Is it You, or Your Tools? 🔨

Hello Reader,

This week I stopped at my local art supply store (aka the second best place ever, just behind a local bookstore) and picked up some fun stuff, including a new watercolor paintbrush. (I've been taking a course on watercolor, it's fun!) I sprung for the fancier grade brush, which was about $12 USD instead of $8 USD.

I got it home and, naturally, I had to test it out.

It turns out this little brush solved almost all my frustrations.

It wasn't me, it was the tool I was using.

I don't know about you, but I tend to default to assuming I'm the problem in the equation when things go wrong. And, most certainly, sometimes I am. Maybe I didn't have all the info I needed, I didn't execute something correctly, or my timing was off.

However, just like that silly little brush, sometimes the tool is the problem.

In business, that incorrect tool could be using the wrong strategy for you, or an app that you've outgrown, or even hiring the wrong person to help you with something.

High achievers in particular (and I know I've got a lot of you reading this email) tend to believe that they can strong-arm the tools into working, and that if they don't, that's their fault.

Me, I'm searching for a CRM that's built with consultants in mind. Because the tool I'm using just wasn't built for my business as it exists today. It was awesome until it wasn't. I'm also looking at different financial management tools for the same reason. I tried to force them to work, thinking, "Sarah, you're smart, you can make this work." Which I could—but is that the wisest and best use of my brainpower? I don't think so.

My invitation to you is to consider that if something isn't working, is it REALLY you? Or are you using the wrong tool for the job?

Talk soon,

Sarah

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