There are many people who, once they discover marketing, fall in love with it and what it can do to their business. What's more, the moment they realize the magic it can do in other people's businesses. They fall in love with THAT even more. And they start looking at the possibility of marketing to other people as their primary business. On the surface, it seems like a great way to do the thing you love without having to do the things you don't love as much, which is the During Unit of your own business.
But that could become a problem:
On one hand, you need to keep doing what you don't like just to pay the bills. While at the same time, you can't seem to get yourself to focus on what you need to be doing. Because all you really want to do is pursue this other thing you love. (Sounds familiar?) This is so resonant with me because I once used to be that person. When I started working on the Getting Listings program for realtors, my provocation was
How do I eliminate things I don't like doing?
In other words, I was obsessed with figuring out what would my business look like if I never had to work in the During Unit again. But to figure that out, you have to start with the end in mind.
And for me, that meant to look at the real estate agents (my target market) and find out what would be the best outcome for them. I realized what realtors really dream about is somebody calling them up saying, "Can you come over and talk to me about selling my house?"
But, I knew that in order to make that a reality... I had to go through the process of, "What would I do to get listings if my phone only accepted incoming calls?" Which means, I first needed to create this "incoming-phone- calls" system for myself! And only then syndicate it to other realtors, And I did it. 12 years ago, I cracked the code on the "incoming-phone-calls" system…
Today we have thousands of people using the Getting Listings program… but I don't have to move a finger to keep it running. But here's the thing, It all started with that initial provocation: "How do I eliminate things I don't like doing in MY business?'' and making it work.