Not Far from the Tree

A Guide to Using Personality To Build Your Business

January 9, 2009

Issue # 9

Why I Took Time to Write this Article

So here it is the first part of January. I've Christmas shopped. I've had family time and Christmas parties. I even took a couple days off somewhere in there. I traveled to Phoenix in a car with my wife and three children (insanity). I went to a party for my wife's grandmother's 80th birthday. I went to a family brunch the next morning (exhausting). I drove home from Phoenix with my wife and three kids (more insanity). I found out some stuff was stolen from my garage right before Christmas, but we didn't notice it until we pulled back into the garage after getting home. So that stuff is gone forever. My wife got sick, my son got sick, my middle daughter got sick, and I got sick. Then we got better. The kids had to go back to school. And I've shoehorned in time to get back to the gym after the annual holiday binge.

In other words, life is happening.

But let's pile on a little more. On Monday, the work wall hit. I started feeling the post-holiday time pinch. I've got four active projects, all due this week (two down, two to go). I'm getting calls from potential clients asking if I can meet them this week (I can't). I'm working to build a membership site to teach people how to write a newsletter with Michael Katz over at Blue Penguin Development. We are trying to launch in three weeks (gasp!), so that's a hard deadline I'm staring at. I've got an appointment I need to get to in an hour. I've got an appointment with a client Monday. I've got questions, queries, miscellaneous and extraneous issues to deal with. And my wife is sick again.

In other words, work is happening.

Amidst all of the chaos, here I sit writing this eNewslettter article. Even though it means my day will be longer in order to finish the projects I'm working on, here I sit. Even though I'm not making progress on the site I'm launching in three short weeks (gasp again!), here I sit. Even though I can't help compulsively checking my email every few minutes to see what else has come up, here I sit.

Why am I doing this? Why am I putting everything aside to work on my eNewsletter?

Because relationships are the engine that drives my business. And eNewsletters are the most cost-effective, least time-consuming, and simply the best relationship-building tool I can use in my business. With an eNewsletter, I can stay in touch with the people I already know while letting people I don't know get to know me. I can connect with people who like my voice and weed out the people who will never want to work with me.

Bottom Line: My eNewsletter is the single most important thing I can do this week. I know you are in the same boat.There is nothing unusual about any of the life and work things I've related above. But if you've got an eNewsletter, don't neglect this important business-driving tool. And if you don't have one, maybe it's time for you to look at this incredible business tool.