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By Casey Grey
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What's the reason for giving a gift?
Is it for ourselves or is it for the other person? Everything we do in life is for a feeling. We watch the shows we like because of how they make use feel. We read certain books because of how they make us feel. We may eat certain food because of how it makes us feel. If you smoke, you know it's not good for you but there's a feeling you get when you do it. You exercise (or don't exercise) because of how it makes you feel. Gifts are no different. One of the greatest joys in life is giving gifts and one of the greatest gifts you can give a person is receiving their gift with love and appreciation. Sometimes the best medicine is laughter.
When was the last time you had a good laugh? A laugh where your face and your stomach hurts? If you can’t remember, I recommend getting Speak Out. Let me know how it goes 🤣 What people say they will do versus what they actually do is often very different.
This can be especially difficult in business. You have an idea so you start talking to people. You go to co-workers, friends, family and perhaps do a survey about your new idea. Most people say "Ya! That's a great idea! I would definitely pay for that!" So you figure your idea is perfect and you invest more time and now some money to get it started. Soon enough it's ready and you send out the details to all the people you spoke to before. And then... Crickets... Nobody is purchasing. All those people who said it was a great idea or said they would purchase now have excuses. And they may be very legitimate excuses. In either case, you now have a problem. You are fully invested in your idea and the bills keep coming. What do you do? Unfortunately I don't have a one-size-fits-all answer but I can give you one word that every entrepreneur needs to engrain in their body. Commitment. Business is not easy. If you think you're going to make a quick dollar, you are delusional. All the ultra successful businesses you know of now did not make it overnight. They may look like "overnight successes" because they popped onto your radar all of a sudden but they were 10, 15, 20 years in the making. They eventually got their break because they were committed no matter what. It's no surprise that over 80% of businesses fail within the first 2 years. Let's go back to your idea that everybody says was great. After almost 10 years in business, I know better than to look at people's lips. I look at their wallet (or purse). What are they spending their money on? Every time you go to the grocery store and spend money, you are voting. The grocery store does not care whether or not you "say" you are going to buy organic produce. They know whether or not you actually purchased it. They bring in the stuff that sells, not the stuff that they think will sell. Do they have to test products? Absolutely! And this is what we overlook when we're starting a business. We forget to plan for the worst. How much risk are we willing to take and how much of a loss are we able to take? I have definitely made this mistake. I'm an optimist which has served me very well but it has also hindered me (This is why partners are great but I'll save that for another day). Even the best in the world fail more that 50% of the time. The best hitters in major league baseball have a batting average of 0.300 which means that they only succeed 30% of the time! And how many major league baseball players are there in the world? Business is no different. Just like major league baseball players, you need to be fully committed and willing to put in the work if you are going to succeed. I heard a very interesting quote yesterday which got me pondering.
"If you wish to see the truth, hold no opinions." When we have opinions then our point of view will be distorted. We will be looking for things that prove us right and may miss the reality of the situation. Right or wrong is only a point of view. If I asked you if it's wrong to kill a person, you may come back with a quick "yes". But what if that person attacked you and was trying to kill you? Or worse, they were attacking your child or your mother? I know, this is an extreme example but killing a person may end up being "right" in your mind in this situation. But right or wrong has nothing to do with the truth. The truth is reality. Don't let your opinions distort the truth (reality) that is right in front of you. But this is just my opinion... What is the quickest way to get across town?
JUST F*#@^$% GO! Don't wait for all the lights to be green or the weather to be perfect. If you're waiting for the perfect time, it will never come. There's never a perfect time to start a business, have a baby or get married. The only thing that's holding you back is your mindset. Your fears. Courage is having fear but acting anyways. Be courageous. Go after your dreams. As Jack Johnson sings, "Don't let your dreams be dreams." "Knowledge is power" is a false and misleading statement.
There are thousands of people out there who have more knowledge than they know what to do with. Is knowledge important? Yes. BUT it's only part of the equation. It does not matter what you know if you are unwilling or unable to act on that knowledge. The most important thing to know is that the real power is in ACTION. If you are going to increase your knowledge, be sure to become knowledgeable in areas that you will be acting on or doing something with. All other knowledge is only wasting your precious time. You will not be remembered for what say or what you know. You will be remembered for who you are and what you do. Marketing is a tough gig.
