20% for New Business
When I first went to work as a neophyte copywriter in advertising, back in the Mad Men era, the thing that surprised me most was how much time was allocated (and required) by the agency for New Business.
When we filled out our weekly time sheets, we had to show 20% at least under that heading. “New business” in agency terms meant pitching potential clients. (As a sidebar note, the same companies seemed always to be targets of New Business pitches—Burger King, Seven-Up, Avis Rent-a-Car.)
In other words, the agency—like every other business—was aware of attrition. Clients would dump us. To make up for this, we had to be constantly seeking new ones.
My boss and good friend Phil Slott (who was always very canny about stuff like this) observed that this principle applied in our personal and individual lives as well.
We too were always “losing clients,” he said. Shit happens. Losses roll in. Bad stuff shows up in our Inbox.
“The first reaction for most of us,” Phil said, “is to downsize. Cut back. Stop the bleeding. But the smart thing, even though it’s really hard, is to do the opposite. Do what the agency does—reach out aggressively and creatively, trying to bring in fresh action, something new to keep us excited and energized.”
I’m in that exact place now. Every bone in my body is screaming, “Trim your sails, pull back on all fronts, stop the outflow.”
But Phil is right. Hard as it is, we have to keep pushing forward, putting out new stuff, reaching beyond what our fear and self-doubt tell us is possible.
20% for New Business.
DO THE WORK
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.
THE AUTHENTIC SWING
A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T
Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
TURNING PRO
Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
L’Chaim! To Life!
I love it! Great words of wisdom. And I love the fact that you’re doubling down in a time when many others would be pulling back. Go get it Steven! You’re an inspiration.
Totally agree! Steven’s determination and willingness to take risks are truly inspiring. When many hesitate, his bold commitment shows his character and vision. Keep going and conquer new heights!
I agree wholeheartedly, learning this also in business, and more specifically in sales. The axiom goes something like, “Don’t become desperate, or appear desperate, because prospects can smell that and it’s a turnoff which causes you to lose potential customers (prospects). Instead, be prospecting, trying to attain new business, new clients and customers.” Prospecting helps prevent you from becoming desperate, and is an element of growth that should not be ignored. It doesn’t always have to be overt and obvious, but it should be part of your growth plan(s). And too often when things are going well people push off and don’t allocate the 20% of time for new business, which invariably leads to lean times when you have to then “panic” and, being desperate, scramble for new clients. Keep the opportunity funnel full and you will be able to choose more lucrative options and say no to the unattractive ones.
Valuable advice. I’ve been in caution, “not now” mode for too long. Your post makes me feel stupid. I’m on it!
Thank you so much dear Steve!
I will not forget mr. Jim Rohn saying, “if you want more seniors, you must load the freshmen class”. He used the example of the audience on one of the first greatest christian speeches to explain the law of averages: there was an audience of thousands he said, and then started the preaching. The preaching had the rhythm of the parable of the sower. In the parable, the sower sowed the seeds on the ground and (1) some seed went off the soil and the birds got it, (2) some seed fell on shallow soil and ruined them, (3) some seeds fell on good ground and they started growing but the weeds got them, and (4) some seeds made it and they grew. But even then, (4a) some of the seeds did 30%, (4b) some of the seeds did 60%, and (c) some of the seeds did 100% – the law of averages.
Like the sower, so did the audience of that speech: some mocked and laughed with the preacher, some didn’t know what was going on, some were suspicious, and then there were some who believed. And those were whom he seeked for: the believers.
By looking forward and creating new dynamics must be like searching for the believers: those who won’t only grow, but also do that100%. And to do that, you follow the law of averages: in every enterprise or endeavour, the law says that for every 10 struggles 1 will grow well while the rest will be taken by the birds, fall on shallow soil etc. The way to find the 100%-ers, whether they are people or disciplines or whatever, the secret is this: the shower should keep sowing. He must “learn to disciple his disappointment” (I remember everything he said after so many years: I had heard his audio-tapes a thousand times, like yours War of Art).
So in our theme, by loading the freshmen class (meaning the new ideas and struggles) we will reach the 100-ers by rations: 1 every 10, 1 every 100 or something like that. And the magic of averages is (now talking in more scientifical terms) that they are trustable, statistical: so if you try 10 or 100 ideas, one more will be a “100-er” with mathematical accuracy (see one small exception below). And so on. Statistics, possibilities, seeds of the great first scientists of my land, Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle etc.
