Posted by JuJuan Buford Entrepreneur & Author @JSBUFORD
We all have them. Blind spots. Idiosyncrasies that don't serve us. A paucity of skills in a specific area. Maybe an academic deficit, like not understanding the biology behind television commercials' potential to persuade. Self awareness is key and can definitely allow you to identify and remedy these challenges. Still, we are what we are. Flawed.
Weaknesses can lead to deleterious results or present an opportunity to grow stronger. Here are a couple suggestions.
Delegate Them. Admittedly, this is fast becoming my favorite solution. If you are a righty, why masquerade as a lefty? I believe ardently in personal and professional development, plus massive action (BIG PLUS), however the pace of business is far swifter than it was 5 years ago or even 5 minutes ago. Play to your strengths like tomorrow is not promised, because it's not. Do you.
If you are not good at marketing or sales. Let me be brutally honest here. If you are walking around with the attitude that you are not good at sales, and you're committed to this attitude. Quit. Ever hear the axiom, begin with the end in mind? You're doomed. Quit. Accept the fact that you're lying to yourself, either because of fear of failure or fear of work.
Have you ever been on a date before? Did you make it to the second date? Are you married? Smile. Salesmanship is in your DNA.
Ok, so you have room to grow when it comes to marketing and sales. You're best at delivering the service or producing the product. Hire someone who is incredible at marketing and sales. Take inventory of your network and find affinity partners (people who are swimming in the same ponds, rivers, and oceans you are with complimentary wares) and couple their access or name recognition with your expertise. Don't be stingy. Or find individuals or groups who already have an affinity for your value proposition, and enlist their support: social media, conference calls, trade fairs, etc.,.
It works in reverse as well.
Most importantly, do not starve the baby. When it comes to acquiring professional support, seek help from legitimate individuals and resources at all costs. You didn't attend school and pass the bar in your state. Seek real, ideally specialized, legal counsel. You didn't graduate with an accounting degree. Find an accountant. Marketing is one of the most highly specialized, heady, intellectual endeavors ever, and so many don't get it.
Some of these resources (shameless, but discreet plug) are not nearly as expensive as you may anticipate.
Edison did not become wealthy because the light bulb was invented. He was able to sell and scale. Marketing in combination with learning how to transition from hustling your derrière off as an individual, to hustling your derrière off as an owner, to hustling your derrière off as a CEO are drastically different worlds.
Incorporate Systems. Maybe it's time to consider a partnership, a board, or some form of structural accountability. Maybe you are impulsive or you take a couple milliseconds too long to make BLINK (Malcolm Gladwell) decisions. It's ok. Many of our strengths and weaknesses are often sitting right next to each other.
Maybe, it's time you actually invest in reevaluating your business plan and securing the guiding hand of a business coach to insure you adhere to it. Informally survey your clients more frequently post sale, or create follow up protocols (not email) to better identify what you're deficits are and create reminders of what will be required to address them. The uglier the truth, the better it may be for you, assuming you're willing to take steps to address what's discovered.
Invest in Personal & Professional Development Constantly. I can literally smash an entire 300 to 400 plus page book in a 24 hour period of time, and quickly synthesize the content or data into immediately applicable action steps. I can listen to a speech, parse it, memorize it, recalibrate it, and deliver it in my own voice as quickly as I hear it.
I can live in my mind for hours and be completely ok with it. And once I see something in my mind, I can apply it and adjust with mind blowing efficacy without having done the thing before. And then I become bored, immediately. It's not very efficient.
It's my gift. It's my weakness. Temporarily.
Here are more efficient, healthier ways to improve. Drive time university. Turn off the radio and find someone who has what you want, YouTube them, or buy their audio training.
Read ten pages a day = approximately 300 pages a month = approximately 12 to 15 good books per year = What many pay tens of thousands of dollars for every year in the form of a university education. Let's be clear. I'm not knocking a university or college education, for the trolls out there. It's just an interesting equation to consider, with a huge ROI. Trust, that if you read ten pages a day of a good book regarding any endeavor or intellectual pursuit, you will be a different, more improved YOU at the end of the year.
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