I was in the mountains of Colorado for a few days with a group of aspiring Free Agents and Christopher Browning and I were able to escape for a few hours. Here’s what we learned from a few hours in the mountains.
I’m surrounded by people starting businesses every day and the excitement is contagious. You can sense the thoughts about world domination rattling around in people’s minds sometimes.
What’s not to be excited about?
When you start a business you have complete control over your life by setting your own hours and schedule. You get to travel whenever and wherever you like, and people all around the world will know your name.
Launch Time
You launch your business and something unexpected happens. The newly minted business owner has to figure out how to bridge the gap between his town of 100,000 people and the rest of the world. A remote business is about being connected and known everywhere, right?
Become a Local Expert
When you start a business you can jump directly in and get your name everywhere, but it’s usually not the most effective strategy. What if you could grab some low-hanging fruit and be profitable quickly, instead of doing a lot of work for little return. The answer is to become a local expert before expanding into bigger areas.
But that’s no fun, right? Big businesses aren’t born in places like Sioux Falls, SD (population 157,000), Cedar Rapids, IA (population 128,000), or Warren, MI (population 133,000) after all.
The truth is that they really are. You don’t need everyone in the world to know you when you’re starting out. What you need to be is the best in the world at what you do; and by “world” I mean your world. It’s your center of influence; the people who know and care about you.
Build Your Influence
You can build your influence locally by focusing on three very specific things.
Website Create a professional website that’s updated frequently, meaning more than once per week. Install a blog and talk about things that you care about and are helpful to others.
Speak Hit up every group that will listen. Nothing says “expert” like someone on a stage. Back it up with real knowledge and connect with your audience.
Write Write a book, contribute to an article, do it on your blog, respond to newspaper columns. You’ll be noticed as someone who knows what they stand for. For extra points, bring copies of your book with you when you speak and give them away.
You don’t need to be everywhere in your business. Start small and work your way up. It might take longer, but you’ll learn a lot in the process that will make you and your business more successful in the long run.
Does God really care about all of the choices you make? I’m faced with some big decisions right now and am trying to figure out a direction. What do you think? Does God care about all of the decisions you make?
Seriously, I want to know what you think. Where’s the line?
When someone mentions they might move to Wisconsin, people take notice. I talked about a possible move for my family and I on Coach Radio this week and many of you chimed in.
We put a time limit of four days to make a decision. Why only four days for a major decision you ask?
Well, we don’t want to spend the rest of our lives trying to make a decision. By trying to make the perfect decision, we do the only imperfect thing, which is to not take any action at all. By not deciding, we have decided. I hope your life isn’t like that.
So, our decision is…no.
Actually, our short-term decision is no. I think we will end up moving. Schools are really important to us though, and we’re going back for another visit, this time to get a tour of some of the schools. That’s going to be later this year however, so for now, we’re sitting tight.
It’s not keeping us up at night because a decision has been made.
Thanks for your thoughts and comments. Keep them coming!
I asked this question when I started my business. Then I decided to do something about it. It’s what keeps me going every day.
If you don’t have this same passion in your business, you’re going to run out of topics for your blog, and you’ll never be as profitable as you want to be.
So, what makes you mad? Comment and let’s talk about it.
Communication is a huge interest of mine, especially since I host Coach Radio a few times a week and travel the country speaking; not to mention the coaching I do. John’s book caught my attention and I picked up some great ideas.
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