Legendary Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton has identified 7 principles of success during his extensive athletic and entrepreneurial career. These financial advisor success principles can help your independent practice thrive! Since retiring from the NFL in 1978, Pro Football Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton has founded a number of different successful businesses. One of the most successful is our very own Tarkenton Financial, an insurance marketing organization that supports independent financial advisors and insurance agents in the retirement planning market.
Over his career on the football field and as an entrepreneur, Fran has developed 7 principles based on his experiences. These core beliefs reflect the values of the businesses he owns and operates. They also impact the decisions we make and the actions we take every day at Tarkenton Financial.
Here are the 7 financial advisor success principles of Fran Tarkenton and Tarkenton Financial, along with suggestions for how YOU can implement them in your business as an independent advisor.
The primary mission of business is to help people. Business success comes from helping other people solve problems in their lives. It’s not about us — it’s about serving our partners and clients.
As an independent financial advisor, if your main motivation is just to make money, at some point you will eventually compromise your principles to make a buck. But if your motivation is to help your clients solve their problems, you will reap financial rewards as a byproduct of providing value and solutions — even if it costs you something in the short term. Putting your clients interests above your own will pay off in the long run.
People have to talk to other people. No one can make it entirely on their own. Communication and collaboration are how we learn new ideas, build on our thinking and find better ways to do things.
Fran has always said that he learned how to be a great quarterback by talking to…you guessed it…other great quarterbacks and coaches. Whether it was Y.A. Tittle, who was his quarterback mentor when he played for the New York Giants, Vince Lombardi and Don Shula, who coached Fran in Pro Bowl games, or Bud Grant, his long-time coach at the Minnesota Vikings, Fran was always asking questions and soaking up as much knowledge as he could from other people.
The Tarkenton Financial PEAK System encompasses everything you need to grow your business, consistent with these financial advisor success principles. It consists of Prospecting, Education, Assessment and Kinship, or relationships with other people who can help you achieve your business goals. Our family of advisors who choose to work with us is just that – a collaborative family where ideas and best practices are shared, not hoarded.
There are no silver bullets to success. No one and no thing is guaranteed to make you succeed. There are no shortcuts on the road to success, so be skeptical about unrealistic promises.
We’ve all seen the marketing programs advertised in our industry that supposedly offer a “guaranteed” 10x increase in your revenue or commissions. You should be very skeptical because they are usually more hype than results. In contrast, Our PEAK System offers proven and effective marketing programs and processes to help you find new clients consistently, along with materials, resources, and training to position you as a leader in your field — without the hype or unrealistic promises.
Reinvent yourself every day. In a world that is constantly changing and moving, staying still is falling behind. Always be looking for ways to get a little bit better, and stay open to change.
At 85 years old, Fran is still trying to learn something new every day. In fact, he says he’s learning at a faster pace now than he ever has in his life. He loves to ask questions, understand new things and not get stuck in old ways of thinking. For example, Tarkenton’s turnkey Retire Ready workshop system, which helps financial advisors and insurance agents market their retirement workshops, has been reinvented to reflect the way that marketing is done in 2025. Tarkenton has also created an AI sales assistant that advisors can use to leverage the power of AI in their meeting process. We don’t stand still, and neither should you!
Have a sense of desperation. Never get complacent, no matter how much success you’ve had in the past. Face each day with the heart of a challenger.
Nothing embodies this belief more than Tarkenton Financial’s number one producer for the past seven straight years…who is 81 years old. While most successful advisors his age are kicking back in retirement, this gentleman is working hard and producing, year in and year out. He never gets complacent but maintains a sense of desperation every day.
This belief is especially important in the annuity and life insurance business. No matter what kind of success you had last year, your production clock resets to zero at the start of a new year. You can’t coast from one year to the next — you need a sense of desperation at all times to achieve your business goals.
Learn more from your failures than your successes. No one gets it right every time. Don’t hide from accountability, but embrace the truth and use it to get better every day.
Not every marketing program you try is going to work. Not every prospect you meet with is going to convert. When you experience failure, how can you learn from this to increase your chances of success in the future?
Fran says in the NFL he always learned more after a loss than he did after a win. When they won, everyone in the locker room was slapping each other on the back and telling each other how great they were. Then they went home feeling pretty good. But after a loss, all Fran thought about was what they did wrong and how they could be better next time. It’s failure, not success, that drives improvement – if we’re willing to learn from it. in fact, Fran even wrote an entire book about it!
Nothing takes the place of hard work. There are plenty smart and talented people, but the essential ingredient to success is willingness to put in the work.
The mission of Tarkenton Financial is to help financial advisors grow their business and serve their clients. Our marketing programs, team, and systems support your success, but we can’t do the work for you. At the end of the day, you’re the one responsible for making it happen. This requires hard work and persistence — there are no shortcuts to success. But we are your partner on the journey. At Tarkenton Financial, you’re never one of many – you’re one of us.
Want to learn more about how you can put these financial advisor success principles to work in your practice? Click here to inquire about joining our team and let’s talk!