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By Casey Grey
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Why do you buy what you buy?
Why do you shop where you shop? We all like to believe that we spend our money in logical ways but the truth is that it's always for emotional reasons. If I want to go somewhere for a coffee, I could go to Tim Hortons or I could walk into 692 Coffee & Bar where the owner says "Hey Casey!" Could I get coffee cheaper at Tim Horton's? Yes, but... It's not about the coffee, it's about the feeling. I feel good when I walk into 692 Coffee & Bar. They know me and they're a new business that I want to support. I feel like I'm part of the community. When people come into Younion, it's not about meditation. It's about the feeling they want. We see them at Younion. Natasha makes sure of this. They are part of something bigger than themselves. We're all in this together. Most importantly, these local businesses are a place where a face to face connection happens. Sure you can connect with people all over the world thanks to technology but there's nothing more powerful than being with somebody in real life. Who are you going to connect with today? What do you do really well?
Perhaps you do it so well that you don't even know that you are doing it. It just comes naturally to you. Figure THAT out and do more of THAT. The universe will reward you for it. 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. If you don't think you are in sales, you are lying to yourself.
Everyday we have to sell. If you influence others to take action, that is selling. It could be getting your kids to eat their broccoli, getting your roommate to clean up after himself, getting a raise at work or, the more obvious, selling a product or service. The not-so-obvious one is how you sell to yourself. What do you do to get yourself to take action? In either case, you are selling yourself every single day. Whether or not you realize it is a different story. If you have something that will truly help somebody, it's your job to do everything you can to get them to take action. If you don't, you are doing them a disservice. Perhaps you just need to change the word "selling" to something else... If you've been following my social media lately, you are aware that I have been having issues with my 1977 VW Van. It's been in and out of the shop for the last month.
(I wrote about the last time it went into the shop on my blog post titled Great Customers.) Yesterday I picked it up for the fourth time and, knock on wood, it's running better than it ever has since I purchased it. Throughout the last month as people would ask about it, I would let them know it's back in the shop. They would ask what was wrong and I would explain some of the issues I was having. In some cases people would start offering their opinions as to what was wrong with it. Personally, I love cars but I'm not a mechanic. I don't play one on the internet and I don't pretend to be one in real life. I leave that stuff to the experts. Construction, I know. But even within construction, there are many aspects that I don't know to the level of some of the experts I work with. Electrical, I leave to the electrician. Plumbing, I leave to the plumber. HVAC, I leave to the mechanical team. Engineering, I leave to the engineers. That being said, I have been building and renovating homes for 16 years now so I know more about all aspects of construction than most. In addition, my team and I have been a part of every single Certified Passive House in Ottawa except for one so we especially know more about building energy efficient homes than most people in the industry let alone the general population. But, there are still people who believe they know better. People who have done a renovation to one of their houses in the past or people who have helped their dad renovate their home when they were growing up, for example. Does this mean I won't listen to what they have to say? Absolutely not. I may learn something new. However, the weight their opinion carries over my experience or the opinion from one of my team members or expert sub-trades is much less. For my van, did I listen to people's opinions as to what they thought the issue was? Sure! But I did not believe their opinion over the opinion of my mechanic who had been working on VW Vans for 35 years. Everybody has an opinion but not everybody is an expert. The next time you are looking for an opinion or giving your opinion, remember, there is a difference between an "opinion" and an "expert opinion". I enjoy puzzles.
