THE SLEEP-WALKING MASSES

It’s now February, a short month at that, with the flush of January and the New Year passed.

How are those goals going? Still bursting with energy, vigour and inspiration?

I notice the gyms are already quietening down and the New Year New Me enthusiasm is waning which means the masses are reverting back to the norm of plodding along doing the same thing -sleepwalking through another year, nice and comfortable – accepting the same results in their lives as last year. Nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want.

In business terms and in most sub ￡1million IT/MSP’s that means running around chasing your tail, feeling like all paths lead to your desk and the same old ‘married-to-your lap top’ in the evenings and weekends feeling. Did you not vow to get things working better for you this year?

Don’t worry it’s very normal as all the masses do this every year but the trouble with that is nothing changes which is, apparently, the definition of insanity. It’s an over-used cliché which is, of course, how an overused phrase becomes a cliché. But, they (clichés) become so because they’re based on simple wisdom which everyone knows but mostly ignores and why it’s over-used in the first place.

Just like ‘cash is king’.

How many businesses ignore this simple cliché and run out of cash because they don’t it close enough? I had a new client last year who was thinking of taking out a loan to support the business. On closer inspection he had debtors of ￡180k of which nearly ￡58k was aged and overdue. This was the first thing we worked on and four weeks later this was down to ￡20k and cash flow was looking very different. Instead he was now considering a loan for investment to scale the infrastructure of the business. Now that IS doing something different and came from his clarity of direction having taken the time to stop and consider exactly where he wanted to take the business. As opposed to just wanting ‘to have more time’ or be ‘less busy’ which are great in and of themselves but very non-specific.

If you were to do just one thing all year that would allow you to ‘have more time’ what would it be? And if you worked on that goal for one hour a day all year round do you think you’d have a very different type of business?

Imagine if you went to the gym for one hour a day for a year. Now, assuming you actually did something whilst there (some people go and do very little, kidding themselves they’re working out) and didn’t eat two pizzas after each session, you’d have a very different level of fitness and body shape a year later. Compared to the masses, who gave up in January, you’d have achieved remarkable results. What if you did the same with your business?

So, what’s the business result you’re prepared work on for one hour a day for the rest of this year?

Just because it’s no longer January doesn’t mean you can’t have a new or renewed goal but let’s make it one you stay committed to for the rest of the year….ok…alright…. then at least 3 months minimum.

I guarantee if you do you’ll have a very different business and set of results than if you just follow the cliché of ‘if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same results’.

A chap I spoke to the other day wants to accelerate his 20% year on year growth – now that’s ambitious – what he’s unclear about is what one thing is going to allow him to achieve it!

My goal is to spend one hour a day writing valuable content for my clients and future clients to stimulate their thinking.

What’s yours?

Comment below and share…

PS: Whenever you’re ready, here’s three ways I can help you scale your IT/MSP to give you more money, time and freedom building a business that works for you rather than you for it so you can live life on your terms:

 1) Join the Scale With Confidence IT/MSP Free Facebook Group

It’s our new Facebook community where smart established IT/MSP owners learn to build a business that works for them rather than them for it – more profit, more time and more freedom.

 2) 36 Ideas to scale your IT/MSP with confidence:

These ideas will show you how to harness your business to work for you, maximise your revenue and install the capacity to get more from your team. You can access them HERE.

3) Have a listen to the IT Experts Podcast where you hear us talking about all things to do with MSP business growth. You can click on the link HERE and subscribe on your platform of choice.