Oct
30
How to stop being an information product slut and start creating the business you want
This is a guest post from Cath Duncan at The Bottom-line Bookclub
Be honest… how many e-books and e-courses have you bought that are languishing un-opened on your computer right now?
Search your harddrive and inbox, and you’ll probably be shocked to find e-books and e-courses that you don’t even remember buying or downloading and a membership site or two that you haven’t logged into for months. And for the few information products that you have actually read cover to cover, ask yourself, “How much of it have I actively applied?”
Why do we spend our hard-earned, precious ittybiz money and then sabotage our own efforts by not mining the value out of the information products we buy? From my own experience as an ittybiz, and chatting with other ittybz owners, I suspect it’s down to two things:
Sneaky resistance
As an ittybiz, pretty much everything is on your shoulders, so investing in your own development is crucial, but it’s easy to get stuck in perpetual research and overwhelm as you buy one course after the other in the hope that the next course will give you the information that’ll make you feel confident enough to move your business to the next level.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that investing in more training can be a sneaky form of resistance, a way to kid yourself that you’re being productive and doing something to move your business forward while you’re actually just avoiding having to do the stuff that really scares you – the stuff that would grow you and your business. Sound familiar?
Learning how to learn
Online learning has the benefits of offering much greater choice and flexibility in what, when, where and how you learn, but to get the value out of the online learning programs you buy, you need to know how to do self-directed learning.
As a perpetual learner and ittybiz in the sort of industry where it’s crucial that I invest in my own learning on an ongoing basis, I learnt the hard way that, if you’re reading too widely, and trying to take in too much information, all that information won’t make a difference because you’re too overwhelmed to know where to start using it. The real challenge of this high-information era is to know how to cut through all the noise, find the high-leverage ideas and tools and start using them to to get the results you want. My life is less stressful, my thinking so much clearer, I’m more productive, and my business is moving forward more smoothly since I learned how to do self-directed learning, and that’s why I’m helping people to do this with their personal development learning through the Bottom-line Bookclub.
So here’s how to stop collecting more information and overwhelming yourself, and start using the information products you buy to create the business and lifestyle you want:
1.) Become a sniper
As a small business with stretched resources, you’re probably busy and stressed, and not taking the time to think about what you want and need, so when it comes to investing in your development, you’re grabbing at anything and everything you can lay your hands on, in the hope that, if you learn enough or follow the latest trends, you’ll find what you need to progress your business.
Stop taking a shotgun approach and shooting in every direction in the hope that if you shoot enough bullets, you’re bound to hit something worthwhile. As an ittybiz, you can’t afford to squander your precious time or money with a shotgun approach. If you’re not using the ideas in the e-courses and membership programs you buy, you’re wasting your time and money and you’re only going to increase your frustration and stress levels as you sit further down the road with no progress and even less time and money than when you started.
So stop for a moment and get clear on what you want for your business. What direction would you like to take your business in? Decide your target and take a sniper approach, investing your time and money in just a few courses that’ll help you hit your target.
2.) Embrace Fear
At this point, if you’ve articulated your business direction and goals clearly, you’ll probably feel your anxiety soar. Fear is an indicator that you’ve gotten in touch with what’s really important to you, because you wouldn’t feel afraid if that stuff wasn’t important to you. Our minds and bodies are committed to safety and self-preservation and as soon as you step out of your comfort zone and start growing, your body generates fear to give you a heightened awareness and make you proceed with caution as you move into new and unfamiliar territory. So fear is also a confirmation that you’ve already started to grow.
If you want to be a growing, thriving ittybiz, fear will be with you everyday because you’ll be moving into new territory everyday, so make friends with your fear early on and realize that the only way to build solid skills and real confidence is through the scary step of taking action and using what you’ve learned in the real world.
2.) Program your mind
The unconscious mind hates an unanswered question. When you articulate a question, you build creative tension and your unconscious mind is compelled to search for an answer to your question. Questions also shape how we filter reality and what information we notice, so articulating clear questions will help your mind to be more efficient in paying attention to relevant information and finding the answers you need. Some people call this the law of attraction, because after articulating your question it seems like suddenly answers magically start popping up around you, but actually the only magic is that you’ve programmed your mind to look for specific types of information and so you start noticing relevant information that was always there.
Considering the direction you want to take your business in, what are the questions you have that, if answered, would allow you to take your ittybiz in the direction you want to go?
