If you’ve read my “The 7 Lessons of Mega-Successful Entrepreneurs” or if you’ve been reading my weekly e-mail newsletter, then you know that there was a time that my business had plateaued and no matter what I threw at it, money, marketing strategies, time, effort…I just couldn’t get the darned thing to budge over the bump to the next level. My business was doing fine, but I wasn’t satisfied and I certainly wasn’t fulfilled.
I started thinking that maybe it was time to walk away. In fact, I actually did walk away. I took a three-month hiatus away from my business and started to look at other opportunities. My husband and I looked at all kinds of businesses.
But try as I might, I couldn’t escape the nagging feeling in my heart that I still had more to do in my own business.
So, a month into my little sabbatical (about the time when I got really bored), I started working with a coach to get through the burnout and frustration to the heart of what was holding me back in my business. Because the one thing I did know for sure was that when you’re too close to something, it’s usually too hard to see the answers. Having the outside perspective of a coach or consultant can give you insight and a big picture viewpoint that you’d never have on your own. And if I was going to figure out what had kept me in that plateau, I knew I needed someone who could be for me what I am to my own clients.
For two months my coach guided me as I dug deep and searched my soul. When I finally came up for air, my mind was clear. And that’s when I discovered precisely what I’d been missing all along that had held my business firmly at that plateau.
It wasn’t just one answer. In fact, the answer to what was holding me back came in the form of seven simple lessons, and I’d been hearing them from my mentors for awhile. But sometimes you hear the right answers at the wrong time, you know? And that’s what had happened to me. I’d heard them, I just hadn’t gotten them.
As soon as I started implementing the Lessons in my own business, things started to change. Things didn’t change overnight and I did still have to work. That’s just how business operates! But the more in tune I got with the Lessons, the more things happened. Opportunities started to fall in my lap and people started to take notice. I felt an ease in my business that had never been there before, and my creativity soared.
I don’t know if now is the right time for you to hear the Lessons, but even if you’re not quite there yet, I’d like to encourage you to start learning about them. You can download my original “The 7 Lessons of Mega-Successful Entrepreneurs” using the form at the top of this page. Once you click the confirmation link in your e-mail, you’ll receive another e-mail with a link to the free download (sorry to make you jump through hoops, but it’s become necessary with bots and spammers; I promise the download is worth it).
If you’re not just ready to hear the lessons, but you want to see how dramatically your business can be changed like mine was, then join me for my free Webinar, “The 7 Lessons of Mega-Successful Entrepreneurs,” where I’ll share the Lessons in-depth and give you action steps for every lesson in a handout. You’ll walk away with a few ways to start seeing changes in your business now, even before the New Year.
If you’ve been feeling frustrated like I was and you’re ready to jump out of your plateau, this webinar is for you.
Join me November 29 for “The 7 Lessons of Mega-Successful Entrepreneurs” at 1:00 PM Eastern.
(Seriously, it’s free. And it’s not a sales pitch. That’s not how I roll. I’m just saying.)
Lately, in an effort to simplify and cut down on the “noise,” I’ve been culling down my list of people I’m learning from. The list still falls well into the three digits, but I’ve started focusing my attention on a “shortlist” of very cool, very interesting people and companies who have a lot to say about entrepreneurship and small business today. Today I’ve decided to share five of my favorites from my shortlist and tell you why I think they’re so important:
1) Dixie “Dynamite” Gillaspie (@dixiedynamite) Dixie “Dynamite” Gillaspie is the secret weapon behind several of my favorite mentors and recently became my own coach. Dixie is a coach, a consultant, a muse, an adviser, a friend, and she has earned her nickname, “Dixie Dynamite,” at least a thousand times over. She has helped me find myself and is helping me re-design Business in Blue Jeans around the vision that’s most near and dear to my heart. Her blog alone contains so much inspiring insight, but I highly recommend signing up for her e-mail newsletter. Dixie is, in a word, extraordinary.
This one should come as no surprise to any of you, if you’ve been following me for awhile. I make no secret of the fact that I “puffy heart love” Bob Burg and that he’s been one of my absolute favorite mentors for years. John David Mann is Bob’s co-author on books like The Go-Giver, Go-Givers Sell More, and their latest, It’s Not About You. John is “the quiet one” because he’s usually writing, but let me tell you, John, who I met recently, is a fount of wisdom that you must not miss. Both Bob and John are extraordinary human beings who have delivered to us a really beautiful way of approaching business, sales, leadership, and, dare I say, life. If you haven’t read their books, you must. The Go-Giver series really ought to be a part of your success library.
