I’m 12. The school bus has just let me off at the front of my house. No one’s home yet because both my parents work and my younger sister is still at school.
And I am CRAVING a delicious bowl of Orville Redenbacher popcorn.
So I let myself in, drop off my book bag in my bedroom, and head to the kitchen.
I open the cupboard and reach for the jar of Orville, like I’ve done every school day for months.
Only there’s no jar of Orville waiting for me.
There’s just a bag of store brand popcorn.
Wait, what?
Where’s the Orville?
Did my mom really buy store brand popcorn when she knows how much I love Orville?
I’m bummed, but I make the popcorn anyway because I’m hungry and what else can I do?
I taste it. It’s nowhere near as good as Orville.
A few hours later when my mom comes home from work, I immediately announce my judgement:
“The store brand popcorn you just got isn’t nearly as good as the Orville. Could you get Orville next time?”
My mom starts laughing.
And not just a few “ha ha’s”. Oh no. Her laughing lasts a good five minutes. It was the kind of laughing fit that hunches a person over, makes them snort and hiccup, and has tears streaming down their face.
Once she’s able to speak again, she reveals the truth:
She’s been putting the store brand popcorn in the Orville jar for months.
And the only reason the store brand bag was in the cupboard was because I threw out the Orville jar before she could put more popcorn in.
Awkward...
While I would have loved to learn them a different way, that day I learned two very important lessons…
First, marketing is POWERFUL.
At the time Orville Redenbacher was showing commercials of how much bigger and fluffier their popcorn was than the other brands.
So naturally, I was primed to believe that each and every Orville kernel was far superior to the lame store brand.
Which is exactly what my brain experienced (before I knew the truth…)
Second, we can have biases and blindspots.
I was utterly CONVINCED that Orville was SO MUCH BETTER than the store brand.
And we often need other people to help point them out.
(Hopefully with a little less laughter)
I see this all the time in business. For example…
- Coaches who are convinced that one marketing approach is THE approach because that’s what some expert does (and that’s what’s been marketed to them)
- Coaches who think the coaching methodology they learned from a certification program is THE framework they need to use in their businesses, even though it’s used by hundreds of other coaches from that same program, or wasn’t developed with their specific niche in mind.
I invite you to think about your own biases and blindspots.
What are you doing right now that you’ve been told is the ONE way to do something – but isn’t really working?
How is or isn’t that serving you?
And, if it’s not serving you – what can you do differently?
If you’d like my help to make sure you’re doing the most effective things for YOU…
… make sure to book a Coach Action Plan — a private 45-minute call with me where you get personalized guidance on what you should be focusing on in your business right now.
My recommendations are always specific for you, right where you are now.
With love & joy,
P.S. Is there someone in your life who could benefit from reading this post? Why not share this with them?
