GarthBox

Unlike many other concepts in the world, I’m not completely sure taking initiative gets easier the more you do it.

I’ve trail-blazed for four years now and I still get uncomfortable when I start to take initiative. I still feel the urge to get approval, to have some reassurance, some support to lead.

There are two activities you can do to help move forward.

The first is to remind yourself the fear you feel when you begin to take initiative is not an indicator that you shouldn’t take it. Responsibility is uncomfortable. As Brene Brown says, you can’t be courageous and comfortable at the same time.

Secondly, I remind myself of how what I’m doing will benefit others. I fight my lizard brain with a cost-benefit analysis. While it only looks at the harm to myself, I look at the benefit my initiative will offer to others.

Hope this helps.

 

Stay Positive & Go Take Initiative

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The concept of a leader is that those who you lead are followers.

What if you pushed back on that? What would change in your attitude if you lead leaders, not just followers. What if you put enough trust in those you lead to keep moving forward if you removed yourself from the equation?

I’m not sure you’re a true leader if your followers would disband after your departure.

 

Stay Positive & Are You Leading Right?

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I was advised early on to focus on the what and less on the how. I was told the how would work itself out if I focused on the what enough.

The thinking goes if you want a motorcycle, focus on the motorcycle, the type, the engine size, the color. Think about how it will feel to ride it, to have it, to clean it.

Do so, and the how of how you will obtain it will work itself out.

I had a tough time agreeing with the concept of focusing more on the what and less on the how until I realized…

The how isn’t about not making a plan and standing still, it’s about not making a plan and forging forward in different ways. The how isn’t something you can plan to the T. The how is something you test. The how requires you to wiggle, to stumble, to push, shove and kick.

Think about how much time is spent planning for things when the only guarantee about a plan is that it’ll change, maybe in a big way and maybe only slightly, but it will change.

Those who get what they want are the ones who try a hundred different methods to get it, not the ones who spend a hundred hours planning a single path to attainment.

 

Stay Positive & Slam The Gas Pedal

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There’s a reason why Starbucks cup sizes are referred to what they are.

There’s a reason valet drivers are dressed one way at one hotel and another way at a casino.

There’s a reason no McDonalds attendant has ever said, “don’t worry about it, this one’s on me.”

Every detail of the buyer’s journey (and yours as the owner, marketer, curator, employer) has to be consist with the brand story, from the color of the walls to your email signoff.

 

Stay Positive & Consistency Leads To Efficiency And Efficiency Leads To Profit

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There’s the purpose of achieving a particular outcome for doing something, for sending the email, for creating a new product, for reaching out to your customer post-purchase.

We all have marketing goals around results.

The marketing goals that I believe to matter most are those that encompass learning.

Smart marketers do things to learn, to grow, to get better at their practice.

What will you do today to be better tomorrow?

 

Stay Positive & ABL (Always Be Learning)

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With the abundance of information consumers are more rational than ever when they’re deciding on a product. They can skip the emotional ambiance a brand tries to display through advertising because they can listen to what other people (like them) are saying about a product.

Spec comparisons, technical filters, and, most importantly, product reviews are changing the purchasing habits of consumers.

In the past, a brand like Dell could speak to the emotional sensors of their audience. Now it’s difficult to persuade with emotion when all the facts about processing power, memory and graphics are a click or two away.

We’re in an age when consumers trust strangers more than brands.

What we as marketers can do instead of producing more emotional commercials, more emotional ads, we can teach consumers to write reviews from their heart, we can teach them to speak emotionally when they comment on the specs of a brand.

Bold. I know. But the brand that learns how to teach customers to speak like marketers is sure to lead their industry while the others play catch up.

 

Stay Positive & Teach Customers To Speak Emotionally, Not Just Rationally

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