What Business People Can Learn From Global Running Day
Did you know today is Global Running Day? Unless you are a runner or someone close to a runner, probably not. And that's a really important principle to understand when you think about your business.
My son and I are runners. Early morning runners actually. Five days a week, between 5 am and 6 am, we get up and run (hence the goofy reflective vests).
And, since we're runners, we know about Global Running Day (the first Wednesday in June each year). And since we know, if you know us, you know too.
How does this apply to your business? When something is familiar to us, something as familiar as our business, we begin to think everyone knows about it and likes it as much as we do. After all, how could they not know about the wonderful products and services we supply that change peoples lives for the better?
Then, the inevitable happens. We talk to a friend (or worse yet, a relative) who purchased a product or service that we provide from one of our competitors. How could this happen? And it happens all the time.
I had a full-time consulting job in a different industry during the beginning of our dry cleaning pick up and delivery service. My boss did dry cleaning virtually every week. But she never used our service. She knew me, knew my family, cared about us, and even knew about our service but she never used us. Why?
I can only guess but it is an educated one. I think perhaps she unconsciously didn't want the business to do too well because she knew I'd leave and go to the dry cleaning service full time (and I did).
You see, people do or don't do business with people for a number of different reasons that are all their own. But, and here's where Global Running Day applies, they will almost always do business with people they feel are like them. And they'll know about businesses that are in their opinion "like them" because we're always on the lookout for something that says, "Hey, that's just like me!"
Better still, once people find something "just like them" they'll tell all their friends who are "just like them." But only if you ask them to do so. (By the way, if you're one of our clients, please let your friends an colleagues know about our service, they'll thank you for it and we will too!)
So yes, today is Global Running Day and now you know, for better or worse. But you also know how something that may or may not matter to you can become something very important to your circle. It only needs to be important to someone like you and soon it will be known by you too.
What Really Matters In Success
Nearly a half-century ago, I was told, "It's what you know that matters, so learn all you can." And I did (well, at least until I was in high school).
When I started my career in sales, I was told, "It's who you know that matters, so meet as many people as you can." And I did (although I didn't' really care much about who I met).
Sometime in my thirties, I was told, "No, It's not who you know, but more importantly, who the people you know happen to know. Get to the second level of the relationship." So I did, I met people who knew people I knew. This was my first clue.
Then, later in life, I was told, "Look, it doesn't matter who you know, what really matters is who knows you. You've got to get people to know you." So I did. I self-promoted and got people to know me. This was my second clue.
But then I was told, "Look, it's really not about any one thing. It's about everything. It's about what you know, who you know, who the people you know happen to know, and who knows you. That's the secret to success." So I put it all together. I focused on all of it.
And I came to realize, what really matters is what you do with what you know, who you know, who the people you know happen to know, and who knows you.
It's all about action. It's all about execution. The clues were, "take some action".
It really doesn't matter if you're the smartest, best connected, best connector, and the best known. If you do nothing, you'll get nothing.
And those who know little, know only a few, and have only a few know them but take action will lap you over and over.
You've got to take action with and on the assets you have.
That's what really matters in success.
You're Getting To That Age
Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a lot of my contemporaries are experiencing illnesses and death in their families. Sadly, we've all lost loved ones but recently it just seems more prevalent. Last Sunday I got an early morning text and had a phone call with a dear friend whose wife was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. It all seems to be happening so fast. While I'm no poet, after that call I wrote these words. I've hesitated to post it but, well, I'm getting to that age.
You’re getting to that age
I can look and see
That for the very first time
You see the look from me
You’re getting to that age
When everything is new
And everything is interesting
There’s just so much to do
You’re getting to that age
When you’ll try anything
They tell you that you’re tone deaf
So what? You want to sing
You’re getting to that age
Where right and wrong will matter
But oftentimes you see the signs
And it’s just a lot of chatter
You’re getting to that age
The hard things now seem easy
You can’t understand
When others don’t find life breezy
You’re getting to that age
You’ve worked your way on up
You’ve learned to scrape, to love the grind
They say you have good luck
You’re getting to that age
When a surprise isn’t always good
You lose a job, you lose a friend
You don’t do what you should
You’re getting to that age
When time just flies on by
It seems like only yesterday
It goes by in a blink of an eye
You’re getting to that age
Where friends of friends are sick
Focus on your health
That should do the trick
You’re getting to that age
Your contemporaries are dying
There’s still time to do what you want to
It’s the lie you keep on lying
You’re getting to that age
Now, it is your time too
Your friends and family gather round
But really there’s only you
Before for you find yourself at that age
Stop a moment and think
Is this really what I wanted to do
Before my body sinks
Before for you find yourself at that age
Give it one more go
Do that which you wanted to
Stop telling yourself no
You’ve gotten to that age
A decision must be made
Will you break away from the crowd
Or drink someone else’s kool-aid?
Cause life can really beat you up
It can really suck
Or it can be your greatest dream
I wish for you good luck
The Finish Line
Being tired at any task can often be traced back to a lack of meaning in the task. Whether you're tired at work or after a workout, new found energy can be found near the finish line, so long as you know where it is and why it is important.
New Year's Day - It's Not Just For January Anymore
Today is June 1, but it could just as well be any other day. A day of resolution. You don't really need New Year's Day to resolve to do or not do something, but seems like people like starting at the beginning.
I like the first of most anything and perhaps that's my problem.
I'm great at starting over. I've had to do it so many times now it seems like I'm always doing it. And not only have I had to start over countless times, I've chosen to just as many times as I've been forced to.
When we were kids living in Brookview Gardens Apartments on South Cobb Drive in Smyrna, GA, we used to play all sorts of sports on a small patch of open grass right next to the main road. We had a perfectly good baseball field which was much bigger, but it just seemed that when we'd play football, it was on that small patch.
Maybe it was because it had the telephone line that crossed it near the end, suspended by two poles. We'd use it to kick field goals. Problem was, every once in a while a play would be interrupted by that telephone line. Someone would throw a pass that would hit the line. Whenever this would happen we'd all yell in unison, "Do-over!"
Seems like my life is one big "Do-over". Always deciding, "This is the time, this is the year, this is it." And yet, no more than a few weeks later I'm yelling "Do-over!" again.
And maybe it is as it should be. Because here's the thing about "Do-overs". Whenever we had a "Do-over" on that field, we never had back to back "Do-overs". That's because we almost never ran exactly the same play, and if we did, we had the knowledge that we had gained the first time around.
So, yes, it's time for another "Do over" and I'm excited about it. Because I now possess all the knowledge I've gained through the previous plays I've run, tries I've had, and successes and failures I've experienced. With all the knowledge I've gained, certainly, this will be the time I'll not have to "Do over" again.
Until the next "Do over" that is.