Why You Have to Eat a Frog to Really Make It

Online marketing tools are incredibly dynamic and alluring. Especially for small business owners who recognize potential in every new trick. Each day I see a shiny new tactic – a new platform – for yelling an offer out into the world. I watch business owners jump from one new thing to the next, always in search of the one gadget or secret weapon that will take them to the next level.

But I know a secret. It’s one that most people don’t like to hear. But it’s the truth.

If you want to develop a business model and a brand that make money over the long haul, you have to eat a frog.

My great friend, Sheryl, who introduced me to marketing when I was just 21, and who still advises me on my business today, talked to me this morning about delayed gratification.

She said, “Juju, successful people do the hardest things first. You have to be willing to wait for gratification. And delayed gratification is like eating a frog. If you eat a frog every morning, then everything that happens after that – for the whole day –will be just great.”

And Sheryl is right.

There’s not a tactic in the world that makes sense without a strategy. There’s no button you can push, or video you can make, or networking platform you can join, that will automatically take you to the next level.

What will take you to the next level is strategy.

I know, it doesn’t sound very sexy. But trust me, nothing trumps strategy. Nothing.

If you have an outcome you want to achieve, take the time to sit down and figure out how you’re going to achieve it. How will you divide up and allocate your resources? How will you differentiate and communicate your offer? How will you lift yourself up from the competition? How will you add value to the lives of people who want to buy your product? How will you truly connect with prospects, so you can turn them into fans?

You won’t do it with a networking platform. You’ll do it with a strategy for using that platform.

I’ve eaten so many frogs lately, it’s amazing I still fit into my jeans.

The good news is, frogs are high in protein, and I’m going to need the extra muscle to manage my outcomes.

Are you eating the frog? Or are you starting your day with gummy worms?