I have a like-hate relationship with meetings:
On one hand, they can be productive. Sometimes.
On the other hand, they devour more time than a binge worthy Netflix show.
Let me warn you against having too many meetings with a story:
Yesterday, I had a meeting with a client scheduled for 12 pm.
But something weird happened around 11:35 am.
I had just finished writing and scheduling another email for a client when I looked at my clock:
11:35.
Shit, I thought.
The 25 minute gap between the current time and the scheduled meeting time created an abyss.
Should I start working on another project and cut my meeting prep time short? Or should I start prepping now?
I only needed 5 to 10 minutes of prep time for the meeting. So either way, I was left with a gaping hole of unproductivity.
My decision?
Neither.
Y’see, not knowing what I wanted to work on next (nor having enough time to finish it) meant I just surfed from tab to tab to tab to tab for a solid 17 minutes before I started my meeting prep.
In other words, the meeting gobbled up 20 minutes of my time. Even though I wanted to work and be productive, especially since I’m going on vacay next week.
Then, once the meeting started, I wasn’t even needed until a good 35 minutes in. That’s 55 minutes of wasted time—just from one meeting.
Luckily, once the meeting was over I snapped back into action. But I’ve heard many tall tales—from copywriters, business owners, developers, the list goes on and includes everyone this side of a white collar job—about needing an extra 15-30 minutes to get back into “work mode” after a meeting.
All this wasted time adds up. It’s not a ton in the moment: 10 min here, 15 min there. But over the course of a week, month, and year this adds up to an astronomical number.
That’s time wasted you could’ve used to grow your business, spend time with your family, work on your fitness, walk your dog, heck, even playing video games or reading fiction would be better ways to spend your time.
Moral of the story?
Meetings gobble more time than you’d think.
So, choose your meetings wisely and protect your time like your life depends on it. Because it kinda does.
Now, you may find it ironic that I’m going to shift into asking you to reply to set up a meeting with yours truly.
But the good thing about scheduling a call with me is two-fold:
First, our initial meeting only takes 15 minutes tops and 7 minutes minimum.
Second, these introductory meetings (and a follow-up meeting, which is admittedly longer, but not everyone who books an intro call “makes it” to the second call) are mayhap the single best way to grow your business.
Especially if you already have an email list, but can’t figure out the best revenue-generating and relationship-building strategy to keep your list engaged and transforming from leads to customers (and customers to repeats).
But it all starts with one simple reply…
John
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