Whether or not you like Madonna’s music, with over 200 million album sales under her belt, there’s no denying she’s a master chef of the music industry. Ask her about her cooking prowess, though, and it’s a different story.
Madonna doesn’t do cooking, so when a US ABC journo asked incredulously if she could prepare any meals at all, she fired back, “No, but I do everything else. Do I have to do everything?”
Go girl! Frankly, I think Madonna can definitely be excused cooking duties if that’s what she chooses, and the same goes for us when making similar choices in our own lives and businesses.
In our solo businesses we have a tendency to do absolutely everything and it undermines our ability to succeed. Can Madonna actually cook? Of course she can. I’ve seen children doing it on TV for goodness sake. She just chooses not to, which enables her to focus on what’s more important to her.
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In the past few days I have had the wonderful task of reading through the draft summary of our recent Understanding Micro Business survey and while (happily) happiness prevails in the small end of town, things could be a damn sight better if we’d only attempt less and focus more.
In one question we asked what you’d like to understand better, and the “M” word shone through. That’s Marketing, not Madonna.
I’ve worked in and around the marketing industry for most of my adult life and I can tell you it’s far easier than cooking. The world is full of wonderful books on marketing – covering all industries and budgets, all facets and strategies; and for the price of a quick supermarket shop you can have the best marketing brain syncing nicely with your own. All you need is to put some time aside; turn off your gadgets and be prepared to have Vegemite sandwiches and fresh fruit for a couple of days.
We don’t have to do everything; we just need to do the things that make the biggest difference.
What tasks do you choose to forgo and focus on in your business? And what’s been your best business marketing book investment? I’ll kick things off by adding a couple of personal favourites. Please add yours or dive in with a comment.