3.) Learn like you brush your teeth: everyday
If you’re anything like me, you probably have a bunch of ittybiz tasks demanding your attention each day, and it’s easy to forget about the stuff that isn’t being loud and demanding. Are you so busy putting out fires that you only focus on learning and changing when the shit hits the fan and you’re forced to do something to get yourself out of trouble? Setting aside time to proactively use the information products you buy will help you learn and grow out of inspiration, rather than desperation – a much better experience!
4.) Cultivate selective ignorance
You’ve probably heard of the Pareto principle – the idea that 80% of your results are created by 20% of your efforts, so to work smarter instead of harder, just focus on the high-leverage 20% that’ll make a difference to your results. The problem is that most people don’t know how to figure out what information is high-leverage and relevant.
Value has nothing to do with the quantity of information you got for your money and everything to do with the degree to which the information helped you to change your results. And because time is such a precious resource for an ittybiz, you’re actually getting greater value for money if you can get the changes you want more quickly with less information.
So give yourself permission to ignore most of the information and then, as you’re going through an information product, hold your business direction and questions in mind and you’ll easily be able to determine what information to prioritize and what chapters to skim over or even skip altogether.
5.) Bag the beast
You won’t change your results by just listening to an audio or skim-reading a pdf. Two ingredients are crucial to learning and the development of new skills: engagement and repetition.
To engage your mind and learn, rather than just being entertained, build some sort of capturing method your learning process. You can jot down notes as you listen to an audio, highlight the high-leverage and relevant ideas as you work through a pdf, or create a mindmap of the information that’s relevant to your business direction and questions. Capturing keeps your attention from wandering, affirms what you’re learning, allows you to easily and efficiently review and repeat your exposure to the most important information, and forms the basis for your action plan for applying the information to your own business.
6.) Get off your ass
Information isn’t valuable in and of itself. Information only becomes valuable when you use it and it helps you to get what’s important to you – better business results, good health, fulfilling relationships, reduced stress, and whatever else you want. So the most important step in successful self-directed learning is the part where you take action.
At the end of each learning session, ask yourself, “What have I learned that I can use now, to progress my business in the direction I want to go?” Write down specific action steps that you need to take to apply what you’ve learned and take your business in the direction you want to go and schedule deadlines for taking action so that you stay focused.
And then, as Naomi would say, “get off your ass” and go and do those things that scare the shit out of you so you can build real skills and confidence and take your business to the next level.
Through projects like The Bottom-line Bookclub, Cath is helping people to be more agile and to learn and change more easily and elegantly… so they can thrive in these fast-paced, high-information, high-change times. Cath blogs at Mine Your Resources and you can connect with her on Twitter.
Awesome post and something I firmly believe in. It’s much easier to buy the damn product than it is to put it into action. People think that buying=progress, but you can really end up damaging your business with that mindset.
Great post! This is all good stuff.
I would like to add the idea that sometimes you just need to find someone who speaks your “language” so that you really ‘get’ the material in those e-books and courses.
I am someone who has bought my fair share of marketing courses and e-books…and join groups that I never log into. I would half ass doing the work, or I really did not ‘get it’ so I would go through the motions and not really get anywhere.
Then I came across a few folks who really spoke my language…Naomi/IttyBiz being one of them….and suddenly it all made sense to me. I got what a USP was when it was talked about in the context of pimping out call girls. I know it is weird…but true.
It is important to find your Peeps.
It is so much easier to learn from them.
Great article.
I appreciate the metaphor of being a sniper, highly targetted, focus, patient, effective.
So often we do waste our time with e-products fooling ourselves that we’re working by skimming learning materials. Yet it’s not just those materials, it’s also the blogs, our RSS feeds, etc that divert us from getting our hands dirty and putting the work in.
Its so easy to get sucked into all the info sources out there. Your post gave me a jolt, as I hadn’t considered that my desire to learn was a form of resistance. Will use your advice to change my habits & move forward. Thanks
Huge, monstrous, awesome post.
It’d never really occurred to me that all the reading and “learning” I do could be a way to get out of taking frightening action on my business ideas, while fooling myself into thinking I was “working.”
Actually, that might explain a lot. To the implementing cave!
Thanks for this.
Cath -
This is so timely for me… and completely accurate. As a test, I did go into my computer files and DID find some e-books that I didn’t remember! Oh. My.
Like Jeff stated above… this explains a lot. When I get into ‘fact finding’ mode instead of my normal ‘quick start mode,’ it is so obvious now that I’m resisting fear. Thanks!
