Submitted by Jackie Nees on | 0 Comments
Miss Jackie's blog last week? Check it out HERE.
Confession: I am a recovering chaser of bright shiny objects. It’s something I’m not proud of but I share it with you in hopes that if you too, suffer from Bright Shiny Object Syndrome you will know you are not alone.
If you’re unfamiliar with this terminology, basically what it means is that your focus is easily distracted by the next big thing, great idea, or magic bullet that comes along. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a “sucker” by any means and I’m certainly not one of those people that spend thousands of dollars a year on programs and products that I think will make me more successful, more beautiful or more anything. Occasionally though, I do see something that looks great and seems to have “exactly what I need” and so I go after it only to realize later that it was the very thing that took me away from the path I was on.
Most recently the culprit was a direct sales company that I got involved with. A friend of mine was raving about the products and the benefits of being a member and it all totally fit into the environment I was trying to create for myself and my family so I happily told her to sign me up! I was so inspired and fueled by her passion that I let that get in the way. At the time I signed up with this company I was working on forming my new LLC and putting together the logistics of that company, but the direct sales opportunity (a.k.a. bright shiny object) swooped right in and took hold of my focus.
The problem was that not only couldn’t I get anyone interested in learning more about this “amazing opportunity”, I had completely forgotten about the successful business I was already working on!
After several weeks it became very clear that this was not going to be a good fit. I began awakening from my bright shiny object-induced coma and realized I was not only putting the reputation I’ve spent years building on the line by switching gears so fast, but the fact that I wasn’t getting anyone to sign up was a HUGE sign that this was not who I was. I’m not a sales-pitchy sort of person and have a hard time telling people how great something is for them before I even believe it myself.
Do I love the products? Sure! I believe in them 100%. I also love my Durango but I’m not going to go down to my neighborhood used car lot tomorrow morning and ask for a job selling Durango’s. I also LOVE Starbucks and promote them wholeheartedly but will I be working as a Barista any time soon? My guess is probably not. My point is I don’t need to sell something to love it or recommend it to others. It’s not a business model that has ever worked for me, but I let emotion get the best of me and that’s ok as long as I learned something from the experience.
This past week has been an awakening for me and it feels so good to have released the burden of trying to do this “side business” and get my focus back. I’m back on track with what I was doing in the first place, which is building my little empire. The next time I try to veer from that, you have my permission to stage an intervention!
