There’s a stubborn patch of dirt in my front yard that refuses to grow grass. Most passersby don’t notice it, but I do.
As someone who spends a lot of time in meetings, in front of a computer, or standing in a classroom, doing yard work outdoors is a part of my “me” time. During that time, I attempt to create a pristine lawn, one that’s envious of the neighbors, which doesn’t always happen.
That’s why this bare spot bothers me. I’ve tried multiple seed types and different growing techniques; however, each morning as I head to the gym, I walk over to it to see if any signs of life have emerged overnight. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been left disappointed.
I am by no means a lawn care expert, but I’ve used logic and research to try and solve this problem. My father, meanwhile, a landscaping master of almost five decades, says I’m doing all the right things before preaching patience. That’s the hardest part for me.
Sure, I could just throw some sod down, hope it roots, and call it a day. But I know that shortcut won’t work for me.
Seeing instant results is not often how life works. It’s not how losing weight, building a business, or even a successful relationship is achieved. Results take time, regardless of whether the outcome is not what you had hoped.
So many people give up during the progress phase, failing to see beyond what doesn’t exist yet. They either fail to recognize that the actions today compound into the results of tomorrow or that expecting instantaneous results makes you vulnerable to disappointment. Progress isn’t always linear. Inputs don’t always yield expected outputs, but that doesn’t mean they won’t get you closer to what you are working towards.
That patch of dirt reminded me of a time in my career when I wanted instant results but had to trust the process, which ended up revealing a whole new opportunity.
When I took over mobile product and marketing at Avis Budget Group, I devised an initiative to develop localized international mobile websites for three regions (Australia, Canada, and New Zealand). My goal was to create more personalized experiences that took advantage of a simpler car rental reservation checkout flow to improve overall conversion.
Every day we didn’t launch these websites, we were leaving money on the table. Yet, I couldn’t just snap my fingers to make them live; we had a process. (Does anyone who has worked in Corporate America recognize that word: process?) We were thoughtful about the homepage experience, what ancillary products each region should promote, and how the form field presentation and backend setup could make completing a reservation as fast and as frictionless as possible.
As this was taking place, I was also working on improvements for the domestic version of Avis.com’s mobile website experience. One thing I discovered was that there was a major dip in conversion between desktop and mobile. That dip was on tablets, which were 10 percent of Avis’ overall traffic and utilized the desktop version of the website.
Given the work we were doing on the international rebuilds to make them simple, dynamic, and optimized for the smaller screen, I asked the following question: “What would it take to scale our domestic mobile website up for tablets?” The answer was not that much work or money.
Three months later, Avis.com’s first tablet website was released in the United States. Conversion immediately increased by more than a full percentage point, resulting in $5m+ in incremental revenue. At the same time, the three regions had new websites, and they too saw tremendous revenue increases.
If we threw together the mobile websites hastily just to get them out the door, I don’t know if the results would have been the same, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Additionally, that time spent strategizing is what opened my eyes to a larger opportunity in the United States.
Now, this is by no means saying to polish before production. I do believe in the concept of minimum viable products (MVP), and in life, minimum viable experiences (MVE). (There’s a reason it’s called love at first sight and not marriage at first sight.) You still have to test things out before making a monumental commitment – Las Vegas weddings included.
The Avis.com tablet website I described was an MVP. It was a stopgap until the entire Avis.com experience could be rebuilt using a single responsive code base. However, this creative solution opened eyes towards a deeper-pocketed investment in the larger digital product vision.
In my personal life, I set a goal this year to learn how to play the guitar. I’ve never played an instrument – outside of trying to learn the piano for my wedding – and have a deep appreciation for those who can strum a guitar. So on Christmas Day, my wife gave me a Yamaha acoustic guitar.
I would love to be able to play a song. I would love to know all of the cords. Yet, I do not and will not without putting in the work. Yet, that work doesn’t have to be a path of standard progression: learn the guitar basics, learn to play basic chords, learn how to switch between chords, etc. The path I’m taking is to learn the chords as I learn how to play a song that I enjoy.
For me, bypassing some of the basics to learn by doing is how I’ve chosen to educate myself on playing the guitar. I don’t know if this is the best approach, but it’s an approach. Regardless, getting to a place where I can sit down and play a song is going to take time, and I’ve accepted that. Learning one song is going to be invaluable in learning another song, with each new one getting easier and easier, or faster and faster. Different paths can yield similar results.
So much of life, business, relationships, everything is about experimenting. Along the way, there are going to be some wins and there are going to be some losses. Sometimes there will be neither, and it just takes a bit longer. However, just by showing up and doing the work, you’re already practicing patience.
I’ve kept this in mind after spilling my thoughts here. The grass will grow. It may not be this year. It may not be as full as I expect. But it will grow – after a little more experimenting and, of course, patience.
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