Importance of feedback when you’re planning World domination

I’ve been out and about recently and met a few friends and some new acquaintances. Many of them looked at me and just laughed – or giggled – or snickered.

They weren’t trying to upset or embarrass me and, in fact, I was delighted and ego-boosted by their guffaws.

Why? Well because it was immediately clear to me that they meant no offence. They were laughing with me, not at me.

All this giggling was accompanied by one common phrase – car keys 🙂

It seems my Christmas Day adventures struck a chord.

But, when I wrote it, that blog wasn’t really about car keys per se. It was about the universe providing when your own determination and focus is strong enough. And it was about exuding the confidence needed to get things done – even in the face of confusing (and sometimes hilarious) field signals from those around us.

Now, is that just me reading an awkward situation to better suit my circumstances? Well, in the end, it doesn’t matter.

What matters is my own mindset, my own take on the circumstances presented to me and my own decisions on what to do next and what to do after that.

Of course, it would be a fool who accepts only the signals and advice that best suit his preferred interpretation and outcome, and ignores the rest.

That said though, there is and must be some level of bias in the interpretation.

Hang on a minute – I’m getting a bit vague here. So let me get more specific – for both our sakes 🙂

In my last blog I asked for feedback and suggestions around the concept of starting a paid-subscription Members’ Area on the CONTACT web site.

I did this to gauge audience reaction to help me make the second biggest business decision in CONTACT’s history.

Obviously (at least to me, and especially in retrospect), the biggest business decision in CONTACT’s business history was the one that launched this business in the first place – though at the time, rather than being one big decision to “start a magazine publishing empire”, it was actually more a case of the compounding consequences of many smaller decisions that collectively dragged me closer and closer to the centre of this beast.

But that’s a story I will get around to telling you sometime in the future. [actually, here it is]

Right now, the second most important decision in CONTACT’s history needs to be made – do I close down and walk away, or do I grab the bull by the horns and steer him in a new direction.

Those are the only options.

The status quo – i.e. keep doing what I’m doing – is definitely NOT an option.

So, with that in mind, I reached out to the CONTACT community and asked you for your thoughts and opinions about one of my major game-changing options – namely, charging a membership fee for access to a Members’ Only Area of CONTACT.

And here’s where my mindset becomes very important in interpreting the circumstances as they present.

If I was in a negative mindset and leaning towards closing down, my decision to do so would have been made very easy if I chose to interpret the fact that fewer than 50 readers (out of 8500 subscribers) took the time to contact me when I pleaded for input on a monumental decision as meaning that there was insufficient support out there to justify pressing on.

But, being in a positive mindset – especially after the episode with the Christmas car keys – I’m actually delighted to report that nearly 50 true fans of CONTACT sent me in-depth, well considered and, to my great relief, overwhelmingly positive and supportive feedback, enough for me to snatch it up (before the next wave of doubt has it’s evil way with my mindset) and heft it skyward in triumph, beaming from ear to ear. Saved.

In other words, I have decided to press ahead with my plan to launch a Members’ Area on the CONTACT web site.

If all goes to (the still pretty vague) plan in my head, that will hopefully happen about the middle of this year.

“Why the delay if it’s that important?”, I hear you ask.

Well, technically and realistically, I could launch a Members’ Area in weeks rather than months. But, the truthful answer is, I want to make sure there is enough value for members already in place before I ask anyone for money.

And I still have the next issue of your favourite military magazine to put together – and you can expect to see that, on time (as always), on 1 March.

 

P.S. If you now feel guilty that you were a ‘wet fish’ and didn’t send your thoughts and ideas or simple messages of support and encouragement for this monumental decision, I’d still love to hear from you 🙂  Have a read of my ideas for a Members’ Only Area of the CONTACT web site, and have your say either via editor@militarycontact.com or in the comments section below or the comments section of that other blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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