Read This If You Aren't Doing Enough
This is where I start to say things like "don't do more, do less!"
And, "focus on what's important, not just what's urgent!"
Sure. That's true.
But how do you know?
Here's a question you can ask yourself if you're not sure where to put your time or energy when every task is screaming your name:
"What would happen if it didn't get done?"
So simple. So not easy.
I've talked with so many small businesses and non-profits who are absolutely strapped for resources. Somehow, they think they need a custom logo, beautiful website, LinkedIn ads, and all these other things that might not be giving them the one thing they truly need: paying customers.
That's right folks. You heard it here.
You only need one thing to have a successful business and I'll say it again: paying customers.
Sure, there are plenty of companies that have huge ad-spends and beautiful websites and in-office chefs who cook snacks and lunches and dinners for the team and all that.
But you know what?
There are plenty of businesses that are doing just fine without it because they are focused on what matters to them.
Joe's Crab Shack is never going to spend money on a conventional TV ad because that doesn't matter to them. They have their ad on the local diner's menu and in the Jersey Shore guidebook for tourists and that's enough!
There are plenty of businesses just like Joe's Crab Shack.
When I meet up with an old friend with a new business idea and I ask how it's going, they often go into a long list of things they're working on:
"Oh, we're so busy it's crazy! I am wrapping up our logo design, we just bought the domain name, I have a web designer coming in on Tuesday, and we are going to be looking at office space to rent next week."
None of those things matter unless they are getting you more paying customers and when you're small or just starting out, the answer is "they're usually not."
2 Minute Action
Take a look through your to-do list and see if you can find an ROI on your work.
But Chris, the website I'm building lets people know I'm legit and can execute.
Do you know what else does that?
Here's a short list:
- Referrals.
- Testimonials.
- Customer success stories.
- Pictures from your portfolio.
All of these things can be attached in an email, which costs $0.
Chances are there is a cheaper, easier, faster way to get what you want. It's up to you to challenge yourself and find a cost/resource-effective solution.
So, ask yourself: "What would happen if I had to do this without a website?"
What would you do?
Start with that and test your assumption.
Building a website is the easy part.
Talking to customers is scary and harder.
Work on the hard stuff and I promise you'll do fine.
If your business doesn't have a hard part then you probably don't have a business.
The Weird Way Selling A Mattress Can Help You Focus
There are two types of people who buy mattresses in the world.
One kind of person hates buying a mattress and thinks they should never have to buy one.The other kind of person thinks that buying a mattress is an important decision because you spend 30% of your life asleep and getting the right mattress really will make a difference.
Most mattress salespeople don’t realize this but they actually get to choose who they sell to.
How much time and money you spend acquiring those customers is completely up to you.
This logic works outside of the sales world, too.
If you’re going to invest your time an energy on something, it’s worth figuring out how to best get your return on investment.Focusing on what’s working and dropping methods that aren’t efficient will make a huge difference in your output.
2 Minute Action
If you only have 20 minutes to exercise, it’s better to do compound movements that work large muscle groups at once instead of isolating muscles.If you buy the same kind of soap, it’s better to buy a bunch of it when it goes on sale because you will immediately make a guaranteed ROI.If you’re going to write a book, it’s better to write about what you know on a blog for 4 years while you build an audience. When you’ve written a thousand blog posts, you’ll have written your first book and you’ll already have a group of people ready to buy it.Its hard enough to do important work, you need to make sure that when you do anything you have some advantages from the start.
🏡 Don’t Build A House On Atlantic Avenue
Atlantic Avenue is a really stupid place to build a house.
The rent costs $150 each and the rent with 1 house is only $110.
It’s also a really unlikely place for someone to land on the board, so the opportunities to get rent payments is way lower than other properties.
You can still buy the property and sell it to someone else who wants it, but use it as leverage—don’t invest in it.
What does the game Monopoly have to do with living a happy and productive life?
You have a limited amount of time, energy and resources.
It’s up to you to choose the projects and missions you will spend your time on.
You already have a lot of odds against you.
Building anything is hard enough all by itself.
If you’re going to invest in something, it’s important to increase your probability of success.
Monopoly is pretty straightforward and there are a billion statistical analyses and strategies you can dig up online.
Life and work are less straightforward and they’re up to you.
This isn’t about real estate, business, or board games—this is about focusing on the known game-changing factors that actually matter and increasing your chances of success.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get started:
What are other people doing in your industry?
What are the characteristics of the successful big league players?
What might you do differently to stand out?
What is it that you do that is scarce and valuable?
What problem are you actually solving?
(Hint: it’s not that a customer has 4 widgets and they need 5, it’s because they’re lonely, hungry, or they have low self esteem. You need to dig deep into the basic mechanisms of behavior!)
2 Minute Action
Write a new email headline and A/B test it with your audience.
Steal someone else’s marketing concept and test the offer with your customers.
Do the math to figure out how many other competitors you have and look realistically at your chances of success. (FYI, If you’re starting a business in any industry, your odds are 1:10 right out of the gate, on average)