Do you treat your business like the Cobbler’s kid that wears no shoes?
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s an ironic phenomenon that happens to many business owners.
The long and short of it: When Entrepreneurs actually stop doing for themselves the very thing they provide for their clients.
It’s referred to as Cobbler’s Children Syndrome (named after the proverbial children of shoemakers who don’t have their own shoes).
We are ALL guilty of this at one time or another. Myself included.
And I’ll admit it, because I get it. Here's why this hits so close to home ...
I've not only been there, I've struggled with this over and over again for decades. Whenever a client need comes up, I put the client first (more often than not above the needs of our own company).
Tell me if this sounds familiar …
You make a conscious effort to work “on” your business and even gain some traction from your effort(s). All of a sudden a client needs something urgent, or a new client comes on board, or a new opportunity arises. The “squirrel” mentality subconsciously kicks in and working “on” your business yet again is moved to the back burner.
What I’ve found over the years is there are two types of businesses:
- Those that have More Time Than Money to invest in their business.
2. Those that have More Money Than Time to invest in their business.
As a business owner, you know immediately which category you fit in as your business stands right now. If you are the business owner that checks off the “more time than money” box:
You should study.
You should learn.
You should grow.
You should do it yourself.
However, here's the interesting twist ... Using us at Business Nitrogen as a good example. We have a whole team. We’ve got over 25 team members that focus their daily efforts on helping our clients build and scale their businesses. And yet for some reason, up until recently (and I say recently because we've got a whole team just dedicated to us now) we put ourselves on the back burner.
We haven't done what we needed or wanted to do. Since we moved ourselves up the priority ladder (by taking action steps to actually make that happen), I've been able to dedicate a fair majority of my time on strategizing, ideating, putting our flywheel together, recording videos, and creating content to help us serve our clients even more. Building assets that we need as an Infinite Business to grow and scale while adding even more value for our clients.
Seems easy, right? Not quite.
As I mentioned before, I’ve struggled with this over and over again for decades … It’s not an easy transition. Sure, it’s easy to hire someone (or a team) to specifically focus on your internal marketing. Yet, as soon as a client need surfaces, it’s damn near impossible at times not to pull that one dedicated person (or team) off of your stuff and on to address your client’s needs.
“It's easy to focus on others and not on yourself (and your business). But one of the most important things I realized is that the best way I can serve other people better is by focusing on ourselves by making ourselves a priority.” -David Asarnow
How’s that?
Simple … Do As We Say.
People don't necessarily look at what we say … They look at what we do. And when we put an effort in on ourselves and make an effort “IN” our business people do take notice.
I'll give you an example.
A business associate I’ve known for many years pulled me aside at an event I was recently attending and said, “I just want to thank you for the emails and newsletters you're putting out because I have to actually stop what I’m doing and read them when they pop up in my inbox.”
Surprised (as I had no idea she was on our mailing list) I then asked her: “You mean you have to stop what you’re doing and read my newsletter?”
She smiled and said, “Yes, I’m not kidding … There's so much value and I know that if I make it to the bottom, I'm going to get to the lesson and I’ll have something that I can implement in my business that day.”
When I hear stuff like this it further validates that we need to focus on ourselves. For us, focusing on ourselves equates to creating value for others. You’ve heard me say this before.
Building assets creates value based clients that appreciate what you offer a whole lot more.
So, if your business is barefoot and you’re guilty of Cobbler’s Children Syndrome, first, identify which category you fall into:
- You have More Time Than Money to invest in your business.
OR
2. You have More Money Than Time to invest in your business.
If you have more money than time, hire an agency like Business Nitrogen or another team or agency of dedicated people to help you get the clarity and direction you need. Get a tactical plan implemented to help you grow and scale your company into an Infinite Business.
If you have a killer team in place, consider setting up a discovery call with my team to see if you’re a right fit for our Internal Scaling System (a brand new program we’ve recently launched).
Imagine gaining access to proven business-building strategies, expert marketing and sales insight, and tactical know-how directly from a team who has actually accomplished what you want to do in your business … Multiple times over.
If you can answer YES to both of these questions ...
Have you achieved traction in your business, yet still can’t seem to reach the 7 or 8-figure mark?
Do you have a killer team behind you that can help you execute exactly what it will take to break through that invisible ceiling in your business?
See if you qualify for our new program.
Simply fill out our 2-minute application and we’ll then set up a time to chat.
To your success,
David
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Author and award-winning CEO and keynote speaker David Asarnow is an “edutainment” speaking professional. As your keynote speaker, David educates, informs and entertains your group and motivates them to take immediate business actions.