I recently read a great book called Switch
As someone who doesn’t always love sitting down and reading non-fiction, this book had me hooked with many ideas and examples that hit close to home – and many that will probably be helpful as you run your online business.
There is a lot in this book to cover with a blog post, so I’ll pare it down to one of my favorite takeaways – the idea of “bright spots”. Never heard of it before? Neither had I, but here’s the gist.
A bright spot is an instance of something working perfectly, when it usually doesn’t.
For example, say you’ve run seven promotions over the past year. Two of them did really well, but the other 5 didn’t really do much for your business. The two that did well are your bright spots!
Instead of throwing your hands up and plodding along, hoping that your next promotion will turn out well, take some time to examine those bright spots.
- Did you appeal to a specific group of customers?
- What kinds of products were you promoting?
- What time of year were you running the promotion?
These questions are just the tip of the iceberg – if you can really delve in and figure out what made those particular promotions a hit, you can dramatically improve your chances of future success.
Best of all, you can apply the bright spots theory to just about any situation – from administrative tasks to communicating with your partner.
Do you have any big changes that you’d like to make, either personal or profession? If so, what? Can you apply the bright spots theory?