Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week.
In this issue:
- Thoughts on Balance
- Being Human
- Random Stuff
Thoughts on Balance
- Equalize your use of IQ and EQ next week. No one wants to feel stupid, but they don't want to only get hugs from us either. Balance intellectual rigor with emotional ease.
- Building momentum is hard when we're out of balance. Bad health? No financial security? Unreliable support system? No higher purpose? All are bad for building momentum. Check people's balance next week.
- End of life happiness studies say love, friendship, and family bring happiness. Gaining wealth comes in a distant second. Most messages we get from society suggest the opposite. Find a way to balance the messages we consume.
- "F.I.T." as a concept accepts contradictions. (see my book, THBGTBG) There's no such thing as work/life balance. We can do work we love and make money. FIT just asks us to acknowledge our feelings about each one.
Being Human - Diagnostics
“Better learn balance. Balance is key.”—Mr. Miyagi
This week I dug up an old graphic to use with a growing business. The Source of Business diagnostic. (I should probably work on the name at some point)
This is what I scribbled in my notebook:
Let's run through the labels:
Inbound: prospects come to you.
Outbound: you go to prospects.
Database: talking to your internal database of prospects/customers.
The way it works is I have them score themselves in each area, 1-10, with 10 being "best." Then we get into the overlaps in the Venn diagram:
- If you have Inbound and Outbound activity, but you’re weak in Database activity, your Cost of Sales is High. There’s an opportunity to improve cost per acquisition.
- If you are strong in Outbound and Database activity, but don't get many Inbound leads, you’re Invisible, a best kept secret. You may be missing some easy opportunities.
- If you have solid Inbound and Database activity, but there's not much Outbound activity, you’re not covering all areas of the market. You're missing market share.
- If Inbound, Outbound and Database activity are all working together, you're the envy of your peers! Grow by getting better in all 3 areas.
Like all diagnostics, it's only as useful as the conversation around it. And even then, it's one thing to know what to do, it's another to understand how to do it.
I first used this a decade ago. It still works! Try it in meeting. The defining of the terms, and the scoring before the explanation are the key to having a good conversation around your particulars.
Random Stuff
"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." Benjamin Disraeli
We were just in Chicago visiting the youngest child, with a bonus visit with the oldest one thrown in. In addition, we met up with one of my lovely bride's grade school friends. She's lived in Chicago off and on for most of our adult lives.
Many years ago, I decided to surprise my bride with a quick anniversary trip to the Windy City. The occasion was her birthday. I roped my mother into traveling in to watch the three kids. I wasn't going to tell my bride about the trip, just whisk her out of town on a Friday morning. It felt spontaneous and romantic.
When making plans, I checked in with her Chicago friend. Asking questions like "Where would you stay?" and "What would you do?" I figured, she knows my bride well, she'd have some good suggestions. She did. Generously offering ideas, then zeroing in on one particular detail.
"Tell me more about the surprise part of this," she asked.
I explained. She listened. She paused. Then she said, "A trip sounds fun, and she'll have a great time. A surprise trip might be fun. But she may resent not having had a chance to plan for it."
I thanked her for the input, and said I'd consider everything she said, but secretly thought, party pooper.
The week leading up to the trip, probably like Wednesday before we left on Friday, I spilled the beans. My bride was surprised. Then she packed. And packed. Unpacked, and packed again. I watched and thought, oh man, I would never have gotten this right. An early spring weekend in Chicago requires a lot of outfits. Just in case. Like 50 pounds of stuff. I had no idea.
The trip was great. A Duran, Duran concert, a day at the museum, and a dinner that included Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins, with the iconic Marianne Faithfull sitting one table over. Stories we tell to this day. Each outfit on point.
Thank you, wise childhood friend. Thank you.
