TLMM #082: “What if we didn’t?”

Read time: 4 mins

In this week’s issue, I want to talk about the idea of asking yourself and/or your team as a Local Small Business Consultants and/or Digital Marketing Agency Owners, “What if we didn’t?”…

First, let me just say that the topic for the newsletter this week was inspired from a talk by Brad Martineau, co-founder of SixthDivision.

So if you’re reading this, thank you Brad! 🙂 

Of course during his talk there were several golden nuggets and I’ll likely be hitting on all of them in future newsletters.

But today we’re just going to focus on this one specific takeaway and that is the idea of, “What if we didn’t?”.

Don’t worry I’ll explain what it means and how it can impact your business.

So with that in mind…

Let’s dive in!

 

What Do You Mean By, “What if we didn’t?”?

It’s a novel idea that Brad uses in his business every year they do their yearly planning.

The story of how he discovered it goes something like this…

After their first year in business…

They do what most people do and that is make a plan of action for the next year.

So of course they had just done 7-figures in revenue during the first year of business…

And they did what everyone does at that point…

They said, “Let’s double it!”

And after spending two days with his business partner planning out the next year to “double” their business.

Brad asked, “What if we didn’t?”

And that led to them asking that question for each task they had outlined for their plan.

Basically trying to determine what impact each task would have on the business in terms of reaching their ultimate goal.

So after doing this particular exercise…

They were able to cut/remove anything that ultimately didn’t have a direct impact on their overall goals.

 

Why Asking “What if we didn’t?” Is So Important To Your Business

I think it’s pretty obvious how asking the question, “What if we didn’t?”, has on just about any business.

I think it’s especially true when you’re running a lean business…

Meaning, you’re doing it all by yourself or even if you have a very small team.

Of course it all depends on your overall goals for your business.

The bottom line is that you need to know “why” you have started your business in the first place.

If you started your business to “free your time”…

Then this exercise will help you actually achieve your ultimate goal, freeing your time.

And most of us who are Local Small Business Consultants and/or Digital Marketing Agency Owners are in this type of business to…

• Escape the rat race of a 9-5 job
• Spend more time with our loved ones
• Be able to enjoy life more
• Etc.

So for example…

In Brad’s business, instead of trying to double their revenue in year 2…

They decided to only try to make $0.01 more than the year before…

BUT…

Do it while working half as much as they did the previous year.

By asking this simple question…

It allows you to stay on track…

And not get distracted by putting time and energy into projects that won’t ultimately impact your overall goal.

 

How “What if we didn’t?” Works

So how exactly does this work?

Simple…

Do your yearly planning like you normally would do…

Brainstorm all the things you think would help increase your annual revenues.

Then go back through the list one item at a time…

And ask yourself (or your partner/team), “What if we didn’t?”

“What if we didn’t do that THING?”

And be honest with yourself.

Then cut any and all “things” (tasks/projects) that you believe will not make an impact on your overall annual revenues.

This simple exercise will save you the two more precious commodities we all have…

1. Time
2. Energy

Then apply this principle to all of your projects going forward.

As a side note…

This helps eliminate “Shiny Object Syndrome” as well!

So the next time you’re considering doing anything in your business, just ask yourself… 

“What if we didn’t?”

See you next Monday!