You know that feeling, when after a long, hard day at work, a mind-numbing commute home, and what seems to be a mini-battle with the lock on the front door, you get to collapse on the sofa and just belong. You know that feeling of waking up late on a Saturday, sunlight creeping through the room, and there’s nothing to do for hours, so you can just look at that light creeping along....
My secret weapon if I really need to make something happen. Take someone on the journey with me! Examples: Read a book and push a report to someone every month. Work out with someone in the morning. Do only cold showers for a month Meditate daily My willpower is strong as steel, until I get tired, distracted, bored, or sad. Then it’s about as strong as overcooked spaghetti. If I want to do something hard on a consistent basis, and I have no pre-existing motivation to get it done – phone a friend....
It’s easy to get caught up in making something for others. If you wanna blog, first identify your audience. If you wanna build a business, find your 1000 true fans. Or, you could not. You could make something that’s just for you. And the only thing that anyone else can get out of consuming what you’ve made, is closer to you. This sets you free. I felt this first-hand when I switched from business blogging to personal blogging after several years of lukewarm attitude and mild failure....
99% of the time, you’re asking the wrong question. Re-frame your question. Re-evaluate the basis for asking it. If you ask the wrong questions, it doesn’t matter how good you are at finding the answers. They won’t matter. Just like in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – there’s the answer - 42, so what? This applies whether you’re trying to develop your business, going hiking, learning handstands, writing a book, or anything else....
Sales is creating a connection to one person to generate compliance. Salespeople lean on persuasive techniques innumerate, and (the good ones) excel in personal relations, empathy, and authenticity. When we talk about marketing, what we’re really talking about is how to create meaningful, authentic connections at scale. And the answer is rarely about tactics. It’s about being human, tangible, present. It’s about being vulnerable enough to open your business to the world....