Are you too smart for your own good?
NOTE: this post is only for smart people. If you’re dumb, you can skip it.
You’ve seen em. I know you have. Dumb bloggers. I don’t mean this rudely, but there are dumb bloggers out there who are more successful than YOU, and sometimes it’s hard to understand why. What an important topic to discuss. It’s important because it’s easy to get discouraged sometimes. It’s unavoidable on occasion, but as a smart blogger you need to keep this to a minimum.
So what’s a “dumb blogger”? It’s easy really. Their content is fine, but it’s not awesome. It certainly isn’t as good as yours. You KNOW your ideas are just as good if not better than theirs. Perhaps you’ve noticed typos throughout their site. Their SEO is a mess. And yet…and yet, traffic comes to them in droves. They get tons of orders, and their numbers seem to grow every month.
Meanwhile, you struggle. You’re smart. Your blog is awesome, but it’s still not getting the results you think it should. What gives?
Two problems
There are two problems with this paradigm that are worth addressing:
- Stop comparing yourself to others. Yeah this has been said before, but we keep falling victim to this age old trap, don’t we? Here’s the truth, as simple as it may be: If you’re in an authentic niche that fits your competencies, and you can truly give value to your customers, you have no need to worry about competition, because there isn’t any. There’s a difference between learning from your peers and stressing about minutia. Make sure not to cross the line. Otherwise you’re going to drive yourself crazy. Every business is unique, and as such every path to success is unique. If you’re simply trying to copy someone else, your customers will be better served if you simply refer them all to the person you’re trying to copy. They’re the original after all, correct? Doing your own thing is not only scary and lonely at times, it’s mandatory if you’re truly out to help your customers as best you can.
- You are likely too smart for your own good. This point is the foundation of today’s post. There is a crucial element that almost all successful blogs possess that many smart bloggers don’t notice. That element is this: successful blogs Swing the Axe, and it’s quite possible…it just may be the case…that you don’t.
Swinging the Axe
What does it mean to Swing the Axe, you say? I’m glad you asked. Abraham Lincoln said “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Smart guy. Most of us think of this as a lesson on the value of preparation, and in thinking this we miss the point completely. Let’s assume in this scenario that success equals one fallen tree. Two things must happen:
- Sharpen the Axe
- Swing the Axe
As mundane as it may sound…you must complete BOTH steps in order to drop the tree in question. Do only step one, and you end up with one awesomely sharp axe, and one perfectly intact tree. Failure. Do only step two, and you can swing until you’re blue in the face and possibly never get the job done. A sharpened axe does the job so much more quickly, no?
As complex as my analogy is, I bet you can see where I’m going with this. I’m a big fan of education. It keeps you sharp, doesn’t it? But what good is a super sharp axe if it just sits there?
The Super Sharp Blog Problem
At this point, I’m making some assumptions, so I’ll let you in on what they are. I’m assuming that you’re smart, that your blog is sharp (i.e. Awesome) and that your blog is not getting the results you desire. I mean, otherwise, why are you still reading this? 
Of course if your blog isn’t awesome, you should make it awesome. First things first, correct? But let’s be honest…awesome doesn’t always cut it. In the real world, just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. Sometimes awesome blogs just sit there. It’s a shame, but it happens every day. That’s the issue we’re addressing today.
So why do Super Sharp Blogs sometimes just sit there? The bloggers behind them are smart. Perhaps that’s the problem. Smart people tend to use their brains a lot. But it doesn’t take a lot of brains to Swing the Axe, does it? It’s just hard work. Really simple. But that’s why it gets overlooked.
Smart bloggers often want to continue with the sharpening. They want to get more and more educated. Sharper and sharper. Razor sharp. And when the results don’t come, they look for yet another way to exercise their brain. They look for a new system. They look for a new tool. Something else to sharpen. And of course with all this sharpening going on, there is no time for Axe Swinging. It’s madness really, but it’s understandable. After all, how could something as simple as Swinging the Axe bring about meaningful results? It’s so simple really. And yet…and yet, it’s an essential step.
