When Asking Questions Is Bad

What's good everybody!

In this episode I want to talk about when asking questions can actually derail you from making progress in your business. Let's get it going.

... For three years, my agency built funnels and automation systems for the biggest names in marketing today since then have transformed that agency into a hyper profitable training and consulting business. While everyone is out there and talking about scale like it's some sort of destination, we'll be asking the real question, how do you transform your business into a more scalable model using the knowledge, skills, and expertise that you already have? This podcast is here to give you the answer. Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share the strategies I'm using to build my multimillion-dollar business. My name is Greg Hickman and welcome to scalable. Welcome back everybody and Greg Hickman here. And in this episode,

Like I talked about, I wanted to break down when asking questions can actually slow your momentum down and probably be the wrong thing for where you're at right now in your business. So I want to tell you a little bit of story. Um, that happened to me about probably like eight or so months ago now. Um, I was in multiple mastermind programs and we were making some significant shifts in our business. We had been in a situation where we were growing too fast and we didn't course correct on time, so we kind of ran into some, some challenges and um, I felt like I got pretty clear on, on where I needed to go. And so then I wanted to, to go seek help from, from different mentors and peers that were ahead of me that I thought could give me feedback on a really good feedback on exactly where I should go and if the direction I was pursuing was, was a good idea.

Right. Um, we've all probably had times in our life where you're a little bit unsure about what to do. Maybe you just sort of had a little bit of like a setback and so you became a little bit gun shy and thus you maybe started doubting yourself and you weren't sure if you know the actions you were, you almost became like less confident in the actions that you were going to take. And this was me to a t, right? So, um, at the time I was, I was, uh, I had two different coaches and that put me in two different groups of peers on top of some connections that I felt would be able to, um, kind of give me accurate and you know, honest and transparent feedback. And so here's kind of how the story played out and maybe this is where you're at right now and I want to caution you if this is where you're at because it really set me back.

So I was stuck. I decided here's what I'm going to do. My plan is a, and so I went to one group of people and I was like, hey, so here's what I'm thinking about doing. What do you think? And I got some feedback. Then I was about to go execute. Right? Then over here I saw someone do something a little bit different. I was like, oh wait, maybe I should check with them too. So then I went over there and I checked and got feedback from the other group. Now sometimes that group or sometimes that feedback was contradicting from group a. So Group A and Group B, Group B said something slightly different. So then I had to gut check my plan and I was like, oh wait, that's, that's a good thing to consider. Let me go re re re map my plan. Remat and I plan, go check back with group B.

They're like, yeah, totally. I'm like all right, call him and go execute. Then you go see something from Group A or now a new group comes in and you're like, oh crap, I should go, you know, see if they think this is a good idea. Right? And you can already hear in what I'm doing that this is probably turning into this a vicious cycle of seeking feedback when I haven't even really moved forward. And I was a little bit blind to it to be honest. And you know, now eight months removed from the process and we're well out of, out of that obstacle and, and moving forward, uh, it sent me back months. Right? And what I found was that I got stuck in this loop of, uh, because we had that set, the original setback. I started to, um, I started to, I guess lack my own capabilities or not lack, I guess not trust in my own capabilities or my own skill sets.

And so I wanted to make sure that this next move was going to be the right move. Right. And so I started, you know, soliciting feedback from all of these different people with amazing brains that I wanted to, you know, to really seek validation from right. At the end of it, it was all right before I take any action, someone else's going to have to validate that this is a good idea because right now I'm not confident enough to know that it is. And here's the reality that they didn't know either. Neither Group A, B, c, d, e, whatever groups or specific individuals I was seeking, the, their feedback was just feedback, right? And as the CEO, we have another video coming up on the CEO systems that kind of plays off of this. But I needed to just move. I just needed to make, make a action, take action, create, produce and start moving forward because the feedback was going to come.

The real honest feedback was going to come from the market, right? Um, is this idea of good eye, good idea. Who knows, right. We have clients come to us all the time like, hey, is this a good idea? I'm like, yeah, I dunno. Test it. Like go do it. Right. And I think often times we get stuck in this loop of, um, thinking that someone else is going to be able to tell us that we're on the right path. Now, when you work with mentors and you work with coaches or consultants or what have you, yes. If there are multiple steps ahead of you and they've had experiences that you're, you know, you're trying to get to where they're going, sticking their feedback might shorten the gap, right? But when it comes to your specific situation, while they can shorten the gap and help you avoid some mistakes, even they won't be able to tell you that the action you're about to take is going to work or not.

If they're saying it's going to work, it's a lie, right? Because the only true feedback that you really need to be gut checking yourself against is the response and the root, the feedback of the market when you take the action, right. There are a lot of things that I thought wouldn't work that then did work. There are a lot of things that I thought would work that then didn't work. And the only way that I figured that out was just by doing. Right? And so, um, for me, I got caught in this vicious cycle of over seeking feedback, asking too many questions before actually moving forward. Right? So maybe that's you right now you're in this position where, um, maybe it's a setback or you're just getting started that has kind of stunted your confidence in yourself and has now stalled the action that you actually need to take in order to get the next feedback that is required for you to move forward.

Right? It's a constant iteration of take action, see what the feedback is. Course correct. Okay. And so my lesson to you today, well, I guess my question to you is really this is, are you asking questions to assemble the feeling of momentum or do you actually lack the knowledge and you've tried something on your own to figure it out? Right? So I'm gonna say this a couple of times and really have you think about this. Are you asking questions to assemble the feeling of momentum? Right? I was out there asking different people and in my head I was like, this is a smart thing to do because these smarter people, these people that have more experience than me are going to gut check me and tell me. So I might as well ask a bunch of questions, get all the feedback and then act. But then before I would act, I'd ask another question or I'd ask someone else the same question and it would just stall me out.

So are you asking questions to assemble the feeling of momentum or are you asking questions because you actually lack the knowledge and you've tried something on your own to figure it out, right? So maybe you've tried a couple of things on your own and you, um, didn't see the results that you wanted. Then you go ask because, hey, I've tried x, Y, z, what do you think I should do here? And now that person's going to have information to kind of understand where you've been, what you've tried to make some suggestions and have some experience shares that will actually add value to you versus you haven't tried anything at all on the same, on the same side of the coin, if you actually don't have the information or you don't have a plan or or the or the skills to do the thing that you are trying to do, then yes, that would be a good time to go ask questions and get help from people, right?

If I'm not sure how to do it, I've never done it before a and I'm lacking some sort of gap in skill or knowledge. Asking someone that has those things is going to help shorten the gap, which is where coaching, consulting, and mentors all come into play. But if you're just asking for asking sake and in your own mind, you trick yourself to believe that you're asking these questions and because you're asking these questions from people that are ahead of you, that you're assembling this feeling of momentum, but in reality you're not even moving forward. You're going to be in a big, a big challenge, right? You're gonna be in a big obstacle just like I was because it's becomes a cyclical thing without even knowing it. You're going to constantly be seeking validation and feedback from other people as a form of feeling like you're doing the right thing. All the while you haven't taken any action at all.

If you've been looking to grow and scale your agency, but you're tired of trading time for money, custom projects, and relying on referrals alone, it can be hard. That's probably why. If I gave you five, 10 or 20 new clients right now, you or your business would break. I struggle with the same thing for awhile until I figured out a better way, so I created a special experience called foundations to help them package up your knowledge and experience into a profitable online program, launch your automated sales system and systemize your fulfillment. You'll work directly with me, my team, and a group of entrepreneurs just like you to implement the systems and get the help you need to learn more and see if it's a fit. Just hop on over to my scalable business.com and schedule a call with us today.