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Intro: I’m Paul Higgins, an ex-corporate executive turned business owner who, for five years, struggled to grow a cloud Consulting business whilst battling a chronic disease. With the help of mentors and experts, I got the business model right, built a sales and marketing engine, and developed a high-performing team that ended in a successful exit. I received a kidney transplant from a mate, and now on my second life, I dedicate my time to helping other Cloud Consultants go quickly with less effort to enjoy life. Detecting an accent, I'm an Aussie working globally from Melbourne, Australia. I interview successful Cloud Consultants sharing their scaling story to give you inspiration and practical tips. I have dedicated experts for Cloud Consultants on the show to save you time and money by working with the right people. If you want to scale quickly with less effort to enjoy life, you're in the right place. Let's get started.

(0:57): Imagine this,  you watch a YouTube video, I'm running a demo call and think you've finally nailed it. This is the third one for the week though and all of them are saying something slightly different. And it isn't just demo calls, let's face it, it's every part of your business. Hello, this is Paul Higgins and welcome to episode 494. I will give you a way to stop the number one habit which is hindering your growth. Now let's dive into the problem at hand, I know you're busy and you've got limited time. You keep watching YouTube videos, TikTok, whatever and then implementing the tactics and don't seem to be getting the growth you want. 

(1:36): If you follow my content you know I'm a golfer, maybe not a good one but I'm a golfer. You don't have to be a golfer though to understand this golfing story. I watch YouTube, TikTok, improve my game, I take tips from everywhere and anywhere and it drives my coach nuts and I'll tell you why in a moment. But last week I watched a video about dropping my shoulder in my backswing and I was completely convinced it was the answer. It was the holy grail, it was finally the thing that I really needed. I was so sure I went and told my coach and to his credit he said okay and left it at that. Now my coach has been here many, many times. He knows how this is going to end because his clients all do the same thing. 

(2:19): So there's a proliferation of content out there, whether it's running your tech consulting business or for me being a golf person, any habit you know it. His clients believe that one unrelated tweak in the swing is going to solve all their problems and the truth is the tweak is not the answer, surprise, surprise. How do I know? He videoed my swing and found the real problem. And it was utterly unrelated to my self-diagnosed YouTube clinic, which I'm guilty of, charged guilty. See, what I thought was a problem in fact wasn't the true problem. The true problem was very different. I needed someone who had watched thousands of swings to know the difference. 

(3:03): So how does this relate to the number one habit hindering your growth as a tech consultant? Are you thinking self-assessment? Well, if you are,  you've got it in one. When tech consultants come to me to help them grow, what they think is the real problem is rarely the true problem. I like the saying, it's hard to see the label from inside the jar. I'm sure you've heard it before. The proliferation of content isn't the problem, right? We're just going to get more content. It's not going to stop. With AI and everything that's happening in that space, it's just going to be more and more. The true problem is you take the content and implement it yourself without getting advice of someone who has been in your situation before.

(3:44): So take a minute and think about the last client discovery call you did. Did your client's self-diagnosis match your diagnosis, being the expert in that area? I'm pretty sure it didn't, right? What they thought was the problem wasn't the true problem. It is no different with you who is growing your own business. I watched on YouTube and implemented my golf game and I thought I knew what I needed to focus on. The bottom line is self-assessment is hindering your growth, just like it's hindering my golf game, just like it's hindering your clients. So how can you change this self-assessment habit that hinders you and turn it into a positive one? Talk to someone who can see the whole picture by drawing the experience from working with hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of others. 

(4:34): I always like the analogy that Margaret Thatcher, when she tried to disassemble the British economy, someone said she thought it was a bicycle where all the parts were independent. But actually it isn't. It's an ecosystem. So they likened it to a frog where it's all interconnected. And I think it's the same for your business. One little tweak is not going to make the difference, but you've got to make sure you've got the really big picture items all lined up in the right way. And there's going to be more about that in the future as I'm writing my playbook. If you don't know someone who is the right person to help you, reach out. I can match you to someone who can. I've got lots of peers and I'm deeply entrenched in this space. And it might be a mentor or a peer or it might be a mastermind with some other people that are in the exact same platform space as you. It may be a coach, it may be a mentor, but just reach out to me if you don't have someone  to stop this number one habit that's hindering you.