Small Actions + Time = Big Results

Millennium Cargo

I’ve been on a diet for the last 20 years.

Every Monday I start afresh convinced that this will be the week. By Wednesday I’m faltering and by Thursday I’ve ordered takeout and I’m telling myself “I’ll start again on Monday”

Now, call me crazy… but I’m starting to think this strategy isn’t working too well!

As the famous quote goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So I’ve got a new plan. A new strategy.

Compounding.

The theory of compounding is pretty simple.

Small Actions + Time = Big Results

Let me give you an example;

Every day when I make myself my morning cup of coffee I allow myself one biscuit.

Just one.

No big deal right? One biscuit won’t do me any harm?

But then we apply the law of compounding: 1 biscuit (small action) + time (every day) = big results (30 biscuits a month, 365 biscuits a year)

You start to see my point?

That one Hobnob a day is nearly 100 calories. That’s 700 calories a week - 36,500 calories a year!

Let me put that into perspective for you a little. On average, around 3000 excess calories will equal around 1lb of body fat.

So if you do the maths, that 1 biscuit a day could turn into 12lbs a year - nearly a stone of body fat!

Now, I know - you’re freight forwarders and business owners - not a diet club! But bear with me, there’s an incredibly powerful business lesson to be learnt here.
Compounding isn’t only your enemy - it can be your greatest friend too.

Let’s flip it on its head - Let’s say I stop eating that biscuit every day. Easy enough to do - it’s not a big change or especially challenging.

By the end of the year, I will have eaten 36,500 fewer calories with very little effort. That’s 12lbs of body weight I will have NOT gained.

The same goes for action or inaction in your business.

How would your sales transform if you made an extra 300 sales calls? You’d be laughing right?

But that’s impossible, you just don’t have the time or the energy.

Wrong.

Just make one more sales call a day.

One extra sales call a day is easy. It’s a small action. But add the law of compounding and it soon becomes a big result.

It’s not just sales calls and biscuits that the law of compounding applies to either - a $1 price increase compounded over time and volume of customers soon adds up! A 1% increase in your lead conversion rate compounds too.

So what small actions could you take in your business that can give you some big results? I’d love to hear your ideas…