[Marketing Memo] The Benefit Of A Snow-Hucking Failure
Small business thought: find what you do well and strip away that which keeps you from focusing on it.
By Cary Weston
A few weeks back we received our first real snowstorm of the season. And with it came a deposit of 8 inches or so of snow and ice in my driveway.
That means it's snowblower time for me.
The entire routine of going up and down in a pattern I've come to master, along with the clearing of the porch and walkways, takes about 40 minutes.
These days, with my busy schedule, 40 minutes of the after-dinner, before-bedtime variety, is prime connection time with the kids. But this is a necessary element of home ownership and I'm the keeper of the landscape, so it must be done.
Off to the garage I go to wake up the big green beast and start clearing.
Only this time, my trusty mechanical snow-hucking friend didn't want to play.
So I try again. Nothing. Over and over I stand, pulling, fiddling, adjusting, and yes even a few Fonzi-esque slaps to the side in hopes of the unexplainable testosterone-based magical solution.
Nothing.
So I did what every man fears. I admitted defeat and I made a phone call. Now, understand this is basically one step away from asking for directions in the guy's book of "how to get things done."
But I did it anyway. I called a plow.
And when it arrived, I stood there, next to my snow blower and watched as the truck took two minutes and cleared my driveway completely, even conquering the city plow mountain at the edge of the street with ease.
Wow.
And a few hours later I heard the plow revisit to again clear the city plow deposited barrier from the end of the driveway.
Bonus.
Needless to say, I have found a new routine.
And, like I always do, I thought about how this might apply to my business world.
So my challenge for you today is this:
Look inside your business, your tasks and service offerings. What do you do and what do you do well? What do you do over and again that simply takes up time and keeps you from doing the important and valuable tasks even better?
Find better uses of your team's time and talents by allowing them the opportunity to focus on what is important and essential to your business promise and find another way, even another person or company, to do the rest.
For me, the time that was spent in the snowy driveway is now spent on more important things, like trying to thumb wrestle an 8 year old and getting beat on Candyland by a two year old.
Admitting defeat has never been so worth it.
+++++++++
- Cary Weston is a partner of Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications in Bangor, Maine
Connect online:
Web: www.sutherlandweston.com
Cary'sTwitter: www.twitter.com/cary_weston
Cary's Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/caryweston
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