You’ve all read about Robin Robins, our mentor for marketing our business.  She has made such a difference in our success and I often quote her or one of her speakers here in Monday’s Marketing Minute.  Well, when I read one of her blog articles, I knew that it had the impact that you may be needing right now as you look towards 2010.  It was her day after Thanksgiving article and spotlighted the reason that she is invaluable to us – she gets us to do something!  Working with her is hard – yes, I say that all the time. And, it’s been worth it!  I hope her words motivate you as well as they have motivated us.  Here’s her article:
 
“The thing I’m MOST grateful for in business is OPL or “other peoples’ laziness.” You heard me right…I’m really grateful that most people are completely and utterly lazy. And if you are a “get-r-done” kinda person like me, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
 
When you cut out all the whining and complaining, it really isn’t all that difficult to be successful. I actually think in the LONG run, it’s a heck of a lot more difficult to be unsuccessful or mediocre.
 
All it really takes to be ahead of the crowd is setting a clear goal and then taking consistent and persistent action towards achieving it. Maybe that’s a bit simplified, but I don’t think so. I truly believe that most people know EXACTLY what they need to do to be more successful, eliminate problems in their lives, overcome their biggest challenges, etc.; but most don’t like what they have in mind so they go in search of a faster, easier way because they’re too afraid or too lazy to do what they already know they should be doing.
 
That’s both good news AND bad news.
 
Good news if you’re in a crowded marketplace. Most of your competitors and going to be too lazy to consistently, continually and pro-actively grow and market their business. Bad news if you is one of them.
 
Just remember that the biggest crowd is at the bottom, clumped together by their inaction. Of course, they never CALL it LAZINESS…they’re more sophisticated than that. They blame their inaction on being too busy or not having enough money or not knowing how. They’ll look around and say, “Well geeze…I’m not doing that bad. After all, everyone ELSE is suffering with the same problems too.” Or they’ll simply get angry and blame their circumstances for their inability to get to the next level. Or worse yet…they’ll simply give up the hope of ever really achieving anything great because they secretly believe they’re not smart enough, cool enough, or whatever enough to pull it off (that’s the biggest shame of all).
 
All excuses.
 
So what’s the point to all of this?
 
First, as an entrepreneur, you have to learn how to pull yourself out of comfortable inaction. You get to be your own boss; therefore, you have to figure out how to self-impose deadlines, urgency and accountability. No one will do it for you. Those in the top 20% do — those in the bottom 80%, don’t.
 
Second, being successful is as much about what you do (or say yes to) as to what you DON’T do. Learning new things is not easy. It’s much easier to sit at home, stay the course, keep the money you have in your pocket, and not venture out into the wild. But no new breakthroughs can come of it. Personally, I live like a hermit. If the city of Franklin would let me, I’d have a moat of alligators surrounding the house. I hate to fly, hate crowds, hate hotels and hate trying to make polite conversation with strangers. BUT, I force myself to go out to seminars, industry events, master mind groups and the like at least once a month because that’s where I learn the most…from pulling my head out of the hole and looking around. And like you, I could think of a million reasons why I should stay home; but I force myself because I know it’s good for me.
 
Third, you have to discipline yourself NOT to get bored with the basics, thinking you “got” it. No one does. I’ve listened to the same Zig Ziglar tape on selling so many times that I can finish his sentences. But every time I listen, I get something new. Mastering the basics is NOT something the bottom 80% of the success pyramid do. They’re always on to the new thing…the new guru, the shiny new object.”
 

Robin’s closing comment was that she was grateful for all her clients, those people who believe in her and have helped her attain her success.  We are also grateful for all our clients!   You have made 2009 a wonderful year!  Thank you for your confidence in us and your support!

We’re ready to take on 2010!  We have written goals for 2010 and have an action plan to follow.  We’ve had actual written goals for several months and one of the guys here in our office said “We should have made goals a long time ago – I can’t believe how we’re attaining them!”     We’re excited about 2010 and I hope that you take Robin’s message to heart and follow your own goals for a happy, healthy, PROSPEROUS New Year!

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