In today’s fast-paced world, we are always in motion, and continually doing various tasks throughout our day. As an Independent Meeting Planner, our TO DO List is always full and most of the time overflowing!
Some of the things we do are productive and help us reach our short-term and long-term goals. However, some of the items are NOT productive and keep us from achieving our goals in our event planning business.
These are the tasks we need to put on a STOP DOING List!
A few months ago, my friend Jason Friedman gave me a challenge to create a short video every day for 30 days.
Filming these 30-day videos helped propel me to reach my goal of launching my new website, Event Business Formula. I am proud to say that I finished the 30-day video challenge!
At the end of last year, during one of his webinars, Jason posed a simple question to the attendees about having a TO DO List.
He merely asked, “Do you have a STOP DOING List?”
What a brilliant question to ask!
You know, I had never thought of that! It was such an AHA moment for me! I had always focused on having an updated TO DO list, but never a STOP DOING list!
As Jason continued, he shared with us the types of task that should be on our STOP DOING list – anything that keeps you from achieving your goals in your life should be added to your STOP DOING List.
So let’s talk about the items I moved to my STOP DOING list:
- Things that are wasting my time and standing in the way of me reaching my goals
- Tasks I can easily delegate
- Remember delegating is different than managing
- Sometimes we want to delegate things to others, but then we manage the delegated items, thus causing more work
- Endeavors or projects that are taking too much time to complete and the results do not help me achieve my goals
- Remember delegating is different than managing
We, as event business owners, need to create an industry-specific STOP DOING List!
Let’s take a deeper look at what would be beneficial to add to our STOP DOING list for your event planning business:
- STOP learning about the meeting logistics first
- Find out what the customer’s strategies and objectives are for his/her organization FIRST
- Yes, logistics are critical, but learning the why first is essential to the success of your corporate events
- STOP booking meetings with your clients that are not productive
- Leverage meetings with your clients to confirm that you are still aligned with their companies strategies
- STOP creating events that do not align with your customer’s strategies
- Do not encourage your client to have face to face meetings because they “have them every year” – find out their WHY first
As I have written before: “Because you’ve done it every year can’t be the only reason why you hold your next meeting. The power of human connection can often be underestimated… until we experience it
By adding these items to your STOP DOING list, you can stop the insanity and develop new strategies and processes that will move you and your organization to a more fulfilling and profitable position.
For two decades, I have consulted with Fortune 500 companies and produced conferences in more than 50 countries across diverse industries.
My focus was on creating meetings that are not only breathtakingly memorable but which bring corporate strategies to life and amplify team motivation/ performance.
Now my focus is on bringing my global networks and event expertise to Event Business Owners, like you by helping you to learn how to ask the WHY question first, instead of the how, what and where of the logistics … because I STOP planning meetings!
Please share with me in the comments below what are the items you’re thinking of adding to your STOP DOING list for your event business that is not productive or has kept you from reaching your goals!
