Have you ever been in the situation where people just seem to waffle on and on and never really say anything? Yes, me too.
But, rather than get frustrated, I try to keep my eyes and ears open for that one phrase, that one idea, the one moment of inspiration that might make all of the time that I’ve invested in that conversation really worth it.
It might not always happen, but you’ll be surprised at how often there’s just a little nugget of something really valuable tucked away in all the mundane. Now, all of this got me thinking about the power of the one-liner. It’s those single sentences that I’ve collected over the years that I still reflect on and often take inspiration from.
Today I wanted to share a few of my favourites. Now, I can’t take credit for any of them, I’m not even sure where I heard them first and I’ve probably adapted them. It might not be the same version of what you’ve heard, but to me, they can convey a really big message in a simple phrase. So here we go!
The first one is don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Make it faster and stronger.
Now I think that’s a really important one because I’m often approached by people who want to go into business but they say that they still haven’t got that big idea. And the truth is, if you wait for the big idea, quite frankly, you could just be waiting forever.
Now when I started Crafters Companion, I did have that one big idea. That was my envelope, which was what got me up and running. But you know what? Since then, I’ve sold so much more than just envelopes and I’ve had success by doing what other people also do, but doing it better, or to coin a phrase, faster and stronger.
If you walk down any high street, you are bound to see more than one coffee shop. The fact that there’s more than one doesn’t stop other businesses from starting up. What they do believe is that they can make their coffee shop better.
Don’t wait for the eureka moment because it might just never happen, instead work out how you can make an existing idea faster and better than the competition. That’s what will enable you to succeed.
Now, the next one is only sell to people who can buy what you sell.
This might seem like a bit of a strange one, but when you think about it, it’s a very valuable piece of business advice. Loads of companies spend so much money trying to sell what they do, but to people who just can’t buy what they offer, contacting people that will never ever buy.
It’s what we always used to call junk mail or we call spam mail these days. And it’s those sales brochures in magazines, the flyers in the streets, the emails about cryptocurrency or whatever. It’s that splatter gun approach based on talking to everyone in the hope that someone will buy. And honestly, in my opinion, it just doesn’t work.
Before I spend a penny on marketing, I ask myself whether the people I intend to talk to are in the market for what I sell. That simple question has saved me thousands over the years on my marketing budget.
My third one-liner is that an imperfect plan executed on time is better than a perfect plan executed too late.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you aim to go out with a flawed plan every time. What I am saying is that if you spend all of your business life waiting for the perfect moment, you will spend your life doing just that, waiting.
I see this in business all the time, people waiting, waiting for interest rates to drop, waiting until after the Budget, waiting to launch a new product only when the packaging’s been redesigned.
The list of reasons to delay or defer or even cancel plans can be endless. But what I have learned in life is that you need to set yourself timeframes and you must stick to them. Even if something’s not 100 % perfect in your eyes, then it’s better to crack on with that rather than waiting until it’s flawless because by then you will almost certainly have missed the opportunity. And it’s not just in business this happens.
Right now, how many of us have put off something until we lose half a stone or until we can get into that favourite outfit? You know what I mean. We’re forever waiting for the best moment and it could be holding us back.
Now another cracking one liner is, if you hate what you do, do something else.
Let’s be clear, I’m not talking about painting the lounge or doing the big shop in Asda! We all have to do those things to keep the world spinning. What I’m talking about is how you fill your working day.
For most of us, work is too big of a part of our lives for it to be spent miserably. So if it really truly is miserable, then you need to do something else. I honestly believe there is a difference between tenacity, so keeping going when the going gets tough, and relentless misery, because what we do is getting us down.
Now you have to have highlights in your work. You need to feel satisfaction. You need to feel like you’re really achieving something. And if you ask yourself, what do I enjoy about working? And you’re struggling to find a response to that, then I seriously suggest you go out there and do something about it.
My final fifth one-liner, well my last one for today at least, is people won’t remember you for the mistakes that you make. They will remember you for how you deal with them.
This is so true. We all make mistakes. It’s an inevitable consequence of being human. But do you know what? The measure of a person is how they handle those mistakes, how they bounce back from the mistakes.
I’ve been in business almost 20 years now and of course things go wrong. Mistakes are made and people can be upset and disappointed but what you do to put things right is the thing that sets you apart.
Never be afraid to say sorry, never be afraid to admit you were wrong, but most importantly, make sure that you demonstrate that you really care and that you genuinely want to make things right.
So there you go, my handful of favourite quotes that I find myself thinking about on an almost daily basis. I hope you found them useful as well and please, if you’ve got any of your own suggestions, drop them in the comments below. I would love to hear what phrases you live your life by all the time.
Right. Have a great week and I’ll see you next week!