We Need Instant Exceptional Results! What Can You Do For Us?

Nothing. Not a sausage. Results are neither instant nor can they be done FOR you. As an outsider, I can only offer you value in various shapes and forms but it's your responsibility to turn those values into lasting results.

The problem is that with this "produce instant results for me" approach you'll attract some great scumbags and con artists who will apply all sorts of tricks of the trade to make you believe there are some immediate results. The situation may even appear to be "immediate results."

But...

Many years ago to put myself through university, I worked as an embalmer, and saw that dying patients, about 30-90 minutes before dying, for no apparent reason, became very lively and cheerful. Then they were gone once and for all and became very very still.

This is exactly what happens to instant results. They don't last. Just look at lottery winners. A few months after winning their millions, they're flat dead broke again.

You can send a duck to eagle school, and up to a point the duck will be doing fine. But when it comes to flying and hunting, the duck can't pretend any more. And this is why instant gratification is not lasting gratification.

It's like a one-night stand with a hooker. You pay and you get immediate "results". The problem is that you have an increased chance of going home with AIDS, syphilis or similar diseases which will impact you for life.

And what are the business equivalents of AIDS or syphilis? Well, antagonising the marketplace. You can create hype and fool people once, and many technology companies do. And after one experience with their companies, these clients will be singing those companies' requiem to their contacts, and soon their businesses will be dead and buried.

In a world where principles rule the land, as opposed to tricks of the trade, you don't get far with flavour of the month tricks. You get found out the same way Enron, Arthur Andersen, Worldcom and the others have been found out. And you may not go to prison, but definitely end up in the Business Hall Of Shame.

Any farmer, including me, an ex-farmer, will tell you that first you plant, then you harvest. And between planting and harvesting you let the seed incubate. You can't plant today and harvest tomorrow. It takes nine months to produce a baby. With this in mind, you can probably see that it takes time to produce a "client" after the first contact.

The reason why many technology companies have nothing to harvest today because they didn't plant yesterday. It's that simple.

You have to decide what you want. The proverbial one-night stand with a hooker, that is, a quick one-shot sale, or lasting relationship with your target market that leads to repeat and referral business.

At an awards ceremony, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, was summarising Microsoft's success. His message was, "Hard, hard, hard, hard, hard, work." Imagine that a company that employes some of the best and brightest in the industry but still relies on consistent gard hard work not occasional forehead-slapping moments.

The fact is that state of your business is merely a reflection of what's inside your head. In order to see different results in your business, you have to be willing to think differently, to look at your situation from a different perspective.

And as Henry Ford once said, "Thinking is one of the hardest things there is. That's why only so few people do it."

James Allen wrote in As A Man Thinketh...

"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves. They therefore remain bound."

Until and unless you can think differently about your business, you'll be your own greatest enemy and the greatest hindrance and liability to your business.

I know this is harsh but true. And someone might as well tell you the truth. I have no axe to grind. I just tell you because I care.

And if you're serious about this "instant outstanding results" bullshit, then I'm not your guy. As Bob Dylan used to sing, "It ain't me, babe. It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe."

But I wish you the best of luck to find such a person.

Back to main FAQ page.