Monday
I usually get into the office at about 8am. We open at 9, so I get an hour to take stock of the week ahead before the phone starts ringing. I rarely see clients on a Monday or a Friday, instead restricting my eight or so client meetings each week to Tuesday through to Thursday.
At 10am, I get together with my assistant, Sue, for half an hour so we can update each other on all outstanding projects, plus what is coming up in the week ahead. Then I will spend the rest of the day on admin, email and quite often I will record my podcast late on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday
I usually have one client meeting in the morning and two in the afternoon. In theory that makes for nine slots over the next three days, but in practice it is unusual for me to have that many due to the sheer amount of stuff which is necessary before and after each appointment. Mercifully, I am in the process of hiring a trainee paraplanner to help with the workload.
Today one of my afternoon client meetings is with a couple of podcast listeners from Yorkshire who are holidaying in Cornwall. It is great to meet them in person, especially since they bring me some Pontefract cakes to remind me of home.
One Tuesday each month we have our all-adviser meeting; we have five advisers, one adviser/paraplanner and another part-time paraplanner. The best part about these meetings is that we always end up learning from each other, and our advice is peer-checked between us.
Wednesday
A key aspect of each Wednesday is the release of my weekly MeaningfulMoney podcast. Most of the work is done in the run-up to release but still, release day takes up some time, particularly on social media. I try to keep MeaningfulMoney business separate from my Jacksons work, but as the podcast is now a major source of new client enquiries to Jacksons, the lines are becoming increasingly blurred.
Between tweets and Facebook updates, I am still seeing clients, pushing paper and answering the phone. This afternoon, I spoke to some clients who are currently at their holiday home in Italy, celebrating the sale of the husband’s employer’s business. He is now unemployed but considerably richer, so on the Skype call we made plans to meet when they return.
Thursday
Thanks to the podcast, an increasing number of my clients are remote. I have clients whom I have never met in person, and have only seen on Skype. This works, really well, especially when going through cashflow outputs on screen. I have begun recording these Skype sessions and embedding them in proposals which are delivered digitally.
Friday
There are no client meetings today, so I spend the day clearing up the tasks, notes and correspondence that comes from another busy week. It feels like I am always flat-out, but I am always home each evening for 5.30pm for dinner with my family.
