Diet’s don’t Work!!!
Here we are two (2) months deep into 2018 and my New Year’s Resolutions have all turned to shit – I’ve put on a few extra pounds instead of dropping three pounds, no alcohol in January turned into a month of making merry, sugar was out for 2018 and all I’m consuming is fructose laden wedges every day…
Forget being a better and more attentive husband, well the jury (my wife Laurie) likely has not noticed all the changes “going on behind the scenes” intended to make me the 2nd coming of Ward Cleaver… No diet gonna fix this one 😊
How could all these good intentions go unrewarded? I was serious and wanted to have all these things happen and what the hell, I’ve put a whole eight (8) weeks into this journey.
Reflection
Just as depression was setting in, it dawned on me – oh yeah, diets never work… They are the quick answer and approach taken when you really haven’t thought things through or aren’t really devoted to real change.
What I really need to do is replace my diet with true life style changes… The weight won’t fall off until I begin to eat healthier and reduce my portion sizes each and every day.
Why stop drinking, I like it – perhaps for the rest of the winter and spring I simply make Saturday’s my time to make merry.
Removing sugar from my life may be impossible, however, perhaps it’s time to simply remove snacks and desserts from my daily ritual.
It's now clear – diets are temporary and short-lived. In fact, they may make things worse and not better.
Perhaps what’s really required are true systemic changes that become part of your actual day-to-day being and make you healthier over time.
Lifestyle and the Cloud
It’s very clear to me now that the cloud and the need to create a truly sustainable monthly subscription-based business model that works in conjunction with my existing transactional model will require more than just some fad diet.
Like most folk’s, I believed there wasn’t any major work required to enter the subscription-based economy. Shoot, I’ve got a great business and what’s so hard about just doing things monthly? I’m fit as a fiddle and ready to rock!
Wow, I just want to add some monthly revenue and become healthier as a business, but nothing seems to be happening…
Sorry Sluggo, nobody’s just ready to rock – it’s simply not that easy and nothing in life is automatic.
Get off the diet train and commit to a definitive lifestyle change and you’ll begin to see results that are long lasting and sustainable.
You see, designing and creating a hybrid business model that positions you to generate net-new monthly subscription-based revenue, while preserving your legacy business takes real work and demands actual change.
You’ll need to alter, at some level, almost every aspect of your business. It starts with defining your strategy and business plan for subscription.
This is followed by assessing and shifting your sales & marketing model. Oh by the way don’t forget to blow-up that sales compensation plan.
As if that’s not enough, you’ll need to look deeply at your operating model, systems and process.
Conclusion
If you’ve reached this point, you’re most likely ready and willing to make certain short-term sacrifices to ensure long-term growth, happiness and business health. It’s clear the worlds taste and appetite is shifting from transactional-based initiatives (CAPEX) to monthly subscriptions and consumption-based models (OPEX).
Many small bites is far healthier than one big chomp on the old turkey leg. You see there isn’t a significant difference between your personal health and ones’ business health.
So, all you need to do is stop dieting and commit to truly sustainable lifestyle changes that you are comfortable with and can control, to some degree. But the changes need to become part of your overall business fabric and model.
With time your new lifestyle approach will become second nature and reflexive. No more faking that you’re all in on monthly recurring revenue only to go into a meeting and steer the agreement back to familiar transactional deal structure, that you’re all too comfortable with - every day can’t be a “cheat day” if you’re serious about progress and change.
This is real work my friends and anyone who tells you differently is just blowing sunshine up your kiester… Some lifestyle changes are worth the temporary discomfort and this is one of them.
Face it, your long-term business health & value will increase dramatically if you can alter your habits and accept that change is the only constant in this new world where the customer sets the table and wants to spoon-feed you their payments.
Stay Calm and Subscription-on!