Inside the Box
In business, there are phrases banded around like “Thinking outside the Box!” Sounds great. And I’m all for creativity, as you know.
Yet, sometimes it is used as a distraction; as a diversion from the fact that there are some very basic solutions Inside the Box, which if they were actually put into practice, acted upon with consistency, and actually performed brilliantly, would dramatically transform performance, results and success.
Last week a business owner was discussing with me the particular challenges he currently faces. He runs a small professional business, is technically very skilled (he has to be… with examinations and CPD constantly at the forefront in his profession), and he loves his clients. Great, so far.
He wants to make a serious breakthrough, having plateau’d somewhat in the past couple of years. But he is surrounded by so much of the Business treacle, the quagmire, that he can hardly see the “wood for the trees” (his words).
His suggestion at first was that he needed to “think outside the box” a little, to come up with creative ways in which to market his services, to build profile, to find new clients. All very good.
However, during further discussions, it became apparent that whilst these are all wonderful approaches, the first thing he needed to do was to look much closer to home. In fact, he didn’t need to “think outside the box” at all. He needed to look inside the box.
The fact was, that when we looked at his practice, he is already sitting on a goldmine. In a moment of complete honesty, he agreed that the problem was that he just had not been really doing the basics for some time. He had forgotten those activities which had been the foundation of building his business in the early days.
And I see so many business-people doing the same. Thinking outside the box is all well and good, but sometimes it’s worth looking at the “Inside the box” activities which will produce the results you want.
So… what one thing could you do, which if you did on a daily basis, would dramatically improve your business?
Go with your Gut-Feeling answer. And make it your key action for the month ahead. Every day, this becomes your main Action Goal. It is the activity around which your Golden Hours are based.
