In the early part of my career as one of the youngest and highest-paid Executive Directors in the YMCA, I was faced with a task I disliked immensely.
Fundraising.
I was in the YMCA because of my commitment to helping others through fitness.
I disliked fundraising with a passion. I just didn’t want to be that guy walking around asking for money.
Each year we had an annual campaign. While the purpose and intent of the campaign were noble, I was too young and inexperienced to appreciate my role in fundraising as part of my job.
Each year we really struggled and each year we eventually made our goal. These struggles were shared with all my fellow Executive Directors.
In the struggle, I learned a lot of very valuable lessons. The most important is that most of the results come at the end of a campaign.
In our six-week campaign, most of us were very short of our goal in the last four days of the campaign. The stress was unbelievable for the campaign leadership.
After a few years of this craziness, I discovered a pattern.
Human nature is very interesting in that we get more done when we have a deadline. The closer our deadline, the more focused we become, and the more productive our efforts become.
If you set an aggressive, yet doable, goal at the beginning of the month, it often looks like you have no chance of achieving your goal three-quarters of the way into the month. Graph it out on a piece of paper and the reality sets in.
Then human nature kicks in.
For example, if you have an aggressive goal to get a lot more business in a month, it’s very common to be “way behind” as the month comes to an end.
We have a couple of choices. First, we can put our goal off until next month. Many, if not most, people do this.
Second, we can mount an all-out offensive and push even harder to hit our goal. Think of the all-nighter you pulled in college to get ready for a test or turn in a report, and your focus paid off with a victory.
The same applies to business. Short of your goal for the month? Keep pushing until the last minute. Create urgency everywhere. In you, your team, your existing clients, on your social media. Keep thinking, one more, right up until the final hour.
You may think you are bugging people but you’re not. We are so used to multiple messages and calls to action, that we usually dismiss most of them unless there is a sense of urgency.
Tapping into a sense of urgency comes naturally as a deadline looms over you. You will think of simple ideas, promotions, and tactics that will propel you forward.
Your belief will grow, and before you know it, and usually at the last minute, you will realize success.
Every year our fundraising campaign left me with serious doubts 24 hours before our final deadline. Every year we were successful and we not only reached but exceeded our goal.
And every year I needed a day after to decompress. 🙂
Most importantly, every year it felt so good to achieve the “seemingly impossible.”
Never, never, never give up on your goals.
Short on tested and proven ideas of things you can do last minute to explode your business? Feel free to reach out to me here. It’s free to you, with no strings attached! 🙂
Remember, you only get results when you take immediate action on your ideas.
