Did some cold calling this week.
I’ve talked about it a little in the past, but getting into it more and more now that we’re full speed ahead doing marketing and sales for Visto.
Have you done much cold calling?
It can be a little daunting and intimidating, especially at first. But like anything, gets a bit better with more reps.
The other thing I’ve noticed is that fewer people pick up their phones these days – so you get a lot of voicemails. And I get that, because now I don’t really answer my phone unless I recognize the caller ID (since we get so many spam calls here in Toronto).
But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.
If you’ve been meaning to get into cold calling, or are struggling with it, here’s my biggest takeaway:
Realize that your main goal when cold calling is not to make a sale – it’s to setup a call or meeting. That’s it. So you don’t have to put huge pressure on yourself.
Keep it simple, get right to the point, make your key value prop clear, and ask if they’d like to discuss at another time (suggest a day/time – don’t make them guess).
That’s something that has made it easier for me, because it makes the whole process less stressful.
Now if you’re struggling to get tasks like this done every day, you may need some accountability help.
I know I do once in a while, because as a solopreneur, there’s no boss telling you what to do or getting upset if you don’ get it done.
And in the world of remote work, and especially in the world of running your own business, it can be hard to keep yourself accountable.
There are huge advantages to working for yourself/running your own biz, and also disadvantages.
One of the disadvantages is that you never really get a “day off” in the traditional sense.
Sure, you can take days off, and I actually think it’s very important to take enough days off otherwise you risk burnout, working inefficiently, etc. But finding the right balance of working hard/smart enough, versus getting the right recovery, can be difficult.
Another disadvantage, maybe one of the hardest ones to handle, is the lack of direction and accountability.
I like to say that the best thing and the worst thing about being a solopreneur is that you wake up every day, and can do whatever you want!
Freedom – awesome!
But wait… what should you do? Sales? Marketing? Admin work? Bookkeeping? Client work?
For how long? In what order? Until what time in the day?
Maybe you can relate. It ain’t easy, and there’s probably no perfect answer.
But one thing that has helped me over the years is accountability buddies. People I can check in with, get advice from, and hold myself accountable to. And this seems to be common among entrepreneurs, and especially solopreneurs.
So I’m going to do a quick test.
If you’re interested in a small, vetted community to help keep you accountable, let me know.
It would be something like a Discord group with me, and probably 10-20 others (max, all vetted by me first). Each day, we’ll do a quick (2 sentece, max) checkin on what we want to get done that day, then at the end of the day you’ll make a note on whether you got it done or not (with a quick “react” emoji like a thumbs up or down).
Then maybe each week, we’ll have an optional voice chat and/or work session to help each other out too.
That’s it! If interested, definitely let me know asap.
Note: this is an idea I’ve had for a while, so I’m testing whether there’s enough interest.
Have a great day, make sure to follow along for my daily updates here, and keep grinding.
