“Everybody deserves their own individual approach to success, and that’s where the elite and the successful live.”
The one and only Kim Skermer, Founder of The Approach Coaching Method, joins Matt on this episode of Bridging The Gap. Kim coaches the industry on business development, coaching and advisory services with a flair of leadership and life.
Kim shares her passion for her career, her journey into entrepreneurship, and how she became a leader in the financial services industry. She discusses her vision on emotions and vulnerability within the industry, how we can understand our clients in the simplest way, and how we can provide our clients with specific coaching for who they are rather than who we want them to be. We also dive into the importance of receiving coaching ourselves as advisors, and what it can do for our professional and personal lives.
Timestamps From This Episode:
- [00:02:36] Matt introduces the episode, the Approach Coaching Method, and asks the Kim about her childhood aspirations before diving into the topic.
- [00:08:24] Kim learned about caring relationships and problem-solving from a financial advisor, and shares the experience of the the kindness of a local business owner.
- [00:13:20] Kim discusses how one’s trauma can lead to transformation, and emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself in the face of societal expectations. Kim shares personal struggles with transitioning from a corporate executive to an entrepreneur, and emphasizes the need for financial advisors to focus on emotions rather than product sales. They encourage individuals to look within and be authentic in order to find success.
- [00:23:02] Invest time and effort, do the big work, avoid negativity on public message boards, and focus on building awareness to make a difference.
- [00:31:10] Kim shares how she learned from a failed coaching program and now has a personal coaching process that emphasizes authenticity and only working with clients who are ready.
- [00:39:30] “Push, pull, and participate” in order to grow and succeed. Ego can interfere with strategy.
- [00:44:36] Coaches understand clients’ needs and use “push, pull, and participate” mentality. Advisors can learn from coaches on handling clients and the importance of coaching to manage clients’ savings and needs.
- [00:48:34] Kim discusses the excitement of discovering the unknown and provides a prompt for a single actionable takeaway from the discussion for listeners.
Kim Skermer Bio:
My experiences frame the wisdom needed to be the respected Coach I am today. More and more, people crave REAL and CLEAR conversations around normalizing the true efforts it takes to be a Financial Advisor. This knowledge led my transition of Coaching and Leadership from a Sr Executive Management level at a Financial Institution, down the path of Founder & Coach of The Approach Coaching Method.
My respected point of view has gifted me with the honor of mentoring hundreds of individuals, advising small businesses, facilitating numerous training seminars, speaking engagements, and surpassing over 24,000 professional Coaching hours.
Coming from a position of collaboration, I work closely with my collective of professionals and entrepreneurs. Aligning all efforts towards building your sustainable, predictable, and profitable business. I believe this goal comes from a foundation of trust, ownership, hard work, community, will, and discipline.
Combining all my learnings from high-end athletics, elite teams, professional advocates, and a nurturing personal life; I believe in continuously surrounding oneself with people who drive you to step forward as your best, while understanding the power of process.
In my spare time, you will either find me on Lake Huron, hiking the Bruce with our beautiful sassy girl, Caly (dog), creating a delicious mess in the kitchen, or playing in the dirt. For me, this is rejuvenation, my definition of success, and a perfect complement to my professional beliefs.
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About the Show
Bridging the Gap is a financial podcast hosted by CEO Matt Reiner focused on bringing together leaders from the finance and the technology industries to focus on innovating the financial services industry.
Host
Matt Reiner, CFA, CFP®
I’ve been fortunate to be around the wealth management business for over 25 years. Along with this, I’m also the CEO of a tech startup. These experiences have given me a bird’s eye view of both the technology and financial services spaces.
