Shifting the Monkey on your Back

By William Manzanares | March 8, 2023 |

“Don’t take on someone else’s monkey or burden – make sure you set expectations and stick to them to ensure success in your business.”

In this episode, Cassie and I share about the pitfalls of taking on others’ burdens and excuses and the concept of shifting “the monkey on your back.” This phrase refers to when people come to you with problems and excuses and expect you to take on their burden. This often becomes a trap for entrepreneurs because these burdens can lead to inconsistency and frustration for both customers and team members.

That is why it is important to start shifting the burden of others’ problems off your back. It isn’t always easy, but we talk about how it can be done. Specifically by showing the power of consistency, the importance of setting expectations, and the devastating consequences that come with taking the ‘easy way out’.

In this episode, you will learn:

what it means to “shift the monkey on your back”
how you can prevent taking on someone else’s burden or excuse
strategies that can be used to establish consistency in customer service and prevent customer and team frustration

It is very important that you are setting expectations and training your team on policies, as well as giving customers options instead of excuses. Stop the excuses and start setting expectations to surprise and delight your customers.

Are you an entrepreneur who wants to ensure consistent customer service, but feel like you’ve tried everything and still aren’t getting the desired results? Do people tell you that the answer is to hire more people or outsource, but the cost is too high? If you’re struggling to get consistent customer service, this episode is for you.

Episode Highlights:

[00:00:31]

Shifting the monkey on your back is any problem or burden that should be solved by the person who’s coming to you with excuses.

[00:04:14]

Too many people end up going out of scope often just to help appease the client.

[00:06:09]

Customer experiences that monkey on their back with something as simple as having their identification with their credit card. The inconsistency can create frustration among your team and among your customers.

[00:13:54]

Make everyone who starts at your organization read the customer rules. It’s setting the expectation of customer service. Update your employees on those policies and those rules that you have within your organization.

[00:16:06]

As an entrepreneur, it doesn’t mean you need to solve everyone’s individual problems. When employees come to you and ask you to solve their problems for them instead of solving them themselves, that creates taking the idea of that monkey off their back.