Sounds scary and it is. Turning off sounds like isolation and seclusion. It is but at the same time it is what can make you go from good to great, from slim wallet to fat wallet. I had the pleasure of being dialed into “How to Eliminate & Overcome Overwhelm” with the lovely Carrie Wilkerson (a/k/a ) and the eliminate was not really what I was expecting. We have heard to shut down notifications, the phone … all the distractions that we have so that we can get down to business and be productive without interruption. However, Carrie has a very aggressive approach that on the surface is scarier than being face to face with a skunk.
The Path of Success
Turning it ALL off is not shutting down completely. It is actually freeing up your time to build your business, blog, relationships and empowering you to create an atmosphere that is conducive to being successful. Success leaves a mark or a path behind you and to gain success you have to work hard. The right place at the right time comes into play but if you did not work hard to build a complete and utter understanding of what you are best at in the minds of others, you are not leaving that path of success. Reality TV tries to defy this but at the same time, love them or hate them, we allow them to develop a character of whom we wish them to be and they have to become that or continue with it. The path of success begins with establishing yourself in a very active ocean and while sometimes we feel like a goldfish, establishing ourselves begins with what we do and how we do it.
Turning it ALL Off
What does that mean? Turning it all off is so broad but yet so narrow. Listening to Carrie, she was trying to eliminate being overwhelmed with information, being here and there without ever getting ahead. How can you not get ahead by being everywhere? Being everywhere is a trail to nowhere in many ways. We have so many blogs that we read and read and some have us take some notes or spark a blog post of our own. We Tweet these and then engage in conversations with friends. This is great and relationships matter when they are fulfilling emotionally or monetarily. What happens when they are neither? It is the equivalent of opening your window and throwing money out. Harsh and/or unfounded; some may think so but deep down you know it is not as you looked over at the window and envisioned money being thrown out.
Turning it all off is mastering your time and involvement. Carrie suggests ONLY being subscribed to ONE email list. Feel the heart fluttering yet? I know I did as how on earth does only being subscribed to one email list/blog lead to the path of success (or for established companies bigger success)? I was a skeptic but yet listened more and it became clear. When you follow one, you have chosen them and are devoting time to reading their blog or newsletter and getting to know them while at the same time giving them a chance to get to know you (which is ultimately what you want clients/customers to do). You are also freeing yourself up to be able to build the business and not have the excuse of “not enough time in the day” and taking blogging as volunteer work into blogging as focusing on being their one. You now have time that you have no idea what to do with as your head is all over the place with did I choose the right one, will people be mad that I am not there and if I am not there for them, how can they be there for me?
The Focus of One
Just one is hard to wrap your arms around and I am not so sure I am on board with just one. So I should just abandon everyone else and give a hat tip or a sad face of sorry you are not my focus of one? Sounds so selfish but yet at the same time, it is invigorating. I am guilty of information overload to the point of where I have so many little papers of ideas that none get fleshed out enough to be written. Why? There is not a focus of one. There is the focus of all. Be the small business agency that does all and is all. Sounds great on paper but in reality it is the biggest jumble of jumbles that it makes a crossword puzzle in a different language look easy. I look at Jessica Northey and see her love of country music and how she is easily able to talk about it. After only 2 weeks, she has one of the most successful Twitter chats because she has been in radio, worked with artists and through educating her followers on country music has garnered speaking engagements that never disappoint.
We can talk about being a small business owner and how advertising and social media marketing benefits them and what we can do for them, but is that really giving them the trust and focus that they deserve? As an example, I love sports so much that I can talk about plays or players as if they are my family member but yet I never have pursued this as a viable market. It is one of the easiest things for me to talk about, but that is my hobby. Well if you know me at all, it is not really a hobby. It is a focus that is as easy to talk about as casino advertising and marketing. Ever hear me talk about casino advertising? No, as I have worked with them for years and am living off the referrals (go ahead, scratch your head as wow, I never knew!).
Do We Need To Turn It All Off?
Yes and no. In social media within the industry itself, we do need to be active. Our focus of one needs to be active but with limitations. The egg timer sets limitations. Set it for 30 minutes and ding ding, stop or finish really fast what you are doing to renew the focus. It is so easy to get engaged in conversations on Twitter or reading so many blogs but it has to be looked at as is this paving your path to success? Only you can pave that path but along the way, we need help. The focus of one that Carrie was talking about does make a whole lot of sense. It makes you look deeper into yourself and see how you can focus more and stop the information overload. Choosing one is not about choosing them so much as it is choosing you to be the one.
Think about it.
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