Inbound Marketing Strategy

Why You Are Your Own Worst Enemy (And How to Fix It)

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What is the one thing stopping you from growing your business?

From getting more customers, and increasing revenue?

It isn’t your budget (or lack thereof).

It isn’t your competition.

And it isn’t the economy.

The only thing preventing you from reaching your goals…

is you.

Fortunately, it’s an easy fix.

Here’s how you can get more customers, grow your business, and accomplish your goals.

Why Most People Are Flying Blind

“Flying blind” is a popular expression that basically means trying to do something new without any help or instructions.

It’s taken from the analogy of flying a plane. Imagine you’re at 30,000 feet, flying incredibly fast without being able to see 5 feet in front of you.

You have to completely rely on instruments, radar, and communication to help determine your course.

Pilots also have another key component helping them… autopilot. According to pilot Kent Wien,

“It’s essentially a device that a pilot will program to climb, descend or hold an altitude while following a specified route of flight. The system also includes “autothrottles”, which maintain the speed of the airplane in cruise and adjust the power automatically for climbs and descents.”

Getting caught “flying blind”, without these instructions, instruments and autopilot, would be disastrous and potentially fatal.

But compare this to how companies (and people) run marketing campaigns.

Sure, you could achieve some moderate success through guessing and feeling around in the dark.

But without support systems in place –like instruction and feedback to help provide direction — it would be nearly impossible to succeed.

Instruction and feedback are key components to improving your performance at anything — whether that’s flying a plane, creating a new marketing campaign, or composing music.

How to Become a Musical Prodigy

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians and composers of all time.

And he was a child prodigy, accomplishing more in 30 years than most do in a lifetime.

He was composing and performing publicly before his 10th birthday. His first original masterpiece, the Piano Concerto No. 9, was composed at age 21. And he’s one of the most influential people in classical music — despite only living until age 35.

If that isn’t world-class, then I don’t know what is. To achieve so much, at such an early age, he must have been born special, with natural talents… right?

Wrong.

A closer look into his background sheds some light on how Mozart achieved such staggering success.

His father, Leopold, was an expert music teacher who even published a successful violin textbook the year Mozart was born. At the age of three, Leopold began systematically instructing Mozart. Fast forward a decade, and Mozart’s first piano concertos were a combination of other composers’ work — learning and following from their good examples.

So by the time of his first original masterpiece at age 21, Mozart had already experienced 18 years of intense, expert-lead training.

Why Talent is Overrated

How did Mozart, Tiger Woods, Benjamin Franklin and other world-class performers get so good?

Why do some organizations thrive, while others die? Or why do some people achieve success in their life, while others struggle and remain in obscurity?

There are usually two popular assumptions for that elusive key that separates world-class performers from everyone else:

  1. Hard work
  2. Natural talent

Unfortunately, based on extensive research of top performers in a variety of fields, neither of these are accurate.

The real answer is covered in one of my favorite books, Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin.

It has a simple premise: that what we achieve in life is not predetermined by our genes, natural traits, or even the number of hours we work — but largely by something called deliberate practice.

We’re not talking about sitting in front of the computer, hanging out on Twitter for several hours a day. It actually has several, key characteristics that differentiate it from just merely “working hard”:

  • It’s designed specifically by a coach or mentor to improve performance
  • It’s structured and can be repeated a lot
  • There is constant feedback on results
  • It’s highly demanding and not very enjoyable

Deliberate practice is strenuous and mentally draining. It’s real, focused work.

There is continuous feedback available, so you know where you’re excelling, falling short, and how to correct course.

And it’s lead by a coach or mentor. Tiger Woods, arguably the most talented golfer in the history of the game, has had a coach for over 10 years, beginning before his first U.S. Amateur title win in 1993.

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