Posted by If you buy it – use it!
Don’t leave that new product in its original wrapper. Wear your Money Goggles to find the value.
OK, I’ll confess, I am a long term Shiny Addict.
If it’s new – the latest in, whatever – then I’m going to be tempted.
Problem is there are still only 24 hours in a day and, like most people, I have to sleep during some of those. I also have “work” that needs to be done. Things that other people expect of me. I have also committed myself to advancing my Internet Marketing.
That means, in spite of my initial enthusiasm, I am very likely to put off making the most of my latest acquisition. Yes, I may load it, even register it, fix up a login and password. (Saved onto RoboForm of course, as I am never going to remember yet another 12 – 15 – or 18 character password!) I may even find time to go through the opening “Welcome” video and look at the Dashboard. Then I realise that I have not yet done my …
Well you can fill in the rest I am sure.
That excellent piece of very helpful software is then still sitting in RoboForm. I can sign in again as soon as I have spare moment. A week goes by, and yet another, and still I haven’t used it. No, not used it to its full potential – not used it At All.
Does this sound familiar to you? Is a constant desire to grab something new, something which will help you be a better entrepreneur, actually slowing down your progress? Will it remain in its original wrapper?
Selling Salt
A man went into a store and couldn’t help notice that nearly all the shelves were full of bags of salt.
“Wow!” he said to the store owner. “You must sell a lot of salt.”
“No,” replied the owner, “But the Salt Salesman, he really knows how to.”
Have you kept a list of every “Shiny” you have bought over the past years? Are some of them still on a monthly cost? Would it frighten you to total them all up? How about making a decision now – a way to benefit from these excellent pieces of software? Just mark them all as Experience. What have you have learned from them, if not individually then collectively?
For me it was that a constant succession of newness did not progress my business. Yes, I still do buy “stuff” but, I like to think, I am now a LOT more selective. I actually look at (a) the real likelihood of my using it and (b) how well it fits into what I am already doing. If it will not be immediately useful and advance my business then, sorry, it is not for me.
To take it to an ultimate level: yes, I’d love to have a full Red 8K Video Camera Kit, the specifications are so great. Would I then be making 8K, cinema quality, full length productions before the end of the year? Very unlikely. I currently make 30 second videos for online promotions. Don’t forget I would also have to up the quality of my Video Editing Computer. Add at least 2 seriously big monitors (at £3.5k a pop), and invest in a full Sound Studio to go with it. Well, one would need to, of course. In reality that Red Kit would be out of date long before I could earn enough to pay for it. It would be a vanity project.
That’s the same thinking I now have to bring to the Shiny Stuff. I must either use what I have already invested in or drop them. If I can I will make them an integral part of my Plan. You do have a Plan don’t you? Thin down the back catalogue. Start with the oldest and see how often you have used it in the past 2, 3 or more years. In fact does it even still work with the latest Windows?
The problem with that is the very real potential for yet more procrastination. You can spend a lot of time doing “valuable research” into your past purchases. Even better will be to drop the whole lot off onto an archive HDD – via the USB Docking Port. Clear up the space on your computer and forget all about them. OK, not totally forget or you might be tempted to buy the new 2.0 version when it comes along next month!
Dedicate your time
With those out of the way you will have time to dedicate to your Real Online work. Do you need to write articles for promoting products? New Sales Letters, or an Email Campaign? Do you need to follow up on Comments people have made on previous articles? There are already so many other things that you HAVE to do. That’s why I suggest that you start with your core business first. Once that has a good turnover – even a profit – you can start spending the extra money to expand it. Yes, always keep an eye out for real ways to expand your business.
The very nature of this business it that things change.
Systems will become better, faster, or more efficient, as new ways are always being found.
But, at the same time, be very wary of the temptations of the Shiny Stuff.
Keep looking through those Money Goggles.