Recommended: Chris Brogan's Newsletter
I’ve never taken one of his courses before but I've been subscribed to his newsletter for awhile and it often has these nuggets of wisdom in them worth sharing. If you like this, definitely subscribe to his email newsletter. Below is just one of those nuggets of wisdom that I copy/pasted from my email inbox to share with you.
I’m not saying that to whine, Mike. But it’s important you know this. No one is reading what you’re writing. I have proof. Mountains of it.
I’m drinking some amazing organic pomegranate white tea that someone was kind enough to send me (and I totally lost the card, so I have no idea who!) What are YOU drinking? Hit reply and say hi!
No One is Reading
One of the “unique” aspects of my business is that I’m the front lines of customer service. I like it, most days. What better way to know how things are going than to hear people’s questions, challenges, and complaints.
But I can tell you this: no one is reading.
I got an email from a guy saying, “I want to buy your course. How do I do that?”
It was a reply to an email that had three (3!) links to the shopping cart to buy the course. The only three blue underlined parts of the mail (thus making it even more obvious) were somehow not obvious to him.
Plus, he missed the deadline. Plus, I’d sent him five (or six?) emails inviting him to buy the course. So he was late, and couldn’t buy it, even if he’d found the links in the previous five or six emails.
I’m Not Complaining About That Guy
I’m saying NO. ONE. IS. READING.
They’re not reading me. They’re not reading you. YOU are not reading.
You’re skimming. Maybe not you specifically. But “you” at large. And by “you,” I mean me. Us. We. All.
We are not reading.
We are “Hurrying” Because we are “Busy.”
I wrote about being “too busy” in February and in April of this year. I’ll probably write it another two or three dozen times. Because 1.) I have to because no one is reading, and 2.) because we’re all doing this THING where we are just “grazing” our way through life.
Your attention is a valuable asset and you (me, us) are wasting it. You’re diffusing it. You’re turning the same power that can burn through two inches of steel into the soft and diffuse light that warms a field of daisies.
And it’s one reason that you’re not as successful as you want to be.
Focus isn’t the answer
I know that might have rushed into your head. In a guilty way. “I know. I have to focus.” (First off, the phrase “have to” means you won’t.) Second, focus isn’t the answer.
Find a path. Stick to the path. Do what’s germane to the path.
Do the work that moves you ahead. Stop “checking out” all the other things.
Every time I see another person say they’re “trying out Periscope,” I cringe. Not that I care or don’t care about that particular technology. I just know that it won’t grow your business. It won’t get you a new customer. It won’t help you land another sale.
We have to dust off our internal compass, empty out our mental backpack, and only put it in those things that will move us forward. We MUST ignore all the superfluous things, so that we can focus on what needs doing.
And if my newsletter (or anything else out there) isn’t part of that path, stop it. Get off that path and get on yours. Be merciless in this process and you’ll see the growth that’s eluded you.
Action
Quit it. Quit the cult of “I’ll just see if THIS will change anything.” When people want to lose weight, they pursue a whole lot of diet plans. Know which plan works the best? The one you can stick to and maintain.
Stop looking for new things, new programs, new systems, new books. Look for where you can keep growing what you’re already trying to do.
Start with your wants and needs around those areas you’re trying to develop. Let NOTHING in that doesn’t fit that development.
No One Is Reading
I’m not saying that to whine, Mike. But it’s important you know this. No one is reading what you’re writing. I have proof. Mountains of it.
I’m drinking some amazing organic pomegranate white tea that someone was kind enough to send me (and I totally lost the card, so I have no idea who!) What are YOU drinking? Hit reply and say hi!
No One is Reading
One of the “unique” aspects of my business is that I’m the front lines of customer service. I like it, most days. What better way to know how things are going than to hear people’s questions, challenges, and complaints.
But I can tell you this: no one is reading.
I got an email from a guy saying, “I want to buy your course. How do I do that?”
It was a reply to an email that had three (3!) links to the shopping cart to buy the course. The only three blue underlined parts of the mail (thus making it even more obvious) were somehow not obvious to him.
Plus, he missed the deadline. Plus, I’d sent him five (or six?) emails inviting him to buy the course. So he was late, and couldn’t buy it, even if he’d found the links in the previous five or six emails.
I’m Not Complaining About That Guy
I’m saying NO. ONE. IS. READING.
They’re not reading me. They’re not reading you. YOU are not reading.
You’re skimming. Maybe not you specifically. But “you” at large. And by “you,” I mean me. Us. We. All.
We are not reading.
We are “Hurrying” Because we are “Busy.”
I wrote about being “too busy” in February and in April of this year. I’ll probably write it another two or three dozen times. Because 1.) I have to because no one is reading, and 2.) because we’re all doing this THING where we are just “grazing” our way through life.
Your attention is a valuable asset and you (me, us) are wasting it. You’re diffusing it. You’re turning the same power that can burn through two inches of steel into the soft and diffuse light that warms a field of daisies.
And it’s one reason that you’re not as successful as you want to be.
Focus isn’t the answer
I know that might have rushed into your head. In a guilty way. “I know. I have to focus.” (First off, the phrase “have to” means you won’t.) Second, focus isn’t the answer.
Find a path. Stick to the path. Do what’s germane to the path.
Do the work that moves you ahead. Stop “checking out” all the other things.
Every time I see another person say they’re “trying out Periscope,” I cringe. Not that I care or don’t care about that particular technology. I just know that it won’t grow your business. It won’t get you a new customer. It won’t help you land another sale.
We have to dust off our internal compass, empty out our mental backpack, and only put it in those things that will move us forward. We MUST ignore all the superfluous things, so that we can focus on what needs doing.
And if my newsletter (or anything else out there) isn’t part of that path, stop it. Get off that path and get on yours. Be merciless in this process and you’ll see the growth that’s eluded you.
Action
Quit it. Quit the cult of “I’ll just see if THIS will change anything.” When people want to lose weight, they pursue a whole lot of diet plans. Know which plan works the best? The one you can stick to and maintain.
Stop looking for new things, new programs, new systems, new books. Look for where you can keep growing what you’re already trying to do.
Start with your wants and needs around those areas you’re trying to develop. Let NOTHING in that doesn’t fit that development.