Are You a Producer or Consumer CEO?

Alisa was a consultant at my How to leverage “A” clients for higher profitability workshop. She’s ready to move ahead in her business; tired of overworking and under receiving; tired of wondering how to differentiate herself from the billions of other consultants in the marketplace.  She loves the idea of working with more clients who will meet her halfway and who trust her and are willing to be collaborative.  But she’s hesitant about committing to a change and I can see that she has fallen into the “bird-in-the-hand” trap. She’s shifted her business mindset from producer to consumer.

The producer mindset is the one we have when we start our business – we have no choice. We have to invest upfront – plan, gather resources, imagine where we want to go, then throw it all into the market and believe — with no guarantees.

But something happens to us once we have a sale or two. Our mindset shifts from producer to consumer.  Now it’s about protecting what we have – of holding onto the “bird-in-the-hand.”

We switch from imagining where we want to go and believing with no guarantees, to being afraid to do anything differently than how we did it for the last sale.  And now we, demand guarantees before we invest – forgetting that change doesn’t require our permission.

Let’s take a lesson from another sector — could a farmer do that? No.  Farmers are masters of the producer mindset – mother nature demands it. They plan, gather their resources, plant and believe – no guarantees – year after year.  In between, they water, fertilize and de-weed – nurturing their dream. Then they harvest what mother nature, the ultimate change agent, gives back to them.

Business should be like that — dream, gather resources, release best effort, and harvest.  Really, does a farmer expect to yield a new crop from last year’s corn stalks? Why should we?