Are You Stuck in Education Mode?
I’ll drop the Axe analogy for a second, as I’m sure we’re on the same page by now. Let’s get right to the guts of the matter. A lot of us get stuck in education mode. Education is awesome, but “education mode” sucks. It keeps us from actually executing what we’ve learned.
How many times have you looked into buying a new system or education product to get your business to the next level, without having first fully executed on the LAST system or education product you bought last month?
A lot of us keep looking to education, training, products and systems for the answers, but sometimes, just sometimes the answer is a bit more sweaty than we’d like it to be. Sometimes what your business needs is just plain hard work. Boring hard work. Stay up late working instead of going out to the bar hard work.
Remember success requires BOTH. You have to be sharp. You ALSO have to Swing the Axe. You have to do the grunt work.
Lesson from the Trenches
The bulk of my internet marketing experience has come from the real estate niche. I generate leads via niche sites, and I then refer them out to a team of agents who stand at the ready. We have a lot of awesomeness in place to generate tons of leads, but that doesn’t actually sell anything. It just gets people into the sales funnel. We have even more awesomeness in place to keep potential clients happy and informed while they conduct their own research. That also, doesn’t actually close any deals. It just KEEPS people in the sales funnel.
But after all I’ve done to pull in leads and keep them happy, when a potential buyer wants to meet to actually see a house and begin the all important commission-earning buying process, there is a critical time frame that makes all the difference. When I first started, our average response time to inquiries was about 48 hours. Deplorable, but I didn’t know it at the time. When we decreased that follow up time to 24 hours, our sales doubled. Then we cut that response time down to a few hours. Now we’re getting better and pushing for an average follow up time of 15 minutes. Here’s the key: every time we’ve gotten faster, sales have increased. This has taught me a very important principle.
Opportunity is Dynamic
Good ole Axe Swinging pays a higher ROI than any of the latest and greatest "proven systems" available.
Our sales have doubled and increased significantly from there…all with no increase in traffic. All with no increase in the number of incoming leads. Only one ingredient has been added to the mix. Axe Swinging. Ya feel me? At the end of the day, people buy from people they like.
It just so happens that people are WAY more likely to like you and do business with you…if you’re willing to bust ass for them.
I’ve had the good fortune of knowing and hanging with top performers in many different industries, from all over the place. There is one commonality they all share. They bust ass. Every single one of them. No matter how smart they are, they’re willing to shut off their brain and Swing the Axe. Not just sometimes, but daily. Ruthlessly.
This is what I’ve witnessed. You get out what you put in, and after a certain point education starts paying a highly diminished return. At that point blood, sweat and tears offer the biggest ROI. Unfortunately, this is where most smart bloggers quit. I hope you don’t do that.
It is this dynamic nature of opportunity which leads me to believe that pure hustle simply cannot be divorced from success in business. I know there’s a million dudes out there selling courses on how to make bazillions on autopilot, but what I see is this: even the author of the Four Hour Work Week busts ass, so who am I to think I shouldn’t have to?
You may be thinking you already work hard, so what the heck am I doing telling you to hustle. You’re ALREADY working hard. But don’t confuse hard work with Axe Swinging. Not all hard work is Axe Swinging. Axe Swinging is in fact a very specific, targeted form of hard work, and every business has it’s own version. Unfortunately I can’t tell you what specific element you’re missing without sitting down and talking with you. But if you’re awesome and still not getting results, I guarantee you’re not Axe Swinging. There are only two steps, remember? Sharpen, then Swing.
What is Axe Swinging in YOUR business? In other words, what is the number one most effective, essential task that brings in results? Is it prospecting? Is it workshops or seminars? Is it fast lead follow-up as I mentioned in my own example earlier? Here’s a hint, it’s probably boring, intimidating, hard work or all of the above. What is the Axe in your business that is sharp as hell but still sitting still?
