I owe you a backstory about the social media sabbatical I took for close to a year and the extraordinary upside it created.
If you want to know my kryptonite. . .
It's this:
Working with or around flaky founders and lazy leaders.
The pillaging of time, energy, and opportunities is beyond the scope of this memo, so I’ll keep it tight.
I saw them draining my clients and even yours truly. The fees we charged never made up for their failure to actually lead and execute. Our mistake was being deaf to the fire alarm warning us these engagements were piles of hay looking for a match.
And the match was already lit.
Some times a team member was holding the match. Other times it was the business owner. In all cases, usually early in the project, they’d set fire to their business. Literally!
Team… torched!
Commitment… incinerated!
Plans… burnt!
My clients and I are all seasoned pros. We know every engagement has hurdles to overcome. We’ve all thrived in extremely pressurized careers, so challenges are expected.
But what made that year particularly shocking was the sheer volume of flaky founders and lazy leaders that flooded our businesses. They saw us as marketing magicians and wealth wizards that could abracadabra up any result they wanted.
Expectations were not just out of alignment, they were completely disconnected from the reality of even their customers.
It was as if their command was the market’s wish.
And each day the market didn’t “obey” their command (to buy now, now or now!!!) their team and operations suffered violence.
I’m talking scalding emails, meetings, and extreme overtime. I certainly wasn’t shocked as their team resigned day by day, month by month, until all was left was an angry ogre looking for something else to burn.
Watching this carnage unfold as an advisor eventually takes a toll on your energy, time, focus, money, and opportunities. You don’t realize how much of you has been damaged (and in some cases destroyed) until you walk away and reset yourself.
One day I chose to reset by an off-the-cuff comment a colleague said over lunch.
You see I personally enjoy solving difficult problems.
Why?
The harder it is to fix, the higher the fee and reputational rewards.
So when he made the comment, I felt a fire blaze in me that was almost snuffed out by mindless meetings.
When I share it, I am willing to bet your next cancelled flight, that most will laugh, puff, and even snicker with doubt. . . which kindles me even more!
He said:
“How can I grow my business with as little social media as possible?”
He was a specialized consultant who had invested tens of 1,000s into every social funnel recommended by the marketing mob. He just wanted to talk to the right people and build relationships with them. He’s a great conversationalist, down-to-earth, humble, and a first-class expert in his field.
I heard his heart and his frustration.
That was my reset moment and call to drop the flakes like flies and build out the strategy he was craving.
And frankly it was the strategy I already knew how to do, but I kept it vaulted away since it takes a visionary to see it through to success.
I’ve come to learn there’s a Grand Canyon difference between the actions of true visionaries and illusionaires. This colleague reminded me of a profitable principle I forgot to fully follow.
It’s a principle that separates mere survival from growth and it’s this:
Only Serve The Ready And Committed.
Future customers who are ready for real leadership, change, upgrade, transformation, success, power, authority, and prosperity.
And not only ready, but also committed to their future more than their present.
These are the clients and customers we now serve and innovate our offers for. We now all show up on social in a way that aligns with our ultra-private customers and clients. Just enough, and not one post more.
Our days are focused, intense, and growing in ways we never expected (and love nonetheless.)
True visionaries crave relationships that grow in trust.
They crave people seeing extreme value in their experience, expertise, perspective, and services.
They build even when no one but a few friends believes in them.
They apply what they learn. They are students of strategy.
No complaints.
No shortcuts.
No easy-button.
Instead they chose to become “IBM”: a well-designed Internal Business Machine.
In a few days, I’ll be taking notes on the future of “IBM’s” at an upcoming summer session.
Join me if you want:
Sonia The “Internal Business Machine” Navigator
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