There’s an inconvenient and, more importantly, unnecessary abyss between where many business owners hope to be and where they are financially…. where their profit IS and where they need or want it to be… a heartbreaking gap between the potential they know their business has, and the profit their business is currently producing. I get it. After all, building a bridge over this abyss is exactly what my business does.
But, there is a secret “super power” — exposed by a disappointing day at the salon — that we all can use to reach our business goals, however distant, elusive or slippery they may seem right now. So, if your ABSOLUTE COMMITMENT to your business goals woke you up this morning, as mine did… keep reading.
Yesterday, I had my hair done. I brought in two pictures of the hair color I wanted to get back to… and the stylist (a new one I’m using for only the 2nd time) continued to ask me about strategic decisions regarding how to achieve that result. She asked if I wanted to do lowlights first and then highlights, or roots first and then just low lights… and I said,
“Look. I don’t know. I don’t want to tell you how to do your job. You’re the expert. My goal is THIS picture. Whatever you need to do to get me there is what I want.”
As an aside, while I walked out looking better than when I went in… I ended up nowhere close to the picture I brought in. Somewhat like the business owner who achieves incremental increase, but it’s nowhere close to where they need — or want– to be.
This whole experience reminded me of a recent conversation with a client. She came to me with a definite goal and a pre-conceived strategy to get her to that goal. I ended up saying this,
“We can definitely achieve your goal. But if you’re absolutely set on that one strategy to achieve the goal, you need to work with someone else.” It wasn’t that I wouldn’t use her preferred strategy as PART of our work together…
it’s just that if you’re REALLY committed to a specific goal,
you cannot AFFORD to be married to a specific strategy
to get you there.
That’s the super power, by the way: FLEXIBILITY. You’ve got to be willing and able to flex your strategy to meet a specific need… you’ve got to be willing to bob and weave, measure, course correct, jump ship when necessary and keep moving forward… regardless.
Your ULTIMATE loyalty must be to the goal itself, not the particular strategies you use to get there. I’ll end with the words of Megan Hyatt Miller (Michael Hyatt’s daughter) who said it best, in a recent blog post:
The way to achieve our goals is to hold them tightly
and our strategies loosely.
