Flying on the river of excuses

Earlier this morning I battled fog, two accident delays, leaving one of my bags at home and general sleepiness on my way to the airport. I made it on time, and proceeded to spend the next 50 minutes in line as I missed my flight. I got an hours worth of reflecting on how I could fail so bad – trip with potentially millions of dollars on the line, arranged and booked weeks in advance – all blown because I didn’t pack a carryon.

Suffice to say, I got my faith and my work ethic tested. On my drive back to work today I played all the easy ways I could potentially hold my meetings without leaving town. Fourteen hours of travel for what is likely less than 8 hours of meetings. Welcome to the top of the inverted time productivity pyramid.

The Easy Button

The easiest thing I could have done is gone home and figured out a way to do this over the Internet. But 13 hours later, I am typing this blog post about 30,000 ft over the Gulf of Mexico on my way to LAX. I have one thing I’d like to say: you have to keep on fighting.

Keep Fighting

Every day you wake up, you have a choice. Work hard or take it easy. This morning I didn’t have to wake up at 4. I didn’t have to fight the traffic. I didn’t have to stay in line. I didn’t have to stand in the second line. I certainly didn’t have to stay in the third line after they told me I missed my flight. I didn’t have to make the flight today, or at all. I could have gone home to scrub the brake dust off my new Michelin P0’s. But I went to work. I worked all day. And after this brief break, I will put in about 4 hours of work before I get to Los Angeles. I don’t have to do this, I have a pretty good life – but I have a pretty good life because I do this. It’s just who I am. I don’t know of anyone that is successful and doesn’t have the same work ethic. So if you disagree, you and The 4 Hour Workweek can kiss my big black ass.

…

I have spent the past three weeks talking to partners exclusively. I have been there to encourage, educate, motivate and direct people on how they can take what we’ve created and build it into a virtual cloud goldmine. One overwhelming impression that I’m left with is that most of the people will not make it: and I base that on the endless excuses I got for why things aren’t going the way they should. And in almost every case, they claimed it was not their fault! The amount of bull I have been subjected to would get a 15 year old smacked off the chair in a guidance counselors office for failing PE, I don’t even know the relative translation of that for the grown men and women that drive the small business engine of the world. Here are some of the choice ones:

“Nobody is buying anything until the first”

Are you friggin kidding me? Who are you selling technology solutions to? Welfare recipients? Are they paying for monitoring with food stamps? Everyone is buying, every day. Do you really want to waste my time trying to excuse yourself for leaving money on the table and not asking for the close today?

One day I hope to become successful enough to just turn people away because it’s not the right time of the month/day/year to have a sales call.

“We are taking December off”

Oh yeah, how was 2009? Well, good that you’re rewarding that type of a success with some hard earned time off so you can start fresh on January 1st.. when they are going to be solicited by everyone else on earth.

This type of behavior infuriates me, especially in the SMB sector. Listen: the only time of the year that you will get a sit or an ear of a decision maker in the midmarket is now. Now that they are likely at the home office. Now that they are at parties. Now that they are in a good and cheerful mood. Now is the time to call. The rest of the year you will have the pleasure of talking to their voicemail or their receptionist as you sink to the bottom of the “annoying salesperson” pile.

Think about it: Would you hire someone that took an entire month off?

“We are going to do that in 2010”

Let me say this very slowly and eloquently so that I don’t confuse you with big words: Nothing will change on January 1st. Nothing that is in your favor at least. If you are not able to get your message across tomorrow, you will not be able to get it across next month or next year. It’s really quite as simple as that. You (probably) aren’t an executive at a billion dollar company – don’t act like one. What are you doing this week? Getting a head start on filling out your 10K because you’re not going to move your business one inch forward until Dec 31st?

Every day is an opportunity to do something great.

It’s not easy.

I get a lot of flack about the Always be Pimping moto but right now I am 30,000 feet above ground arranging two webinars for Wednesday, one that got organized two hours ago while I was going through the airport security. Every day is an opportunity to get to the next level. And it’s something that’s been driving me for the past 12 years.

Do likewise.