Jim Connolly Marketing

How to crack the New Year’s resolution code. My story

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I never succeeded with New Year’s resolutions. Then I figured out why they don’t work. Since then I’ve achieved every major goal I’ve set. Today I’m sharing the simple idea behind my success with you.

So, here’s how I did it. And in doing so, generated hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees, quit cigarettes, quit alcohol, got to my ideal weight (and stayed there), put Type 2 diabetes into full remission… and achieved lots more too.

Why New Year’s resolutions suck

First, here’s why New Year’s resolutions are so notoriously ineffective. We see the same pattern every year.

  • The local gym will be three times as busy, because it’s January.
  • The sale of health food will surge, because it’s January.
  • Business owners worldwide will set new targets, because it’s January.

And by March, almost all of these will revert back to their old ways. That’s because setting a target or goal, simply because it’s January, brings very little motivation. Once January passes the motivation it brings also passes. Gyms are emptier, the sale of healthy food plummets and business owners slide back into their comfort zones.

The best New Year’s resolution you can set for yourself, is to do something you know is good for you or your business. Something BIG and exciting. Then, resolve to stick with it… for 24-hours. And tomorrow, resolve to do the same.

Does it work?

Using this method, I quit smoking (28 years ago) and quit drinking alcohol (33 years ago). I haven’t had 1 cigarette or consumed any alcohol since. No tricks, no pills, no patches. I just stopped.

But only for 24-hours.

Anyone can do it for just 24-hours. The thing is, those 24-hours stack up. They become weeks, months, years and decades.

I’ve also reversed Type 2 diabetes and am in full remission, so zero medication and perfectly normal blood sugar (HBA1C 5.4% or 36 mmol/mol). And I reached my ideal weight years ago (and stayed there). By doing what is required, just for 24-hours and seeing where it takes me tomorrow.

In 2008 I decided to start Jim’s Marketing Blog. The goal was to write something every day. And if it was likely to be useful to business owners, I’d publish it. There are now thousands of useful posts published on the blog, and tens of thousands of notes, unpublished. The blog has readers worldwide, many of whom become clients; generating hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fee income and countless opportunities.

And it all stems from setting a BIG and exciting goal and doing what’s required, just for the next 24-hours.

Maybe it’s time to make things easier for you and your business? Set some big and motivating goals. Grab the most important one and be resolute to do what’s required for its attainment, just for 24-hours. Then see where it takes you the next day. Repeat with each important goal.

7 Hard truths about marketing your business

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marketing tips

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  1. Embrace brevity. Your marketing content is almost certainly 50% to 75% too long. Fix it. Your prospective clients are being bombarded with emails, texts, social media updates, phone calls. Their time (and attention) has never been under so much pressure. This will become an increasingly bigger issue in 2020. So get to the point. And fast.
  2. Be cautious of anyone offering tricks or short cuts to marketing success. Short cuts to success are seldom short cuts and they never lead to success.
  3. Avoid general marketing advice. Why? Because it’s extremely risky. Your marketing problem is specific to you and your unique situation; your industry, budget, location, size of business, competition, mindset, assets, etc. And your specific situation requires a specific strategy.
  4. In business, everything you do is marketing. Yes, everything. From the way you answer the phone, reply to emails and the design of your website… to your ability to meet deadlines, the customer service you offer and your opening hours. It’s all saying something about you. Either positive or negative. Nothing is neutral. It’s making you money or it’s losing you money.
  5. Don’t expect professional marketing results from amateur marketing. Marketing is the life-blood of your business. So stop treating it like some DIY project or you’ll run out of money, time (or both).
  6. If you need to attend networking events, to try and get people talking about your business, you have a major problem. Ask yourself “why”? Why aren’t people automatically talking about your service? Spend more time fixing the problem. Spend zero time pestering strangers at networking events for leads.
  7. You will never be one Facebook Live ‘event’ or online course away from marketing success. Ever.
  8. Always over deliver. Take time to focus on being of as much value as you can be. You can’t do this if you spend too much of your time, producing content for your newsletter, Linkedin, Facebook, Youtube and a podcast. Choose one or two channels. And put your time and energy into being useful or helpful in those areas.

It’s easy. Really easy

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marketing easy

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It’s easy to have a rigid customer service policy. Easier than taking personal care of your clients and dedicating yourself to service excellence.

It’s easy to settle for less from your business. Easier than doing what’s actually required to build a thriving business.

It’s easy to do what’s expected of you. Easier than exceeding expectations and giving people a positive and memorable experience to share with their friends.

It’s easy to automate your social media accounts. Easier than using them to build connections and interact with people.

It’s easy to lower your fees. Easier than professionally marketing your business, so you attract the right clients.

Yes it’s easy. Really easy.

But I’m pretty sure ‘taking it easy’ and being instantly forgettable was never the goal of your business. Worth remembering, the next time you suspect you are doing what’s easy, rather than doing what’s required.

12 Urgent and important things to focus on before the New Year

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marketing targets 2020, 2020 goals

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In no particular order.

