Don’t Just Run a Business. Create a Revolution!

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

When was the last time you tried something different in your business? How many great ideas do you let slip through your fingers because of the excuses you tell yourself that keep you from taking action? We all have that little voice that says, What a great idea…SOMEONE should do that, or, I’ll get around to it, after I do the important tasks to keep my business running. In my experience, these are all fear-based excuses. These excuses include fear of judgment, failure, being wrong, not being good or smart enough, and the list goes on.

Fear is fake. Get rid of it.

Fear is one of the biggest roadblocks that stops entrepreneurs from taking action on the amazing ideas that would truly revolutionize their business and potentially even their entire industry. First, let’s address what fear really is: a survival emotion that humans possessed as cave people thousands of years ago. The emotion helped minimize the chance of getting killed and optimized our chances of survival. Twenty thousand years ago, it was an imperative emotion, but, today, it serves almost zero purpose, because there is no need for most of us to worry about getting eaten by a sabre-tooth tiger or running out of food and water. Despite this, our brains have not evolved enough to remove fear from our emotions, which is why things like public speaking, making sales calls, and making big financial decisions can be so scary.

Now that you understand what fear actually is and that it doesn’t serve you, go ahead and kill fear once and for all. Throw it out the window and get on with your awesome life. Next time the little voice in your head keeps you from taking action, simply tell it ‘thank you for trying to protect me, but I know this emotion is fake and will only hinder me from making the best decision possible.’

Let the revolution begin!            

Now that fear is gone, shift your thinking about business. Don’t think of just running a business, the day-to-day operations, or what it takes to hit this month’s sales goal. Your thoughts need to be much larger than that. Think about creating a revolution in your industry and in your marketplace. Embrace the ideas that your brain creates; you would not be able to have the idea if it wasn’t possible to do it. Don’t let limiting beliefs cloud your brain, instead write down action steps that you could take toward accomplishing your ideas and goals.

The revolutionaries are the people and companies that are noticed, change industries, and accomplish amazing feats in business. You need to stand out against every single other one of the companies that you are seemingly competing against so that your customers have no choice but to pay attention to you.

Be so big that you cannot be ignored.”

This quote is on a post-it note that hangs under my computer monitor. There are countless ways to do this, and there is a lot of psychology that goes into it, but we will keep it concise in this article. You may be thinking what actions do I take? I’m not sure how to market like this. However, you probably have ten, 20, or 30 ideas of exactly have to do this, but they may have been outside your comfort zone, so you write them off. However, you are having these ideas for a reason. You’re having these ideas because you are actually capable of implementing them, and you should.

In order to stand out in your market, you must be fearless and do whatever it takes to deliver more value and service than anyone else. Don’t be afraid to give more away for free, it will come back to you tenfold. You don’t need to be different in a crazy way, or different in a way that requires you to take out loans and invest tons of extra money in marketing or anything like that. You must do the things that everyone else is afraid to do or unwilling to invest the time and energy in doing. You must stand out. Focus on making your business so big or making yourself so big that you cannot be ignored by your potential clients. Start every single day asking how you can revolutionize your marketplace.

Take action.

When I talk about doing things on a larger scale, I’m not talking about going out and spending tons of money on advertising or tons of time investing in creating brand new marketing materials and programs within your company. More often than not, these are things that can be done relatively quickly and free. They just must be done consistently and followed through. Here are some examples.

The number one most powerful word in the English language to anyone is their name. If you can find ways to incorporate somebody’s name into your marketing, you now have their attention. For example, when you meet somebody at a conference, a trade show, a breakfast, a lunch, whatever it is, how do you follow up with them? Create a selfie video, very short, very brief, recapping one or two of the things that you talked about with that person, and sending it to them. Most entrepreneurs are scared to death to make a recording of themselves, which is exactly why you should do it!

Go above and beyond! My new dentist’s chairs give backrubs while you get your teeth cleaned, and, if you go in for an operation, there is a TV to select which movie you want to watch.  After every procedure, someone calls me personally to follow up and make sure that I am happy and everything is going great.

Sales emails are dead. Very few people read generic sales emails talking about how a company can help solve a problem or fill a need.  Instead of sending sales emails, I record personal videos to each of my prospects and outline two to three action steps that they can take to increase their websites effectiveness. By giving value with no expectation of anything in return, getting my prospects attention through video and using their name I am much more likely to get a call asking what else my company can do to help.  If I do not get a response to the video email, I download the video to a TV card. (This is exactly what it sounds like: a birthday-sized card with a TV screen that plays my video when they open it).

Chances are you have had ideas similar to this, but never acted on them.  Now is the time to start a revolution! Remove fear and take action on the ideas you have to change the landscape of your industry.

From failure and debt to owning award-winning companies, Stephen Christopher is a passionate consumer and teacher of personal development, as well as an influential public speaker. As CEO of Seequs Marketing Technologies in Denver, he loves helping business owners grow companies with digital marketing.