Tag: new year

Happy New Year! You now have to begin again at zero.

2018 was an amazing year for me. It was fun, productive and profitable. I felt as if I was racking up points on a scoreboard all year long. I developed great new relationships, new clients and new revenue. I had new ideas, new opportunities, new experiences and new travel. But when I woke up yesterday it was all gone. The scoreboard that tallied all of my points in 2018 had been turned off. Everything had reset to Zero. And I was all like WTF?!?

My Business

My business, The Weaponry, has not made a single dime yet in 2019 (obscure reference to when Americans used to carry real money). We haven’t created any advertisements, designed any logos or scripted any videos. We haven’t crafted any smart strategic plans. We haven’t written any witty copy. We haven’t bought any media or developed any websites.

We haven’t created any new relationships. We haven’t earned any trust. We haven’t won any new business. We haven’t returned any emails, calls or texts. There have been no meetings. No travel. And no new hires to celeberate (in fact it’s just another ordinary day).

In short, we haven’t done anything at all.

My Blog

My blog has reset to zero too. I haven’t written or published any new posts yet this year. No views, likes, comments or shares. I haven’t passed along any newly learned lessons. There have been no new insights on entrepreneurship, success, creativity, advertising, or networking. I have no new subscribers this year. No views from the other side of the world. No silly jokes or obscure references to separate the insiders from the outsiders. No outlandishly inappropriate asides written to make readers snarf (blow drinks or other liquidy foods out the nose).

Reality Check

It’s a new year. Whether you had a great 2018 or a terrible 2018, it’s now over. And you, me and everyone else are starting over again with no points and no wins.

reset

Let’s Do This!

So today, January 2nd, 2019, my team and I will get to work. We’ll start at zero and see how much we can accomplish in the next 364 days. We plan to double down, and double the business again in 2019.

It’s All About The Team…

While it is true that I haven’t done anything yet this year, I do have an amazing team. Our Weapons are super smart, strategic, creative and experienced. But they are also extremely hard-working, fun, funny, collaborative and kind. They are our unfair competitive advantages.

…And The Clients

We have great clients from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. We have been busy developing trust and keeping our commitments. Which means that we are scoring points at a faster and faster pace. We have been building our brand and our reputation. Which has provided us with potential opportunities with new clients that could stretch our business far beyond the United States in the coming year.

Key Takeaway

It is time for all of us to get back to work. It’s time to stoke this fire to see just how hot it can get.** Time to score new points. Time to build on our momentum. Time to turn our potential into reality. Time to rack up great new wins that will make this another year worth remembering.

**But remember, no matter how hot it gets in here, don’t take off all your clothes (at least not at work, or around anyone you work with). We learned this over the last couple years. And that didn’t go away at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Sorry Nelly.

Why September 6th is the most important day of the year.

Happy New Year! That’s right, Tuesday September 6th is the real New Year’s Day. I know you’re probably wondering what the Dick Clark I’m talking about. Allow me to explain.

Americans traditionally celebrate the new year at the worst possible time. In January you are stumbling out of the most hectic and stressful time of the year. Which makes it a poor time to set new goals, quit bad habits and reinvent yourself.

The simple fact is that the fall, not spring, and certainly not January 1st is the best time for new beginnings.

If you were a tree, today is when your next ring would start to grow. Preschool starts in the fall. And so does Kindergarten, middle school, high school and college. Which means fall is the start of the next chapter for kids, parents and teachers alike. The day after Labor Day is the first day schools everywhere are back in session and fully engaged.

When summer break is over for kids summer vacations are over for adults. Which means that starting today we are all back to work. Our businesses are operating at full strength for the first time in 3 months. Factories are humming. Offices are buzzing. And farms are really farmy.

Churches now begin their regularly scheduled programs. So if you see a church, and see a steeple, open it up and you might see all the people.

The new television season starts now.  Both NCAA and NFL football kickoff now too.

This is a great time of year.

For those of you who used your summer vacation days well, you are hitting September 6th fully recharged. Not only did you take the last three months to fill up on Vitamin D, travel, relaxation and inspiration, you got a three-day weekend to top it all off.

Now that your tanks are full and you are refocused it is time to treat this like the new beginning you almost missed. Set new goals. Drop a bad habit. Pick a new challenge. Plan your next chapter. Grab that next rung. Or build your own ladder.

At The Perfect Agency Project we are fully engaged. Your team should be too. We’re all primed, rested and ready.  Let’s push hard. Have fun. And make this the best year ever. And here you thought today was just another Tuesday.

 

 

 

In 2016 get more creative with your time.

Happy 2016!  I absolutely love the fresh start a new year brings. If you are like most people you’ve resolved to make this your best year yet. According to a research project I conducted in 2015 there are four basic ways to improve your life with a New Year’s resolution. You can start something good. You can quit something bad. You can make a habit of something positive. Or you can generally just stop being lame.

I have one goal that will help make 2016 the best year in my career and personal life. Simply stated, I want to make the most of my remnant time.  What does that mean? Well, we all have a slew of things we have to do.  Those include our standard work and home obligations.  Make sure you take care of those or your 2016 is likely to spoil before February. But like that poor overlooked ‘r’ in February, we all have time in every day that we are overlooking. And today I’m envisioning all that I can make of it over the next 365 days.

Ralph Waldo Emerson put is this way, “Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” Ralph Waldo was into the bling.

So today consider what you can do with the time hidden between your must-dos. Instead of killing that time with digital thumb twiddling, couch tuber-ing or catching Zs, spin that time-straw into gold. I challenge  you to use that time to do the things the perfect version of you would do. Read something, write something, create something, solve something, learn something, experience something, accomplish something, improve something. Or maybe buy a thesaurus and find other words to use instead of something.

Like compound interest, even little moments add up over the course of a year. Two months ago I began picking up my daughter’s guitar each night and practicing for a few minutes while she completed her bedtime routine. And while I’m no Eddie Van Halen, I can now play most Christmas songs well enough to not get booed off stage at a nursing home.

In 2016 I plan to make magic in my career. I expect to strengthen my connections to family and friends. I’m set on stockpiling more experiences, having more fun, learning and accomplishing more than ever. I hope you are too. We have 1440 minutes every day to do it.