At some point in your life you may wake up with a feeling of despair. One where you just can’t bear to continue with your current business project, speak to the same people, and do the same monotonous tasks.
When Marcus Buckingham, author and motivational speaker, works with someone facing this problem, he asks them three important questions:
Why this business? What is its broader purpose?
Who are you working with?
What exactly do you do with your business?
By exploring these questions, you can isolate the real reasons you are unhappy with your business. Often we can be enchanted with the idea behind our work or with our employees, making us loyal to a business that is not meeting our personal needs
The people you work with may keep you working a business with no opportunity for expansion. You may like preparing documents and giving presentations, but you may no longer care about your business’ mission or goals. Dedication to a business helping people may keep you working with doctors and nurses you despise.
These questions will help you gain a deeper understanding of your relationship with your business and what you really value from the experience. These elements can help you reassess what you truly wish to accomplish and possibly create an entirely new business model.
We often get involved with a business or industry based on an idealized conception. I had a friend with this experience in college. She started working at the tutoring center on campus because she loved the idea of helping people learn. The students she worked with, however, expected her to fix their mistakes and act as a proofreader. They were not interested in learning anything. Thinking her difficulties were based on the setting, she began tutoring for a specific department on campus, but her experience was the same. After spending two years following a dream that never became reality, she quit tutoring and became a reference librarian. Now, she helps people find information, but she is not expected to give them all the answers.
In order to avoid an experience like hers, ask yourself specific questions during your business discovery process. We have conceptions which go with certain titles, which may actually vary greatly depending on your specific industry. Networking mixers or chamber of commerce functions can provide excellent opportunities to find out more about your target business and determine if it matches your ideas and values. Make sure you are clear on the responsibilities and procedures you will need to perform to achieve success. Being informed will help you separate dreams and preconceptions from reality.
You need to know what you value before you go full-speed ahead with your business. Often, we think of our values as principles in the back of our minds that govern our actions. However, letting our values marinate in our subconscious means that we may not understand why we act in certain ways.
To begin laying out your values system, try the following:
- Think about your family upbringing and religious background. What were the major lessons and principles you learned from these sources? Are they right?
- Consider how you treat others. Should you act in this way? Is this how you want to be treated?
- Remember how you have been treated. Do you approve?
After you have answered these questions, ask yourself “Am I consistent?” If you are, you have a clear understanding of your principles. If you aren’t, you need to think more about what is important to you. If you understand your moral framework, you can choose a business path that will not weigh on your conscience, creating greater satisfaction in your life.
Need some ideas about setting up your guerrilla marketing strategy, check out this archived article.
Tomasz Gorecki, fellow blogger and long time contributor to this site sent me a link today that I wanted to share with everyone. If this video does not stir your passion it will hopefully give a not so gentle kick in the ass we all need.
The video is from the Web 2.0 Expo in New York this past September with a presentation from Gary Vaynerchuk. So let’s start hustling!
Oh I almost forgot to mention take a look at Tomasz’s Blog on his journey to get debt free. It’s a great story and is packed with lots of good tips. Debt In Your 20’s Is The Kiss of Death
Sit back and enjoy.
Doing what you love seems deceptively simple. We should know what we love, but we often confuse this with what others expect us to love, what we do to fill our time, and what we merely like.
Our friends, family and society have expectations of us which vary greatly. If you look at practically any program on television, you will see what society currently expects us to want and love. These images influence our behavior, even if we do not completely understand it.
Sometimes we are pressured to make our hobbies into more than they are. My friend Jen is a crafter in her spare time. She has a flair for making adorable dolls, but once she started taking commissions, her hobby became a chore. In this case, Jen didn’t really love what she was doing. Making dolls was a pleasant time filler, but it was little more than that.
When you truly love what you do, you get a sense of joy the moment you begin. Something you love will energize you and make you feel better about yourself, what you’re doing and life in general. Loving your business will bring harmony into your life; in and out of your workplace.
If you know you love what you do and are still working at making it a business success check out the article titled “From Passion to Profits”.