At the beginning of the year, you promised yourself that this was the year you were going to bring in lots of business. You are going to be a rainmaker.
You’ve actually written a rainmaking plan on how you are going to do it (if you haven’t written one or don’t know how, please contact me and I will show you how).
Then. . . you stuck that plan in the drawer and haven’t taken one action you said you were going to take.
I know from whence I speak, because I am just as guilty. In the past two months I have let, for example (and this is only a short list – it could probably go on forever),
- A lack of focus on my goals,
- A habit of allowing myself to be distracted by in consequential things like being obsessed with April the giraffe who is about to give birth, my Facebook feed and all of the political BS that is being posted on both sides, who wore what to the Oscars and the big <gasp> flub at the end,
- Attending “educational” webinars that are either nothing but hour long sales pitches or attending webinars with good information but then doing nothing with it (which is a serious waste of time),
keep me from achieving what I said I wanted to achieve by now.
One of the coaches I am working with (and yes, I too work with coaches), finally kicked me in the butt (metaphorically) and told me to get down to business.
So I am going to do the same for you.
If you want to achieve any goal, you must do something. And you have to do something NOW!
An article I wrote, first published in the New Jersey Law Journal in December 2009 (and republished on my blog), still holds true today: How Do You Spell Rainmaker? A.C.T.I.O.N.
The acronym, A.C.T.I.ON. stands for:
A = AM: Wake up earlier. Waking up a half an hour earlier adds three and half hours per week which can be used for rainmaking. Imagine an extra 182 hours per year to connect with former, current and prospective clients by writing a blog, submitting an article, follow-up calls, or attending one more networking event.
C = Cut Out Time Wasting: Determine how much time do you waste during the day? If you are like most people, you are wasting time in a myriad of ways like reading (or deleting) emails you don’t need, chit-chatting ineffectively, and procrastinating on the one thing you could be doing to bring in more clients, or even doing more work for the current clients you have. Then, learn to delegate, delete or downsize the task.
T = To-Do Lists: Write it down and prioritize: Yes, a To-Do list. Include everything! If you don’t write it down, things fall through the cracks and the time it takes to fix the mistakes takes away from Rainmaking activities. Prioritize which activities are going to be the most helpful to you. Cross out the tasks you have accomplished. There is a sense of satisfaction from putting an X next to that item or running a line through it (even electronically). Further, you have the opportunity to see how much you have accomplished.
I = Integrate your entire life: A true Rainmaker makes rain all of the time, even when they are doing things you wouldn’t consider to be “business development” activities. For example, does your Dentist know what you do for a living? He/She could be referring clients to you if they did.
O = Organize your plan: Take 15 minutes on Sunday Evening to plan your week. Start by writing in all of the appointments you have. Then plan the rest of your days in blocks of time. For example: block out time to run errands, to exercise, to have fun with family and friends, a chunk of time to perform one rainmaking activity per day, a chunk of time to work. Realize that you don’t have to schedule yourself minute by minute as this will cause more stress if you exceed the time you thought it would take. By planning in chunks, you can respond to “emergencies” which arise and you can fill in the activities in the blocks with what’s on your to-do list. But treat each “chunk” of time as a true appointment – one that you cannot break. If you have scheduled an hour to write a blog post as your Rainmaking Activity for that day and you finish in half that time then perform another task (following up with a prospective client, for example) or take a quick break.
N = Now, Take ACTION! : Once you have a schedule, keep it! If you find yourself procrastinating for any reason, break the major task into its attendant pieces and perform one of the bite size pieces. There is an old adage: How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time. When you do this, you find that the task gets accomplished much faster than you realized.
That acronym will help you take the Rainmaking Plan out of the drawer (or persuade you to finally write one) and encourage you to start moving forward on your plans to become the Rainmaker you want to be.
But most importantly, you’ve got to do something!
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If you would like a complimentary Rainmaking Coaching Session where we can discuss how to create a Rainmaking Plan, or how to take action on the one you have written, please schedule your appointment here
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