Is Today the Day?

I’ve been thinking for months about writing a blog titled, “Start Something!”

I just couldn’t get started.

It got a little out of hand.

I’d clear my mind; take long walks with my dog Kobe; drink my decaf during quiet times; and keep my mind working in the shower. I’d free think about how the timing was so right: with light at the end of the pandemic; spring springing; clocks turning forward; families reconvening for the first time in over a year; many schools reopening; employees returning to their offices; and people booking travel left and right.

Yep, the idea of starting things was everywhere.

Then why the heck couldn’t I start my blog?

My DDCC associates were asking me for weeks about when, in fact, I would start something. “The whole blog is in my head,” I’d reassure them, even outlined on the computer…just waiting for an opportune time for the words to actually appear.”

Then another week would go by.

And nothing. No blog.

So I started asking myself why?

If I was supposed to appear as the expert in “starting something,” why was I seemingly such an amateur? If I was supposed to be so inspiring, why couldn’t I get inspired myself?

The answer slowly emerged. I already knew the beginning of the blog and the middle, but I had no idea where it was going. I couldn’t envision the end. It was like advising clients to try something new and knowing the idea was solid, but not already seeing the end results at the beginning of the process.

I suppose my conundrum had good company. Space travel, stock market funds, bitcoin, vaccines and even love stories all start with good ideas and a fairly reasonable surmise of the middle, but no one is 100 percent sure of their ending.

The same is true of great marketing ideas.

Beginnings and short-term outcomes are intelligently surmised, but the exact end results are yet to come. Is that a real reason to not ever get started?

If you’re reading this now, you know that clearly it is not.

In fact, taking a calculated risk but not knowing the exact end numbers for your marketing or fundraising campaigns is no reason to delay starting something. Whether it’s your revised branding, website development, social media or newsletter, the most important part is pulling the trigger.

For our DDCC team, some of our most exciting moments have come as we watch the end results of our efforts arrive. It’s when we can congratulate ourselves and our clients for taking an idea and running with it…actually starting something. That mixture of past experience combined with taking a chance on something new is the business equivalent of a seed of hope, or some might say faith.

Thanks to our clients for trusting our team to brainstorm, collaborate and execute some good ideas, we can congratulate ourselves a lot! It’s why we look forward to starting something new with each and every one of you. And, as always, we believe you will like the end.