I never did many puzzles growing up but my mom would always have a puzzle going on the dining room table. Every morning when I would come down, she would be in the dining room enjoying her coffee and working on her puzzle. The process is fun. Organizing the pieces, testing pieces, moving pieces, testing again and so forth. It's rewarding when you finally figure it out because you have put so much time into it! In my mom's case there was likely some frustration as well when she realized that she was missing one piece at the end which was likely hidden somewhere by my brother, Marshall :) To some extent in can be meditative. Focusing is what meditation helps with and working on puzzles forces you to focus the mind. Within a business there are many puzzles to be figured out and they are never ending. Marketing is one of them. (Perhaps this is one of the reasons I enjoy business so much...) With the internet and all the information out there, online marketing is something that can help your business grow but it's like one of those 5,000 piece puzzles my mom used to work on... The available platforms and targets are endless. Facebook, instagram, Linkedin and Google are the obvious go-to platforms but which one is best for your business? Who are you targeting? What is their age? Are they male or female? What are they interested in? Where do they live? Then, what is your ad like? Do you use a video or a picture? What is the video or picture about? What is the title of the ad? What is the copy of the ad? What goes on the landing page? This is just the beginning of the puzzle. This is the organization. This is where you figure out what pieces go where. What works and what does not. You test, test and test again until you figure out what gives you the best return. If people are not clicking, why are they not clicking? Do you have the wrong interests? Or the wrong demographic? Or the wrong location? Perhaps the headline is not getting their attention? Perhaps the pictures or video is not grabbing them? If people are clicking, why are they clicking? Can we find more people like them? And when they do click, are they purchasing? If not, why did they stop? They were obviously interested... As you can see, this is no simple task (and perhaps less meditative than the puzzle I mentioned earlier...) We think that we can run our own ad campaign so we put something together with no real thought, choose some options that we "think" will work and then spend a few bucks. Then we wonder why we didn't sell anything and we say "online marketing does not work!" Personally, I see value in online marketing (done right) for YOUNION Mediation Studio. The goal, to get people into the space because I know their lives will be transformed. By not doing everything we can to get people in the door, we are doing them a disservice. That is why we brought on Riaz Sidi of Sidi.io to help us. And that is why we also had to have Riaz on Lean In with Casey Grey to share his story what he's helping us with. Even if you don't need marketing for anything, Riaz has an exciting story which brought him to where he is today. As a bonus, he's pretty funny too ;) If you are stressed out about your marketing, your two solutions are here! YOUNION Mediation Studio and Sidi.io We like to believe that we make calculated, logical and rational decisions. In reality, they are full of all sorts of emotions.
Why do you buy the Mercedes over the Kia? Why do you buy the electric car over the gas or the diesel car? Why do you buy the $50 purse versus the $500 purse or the $5,000 purse? Why do you live in a condo versus a house or vice versa? Why did you start your business? Why haven't you started your business? Why do you meet in person versus over the phone? Why did you watch the action movie over the love story? Why did you put in the high end kitchen over the Ikea kitchen? Why did you choose the steak over the salad? There are plenty of arguments for each one of these decisions. Does that mean there is a right decision and a wrong decision? If we're honest with ourselves, we will make our decisions and then rationalize them in our own minds. Right or wrong is just a point of view. But keep in mind that a point of view from somebody who has more experience than you may be worth considering. Personally, I love change.
I love the variety. I get bored with the same thing all the time. It's both a gift and a curse. I find that most people are afraid of change which holds them back. They are afraid to make the leap. They are afraid of what's on the other side. They are too comfortable where they are. That being said, there are some things I would never want to change, like my wife (I love you sweetie). But, our relationship has changed over the years. It is very different now than it was when we were in our twenties with no kids and no businesses. We have evolved as a couple. We have grown together. We have changed together. I think it's important to understand where change can be impactful for YOU. Changing your underwear is important. Changing your spouse on the other hand... Well, that's for you to decide. The question I have for the person who is thinking about that is "Does your spouse make you a better person?" Changing the filter in your furnace is important. Changing the direction of your business... That, once again, is for you to decide. Sometimes change is good. Other times you need to Lean In and just commit. And that's the advice I received from a mentor of mine, Rock Thomas, not long before we decided to change the direction of the podcast (which is now Lean in with Casey Grey). And once we started the new podcast, my producer, Brian, and I had conversations around the format of the podcast. Brian has some great ideas which require more work but he's excited to lean in and commit to it. New Podcast. New Format. Change is good :) Yesterday was the first episode with the new format and I love the change! When I interviewed Tarek Mounib of Free Trip to Egypt, we were not planning for the new format but Brian worked his magic. You can listen to Tarek's episode on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music. Enjoy! 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. |
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