Carol Passalaqua has nearly 30 years experience in the financial industry and has received acclaim by peers, clients and press alike. Chicago Magazine’s November issue will name her to the Five Star Wealth Manager’s Listing for 2010, an honor based on client satisfaction.

You’ve been with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for over 15 years. What was your financial career path before then?
My first job out of college was working in a trust department, handling trust clients and their accounts. At age 23, I was promoted to Operations Manager overseeing people older than me. When I started out there was definitely a glass ceiling. So throughout my career, in every area I worked in, I went as far as I could go. If I wasn’t appreciated and couldn’t move up in one place, I’d leave and move up somewhere else.

What did you find compelling about Morgan Stanley Smith Barney?
I picked Smith Barney because it’s more collegiate. People seemed nicer than at other firms, and very willing to help you out. If you didn’t know something, they were there to help expand your business and give you ideas.

What was it like leaving the security of a salary at a banking institution to making straight commission?
Mentally it took me five years to adjust. I decided that if I was going to be successful, I would keep doing it. And if I was not, I had a fallback to banking.

I’m sort of a triple type-A personality and I figured out how many calls, how many leads, how many closings I needed to do a month. In sales training, they say 300 phone calls get you ten appointments and that gets you two closings.

I’m a visualization person and I knew that in deciding on my goals I’d hit them. I also made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t work on the weekends, but I’d work until 9 or 10 at night during the week.

That first year on commission, I wound up doubling my salary.

Most people are so afraid of trying new things that they don’t take a chance. But know that you can always go back.

Can you talk more about your “visualization” technique?
Years ago when I was in banking, I was on the board for the Private Industry Council of Lake County. It’s an organization that helps retrain people and get them off of welfare and into the private sectors. One of the programs they had was where you visualize and write down on a 3x5 card what you wanted to accomplish personally and business-wise. What are your goals daily? Monthly? Yearly? It’s like doing a financial plan but for your life and career.

Read the goals on this list once a day for 6 months or a year. At the end of the year, you’d accomplish all of them because they became part of your mindset. Your subconscious is always remembering.

I still keep a list of goals that I review every day and update as I accomplish them.

Do you have other advice to give to women starting out as Financial Advisors?
Three things to keep in mind:

First, don’t be afraid to take risks! Women are more risk adverse by nature. They just need to try. You have to have a mindset of “I can.” Men are more performance driven than women. But women are generally more sympathetic than men. It might be harder for us to get clients, but once we get them, we have them for a long time.

Second, get your feet wet in a trust department at a bank. How do they build their client base? How do they develop a sales strategy? There’s usually an opportunity to train with someone. I had people who trained me who weren’t competitive or jealous. They wanted me to move up so they could.

Third, wherever you work, make sure you have a mentor so someone’s got your back. Sometimes people think that others in the firm will realize the great job they’re doing. But if you don’t have a mentor, it’s much harder to make that happen.

What are some challenges that women financial advisors face that their male counterparts don’t?
It can still be a bit difficult to break into the good ole boy network. Some men primarily talk about sports and business and may feel more comfortable with getting business from each other. Whereas, women tend to not try to get business from their friends because we don’t want to hurt our personal relationships, so we go outside of that to get new clients.

You work with a very successful team of eight people. What are qualities to keep in mind when building a team?
I think it’s important to recruit people with different backgrounds and areas of professional proficiency. Too many of the same skill sets means that you’ll be replicating efforts and services. We’re a more cohesive and efficient group because we have different skills and responsibilities. Contrary to popular belief, you just can’t be all things to all people.

I’m always trying to expand my knowledge and it’s good to know a little bit about everything. But it’s very important to delineate what you really want to provide to your clients. Figure out what you’re naturally good at. Then you’ll actually enjoy what you do.

I develop an overall financial strategy through advanced planning and tie in asset allocation.

DON’T think of yourself as a broker. You are an ADVISOR. Our in-depth planning leads to a deep level of trust and our clients tell us things that they don’t tell their children.

Who had the greatest impact on how you approach business?
I’m the youngest of five in an Italian family, so that made an impact! But my parents raised us to be independent. They always said that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. We were also told, “don’t let anyone pigeon hole you.”

You’re very successful, and obviously very busy, yet you manage to put aside time for community service. Why is that important to you?
Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, but my parents always jumped in and helped other people. We were raised to give to those who have less.

I volunteer to help those who struggle because they have barriers: language, economic, education, physical handicaps, such as the blind. I also get involved with organizations that help people get scholarships to further their education.

What drives you to participate in adventure sports?
One of my visualization goals that I put down on my 3 x 5 card is to learn a new sport every year. I’ve been skydiving, luging, SCUBA diving, white water rafting, I ran the Marine Corps marathon, triathlons and have done open water swims.

It’s the drive to be independent. I do things that allow me to be competitive with myself. “Can I finish this?” I always think that finishing a race is 80% mental. If you’ve got it in your head that you can do it, you can do it.

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