Technology

The top 5 regrets of the dying influencer

You’ve probably heard of the top five regrets of the dying. It’s an impressive list that was put together by Australian palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware in her book of the same name. She conducted an investigation of patients in hospitals to identify their regrets.

The five regrets are:

  1. I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life that others expected of me.
  2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
  3. I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.
  4. I wish I had kept in touch with my friends.
  5. I wish it had allowed me to be happier.

We all have regrets in our lives and our business life is no different. It is an unfortunate fact that more than 60% of small businesses fail in the first 3-5 years. And influencers are not immune. It is not uncommon for them to feel that everything is too difficult, that it would be easier to return to full-time employment.

But the reality is that the job landscape has changed. Organizations preparing for the future want flexible workers. Those that are not flexible can be easily replaced. So even if you decide to leave it as an Influencer, you still need to position yourself and promote yourself to get the job. That job is most likely temporary, so you will have to promote yourself again!

In the “last days” of their business, influencers often have these five regrets:

  1. I wish I had closed more sales. Have you ever felt like you have a lot of coffee meetings but don’t make sales? An entrepreneur recently told me that she had had 40 meetings, but had not been able to close a single sale. If you can relate to this, then your sales conversation is not working. Your communication with potential customers should be crystal clear. Do they even know they’re going to a sales meeting? Or do they think they are just meeting you for coffee and a chat? If the expectation isn’t clear and you start talking sales, they might feel cheated and are much less likely to bring it on board.
  2. I wish I had made my offer clearer or more relevant. Influencers want to change the world. We love what we do. It’s a great space to be in, but you also need to generate income. If what you offer is not relevant to their market, they will not understand it and they will not buy it. Your potential customers don’t want to change the world; all they want is for their problems to be solved. The more relevant you can make your offer to your customers’ problems and the more specific you can be, the more likely you are to run a profitable business.
  3. I wish I had worked harder at the beginning of each trading time. Three-month cycles are great for getting into the routine of setting sales goals for yourself. The problem is when it goes into “rush mode” when the deadline is approaching. If you are concerned about making up for lost time, you will appear aggressive. You feel inauthentic and you run the risk of losing the trust of your customers. By working harder at the beginning of your trimester, you eventually relieve yourself of the pressure on yourself and your clients.
  4. I wish I had the guarantees when people asked for them. To move the sales conversation forward, you need a guarantee. What if your prospect says, “Great! Do you have something I can take with me so I can talk to the board?” – and you have nothing? The client needs a vehicle to help him sell you to his team. Words alone are useless. Your job is to provide guarantees: a speaker kit, brochures for your programs, a real show, your website, your blog. If you don’t have any of these, create them. Make sure you have them before you host meetings and have sales conversations.
  5. I wish I had kept building my pipeline, even when I had big projects underway. It’s exciting to start a great program. But make sure you don’t get so caught up in a new project that you lose sight of the big picture. If you put all your time and energy into delivery, you will stop selling. You forget to fill your pipe and the conversations dry up. If you are delivering a program to a large organization, what if circumstances change? Key decision makers may leave or your strategy may change, and your program may not move forward. It is important that you do not rest on your laurels, because anything can happen. Ask yourself, “If I didn’t have my ‘big show,’ would I still have an income?”

Don’t let these common regrets become your regrets too. We all make mistakes and we all have areas of our business that we could improve. The good news is that you don’t have to be on life support. You can revive it and create a flourishing practice! By understanding and learning from these five regrets, you certainly
can Have a profitable and sustainable business as an Influencer.

I love knowing your thoughts …

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Bronnie ware

more than 60% of small businesses

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