It's going to happen. I don't care how talented you are, how hard you've hustled, or how promising your pipeline looked last week. At some point in your first year as a commission-based adviser, you're going to have a slow month. The phone stops ringing, the deals you were counting on fall through, and you'll find yourself staring at a calendar wondering if you've made a terrible career decision. Welcome to the club. The good news is that this moment doesn't define your career. How you respond to it absolutely does.
Let me save you some time and anxiety by explaining what's actually happening, why it's normal, and how to use this period productively rather than spiralling into panic. Because panic, while understandable, is spectacularly unhelpful.
First, Accept That This Is Normal
Your first instinct during a slow month will be to assume you're failing. You'll compare yourself to that adviser in your office who seems to be writing business constantly, and you'll conclude that you're simply not cut out for this work. This is, to put it technically, nonsense.
Every successful adviser you admire has had slow months. Many of them have had slow quarters. The difference between those who built lasting careers and those who washed out isn't that the successful ones avoided dry spells. It's that they didn't let the dry spells convince them to quit. Commission-based income is inherently lumpy, especially in your first year when you haven't yet built the pipeline depth and referral networks that smooth out the peaks and troughs.
The advisers who struggle most during slow periods are the ones who interpreted their previous good months as evidence of their brilliance and now interpret the slow month as evidence of their inadequacy. Neither interpretation is accurate. Sometimes the market is quiet. Sometimes your timing is off. Sometimes deals that should close simply don't, for reasons that have nothing to do with your competence.
Audit Your Activity, Not Just Your Results
Here's where I'm going to say something that might sting a little: slow months often aren't actually about bad luck. They're the delayed consequence of insufficient activity six to eight weeks earlier. The mortgage that settles this month was probably first discussed two months ago. The insurance policy that goes live today started as a referral weeks back. If your results have dried up, it's worth examining whether your activity levels dipped during the period that would be feeding your current pipeline.
This isn't about making you feel guilty. It's about giving you something actionable. If you can identify that you let prospecting slip while you were busy with a flurry of applications, you've learned something valuable about maintaining consistent activity regardless of how busy you feel. If your activity has been consistent and results still aren't materialising, then you're genuinely experiencing market timing issues, and that's a different problem with a different solution.
Pull out your CRM and actually look at the numbers. How many new conversations did you start six weeks ago? How many referral partners did you contact? How many follow-ups did you complete? The data will tell you whether you're experiencing bad luck or reaping what you failed to sow. Either answer is useful.
Use the Time You Suddenly Have
One of the cruel ironies of commission-based work is that when you're busy writing business, you have no time for the activities that generate future business. Then when things slow down and you finally have time, you're too demoralised to use it effectively. This is a trap, and you need to consciously avoid it.
A slow month is a gift of time, even if it doesn't feel like one. Use it to do all the things you've been putting off. If you haven't already implemented a weekly planning routine, now is the perfect time—see The Sunday Night Reset for a simple system that takes just 20 minutes. Update your CRM with notes from client meetings you rushed through. Reach out to referral partners you've been neglecting. Create content for your LinkedIn profile. Attend that industry event you keep skipping because you're too busy. Call past clients for reviews and referrals.
The advisers who thrive long-term are the ones who treat slow periods as investment time rather than crisis time. Every prospecting call you make this month is a seed planted for future harvest. Every referral partner relationship you nurture now will pay dividends later. The work you do during slow months is often more valuable than the work you do during busy ones, precisely because you can do it properly rather than rushing.
Watch Your Finances and Your Mental State
Let's talk about the practical reality of a slow month: you still have bills to pay. If you haven't already built a financial buffer, this first slow month is going to teach you why that buffer is non-negotiable for commission-based careers. Going forward, you should be maintaining at least three months of expenses in reserve, ideally more. That buffer isn't a luxury; it's what allows you to make good decisions during slow periods rather than desperate ones.
Equally important is managing your mental state. It's remarkably easy to let a slow month become a slow quarter because you've talked yourself into a funk that affects everything you do. Clients can sense desperation, and it's not attractive. Referral partners can tell when you're anxious, and they hesitate to send you business. Your confidence affects your results, which affects your confidence, creating a downward spiral that's much easier to prevent than to escape.
Stay connected with other advisers who understand what you're experiencing. Exercise, because the mental health benefits are real and immediate. Maintain your routines even when there's less external structure forcing you to do so. And for goodness sake, stop checking your bank balance multiple times per day. It won't make money appear faster, and it will make you miserable.
Remember Why Slow Months End
Slow months feel eternal when you're in them, but they do end. Usually they end because of work you're doing right now, even though the connection won't be obvious until later. That networking coffee you scheduled today might result in a referral next month. That client review call might uncover an opportunity you didn't know existed. That follow-up with a prospect who went quiet might land exactly when their circumstances have changed.
The nature of advisory work means there's always a lag between effort and reward. During busy months, you're harvesting effort from the past. During slow months, you're planting for the future. Both are necessary, and neither is more valuable than the other.
Your first slow month is a test, but not the kind you might think. It's not testing whether you're good at this job. It's testing whether you have the resilience and perspective to build a long-term career rather than just chasing short-term wins. Pass this test, learn from it, and the slow months that follow will be far less frightening.
And they will follow. That's just how this works. But so will the busy months, and if you've done the work during the quiet times, those busy months will be busier than ever. To reduce the impact of future slow periods, consider building diversified income streams—see How Smart Advisers Build Multiple Revenue Streams for strategies that create more stable, predictable income.