I haven't had a rant for a while, so thought I'd treat myself! It's related to my previous post ("Marketing Messages - Too Time Consuming?")I have 4 audio and video messages/teleseminars in my email inbox waiting for me to listen to or watch them. There are occasions where I have some time between appointments or tasks when I quite like to have a coffee and relax a bit - and I like to make best use of that time by learning something. I know, I'll listen to that audio message.
The problem I find is that so often there is no indication of how long the recording is - that's my pet peeve for today! I've already mentioned that, in my opinion, a lot of the messages are overlong so when I have no idea if the recording will be 15, 30, 45 minutes or over an hour, I'm more likely to hit the delete key.
It's not that I won't listen to longer messages if I think they'll be interesting, it's just that I'd appreciate some shorter messages that could be fitted in during the time it takes me to drink my coffee. Or at least to know how long the recording will last so I can decide the best time to listen to or view it.
OK, rant over. What do you think?
Do you remember a song of that name by Little Eva from many years ago? It still gets played occasionally and whenever I hear it I get a picture in my mind of lots of people moving in a long line like a train, although I'm sure the original dance looked a bit different.
I've noticed that in business, once you start moving forward by taking lots of action, you can build up a momentum that becomes quite easy to sustain.
The new business model that I'm working on (mentioned a couple of postings ago) is building up a series of interlinked steps and strategies that need to be done. Doing each step for the first time is quite slow because it's a bit scary and tentative. After that, as it becomes more familiar and comfortable, I wonder why I didn't try it before!
Getting a 'locomotive' moving from a standing start takes a lot of fuel and effort, so does getting started working 'on the business'. Knowing what has to be done can, in itself, be totally overwhelming. My coaching clients often get a panicked look when we go through and identify what needs to be done.
I'm holding a FREE Teleseminar this Thursday evening on How to Stop Overwhelm and I'm quite surprised at the number of people who have signed up - it's obviously an issue that is affecting many small business owners. I know, I've been there myself.
Taking the first steps, getting your business locomotive rolling, does require energy and focus. The rewards come as you build up a head of steam moving forward and, of course, see the results of your efforts.
This week has been dominated by writing projects - from sales copy to web pages, newsletter, a brand new workshop, and a new free teleseminar. And I've had some client meetings as well. But mainly I've had my head down and my fingers flying over the keyboard!
It's surprising how much I've got through. I'm trying out a new system and it really is making me more productive at creating new products and doing the marketing for them. Of course it also helps that I had a sudden flurry of ideas to help the creative bit.
The business networking machine has cranked itself up again, and today I've even been invited to a Speed Networking launch meeting in Eastbourne. Not too sure how I got on that list!
I've just signed up to author a chapter of Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton's new book (as if I didn't have enough to write!). It looks like fun, with 100 authors and all the proceeds going to the charity, Variety. You can still buy last year's Age of Conversation or get involved with this year's project, or even just take part in the survey to vote on the topic. I haven't got a clue what to expect, watch this space!
