A couple weeks ago I read an article by Lindsey Wilson where she shared that every day she says, “God, please send me the people who need me.” Then recently I told my significant other about this statement, and within a few minutes he saw a program for military veterans that would be a good connection for our non-profit, Soaring Spirits Equine Assisted Therapy. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.
Later that same evening I was writing my Infusionsoft Tips and Tricks article (side note: click here to subscribe) when I logged into my Infusionsoft application. On the dashboard I saw that someone had filled out my Contact form. Yikes! Why yikes? Because I hadn’t gotten a notification that it had been filled out! My brain went into overload…why hadn’t I got a notification, how many others had completed the form, oh, no…they needed me and I ignored them!!
I found the problem, fixed it, and then emailed every person. Yes, some of them were from several months ago. But I contacted them. I apologized for not getting back to them, explained I had not gotten a notification when they filled out the form and asked to schedule a call. I could easily have only contacted the people who had filled out the form recently, but I didn’t. Every single person, I emailed — personally. I reminded them of when they reached out to me and what type of help they wanted. Some were looking for Virtual Assistant support and others were looking for Infusionsoft support or training. Most have probably found the help they needed by now, but I don’t know for sure…nor do I know whether they are happy with that help. And I definitely do not want someone thinking I just completely ignored them!
So what was the problem? It seems that I don’t follow the same “rules” for my business that I do for my clients’ businesses. Otherwise, I would have caught the problem sooner. For clients, I test webforms after they are put on a website to make sure they’re working, and I look at the reports for sign-ups. If I’d done either one of those things, I would have known immediately I had a problem. I wasn’t getting those notifications for one simple reason: I had a typo in my email address for where to send the notifications. Yep, something as simple as that led more people than I care to admit—who came to me seeking help—to think I didn’t care enough to respond. Ouch.
Why is it that we don’t treat our own businesses as well as we treat our clients’ businesses? I can think of many conversations I’ve had with entrepreneurs where they ask me advice, I share, and their response is something along the lines of, “I just suggested that same thing to Jane last week for her business. Why didn’t I think of that for myself?” Or where I’ve had a conversation with my coach and she suggests something for me to do, and I had suggested that same thing to a client…yet, never thought about it for my own business.
So why do we seem to have a mental block when it comes to treating our own business with the level of care and respect we show others? Share your thoughts with me below.
Hi Jama –
Have I told you how much I love you lately 😉 Your article is spot-on! Its called the “Cobbler’s Son” syndrome. The Cobbler is so busy making shoes for his clients that his son never has any.
Recently I have said “enough is enough” in my business. We were so busy setting up systems for our clients and running their back offices that I let our own back office fall to pieces. No more! My main focus for this quarter is to get our “poop in a group” and start running our business like we do for our clients.
Again, thanks for this great article!!!
Aw, Kristi. I love you too! 🙂 And it’s so funny — I use the cobbler’s son analogy all the time!! Although these last few months, I’ve been working on fixing that. It is so easy to get caught up in our clients’ businesses that ours seems to always be last on the list. Glad to hear you’re getting your “poop in a group”! It’s important that we treat our own business like a client.
Jama – you hit the nail on the head! It’s super easy to do for our clients but ourselves, not so much. This is why a coach always has a coach! Because it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. And this is exactly why I have you! Because you help me see the forest through the trees =)
Thanks, Kim! Love being able to help clients see the forest! 🙂
This is why all financial planners should have their own planner… If I have 40 clients, I am client number 41, and just don’t get the attention that I would as the client of another planner… I think all business owners should take this approach.
Great post!
Thanks, Alan! I think it can be hard to hire someone to do for you what you have the knowledge and expertise to do, but you’re right — for ourselves, we’re last and we end up not doing for ourselves the job we do for others.