I met a gentleman at an event recently. I’d been speaking from the stage earlier that day and he came across to introduce himself. He explained that, although he’d enjoyed the talk, he hadn’t signed up for trial membership of the Entrepreneur’s Circle. I asked him why. “Oh, it’s all really good stuff and I know that there’s loads I could learn but I just haven’t got the time,” he said.
He went on at great length to explain to me the myriad things that he had to do on a daily basis – and it was a long, long list.
We are, all of us, that man. We all have 784 things that need to get done. Today.
And it’s not just business owners. The truth is the whole world is busy. Nobody with any ability and/ or a modicum of motivation ever sits down at lunchtime and wonders what to do this afternoon. Especially not entrepreneurs. I bet you can’t remember the last time you wondered what to do, eh?
But all this busy-ness isn’t a strength. In fact, in many cases, it is very definitely a major weakness that needs to be addressed.
Let me come at this from two different perspectives:
Firstly, when I was away on holiday over Christmas, I was refl ecting on where my business was compared to the position it had been in 12 months previously. There were some significant changes. What I realised as I strolled along the beach with Sue (it’s okay, we were discussing this topic!) was that the big differences in my business at the start of 2014, when compared to where it was at the start of 2013, came down to just a small handful of things that we’d done in the previous 12 months.
And this got me thinking. I reckon it is a universal truth for every business – including yours – that, this year, there will only be a small number of things that will make a big difference.
With the Entrepreneur’s Circle, the introduction of our new ‘Done-for-You’ off ering is a major play that ought to see us grow markedly. We need to do it well because when we do, it could change everything.
Similarly, the introduction of a Field Sales Force with people on the ground promoting the work that the Circle does to qualified prospects ought to make a big difference. And then there’s our new Partnership Programme, which we aim to make the most generous referral scheme ever in the UK.
These are all big things – but there are only three of them.
Sure, there are probably a couple more that would get on the list but the point I’m making is I know what the small number of things are that will make the biggest difference to my business this year and I’m making darned sure that they’re getting the lion’s share of my time.
This is good practice. When you know what the small number of things are for your business you can make sure that they dominate your diary and they have the right amount of airtime in your head.
Of course, if you don’t know what the small number of things are – or if you do know but are not giving yourself suffi cient time to pursue them properly – then you are massively compromising not just your business but your entire life. I mean that. None of us are here for very long. Why would you want to tolerate a lifestyle that is, how shall I put it, suboptimal, for a day longer than you have to. Yet, week after week I meet people like that guy who has lost all sense of perspective on his life.
His to-do list is lengthy but much of the content on it is either insuffi ciently important to merit his time or else could be delegated. And the prize he would yield will be those precious hours to focus on the small number of big things that would move his business from the mediocrity in which he is currently mired to the green uplands of super success where an increasing number of EC members now reside.
It’s really cool up here. You can do all the stuff you want to do.
Take the kids to Disney, check.
Romantic weekend away with the wife, check.
Summer car and winter car, check (this is becoming a big topic in one of my Mastermind groups now and it’s not about the cars, stupid. It’s about having the ability to choose).
Donations to charities, creating apprentices, employing a housekeeper, taking on a sales force, I could go on. But you see, whilst it’s absolutely true that there are a small number of things that will make a big difference to your business this year, isn’t it also true that just a small number of things could/ would make a big difference in the rest of your life as well?
Well, dear reader, I promise you the two are inextricably inter-linked. Not only do you not have to choose between them, but, when you get your head in the right place and are sufficiently disciplined with your diary, you really can have it all. And not in six years’ time – but in six months. That’s all it normally takes to start seeing a material diff erence and making dramatic progress.
I said there were two perspectives on this month’s opening topic and there are. The other way to look at it is this: ‘If what you’re doing, saying or even thinking today isn’t profitable … THEN STOP DOING IT!’
Next time you catch yourself (in your head) bemoaning adversity, your lack of resources say or maybe feeling you need to toe the line and conform, recognise these symptoms of ‘Failure Orientation’.
What I’ve discovered over the years is that successful people, when faced with adversity or challenges see opportunity. And they access it through their creativity and their action. Successful people, when they lack resources become resourceful and look for new ways to use old items, existing skills, maybe even existing people.
When everyone in your industry is racing to conform, successful people find ways to do the opposite and become unique.
I love our Facebook Groups that we run within the Circle but I do worry about them. There are still too many members spending too much time in there. And that time could be so much more wisely spent focusing on the small number of things that will make the biggest diff erence this year. If it isn’t profitable… stop doing it!
So I hope that’s got you thinking at the start of this month’s edition. The most useful thing you could do right now is put down this Circular before you fl ick through and read anything else and spend just a few moments jotting down what those small number of things are that will make the biggest diff erence to your business this year. Unless, of course, you’ve already got them on your whiteboard above your desk and are making stonking progress. In which case, read on…
Have a great month.
