You Can Build Your Business Around How You Want To Work

97.52577% of the time when I work with my clients and we unearth their true passion, it’s a specific target client, or a particular skill, or a program they are just dying to build.⠀

Occasionally, though, I discover that their true North is a particular way they want to work. They have a desire to serve their customers in a specific way because it allows them to build a life around them that serves a particular need, or they know themselves well enough that they are clear where they really shine.⠀

I am one of those people. I have a particular way I want to work and I have built my business around that. Sure, I have other requirements and desires but when I sat quietly with myself and subjected my own business to my strategic scrutiny, the one “must have” that made my heart thump at the idea of it missing was the particular way I work with my clients.⠀

This strong and prominent requirement is the product of knowing myself well. Of being introspective about my own strengths, and my own shortcomings. I know that the result of working in the way that is really aligned with my needs is absolutely key to enjoying and being energized by my work – something that was always compromised before, and made me feel frustrated and uneasy.⠀

Do a little test for me and see how this feels…⠀

Imagine yourself moving through the life cycle of your work with a customer. Notice how you feel as you step through your process. Take every step as you would with your customer. Imagine doing all the things that you would normally do. ⠀

Is there any particular point where you felt a little knot in your stomach? Anxious? Frustrated? Disconnected? ⠀

What was it? Was it that you don’t feel enough collaboration or feedback when you facilitate a group session? Was it that you get very nervous submitting a design for review? Did you hate it when you had to sit down and write a report?⠀

If so, it’s worth investigating. If every time you serve a customer, you end up this way, you do not have a sustainable business model.⠀

You can have a friction-free business, even in the way you work. There are no “necessary evils”.

Tell me in the comments…

Think about the life cycle of working with your customers.  Is there a point that strains you?  What is it?