First published 9 November 2020 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Nigel started this one by getting the episode number wrong. Then he got onto low-hanging fruit, a phrase he borrowed from his friend Steve Head. These are the people who already know you and trust you. Ring them and they'll give you a chat. Nobody likes cold calling, and if you've ever done sales you'll know exactly why.
Then he set me homework live on air. Think of 50 past clients and ring them to say the book's on its way. Two weeks later, ring again and ask if they've read chapter one. At the time I was close to finishing Done Beats Perfect and planning to publish it myself. You don't need a publisher's permission any more. But you do still need people who know who you are.
So I pulled up the manuscript and read out a bit of chapter 14, A Confession. Halfway through writing a book about getting things done, I got stuck and procrastinated (the irony wasn't lost on me). What shifted it was deciding I was an author, instead of a bloke trying to write a book. Nigel does it his own way. He gets his book covers designed first so he can see the finished thing before the writing starts.
That got us onto idols. Nigel found out the hard way that the people he wanted to be had the same stuff going on as everyone else. In the book I say look at eight or ten people who've done what you're trying to do and copy what they have in common. Nigel said he could hear a Jungle Book song coming, so I obliged with I Wanna Be Like You.
We finished on asking the extra question, like McDonald's and the fries. The day before, a site I was buying from offered me a mystery product of their choosing for £5, guaranteed to be worth more than the fiver. I ticked the box. I wanted to know what my magic gift for a fiver was.
What stuck
- Ring the people who already know and trust you before you go chasing strangers.
- Got something new? Send it to past clients, then follow up two weeks later.
- Say "I am an author" (or whatever it is for you) and the work gets easier to do.
- Find what eight or ten successful people have in common and copy the habits.
- Ask the extra question at checkout. They're already buying.
I got stuck, and I procrastinated whilst writing a book about overcoming procrastination and getting things done.
Neil Martin
Compare all of you to all of them.
Nigel Risner
