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Have you ever stopped to really look at the actions you are taking inside your business.

You’re creating social media content…

Your writing progress reports… 

Sending email marketing campaigns... 

You attend networking events… 

You read books on your subject and attend workshops... 

You send out invoices...

You deal with client queries…

The list goes on.

But have you ever considered whether all that action is creating the results you want?

If you’re anything like me then taking action isn’t your problem. I consider myself very driven and if someone asked me whether I would consider myself an action taker I would definitely say YES.

Of course there are things that I sometimes procrastinate on but for the most part…once I’ve decided that this is what I am going to do…I just do it.

Regardless of whether you would consider yourself a fast action taker or more analytical and methodical in your approach to taking action…have you ever actually looked at the actions you are taking and questioning whether they are moving the needle in your business?

When was the last time you really checked in and audited the action that you are taking inside your business?

One thing many of my clients often say is that they aren’t seeing any results. And I love reminding them that all actions create results. The question is, are you getting the result you’re aiming for. There is no such thing as no results.  We need to evaluate the action we are taking and question whether we are truly making measurable progress.

If we never check in with our day to day actions then we can spend months even years doing the same stuff and never really getting what we want. We often keep doing the same things expecting different results. You hear people say things like “Just keep doing the work…you will get there eventually.” But this is not true. All action isn’t created equal. If you’re forever doing the same thing and expecting a different result than what you’re currently getting, that is literally the definition of insanity.

So let’s say there is a specific area inside your business that you would like to improve. An area where you are not seeing the results you want to see.

Here’s a couple of really good questions you can answer for yourself to audit or evaluate the action you’re taking in your business:

As we go through these questions I will use a real word example of an action evaluation I did with one of my clients so you can apply it to your own scenario.

Consider first the result you do want. What is the outcome you are aiming for? It’s important to know this. And it may sound silly even saying this. But you will be surprised how much action is taken because someone said that is what you should do in your business.

Once we have the outcome, the goal. The result, I want you to make a list of all the actions you are taking in an attempt to achieve that goal.

So for my client, the goal she had was that she wanted to sign two new clients from LinkedIn in a 30 day period. 

The action she was taking was

• Posting 4 times a week with valuable content and inviting them to book a consultation with her.

• Making connections with her ideal clients (based on a specific job title). She knew that if she made a connection and they accepted that everytime she posted, they would see that post. So she would have eyes on her content.

The first question we want to ask is WHY. Why are we taking this action or these actions specifically?

In my client’s case, why LinkedIn and not Instagram? Why 4 times a week and not 4 times a day?

We don’t want to dive into pointless rabbit holes but we do need to understand for ourselves why we are doing what we are doing. And it doesn’t mean that there is a right or a wrong answer. We just need to understand our reasoning behind it so that we’re doing things intentionally rather than unintentionally or because someone said you should be on every social platform on the planet.

For my client the WHY was very clear:

• Linkedin is where her ideal people hang out. So, it made sense to meet them where they are already spending lots of time.

• It was also really easy to find them based on their job titles. So, she could just search for the job title and make a connection. Super simple.

• Lasty, she decided on posting four times a week because that is what she could commit to doing consistently.

The second question is HOW would we know if it’s working or not? 

(In other words, what are we measuring?)

Side note: For my numbers people who love spreadsheets…don’t overdo the metrics. This is not a game of death by numbers. We want to measure one or two things that will tell us whether we’re on track to achieve that outcome. Also, if it’s not a number that is also okay…a simple “did this happen yes or no” can also work perfectly fine.

For my client, she was measuring:

• The  number of connections she made every week. She wanted to add at least 50 connections to her profile per week. (That’s like 10 a day. Monday to Friday.)

• She measured the number of likes and comments she got on her posts. The only reason why she measured this was because it gave her an indication of the type of content she was posting. The more engaged people were the more they connected with that content so she started learning what type of content resonated with her people.

• Everytime someone booked a consultation she would ask them where they found her. So she was measuring how many people actually came from LinkedIn vs from the other marketing avenues she was also doing.

Measuring is important because it will tell us whether the action we’re taking is actually creating the result we are after. Also…there is just something about the numbers that I love. It really takes all the guessing and hoping and mind drama out of the equation. Looking at real data will serve you well as you go after your goals.

Having data means that you can make informed decisions rather than just winging it.

If the data is indicating that things aren’t working…stop doing it. Try something else. 

Remember…there is no such thing as failure. It really is about collecting data as fast as possible and then using the data to pivot or stay the course if it is working.

For my client, LinkedIn worked really well and it showed in the metrics she was measuring once a week. 

This is your invitation.

Go and do an evaluation on the action you’re taking and then use the information you gather to decide whether you should keep taking the action or try something new.

You can watch this weeks podcast video HERE

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