Dear Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Dreamers, and Creators of Great Things: I write these Love Letters each month with the hope of bringing you a little encouragement, some marketing help, and a few minutes of joy. Whether we are already friends or have yet to meet, I hope you’ll enjoy my stories from the road and some awesomely random takeaways, tools, tips, and updates.
I need to learn that when I have the time.
I saw that comment the other day and it stopped me in my tracks. Someone had shared something that had a major impact on their life and business. They had shared how to use it, and how to achieve the same results. And the response was, “I need to learn that when I have the time.” I sat and looked at that comment and thought about all the times I had said that to myself. When I have the time. When things aren’t so nutty. When everything else is going smoothly. When I have spare money or time. But – when does that day ever come?
It reminded me of what Seth Godin wrote recently:
Where is your ifthen?
We all have them.
“If ____ happens, then I’ll do ____.”
If this emergency passes, then I’ll take a break. If this customer closes, then I’ll invest in my education. If we get this finished, then we’ll focus on that. Too often, the ifthen is nothing but a stall.
Where is your ifthen?
We all have them.
“If ____ happens, then I’ll do ____.”
If this emergency passes, then I’ll take a break. If this customer closes, then I’ll invest in my education. If we get this finished, then we’ll focus on that. Too often, the ifthen is nothing but a stall.
As a result, we postpone a future we’d like to spend time living in.
Take your ifthens seriously. The future always happens sooner than we expect.
I have one suggestion for you as you approach a brand new year: make the time. Put it in the schedule. Spend it wisely. Take the ifthens seriously. The future always happens sooner than we expect.
Sawubona
One of our biggest problems in business is that we try and reach the masses. In order to reach the masses – the average person – you have to be average.
Picture a bell curve. That big tall part in the middle, those are the masses. They are bored and boring and they don’t care. They don’t get excited. But if we really want to be great, we have to do great things for people who care. The people on the edges get excited, and excitement spreads.
If you truly want to succeed at something, you have to hone in on the smallest group of people you can overwhelm with awesomeness. That advice isn’t always easy to follow. It’s tempting (and often easier) to widen that net, be less weird, and be more average.
Sawubona is an ancient Zulu greeting which means: “We see you.“ When someone greets you with Sawubona, you reply with “Yebo, sawubona,” which means, “yes, we see you too.”
Our clients only want one thing. They want to be seen and feel like they belong.
Make the group smaller. Get them excited. Overwhelm them with awesomeness.
(P.S. In order to do that, YOU have to get excited too. You have to be brave enough to lean into what makes you different and weird. If you are interested, you will be interesting!)
This is where I share the good stuff
… the latest websites, books, & tools that are inspiring me, the people who are making me smile, and the stuff I have been writing on sticky notes.
- The two cookbooks I cannot wait to get my hands on this week! This one and this one.
- My favorite tool just got even better. Canva rolled out it’s partnership with pocstock this week – so the already amazing image library within Canva is now bigger and even more inclusive. Love this so much!
- A quick lesson about ducks (and doing something “right”.)
- A reminder, as we go into business planning season, that the two most powerful tools you have are a calendar and a timer. If it’s important to you, you’ll schedule it. And if you want to complete it, you’ll focus. Here’s my favorite timer.
- Best find of the month: a Chrome extension that highlights all the times you use undermining language in your emails and helps you remove it. Fire.
Have you bought my book yet?
If not – what the heck are you waiting for? You can find the links here. If you have ordered it – thank you! Also, please take a few minutes to leave a review on the site you ordered from. It means the world to me and honestly, it makes a huge difference in sales. So thank you!
Thanks for reading, friends! If you want to get these in your inbox every month, be sure to get on the mailing list. And if you are looking for a speaker who will motivate your organization to get up, get moving, and face change head-on, I would love to chat.
