STRESS IS EVERYWHERE! It’s waiting for you when you wake up in the morning and it’s there when you go to bed at night. It’s at home, which may be doubling as your office, it's in your car, it's on your phone…heck, you can’t escape it…ever. That's totally normal, especially right now! But it’s how you define it or how you let it define you that makes all the difference.

Besides the obvious things like desks, chairs, internet, shelving and cabinets and a television, you’ll want to organize your financial services office space to optimize efficiencies. Most of your processes should be handled by your assistant or office manager and you’ll want to give them the tools to create the most efficient process possible.

We have all experienced that momentary panic when we can’t find our glasses, our keys, or our cellphones. It’s usually when we’re in a hurry, like when someone is honking in the driveway, or you are running late for an appointment. When the pressure’s on in some way, your heart rate increases, your cortisol and adrenaline surge, your palms get sweaty and you feel, just for a second, like you might explode.

Your client's first visible or audible experience is typically with the front desk/receptionist and the reactions, behaviors, and attitudes of your front-office person create the first impression for your guest. This first impression creates an opinion that can either strengthen or degrade each relationship.

We all learned lessons as children when we were trying to be heard. “Don’t interrupt, the adults are talking.” or “Wait for your turn to talk.” Your current communication style has a lot to do with how you learned those first lessons.