Back To School Night & Second Chances??

Last night I attended my 11 year old son Harrison’s “Back to School Night.” He just started 6th grade and it’s his first year in Middle School which is a brand new school for him. Typically most kids aren’t thrilled about change and starting school. And starting a new school is always daunting, especially when you don’t know many people. I remember how much I loathed starting school every fall. I was extremely quiet and shy (yes-me- shy- go figure!) It was just so scary, new teachers, new kids, new books, new everything! Well, I digress… [Photo- Harrison’s 1st day of 6th grade. You can see how thrilled he is starting a new school. I’m sure my expression was exactly the same- “Awww Mom-why do we have to take this stupid picture anyway?!”]

It’s always been a bit surreal attending these back to school nights because it brings back so much about my own experiences in school. (And of course when I was done with school- little did I know having a child I’d be thrown back into helping/doing homework once again!) So tonight, Harrison wrote out his class schedule for us and we literally went from class to class (6th grade is the first year they change classes, have lockers, etc.)- hearing from each of his teachers was fascinating and amazing. To me it was kind of like hearing 8 different sales and marketing pitches- some were more than excellent and some were just so so.

The thing that struck me as we listened to each teacher talk for 15 minutes (of course we got lost trying to find some of his classes and got the tail end of others), things have really changed in learning, thank goodness, since I’ve been in school. Like in his Language Arts class- they can’t earn extra points by doing more assignments or extra credit. But what they can do is after they’ve written something, if they’re not satisfied with their grade, they give them second, third and fourth chances. They can rewrite and revise to get a better grade. Wow, now that was really cool! This is something I wished I’d have had in school.

So it got me thinking- this is how I ought to be do my marketing for my business. Stick with me here. You see I hold on to things for so long until it’s “perfect.” Which of course takes a long time to get done. So what I need to be doing is simply get it done, so it’s good enough- then send it out, or post it, or whatever I need to do with it. Then at some point I can give myself a second chance. I can always go back to it and upgrade, or update it to make it even better. I’d suggest doing this in your business. Don’t hang on to things forever until “you get it perfect.” This perfect state may never come and your “thing” will never get done. Go now and finish a project and send it out, or post it- or just take some action with it. Don’t wait till it’s “perfect.” Remember, mistakes are only terrific guide posts to get you moving in the right direction!

One last observation of my “back to school” night experience was I thought his science teacher and history teacher get an A+ for their efforts in teaching. They’re using a new technique called experiential learning. It focuses on having the kids experience what they’re learning. Like in history they actually build trenches for WWII and reanact this experience, along with many other reanactments. The reasoning is by experiencing history they will retain and remember it- it works! Wow, now that would have been really cool to do when I was in school. But hey, maybe this is something you can incorporate into your business. How can you give your prospects and clients a more experiential experience within your business? Let’s put our thinking caps on and let me know what you come up with! [Photo- Harrison and I shading ourselves from the sun while enjoying our time on Martha’s Vineyard this past summer. I’m holding our video camera- in addition to marketing, I’m now doing video production! If interested- ask me more about it.]