Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Be Yourself In Business. Be Successful At What You Love.

I had a very famous musician once tell me, "Don't become good at what you do not like to do or people will expect you to do just that."

Recently I modified and decoded this statement. "Don't be in a business that doesn't follow your lifestyle and values, or you will spend your days unhappy".

Don't do it! Make the business follow your lifestyle and values.

Lifestyle:

I hate waking up and driving to work. I lothe taking phone calls at all hours. On the phone sales are just not me (although I can sell face to face no problem). But I have always done these for the team. Some I became really good at these things. And lost myself in the mix.

I'm not built for that life. I don't think anyone was built for 9 to 5 work. It is VERY unproductive, life-draining and just plain WRONG!

Which is why I have recently made the decision to only follow MY lifestyle. It is so freeing to be able to work at what time I am excited in a day to work. I can spend quality time with my family now instead of having the phone ring at a family function and people look at me with mean looks. Phone sales are not needed (and do not work anyway in my business).

I am 100% less stressed.


Values:

My previous business partners where so focused on money it was almost embarrasing to be seen with them. My values are such that I offer what I have to people, they see the value I can give them and they naturally pay me. In other words, if I do what I do and offer what is valuable, they pay me. It is not, "How much can we squeeze them for this service?" That only produced mad customers.

Another value I have chose to further persue is only dealing with people that understand and want to further understand business. I have dealt with too many that do not understand even the most basic principles of business (like find something that works and do it over and over again - not find something that works, do something else instead because we spent money on it).

Customers are your customers because their values match your own. I want customers that appreciate and value my efforts and understand my value to them -- not customers that complain about a price being too much or I missed their 13 useless phone calls to ask me the same thing over and over.

Having my business follow my lifestyle and values (instead of the other way around) has made me more at peace. Hope you can do the same.