Please stop trying to prove your expertise
This is another of those perennial subjects that consistently comes up with our clients. They get caught up, understandably, with attempts to prove their expertise, thinking that will bring in clients. And it doesn’t. It’s not that you don’t have to show yourself as competent, but it’s not the reason why people will spend money […]
Can you mix smart strategy and inner guidance?
I was talking to a member of our Learning Community. They had asked a question about an aspect of developing their marketing, and I answered with this caveat: “Okay, so this is what I know of strategy [followed by my explanation]… if you have strong guidance, go with your guidance, instead of the strategy I outlined. However, […]
The problem with being unattached to outcomes in selling
When you’re talking to a potential client, one who is still deciding whether they are going to hire you or not, most people counsel you to be unattached to the outcome, so that you don’t across as needy. Good advice… kind of. However, there’s a real problem that arises from this approach. I want to […]
Is the inner game of business superior to the outer?
Being a spiritually-oriented kinda guy, the circles I tend to travel in are often full of the advice, spoken with complete confidence, “You have to do the inner work before you can do the outer work.” “Inner work” means the spiritual work within our inner selves around beliefs, or alignment, or what-have-you. I want to […]
The market was not designed to make us comfortable
Although it could be, and in my opinion, should be, this marketplace that our businesses are all operating within is not designed to make us comfortable. This requires an important discernment as you travel the path of business, identifying and differentiating the truly toxic from what is healthy but uncomfortable stretching and growth. Less than […]
The alternative to grind culture is not sitting on your butt
It’s apparent how deadly miserable “grind” culture is to our spirits and our health. Those preaching you have to push-push-push all the time or you’ll fall behind… that’s a siren song calling you to your own destruction. However, the other extreme, just waiting for the inspiration, or working very, very little, doesn’t seem to do […]
Don’t create content for a large audience
Creating content doesn’t come easily to some folks, and one of the places people tend to get caught is trying to create content for a large audience. And that’s actually not what you want to be doing. It’s not that your content might not be seen by many people, but thinking of yourself as on […]
How to keep your content from being flat and boring
It’s super easy to end with content that is flat or boring… and the strange thing is that you’re not flat, or boring, and the work you do isn’t either, is it? So what happens that makes the content like that? I want to introduce the idea of a “content audit”… which is not as […]
What’s over communicating got to do with it?
Years ago, when I lived in Portland, Oregon, I used to have lunch regularly with a friend of mine who had some very strong management credentials, and did fantastic work with leaders. He introduced me to a critical leadership quality and habit… that actually applies in a lot of situations in tiny businesses, even when […]
Do you need more professional development or a degree to make your business work?
Over the years this is a common question: do you need to do another training, get another certification, or another degree to finally make your business work? Mostly, the answer is no. But, it’s a little nuanced. Sometimes you do need more professional development for your business. So let’s dig into it. The big principle […]