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By Casey Grey
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Stop listening with your ears and watching people's lips.
Listen to your heart and watch people's feet. That will guide you much better. Some days I wonder if I enjoy the pain.
Why do I put so much pressure on myself? Is it a habit? If so, is it serving me or holding me back? Do I grow more with it or without it? Diamonds are made under extreme pressure... Does that mean it will work for me? Then again... Trees can grow to be big, strong and beautiful with no pressure at all... I guess the question is, what's it all for? What do I really want? What do I want my life to look like? More importantly, how do I want to feel? That's ultimately what it all comes down to. This morning I attended a workshop. I was asked to be a part of a group to test out a pricing tool that could be used to figure out the price increase for building to NetZero Energy (a new building certification). Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, it was obvious that a lot of work and resources (and money) were put into creating this tool.
This group of people is attempting to create something for builders to help them get their homes to NetZero. For myself, I do not see this tool being of much use for my business. Even for large builders, I'm not convinced it's going to be useful. What's happening is a bunch of researchers are getting together and putting data together, creating spreadsheets and graphs and getting all exciting about what excites them. But most people who buy houses are not like them... Most people do not buy homes for logical reasons. They buy homes for emotional reasons. In fact, most things we purchase are for emotional reasons. We may trick ourselves into thinking it's logical, but that's a lie. If all I needed was a roof over my head, I would be living somewhere very different. If all I needed was transportation to get from point A to point B, my vehicle would be different. If all I needed was a good, healthy meal, I would never eat at a restaurant. If you are in business, stop thinking about what people "should" do and starting thing about what they "actually" do. There are some things in life that just feel good.
They feel good because I know that it's the right thing to do. They feel good because I know the message and the lesson needs to be out in the world. The latest episode of Lean In with Casey Grey is a feel-good episode. It's a message that needs to be shared and spread across the world. It's a story of people making a difference. Doing what they can within their community to help this world. Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do. After people leave a meeting with you, do they feel like they are the smartest person in the world or do they think you are the smartest person in the world?
Said differently, are you feeding your own ego or their ego? I need to work on this myself... How do you play games? Do you want to win or are you willing to pass it to somebody else? Do you cheat? Do you play by the rules? Do you make your own rules? How do you wash the dishes? Do you make sure they are perfectly clean or do you just get it done as quickly as possible? Do you avoid doing the dishes all together? How do you show up in your relationship? Do you do whatever it takes to make it work or walk away at the first sign of confrontation? Do you expect to receive or are you out to give? How do you show up at work? Do you just do what you are "suppose to do" or do you overdeliver? Do you help others to move up the ladder or do you hold them back hoping you can surpass them? Whatever the situation is, become conscious of how you act or react. If you don't like what you see, it may be time to change because... How you do anything is how you do everything. As we come up to the one year anniversary of Younion, it's been interesting figuring out how people have come to hear about the studio. It has not been growing as quickly as we hoped but it is definitely growing from month to month.
Over the last 3 months, we have been working on some social media campaigns. When you look at the stats shared by the platforms, they seem to be performing well. The ads get clicks and views and quite a few people fill out the form. Unfortunately, the conversion rate in terms of getting those people to purchase has been low. Last month we had 36 "first timers" walk through the doors. When asked how they heard about Younion, these are how the responses were filled out:
Referrals cost us nothing. Other could be anything. Posters cost us pennies. Internet Searches cost us nothing. The sign costs us nothing once we put it up (and the sign itself was under $200). Facebook and instagram cost us over $2,200... When running a business, it's easy to get lost in the wrong stats. It's easy to get hooked on views and clicks. But those views and clicks are only worth it if they turn into dollars and cents. Even if Facebook and Instagram performed the best, the question would still come down to "is the revenue from these sales covering the costs of advertising?" Tracking is important. But tracking the right thing is more important. In our culture, there is a disconnect between what things cost versus what people think they should cost.
In 16 years of construction, I don't think I have ever had a meeting with a homeowner where their budget was more than what they needed for the work they wanted to do. I believe it's mostly because people don't understand what it takes to operate a business. If you work for an organization, chances are you do your work and then you cash your paycheck. You get paid for your time. But the business that pays you has many other things to pay for. For example, I just had a meeting with my team. It's important. We need to have these meetings. The team members are getting paid for being at the meeting but this time does not get charged to a specific job. It gets charged to ALL the jobs as an overhead expense. Same with marketing efforts, insurance, gas, phones, internet, tools, repairs, vehicles, computers, software, furniture, equipment and so forth. Starting a business and operating a business is no easy task. There's a reason the majority of businesses go out of business. The next time you try to negotiation a better price for a service, think about what it took to get that service to you. You may develop a whole new appreciation for what it takes. And for the business owners out there, don't sell yourself short. You worked hard to get to where you are at. Assuming you provide great service and solve a problem, you should be paid accordingly for that. Understand your worth but don't be entitled. Have you ever been around people who complain about their situation or circumstances?
In those instances, what do you do? Do you agree with them? Console them? Help them? My default is to "look at the brighter side" and offer suggestions although often this does not help. Here's the thing about helping people... You can only help people who want to be helped. I get it. It's easier to complain about your situation than it is to do something about it. But easier rarely means better. Personally, I have no patience for people who aren't willing to put in the work. And if you're looking for somebody to help you get "unstuck", I know I'm not alone when it comes to this. Teachers, mentors, coaches and leaders all over the world love to have outstanding students. It's what fuels them! And they will usually over-deliver to those who are willing to take action. So are you an outstanding student of life or are you just getting by, blaming and never taking responsibility? If you are ready to take your life to the next level, I suggest you check out M1 or find something similar. Find people who are having fun, serving and making this world a better place. Find people who are not willing to settle! If you are committed, you may just find yourself in a room like this: When does information become too-much-information?
When is it time to stop taking in information and start taking action? I like to focus on just-in-time-information. Take in the information and use it right away. This likely gets me in trouble since I often don't have ALL the information but it's better than paralysis by analysis. This does not mean that I stop listening to podcasts or reading things that I am interested in (although I do take breaks from both). To me it's about leaving space for the things I know I need to get done NOW. Taking in more information takes away from other things that are already on my list that are important to me. Focus on what you need to do right now, not what you "might" need to do tomorrow. |
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