So we must keep searching, keep trying, and not lose hope. And we must discipline our dissapointment. I write it to hear it too.
I will also bring this point, on your point that we downsize, cut back from the loses:
The two books I read this period are Switch and CrazyBusy. In both is mentioned the importance of positive feelings for someone to be inventive. Actually the negative feelings are that bring immediate action, but they have this great weakness: it is action that comes out of fear, and this it is very creativeless and parapodial (I talked a bit about it last time). On the other hand, if we protect our personal world from negative thoughts and environments by focusing on the real but positive ones like hope, confidence, small steps and small wins that we achieve every damn day, then we start building that energy, the heavy and hard to move elephant inside us starts to move forward instead of trembling and moving chaotically. In the last book I read, CrazyBusy, mr. Edward Hallowell says the way (it is a so beautiful and important book, please take it into consideration, he also mentions Gemmelsmerch, a term he gave to a force that I think is almost equal to your Resistance) to achieve real world happiness: you must create enlightened emotion and wise organized rhythm, two great qualities. And he goes on to explain why we all are actually ADD’s (Attention Deficit Disorder) because of the increasing complexities and preoccupations of modern life. Literally in every page you find an aha-moment.
So let us lead the law and keep sowing for life.
P.s. I wish I could use the law of averages on those areas that I failed too… but I couldn’t do it in some crucial areas -i think-. Again quoting mr. Rohn, “sometimes the hail will throw all the seed to the ground. What must the sower do then? He has two options. If he sows again next year, chances are excellent he will get a harvest. If he doesn’t sow, he won’t even have a chance.” Still, where I lost all the seed, there is actually still the law of averages. Universal scientific laws are all-existent. My strongest unending seed were the books of wisdom. Getting ideas, getting ideas. Seeding the soil of the mind and then in action. One idea in 1000, that’s alright.
First, I like that the Don Draper shot shows his cigarette already half-smoked down. It’s not just a portrait… we’ve been dropped in. He’s in the middle of something.
Second, I haven’t been around much lately. The last six weeks have been: finishing a career as a medical/marketing writer, a 1200-mile round trip for a buddy’s dad’s funeral, 1500 miles for hunting trip in central Kansas (-5 degrees one morning), 2200 miles to help with aging parents, medical appts that go along with getting older, and 17,000 miles (out and back) to visit SE India, where we watched children flying colorful kites on a trash-strewn beach on the Bay of Bengal and served a hot meal to a community of people with leprosy.
I reflected how the shorthand has been “leper colony” for such a place. There was a change, maybe 10 or 15 years back, at the medicine company where I worked. It was shorthand to say “a 55-year-old diabetic…” Something changed and they started calling people with diabetes, well… calling them “people with diabetes.”
“Leper” is in the same bucket. Each one is a person. And “colony” makes me think of Papillon and “penal colony.” This was a community of people with leprosy. People.
They were gathered at the appointed time, under shade in a compound in the middle of the port town of Kakinada. They sat in plastic chairs and some lined up for wound care. They were missing fingers and noses, toes and sometimes the entire foot. Some were blind, and were led to a seat by a more able-bodied friend.
A long table was piled high with rice, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and big heads of cauliflower. They waited patiently until they were called to line up, and they filed past as we shoveled a Folger’s can full of rice into a plastic bag or into the fold of a sari. Then a handful from each pile of vegetables down the line. Many possessed enough English to say “thank you.”
We then served them a hot meal: ladles-full of rice with a vegetable curry onto thin foil plates. They sat in rows on the ground as we walked through to serve. I knew only a few Telegu words. I asked, “Chaala?” (“is that enough?”). Some pointed to their plate and gestured for more rice. Some of them however, held up a hand and said, “Chaalu” (“that’s enough”). I might have thought people in their circumstance would take all they could get. But I could see that these people must have confidence there would be more food here later. This wasn’t the end of it. In this, a small bit of security in their lives. There was a long-term, small good thing being done here.
