6 Small Business Lessons I Wish I'd Learned Sooner

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Coming up on today's episode of the Ambitious Lifestyle Business podcast.

**John Lamerton** (0:04)
Energy management is better than time management. If you want energy, you have to demand energy. So it's like a muscle, you need to use it in order to get more of it.

**Jason Brockman** (0:16)
Clients are only bothered about the results that they're going to see from whatever it is you sell.

**John Lamerton** (0:20)
That is why YouTube hasn't been working for us, because that's been our strategy for nine years and three months. And that graph shows you the exact moment that people switch off.

**Jason Brockman** (0:31)
I just don't feel that business owners have the time or inclination to look back on how far they've come.

**John Lamerton** (0:37)
Today, Jason and I share our top six light bulb moments from the first six months of this year. We explain why energy management is better than time management, how to get your message across to customers and clients, and why we're doubling down on YouTube.
To begin with, Jason explains why prospects often need to hear the same message many times before buying.

**Jason Brockman** (1:04)
There's been lots of times in the One Percent Club where I spend lots of time talking with different members, only to find that you have one conversation with them and they go, oh, that's a really good thing. And it's true with both our clients, but also our members' clients too, that actually, it takes often more than one time to say the same thing for your own clients, to actually understand what it is you're trying to either do or achieve for them. And I think that's a real light bulb moment in terms of, I'll put that post on Facebook and expect the millions of pounds to come rolling in, or lots of customers come and say, yeah, please let me buy your thing. Well, actually, it does take a large number of times. I know the books talk about touch points, but actually, for me, it's about the message and getting that message said in as many different ways as you possibly can, because it resonates to different people at different times.

**John Lamerton** (1:52)
Yeah, or sometimes it's just that different voice, isn't it? Like you say something 23 times and yeah, I say it once to go, that's a brilliant idea, John. Let me write that down and action that straight away and you're there going, excuse me, I said that last week.

**Jason Brockman** (2:09)
And I think the same with clients as well, is actually they just need to hear what it is that you need to say to them several times over, because not everyone listens the first time, do they? And probably the only is the second time or the third time or the 23rd time sometimes. But it's got to be the right time for them to hear it as well. And it's just that right message at the right time for them to be able to take the action that you're hoping them to do.

**John Lamerton** (2:28)
Yeah, I wrote in Evergreen Assets about a chap called Thomas Smith. He wrote a book called Effective Advertising, which I think was around 1900 So rather a long time ago. And Thomas Smith said it takes 20 touch points from actually going out with a message to a customer to them buying. He said, the first three or four touch points, they don't even register. And we see this a lot, don't we, with clients where, yeah, they might spot a Facebook post or LinkedIn post or send an email.
And they go, well, no one bought, so they're not interested. Well, actually think about your own experience. Last time you were scrolling Facebook and you scroll, scroll. Oh, yeah, pause. Yeah, scroll, scroll, scroll. According to the engagement stats, you've just seen that post. You have just read that post, but you haven't. You've just glanced at it and it barely registered.

**Jason Brockman** (3:17)
Yeah, definitely.

**John Lamerton** (3:18)
So my first lightbulb moment has been that energy management is better than time management. Now, I first heard this.
Daniel Eck, the founder of Spotify, talked about it on a podcast I listened to last year. He said, I don't care how much time I've got available to do any particular task. He said, the time isn't the important part. The important part is how much energy I have available to me. How much of my brain power I can divert to that task at hand. I may have two hours to work on this project, but if I am absolutely drained and shattered, that project is not getting done well versus I might only have 45 minutes to do it. But if I'm on my A game, then that is getting smashed out to the best of my ability. And something really, really resonated with me there. So I posted on LinkedIn. Look, I've just listened to this podcast with Daniel Eck. It really, really impacted me. And somebody recommended a book called The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Lohr. The Power of Full Engagement. We chose it as our Book of the Month in One Percent Club for January. New year, new me. And for me, new routines. So I put in these new energy management routines. And every day on my planner now, I write down a little subheading called breaks. And I choose the start of the day when I am going to have my breaks. Now that brings out the old civil servant in me. Because that was pretty much how I used to plan my days at the civil service. How long until I could have my next break?