Serve or Else

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. – Stephen Covey

I haven’t been in business that long but I feel like I’ve learned what one of the main things is.  You have to serve your customers.  You have to add value and then you have to evolve with your customers so that you continue to add value.

I know it sounds super basic but I think it’s something that gets screwed up… a lot.  We get lost and forget that being in business is a privilege that’s given to us by our customers.  Without them, we all go home.

We get distracted by… how can we make a quicker profit?  We then cut quality.

In some cases, we gain popularity amongst are community of users but then take it for granted.  We see it as an entitlement and not the aforementioned privilege.

Sometimes we forget the main thing because we get distracted by shiny objects… like social media.  We see it as the easy button.  Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr.   All I need is a YouTube Channel.  That’s the answer.  *Sarcasm drips from my lips.*

Don’t start freaking out.  I’m not saying that social media isn’t important.  It’s probably one of the most important technological evolutions of the last decade.  You just have to put it into perspective.

Social media is just another tool, like the knife I use in the kitchen to chop jalapeno.  (They tasted good on my quesadilla last night. Mmmm. Nom Nom.)  Social media breaks down the wall and allows me to have that relationship with my users on a mass scale. It helps me to have that relationship with them in a more effective manner.  I can’t go knock on 100k doors tonight but I can reach 100k people on Twitter pretty easily and then listen to what they have to say.

So keep your eye on the ball.  Remember that there’s another person on the other end of the monitor who’s consuming all the things that you write or put together.   Treat them in the same that you would if they were sitting next you.

Have been thinking about this WAY too much lately.  Will post more soon…