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How Do You Do It?
Pema Chodron wrote a book called “When Things Fall Apart“. The premise of this book (I think) is that happiness can be found, moment by moment, by leaning into everything that happens, including and especially the seemingly “bad.” I was writing this morning about why people decide to do business with someone. It’s almost always because there’s a problem. The person has finally decided that doing nothing is no longer an option (see yesterday’s post). The person who called for help has finally decided to...
read moreWho really is the competition?
One of my Small Business Warrior groups met today. The members of this group happen to all be healers of various kinds. Today’s subject was competition. Who is it, really? For the people in this group, is it other therapists or healing practitioners? In other words, is it other people or businesses who do the same thing? That’s certainly the obvious choice. But I don’t think that’s the whole picture. One of the biggest competitors that we don’t often think about is doing nothing. In the case of therapists, trainers, coaches,( and...
read moreDo I Have to Spend Money On it To Make Sure I Do It?
My gym offers free Pilates classes. (Actually, they’re included in the membership, which means “free” in my book.) Not much gear is involved in these classes–a mat or a small inflatable ball—but you get a great workout. They also offer smaller classes where a trainer leads the group in doing Pilates using machines called “Reformers.” These classes are good, too, slightly better than the “free” ones, but they cost extra money. Guess which classes I actually show up to? Yep, not the free...
read moreWhy Mistakes Are So Awesome
A man’s errors are his portals of discovery. –James Joyce I’ve made a few mistakes lately. Frankly, it’s an everyday occurrence. I bet you make mistakes every day, too. Most of mine aren’t catastrophic: Forgetting to pay a bill, running an orange light, staying up too late (my one resolution is to have a reasonable, consistent bedtime). Most of us make mistakes every day. We’re designed that way. It’s how we learn. It’s a cliché, but true–mistakes–if you pay attention–are...
read moreSilence and R & D Time
Two recent articles in the New York Times caught my attention. The first was an economics story in the New York Times Magazine that talked about research and development and how the U.S. is no longer spending enough on R&D. China is poised to run us over. The second article was an opinion piece entitled “The Joy of Silence,” by Pico Iyer, about a business meeting in a a luxury “black hole” hotel, which had no Internet access, TV or cell phone reception. Instead of being constantly interrupted by technology, people...
read moreEven Though I’ve Written Two Of Them, I Have to Admit Self-Help Books Don’t Work
Here’s Why Self-Help Books Don’t Work Long before I ever thought about writing books, I was a dedicated self-help book reader. When I moved two years ago, I downsized my book collection and donated 75 (!) self-help books to my local library. Although the books I write are about business, they’re essentially self-help books. This is funny, because I know from experience that self-help books–even self-help business books-don’t work. It’s not that they don’t contain great information. Many,...
read moreHeartbreak is Part of Business
Heartbreak is part of life, and business Clients come and go. That’s the way of business. My M. O. is to not get too attached any of my clients, because when they go as the eventually must, my heart often breaks. Frequently (okay, very frequently), however, I do get attached. It makes sense that I would grow to love my clients since I’m a coach, and in the coaching relationship we end up talking about things that really matter. But this heartbreak deal isn’t new for me. I felt like this in my previous businesses...
read moreFind Your Work: A One-Step Process
In his provocative Thanksgiving blog post, Seth Godin wrote: “A great way to give thanks…for the privileges we’ve got is to do important work…For every person reading this there are a thousand people (literally a thousand) in underprivileged nations and situations that would love to have your slot. Don’t waste it.” In other words, if you live in an industrialized country, you’ve already got a leg up, and it’s time to go out and to the work you were meant to do. Seth’s post made me feel,...
read moreWhy Did I Change?
If you’ve been in business awhile, you’ve had the experience of your business morphing into something different than you thought it would be originally. That’s What Happened to Me When I started my business, I thought that bringing “Clarity to Business” would be enough to help more small businesses succeed. Turns out clarity is a necessary, but not sufficient component for business success. This is especially true for people who are “mastering the business of their life’s passion.” When...
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