The job of a financial advisor can be stressful at times. After all, financial advisors have the responsibility to make the right recommendations to guide their clients to make prudent investments or financial decisions that might affect them in the long-term. With working hours that might fall outside of regular office hours, or even regular work days, it can be challenging to achieve work-life balance, and this is especially so in Singapore, where 70% of employees have poor work-life balance.

Jasmine Tan, a two-year MDRT member from Singapore, shares how she is able to successfully implement the MDRT Whole Person concept by investing time outside of work for other passions.

On top of being a financial advisor, Tan has been dabbling in content creation — doing food reviews, sharing beauty advice or beauty products, video editing and more, for the past 10 years. She initially started the hobby of recording herself reviewing food and beauty products and posting the videos on Instagram and Facebook as a fun activity. Before her videos even started to garner several thousand views, she realized content creation was also a useful avenue for her to pick up new skills and connect with prospects, as many other financial advisors around her had started posting content on social media as well. Other than picking up the valuable skill of video editing, Tan learned how to observe and pick up trends on social media, the different ways she can enhance her videos or photos and successfully transferred these skills to her practice to market herself as a reliable financial advisor on social media. Tan also found that posting content online allows her to be transparent about her practice with her followers, and helps them build familiarity with her before she approaches them for prospecting.

In addition to creating content during her free time, Tan also enjoys challenging herself physically by trying different sports and doing hot yoga, a type of yoga workout typically done in a 40 degree Celsius environment – gruelling to say the least. “No matter how many sessions I’ve attended in the past, it never gets easier. Hot yoga trains my endurance level and trains me physically and mentally,” she says.

Achieving work-life balance with MDRT Whole Person concept

As a financial advisor who holds a business degree, is a former flight attendant, was previously an e-commerce executive, coupled with her experience in creating content, Tan definitely brings something unique to the table. “My experience has helped me build my identity as a financial advisor, provided a listener to my clients and created an informed advisor that creates knowledgeable content for my followers,” Tan shares. In fact, she managed to achieve her first MDRT accolade within her first two years of joining the profession simply by stepping out of her comfort zone to reach out to more prospects, and choosing to build her clientele based off referrals.

However, as she was unable to spend special occasions such as Christmas or New Year’s Day with family and had to spend extended periods of time abroad when she was a flight attendant, so she knew that work-life balance had to be prioritized when she chose to become a financial advisor. Inspired by the MDRT Whole Person concept which encourages financial advisors to balance personal relationships, maintain health, pursue passions and contribute to society on top of achieving professional accomplishments for a more fulfilling life, Tan has a belief that life should be a “happy marathon”.

With the multiple roles that Tan plays (financial advisor, content creator, fitness enthusiast, daughter and wife), she believes having good time management is integral so she does not have to sacrifice personal time to spend more time with her family or neglect them for work.

She manages this by planning out her daily schedule and making it a routine — including waking up at the same time on weekends and weekdays even when she is not working. She shared that sticking to a routine has created a habit for her and helped her work within the hours she had set out for herself to complete a specific task, and therefore increasing her efficiency in the long run. Now, she can juggle all aspects of her work, including posting content every other day without sacrificing quality time with family.

Tan also stresses the importance of "me-time," as she believes that personal time should never be sacrificed no matter how busy one gets. “You need alone time for self-love,” she shared, encouraging financial advisors to make time to do something they love outside of work as a form of self-love.

Contact: MDRTEditorial@teamlewis.com

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