Are YOU Remarkable?

I recently interviewed Karen Roberts, ChFC, CDFA, for my Growing Your Financial Business: The Woman’s Way podcast to talk about her success with Emerald Financial Group and her book 20 Questions: What You Don’t Know Matters. The entire conversation (listen to it here ) was so interesting, but her last question stuck with me.

Are you remarkable?

Maybe it’s just because I don’t say the word remarkable very often, but it got me thinking. How do most people respond to this? How should you respond? What does your answer say about you?

Okay, maybe it’s a question that just makes more questions. Oops!

But I asked a few of these to Karen, and she gave such a great answer — you could even call it remarkable.

The “Okay, What’s Next?” Mentality

So many women, myself included, achieve something incredibly difficult or impressive and don’t even take a minute to celebrate. Your first thought after all the hard work is probably, “Okay, what’s next?”

Karen used to be the same way. She did foster care and adoption, raised four kids, and owns a business that helps people every single day. To everyone around her, her accomplishments were obviously remarkable, but Karen would brush them off: “Oh, that’s just what I do, it’s no big deal.”

It’s this kind of thinking that leads to imposter syndrome, to feeling like you’re not doing enough even when you’re doing amazing things.

Karen realized her clients do better when they’re confident and celebrating their accomplishments, so she decided to do the same thing for herself. Looking in the mirror after getting dressed each morning, she strikes the Wonder Woman pose — hands on her hips, shoulders back, looking powerful — and says to herself:

“How cute am I today!”

In that moment, no one else’s opinions matter. Only Karen’s. She gets to start her day feeling cute, strong, and empowered, just by bragging on herself a little bit. She can look at everything she has accomplished and feel proud, instead of brushing it off and moving on. Not only does this mindset keep her in the industry, but it lets her thrive and run an even better business.

Karen encourages all of her clients to be proud of how far they’ve come. When they leave a meeting with her, they should all be able to say, “You know, I did a good job with my money, and now I’m gonna live the way I want to.”

Don’t Be Afraid to Flex

Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate to say, “Yes! I am remarkable!” but I would struggle to leave it at that. As a woman, I’ve been told it’s bad to be egotistical, so I tend to justify the compliments I give myself: “Yeah, I’m remarkable, but I didn’t have a horrible upbringing or anything, I had a lot of opportunities...” And so on.

But take a look at the men in your life! My husband will — no joke — walk into the room while I’m on a call and flex his arms for the camera. He’s more than happy to show the world all the work he’s put into himself.

If he can look in the mirror and say, “My muscles look pretty good right now!” then why do women see ourselves and think, “What’s wrong with me?”

Let’s stop that. Give yourself a moment to celebrate. Take a minute to brag. It’s not an easy thing to be a woman in the financial industry, to run a financial business, to balance all the parts of your incredible life! So flex your awesomeness and remind yourself: I am remarkable.

What You Don’t Know Matters

Karen and I discuss even more questions in the podcast episode , and you can find all twenty in Karen’s book 20 Questions: What You Don’t Know Matters. Not only are they helpful for your clients, but you can also use them for your personal or business goals!

Also on Growing Your Financial Business: The Woman’s Way , Karen talks about imposter syndrome and overcoming some of her toughest challenges in the industry (it’s seriously inspirational). And if you want even more tools for building trust with clients, check out the Rita Cheng episode for a different take on asking the right questions.

Now go share your remarkable achievements in the comments! (and if you still feel like you don’t have one, go listen to the interview ASAP!)

Talk soon!