Are you doing the same thing over and over without the best results but it kinda works so you keep using it? Well here’s a story of what happened to me a week ago that I hope you can use.

I cook for the week on Sunday afternoons. My kitchen is tiny so space is at a premium. For weeks I’ve been moving my can opener and using it on the stove top because my slow cooker took up too much space. (I was too lazy to figure out a new spot for the slow cooker.) So I’m opening up some cans so I can prepare a stew and all is going well.

Then I remember oh, yeah let’s get the brown rice started because it takes longer to cook than white rice. So I turn the oven knob to on. A minute or so later I’m busy putting away dishes when I here a pop and see sparks coming from my can opener which is still sitting on the back burner. Yikes! I’m trying not to freak out as I quickly turn off the burner and lift the can opener up.

Now I smell a nasty electrical burn and I’m worried my smoke alarm is going to start shrieking. I look at my poor can opener which has the bottom melted on parts and the power cord is charred black and I’m thinking I’m not gonna be able to use this thing again it’s a goner. I toss my the thing in the trash and run to open the front door so the burning stink won’t stay in my place all day and night.

Back in the kitchen I try to turn on the overhead fan and light but nothing happens. I popped the circuit breaker! So now I have to figure out which switch to pull in the fuse box. Crum! I hate this stuff.

Oh yeah did I mention my kitchen wall outlets also stopped working? Well, I went to read the labels and pull the switch that I think connects to the kitchen outlets. Then I head back to the kitchen and switch on the fan and oven light. Nothing happens.

Back I go to peer into the fuse box while hoping I don’t have to call my property manager and tell him what stupid thing I did. This time I make sure both switches pull back and forth and hooray my outlets work! I can finish cooking and fortunately the rest of my cans have pull up tabs. But I added buy new can opener to my list of things to get done before cooking again.

Looking back I knew it wasn’t the best or safest place for my can opener but since I’d done it several times before I figured nothing bad will happen this time. Oh, Murphy’s Law is my life! Sunday was the day bad stuff happened! I could’ve caught my kitchen on fire and burned up my apartment. A friend told me I could’ve electrocuted myself! I hadn’t even thought about that but now an image of me with singed hair and smoke coming from my ears is running through my mind. WAAA!

To make sure I didn’t do that again I immediately moved my wretched slow cooker and made space for a new can opener.

Is it time to rethink your current marketing plan? Are you burning up your marketing dollars on a mildly effective marketing campaign that isn’t targeting your niche?

Do the safe thing for your business now and shift your marketing around so you can make the most of your customer niche and have growing sales not burning ashes of a failed marketing plan.