Mountains of Arizona
Sunny 45 Degrees
8:02 a.m.
I’ve been writing this daily email to you for quite some time now. It’ll be seven years coming up in July.
People tend to hang in my orbit for a while. They come, they go, they come back again.
I’m not one to pressure people into doing things. And if you’ve been here for more than a minute, you probably know that.
That said, there’s one BIG concept I truly wish everyone would understand:
A lot of folks spend a TON of time planning, strategizing, getting ready, figuring things out, brainstorming and many other activities like that.
If you’re not careful, you can end up thinking you’re actually doing some real work when you do all of this stuff.
From my perspective, the real work only begins AFTER you actually take something out to the world.
“Getting it out there” isn’t the finish line.
It’s not even the middle of the race. (Not that this is a race!)
It’s the starting line.
So it’s important to adjust your expectations so you understand that everything that comes before that point is…
One big GUESS about what might work.
You won’t know if you guessed right until you actually get it out there and let the world tell you.
So when people come to me and ask for guidance and direction about figuring some stuff out in their business (positioning, marketing, pricing, mindset, products), the first step is to get a media platform going.
Why? Why would you do that FIRST, before you have the answers, before you have the clarity you want, before you’re crystal clear on your positioning or what makes you different?
You start with this because this is the structure that will bring you all of those answers (and more!) over time.
It’s a process that creates a structure that will get you answers sooner than later. That’s how you validate or invalidate those “guesses” you’ve made about what people might want and how best to help them.
When you don’t have process or structure, you “reinvent” your business over and over in your head. You make changes, you make tweaks, you get all set up over and over again.
But nothing real happens.
I did this for a long time! I was a pro!
“Starting” means you go out and try to make someone’s life BETTER because you’re in it.
Everything flows from a commitment to do that more effectively and for more of the right people over time.
In school, you were trained to spend 18 years (or more!) “getting ready.” (for being a slave.)
In life, there’s no such thing. There is only contributing or not contributing.