Thursday, February 26, 2009

Following Through…

What’s that statement?

90% of life is ‘showing up’ or something like that?

Well, it’s becoming more and more clear to me that if you just do what you say you are going to do, you can spend less time worrying about the competition and other people and more time figuring out how to be the best you can be.

Case in point.

Over the past 2 months, I’ve probably spoken with 15 people which you, blog readers and friends, have sent to me under the rubric of “looking to get into social media,” or “needs some career advice.”

Trust me, I am THRILLED to have these calls. It’s no secret that I love meeting new people and that I live and die by the network.

What I try and do during these calls is not just pontificate (though I do enjoy that part), but listen to the person’s goals and strengths and help them come up with an action plan (and a scorecard) against which they can execute.

At the end of each call, I offer up the following:

“If you want, you can put a tickler in your calendar to send me an updated scorecard every X weeks. What  you’ll find is that the accountability will keep you focused and you’ll see more results.”

EVERYONE says “Yes! I will do this.”

But they don’t.

Of the 15, only one has. Jamie Rubin.

Now, it could be that the plans we built were not that good or achievable or that the person was just saying “yes, I’ll send you a scorecard” in order to placate me, but I doubt it.

More likely, the intentions were there, but the follow through was not.

Jamie on the other hand calls regularly. She sends me “status updates.”  I don’t necessarily respond, nor does she expect me to, but knowing that I’m out there keeps her focused.

I think that is what is going to help her new line of fashion-forward clothing for nursing moms, www.milkstars.com, a success.

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