I have two dogs. I love them both to death. There is an adorable, regal, aloof one named Nala and a small, yappy, attention whore named Cheyenne.
Here’s the thing. They both want my attention. They want it more than anything…except my wife’s attention. They really love my wife’s attention.
But Nala doesn’t ask for it. She’ll sometimes look doe-eyed and wonder why I’m not giving her attention. She’ll curl up and look wounded that I’m not paying attention to her, but she will never come up and ask for it.
My small dog on the other hand…there’s nothing she won’t do for attention. She will barrel into people. She will jump on your lap even if you’re not sitting down. She will jump on the back of your foot causing you to trip and fall. She’ll lick your face while you’re doing yoga.
There is really nothing she won’t do to get cuddly. She is aggressively cuddly, which is the only appropriate term for her. She is relentless with her snuggles.
I don’t think she likes cuddling more than Nala. I think she is just vehement that she’s going to get hers. She doesn’t care if Nala gets pets too, but she’s gonna get hers.
So what does this have to do with business? Nothing. I just wanted to show off my two adorable dogs.
Kidding…kind of.
What it tells me about business is that in order to get what you want, you need to announce yourself! You have to tell people you want their business, and get in front of them. You have to be relentless about it, otherwise somebody else will be.
While both my dogs love us equally, and while we love both our dogs equally, one sleeps next to my wife and naps with me while the other one lays twenty feet away pining for our attention.
And all because Nala doesn’t ask and Cheyenne does. So if you want something in business, you have to ask for it. You have to be aggressively cuddly about it.