I Want It Now!

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I'm not a patient man.

Not one little bit.

This came clear to me late last week when, after working like a maniac on several projects, I sat here in my office thinking, "Well, where's the #!&*$ results?"

I had just developed and launched a 3-day workshop with my associate Rue has and there were only two enrollments so far.

I had spent umpteen dollars on adding a Profile and Networking section to the Marketing Club and only 25 had set up their profile so far.

As I was thinking all of this, it had been less than 10 hours after the emails had gone out. I'm expecting landslide results, not just overnight, but N - O - W!

As I reflected on my gloomy state I realized I was really only happy when two things were happening in my business.

1. When I am busy creating and implementing projects.

2. When I'm reaping the rewards.

Everything in-between pretty much sucks!

Is there a pattern here? Yeah, you might call it the "Pot Boiling Syndrome" - I like to prep food and I love to eat but not so good about waiting for the food to cook part.

In business this is all too common:

We spend a lot of time putting together a web site and if someone contacts us from the site it's great. But what about all those days, weeks and even months when you don't hear a peep from cyberspace?

You enthusiastically design a presentation and give a good talk and if someone comes up at the end and gives you a card, you're thrilled. But when are all those other people going to call?

No wonder we resist and avoid marketing. The time/space/void between us taking a marketing action and seeing actual results can be as agonizing as waiting in line at the DMV.

A friend told me once that he'd joined a networking group a year ago and said he hadn't gotten any good leads, let alone new clients. I told him I would have given up several months earlier.

Or at least I would have found a way to move things along faster.

So maybe it's not a liability to be somewhat impatient.

But there are different ways to be impatient. One way gives you an ulcer, the other way throws you back into action. And frankly, that's what I tend to do.

I give something a try. If the results don't come fast enough, I try something else, and then something else. And I persist like a hungry dog with a bone.

And ultimately the results trickle in. Once in awhile it's a landslide. But I sure don't spend a long time sitting on my hands wondering what I did wrong and agonizing about it.

So what do you do?

Not everyone is like me (action addict on steroids), but all I know for sure is you can't wait around passively. This is a bit like the guy wishing for a relationship but sitting home watching TV every night.

In any case, what did I do after my momentary letdown? I wrote this eZine article, of course. Now off to dinner. So glad my wife cooked it.

P.S. If you're a holistic practitioner, please learn more about the workshop here:

www.actionplan.com/HPW.html

And if you haven't yet checked out the Marketing Club for free for the first month, what on earth are you waiting for? 

www.actionplan.com/actionplanclub.html

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If things are not working the way you want in your marketing, don't just get impatient, channel that impatience into the next creative action. Write a letter, send out an email, get out and meet someone. But don't just wait for that pot to boil (maybe you forgot to turn on the burner)!

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What are you going to do to combat stagnant impatience and take creative action this week? Please share your answer on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments link below. And do it NOW!

Comments

[Linda]

I so resonate with this post and each and every comment that followed. I want to contact each and everyone of you to thank you and to continue the conversation!

I often say "the appropriate support can make all the difference" and this is another moment of just that. Thanks!

[Lisa Claudia Briggs]

I love when somebody has the guts to name all of the annoying feelings and states-of-being that we creatives go through in all this. The lack of results piece is of course so triggering- as in triggering into fear, doubt, and their niggling friends perfectionism and insecurity. It's hard not to take the feelings as "evidence" of failure.

Great post- thanks as always.

In love and service,
Lisa
http://www.IntuitiveBody.com
Breaking The Spell of Overeating
The Energy of Weight Loss

[Olga Guzman]

I am a neofit on Internet marketing, please help me!! where can I find some guiding information...how to start? where? what is different? what is innovative? I work in a private school in Mexico and I wolud like to use social networks to make a Buzz and have some WOM promotion...Many Thanks!!

[Jean Kurniati]

Haha..good post, Robert. I totally resonate with it. Only excited when a) working on projects; and b) reaping rewards. Maybe I shall check out "The Dip" as well.

[Joan Bell]

OMG! Soul Mates abound. I am a brilliant coach and an Action diva but when it come to the DETAILS - YUK! Hate the details!

I am currently doing a course on Making Meaning and just creating meaning in the details is helping tremendously, don't love 'em yet, but there is hope.

Joan
http://www.youractioncentral.com

[Andrea Dale]

Yes, waiting . .stinks. So, I often have a project on the backburner that I am slowly finishing and I work on that when I get antsy.

Or I go exercise until the sweat blurs my vision and *then* decide if I am being impatient, or if something needs to change.

I also track my results and review those results to help myself recognize that yes, I am doing what I need to be doing.

[Robert Middleton]

Just got the New Book by Seth Godin called "The Dip." Recommended reading for impatient people. The Dip is when it gets hard and you want to quit. But if you don't get past the dip you'll never be as successful as you want.

But I also recommend doing The Work. Do Byron Katie's process when you get impatient. Work on all your impatient beliefs and before long you'll turn a lot of them around and realize you actually feel patient. It's pretty amazing!

[John Levy]

I'm fine with "patience" for the things I've already done, but I'm much worse about the list of ideas I've had for actions yet to come. When the unfinished things list gets too long, I lose heart and sometimes go into stagnation -- the sense of looking at a wall of activity that I can't quite tackle.
That's why the Marketing Club is so valuable. I get newly inspired each time I hear a good idea, so then I charge off again at one of the parts of the Marketing puzzle.

[Judy Murdoch]

You hit on an issue that troubles me and troubles my clients. And goddammit I wish I had a better answer, now, this minute!

The issue is when do you say, this isn't working, try something else? 2 minutes after your announcement goes out? 2 hours? 2 days? 2 years? (OK the first and last were intentionally ridiculous).

I'm all for action but it can also be like the guy who plants seeds than every night digs up the seeds to see if they're growing and if they're not, plants them somewhere else.

Thoughts? Wisdom?

Peace
Judy Murdoch

[Lyle T. Lachmuth - The Unsticking Coach]

LOL!

Thee and I must have the same syndrome. I always 'blamed' it on being German ... but maybe that's not the cause. ;-)

I suspect it's cause we are IDEA people ... and ideas are a heck of lot easier to manifest than results. Which is probably why I'm a lousy gardener ... takes so bloomin' long for the seeds to turn into flowering plants.

Lyle
http://theunstickingcoach.com/nourish-your-inner-artist/