It's Almost New Year's Eve
We have all seen the crowds at Time Square or downtown (insert your city here). They are generally partyers wearing hats, blowing horns, and ingesting copious amounts of alcohol. But most of us (85%) prefer to stay home or local with a small gathering of friends. Some of us can make it until midnight to welcome in the new year while over 30% of us fall asleep before midnight.
Another fun fact is that about 67% of us make New Year's resolutions, and only about 10% of them succeed. Why is that?
Resolutions
We all know the ebb and flow of resolutions. We set a simple or lofty goal to achieve, only to find that we slip up a day, week, or month later. That gives us permission to try again next year!
Here are a few fun statistics about New Year's Resolutions:
- An average of 44% of Americans make a New Year’s resolution before the night is over.
- Only 31% of people stick with the promises they made to themselves the prior year. A whopping 81% fail by February.
- The four most popular types of goals people set are to exercise, eat well, lose weight, and save money.
A resolution is defined as resolving or determining an action, course of action, method, procedure, etc. Some of us succeed, and some of us fail. Not everyone sets a resolution for the New Year but many of us try. With each new year, if we set the same resolution we continue to give ourselves permission to try again next year!
Reinventions
Each year we kind of reinvent by making resolutions. We aim to reinvent ourselves by exercising, eating better, losing weight, or saving money. Yet reinvention has slightly different meanings:
- To invent again or anew, especially without knowing that the invention already exists.
- To remake or make over, as in a different form.
- To bring back; revive.
So when we try again, we revive a resolution. When we remake, we reconstruct our lives into a different form. When we invent again, we give ourselves permission to keep trying until we are happy with the results.
Albert Einstein said:
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
So by viewing the new year as a period of reinvention versus a resolution, you give yourself permission to fail and try a different way. A resolution just tells us to wait until next year. A reinvention has no due date or end date, while resolutions tend to have a succeed until you fail mentality (and then try again next year).
Resolving to Reinvent
When I wrote my first book in 2013 (“It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon“), I had no idea what I was doing. I had dreams of huge sales, success, and riches. I would not say I was disappointed, but I would say the reality did not live up to the hype. It was a slog to sell books. I followed all the experts who came before me, copied and used their methods and formulas, and still, I sold what the average author did (around 100 books).
I did a website, held release parties (online and in person), got interviews on podcasts, sent out press releases, and still, it was a struggle.
And, I had to reinvent. I started to give free speeches and travel all over the place. I was selling around 10 books per trip. Pocketing $200 per speech was better than just a free meal so I was making progress. When all was said and done, I sold over 2500 books in my first year.
Then I followed up with books two, three, and four (“It’s Not About You – Workbook“, “It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon Bits” & “The BACON System“) even that method started to wane. It was time to reinvent again.
By the time I got to my 5th book (“Toilet Paper Math“) I realized I was no longer in the book-selling business, I was in the content distribution business. I did not care if I sold one book. This book was to be given away to quality prospects as a way of showing that my approach to their solution was unique and more successful than traditional marketing models. That started working and my business grew.
Now don't get me wrong, I think the books are all still relevant. I need to re-invent (update the content) a bit to keep them relative to today's marketplace. But, that's a learning process and has helped me to reinvent my business, myself, and hopefully my clients' businesses!
The NEW Reinvention
Business
My business has gone from trying to teach and educate a broad and expansive audience, to a very focused few. I now know who my perfect client is, and I have continued to build my business by only serving four clients at a time.
Sure, I could scale to serve more, but that would dilute the one thing that makes it so successful, my ability to be accessible and integrated into the success of my client's business.
Networking
My networking has evolved from 20 meetings per month with anyone who could breathe and has a wallet (or credit card), to very specific people who can lead to connections with those perfect clients. It's more of an ongoing one-on-one approach as opposed to the hectic spray-and-pray method of networking.
This has become a much better and faster way. It's also become more relevant since I moved to a new city with few connections to start. Now I can see how this approach helps to meet people who know people who could lead to a great business relationship. The old way was just appeasing my tribe or audience (and my ego).
Relationships
I still follow my TRIBE method of reaching out to 150 relevant contacts per month. The main difference is that I am more focused on actively replacing less successful relationships with new, more relevant, and possibly successful ones.
It does not mean I will stop talking to those who used to be in my top 150. They will remain in the big picture of my main 1500 connections. I am just replacing them in my daily 10-10-10 system. I still maintain 1500 connections, but the top 150 always evolve and get the most attention.
Final Thoughts
Learning leads to reinvention. If you commit to trying and failing you are on the right track. One of the major ways I have been able to continue to learn is by interviewing people on my podcast. Not everyone has the time and resources to do that, but you do have time to listen.
I want to suggest you search out some subjects that you think could help you on The Bacon Podcast. There you will hear hundreds of experts teach you how they learned to reinvent themselves and their businesses.
I wish you a happy, healthy, and successful 2023. May your reinventions (and resolutions) lead to bigger and better things for you, your family, and your business!
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
– Winston Churchill
Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about resolutions vs. reinventions. How will you reinvent yourself and your business in 2023?
