Fixing Missed Opportunities
Robert Gerrish: Small Business Marketing
Let's name a day once every three months as "Solo Entrepreneur Day for Fixing Missed Opportunities!"
It is important to set aside time to look back on the past few months and question the things we've let slip by. Once we highlight stuff we can get on and fix it. Like you didn't know that.
Here are my Top 5 Actions for fixing missed opportunities:
1. Go back through your diary
Spend a few minutes looking back over the past three months (or past year if you haven't done this for some time!). Look at where you spent your time, what appointments you had that have not led to anything. Remember the people you met and the conversations you had. Did you follow up as effectively as you might? Did you explore all the possibilities?
2. Clear out your Rolodex/card file/wallet/briefcase/palm pilot/car/handbag
Look particularly for people who've slipped off your radar. Consider relationships that may benefit from some rekindling. It's funny how often we leave a networking event with a swagger of cards and a great sense of achievement only to leave the cards in a little pile to gather dust and coffee stains. Take a fresh look. What was it that was so interesting back then?
3. Check through your emails
I don't know about you, but I have developed this very unhelpful behaviour of marking an incoming email as 'urgent' and then promptly ignoring it. The sooner Mr Gates invents something like a hand that can reach out of my monitor and slap me round the chops the better.
Regularly clearing your email in-tray is a hugely liberating experience. Action what's needed, ditch the rest.
4. Clean out your files
Boring, boring, boring. Necessary, necessary, necessary. Often amongst the junk is some stuff we kept deservedly. Find it, unfile it, action it.
5. Make an announcement
Invite your clients, customers and staff to point out missed opportunities. A few months back a delightful man pointed out that one my new projects was so exciting it was as if 'I had a lion by the tail'. Did I? Yikes!
Yes I did. Yes I DO! So often others see things in us that we cannot see ourselves. What tail do you have hold of? Are you going to grab the lion while you have the chance? I know I am, starting next Wednesday.
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About the Author: When he’s not loitering in cafés or pounding the pavements, Robert Gerrish works as a coach, writer and presenter. He’s co-author of Flying Solo - How to go it alone in business . You can visit Robert at www.robertgerrish.com.
Copyright © Robert Gerrish "Flying Solo - Loving Your Own Company" (www.flyingsolo.com.au/). All Rights Reserved.
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