My precocious Black Lab mix, Eddie, can be a handful. With his deep chocolate eyes, he stares into your soul thinking he can make you give him a treat or rub his belly. OK, truth be told, it usually works.
But we have him fairly well-trained. One of the things we did with him immediately upon adopting him from the shelter was take control of the walk. This invoves keeping him on a short leash, always on our left side, until it becomes second-nature. It took weeks – and a sore shoulder on my part from all his yanking – before the behavior became habit. For all his flaws, people often marvel at how well he walks with us, not leading us around like many a dog you see (PS, this is bad dominant behvior, according to The Dog Whisperer, who is like a God in our house)
The thing with being well-trained is that Eddie always wants to be on your left side. If for some reason you need him on your right side for a minute to adjust a shoelace or get the mail, he gets very confused. He’ll actually stop whatever he’s doing and make his way back over to your left. The left is safe. He knows the left. He doesn’t care about what he might be missing on the right-hand side. It’s just how things are supposed to be in his world.
What are you doing in your business that keeps you on the left-hand side? Are you doing things because that’s all you know, or because “that’s what we’ve always done” or because you’re scared to rock the boat? Thinking that way may keep you safe, but it almost never leads to innovation, growth and exploration.
On August 15, I’m launching some new offerings and slightly changing my business model. Is it scary? Hell yeah. But it’s also something exciting and focuses me more on the work I love to do. That is a risk worth taking. Like my friend serial entrepreneur Melody Biringer talks about in her book, sometimes you just gotta “flip it” to improve it.
What one “sacred cow” can you “tip” to change things up and bring some innovation and change to your business? Share it in the Comments and get some Link Love!
