When you take your eye off the goal, it often equates to lost opportunity.
My husband and I finally found the key 🔑—THE KEY to a box that has literally been locked since June 2014 when we moved from Pennsylvania. This box contains our coin collection.
Years ago – before we were married—Jason and I attended auctions with my Dad and Gram. We were not in the market for anything specific, but it was a way of spending time with them. My Gram was always on the hunt for some antique what-not, and my dad was a coin collector.
In those early years, we didn’t have a lot of spare change 💰 (pun intended), yet we were still able to start our own coin collection. Dad advised us with what coins we should focus on collecting, and when he replaced a coin in his collection with something of finer value, he’d sometimes gift his lesser-value coin to us. This helped us acquire some of the rarer coins in our collection.
Then in 1999, The U.S. Mint modified the reverse side of the quarter, thus commencing the 50 State Quarters program. This was a big deal to coin collectors, and it’s because of that program that Jason and I began collecting both proof and silver proof sets from the mint. These were pricier items, but we also figured, for the most part, their value would increase over time. Plus, collecting coins is a lot of fun!
But in 2008, for a variety of reasons we stopped collecting coins. At the time, it was probably a decision triggered by finances. The coin sets were becoming more expensive, but looking back, that was just an excuse (because I know how poor we were in 1999 when we started collecting). In short, we got lazy and did not make our coin collection (our hobby + investment in our future) a priority.
And we regret it. A lot.
Now we have a 13-year gap of missing coins. Some will be easier to find than others. Some of those minted are now considered quite rare and will be expensive to acquire—if we can find them at all. The 2012 Silver Proof Set, for example, sold for $31.95 and is now valued at $125 (Source: A Guide Book of United States Coins 2021). Don’t I now wish we’d spent the $32 nine years ago?
But even if we manage to find some of the coins, we will never get back that lost time. Our laziness now equals lost opportunity. Opportunity for the investment, and the opportunity to continue to share that hobby with my Dad, who is now deceased.
I pretty much feel like that with lead generation, too. I see too many businesses relying on Facebook or Instagram, and not enough actually investing the time and energy into building their list and nurturing their connections.
Your list is one of the few digital assets you own. You should be working on it regularly. This means you should 1) add new names to your email list often (so your list doesn’t grow stale) and 2) send your newsletter regularly (at least 6x a year).
The residential construction industry is booming now (yeah! 🎉), but what will business look like six months from now? A year from now? Don’t wait until your pipeline is drying up to grow and nurture your email list.
How do you build your email list? Here are some ideas:
- Add a subscribe form to your website, as I did here.
- If you sell physical products, offer a 10% off coupon code (that’s emailed to the recipient). Online stores do this all the time to grow their list.
- Offer a checklist, such as a Kitchen Renovation Checklist
- Offer a value-packed PDF guide, like “5 Hidden Benefits of Remodeling Your Home”
- Host a webinar or other virtual education event
Don’t regret not building and investing in your email list. Every week that goes by where you are not actively growing and nurturing your list is a lost opportunity of investing in your business’ future.
🛠 TOOLS
Publer – Your Social Media Superhero I’ve tried A LOT of social media tools, and this one just keeps getting better. In addition to scheduling, it also has a media library that connects directly to Canva (huge time saver!), an RSS Feed and provides easy to understand analytics. Another bonus, the price is based on the number of social accounts and team members YOU NEED!
How to Start an Email Newsletter This article, written by me, provides the 101 of building your email list.
Focus Session Spend 90-minutes with me brainstorming ideas to help your business grow.
Done-For-You Newsletter Program Any remodeler can effortlessly nurture leads and stay in touch with past clients by using my done-for-you newsletter program because it makes sending out your newsletter easier and less time consuming than doing it yourself.
