What a Thrift Store Toy Aisle Taught Me About My Business
This is gold and I found it in a thrift store - go figure.
Hey Fertile Guides,
This morning, we stopped into the thrift store to do our normal, bi-weekly check for the small, but growing, list of items that I want to buy used instead of new. (Anyone else a big thrift girl? Just me?)
As always, my kids insisted that we take a pause - or, if they had their own way, spend the entire trip - in the toy aisle to try out every single one of the toys that I surely would not let them take home.
It's almost like Christmas, really. New and exciting toys, some with familiar logos, fill their minds with wonder. And for little people, who generally only have a few dollars in change to their name, this was the place to buy whatever their hearts desired with their own money.
Now, I'm not a mean mom. I do let my kids buy used toys here and there, but I don't let just anything make its way into the cart. I give my kids one rule when it comes to their thrift store toy finds: No broken toys.
While the toy aisle is not really my destination of choice, it is always interesting to see the assortment of items that end up being donated. Truthfully, it's baffling to me how many utterly useless and worn-out toys end up in that aisle. It's as if someone loved the toy so much that they lost sight of its real value - nothing.
It may seem obvious to you and me that an excavator without a bucket or a remote control car without the remote control will not get a second life, but somehow, those items made it to the shelf instead of the dumpster. I see this happening all the time in other areas of life, too, especially when it comes to small businesses:
You're posting the same type of content over and over again without seeing any growth or traction.
You're offering the same service in the same way without ever booking a client.
You're promoting the same lead magnet that never quite seems to convert.
You're using the same systems every month to get things done but somehow still finding yourself behind when the 30th rolls around.
I get it. Doing the same thing, whether or not it works, is easy. We just turn on the autopilot and check off the task item from the list because it's done. But is it really? If it isn’t generating results, was the task actually completed well?
What if we applied the same rule that I have for my kids to our businesses: No broken (fill in the blank.)
No broken funnels
No broken social strategies
No broken pitches
No broken lead magnets
I know I have some "cleaning up" to do in my work. Recently, I discovered that I wasn't really giving my due diligence to evaluate the effectiveness of my social media posts. I'm not a huge social media girl. I don't like posting a ton of stuff about myself online or making things too personal. Recently, I discovered that I was using this as my excuse not to dig in, analyze my numbers, and then strategically shift.
That's right, my social media strategy was broken - still is, honestly - but I'm working on it. I'm working on figuring out that sweet spot between being real without spending my life on social media. I don't aim to be a social media superstar, but I do want my content to resonate with anyone who reads it.
So, what do you need to reevaluate?
What systems are not working for you?
What areas of your work feel clunky because they are clunky?
My goal today is not to help you overhaul everything you're doing. We're going to leave the clunky-but-somewhat-working things on the shelf for now. Let's just take an honest look at what isn't going well and make moves to fix it.
Hannah XO