People ask me all the time to share the differences that I see between clients who succeed and clients who have a harder time achieving their goals. They also ask me about my own business, and what it is that I do that keeps me moving forward as quickly as I do. And the answer is this: I do not sit back and wait for things to happen. I do what I need to do to make them happen.
In this article, I am going to share the activities that make us feel as though we are taking actions that are actually passive in nature, and how to shift your mindset and your actions so that you can start making things happen for you.
Passive Activities That Make You Feel Busy
There are all sorts of activities that we do that make us feel as though we are taking actions to propel our businesses forward, but in reality, are very passive in nature. Posting on social media, creating newsletters, sending out emails, all take a lot of time and work, so they feel like active strategies. But the truth of the matter is that these are very passive activities because you send them out into the world, and then you wait.
While you’re waiting, you tell yourself that if someone is on your list, they must want to hear from you. And, even though we know better, we assume that people see all of our social posts and that if they want to talk to us they will reach out. We sit and wait for things to happen even though consciously we know that the algorithms that control every social platform make it so that your audience sees a tiny fraction of what you share. And that’s before you add in the noise of the marketplace and that people are just busy. They are flooded with a chaotic amount of content everywhere they look, which means that they end up not seeing a very high percentage of what’s right in front of them.
Now, I am not saying that you stop doing these things or sharing these types of content. These are still important credentials that show the world what it is that you do, and offer a platform to showcase that you are a thought leader in your niche. They are what I call the low hum that has to happen consistently all the time, as a re-engagement opportunity with the marketing efforts that you make.
Proactive Outreach That Makes Things Happen
Instead of relying on those passive activities to make things happen, what if you proactively reached out to people to stay in touch? This does not mean to always be running around, pitching “buy my thing, buy my thing!” But when you take a more active stance in how you create your relationships by inviting people to engage with you, it is more active in nature and more good things start to happen for your business.
Let’s use a non-business example. It has been in the news about people not being able to find jobs. I have been watching stories about people who have applied for hundreds of jobs without ever getting a response. Of course, that has been the process for many decades, when I first started looking for jobs you would fill out applications, mail them in, and hear nothing. Today it’s just happening faster and on a grander scale because of the internet and the technology that allows us to apply for hundreds of jobs in the time that it used to take to apply for a few dozen. So there are tons of people who are applying, applying, applying and feeling very active because they are feeling very busy.
But in reality, that’s a passive activity because they are waiting for something to happen. In fact, a more active stance – that was true 30 years ago and is still true today – is that you can hack the process by connecting with people who can actually help you. Despite the improvements in technology, knowing someone who can help you still remains the best way to snag one of those really great jobs.
It’s the same thing in your business. It’s who you know. That was the advice I received when I first graduated from college: It’s who you know that is going to make the difference, and it is still true today when you want to make things happen, instead of all of this effort that creates a scenario of waiting for things to happen.
Persistence Makes Things Happen
Actions need to be followed up with persistence and determination. Any time someone tells me that something did not work, my first question is, “How many times did you try?” If you tried three, five, or ten times, that’s not trying. That’s starting.
We get discouraged when something does not happen fast enough, but persistence is what makes things happen. I get it, it can feel utterly defeating to try something even ten times and have it not work. But persistence in the actions you take is what makes things happen. So ask yourself, did you start trying and give up way too soon?
I want to mention that this is not about feeling manic or desperate to make things happen in your business. This is about abundance and being in charge.
My two big takeaways for you are these: Are you making things happen instead of waiting for things to happen by doing active instead of passive activities? And are you persistently trying instead of just starting, by continuing to take the actions and tweaking them as you continue?
And if you find you need to make changes, these are the questions that I ask myself all the time as I look at what we are doing at Conquer Your Business, in terms of our marketing, our processes, and everything that we are doing:
Where are you creating unnecessary steps in your client journey and sales process? Are you putting unnecessary steps in your process that result in waiting for your final results?
Take a look at everything you’re doing, and determine where you can add more active marketing strategies or make your marketing processes more active with you in charge instead of sitting back and waiting.
