Yesterday I was speaking to someone who said their fav episode so far was ‘plan the work and work the plan’. It made me SO happy – one because I knew this week was about IMLPEMENTING – and two because it’s so flipping rare that people actually do IMPLEMENT.
The stats I heard recently which are in no-way verified – but I’d say pretty accurate or even generous – are that 1% implement. I reckon it might even be less, based on what I see.
Let me backup for a second. What am I talking about here?
I’m talking about the mammoth sea of content that we’re all swimming through on social media on a daily basis. We literally see thousands of bits of information in any given day – and in the business sphere – a lot of it is some pretty heavy, action oriented advice.
It’s information on strategies that are working, how to improve your personal brand, how to get more leads, how to nurture your leads and how to make sales. It’s also content on how to do CONTENT, and how to get referrals, and fix your website, and use Instagram as a selling tool etc etc etc.
So much of it is incredibly valuable – because it’s put out by business owners who want you to love them – and eventually buy what they’d like to sell. And that’s great for everyone. Everyone wins. Free content is available – the market get to experience their vendors before they’re required to purchase and we have a happy little eco system.
But.
But what I see is a whole lot of scrolling.
A whole lot of consumption of information.
A whole lot of comparison to what ‘she’s doing’.
Annnnnd not a whole lot of action.
Like I said – so much of the content is action based – because the people putting it out want you to get results. But no one can get results from just reading or listening and then moving on to the next thing.
I’m guilty of this too – so don’t feel like I’m just pointing the finger here. I’m a lot more conscious of this though since become aware of it, and a LOT better at not signing up for every shiny webinar or download or event.
We consume social media too much instead of utilizing it. If you are serious about building your business – you don’t have a whole lot of time to play on social media. You’re going to need to stop consuming and start utilising. Leave the influencers and the celebrities for the weekend – and FOCUS. This means you have to engage, not voyeur.
And this isn’t just on social media either. I think this mad consumption of information extends to buying books that contain things you don;t need to know RIGHT NOW. But are more future focussed. It’s listening to podcasts about scaling your business when you don’t even have a business yet!
Now I’m not saying there’s not a time to research and consume and be an information sponge. But we need the balance. And as with everything in our business, it needs to be strategic.
Again – we go back to the very start. Why do we have our business? What do we want to achieve? And what is the thing holding us back RIGHT NOW?
Is it that we need more leads? You need to learn lead gen, and you need to figure out the best way for your clients and your business.
Is it that our conversion rate isn’t great? You need to audit your brand and your industry and your buyer journey, and make changes that are client focussed.
Is it that we don’t have enough time and we need more staff? You need to learn to hire well, and how to be a manager.
Is it that staff are under performing? You need to learn how to lead and train, and quickly.
Do you see what I mean. We need to be learning things and growing in our immediate need. Its unlikely we’ve got time to be reading ‘High output management’ when we’re just getting started and we need to be reading ‘Thinking Big’.
So really think about where you’re at. What does your business need from you right now? And dedicate a time period to learning. That has a start and a finish time. For example – choose to read and learn everything you can for say a period of a month. THEN – block out strategy and implementation time. As in – know for the next 2 weeks, you’re not going to consume anything business related. You’re just going to DO DO DO.
For me, during the week I’m very picky about what I read and listen to. I make sure it’s all focussed on what I’m focussed on in the business right now. Then on the weekend, I sit with my notebook and my computer and I strategise. I put in the calendar anything I need to implement. For me it’s likely already on my calendar and I’m just refining. For example, refining the way I contact leads or refining the way I introduce myself on video or refining my sales consultants or refining how I structure team meetings. But if it’s a project I have to implement – sometimes I’ll do it on the weekend if I’m really excited about it, but generally I put it in the calendar for the next week or a few weeks out.
Also on the weekend, I read and listen to whatever I want. It might be business related but it might not be.
The keys to this are:
1 – Be really really picky about what you let in your brain. Be very selective about what you allow your eyes to see and your mind to think about.
2 – Think about your business like a leaky boat – and figure out exactly what the biggest issue in your business is right now.
3 – Decide if you need to learn about how to fix it – or if you already know and you just need to GET TO WORK.
4 – Plan out learning time, but more importantly put implementation on the calendar. This is the thing that actually gets the tasks done – right.
This is the thing that moves things from being a fragment of our imagination and sounding good – to actually being transformed into something tangible.
We can feel really productive and inspired listening to podcasts or workshops or webinars – but guess what. The results stop there. Nothing is going to get DONE unless you do it, or you give it to someone on your team to do.
This is the area we get stuck, because this is the WORK.
It’s easy to set the alarm at 6am to go for a run. It’s HARD to throw off the covers, get dressed and get your buns out the front door.
It takes discipline. And I think that as a society, in general, we’re really undisciplined.
We like things quick and easy. We like shortcuts. We like things now – immediately.
We don’t like to wait. We don’t like to feel uncomfortable. We don’t like to battle through awkward conversations. We don’t like to put ourselves out there. We don’t like failure.
But guess what – that’s where the magic is.
That’s where change happens. That’s where growth happens. That’s where things are built and refined and honed to perfection.
The listening and the reading and even the planning is easy. It’s the actual work part that’s – surprise surprise – WORK.
So I hope this is a little bit of a reality check, a bit of a friendly poke to say – hey you! What did you say your goals are again? And have a think about if your actions actually reflect those goals. Because if we’re really honest – a lot of us are spending time on things that aren’t making us our most productive. A lot of us are guilty of the long mindless scroll on social media when we should be working. A lot of us go from one workshop to the next never stopping to collate what we’ve learnt, and apply it to our business.
I challenge you to be in the 1%. Go and implement. Stop now and think about when you’re going to sit down and DO – and then DO.
And if you want to do it in a group – I’m hosting a free IMPLEMENTATION PARTY this week on Zoom so hop on over to The Social Marketing Method FB group for all the details.
– A x
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