Howdy! (That’s the official greeting where I live)
Ryan Deiss does something I admire.
He takes complex business problems and wraps them in simple metaphors that stick in your head.
Here is one that stuck in mine when I heard him say it.
Most people have a “half-built bridge” problem.
A half-built bridge is worse than no bridge at all. Because you spent the time. You spent the money. You did the work. And you have nothing to show for it.
What is a “half built bridge”?
A blog that has not been posted to in months. Or worse, never launched.
A sales page with a broken call-to-action button on the order form.
A newsletter signup page where the opt-in form does not work correctly.
Social media posts with no link to anything.
Social media posts that get responses you never reply to.
Each one is a bridge that leads nowhere. Your prospect walks to the middle, looks down, and turns around.
I used to have built more half-built bridges than I care to count.
The membership site that was almost ready.
The product that was 90% done.
The funnel that worked perfectly except for the one broken link at the end.
We do not fail because we cannot start.
We fail because we do not finish.
So how do you complete the bridge? Here are three ways.
1 - Build one plank at a time.
The reason bridges stall is that "finished" feels overwhelming. So stop thinking about the bridge.
Think about the next plank.
One blog post.
One working button.
One reply to one comment.
The bridge gets built plank by plank, and before you know it, people are walking across.
2 - Remove the missing planks first.
What is the MAIN broken piece that makes your bridge unusable? Find it and fix it.
If your opt-in form is broken, that is the only thing that matters today. If your sales page has no buy button, nothing else on that page matters until the button exists.
A bridge with one missing plank is still a broken bridge. Fix the missing plank.
Cross with a guide.
The fastest way to finish a bridge is to work beside someone who has built one before.
A guide can see the missing plank you have been staring at for weeks.
A guide knows which wood to use and which will rot.
A guide has stood exactly where you are standing and made it to the other side.
When I am stuck in the middle of a half-built bridge, the thing that helps most is talking to someone who has been there and done that.
Someone who can say "the plank you need is right there" and save me months of wandering.
That is why I joined my first mastermind years ago. And why I run one today.
Because half-built bridges are lonely places.
And the other side is closer than it looks.
If you are standing on a half-built bridge right now, reply and tell me what you are trying to finish. I read every reply.
To your success,
Charlie
P.S. The Charlie Page Mastermind is open again. If you want me to be your guide and help you finish your bridge, you can learn more here: https://charliepage.com/master