So as I handed over a cauliflower or spooned an extra ladle of curry, I tried to meet each person in the eye and give them a smile and say, “namaste.” The divine in me recognizes the divine in you. And trying to feel it, to see it… not just say it like we do at the end of yoga class.
Namaste. That one word had me in the back of the van when it was all over, my face in my hands and sobbing.
So how does this fit into the theme today? Steve (and Diana) are pushing forward through adversity. Keeping the pipeline full (another medicine-maker idiom). And for us too: getting that frontier sheriff out of the desk drawer. Writing that next song. Covering the next canvas. Finding the next way to serve other humans.
Drumming up that new business that will keep our pipelines full.
Thanks for the great comment Joe,
I wish one day I will be on the road like you. I feel the calling. Still, for years I’m trapped in this sweet cage-room and the surrounding area because of the quite difficult and demanding circumstances, and a secret will inside me I think, that says first we achieve, then we travel.
We are all one, I can see that. We don’t even have a name in that context: we are all called life. And life is called the essence of the universe, outside it there is only neutral nothingness -so there is nothing.
We have a long road to travel, thousands of miles like you. But we are potentially the best drivers, especially now.
If I were to put BIG BOLD font on part of your comment, Tolis, it would be on “I feel the calling.”
I also love the Lakota (American Indian) phrase used in prayers, “Mitakuye Oyasin” or “we are all related.”
Joe,
Glad to see you back. Tending to what is important. Namaste.
Beautifully written by a wonderful human and friend who lives these words.
“Denise Zeurcher? I KNOW HER!!!” (said with Buddy the Elf enthusiasm).
I disagree with 80% of this post. Keep them coming, Steve!
I love how writing Wednesdays pushes thinking to new levels. If we were in this gig for ourselves only, how easy it would be to quit. When your aim is service to others, you find it essential to push towards growth, past, obstacles, write one more paragraph,and ladle one more bowl of rice. Many thanks to this community and to Steve for bringing us here each week.
I also want to thank you, my dear Jackie, because your energy is a special cornerstone of the endeavour here. Your words bring light in the comments section, I feel it even before I read the comment, when I see it is you who wrote it. I think everyone’s name here, the ones I know, has a special energy attached! Could name them all!
Love these thoughts, Jackie.
I needed to hear this
You continue to provide inspiring words in the midst of your personal and significant challenges. Your words inspire action and a resolve to keep going, no matter the circumstances and barriers that appear unexpectedly on the journey.
Thank you!
All of the posts today have had a tremendous effect on me ( also Affect, ) Overwhelming, especially Joe’s account of serving the people with Leprosy, his Namaste to the Thank You. Like Marie, Ineeded to hear what Steve wrote, what Joe wrote- not only the Namaste in context, but the reminder of “Mitakyue Oyasin”. There is much to think about.
Steve, thank you for continuing to inspire us each week, even in the face of overwhelming personal struggles that I can’t even begin to comprehend. Thank you to all of the other posters as well. Tolis and Joe your posts were especially meaningful for me this week. You will never know how much I needed to read those words. It just goes to show that when people follow their hearts and act on their instinct to be their genuine selves without pretense or thought of self gain, they will make a difference.
Writing Wednesday is the best part of my week. I look forward to it as if it were oxygen. On January 27th I resigned from my position with a company I had been with for 20 years. It was a good-paying job and one that I never would have thought I would ever be qualified to do. I had worked my way up from a forklift driver to the Network Administrator over the course of my time there, but I never felt like I belonged. It felt off. I felt fake. I could do the job, I was competent, but my heart was never in it. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a photographer, writer, and filmmaker. Something happened at work and it just felt like one of those decisive moments in life. My wife (married 31 years today) and I discussed it and we decided that I should try and follow my dreams. It felt like a weight had been lifted. I felt free for the first time in my life. Then FEAR set in. A few days into my freedom I started to feel PANIC. I was creatively constipated. While I was working my job all I could think about was all of the ideas and projects that I didn’t have time for. Now I was paralyzed with the freedom to pursue anything I wanted. I felt like a victim in a horror movie, staring helplessly as the killer walked slowly toward me and not even having the courage to run. Or like Brooks in The Shawshank Redemption, having been caged for so long I don’t know how to handle freedom. I had told my wife I wanted to take the chance to say that I had given myself a fair shot to make it on my own or fail trying. Thank you Steve and all of the rest of you for showing up just in time to help me be more like Red and Andy and head toward my Zihuatanejo instead of ending up like Brooks.
