Intangible Activities Bring Tangible Results

Now that you know what transmogrification is and you’ve grasped the concept of a business mindset, now’s the time to engage in intangible activities that bring about tangible results. You have to embrace the Intangibles of Business Development: Thinking, Reading, Writing, and Counting. Do I need to explain any further? OK, a little…you have to think for yourself, you have to read not just skim, you have to write, and you have to know how to count. If you’re weak in any of these areas, stop blaming and get your skills up to par. (I know intangible is boring but please keep reading) When you think of an intangible result, your brain might freeze up so let’s start with some basic definitions from Webster’s dictionary: • Thinking: the process of using your mind to consider something carefully. • Reading: the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message. • Writing: letters or symbols written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language. • Counting (mathematics): a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity, shape and arrangement. Now that you know what the intangible’s are and what they mean, what’s next? It’s time to practice them! I bet you’re thinking about skipping this topic or you might be making excuses for not engaging in the intangibles (strategically). A quick note about excuses: Recently I launched some new training courses and decided to solicit a sponsor for advertising. We put a nice ad in the paper for the training. It explained everything the reader needed to do to find out more information and to register. The ad was effective because we had a flood of calls, but there was just one (major) problem – everyone wanted me to tell them the information vs. reading the words in the ad and on the informational web site! I couldn’t believe it and was taken by surprise, so I called a girlfriend of mine and had her look at the ad to provide some kind of explanation. I asked her why no one was following the directions, she said, “Sherese, they’re probably not reading.” I thought out loud, what? What do you mean they’re not reading the ad? After a moment, I realized she was right. Sad but true. Everyone called and wanted me to tell them the information that was pretty much word for word in the ad. Honestly, what got me is that my phone number was NOT in the ad, they actually had to go to the web site to get the phone number – they were adamant about not reading! You may be thinking, "Sherese, that's what you're suppose to do, explain the information." I get that, but what I'm explaining goes well beyond providing customer service. It's about looking at yourself and asking, "am I really engaged or am I just following a to do list everyday without really getting anything done." There are other things we can speak of hear but you should get my point. Here are a couple of things to think about... -How many times have you responded to an email without reading the full email and was informed that your questions could have been answered by reading the full email? -How quick do you ask questions before doing your own due diligence? -How often do you put the blame on the other person for your misunderstanding? -How many times do you make excuses for not knowing, not having, not being, or whatever else you can think of? Having been involved with many entrepreneurs from many backgrounds and cultures, in the past several years, I've been disappointed by how many bright and ambitious people fail to accomplish what they set out to do. And of those who finish a coaching or training program, on average, less than half turn their hard-earned new skills and insight into anything. They take their materials and information, such as they are, and put them in a file, and forget about them. Perhaps they look at them every once in a while and say: "That program was a waste of money." If you find yourself in a situation where you’re stalled or you keep taking the rollercoaster ride, you need to admit to yourself that you’ve probably slipped into an excuse zone-- a way of seeming to be making progress without really getting anywhere because of someone, something, life or any other excuse you can think of. It’s time to do something about it and embrace – THINKING • READING • WRITING • COUNTING. New means strange. and strange means uncomfortable. As Rhonda Britten, America’s Favorite Life Coach, shared with me in a recent interview “…fear is a gatekeeper of our comfort zone.” You have to not only embrace but also engage in the intangibles of small business development. Are you ready to engage? © Effició, Inc. Sherese Duncan

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