Episode 86: Stop Buying Into the Online Business Cult of Consumption

We’ve all done it. Spent money thinking we were missing something or if we just did X, Y or Z, we’d get the magic formula. Why? Well, welcome to the cult of online consumption that tells us we’re not good enough. Today we’re talking about this cult and how to break free and be happier in your business.  

Here’s the scoop from Episode #86:

If you’ve ever listened to this show or been around us for a hot second, you know we’re superfans of keeping things simple. It’s a big reason we came up with Say NOvember in the first place – and no discussion of things we’re doing that hurt our business or hold us back in the process would be complete without talking about the hard core sell, sell, sell culture of the online market.

Now, if you’ve spent money you seriously regret, you know what we’re talking about. And we don’t want you to feel bad about it – we’ve done it. Like seriously – big time. We could give you a list of all of the “investments” we’ve made that didn’t deliver. (And honestly, there’s more that didn’t than did over the years.)

Why and How it Happens:

• Good marketing is all about persuasion. And what’s out there is that good.  The more skilled that people are at this, the easier it is to hit on the “pain points” of the customer. We write this stuff (in the ethical way of course) and we STILL get sucked in.
• We feel like we’re missing some information or knowledge that will take us to the next step.
• FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real thing. And it’s huge because clearly (it seems) our biz buds are doing it and we want to be part of the tribe.
• We get sucked into the “lifestyle” imagery and all its trappings. You know what we mean by this.
• The person selling to us has what we want (or think we want).

We’ve come to call this the online business cult of consumption.  It’s a cult because we start to mindlessly do things that aren’t necessarily in our best interests. We explain them away, but ultimately they hurt our growth.

How they Hurt our Growth:

• They mess with our values/vision. We need to be true to whatever those are to ensure that we are moving in the right direction of our goals.
• We waste time on chasing unicorns or doing things we don’t need to do.
• We pay other people instead of ourselves. Now there is a time and place where that makes sense, and we are not talking about those times. We mean just unnecessary stuff (for example a super expensive mastermind which may not be giving you what you need).
• We burn through money we shouldn’t spend. We take our savings or tax account or credit cards for something that we don’t need and will cause us more pain down the road.
• We deviate from the plan. We spend a lot of time thinking about and making that plan so we need to stick to it. If hat item was not on your plan from the beginning, and might even distract from other items on your list, do you really need it?

Your #sayNOvember homework:

Now, we’re not saying NEVER ever invest in anything again, but here are some things that can help:

• Set a budget. Put aside an amount of money you can spend guilt-free on business development. Whether that is $20 or $2000, plan for it.
• Have a list of criteria you run through before you buy. For example, accessibility is key for us so if that person isn’t accessible, we won’t be using them.
• Instituting a waiting period – trust us, this is so important!
• Having a training and development plan for what you need and when you need it.
• Avoiding “just in case” type training. If you don’t see a need for it now or in the near future, then assess whether you really need it.

Thanks so much for spending #sayNOvember with us!  We hope you have been able to reflect on what you are doing and making some changes that are right for you and your business. Especially as we are going into 2018 when all kinds of fantastical plans are being made. Figure out what you need in your business, what you need from an investment standpoint, what you can say no to, and what will get you to where you need to go.