If you're doing it online it's easy to track where the lead came from and what they purchased. How do you track other forms of marketing that don't involve "clicking"? Even the sandwich board outside your restaurant may be deceiving in terms of the numbers. Perhaps somebody came in because they saw your sandwich board, however, their friend had mentioned your restaurant the week before. The sandwich board was the tipping point. So do you count that one as a referral or the sandwich board that worked? At The Conscious Builder, most of our projects are referrals. Second (a far second) would be project signs. Third doesn't even matter because those two account for almost everything. Do people find us online and reach out to us? Absolutely. But they rarely hire us. They usually have a referral from somebody else they know and are using us to price check. So do we stop doing everything else and just focus on referrals? No but this does help us focus our time and energy on the appropriate leads when they come in. Everything works together. Once they're in the door, we need to prove that we can deliver and that we're here to stay. Yes, most of our work comes from referrals but people refer us because of the work we do as well as all the other things we do as a business. Today, everybody is fighting for your attention. Heck, the fact that you're reading this is impressive because you could be doing anything else. Why am I writing this anyways? I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm doing it for numerous reasons but there is a result that is happening. I'm proving to you that I'm committed. More importantly, I'm proving to myself that I'm committed. With commitment comes confidence and with confidence anything is possible. The best marketing is committed. How you prove it is up to you but I suggest you prove it to yourself first. Get out there and commit! Spread your story! Share your message! Not sure what that is yet? Perhaps that should be your first commitment... I'm still working on mine too... Creativity often does not get the recognition it deserves. It's not easy.
It requires space and time. Space to let your mind be creative and time to let your mind find the space. The most creative ideas rarely come when you're trying to be creative. They hit you when you're in the shower, taking a walk, reading a book, gardening, exercising or whatever you do to take a "break" and give your mind a rest. Creative people don't give themselves time frames to be creative. They continue onwards and take advantage of the moment when it hits them. You can't plan for it. So, do you need a creative idea? Stop doing and start being. I would like to believe that I don't judge people based on first impressions but I know I would be lying to myself.
It's in our nature. We're wired to make quick assessments and analyze the situation so that we know how we "should" act. Unfortunately, in today's world, these quick assessments can work against us. If we're only judging the book by it's cover, we could missing all the potential that lies within it OR we could be fooled only to find out that there's nothing of value beyond the cover. Is the cover important? Absolutely! The cover is what gets people's attention. It says "Hey! Look at me! I'm important! I have value to share!" And if it truly does have something important to share, something of value, people will soon find out and continue to spread the word. And if it's garbage, people will find that out too... And likely share that as well... So what is more important? The cover or what's beyond the cover? I believe they're both equally important. They need each other in order to survive. How you present yourself is your book cover and everything inside of you is your story. When you show up, people will judge you unconsciously. They will see the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the way you carry yourself, how you speak, how you listen and anything else that they think is important. The thing is, just like when they look at the cover of a book, they're making all these judgements based on their views of the world which were formed by their past experiences. What does that mean? It means that ten different people could judge you ten different ways. So does it matter what clothes you wear, what car you drive or how you act? Yes. But not because of what other people are going to think... Because of what YOU are going to think. You are judging yourself more than you are judging others and I bet you are meaner towards yourself than you are towards others. Be YOU. We're often attracted to people who are "like us" but this will work against us. On the internet, we only ever see things that match our interests or points of views. That means that if you like chocolate cake but not vanilla cake, you are only going to see things about chocolate cake and not vanilla cake. In some cases, like this, it's helpful but in most cases it's not. If you like cake and not fitness, you will see lots of posts about cake and not fitness. Would it be helpful to see fitness posts? Probably. Perhaps this would help you kick your cake eating habits. In business, if you only have people around you who act like you, think like you, talk like you, walk like you and agree with everything you say, how will you know what you're missing? How can you protect the down side? How can you be better at the things you are presently not good at? In life, if you only hang out with people like you, how will you ever grow? How will you expand your thinking? When will you try new things? When will you be challenged? When will you have good conversations? Challenges are like water to plants. We need it if we want to grow. Without it, we shrivel up and die (or at least our brain will). Embrace your differences and be open minded. It's the only way you will ever grow (yourself or your business). P.S. New Podcast is launching soon! More great stuff and fun conversations coming your way.
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