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Your Business is Not Washed up; it’s just Cycling
Do you love doing laundry?
I find if I do a load a day, I'm not so bogged down with the chore.
(Keep reading, this isn't a message about cleaning!) Have you ever
paid attention to what your washing machine really does? It doesn't
just wash. Mine fills with water, then after washing, it spins,
drains, rinses, drains and spins again. It has more than one function,
even though it’s called a washing machine. In other words, in order to
wash clothes, it has to cycle through other activities.
Examine your local garden
center where you’re now buying your plants and flowers. What does this
business owner do in the winter? Does he close his business? Some
owners might do so, but the really smart ones do the TWIST and turn
the garden centers into Christmas tree farms. Landscapers who will mow
lawns in the summer, shovel snow in the winter. Life is cyclic and so
is business.
Direct sales companies
market products via home demonstrations and/or one-on-one
appoint-ments. If we’re in a cycle where we need a TWIST to
keep going, we can also give corporate presentations, fundraisers,
booths at home shows or fairs, preschool displays…and the list goes
on. Every cycle—and season—has its reason for people to say “no” to
buying, booking, and selling. Our customers are also cyclic; in every
cycle we’ll have people who will and will not want to do business with
us. A host has a time when she’s ready to host, then a time she only
wants to buy, and other times she doesn’t even want to talk to us! The
key is to keep working on other activities or with other people while
we cycle through seasons and while our contacts go through their
cycles. Having lots of different people at different stages of the
business cycle is one way to have continual Sweet Successes and Juicy
Profits.
Whatever you do, don’t
stop working; complete the cycle. What would happen if you opened your
washer and discovered it quit after the washing cycle and hadn’t
rinsed yet? First, I’d get mad, kick it a few times (sometimes that
works!), then call a repairperson. Sometimes we need to give ourselves
a mental and emotional kick and call our leader (repairperson).Keep
working on your business with TWISTS according to the cycles of
the seasons and customers’ desires.
Life cycles. And so does
business. I’m waiting for the cycle on my dryer to fold the clothes
and put them away!
Bright Idea: Share this message with your team at a
Polishing Your Business team meeting, found in
Totally Terrific
Team Themes 2.
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