by Kirby Hasseman
I love to celebrate success. I mean, we ALL love to celebrate our own success. But one of the best things to do is to celebrate the success of others. Not only is it a good feeling, but for me, it’s also an indicator that I am in a good place. You see, it’s really hard to–sincerely–celebrate the success of others if you are jealous of them. I mean, you can put on “the face.” But it’s hard to be happy in your heart. When you are insecure, or frustrated, or angry, it’s tough to be elated when someone else seems to be out there killing it. It’s easy to be smiling on the outside, when your insides are screaming “why not me?” I understand. I actually think most people have had “that moment.” So don’t beat yourself up. It’s the reason you know you are in a good place when you see some good news and you say, “Wow, good for them,” and really mean it. But how do you get there? How do you go from a place where you want to scream, to a place where you are happy to see others succeed? I am hardly a licensed therapist…but here are a few thoughts that come to mind. Seek Out Reasons to be Grateful: Gratitude is the prescription for a Happy life. If you want to be in a better mood, have better relationships, and just live a fuller existence, consistently look for reasons to be grateful. You simply can’t be grateful and pissed at the same time. Can’t do it. When you are grateful you are much more likely to be happy for others. Seek Out Reasons to Celebrate Others: The simple act of seeking out reasons to celebrate others is powerful. What you put your attention on, you tend to find more of. If you continually look for things to celebrate you will find them. It’s like a muscle…work it. Seek Out People You Admire: It’s really easy to celebrate people you love and admire. As you seek out “things” to celebrate, look for people you WANT to celebrate. You will find those reasons quickly! And here’s the secret. The more you celebrate others, the more they want to celebrate you! P.S. Congrats to our great pals at Commonsku! They recently surpassed $500 Million in sales under the platform. They have created an amazing software. But more importantly, they are creating an amazing tribe. Well done! Make sure you never miss an update! We send out a weekly email to recap all of the content we create. Sign up for our VIP newsletter below!
by Kirby Hasseman
Everyone wants results. We want to see our dreams come true. We want to have 6 pack abs. We want fortune and fame. We want. But for the most part, we don’t “do.” We dream. We don’t execute. We are all guilty of it. We really want to have amazing results. But it’s so easy to look for the shortcut. It’s one of the ways content marketing, or sales, or building a business, etc. are like fitness (I talk about that here). We all want the quick fix. I was reminded of that as I looked at my sales activity over the last few weeks. I have actually gotten into the habit of looking at my recorded sales activity BEFORE I look at my results. Why? Because I know it’s predictive. If I do the work (and here’s they word) consistently, I will have better and more consistent results. We all can have one flash week where we make a big splash. Those weeks are awesome and they feel good. But they are hard to replicate and even harder to predict. If you want to create consistent results–in sales or in anything–you have to put in the consistent work. Results follow effort. So take some time as you read this to decide the pro-active actions you can take each day to lead to sales (or whatever result you want). This list will be made up of things that you can do, that YOU have control over. You don’t need someone else. You can do them…and they (eventually) lead to sales. These are called Lead Measures (this is from 4 Disciplines of Execution). Then create a place where you can track these activities. It’s a place where you can create some accountability for yourself. If you don’t do the work, you will know. Now take the few extra moments to track the activity. Don’t make excuses here. As Nike says, “Just do it.” After you do this, start to look at how your “lead measures” correlate with your goals. If you have chosen your lead measures correctly, they will. Then you can have more control and accountability over the process. It’s up to you. Make sure you never miss an update! It’s time to sign up for our VIP newsletter below. We send out one email a week to recap all of the content we create each week.
by Kirby Hasseman
My oldest daughter Skylar just got a puppy. Since she lives with me, I just got a puppy. It’s great. (I talk about it here a bit). Anyone that has ever gotten a puppy knows I am lying. It’s not great. The Lord made puppies cute for a reason. They need to be cute to survive. But here’s the thing…getting a puppy is a long term play. Dogs are amazing. They can fill your heart with love and your life with memories. You just have to be willing to live through the tough start. It reminds me of starting a sales career (or a business for that matter). So here are the ways getting a puppy is like starting a new career in sales. It Starts Fun But: The first day you get a puppy it’s all excitement. As we discussed above, it’s so cute. Everything seems so fun…but trouble is just around the corner. Every thing about owning a puppy is harder than it seems on Day 1. The same is true for sales. It starts off exciting and fast but it gets a lot harder (and less cute) quickly. Getting Up Early: Part of the reason it gets less cute quickly is because of a lack of sleep. Just like a baby, the puppy has no sleeping routine yet. When you start in sales (or in business), you start getting up early quickly. The early bird gets the worm, remember? Patience Is a Virtue: You know what’s hard when things are not going as planned? Patience. But that is exactly what you need in both situations. You need patience because puppies take a while to train. And…you need patience to train new customers too! These new customers will become the lifeblood of your new business. But it takes time. Completely New Habits: If you have old routines, a puppy does not care. (Again…I talk about that here). And you can’t create new success in sales with your same old habits. You have to create new routines. You have to break out of your comfort zone. It’s not up for negotiation. Cleaning Up Messes: It goes without saying that when you have a new puppy, there will be some cleaning up messes. The same is true in sales. You have no relationship. You really have no trust with your prospects (or more to the point, they have no trust in you). So every problem is a big problem. You have to clean up the mess before it stains the relationship forever. There Are No Shortcuts: We all want to get the natural training process to speed up. Whether you want to train a puppy or build a business, we want to skip that part. But it doesn’t work that way. You have to pay the price. You have to spend the time. The bad news with starting a business or a sales career and training a puppy is, it’s tough. There are early mornings and late nights. There are times of frustration. The good news is, you know that if you put in the time and work, it will work. And both puppies and a sales career can help create a fulfilling life! Here’s to success in both!
