By Maria Valdez Haubrich
A close friend of mine once had a bad flea infestation in her home and let it go on too long to where professional exterminators had to be called in to solve the problem. Since we talked almost every day, I would ask her: Have you done something about those fleas yet? But she kept putting it off until the problem grew to require an expensive solution.
What “fleas” do you need to kill in your business? Have you put off hiring help and now you can’t keep up with the orders coming in? Have you put off updating your website and now it’s so obsolete you’ll need to do a complete redesign? We all have fleas that need killing, but we procrastinate and procrastinate, and assess the fleas some more, when if we would just take care of the problem, our business wouldn’t suffer under the enormous weight of indecision and delays.
In my personal life and in my business, “killing fleas” has now become the metaphor for taking care of things I really need to tackle but sometimes get pushed to the back burner. Missing a deadline or delaying in answering an old email may seem relatively minor, but you never know when that person at the other end of the email could lead to a big contract. Take a hard look at your To-Do list and set aside a little time every day to handle the harder stuff. Make the decision to redesign your website and get the designer started. Hire the new driver or salesperson you’ve been contemplating. Every day you delay could mean you’re missing out on business and sales.
Now go kill some fleas!
