Impulsive Behavior vs A Plan

Personal

In various parts of our lives we can see where impulsive behavior can get you into trouble.

One of the first things we learn about money as a child is having to wait for something until we can afford it. Most parents even teach their children how to save and plan for purchases.

However, too many people discover credit cards and often get themselves in financial trouble from needing immediate gratification.

Another area of our lives we also tend to satisfy immediately is our mouths. Too many of us have over indulged with our wants for food rather than what we need to remain healthy.

Marketing

I have watched many people just react to opportunities to market their business. This is really the equivalent of over indulgence.

Just like money and food we need a plan for our marketing endeavors.

If you have worked out your plan for your business, then you have worked through the criteria for what you will do for marketing.

You may have chosen for budget reasons not to mail a postcard to everyone of your contacts, but rather target a certain smaller segment of your contacts with postcards.

Now if a great opportunity arrises for the person with a marketing plan they can easily weigh this opportunity against their plan. Sometimes you may have a great opportunity that you know you shouldn't pass up.

The key to knowing if it is a great opportunity is you have a plan to use for comparison.

What I learned from Teaching

I earned my masters in communication through the education department. Due to being in that department I was required to take education courses. These proved to be the most valuable to me in my studies.

One thing I learned about lesson plans and teaching, is when you have a clear objective you can easily know when someone asks a question how to turn that divergence into a teaching moment.

The Socratic method is teaching by asking the student questions and letting them pull upon their life experiences to help them discover new concepts. If the teacher has a good objective in place then they can easily navigate the dialogue and direct the process.

However, if you are not sure what the objective is and just know you need to cover these steps, then you cannot teach by Socratic method. You will want just the answer as specific as possible. This will only frustrate the student and you as the teacher.

Vision

By knowing where you want to take your business you can develop a solid business plan. Part of that plan will be how you plan to market yourself.

Just like you must eat everyday, so too must you have a marketing plan that is active and not just occasionally done or your company will die just as you would if you didn't eat regularly.

Plan our your marketing just like you do your diet and checkbook.  Then and only then will you recognize an "opportunity."

Once you have a plan, work the plan and success will most likely follow.