by Kirby Hasseman
I love to go to educational events. Whether in or out of my own industry, I enjoy digging in and getting new ideas…and getting inspired. So this week, when the Commonsku gang put on their 2nd Annual SkuCamp event, I was in my element!
Skucamp was a 2 day intensive event designed to entertain and inspire entrepreneurs in the Promotional Products business. I know the goal was to provide great education and networking opportunities. I know their goal was to have a packed house, with a cool vibe and an awesome environment. That’s every event’s goal, right? But the culture of people around this event might be it’s real special sauce.
The Commonsku team has created a sandbox where some amazing industry pros want to come and play. But what did I learn? The answer is…a lot.
Here are just a few key takeaways from #Skucamp2018.
There is no “one way” to do it
There are many people doing really cool things in our industry that gathered at Skucamp. But it was amazing how different each business and business approach is. Some people were super focused on e-commerce. Some business owners had no interest in that. Some businesses were diverse and some were niche. There is not one formula that leads you to success.
Vulnerability is cool
You never learn anything (or at least anything good) when you think you know everything. Skucamp was a place where a lot of really smart people admitted that they didn’t know everything. It wasn’t a weakness. It was a strength.
You Grow By Saying No
You don’t have to be for everyone. I talked about that here. Opening speaker Mike Michaelwicz talked about this in his opening talk. He discussed the idea that you don’t need to be for everyone…in fact that might be a bad thing!
Bring A Big Idea
I love this concept from speaker Caryn Kopp. She had a great session about getting the door open to companies and opportunities you wanted. But this simple idea really resonated with me. If you are meeting with a client, bring one BIG idea that could be huge for them and you. Are you doing that consistently? When I asked myself that honest question, the answer was “no.”
Nice People Finish First
In a world where we are under a constant barrage of negative, it was a wonderful reminder that good people are out there doing amazing things. One of my biggest takeaways was just that…good people are doing great. You don’t have to be a jerk. You might not be perfect (I know I am not). But you can be a good person and grow an amazing business.
Finally, it was a true privilege to get the opportunity to speak with my buddy Bill Petrie about the power and importance of Content Marketing. Thanks to the gang at Commonsku for having us…and thanks to Bill for making me look better than I deserve.
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by Kirby Hasseman
It was early in the morning and I just needed to grab one thing in my closet. The thing is, I had everything ready to go. The bag was packed to head into the office. The lights were off. But I just needed to grab a sweatshirt. I knew basically where it was because I just saw it when I picked out my shirt. So I headed back into my closet to “quickly grab” this last piece of clothing.
In the dark, I felt around for the piece where I thought I remembered it. It was a full zip, so I felt for the zipper. Found it! I began to unzip the sweatshirt in order to take it off the hanger…and it stopped. This was only a quarter zip! Damn…this was the wrong piece!
And there are I stood…in the dark.
Finally, I took two steps and turned on the light. It’s amazing how fast I was able to find the sweatshirt I wanted! I was just too consumed with doing it “really quick” so I was not using the tools that were right in front of me.
It’s absurd. It’s stupid. And those of us in the sales profession do it all the time.
We thrash around in a world where time is literally money. We try to do it “our way” or the “old way” for entirely too long. Meanwhile, our organizations arm us with CRM’s, blogs, websites, order management, email systems, and more. They spend endless time and dollars to help us increase our efficiency and, ultimately, our sales.
And much like me, looking for my sweatshirt in the dark, we stubbornly keep thrashing. We believe we are right. We think it “will take too long to learn” and keep trying “one more time.” Folks…turn on the light. Use the tools. Take the time on the front to save the time on the back. The tools are there to shine a light on your business. All you have to do is flip the switch.
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