TO MOVE AHEAD, YOU NEED TO FIRE YOU
It has been in the news that Al and Tipper Gore have called it quits after forty years of marriage. Typically I don’t give a crap about breakups of the rich and famous, but this particular news made me pause for about a moment. Only because this was about the Gores! I wasn’t exactly sure if it was the 40 years of marriage part or just my perception of their brand; but it made me think about marriage in general. And what I realized is that even couples that you thought are happy together might be very miserable in their marriage.
What does marriage have to do with the title of this article you might ask?
Let me explain!
A friend of mine, a retired construction worker who now owns a mobile auto detailing company complained that this recession has cut his business by about 60% and he is wondering how long it will take for customers to start washing their cars more often. Being a problem solver, I started to explain that having a clean looking car is a luxury and gasoline was a necessity. And when money is tight, people will spend their dollars on gas instead of a car wash. But, there are certain things that you need to do differently if you want to stay in business. As I continued to explain, he took two steps backward, folded his arms, stared into my eyes and very defensively stated “I’m not sure if I’m going to do any of that”
This is the typical reaction that a recruiter would get from a passive candidate; they will tell you that they are not looking for another job. Or I’m really not interested, is what a prospect will say to a salesperson.
What they are really saying is this: “I don’t want to change”
I made a strange comment that really got his attention: “To get more business, the first thing that you need to do is to fire yourself”
After a brief moment of silence, I continued: You need to fire yourself because what you are doing is no longer getting the results that you are looking for. Your tactics are no longer in with the times; you continue to do the same thing over and over hoping that good times will roll again. Tell me, wouldn’t you fire an employee who was not producing and refused to learn the new methods that will help him produce?
Without waiting for a response, I continued: I am not trying to sound like Dr. Phil, but that’s also the problem with marriages today. Take the Gore’s as an example: Couples run into marital problems because they become complacent and take each other for granted; the things that they did which originally bonded them together are no longer effective in stimulating the excitement that they demand from each other. Whenever you feel that you are putting forth the same amount of effort and get back less in return, you become frustrated and place that blame on your partner. Over the year’s frustrations builds up and cause a downward spiral in communication, trust and personal growth.
When a marriage breaks down, most believe that what they are missing from their marriage can be found in a new partner. And when they discover a new partner, they will go out of our way to impress and excite that potential new partner by showing kindness, tenderness, romance and whatever is necessary to gain their trust. They don’t even care about the new partner’s history; weather good or bad, they just want to put their bad experiences behind them and move forward as quickly as possible.
Firing you, means making a commitment to abandon, throw out, get rid of all the tactics, strategies, methodologies that you have used in the past; specifically the ones that has gotten you to where you are today.
Essentially, you need to start over!
In business, starting over means delivering you products and services in a new way by utilizing the latest and most efficient technologies available! If you are not technology compliant, a good place to start is by going back to school. If going back to school is not a viable option, then pay someone who went back to school to do that job for you. But you simply cannot afford to continue investing time, valuable resources into out-dated methodologies that are returning fewer profits for your hard earn dollars.
To add spice to you marriage why not discovers that new person in your present partner?
How do you do this?
Fire yourself and go out of our way to impress and excite your partner by showing kindness, tenderness, romance and whatever is necessary to regain that trust. You might be pleasantly surprised. To get ahead in business, fire yourself along with the old way of thinking.