Yo, Joel! You know what I’m picturing as I’m reading your words? Me in the stands at a football game. 25° and snow flurries and I’m bare-chested, painted from belly to brow in your team colors. Annoying the fans around me as I’m on my feet, pumping my fist, and bellowing: “GO JOEL! YOU’RE DOING IT! GIT SOME, BABY!!”
You’re making me think of Teddy Roosevelt’s 1910 speech in Paris, officially the “Citizenship in a Republic” speech, but known as the “Man in the Arena” speech.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Git some, Joel.
Joe,
Thank you so much for the support and encouragement! I’m going to get me some!
Hi Joel,
Welcome to the arena! (Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies.) I loved the analogy. I also had a supporting spouse who encouraged me to leave the day job behind. As long as you bring your best, it’s good enough. Somehow everything gets paid. The biggest reward? Never looking back and saying, I wished I would have…
Congratulations and best wishes in your endeavors.
Jackie,
Thank you. I’m so thankful for you and this tribe that I pull encouragement from every week.
Dear joel,
thank you so much for being here with us and supporting our contribution.
I can identify with the fear, the chaos, the panic, and the dream.
My first thought and experience I will share is this: while embarking on your new path, embrace the possible fact that new doors will be openng daily, and you will have to do this (I consider it crucial, but it is only my point of view): since you are now out of the hencoop, where wolves and foxes wonder, be very sure that you choose the most important of those doors for *you*, and not for the results. I feel that you will have to keep a strong hierarchy on that, or alone it will bring you again to not the best subpaths for your wonderful life.
But it is just a feeling, *you* create the whole world now. I stand on your side not by supporting you, I don’t have that power, but by trying to be fighting parallel with you against the weakneses and towards those dreams.
CrazyBusy is a beautiful book for finding the rhythm and the happiness, take a look if you feel like it.
Tolis,
Thank you for taking the time to share. You are right on in your assessment about guarding against picking the wrong door and falling back into the same cage that I just escaped. I have too many times lately felt like I should take the blue pill and go back into the Matrix where it ‘seems’ safe and secure. I know that is not the right answer and I must guard against it. I will take a look at CrazyBusy, thanks for the suggestion.
Relevant Recall:
Gettysburg, Little Round Top, and Colonel Chamberlin and the 20th Maine. Out of ammo, and with orders to hold the conmanding view and flank of the Union Army at all costs, he ordered his depleted troops to fix bayonets and charge. This being the only option, and resulting in the decision.
Played so damn well by Jeff Daniel’s in Gettysburg. Written and Directed by Ronald Maxwell, taken from Michael Shaara’s “Killer Angels”.
When in doubt, and all out of, charge!
It’s easier when one can follow the threads, the lines of inner code, of ecstatic excitement. (For me it’s a new magical effect/presentation I’m writing).
As for a developing a loss of interest in the compressive tetanus-inducing thoughts that can seize us. I remind myself, ‘If this world were really real, each moment wouldn’t irrevocably evaporate into nothing so quickly’.
Living lighter, once removed from the ‘false self, mind grinder’ frees up a lot.
This is good stuff right here. Lines of inner code. I like it, Heather.
In my early days as a sales manager I was taught a “Six term definition of management: Recruit, Train, Retain, Motivate, Delegate & Terminate.” I was always good at the first two so ended up being a recruiter for all intents and purposes. The organization was a high turnover sales org where we had to hire 600 people a year to maintain and about 800 annually to meet growth targets.
Agree with Phil, as any good sailer knows, the purpose of “trimming your sails” is to get close to the wind. What you do with that “wind” relationship determines the speed or movement you achieve. Trimming is not cutting, but using the surface of the sail in concert with the direction of the wind.
Bravo Pressfield !!!!!!
Onwards and Upwards
and in the words of the great Churchill
never ever ever ever give up !!!!!!
Life is so beautiful , why would you want to ?
Just for you, Mr Pressfield a quote from a beautiful song
“gotta have a dream, if you don’t have a dream,
how you gonna have a dream come true???
