When is it good enough?
Having high-complexity projects means you’re assuming that 1. You need to budget for a longer timeframe. 2. Things will usually take longer when not everything is under your full control. So, what do you do there? Do you wait till everything is done and ready to implement? Or do you start shipping at certain milestones/stages? Both have trade-offs. Choosing which one is the right one comes with a deep understanding of what you’re trying to achieve at the end. And that’s the first thing to…
Dumping New Year’s Resolutions
The thing about resolutions is that they usually stay behind at some point in the year. You can do commitments. You can do promises. You can do goals setting. But to start the new year, make things simple for you. Star with ONE thing. This one thing can take 2 forms: One with the big picture in mind. Or One to be a high actionable thing to implement asap (and keep at it). Either way you go, you can give it a try with this: Grab a piece of paper, write down your desires/thoughts/wishes/goals…
The thing on resolutions
Doing new year’s resolutions can feel motivating. Here, fellow daily writer Shweta, from Superlista shows that temporal landmarks are important events to start afresh. However, the thing with resolutions is not the resolution itself, but making it realistic and actionable enough for you to keep at it. Because otherwise resolutions end up being wishful thinking. And wishful thinking, when assessed from the future into the past, brings judgement, resentment, overanalyzing and remorse. This is…
Don’t convince them
Give them the right information to make the best decision. An informed decision brings them peace of mind, sets the right expectations and removes buyer’s remorse. If you convince them and something doesn’t go right, they’ll ask themselves “Why did I actually hire you for?” And you know what else? To convince means you need them to change what they want. And if you’re taking that road, you’re not seeing from high enough. 🙂
What if —the other take
Friend of the list and fellow emailer, Genevieve Hayes replied to the What If email with a great opposite take to constraints. “I think the other interesting exercise is asking yourself “what if everything was perfect and there were no constraints”? I find that thought exercise helpful in working out what to cut from my life (i.e. things ! still don’t want to do even under the best of circumstances).” What’s the position you take so that you can come up with new things? What would you need to…
Grow grow grow
Your job is not to grow the business. Unlike what most people think and say, not everything is about growth. In fact, if you’re in an expertise-based business, scaling up might even hurt you more than help you. Your job is not even to make the business “sustainable”. Your job is to make the business right. Right for yourself. Right for your customers. Right for what they need. Right for the planet. And it’s not always about “growth”. One of the few things that grows for the sake of growth,…
De-scaling
Does de-scaling mean you get to make less? To be less profitable? To get less revenue? To sell less? What are your thoughts on it?
Can I con you?
That’d be a weird way to start a conversation. If you get to think of it, asking “Can I be honest with you?” sounds just as weird. Because, if you get to ask that question, your counterparty will think “So you weren’t being honest up till now?” It also implies to yourself that you’re holding things up “waiting for the right moment”… which is quite probable to never arrive. Blair Enns takes this approach of “Kind ruthlessness”. You keep the behavior of saying what you think —being ruthless…
Bringing problems to your clients
I’ve never heard of a business that says “We bring problems to our clients”. Have you? In that same spirit, it feels obvious to say “We bring solutions to our clients”. Assuming you’re reaching out to them, you’d want to find out if they have challenges they can overcome. And that transformation… would it be a problem? Assuming they reach out to you, they come for you to help them with something. So… would that also be framed as a problem? If you’re using “solutions” in your business,…
What’s your hourly rate?
That’s a question that comes up in most of the projects you’ll want to work on. What do you answer to that?
