Do you struggle with Shiny Object Syndrome? This one’s for you! – Episode 155

If you have a tendency to jump from one new idea to another in your business or creativity, here’s why you need to deal with it stat! I’m sharing how you can give your services and products a better chance with this switch in marketing style.

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Welcome to The Feel Good Factor. I’m Susmitha Veganosaurus, and I’m so glad you could join me here today.

Hey there!!! As a business owner or an artist or a creative person of any sort…

If you have a tendency to succumb to Shiny Object Syndrome, then this episode is just for you!

I’m like this. I have a tendency to get all these new, amazing ideas. Then I get taken down the rabbit hole of each one and forget what I was doing before. *laughs* I’m sure you’re familiar with this.

You’re running your business and you have this great new idea for a product or a marketing campaign. Or if you’re an artist, you have this idea for a creative project. But then, you’re doing it, you’re probably putting it out there in the world also, and this totally a new idea comes into your head, and you’re like, “Ooo, that’s interesting!”

Then you drop whatever you’re doing, and go off onto the new path, like a doggy following a butterfly

“Ooh a butterfly!” And there’s another butterfly, and it’s like, “ooh there,” and then just running here, there, there, helter-skelter.

Dog happily chasing a butterfly in grass.
Photo by Reba Spike on Unsplash

See, this is fun when you’re playing, it’s great. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it at all for when you’re doing projects for your own self, or you’re creating for your own self, which we need to do a lot of. I spoke about that in the previous episode.

But if you’re doing it to run a business, to market, to make money, if you’re working towards something like that, then this shiny object syndrome thing does not serve you! It absolutely doesn’t serve us.

Statistically, people need to be introduced to an idea maybe seven, eight times before they even respond to it

When I started my online academy for courses…now, there are so many topics that I love teaching. A variety of them because I’m a multi-passionate. What I would do is build one course or create one workshop recording, put it on the academy, post about it one time in the newsletter, one time on Instagram, and then like, “Oh, no, nobody’s interested, forget about it.” And then again, move on to building something new.

You know, my academy got populated with a whole bunch of different things which I hadn’t promoted as much as they deserved.

So it’s very important as business owners for us to take one idea, one product, one service, one event (or if you are an artist, one project), work on it, put it out there, and then repeatedly talk about it. Repeatedly market it. Again and again, continuously in a row.

You can’t be like, “Today I’ll promote this product. Tomorrow, some other service. Some other day, some other workshop.” If you keep doing that then it’s too many things!

Look at it from the point of view of a client or consumer or audience person – if there’s too much going on constantly, they forget about it

There’s so much out in the world. There’s so much content out there, so much marketing. So much available for people. They’ll read about it once and think, “okay, this sounds interesting”, and then something else comes along and they just get distracted by that, and then by something else.

But if the same message is repeated…I don’t mean repeated in a copy-paste fashion, you can be creative in the way you repeat it. You can put your call to action like, “check out this course, or a product”, you can put it in different parts of a particular message. Some can be the main, core topic of the post or an email, but some can be mentioned just in passing. But make sure that…

Whatever you’re promoting, pick that one thing, and then create the desire for that thing through repetition

Put it out into the world – in your newsletter, your Instagram, or wherever you’re posting about it – again and again and again. Let it get repeated. The more it gets repeated, the more you spotlight it, the more it’s going to stick in people’s heads.

And you may or may not get an immediate sale out of it, it depends on what you’re selling, but because it’s stuck in people’s head, when there is a need for that particular product or service or class or whatever, they’ll think of you.

They’ll think of your particular product or service because it’s repeatedly been drilled into their heads.

I want you to take a moment and think of your own purchases, the kinds of things you’ve bought

You’ll realise there are certain things which you probably didn’t even think you needed, and then when the product kept coming into your mind repeatedly, or the service or the class kept coming into your mind repeatedly, after a certain point of time you got it for yourself. You saw the reason it’ll be useful in your life.

So that’s why you’d want people to really remember that one particular product or service again and again and again. Think of it again and again and again. And through this repetition, you can successfully market whatever it is your marketing.

As creative people, I know we have all these ideas, we start off these projects with huge enthusiasm like, “Yes! Let’s do this!” We’re kicking off this, launching the six months, something, something program, whatever, whatever, and then it fizzles out because some other new idea’s taken over.

Short haired Indian lady in black dress, Susmitha, sitting on a garden chair and looking up. Hand reaching upwards. The word "Idea" printed several times overhead. One in a graphic light bulb. A representation of shiny object syndrome.

It’s like in any relationship. The new relationship energy is great! We love that feeling, right?

Whether it is romantic, or it’s a friendship, a new relationship with a new business, whatever you started, anything new, when it starts off, it’s really exciting! It’s so much fun, and it’s very enjoyable. But over time, even though that enjoyment fizzles, successful relationships are ones which move past that initial spark. People consistently work on that particular relationship, and that’s what’s needed.

When you need to have a successful sale, a launch, whatever you’re doing, you need to consistently stick to it and follow through. See it through after that initial enthusiasm. You’ve drummed up people’s expectations on something? They need to see that you follow through with it.

You don’t drop just a project. You don’t announce it and then it’s just dropped and you move on to something else. That doesn’t help people trust you and know that you’re dependable.

So build that reputation for dependability, see things through

And remember to do this always. It’s something we tend to forget because, yes, the attraction of something new is very magnetic, very powerful and strong.

When you get new ideas, write them down, put them on the back burner. Put them somewhere, don’t leave them. Just write and keep them somewhere.

But don’t touch a new idea until you’ve seen a current idea through, at least to a large extent you’ve given it a good go

Like, yeah, you announce your workshop, nobody’s signed up. It’s okay, just keep repeating it, and it builds. The beauty of building momentum is it snow balls.

There’s a time you realise, “this project’s running its own self, I don’t need to constantly focus on it anymore”. That’s when you move on to the new idea, a new project. Pick it and deal with it.

So yeah, that’s the difference between actually marketing and selling something and building a business, versus playing and enjoying (which as I always say, there’s nothing wrong with it). But yes, if you want to build a business, then make sure that you’re consistently marketing something and you do it several times constantly without moving the spotlight to anything else.

All right, you have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you again next week, and yes, if you like this episode, then you’re going to love my newsletter, The Feel Good Tribe. Sign up here.

Take care. Bye!

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Susmitha Veganosaurus, vegan business coach, chef, multi-passionate creator. Holding a white mug, wearing a black dress, dangly earrings, smiling wide at the camera.

“I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and I’m most in my element when I’m teaching, writing, and playing with clay. I believe authenticity and kindness are the key to a joyful world. Sign up for my free newsletterwhere I share Life and Business Tips, Vegan Hacks, Holistic Guidance, and more.

Vegan cuisine and holistic business building are my two biggest passions. If you’re looking for guidance with vegan cooking, or want to grow your conscious business with joy and fulfilment, explore ways we can work together here.”