Pat and Lorna Shanks

There is a river… the Athabasca River… that flows through the Rocky Mountains which is perfect for rafting. Churning rapids or a calm steady flow, it has it all. And thus we, and a few of our friends, were inspired to take a couple of inflatable “canoes” down the river for an afternoon adventure. And oh, what an adventure it was to be.

When we first got in the river the canoe took on water; and being in the mountains, it felt like having a few buckets of ice thrown on us. However, after the initial shock we got used to it… kind of like sitting in a bathtub full of warm water. The first section of the river we went down was laden with rapids… quite an exciting ride to say the least. When it calmed down a bit, we decided to stop off on a small island to dump our bath water and continue the trip.

By this time we were in a full-fledged race against each other to see who could get to our landing point first. So dumping the water and getting back into the river was something we wanted to do very quickly. And that is how Pat got left out of the canoe. The other person in our raft was so determined to win that he took off before Pat could get in.

So here we have it… two people paddling like heck and Pat hanging on the back floating down the river. To this very day Lorna cannot understand how he could stay in that frigid water for so long.

We made it! We’re at the landing point. So… Lorna decides to jump out and help pull the canoe to shore. Swoosh!! Down she goes! And remember, this water feels like an ice bath. She didn’t realize the water was still very deep there; and after splashing around in a panic for a bit (and almost drowning), she manages to collect herself enough to swim to shore. Meanwhile, Pat has calmly swam over to shore from his position at the back of the canoe.

Two very different approaches to getting out of the water.

Think about it… we all have choices, different approaches we can take to almost anything in our lives. Even on how we approach our business.

We can jump in… just go for it when we have the basics set up, or we can take our time and have more of our systems in place before we begin.

By just jumping in when you have a couple of things in place, you can grow your business while you work on it. No need to be perfect… put something of value together for your customers and prospects and promote it to your target market. Doing it this way is counter-intuitive to the perfectionists… and yet perhaps just what they need. This method works well as long as corrections are made as you go along. The process is like this: get some feedback, correct and move forward (repeat).

Of course there is the other side of the coin… get the sites up and working, the systems in place, a few products to sell and then get out there and promote it. Still a great way to go… however the tendency in this situation is to keep working on the systems and the sites, and the business never gets going. Just be sure if you start your business the slow and steady way that at some point you get in the game.

So now we’re curious…
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Remember there are different approaches to everything. So do what feels right for you… jump right in or move along slow and steady… either way, we’ll see you online!

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