May current mantra for work, ‘Believe in the Miracle’
All the best and thanks
Alfred Ortega
You nailed it, Steve! The author of ten books with one by Random House nominated for a Pulitzer, as well as having penned and published numerous short stories, I am almost finished with the most ambitious story I have ever written: It attemps to bore into the heart of today’s America. Frankly, it frightens even me, ,the creator.
Expand or contract.
“Every bone in my body is screaming, ‘Trim your sails, pull back on all fronts, stop the outflow.'”
That’s the most relatable sentence I’ve ever read.
But if you can push against it, so can we. Thanks for showing us it’s possible. Thanks for making Wednesday my favorite day of the week!
I ran a small advertising agency for 12 years—we called it a creative boutique—and have been in the advertising/marketing game as a copywriter and creative director for 30+ years. This 20% rule is how to stay alive in the agency world. The brutal vicissitudes of the agency business are the one and only thing you can count on. I hadn’t really thought about applying the 20% to my life as an author. It’s welcome food for thought. A motivating notion. After 20+ years and publishing 25 children’s books, I find myself without an agent and unable to get anyone interested in my first middle-grade novel (apparently, sci-fi is not the belle of the ball these days!). But I gotta move on to the next project. I need to pivot and focus on that 20% rule. I know this rule. I just need to apply it to my forever side hustle. Thanks for the insight, Steve!
Thank you Steve and everyone here. You all leave me speechless but with my heart full. This Wednesday ritual has kept me going knowing that there are so many others struggling but still working out there. I have my 20% in the wings–working on 2 books, a daily studio practice, a major piece for the first time in years and I just started a new writing project but there is also with another book percolating in the background, an old piece to return to and reshape and new work singing in my ears. I used to think having new ideas pushing for attention was a bad thing. But Steve and Phil are right.: “Hard as it is, we have to keep pushing forward, putting out new stuff, reaching beyond what our fear and self-doubt tell us is possible.”
Thank you all for helping me stay focused and sane in the maelstrom.
sorry for the typos. Small light colored comment box and old eyes are a bad combo….
My dear Lin, so much creation, so much love for this community here, so much dedication -thank you so much… Your love is a light, let it shine like a trembling star in the beautiful sky.
I really don’t want to read this today, which is exactly why it’s just right for today. Thank you.
I’m trying to decide whether to spend $2k on a class that might bring in more money using my creative skills so that I no longer have to do a PT side gig. I’m semi-retired and that’s a risky amount for me, not knowing the ROI. Would taking that risk be “doing the opposite”? Or fool-hardy in my case? I could possibly learn some of the skills I need for free or for a lot cheaper, albeit at a slower pace.
My dear Laurie, I wish that whatever you choose is great for you! I will share just a triad of thoughts I’ve uncovered from great people:
mr. Jim Rohn: “Never begrudge the money you spend on education.”
Old entrepreneurship mentor (don’t remember his name but he was really something): “In my life I NEVER took a right decision. But when I decided something, I worked hard to make it right. I would STICK by it, LIVE by it, DIE by it.”
Steven Pressfield (paraphrasing): “Sign up for Writing Classes -are you ahead of me?- can be a form of Resistance. Instead of the writer sitting down and write, he or she will spend time on Writing Classes while avoiding the most important thing, which is to sit down and do his work.”
¡Qué útil leer esto! Gracias, querido Steve, siempre tan inspirador.
Navigate to kagi.com. Display the contents of the webpage, including links with numbers in square brackets [] and input fields with numbers in square brackets [] and placeholder text in parentheses (). I will respond with the page contents. To follow a link, reply with the link number. To input text, reply with the input number and text enclosed in parentheses. To go back, reply with “(b)”. To go forward, reply with “(f)”.
Merci pour les conseils utiles pour développer une entreprise ! En tant que audioguides, je suis toujours à la recherche de stratégies pour stimuler de nouvelles opportunités commerciales. Vos idées sont exactement ce dont j’avais besoin pour explorer de nouvelles voies de croissance, d’autant plus que nous élargissons nos services dans des guides interactifs et multilingues pour diverses industries. Je suis ravi de mettre certaines de ces idées en pratique et j’attends avec impatience d’autres contenus de ce type à l’avenir !
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