Jennifer
And if you totaled up what you paid for that stuff you haven’t read or used… how much does that hurt?
Busted.
Great ideas, Cath, for how NOT to keep making the same mistakes. That is your genius.
Thanks!
I figure so long as you and me are making new mistakes, and not repeating the old ones… well that’s as good as it gets, huh?
Hey guys!
It has recently come to my attention — via (shock! awe!) reading my email — that Cath is off at a coffee shop giving herself a much needed night off. That means she has no idea we ran this today. So if she doesn’t get back to y’all, it’s not because she’s a bitch.
Which she totally is, by the way. I also happen to have screwed up.
@Nathan: Spot on – buying a new course (or gadget) can feel like you’re progressing your business, and of course sometimes you are. But a lot of the time, especially as an ittybiz where one person often makes purchases unilaterally, it can be really easy to fool yourself that you need some more information or some more equipment before you can put your thing out there. Sneaky resistance!
@Leah: I’m with you on the voice/ style thing – it’s one of the reasons why I think there’s still a lot more space for new players in most niches. Particularly in the personal development niche, we’re all pretty much saying the same thing, just in different voices. (And I guess that’s why it’s so important that you be your own voice, rather than trying to copy other popular voices – it makes it easier for your peeps to find you!)
@Carl: yes! The principles apply just as much to consuming free content. Being indiscriminate about the free content you consume can be even worse in fact!
@Jo: you go boy! Nicely said.
@Jeff: resistance is a very sneaky beast! Now that you’re aware of it’s sneaky tactics, watch and notice as it tries it’s tricks and next time you can just smile and say, “Ah, I know this old trick… doesn’t work anymore, buddy. So let’s just stop playing these games and get down to business…”
@Naomi: LOL! Clearly I’ve been busted – apparently I have problems taking the day off. Charlie Gilkey’s gonna give me words…
Ouch! Did you HAVE to kick me in the shins that hard, Cath!? I’ve never done any of those things you claim .. ok so I have. In fact, I’m sitting on $300 of investment in ittybiz as I type – a consult + Marketing School which I haven’t even opened yet. That’s cos the cat got it first…
Ok. Ok.
Commitments:
1) Bite the bullet and send my ittybiz consult form to Naomi by TONIGHT.
2) Crack open Marketing School on Monday as I’m recovering from Halloween.
3) Gulp!!
Tia @TiaSparkles
You’re in big trouble, missus.
Actually, no. You’re not. Well, maybe with Cath, but not with me. You have NO IDEA how many people buy consulting and I never hear from them again. I email them to follow up and they tell me they’re gonna save it.
When I am dead and in heaven, I’m gonna have a lot of consults to do.
Hahaha no way, not me. I want you while your teeth are sharp and you can still bite hard enough to draw blood and not have to live on a liquid diet.
Just made it official on my blog http://www.coachtia.com/experimentia-2009/100-things-im-scared-to-do/ I’m all over it like a fat kid on cake sista!
Ooh, that takes guts, Tia! Now we’re all watching, there’s no pulling out…
Done and sitting in Naomi`s inbox :) What I really like about me is that if I commit to something, esp publically, I just freakin DO it. 98% of the time. That`s why I don`t commit to a whole lot.. Ha! Ha Ha
Good gracious! It never even occurred to me that I could “save” my consult for some as yet undetermined later date. Why oh why did I have to learn that with my deadlines looming and my consulting time just a couple of weeks away. I’m liable to join the list of savers.
Okay, deep breath. I will now go re-read this post and resolve to stick to my consulting appointment.
Phew!
(Cath – great post! I saw myself entirely too much in it. Good kick in the pants!)
I can’t comment. I’d be enabling you. [commence stage whisper] But if you want to wait, you can wait. I won’t tell. Well, I’ll tell the blog so we can all laugh and point. But other than that, I’ll totally not tell.
Well, if I end up letting it slide a bit, it will only be because of crazy looming customer deadline (that falls almost on the exact same date – yikes!)
But no way am I going to allow it to go to an indefinite holding pattern. That’s just crazy talk.
You are welcome to laugh and point if you want to no matter what. I’m used to it!
Hey, I heard that!
This is the good fairy on your other shoulder… don’t be listening to that evil whisper.
Seriously, how long is a consult? Surely an hour of input/ business nurturing/ brainstorming/ looking at the big picture/ re-visioning and all that good stuff Naomi offers isn’t much compared to all that output you’ll be doing for your clients, to meet deadlines?
