I’m coming to realize that, generally speaking, there are two types of people in this world:
Thinkers and Doers
Both are valuable and both have their place.
But given the option, I’ll take a Doer any day of the week. Especially for business situations.
Here’s the reason:
Doing is energy. Doing gets your energy out into the world.
When you send energy OUT into the world, it comes back. And if you send it out in a direct and focused way, it can come back with very, very good things.
Thoughts are energy too. But in general, thoughts tend to stay inside your head, unless you make a point of sending them out into the world.
From a business perspective, thoughts are kind of like bullets.
Action is like the gun.
Without the gun, the bullets are worthless.
WITH the gun, bullets get things done.
When I got into the consulting business, I read all of the books that told me not to get stuck actually implementing the advice I was handing out.
The “books” explained that there is real value in ideas and that the implementation of those ideas is the client’s responsibility.
While that’s technically true, my experience tells me that while there is real value in thoughts and ideas, that value is largely unrealized until it’s transformed by ACTION.
Now if you have a staff of people who are ready and willing to “get things done,” that’s one thing. Giving only advice in a situation like that can be very profitable for a client.
But give advice (only) to an entrepreneur who’s running his $4 million business with one assistant, and chances are, that advice is never going to make it into the real world. Because it’s never going to be transformed from a THOUGHT into an ACTION.
And believe me, additional consulting projects are not an easy sell when your client never implemented your advice from the first project.
This idea of “selling advice only” has always bothered me. Because until advice is implemented, it’s pretty much just hot air.
That’s why I actually hop in the trenches and do things for my clients.
Apparently, thinking like that is heresy in the consulting world.
But I believe the thinking/doing balance is why so many business owners find themselves standing still, despite all of the books, courses and advice they have on their shelves and hard drives.
In the successes I’ve created and those I’ve helped my clients create, the REASON for the success is usually because 1 or 2 things are done well… and everything else is excluded and/or ignored.
When you’re just thinking, it doesn’t seem weird to entertain 20 or 30 ideas all at once.
I’ve done it.
And it gets you all excited because you feel like there are so many possibilities for you to pursue.
And that’s because there are. But that doesn’t mean it’s practical to pursue all of them.
When you become a Doer it absolutely FORCES you to limit yourself and focus on only as much as you (and whatever staff you have) can actually DO.
ACTION becomes a built in filter to keep you from being overwhelmed.
You don’t get overwhelmed and you accomplish more in the process.
Every day, you get to make the choice between being a THINKER and a DOER.
What’s YOUR choice for today?
If you could do all your learning, get all your ducks in a row, and then take action you already know is going to work, that sure would be nice.
And there’d be many more success stories than there are.
But as I get more and more
Ideas are great. And they can make you a lot of money. But
I was talking on the phone the other day with a client, and it came up that he had just cancelled all of his marketing newsletter subscriptions. (So did I…)
Now if you’re just starting out, by all means you have to learn the ropes. And learning by READING is a whole lot more efficient
At least not
Please don’t think I’m staying there’s nothing for me to learn.
That’s not it. It’s more about WHERE I get my knowledge.
You see, at this point, I don’t care what someone else thinks about my market.
I know that the only opinion that matters is the opinion of the market itself.
And the only way I learn that is to go out and get my hands dirty.
Becoming a DOER also goes a long way to cure the information overload that many business owners face these days. There are only so many ideas you can implement at any one time.
Be a DOER. The world needs more of those.
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