Nomads are an incredible phenomenon. It's something that changed the world, because now you travel with your computer, your laptop, maybe even your iPad per se.

And there's so much opportunity and planning because it's the same client that you already may have in your practice. They need answers. They need us to help them get to where they need to be, as far as protection, as far as financial planning and safety. And the most important questions are, “How are we going to do this, and how are we protected?” “Who's behind their promises?”

A lot of people believe that COVID was terrible. And it was, there's no doubt about it. But it also created a lot of opportunity, a lot of opportunity for people to travel, for people to spend some time by themselves and explore the world. And while you're doing this, the first question is, “If something were to happen to you abroad, how are you going to respond?”

Because a digital nomad visa, to name one of many that exist, says, “I'm going to X country to work there for X amount of time.” What if you get into a car accident and now you're in the hospital? Who's paying for this? How are we protecting our clients? How is the client even realizing or understanding that this exists?

So, we need to sit there and tell them, “OK, there's no problem. This is your life. We're here to help you. You're going from point A to point B. We’ll design a road map for you, but we need to tackle this because this is very important.” So, nomads add a lot of value across the bottom line, everywhere, especially for our practice because now we're accessing different types of solutions for the same client you already have.

Every time you meet with a client, you need to ask questions. It's a relationship. That's a great opportunity to sit down and say, “Listen, you're going to do this. You're going to go there. What if there's a catastrophic event? What if there is a problem? Who are we calling?” And usually the client can say, “Oh, I didn't think of that. What a great question.” And you come back and you say, “Great. Now we're on the same team. We need to do this.” And they're going to do it.

A lot of times the trusted advisor is very good at identifying the problem. The issue is how do we solve it?

And the best way to do this is through joint work, because now you have a teammate. Now you have a trusted person that's with you, that's helping you, that's guiding you, that's working together with you and your client to go from A to Z.

I love joint work, and joint work only enhances everybody's experience and grows your practice and your business exponentially because we cannot be everything to everybody. You need to know who to call. That's what you need to know.

Usually with joint work, what happens is the advisor identifies a problem, says, “OK, we need to find a solution.” Through MDRT, as an organization, you'll be able to find someone who knows. And they're specialists across the board for different things. So, you call them. And the way it would usually work is, “Oh, this is Cesar. I'm calling you because I have this situation, and I heard you might be able to guide me.” And more often than not, they'll say, “Yes. Well, we can work this together.”

One of the things that people fear the most about joint work is losing control of their client. And that's exactly what it's not, because joint work is, now you have someone behind you, on your team, that's knowledgeable, that knows how to do it, why to do it. And the one who represents it and gives the solution to the client is the main advisor.

And the way it really works is the lead advisor is the quarterback. We're here in the back making sure everything works. We'll explain it. We'll let you know. We'll tell you as much as you want. We'll go to the client meetings. We'll tell the client. But we’re your back office.

Math is simple. It's better to win 100% of $1 than a million percent of $0.

When there's joint work occurring, it has to be very clear from the beginning who's running the relationship. We'll be involved as far as that main advisor wants, but the one asking the questions, the one who has to identify what we're doing and why we're doing this is the quarterback, which is the main advisor, who should always and will always run the relationship.

And when you look at medicine, you need a cardiologist. Who do you ask first? Your GP, your general practitioner, and you say, “Hey, who do you recommend?” He might give five or six people, whatever it is. You go to your cardiologist. When you go back and visit your main doctor, you're going to show him your results and say, “Hey, I know that's not your specialty, but what do you think about this?” And it works the exact same way. And I think clients value that so much more when you say, “Hey, I don't have the answer. I have someone on my team that does. And he's going to come in, he's going to advise, he's going to help.” Because that client will always go back to the main advisor for solutions.

Why digital nomads are a growing opportunity

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Cesar A. Lopez Jr., ChFC, CLU