor or have great clients you enjoy spending time with.  The fact that you are responsible for the vision and achieving the longer term goals of your business can sometimes be tough.  However meeting a wide range of fellow financial planners and business owners provided me with an opportunity to talk with them about best practice, ideas we can implement within our respective businesses, what works well (as well as what doesn’t work so well).

Whilst I expected individuals to be generous with their time and expertise, I was bowled over with their wiliness to share and it made me realise…We work in a profession where people seem to be incredibly good natured, generous and happy to share best practice.

As ever I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.