Orion Ascent's theme this year was "Relentless." And honestly? It was a good one.

Not kitschy. Not corporate. Actually relevant for where the industry is right now.

But here's the thing about being relentless: most people get it backwards. They hear "relentless" and think it means chasing everything, harder. More AI tools. More integrations. More conferences. More vendor calls. More initiatives. More, more, more.

That's not relentless. That's exhausting. And it doesn't work.

Relentless means picking the thing that matters and refusing to stop pursuing it. One thing. Maybe two. Three at the absolute max. Then going after those things with everything you've got.

The best firms I've worked with don't try to do everything. They do less — and they do it relentlessly.

The conference buzz trap

Here's a pattern I see every conference season.

An advisor flies to the event. They walk the expo floor. They sit in sessions. They have great conversations. Their notebook fills up. By the end of day two, they've got 30 ideas — new AI tools, CRM upgrades, marketing strategies, compliance improvements, client experience overhauls, operational workflows.

They fly home buzzing. The energy is real. The ideas are genuinely good.

Then Monday hits. Emails piled up. Clients need attention. The team has questions. There are fires to put out. That notebook goes in a drawer. Those 30 ideas become zero implementations.

Sound familiar?

The problem isn't the conference. The problem isn't even the ideas. The problem is trying to chase all 30 at once, getting overwhelmed, and chasing none.

Relentless means less

When Kyle asked me on our podcast how advisors can be relentless with their technology while still running a business, my answer was simple: you can do anything, but you can't do everything at once.

Relentless is not chasing every shiny object that catches your eye at a conference. Relentless is taking a step back and asking: What do I need to be relentless about this year to show up as my best self for my clients, for my team, digitally and in person?

Then finding one, two, maybe three ideas max — and pursuing those relentlessly.

That's it. That's the framework.

How to filter 30 ideas down to 3

When you come home from a conference with a full notebook, run every idea through three questions:

1. Does this help me serve my clients better?

Not theoretically. Practically. If you implement this, will your clients notice? Will it change their experience? Will it make their lives easier or their outcomes better?

If the answer is "maybe eventually, if we also do five other things first," it's probably not your top priority.

2. Does this help my firm grow or scale?

Growth and scale are different. Growth means more clients, more revenue. Scale means serving the same clients more efficiently — doing more with less. Both matter, but you need to know which one you're optimizing for right now.

If you're a firm that's drowning in operational work and can barely serve your current clients well, scale comes before growth. Fix the operations first. Then grow.

3. Can I implement this without derailing what's already working?

Some ideas require burning everything down and starting over. Those might be great ideas for next year. Right now, you need ideas that fit into your existing workflow without creating chaos.

The ideas that pass all three filters? Those are your 1-3. Everything else goes on a "later" list. Not a "never" list — a "later" list. You'll get to them. But not now.

The 1% mindset

People talk about 1% daily improvement, and it sounds like a motivational poster. But the math is real.

If you improve 1% per day for a year, you're 37 times better by December. Not 365% better. 37 times better. That's the power of compounding.

But it only works if you're improving at the same thing consistently. If you're bouncing between 30 different initiatives, you're not compounding anything. You're spreading effort so thin that no single area sees meaningful progress.

Pick your 1-3 areas. Improve at those relentlessly. Let the compounding do its work.

Don't take every vendor call

After every conference, your phone will ring. Your inbox will fill up. Every vendor you spoke with, every booth you visited, every badge that got scanned — they're all going to follow up.

You don't owe them a meeting.

This is not me saying ignore vendors. They might have something valuable. But be selective. If a vendor's product doesn't map to one of your 1-3 priorities, the meeting can wait.

The worst thing you can do post-conference is spend two weeks in vendor calls for products you're not going to implement this year. That's two weeks you could have spent on the things that actually matter.

Relentless is a mindset, not a to-do list

Being relentless isn't about working harder. It's about working with more focus.

It applies to technology — picking the right tools and actually implementing them instead of perpetually evaluating.

It applies to client experience — deciding what "great" looks like for your clients and building toward that standard, not jumping between competing visions of what the client experience should be.

It applies to your team — investing in the people and processes that make your firm better instead of layering on more complexity that stretches everyone thinner.

And it applies to conferences. Go with a plan. Learn intentionally. Come home with focus. Execute relentlessly.

The firms that win aren't the ones that try everything. They're the ones that try the right things — and don't stop until those things are done.

This article is based on the Next Mile podcast episode "Relentless, Relevant, and Ready: Orion Ascent Recap with Jessica Perez." Listen to the full conversation for more on applying the relentless mindset to your firm.

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