Bought Business Courses but Never Implemented Them?

"I definitely purchased courses that I never watched."

A software consultant told me that on a sales call. Then he said what he really wanted: someone to tell him what to do, so he could do it.

If you bought business courses but never implemented them, and you've got a login page bookmark folder full of programs you meant to finish, you know the feeling.

You don't have an information problem

Here's what I've noticed on sales calls. The people I end up working with have usually done the courses already. Some have done the big-name coaching programs too.

They know plenty. One owner said it plainly: "I'm a collector. I need the action plan. What do I do? When do I do it?"

Another had a list of programs that he called "a lot of partials and some no-starts."

Information isn't what's missing. Something else is.

What courses can't give you

A course gives you everything. That's the problem.

It's built for thousands of people, so it covers every option. Every strategy. Every channel. And then it leaves you to figure out which parts apply to your business.

That's a lot to ask of someone who's already running a full calendar.

What most busy owners actually need is the opposite:

• One path. Not ten options. The next step for your business.
• The right order. What comes first, what comes second, what waits.
• Someone checking. A person who notices when you've stalled and gets you moving again.

Why you bought business courses but never implemented them (and why that's fine)

You didn't finish because the course didn't know your business. You had to do the translating, and translating is exhausting.

So you got busy with client work, which is real and pays the bills, and the course slid to next week. Then next month.

Call it a reasonable response to a plan that wasn't built for you.

Stop buying more information

The instinct when you're stuck is to buy the next program. Maybe this one will be the one.

Try something different. Before you buy anything else, write down what you'd need to do in the next 90 days if you already knew everything.

You can probably fill a page. The gap is doing it in order with something at stake.

Look for a person

When people tell me what they want, it usually sounds like this:

"I want somebody to say, this is what you should try, this is how you do it."

"I just want somebody to tell me what to do, and I can do it."

That's a person who knows your business, puts one thing in front of you, and checks that it got done. Do this next. Don't do anything else until it's complete.

What to look for in that person

If you're shopping for help, ask:

• Will they look at what's already working before telling you what to build?
• Will they give you one next step, or a menu?
• Will they check in, or just hand you a curriculum?

If the answer to the last one is "you'll get access to the modules," you're buying another course.

The point of all those courses

The good news is that nothing you learned is wasted. It's sitting there, ready, once you know which pieces matter.

The right plan will use more of it than you think.

If you're done collecting

I work one path at a time with established owners: the next step, in order, and someone checking that you took it.

If you want to see where the offer is hiding in your expertise, start with a Leverage Map at leverage.simplecompany.co.