“Sir, can we see what happens when we put sodium in acid?”
“Well… have you checked that your parents have paid your life insurance premiums?” I joked back.
We were busy having some end-of-term fun.
With 25 students crowding around — at a safe distance, of course — to see the fireworks when we placed a small cube of sodium metal in a basin of water.
And y’know… once you open those doors… inquiring minds want to know more.
In a former life I taught high school science. And we had an exciting lineup of all sorts of chemicals in our store room.
From the “fun” nitric acid and sodium metal. To the more tame ethanol and calcium carbonate.
Of course… if you go mixing most of those chemicals, often you’d get a small fizz… and nothing more.
But some of them, in just the right amounts… well… fun times!
And let’s just say there’s a jolly good reason we didn’t go tossing sodium into hydrochloric acid!
Sometimes it’s fun to experiment though.
Rather like in your freelance business.
Which is a bit like a science lab.
You see…
We try a bit of this. Mixed with a bit of that. And then see what happens.
No good? Nothing fizzing or igniting?
Try something different.
Whether it’s our client outreach methods. Or the software we use to do our accounting. Or the pen we write with…
Sometimes we need to try different things. To succeed at some. To fail at others…
In order to nudge things gradually forwards.
But there’s inherent risk and fear in any sort of decision we have to make in our business.
The decisions can be HARD.
And our natural response may be avoidance.
I’m slowly learning that tackling things head on… despite the fear… is where progress is made.
And the reality is… like master copywriter John Carlton says:
“A bad decision is reversible 99.99% of the time.”
And when it’s not…
Hey, it’ll make a great story to share in an email sometime!
What experiments are you working on in your business?
Flick me an email… I’d love to hear how you’re doing.
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Chris Milham