Auto Repair Shop Owner's Daily Dose 11: Stay Present

Have the Presence to Stay Present By Rick White, President 180BIZ

The first thing I'm going to talk about is what happens when something big happens around us. The very first thing we do is step back and watch it.  We do that because our brain is interpreting and trying to determine whether it's a threat or not. So, we tend to step back, and we watch what's going on. A lot of people are doing that right now. They're stepping back, they're waiting for it to go away. When they do that, things are happening to them. They’ve become a victim and they're living smaller than they could. They are simply staring at the problem.

That reaction doesn’t work for me. You see, every day we have choices. Yesterday I talked about whether we're going to consume or feed. Are we going to spend time or are we going to invest time? Are we going to grow through this or are we just going to escape?

You have to make a choice every day to show up and be either proactive or reactive. When you're reactive, you're stepping away. You are playing the victim. You are waiting for an external circumstance to change. You think you can't do anything in your life until it changes.  That is blatantly untrue.

Those that step up now and are proactive understand that leaders are ordinary people that step up in times of crisis. I want you to be one of those leaders in your market. It doesn't mean doing stupid stuff. It doesn't mean putting yourself in harm's way. It means STEP UP! It means SEEING A BETTER FUTURE. It means DOING A BETTER JOB.

I am to the point now where I'm wearing a mask. If I go anywhere where people are present, I wear a mask.  I wear gloves and I wipe things down with Lysol. That’s just the way it is. When I go to the UPS store, people laugh at me. I don't care. If this virus gets really bad here, I am protecting myself.  I am protecting my family. I am protecting my mother-in-law.  I want these people in my lives and I will do whatever necessary to make that happen regardless of what you think. I am being proactive. I am willing to get out and do a video every morning to be proactive. I am stepping up.

We are growing. We are pushing through. I want you to watch our Facebook page because we will be announcing online management training that you can attend absolutely free. The training will be anywhere from one to three-hour courses just like you are in the classroom. You can sit down and go through the class and you can still use your time to learn, grow, and get better.

For the people that are being reactive, they are getting smaller and waiting for it to get better. I saw a whole bunch of people do that during the last time we had a crisis. It was our recession.  Most of them are not in business anymore. You must step up. You must be proactive and be that bright light. If you do, you’ll grow your market share. And when this is over and all your competitors are starting to get busy again, your business will take off because you had the presence to stay present and step out. You have to actively make a choice every day to either be proactive or reactive. To either invest or spend time. Step up, be confident. You got this. I believe in you. If you need help, please reach out.

Please share this video. People need to hear this message and I want to help them. Please help me help them.

Now here's your tip for the day.  Yesterday, we talked about posting videos on your Facebook page. I'm telling you; they do make a difference. Get out there and do videos. Also, start putting some contests out there.  Get the kids involved. So one of the things that I suggested to our coaching clients is a Lego contest. Have the kids take pictures of what they build and post it. And then if you have kids or grandkids, let them be the judges. Which one's the best one? It'll be fun. It'll be awesome. People love it. One of my clients tagged the local PTA page. And by doing that, their post got 700-800 views in under 24 hours. And they got lots of comments about people appreciating it.  So, my tip for today is to run a contest every week. Just have fun with it. If you need some ideas, reach out. I'd be happy to help you with that.

So, for today, are you going to be proactive and step up or you're going to be reactive?  If you're going to be proactive, here’s another tip. I have a methodology that I call FIVE to THRIVE. It’s very simple. Write down the five things that you need to do right now to move your business forward.

And by doing that FIVE to THRIVE, you are going to be able to say, “Okay, I'm going to be proactive. I'm going to do it, and here are the things I'm going to work on.”  So, you don't have to use any brain cells sitting there trying to figure out what you're going to do. So, pick the five things that you’ll do.

But how do you pick the five things? I'm going to give you a real quick question. If I were to step into your business right now and take it over, what are the five things I will do to make a difference in your business right now? I have done this with clients and they easily come up with the answers. Whatever you write down, do those things. Those are your FIVE to THRIVE.

Run contests and proactive. Let's make a difference. God bless.