Does This Drive You Crazy Too?

I’ll never forget that drive back from Vermont, one winter evening in February when I was 14. I’d been skiing in Vermont with my parents and on the way home we got stuck in a blizzard.

We were less than 60 miles from home when all traffic on our side of the highway came to a stand still. We could see that there was an exit a quarter-mile ahead, and wanted to get off but we couldn’t move forward, not even an inch.

We sat and waited for ten or 15 minutes. It snowed and got darker outside. I was contemplating a long cold night in the car when my father suggested we take a look, get out and see what the problem was. To be honest, at 14, the idea hadn’t occurred to me. I was just waiting for some big snowplow from the sky to show up and magically take care of things.

We walked forward past hundreds of cars with people sitting inside, running their engines to stay warm. When we reached the exit we discovered the problem. Six cars were stuck in the snow blocking it so no one could get off.

Six relatively small cars (this was pre-SUV) had slid sideways in the snow. And in every case the drivers were just sitting inside doing nothing.

My father and I looked at the situation and quickly realized that all we needed was five or ten strong backs and we could easily clear the downward slopping exit ramp and get things moving.

That’s when I got the surprise of my life – remember I was only 14.

With hundreds of cars lined up on the highway, we figured it’d be easy to get a few people out into the snowy night and get things going. By now we’d been there for almost an hour without any signs of help or movement.

When we tried to get the other stranded motorists to do something –  hardly anyone seemed interested in leaving their warm cars. They were just waiting and slowly using up the gas in their tanks as the snow piled up around their cars.

We had to knock on dozens and dozens of car windows just to get a handful of people to take action and help themselves and dig out the few cars that were creating the bottleneck.

You know what drives me crazy – totally bonkers? APATHY!

Apathy drives me crazy! It drives me nuts when people wait for someone else to solve a problem – when an easy solution is right in front of them. Ultimately it took us longer to round up a few action oriented individuals than it did to clear the ramp and get on our way.

This recession reminds me of that wintry night years ago stuck on the highway. This economic climate is like a big blizzard and it’s slowing things down for sure. So what are most business owners doing about it?

Most business owners are hunkering down and hoping someone else will solve the problem. They’re sitting tight while their sales dry up – when instead they could be taking action and increasing their profits.

Which are you doing?

Last year Mary Ellen and Ed, two therapists from California came to me with what might seem like an improbably task. They had recently started their business, were struggling and wanted to see if I could help them while most other businesses were floundering.

They could have just hunkered down and lived with it – waiting for some miracle but instead they sought a solution and took action. One year later – they’ve more than doubled their business and have almost as many clients as they can handle. You can do the same!

There are four remaining spaces available in the MasterMind Mentoring Group and if you apply today, you may still be able to get in. Just use this link to apply or email Jessica@37d57f8fa2.nxcli.io to schedule a time to talk with me personally to get your questions answered.

Just in case you’re confused by the name – it’s called a MasterMind Mentoring Group so you’ll benefit from the others experience but don’t have any doubt about it, I’ll be showing you what to do – I’ll be mentoring you directly.

Once these four remaining spots are full, the group will be closed. If you’re one of those people overwhelmed by apathy, this isn’t for you. But if you’re smart, an action taker and you want to do something about making sure your business comes out on top this year – don’t wait – do something about it.

In Tuesday’s email, I’ll detail the four simple steps Mary Ellen and Ed used to increase their leads and convert more leads into clients and more than double their business in the past 12 months.

– Charlie