Maybe I should write a post next, for all the people who spend too much time on action/production and neglect the little bit of stepping back/reflection/consumption we all need. Both are important.
For me it isn’t the time of the consult itself, it is the prep time. I don’t want to do it unprepared. I want to make sure I’ve thought through my questions and that I’m making good use of that time for both Naomi and me.
But you are right – taking the time to do strategic planning for my business is something I always put off (hence my interest in this post!) So I definitely want to push myself to follow through.
Still, I can give myself a tiny, tiny bit of grace if it doesn’t happen. Right now is the busiest I have EVER been in 6 and half years of business. So it isn’t entirely about the resistance.
Then again, why would you believe me? I obviously have time to comment on blog posts?!!!
Can I just say every time I come to the new and beautiful IttyBiz.com site, I’m just blown away by how much I love it!
There must be something about being named Naomi that makes people totally awesome.
Good job – clearly you’re doing lots right, business is growing…
and… that thing you said about having time to comment on blogs… um, yeah, well… you said it :)
Maybe it’s time to strategize on how to manage that growth (and create the scaffolding that would allow you to handle further growth. If you’ve hit full capacity now, on some level you’ll start limiting any further growth.)
Buying an information product gives you a rush. It feels like you’re making progress and taking action, but we all know that’s not always the case.
That’s not to say they can’t be incredibly valuable to the success of your ittybiz, it’s just important to know when the time has arrived to put the wallet away (for a while) and start learning by DOING.
I heard a good tip about get the most out of info products and that was to keep a separate page to record action items as they come to you when you’re going through the product. And then actually doing them of course.
yup, Mark, bag the beast!
Yeah, i fond there are many ebook that i do not know that i have it. I hope that I can optimizing my online learning after do what this article told.
Dana, here’s some extra motivation to light your fire: total up what you spent on those ebooks, just to make it hurt a little more and keep you on track with this commitment.
Touche, Cath. Wonderful post, and I love reading all the comments.
I’ve got my spade and am down in the ditches. After all the great e-learning (as so much of it is), ’tis time to listen to one’s own True Voice. And cultivate. Sow seeds. Get the hell out of the way of the sunshine, keep pulling the weeds. All those good metaphors of growth.
Cheers. Keep on rockin’ us!
Thanks, Maura, glad you enjoyed it…
now keep digging! (oops, the bitch slipped out there, I guess…)
Yesssss! Actually things started happening in my ittybiz ONLY when I stopped buying and trying to “learn everything” from info products. Seriously!
My personal opinion is that coaching or accountability will get you much more in terms of results. Because it lights a fire under your bum. Like totally! :)
I do love the idea of keeping in the “know” and getting the best 20%, while leaving the rest. And taking notes & action items is totally important to me. I don’t do it nearly often enough though.
Awesome post, I love you lovely (no such thing as a bitch here) ladies a lot! :)
For most people coaching does usually get better results. It’s probably partly because of the accountability, but also because good coaches will be guiding you through doing each of these steps with your learning – figuring out what’s important, dealing with your fears and resistance, asking smart questions, capturing the important ideas and action tasks, committing to plans and action you’ll take,and so on. And a good coach will spot resistance from a mile away and call you on it too!
Thanks for the love – right back atcha!
Great Post!
In our information overloaded world, I think we all get into a skim mentality and pay little attention to the things we read. Many of us don’t even really listen to the people we are talking to.
Engagement and Repetition are everything!
Yeah, the skim mentality is bad news if you’re skimming without a clear direction or set of questions and not taking it any further (which is how most people skim, especially online).
I actually think it’s useful to skim first (with a clear direction and questions of course), decide what’s worth the further investment (looking for that high-leverage 20%) and then do the engagement and repetition with that 20%. There’s just too much information these days to be fully engaged with it all, all the time the time. And frankly, some of it you don’t really want to internalize – it’s not good for you! (like the information in most newspapers)
Thanks Cath!
I’m a little biz and regularly feel like a frightened bunny caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Embracing fear rang true with me. As well as the frustration of testing and learning and trying things by trial and error – there ain’t no answers anywhere. The fact is that we are finding our own way in this world and our business is as unique as us. We need to figure things out for ourselves. It ain’t easy! Thanks!!
Sandi, you’re right – there isn’t a manual out there that applies to everyone’s businesses.We all have different business directions and questions, and that’s why good self-directed learning isn’t a passive thing where you buy the information, absorb it and you’re done. It needs to be active and reflective.
