photo by superfantastic 

There’s a pretty common saying when it comes to software development and implementation (I’m sure it applies to other projects as well).  It’s all about balance.

Good, Fast, or Cheap – You can pick two of them.

It’s always a trade-off, a balancing act because at the end of the day nothing is perfect.  If you want high quality and you want delivered quickly, it’s going to be expensive.  If you want it cheap and fast, you’re going to get low quality, it’s pretty simple but proven time and again.

Now the great thing about this trade off is that it if it’s used properly, it really allows for a great discussion about what’s really important and a recognition that there is not a single right answer, just a matter of priorities.

It’s ignoring this fairly simple idea that is the major problem with selling and politics (especially the over the top political speeches going on right now).  By not acknowledging the inevitable trade-off I’m making as a buyer or as a voter and instead telling me I can have it all – you almost automatically lose the sale.

I don’t normally get into politics, but I think the current election is a great example (and both parties are making this mistake).

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Do you ever feel like you’ve just been run over by a car (or decided to lay down dramatically in the middle of the road?)    You know when you’ve got a ton of stuff going on, you haven’t had a free moment to yourself for quite a while and your work is piling up figuratively and literally.  You walk into your office and immediately feel drained and a bit defeated.

Have you ever felt that way?  Do you kind of feel like that right now?

There is a sure fire fix that will get you back on your feet, energized, focused and ready to take on the challenges ahead of you.

Now this fix isn’t a permanent solution, although it can be done more than once and if it becomes a routine I’m pretty sure your productivity overall would improve.  I haven’t gone far enough down the path – at least consistently to prove the long term benefits, but I can assure you that my outlook this morning after doing this is much better than it was yesterday!

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photo by Never Cool In School

There’s a lot going on with business owners these days – you’ve got the everyday challenges of just running your own business, you’ve got an economy that’s in the tank (and media outlets doing everything they can to make that as scary as possible) and you’ve got an election making a lot of noise and further distracting everyone.

But beyond all that, the problem I see with most business owners today is that they never take the time to look at the big picture.  They don’t have a focused view on where they’re going.

Let me know if you’ve ever heard this:

“That’s a great idea!  I just don’t know when I’ll get the time to do that!”

Or how about:

“I really should call my best customers, but I’m just too busy fighting fires!”

Now I’m all for hard work, but it doesn’t really matter how hard you work if you’re working on the wrong things.  And by wrong things, I’m talking about things that might be urgent but are unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

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Photo by Daexus 

I haven’t been able to play golf in a while (kids and a relatively new business tends to squeeze out your free time).  But I’ve played enough to recognize the one secret that all of the pros have that allows them to be great.  Without this trait, all the talent, brilliance, training or money in the world won’t allow them to compete at the highest level.

Oddly enough, that same trait is a major key for success when it comes to marketing your business as well.

In golf you might be on the 1st tee and hit a 300 yard drive right down the middle, but if you chunk your approach shot (chunk is my technical term for total a total mis-hit that results in a 10 yard dribble up the fairway), it’s pretty unlikely that you are going to make par.

A consistent swing that gives you expected repeatable results is the only way to score really low.

In marketing, you might go to a networking event and make 5 great contacts that could really help your business, but if you wait 2 weeks before calling them back, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to set up very many meetings or convert them to new clients.

A consistent approach in marketing that gives you expected repeatable results is the best way to have a winning business.

Obviously the key in both of these examples is consistency.  How can a consistent approach (or the lack of consistency) impact your business?  Read on.

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photo by Tony the Misfit

I had a couple of great meetings last week with the kind of people that I would like to hang around with (or work with).

I imagine everyone knows that person that’s always happy – you know the one that can almost be annoying except that they make you smile.

On the other side of the coin, you probably also know those people that are never happy.  They start an awful lot of sentences with “Yes…but” and proceed to tell you in great detail why something won’t work.

It can be incredibly draining to deal with the negative people (and these days there’s more of them than ever!).

The great news is that for the most part you get to choose who you hang out with.  (Family might be a little challenging, but in almost every other case, you have a lot of influence).

If you really want to experience success, enjoy what you do and transform all of those hours of work into something you look forward to, give some thought to the people around you. 

Here are the 3 things you need to do:

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