Think about something you do every single month in your marketing: writing the newsletter, posting to social, checking your Google Business Profile. Odds are you already have a process in your head; it just hasn't made it onto paper. Today's exercise: pick one task you repeat often and write it down as a simple SOP. You need four things: what triggers the task, the steps in order, who's responsible, and one quick way to check it was done right. This isn't about perfection. A rough SOP you can improve later beats a process that only lives in your head. It's also the first step toward handing something off without losing quality, whether that's to a team member, a freelancer, or future-you on a busy week. What's one task you're going to document today?

Every marketing task costs you something, even the ones that don't cost cash. Before you add one more thing to your plate this week, run a quick audit. List the marketing tasks you did in the last 7 days. For each one, ask: is this worth my time as an advisor, or could someone else do it just as well for less? Formatting a newsletter, resizing images, manually posting to three platforms, these almost never pass that test. Deciding what to say to a prospective client almost always does. The goal isn't to offload everything. It's to know which tasks actually need you in the chair. Pick one task this week that doesn't need your expertise and write down who or what could take it off your plate instead.

It's the first Monday of the month, which means it's time to look at what you actually did in September instead of guessing. Pull up whatever you've got (a doc, a sticky note, your memory if that's all there is) and answer three questions: What did you publish or send? What did you hear back from a real prospect or client? What sat on your to-do list untouched for the third week in a row? You're not grading yourself here. You're building a habit most advisors never build: looking at marketing the same way you'd look at a client's portfolio, on a schedule, without emotion attached. If this is the first time you've done this, that's fine. The point isn't a perfect review. It's starting the muscle so next month's review actually has something to compare against. What's one thing from September you're glad you did?

Most firms can tell you how many people visited their website. Far fewer can tell you their conversion rate, because "conversion" means something different every time someone asks. Here is a simple way to get a number you can trust: 1. Pick one action that counts. For most advisor sites, that's a booked call or a submitted contact form. Leave newsletter signups and downloads out for now. 2. Pick one denominator and stick with it. Website visitors over a set window, like the last 30 days. 3. Divide conversions by visitors, then write the number down next to its definition. The number matters less than the consistency. If the definition shifts every month, you can't tell whether anything actually improved. Today's action: write your one-sentence definition of a conversion, plus the two numbers behind it (conversions and visitors) for the last 30 days.