Every morning I'm up between 4:40 and 5:15 am.
I get some water, get the coffee going, scan my social media accounts, check in on the "news"—if reporters opine and manipulate and selectively report the facts...is it still considered news?—and then settle in to write.
Last Saturday started off the same and then—WHAT?
A friend on LinkedIn tells me one of my main lead-generating sites—BestCRMQuiz.com—down.
(Sidebar: This is the tool I've used for years to create quizzes that generate qualified leads, which turn into happy customers.)
I own a lot of domain names—primarily for redirection purposes—and I keep the auto-renew on so guess what I had to stop and do?
Yep. Research the issue, re-purchase that URL, and get it pointing back to the right page.
UGH. (But at least my coffee was ready.)
So I settle back in, head on over to my Facebook Page to see what's happening and BAM! I'm hit in the face with another tech issue regarding how my posts from my site are displayed on Facebook.
So guess what I had to stop and do?
Yep.
Research the issue, get on with tech support at HubSpot—which is awesome, by the way. At 5:30 am Pacific on a Saturday I was able to speak to a knowledgeable, friendly, professional tech support person. I'm working on a post "Wordpress vs HubSpot" and this story will be in that post...now where was I...?
Oh yeah—I'm on with HubSpot, they tell me the problem is a Facebook and LinkedIn issue that cannot be modified, so now I have to make a tweak to how I share my blog posts.
Neither of these are life or death to me now...
But a few years ago I might have allowed just one of these issues to ruin my day.
I would've been mad at my domain registrar or one of my tech people for letting the domain expire or been upset with my social sharing company for not being clear in explaining how their software works and letting me know all of the caveats and fine print and nuances of companies they don't own or control then I would've spent a couple of days figuring out ways to beat the system and...and...and other stupid stuff that wouldn't get me closer to my goals.
Now I handled both situations in maybe 12 minutes as I enjoyed my coffee, gave thanks nobody bought my domain name, gave thanks that HubSpot has great support, and shared this story with you all before I finished my first (big) cup of coffee.
Remember, people don't really judge you on how conduct yourself when things are going well.
They're watching to see how you act when the fit hits the shan.
In the immortal words of Ted Knight as Judge Eihu Smails in "Caddyshack,"
It's easy to grin, when your ship comes in,
And you've got the stock market beat.
But the man worthwhile, is the man who can smile,
when his shorts are too tight in the seat."
Would you like some help bringing your ship in? Maybe I can help.
Good Selling,
Wes
Founder, The W.E.S. Method™