When I was a teacher, it was hard for me to see a student fail. Not because it reflected on me as a teacher (it didn’t) but because to see a child with so much potential waste it by not turning in homework or not showing up to class was heartbreaking.
I had one student two years in a row because of this problem. He was extremely smart. When I found out he would be repeating the 6th grade, I had a heart-to-heart with him.
“What’s going on? You’re better than this. You’re smarter than this…how did you end up here?” I asked after school during the first week of school.
His eyes were focused on the ground. “I dunno Miss. I wanna do good but…”
“…but what..” I said eying his every move to make sure his body language matched his words.
He sighed, held his head up and looked me straight in the eye. “It just takes too much work, Miss.”
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I see it all the time.
New business owners do it. Experienced business owners do it.
It’s not that they don’t know not to do it, they just don’t know how to stop! Not stopping though, is costing them tons of money and sending their customers to a competitor.
I don’t want that to happen to you. And it won’t, if you take my advice and completely avoid this mistake!
Taking The Path Of Least Resistance
Let me be the first to tell you….
You can’t make a million dollars by Wednesday unless you already have money coming in or a hefty lump sum to invest.
You can’t throw up an online ad campaign and expect thousands of customers in the next 24 hours without having a profit system in place.
You can’t have a huge goal and expect to not work for it.
On the surface you say “Well, duh, Shay. I know that.”
But what I see is that while it’s known mentally, it’s not really practiced.
You know, deep in your gut, that in order to get the traffic you want, you need to make sure you’ve SEO’d your site, started getting a few backlinks, and started doing some advertising that works for your budget.
You know it. You just don’t want to do it.
But most people don’t want to do that. (This includes me in the beginning of my journey. So there’s no judgment here.)
Why?
Because it ain’t sexy. It ain’t cool. And darn it, it ain’t quick (or so it appears).
But by trying to find the latest and greatest thing that will send you 10 million people who are looking for what you offer is keeping you broke.
My very first site was like that. I was not happy seeing that after 3 months building a site, I was only getting 2 views per day. I wanted more views! I wanted more people to see what I was writing! I wanted more people to buy my services! So I bought, read, and devoured anything that promised to get me 10,000 views in a week. I meticulously followed every instruction, created every social media account known to man, and tracked my progress every 12 hours. I was obsessed with getting 10,000 views. Now.
Did it work?
Yep. It did.
I got 10,000 views alright. I got 10,000 views with every single ebook or course I bought. There was just one problem.
The views I got weren’t from potential customers.
The views weren’t from people who were interested in what my site was about or people who needed my services.
It took me 6 months, $2,000, and heart-to-heart with myself to realize that slow and steady always wins the race.
If all I needed were 20 clients per month in order for my business to survive, then 2 views per day would equal 60 per month.
It’s not 10,000, that’s for sure.
But even if one percent of those 10,000 bought from me, would I be able to give them top quality service? Working one-on-one with 100 clients would have overwhelmed and emotionally drained me at the time. Sure the money would be great, but I wouldn’t be able to give top of the line service.
After that slap in the face, I cooled my heels. Want to know what happened? For every 5 people that visited my site organically, 3 turned into customers in less than a week. And in no time, I had my 20 clients. From there it was just rinse, lather, repeat.
Taking the path of least resistance is not only wasteful, it’s actually the fastest path to failure.
Don’t make this mistake. Building a business, no matter how small or large, is not always fun. There is work involved.
If you simply remember this tip alone, you will be much better off than 99% of your competition.
Thanks Shay. The quality of potential clients is very important. As a heart centered business, my focus is on the clients whose vision match mine. That means more quality and less quantity.
Hey Yvonne! Yes! It’s all about quality. Quality clients that take your advice and come back with fab testimonials! Thanks for sharing.
Shay
Brilliant, elegant, and honest insights appreciated and I love the stress on work. Thank you.
Hi Jim. Thank you so much for your kind words.