Step Outside Your Comfort Zone by Expanding It!

As someone who has more than a few years under his belt, the boundaries of my comfort zone have been pretty well established. Regardless of age, we all have these lines in the sand that most are hesitant to step on let alone to step outside of. The reasons (excuses) can be numerous …

“If I ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“Why would I want to do …that!?”
“Nice but, not for me.”
“Seems like a lot of work!”
“What’s in it for me if I do?”
“Uhhhhh, I’m just not comfortable with doing that.”
“I wouldn’t be any good at that!” (Hint – like most people, you are probably your own worst critic)

We all get comfortable. We live our lives with predictable outcomes, there is little risk and/or downside, and we feel no discomfort by staying firmly planted in our happy established routines. What’s not to like? Plenty if you want to grow and to move forward!

Blogging???

For sake of argument, let’s say that it has been suggested to you that blogging might be beneficial to your business. Since I’m always stressing to salespeople the importance of blogging, and as so very few do, we’ll use this as our example. Mind you, these same exercises will apply equally as well to any situation where an uncomfortable change is being considered.

Why blog? Blogging is simply the most effective way that I know of for you to establish and share your expertise in your given field and, since your customers are actively using the internet to research solutions to their needs, does it not make sense for you to be present in that search? If you are in sales, this visibility will often translate to commissions.

Take an inventory of your existing skills

Begin by taking an inventory of the skills that you already have at your disposal which might be directly related to the task at hand …

Can you write?
Did you ever write papers in school?
Have you ever written a sales letter or a proposal to a customer?
Is being able to write effectively a function of your position?

Congratulations! You have the necessary tools to be a good writer. All you need to do now is to expand their usage. When I was told six years ago to start blogging, it was absolutely the last item on my to-do list. It wasn’t even on my long-distance radar in any way, shape, or form. Why would I ever want to do this? I saw no need and this activity certainly did not fit inside my established comfort zone. Still, after taking a quick inventory, I did it anyway.

It starts with baby steps

Start out slow by taking some baby steps and you can begin by answering these two questions:

Can you write 750 words, in a Word document, about something that you know about your company, your product, or your service?
Do you know anybody who would be willing, maybe even your own company, to place that article on their website?

If you answered yes to both, now all you have to do is act. Don’t talk, do and you will be well on your way to being a published blogger! Next take your article (also called a post) and share it with your customers via email (either as a PDF attachment or copy and paste it into the body of the email) while at the same time promoting it via social media by sharing the link (URL) to your article. If you are not currently active on the social channels, that’s okay and hopefully this will provide you with an added incentive to get started!

Whether you are aware of it or not, you are now supplying your customers, and potential customers, with an invaluable service by sharing your knowledge in the form of their education. Additionally, you are positioning yourself as a go-to person within your industry. You are a resource. In the immortal words of “Ghost Busters” … when they have a need … “who they gonna’ call?”

Let’s stretch a little further

Now, let’s expand your comfort circle a little further by getting a wee bit more out of your recently completed work. This is known as content repurposing which means that you will squeeze every last drop out of the materials that you have already created. It beats the heck out of constantly having to reinvent the wheel.

Are you on LinkedIn? If yes, take that article (in a PDF format) and upload it to your profile as a media file and then share an update to your network that you have done so.
If publisher has been activated on your LinkedIn account, copy and paste your article into that application.
Later on, you may wish to update your article to provide a fresh view on the topic and this update becomes an entirely new article.
Might your article become the genesis for an eBook or even a book? Creating an eBook that you can give away is probably the most widely used method for building your email list.
Speaking of email, start a monthly newsletter and use your recent articles as the basis for your content. I use, and like, MailChimp.
Consider using your post to create a slideshow, a podcast, an infographic, or a YouTube video.

You have now posted searchable content on LinkedIn (that points back to you), upgraded your LinkedIn profile, and you are exploring and considering additional formats for content creation and sharing! All of this content will attract others to you and will encourage them to learn more about you, your product, and your service!

Kick it up another notch

Now that you have the hang of this and are finding that this whole process is in no way as intimidating as you had originally feared, do you want more? Of course you do!

Open up a free account with WordPress.com (or Blogger or Tumblr). While each of these platforms have been designed specifically for blogging, they also have the added benefit of easily being developed into your beginning website. If you really want to dive in, instead start with WordPress.org (you can also migrate to this later). It will require that you secure a domain name and a place to host your site but, both should cost you less than $50 annually.
Now take this same article and copy and paste it to your new website and you are on your way and you are now well into the process of building your most valuable asset … Brand YOU!

Build on your accomplishments!

The fact is, these exact same steps will work with virtually any new venture that you are willing to consider. Success builds success. Set some goals. Allow yourself some rewards for a job well done! Bask in the moment.

When you step outside your comfort zone, interesting things happen. For one thing, stretching and expanding equals growth. Our skills grow. Our life experiences grow. You might even surprise yourself by discovering new pathways in life. It’s about exploration. One thing for sure … If you never stretch you will never know and may find yourself asking … “What if?” When you answer that, it will be followed by … “Shoulda’, coulda’, woulda'”.

Finally, absolutely none of this is rocket science! The only difficult step will be you taking the first one. There are no risks but, there are potentially great rewards!

This post was brought to you by IBM for Midsize Business and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM’s Midsize Insider. Dedicated to providing businesses with expertise, solutions and tools that are specific to small and midsized companies, the Midsize Business program provides businesses with the materials and knowledge they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!