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Much of my time spent coaching is egging my clients on so they get websites done, pitch new clients and test and try new products in the market.
The enemy of a new entrepreneur is endless planning and perfection.
After celebrating that they did take a serious step, I often get a slightly dejected email or deflated check-in on the next coaching call.
“I sent that email to two potential clients, but neither of them has gotten back to me yet.”
“I designed and launched the teleclass we talked about, but only one person signed up. And it was my sister.”
It is at this moment that I have to explain the 20X Rule.
The 20X Rule
In business, as well as other things in life like getting your 6-year old to pick his clothes up off the floor, you have to sow twenty times more seeds than you think realistic or necessary to make things happen.
You will set yourself up for heartbreak and mediocrity if you don’t radically adjust your expectations for the amount of outreach and connections it takes to kickstart your business.
What do you think would happen over the course of one year if:
- Instead of reaching out to one new journalist a month, you reached out to twenty?
- Instead of reaching two prospective clients a month, you reached forty?
- Instead of testing three new product ideas a year you tested sixty?
Chances are you would see some radically different results.
When I first started my newsletter eight years ago, it took me two months to write one article.
Now I crack out twenty times the content in one month and don’t even break a sweat.
If you get results faster, great.
Maybe you will have fantastic luck and with some strategic thinking will reach out to three qualified clients and book your business.
I would rather you expect to reach out to twenty and be happy it took fewer contacts than be crushed that you don’t sign up your first client the first time you reach out to them.
Entrepreneurship is a marathon. Train for it!
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If you need some help with your sales engine, you might enjoy Ethical Selling That Works.
About Pam Slim
Pamela Slim is a seasoned coach, writer and professional speaker who helps frustrated employees in corporate jobs break out and start their own business. Her blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation, is one of the top career and marketing blogs on the web. A former corporate manager and entrepreneur herself for more than a decade, she deeply understands the questions and concerns faced by first-time entrepreneurs. Her expertise in personal and business change was developed through many years consulting inside corporations such as Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab, where she coached thousands of executives, managers and employees.
Pam’s book Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur was released in Spring, 2009. Pam is frequently quoted as an expert on entrepreneurship in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Money Magazine and Psychology Today. Pam is married with three kids and lives in Mesa, Arizona.
Books by Pam Slim
Pam is the author of Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur.
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