Once again I reverted to my comfort zone - create, write, get ready - my favorite part. But what happened to "doing?" Are you all prep and no action?

Preparation

I love to make things up. I plan, I write, I design. But I'm not a natural networker - not by a long shot. So I got called on it the other day in my mastermind group and realized I had to play a trick on myself so I could balance my prep time with my reaching out to others time which must be my action steps,

It was hard at first. How can I give a teleclass if I don't write it? How can I make money from an ebook if I don't create it? How can I attract people to a group coaching program without writing a sales page and sending out emails to invite them to it? I can't but because that's easy for me, because it's something I love to do, I neglect the part I'm not very comfortable with - networking with real people in a real conversation. Reaching out 1:1 to someone I don't know very well.

Action

For those of us who are not natural networkers we have to find a way to connect with people on a regular basis or we won't build a business. So every day I try to connect two people with each other - not about business - just about something they have in common. Or I may call up one person in gratitude. That's a really rewarding call to make. Every day I do one or the other.. Until it becomes a habit. Until it becomes easy.

Get out in front of them

Our job is to identify our target market, find out where they hang out and go stand in front of them. For instance, I write articles all the time and put them on www.ezinearticles.com and www.think big revolution.com and on my blog www.passionately on purpose.com and to my own list. I announce on Facebook that my article is up which is set up to tell Twitter, etc.

But as I write this I realize that is my comfort zone again - the by-myself-creating-something zone. It is not about calling someone up, or creating an email dialogue with them. It's prep again - not action. I have to watch this.

Find the balance

So I made a two column list I use for my projects. One is headed "Action" the other "Prep" and bingo, there it is in front of me - a huge long list of prep versus a very short list of action. Hummmmmmm.

Sometimes we stay in prep for a long time because we need to build our confidence. When I first became certified as a Book Yourself Solid Coach I had to spend time to own the material and arrange it so it fit my clients and their needs. I had to rewrite my web content and create new sales pages and new pricing packages. It was all prep but until I had a certain amount of it in place I was not comfortable moving into the new role. Watch that one - you don't have to be solidly, totally in control, you have to be minimally prepared and then you have to start acting. Just get it done. Go let people know what you're doing and how you can help them. The more you put it out there the more comfortable you are with the dialogue.

Keep checking yourself

If your natural tendency is to keep getting ready - stop right now and just do it. Make your lists with different colored fonts so you can identify the action steps versus the prep steps. Or make two columns. Underline the things you do that make you money. Play whatever tricks you need to do in order to take more action steps. It will make a difference much sooner than you think.

© Cara Lumen 2008