Today begins the first of my 90 day sprint towards solidifying the agency’s new business pipeline. AND I’M TERRIFIED.
Terrified because I might fail. More terrified because, well what if I actually succeed?! And my life balance goes totally out the window (but I guess I can deal with that if/when it happens).
Despite having put the game on my desk yesterday to make sure it was top of mind, it’s still there unopened, taunting me and it’s 11.48am. Okay, I did have a Drs appointment, and emails, and a client call, but that’s always going to happen.
Well actually, if I don’t kick up our new business efforts considerably, emails and client calls won’t always happen. And life will always continue get in the way.
The rules of the game state that I have 1 hour (just 60 mins) to get my new business task done; to do whatever the card says x the number (of clients) rolled on the dice. And that’s why I haven’t opened it. If I don’t look, I don’t have to start.
Except that doing nothing gets precisely nothing done. I cannot believe that my heart is actually thumping with nerves. If I was coaching one of my mentees right now, I’d say;
- what’s the worst that could happen?
- Someone might be rude – no big deal there or
- I might not get anywhere – not getting anywhere right now either
- Just start, do one, have a go and see how that feels – knowing full well, that once I begin, the adrenaline will kick in and No2 of whatever will be significantly less stressful than No1 (and I might only roll a 1 anyway).
- Treat it as the game it is. It’s all about having a go (except my livelihood depends on this…see point 4)
- SUCK IT UP PRINCESS – actually, I’d never really say this to a mentee. But I could imagine my coach nicely (or my daughter – somewhat less nicely) saying it to me.
Okay.
I’ve stuffed about enough. My office is quiet today (days off, etc), so if I stuff things up today, my audience is, well, just me.
I am debating whether or not lunchtime is a good time to get started – now that it’s 12.02pm. But I’m running out of excuses. So here goes. I shuffle the cards and one jumps out of the deck.
Today’s task is…
RSVP to attend x networking meetings this week – rolled dice x=3.
My response to this is; “Really, that’s what I got so angsty about?” Now some people will be terrified of networking but for me, it’s fun. So YAY – I can do this – and you can too.
I also know that networking brings business – as a business, we’ve proven that before.
One hour to find 3 events this week to RSVP to.
An hour later… I’ve found 45 possible things I could go to that interest me – although several of these are interesting because I could send them something pitching my speaker/trainer skills (ie: developing new business of a different kind).
Key in searching for networking events though is making sure that I’m staying true to our brand. Not just going to something for goings’ sake.
Also key to remember is that some events are free and some are paid – but ALL of them will cost you your very precious time. So invest your time wisely.
So for the next 10 days I ended up choosing;
- Leadership and high performance teams (Free).
- Going to a BNI meeting Thursday AM that I’ve been talking about going to for at least the last 5 months. BNI does work for a lot of people if you can get past its regimented-ness (Paid).
- A small business community networking evening seminar on winning new clients – always good to see what the competition is up to. (Free)
- A startup community crowdfunding workshop as a potential collaborator – Thursday PM (10 days from now – free)
- The League of ExtraOrdinary Women meeting Thursday PM (which looks interesting – paid)
And 7 other events whilst I was getting myself out and about from ‘hiding’ in my office.
Oh and best of all, whilst I had my head in new business mode, the phone rang. And a new, new client – who’d been referred to us by a friend of the agency – asked us to help him solve the issue of his Adwords agency not listening and being very robotic in their approach. Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this.
This so seriously goes to the, none too subtle, lightbox message I have on my desk with the message – DO THE WORK!! So please, if you do the work and the work will come.
Day 1 ends with;
- 3 events booked per week for the next month (13 events all up – I know, I know – it was only meant to be 3). And if I like this BNI, I will go back. Plus I found another 7 groups who meet at similar times, with similar folks in the room.
- 1 client in the NB pipeline
- Found 2 potential speaking opportunities (both of whom need marketing work – 2 birds, 1 stone!!)
And kind of inspired and looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.
