Ready. Aim. Shoot.
The year has just begun . You feel refreshed and ready to hit things hard, get things done and make it happen. It's all good.Enjoy it while it lasts, you will soon be facing a big challenge.
Years ago I worked for a dude who took the ready-shoot-aim approach which often caused a big mess to clean up.
The right order is ready-aim-shoot. Too often we fail to fire.
Over Planning The Plan.
Designing a road map is essential but we can run the risk of spending gobs of time talking about the plan and planning the strategy and setting up the start-up and approaching the due date. Then it stalls.
And then we hit the wall of indecision and we get stuck.
Hopes and Dreams.
It’s the first week of a fresh year, resolutions aren’t broken yet and the magical date on the calendar has given us renewed hope of new conquests.
This is exactly the time for us to get ready, then aim, then shoot.
Will we do it this time? Will we remember the confidence and hope we feel today in a few days or weeks or months when it may get difficult or we hit a snag or worse yet – a naysayer?
As the tools of social and digital media grow like a vine on the wall, it has become even more crucial for us to pay close attention to our business plans and customer targets. Growing our writers and managers is paramount right now.
Knowing how to reach clients and give them solutions has never been more important. The more things get complicated the more crucial is it to remember the basics.
Focus on the Painting, not the Brush.
The toys and tools can distract us from thinking that we have gotten ready, we are aiming and we have shot. It often turns out to be a lot of activity and very little progress. The options available are vast. You can create an outdoor campaign with a direct mail companion that ties directly to your radio advertising that becomes a cross media opportunity with your Twitter stream.
Logos and artwork can be developed that will wow the most seasoned designer while a high priced actor can be hired to be the voice of your brand.
Job well done. Count your millions.
Activity: Meet Progress.
Pardon me while I butcher the Bard but if you take the ready-shoot-aim approach, it will amount to a giant hill of pretty pictures signifying nothing.
These are not unforeseen situations out of our control - you can brace for them only so much - these are situations we seem to somehow create on our own.
There are millions spent every day on start-up venture capitalized and bootstrapped ideas. Every single one is grown from the goal of creating noise and making profits.
Every one of them consists of a group of people who hope to end up with more at the bottom of the page than when they began. Many won't make it.
That dreaded wall may not be a group of customers that failed to buy your product.
It may not be because of a failed launch.
It certainly won’t be because you took chances.
It will be because you lost your map on the way to your objective.
You have the chance to build a route that can take you around most walls rather than headlong in to them. Again.
What are you doing today to plan your course?
@knealemann
business. marketing. social media. communications.
image credits: uzar | madisonshortsales | hickletoncollectors
