Strategy

Just went for a bike ride and it was AWESOME.

I biked up a big hill, barely making it to the top. I enjoyed the view and, while biking down the hill, took my time so I wouldn’t feel as though I was at risk of breaking my neck. I rode by a huge nursery I’d never noticed before, and even caught a glimpse of a bunny rabbit hopping across the road.

I felt so strong and capable and happy. So different from another recent bike ride where I felt weak, frustrated, and exhausted.

What was the difference? Comparison.

You see, on my energizing ride, I was on my own, creating my own experience based on my own strengths and goals.

The frustrating ride? I was riding with someone else with totally different strengths and goals. I compared myself to them the whole time, trying to keep up and feeling like I was falling short the entire time.

Think of it – two nearly identical bike rides, but one felt like a success and one felt like a failure. Comparing myself to someone else changed my entire experience.

If you’re feeling frustrated, I encourage you to check in with yourself, and see if any comparing is going on. Trust your abilities, forge your unique path to success, and enjoy the ride!

Many years ago, I met a real estate agent at a training seminar. As we chatted, it became clear that she was really stuck. Being a naturally curious gal, I started asking her questions about her marketing.

She told me that her primary marketing efforts focused on advertising, and she was spending $1,200 per month on it. I then asked about how many clients she got from her ads, and she said, “Oh, I don’t get any clients from it.”

Uh… ok. Bewildered, I asked one more question – “If you don’t get any results, why do you spend so much on advertising?” She replied, “Well, I’ve always done it, and everyone else does it, so I have to do it.”

I was speechless at the blatant absurdity of it. Spending over $14,000 per year on ZERO results?

When we’re looking at other people, their mistakes are so obvious, aren’t they?

Not so obvious is how we do this to ourselves – spending time and money on things that do not work, just because everyone else is doing it, and we’ve always done it.  So let’s unearth the gunk that is draining your time, energy and money. It’s easy. We’ll use the real estate agent’s statement as a guide.

1.  “I’ve always done it.” What do you do now that used to be effective, but no longer serves you or is totally out of step with the times?

2.  “Everyone else does it.” What strategies are assumed necessities in your industry or community, but that aren’t producing measurable results? (social media is often the worst offender here!)

3.  “I have to do it.” What do you think you “should” be doing, but doesn’t actually bring you any results?

Give yourself an honest evaluation, and remember that it’d be better to do nothing than to waste time and money on actions that have a proven track record of not working. Cut out what is wasting your time, and allow new, more effective solutions to emerge.

“How did I get so far off course?”

I get this question a lot from people. And the answer is – drift.

Drift is subtle. It happens when you set your actions along a path that is just a few degrees off course from your goals. But those few degrees off course, if we compare it to a physical map, can be the difference between ending up in Disneyland, and, say, Montana.

And the worst part about drift? You don’t even notice that it’s happening.

So how do you know you’re drifting, how do you get back on course, and how do you counteract it in the future?

• You’re in the midst of drift if you’re saying things like, “Where am I?”, “Why isn’t this working?”, “How did I get here?”, or “It’s going to take me forever to get back on track.”

• To get back on track, review your business and look at the times when you were getting the results you wanted. Track those results back to the activities that got you there, and start doing those things on a consistent basis.

• To stay on track, stay consistent with your activity, track your results, evaluate, and adjust your course.

Take these things to heart, and your business will grow exponentially.

And seriously, if you want to bypass all this drift business, hire a coach. Whether you work with me or someone else – just get an outside perspective on your side. Having someone help you stay aware of the tendency to drift, and counteracting it consistently, is one of the most important things you will do in your business. It will save you time, sanity, and a whole lot of money.

I recently taught a teleclass that focused on tracking activity so that business owners could get clear on exactly how to spend their limited time and resources. The key to the process was to reflect on past positive results and uncover the specific actions that led to those repeated successes.

When I asked the participants to share the patterns of success they discovered, I got a variety of responses. Networking, phone calls, social media and more. As I expected, what worked for each business owner was a little different – unique to their skills, preferences, and industries.

Then one participant asked a question. She asked, “I can see that networking really worked in the past, but can you give me some ideas for what else I could be doing?”

Perfect. Can you see what she said here? She identified what worked, but instead of thinking, “WOW, cool, I’m going to do more of what is working,” she asked what I hear all the time – the question that keeps you stuck, frantic and overwhelmed – “What else?”

Always asking “what else” keeps us looking for the next quick fix, distracted by bright shiny objects, and susceptible to slick new marketing schemes. It keeps us from doing the things that will get us to our goals simply and easily.

So what is the smart alternative? Evaluate your business to discover what is working, then do more of that. If you do this, you will likely find that 70-90% of your business comes from one or two specific activities. If you want to double your business, all you need to do is to double those activities that are already producing the results you want. Simple.

Simple, and also effective. In my own business, and in my clients businesses, taking a hard line on this perspective has led to doubling and tripling our incomes. Don’t let the simplicity fool you, folks, this is the real deal!