All the best with your little biz!
You’ve nailed this one for me. Since last October I’ve spent literally thousands of dollars on ebooks, online courses, online webinars, membership sites, etc. Some I’ve read in full (Naomi’s Online Business School which was great) and some I’ve never even looked at after I paid for it (Teaching Sells) and many that I’ve sort of dipped a toe into and decided I needed to: 1. have more time 2. have fewer distractions 3. have more coffee 4. wash my cat – before I could attempt. Every excuse in the book.
Thanks for the wake up call on this. Can you come here and kick my ass and then point a gun at me so I’ll stop making excuses and just do it?
All those excuses… that’s resistance and fear. I know it can seem like strong ass-kicking and gun-toting is required, but my experience of resistance and fear is that it can’t be overcome with force. The resistance is coming from a part of yourself, and if you fight yourself, someone’s going to lose… and it’s going to be you.
So just watch those resistance thoughts and excuses with an attitude of curiosity and humor and accept them when they arrive, but be clear that you’re going ahead with taking action, in spite of their objections. The curiosity and humor bit are the important part of dissolving resistance!
I’m tired and hungover on Zyrtec, so this may look rambly.
This has been a helpful post. So many times I’ve been caught on the hook of scarcity tactic (“may not offer it again when I’m really ready for it” or “I’ll get it and get started on it later” strategy only to have it slip through the cracks.)
Still, I’m finding those “mistake” purchases useful because I see what resonates with me (the programs I dive in and do) and what doesn’t (the ones that wait in the “round-tuit” file.)
I think the mistake purchases have made me a smarter (and more selective) buyer. I hope. And this post will help.
Rhonda, I think you’re spot on that sometimes when we aren’t clear on our business direction and questions, we can tend to grab at anything out there and then we buy the stuff that uses hype and scarcity, regardless of whether or not it’s right for us. So having a clear business direction and questions can help prevent impulse buying.
But more importantly, most programs being sold out there have some value of some sort, and so many people are buying programs, skimming them (if they open them at all) and not mining the value out of them. Getting the value is an active process. You might be surprised at the value you get out of the programs you’ve already bought, if you go over them again, using these self-directed learning tips (after you’ve caught up on some sleep and overcome the Zyrtec hangover, so you can think clearly, of course!)
Big thanks, Naomi, for the opportunity to guest post here at Ittybiz and hang out with your smart, entertaining, big-hearted, thoughtful and courageous tribe of peeps :)
Cath,
I loved your post. Currently I am even resisting buying books and e-courses, let alone resisting learning from them. What do you call that? :-)
Thank you for this post! I admit I am one who buys the next best thing that’s going to help me get moving. Thanks for the kick in the butt.
Thanks for the kick in the ass.
Ouch…hurts so good.
Wonderful post!
General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”
That’s what motivated me to get off my ass and lose 40lbs in 2 months. And to start a blog to document my journey.
Life is too short to be still!
My mouth was literally hanging open as I read this. Now, I know this information-gathering-action-avoiding disorder is common, but the way in which you described it was so spot-on that it gave me a chill.
I am a tragic offender in this department, and I have realized recently that my reasons for doing this have changed a bit. For a long time, it truly was out of a thirst for knowledge and really getting excited about so many different people’s approaches. But lately, I’ve felt that panicky “left-behind” feeling — like, “OMG I’ve got to get THIS course or listen to THIS call or read THIS blog post, or there will be some crucial, valuable piece of information I miss that I reaaalllly reaaalllly need for my business to EVER succeed, and everybody else knows this stuff but me, and I’ll never catch up, and HELP!!!” My coach self knows this is ludicrous, but I’ve had to do a lot of self-coaching around this! And this post helps tremendously. Thank you!
I have been through this before and there are a few key steps I took:
1. Evaluated my hangouts: I was a part of several forums and memberships. If I couldn’t think of something I had implemented in the last 30 days from a site, I canceled my membership. Online moves way to fast and if I’m not getting and using something in 30 days its not worth my time.
2. Emptied my feedreader: This one hurt. I went from several hundred feeds to a svelt 24. I did this by looking at what I really needed to consume info-wise and kept it. My 30 day rule also applies here.
3. Ended my searching: I realized after cleaning up my flow of information, I have more than enough quality information (free and paid) to get where I want to go.
I have more time to actually get things done now and I can actually process information, evaluate its relevancy for me and make implementation decisions.
After that, its all about action.