Don’t Just Stand There…Open the Door!

I went to the zoo with my daughter last weekend. We always arrive right when they open so that we can avoid the crowds that creep in as the day wears on.

At the St. Louis Zoo, if you arrive at 9:00, you can get into the Children’s Zoo for free, which is a nice bonus for early risers. We walked over to the kids zoo and waited for them to open the gate. Once the gate was open, we wandered over to a building where they house all kinds of animals like meerkats, fish and naked mole rats. When we arrived at the building, there was a crowd of about 30 people standing outside the building.

The assumption was that the doors were locked. But I saw no evidence that would make me think that it wouldn’t be open, so we walked up to the door, walked in, and the large crowd followed after us.

The question is…what was everyone waiting for?

In life and in business, we can often sit around waiting for someone to give us a sign that it’s time to move forward. Not just any sign (like an unlocked door that you just need to pull), but they are waiting for a 500 foot neon sign that says “COME ON IN….WE’RE OPEN!”

There are opportunities everywhere, if you just put one foot in front of the other and pull on the door handle.

We all know that the cable industry is in trouble. That’s not a secret. Many companies are sticking their heads in the sand and pretending the problem isn’t as big as it is.

There is a problem. And it’s big.

According to a recent Nielsen report, traditional TV viewing among 18-24 year olds in Q4 2014 was down by more than 17% year-over-year.

This is a trend that has been happening since the launch of the iPhone and started the process of mobile devices taking over as the first screen and TV started playing second fiddle. There is no neon sign saying that cable is going the way of the walkman. There are, however, many, many other signs that provide a mountain of evidence. If the cable companies step up to the door, they will see that it IS unlocked. They CAN make changes.

Dish Network has opened the door.

Their newest service, called Sling TV, is providing access to many of the most popular channels (ESPN, ESPN2, CNN, AMC, HGTV, Food Network, Lifetime, History, Disney, Cartoon Network, and more) for just $20 a month.  There are other packages that you can add on if you want more sports, more kids channels or HBO.

While every other cable company was standing outside, waiting for someone to walk out of the building and give them permission to enter, Sling just opened the door.

Only time will tell if everyone else will follow, or if they will just keep standing outside until the snow starts falling and they realize they have no coats.

Am I telling you to take risks? Not really. I do believe in calculated risk, but this isn’t about risk. This is about simply opening your eyes and observing the very real facts that are happening in front of you.

It means that you take a look at what items on your menu are selling, breaking down the 80/20 rule (80% of your sales come from 20% of your products) and focusing on what you are great at…letting go of what you doing “just good enough.”

It means that when a co-worker leaves their position and you feel that you are qualified to do the job, that you walk into your bosses office with confidence and ask for the job.

It means that when you find a solution to a pain point, that you implement the solution.

It means that you need to step away from the crowd. You need to stop wasting time.

And you need to open the door.

Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash