It only takes a little.

This weekend the “experts” announced that this was the hottest summer ever. We broke the record by 3 or 4 degrees. When elections are won, they’re often won by just 3 or 4 percentage points. When recessions happen, it because 5 or 6% more people than normal lose their jobs. When I turn the air conditioning up to lower the temperature at the office an additional 2 degrees, I hear chattering in the studio.

It seems that when HUGE things happen, it’s usually just a little change that causes it.

Most people assume that in order to reap huge changes in an organization, they must make huge changes. Wrong.

So, what are some small changes that will make dynamic and important positive results? Here are 3 that come to mind:

1. Set Goals. Stop what you’re doing right now and decide what’s important for you. Think short or medium -term. Then, decide what needs to be done today in order to move closer to the results you want. Prioritize them. Estimate how long each task will take and then start from the most important and add the time up. Stop when you reach the amount of time left in your day. This process should only take 15 minutes. But you’ll get them done. And you’ll accomplish more strategically. I promise.
2. Hire Marketing Professionals. Sounds self serving, but in the long run, professionals do things faster and better than you can. We keep up-to-date and we have to be good (that’s how we keep our businesses open!) We’re worth it. If you don’t think you can afford us, call me and tell us your budget. Almost always, we can work with it. We’ll be able to move you closer to your goals and create stages that can be accomplished as budgets increase or become available.
3. Read your Website (with an eraser in hand; ok, the delete key). Go ahead, open your URL and with a stopwatch in hand, start reading 10 seconds worth. It’s all that the average person reads. Then start editing. Keep the important stuff, trash the rest. Use bullets for emphasis. More people will like your website and stay longer.

So many more come to mind (and I’m sure some come to your mind too). If you think about small tasks, it’s not so overwhelming. Start them today. Do 1 a day, or 1 a week. Just start them and before you know it, you’ll see huge impacts in your company.