Do you sometimes find yourself “on automatic” when sharing your experience? Whether you’ve been in your field long or not, you may be telling the same stories, sharing the same ideas, using the same delivery formats. It can be easy to fall into that since it is what you know and what has worked for you. Why change what works?
While your audiences may be learning some or most of your knowledge for the first time, you’ve been talking and writing about it for what can seem like forever. Unless you add or subtract something from the mix, there is a high risk that it will become stale, burnt out, become less interesting to those who could hardly wait for what it offered and feel there must be more to life. It’s one thing to eat the same food every day for every meal, or wear the same color clothes every day. It’s another thing to do the same lesson dozens, if not hundreds, of times over again.
Imagine what changes you can make from small to medium to large. Here are some ideas to get you thinking.
- Expand the way you deliver your information: hard copy, electronic, written, spoken.
- Consider a different audience for your experience: different industry, younger and older.
- Give your presentations in different ways: in person, on the phone, recorded, on Skype.
- Bundle What You Have: Bundle individual products and services together to get bundles.
- Change location: Move your information to a different state, country, or region.
- Extend your reach – License your presentations and insights to others to pass on.
- Partner with others: Co-present with someone whose experience complements yours
This is not an exhaustive list of possibilities, but rather a short list to get the ideas flowing for you. What caused that? Did someone or something come to your mind for the first time, something that can breathe new life into what you’ve been doing, something that can turn monotony into fun, something that seems like a great idea that you’re not entirely sure how? executed?
There is no idea that is too small to consider or too unimportant to have value in itself or as a trigger for something else. Before you’re tempted to cancel or think you’re missing the procedure, take a breath. Think about who you know who might be a sounding board, who, whether they can give you an answer or not, can give you a place to hear your own thoughts that can give you answers while listening to what you’re saying! After all, you’ve come this far with your business, even if it’s all the way to the starting line. There are many people who can help you take the next steps, steps to keep you from being on auto any longer.
VALUES – Search your life for the people you know in all parts of your life. Pick one or two to talk about the insights you offer in your business, your expertise, your bite-sized brilliance. Give them some ideas about what you’re considering for next steps to improve what you’re doing, and ask what suggestions they have. It is entirely possible that they may be able to offer you something you never considered.
©2015