  1. Have you considered firing your worst clients? The time wasted on bad clients can then be invested in delighting your best clients even more.
  2. Have you looked at opening your services up to a global audience? If not, now is a good time to consider it. That’s because proximity is no longer geographical for many service providers. For example, my 3 newest clients are based on 3 different continents. This will help.
  3. What are the biggest hurdles to your success right now, and how do you plan to remove them? A business problem can only persist with your consent… passive or active.
  4. What was your biggest setback in 2019 and what can you learn from it? Those who don’t learn from past mistakes tend to repeat them.
  5. How can you reduce or eliminate the feeling of risk that’s associated with hiring you or buying from you?
  6. What’s the biggest opportunity for your prospective clients in 2020 and how will you help them benefit from it?
  7. Is your marketing useful or does it read like a sales pitch? People hate being sold to. This will help.
  8. If 2019 was like a rerun of 2018, how long will you wait in 2020, before you make the improvements required?
  9. Have you considered offering a premium version of your services? There’s an extremely profitable segment of every marketplace, who are eager to pay more for ‘that certain extra’. This will help.
  10. If you stopped trading tomorrow, how tricky would it be for people to find a suitable replacement? Your task is to be as close to irreplaceable as possible.
  11. Does your marketing inspire people to hire you or buy from you? If not, you’re leaving money on the table. That’s unsustainable.
  12. Is your business providing you with the lifestyle you want? If not you will either need to lower your expectations or work on a plan to improve your financial situation. I recommend the latter. Rekindle that motivation you had when you started your business. And stop settling for less.

Exciting times ahead

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marketing finish

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Their targets are in place.

Their deadlines are set.

Their research is done.

And so they start doing the work.

Exciting times ahead!

Well, maybe

That’s because anyone can get started on a project. And pretty-much EVERYONE does! After all, it’s easy. However, despite so many business owners starting these inspiring projects, as we know, very few achieve meaningful success.

Of course, that’s because getting started is easy and success doesn’t come to those who start.

No.

Success comes to those who start… and then.

I regularly speak with business owners, who are excited about a great, new idea they have. I speak with them 6 months later and they’re still excited. Only this time it’s a different, new idea.

Their previous idea was dropped, as their initial excitement was replaced with the reality of the work required, to bring their idea to fruition. So now they’re excited about their new… new idea. And in 6 months time it will be their new, new, new idea that has their attention.

Here’s the thing: The clock is ticking. And because they never complete what they started, their butt is still on the start line. Years are passing by. With little meaningful progress.

What’s the lesson for us here?

Before you start a business project, I recommend you make a commitment. A commitment to do whatever is required to cross the finish line. A commitment to embrace the cold light of day, which comes after the initial hoopla has stopped.

Because ultimately my friend, our success is determined by the things we start, stick with and finish. Not the number of new things we start.

An extremely sad story, which every business owner needs to read

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marketing, lessons learning

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Today, I have an extremely sad story for you, which explains why we need to continuously seek to improve. It contains a powerful nugget of essential information, which all of us can benefit from.

I’d like to start with a question: What lessons have you learned from the past year, which you can invest in the year ahead?

This is a topic, which business owners really, REALLY struggle with. They start out in business keen to learn. They read the books. They take notes. They review their decision making, looking for ways to improve.

Then… after a few years they find they’ve become set in their ways. Sure, the occasional harsh lesson hits them just hard enough, to force them to re-evaluate. But they pretty-much go from year to year, getting a year older, but without gathering a year’s worth of experience.

They almost relive a version of the same old year, over and over again.

Here’s why this matters.

A powerful, extremely sad lesson

I recall speaking with 2 business owners last summer. One of them was in her early thirties and had been in business for 6 years. The other was in his sixties and had been in business for decades.

The business owner with the 6 year old business was thriving and hired me in order to help her reach her exciting growth plans. The other business owner was, in his own words, “too broke to retire” and needed help. After speaking with them, the young business owner clearly had 6 solid years of business experience. And the other had maybe 3 years of experience, with him admitting to making the same mistakes year after year, after year…

The guy who should have been extremely experienced, confessed to being “a creature of habit”. He had certain beliefs about business, which he refused to question. Many of which were fatally flawed. Here’s one of the examples I recall. If a prospective client didn’t immediately see the value of his service, he’d take it personally as a rejection, feel hurt and refuse to follow-up. As he approached retirement with just a year’s worth of living expenses to rely on, he was forced to “humble himself” and follow-up prospective clients, who’d failed to reply to his proposals.

He found around a third of them became clients. They just needed questions answered and concerns addressed. He estimates his previous attitude to following-up lost him millions of dollars. And he’s right.

Only after decades of wasted opportunity and an impending financial disaster, did this likeable guy start learning again. He’s making real progress now, but he’s struggling mightily with the knowledge of what he and his family have missed out on, needlessly.

When I speak with entrepreneurs about the importance of gaining experience and learning, I share the following with them.

Imagine a door, which has a combination lock. If you use the correct 10 number combination, the door will open for you. If I use the correct combination it will also open for me. That’s because the door doesn’t care. Press the correct numbers in the right order and you’re in!

Business success is the same. Because success doesn’t care.

You can read the full article here: Success Doesn’t Care.

In business, if you do the right combination of things correctly, you’ll succeed. Conversely, no matter how nice you are, how honest you are, how hard you toil, the wrong combination still can’t work.