Now is a Great Time to Begin
Never underestimate the benefit of a stumble.
Have you stumbled this year? Have things gone differently than you planned? It is time for some end of year reflection.
Time with family
First off I hope you are able to take some time away from your business this holiday season and celebrate with your family, blood or adopted. The holidays are about spending time with family and getting to enjoy the fruits of your labor. So while it is important to get a jump start on 2024, do not forget to get some downtime. Get out of the office early, take some time completely away from the office, whatever it takes for you to feel recharged and ready for 2024, because it is coming fast.
A fall or stumble is still forward progress
Now to the meat of today’s post. Often we think of a fall or a stumble as something that is not good. It is a failure, or a mistake. But what we forget is it is still forward progress. For sure a sales pitch that did not go well because you did not have the answers for the clients questions is a stumble. On the flip side though now you know what questions to get the answers to, plus you can always follow-up with that client, it could be a great excuse for a second meeting. Sure maybe that big customer you onboarded is killing you with their processes and approvals. Maybe they pushed their payment terms out on you. Well now you know the questions to ask for the next big client. Also, maybe you can improve your process to have better invoicing that helps all of your clients. Just because you stumbled or fell this year, does not mean that you stopped moving forward. Sure we all want baby steps or even giant steps forward each day. After all that is what we see on social media from all the “over night successes”. If you did not know already those are not really overnight successes. They are just sharing the successes and none of the stumbles. After all we all want the photo of us crossing the finish line arms raised in victory, no one wants the one where we are falling on our face 10 feet before the finish line.
I encourage you to reflect on your stumbles this year. Look back on moments in your sales journey that were challenging. What did you learn from that moment? What are you doing differently today because of that stumble or fall? How will you learn from more stumbles next year? How can you set yourself up to stumble more? Maybe not too much, but some stumbles are good, that means you are pushing yourself and your systems.
So remember:
Take time to enjoy family this holiday season.
Learn from your stumbles in 2023.
Plan some stumbles in 2024.
I will be taking the rest of the year off enjoying some time with my family and friends. I’ll be back with more post the first week of Jan. Thank you so much for your time and support this year. This has been a labor of love and something I hope if helping at least one person with each post. If you did find something helpful, or know someone that would please share it. Thank you! Happy Holidays!