A mentor I worked with many years ago had an antidote to the inertia a lot of self-employed people feel coming out of the holidays.
It’s not hard to let the holiday slowdown continue for weeks into the new year, or even months.
He came up with a concept called The Big Drive, which was a challenge to kick off the new year with a huge amount of momentum.
He would compare it with a skier going to the biggest hill, and letting momentum do its part. The trick was to put themselves at the top of that hill in the first place.
Basically, if you commit to your January being your most profitable month ever, you’ve guaranteed yourself an incredible year to follow.
Back then, I used that inspiration as a spark to kick off the marketing of my hypnosis tours. I combined the concept of The Big Drive with Blue Ocean Strategy. I purposely didn’t create busy work, or jump into the “red oceans” of what everyone else was doing. I came up with a market I knew no one else was touching.
Hypnotists back then were all trying to cash in on New Years resolutions like weight loss, quitting smoking, and other self-improvement. Everyone and their dog pitching the same concepts to the same people. I continue to see this going on today, no matter what the market.
Instead, I created a unique war plan. I allocated weeks on my calendar for months later, April, May, and June, to be in different parts of the country. I worked out on the calendar where I planned to be, and then I started the work of filling those dates. I started work on this immediately on the first work day after New Years. It gave me a lot of clarity. It wasn’t necessarily about the cash itself coming in right away, because it usually lags, but about setting myself up. I was generating leads and confirming dates. Basically, I was selling into the future.
The first year I did this, I booked 10 high schools on my tour even though I had never performed at one. I still find this amazing – I had zero experience performing at high schools, and I booked 10! They didn’t question me, because who else would be booking themselves on a national tour, certainly not some newb who only had some bar shows to their credit? The Big Drive motivated me to just go for it. I mobilized The Big Drive for each following year of my hypnosis career to set me up for financial success.
I used it again when I launched Stealth Seminar, creating a concept that went for sale at the start of 2010 with $450 of off-the-shelf parts and my ingenuity. I just completed the sale of that to a private equity fund.
I’ve used The Big Drive as inspiration for many Zooms I’ve hosted over recent years, scheduled at the start of the year to give me momentum and focus.
I’m in a different place today but I’m using the spirit of The Big Drive this year as the inspiration for my next chapter. For the first time, I’m offering The Big Drive to other people, with a focus on generating new money.
How does kicking off your 2025 with me, focused on generating new money sound?
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What does your Big Drive look like?