3) Scott Ginsberg (@nametagscott)
Scott Ginsberg, who I also met recently, is a seriously brilliant dude. Fortunately for us, he’s also a prolific writer. Go to Scott’s web site (aptly titled “Hello, my name is Scott“) and you’ll find an insane number of blog posts and articles about all manner of topics, but in particular, Scott’s unique forte, approachability. I have to confess that when I first met Scott, I had heard of him, but didn’t yet know who he was and inadvertently stumbled into asking him silly, inane questions about his nametags (Scott wears a nametag 24/7). What’s cool about Scott and his web site and books is that somehow, he manages to continuously come up with a fresh take on things, even though he’s written more than one can absorb in, I don’t know, like a month of solid reading. (also, Scott’s giving away his new book, The Nametag Principle for free. I’ve been reading it and it’s excellent. For details, visit http://bit.ly/rVJe71)
4) John Michael Morgan (@johnmorgan)
John Michael Morgan is a branding superstar. I bumped into John on Twitter recently when we discovered that we have a ridiculous number of friends and acquaintances in common. So I invited John to hang out on the phone with me last week so I could get to know him, and the guy is insane with knowledge. John lives and breathes branding and marketing- and since I do, too, I can tell you it’s rare to find someone who loves this stuff and thinks about it as much as (if not more than) I do. John’s first book, Brand Against the Machine, just came out and it’s also fantastic.
5) HubSpot (@Hubspot)
Hubspot is a new favorite of mine. Hubspot has been putting out a crazy amount of really solid learning content on inbound marketing. They have a bunch of e-books, articles, and webinars on their site, and so far, everything I’ve read is superb and on-the-mark. From what I can tell, HubSpot is actually a full-service web hosting platform that takes all the web site and blogging tools and combines them with a bunch of marketing tools. I’m not too sure about the platform itself, as I haven’t really explored it enough yet to make an assessment, but I don’t think I’d be surprised if their software is great, considering how as good their content is. Whether you’re looking for a tool like Hubspot offers or not, though, if you want to learn about inbound marketing, these are the people to follow.
In coming weeks, I’ll share more from my list of Awesome Entrepreneurial Superstars. Stay tuned!
I’ve noticed something in many of the folks who come to me for help. It’s a new phenomenon that I’m adding to my list of “entrepreneurial illnesses,” something I call “Expert ADD.” In today’s article, I’ll explain what Expert ADD is, tell you why it’s a problem, and show you how to avoid it.
When new entrepreneurs or struggling business owners become aware that they need help growing their businesses, they usually start with a Google search. Before long, they have a list of folks who claim they can help, and most likely, have signed up for a wealth of e-mail newsletters and e-zines, hoping that someone, anyone, will have the magic bullet – that one thing, that one answer, that will give them the clarity they need and solve all of their business problems.
Soon, the e-mails start coming in. Suddenly, there are too many answers. I’ve had clients come to me with a list of “to dos” so long and so diverse, they’d need a full team and a full year to get just half of the list done.
Here’s what happens: most “experts” and “gurus” have specialties. They focus on e-zines or public speaking or viral videos or internet marketing or sales…the point is, they focus on a specific part of the marketing or business process. Each expert says you should be doing whatever it is that they focus on. So you’ve got an e-zine specialist telling you that to grow your business, you need to focus on e-zines. And a social media expert tells you the best way to market your business is to put all of your energies into social media. And so on.
The result is “Expert ADD” (referring, of course, to “attention deficit disorder”), where you’re reading so many experts’ opinions that you think you have to be putting effort into all of these things to grow your business. This creates overwhelm and confusion.
When I begin working with a new client, one of the first things I ask of them is that they “turn off” their “guru” e-mails for awhile. The reason is that our first goal is to create clarity and a manageable plan. If you’re still getting pulled in ten or twenty different directions, then achieving real clarity and developing a plan that rids your life of the overwhelm will be difficult.
I can always tell when a client hasn’t turned off the e-mails. Instead of doing their “homework” and making regular, methodical progress toward their goals, our weekly sessions usually include conversations about new directions and ideas. Instead of helping them make progress, paying attention to too many “gurus” actually gets in the way of them achieving success.
So how do you avoid “Expert ADD?”
First, take inventory of the experts you’ve been following and start paring down to only those who are authentic, honest, and truly have your best interests at heart. I’ve heard from a lot of folks that even if they decide to stop following someone, they keep reading their e-mails to learn what not to do. I actually did that myself, for awhile, but quickly learned that it didn’t serve me to maintain any ties with someone I didn’t respect and didn’t think I could learn from. So pare down, but really pare down.
Second, when you choose to work with a business coach or consultant, allow them to guide you so that you can make progress toward your goals. Why hire someone if you’re not going to let them help you?
Finally, remember that you don’t need to do everything for your business to grow. Choose one or two avenues to focus on and put your attention there for awhile. Measure your results and see which marketing strategies are most effective for you, before adding more to the mix.
“Expert ADD” can be a huge obstacle, if you let it. Instead, protect yourself by taking in just the information you need, and discarding the rest, so you stay away from that paralyzing overwhelm and confusion and maintain a positive, motivated, and organized perspective.
