I am embarrassed to admit that for years I was the quintessential shiny object seeker. A real sucker for an expertly crafted sales letter and a perfect offer. A marketer’s dream if you will. As I read the letter (or watched the video) I would immediately feel like I had found exactly what my business was missing and I would whip out my credit card and make a purchase. Usually this was just 20 or 3o dollars, but sometimes with upsells. it could be over 100 dollars at a time. I repeated this exercise a few times per week on average.
The process was always the same. I would make the purchase all excited to learn the new skill or how to use the new software and I would spend the better part of a day getting it all implemented, only to see something else the next day that made more sense and was going to make me even more money and abandoning the product before I even gave it a chance. I was like a hamster on a wheel. Going full speed but getting nowhere. Einstein was right by saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I am sure that some of these products had value and somewhere there is a laptop with about 5000 dollars worth of products that were added to my hard drive and are now collecting dust. I had a problem for sure and thankfully I got off that wheel.
I still get bombarded every day with offers to try new products, new programs, new software, etc. It can be maddening sometimes. I am able to tune out most of it each day and focus on what I am working towards and not let distractions get in the way. Remembering that every action we take is either bringing us closer to our goals or further away. Therefore, I now evaluate each new item as to how it will impact my current business focus and will only purchase something that will truly add value and not something that will distract me from my goals.
I still purchase a fair number of products but these are primarily Private Label Rights products (which I know I can offer as bonuses for my own products or standalone product recommendations) or software products that will save me time. I also invest in training programs for things that I am not an expert in and trying to improve myself (things like product development, copywriting and traffic generation). Outsourcing these skills is very costly and I like having control over my own business and not relying on others to deliver (although I am all for outsourcing tasks that others can do quicker and cheaper).
The one thing that has allowed me to stay laser focused and cut out the distractions to my success is following a step-by-step process that keeps me on track and always progressing to my goals. Without this I would fall prey to the tempting offers that are not critical to my business and sabotage my success.
I was able to get off that hamster wheel and you can too. You just need the right plan.
To your success,
Chuck Abbott
P.S. Are you a shiny object seeker or a former seeker. Please share your story.
