Small Business Revitalization Blog

Like many perfectionists, for many years I chased the ever elusive ‘fix your weaknesses’ story, always putting myself in places where I could work on my weaknesses. Sadly this strategy did not bring me or my employers a whole lot of joy and I eventually got smart enough to avoid choosing the jobs that were too focused in those areas of weakness.

At one point I graduated to telling my employer why it would not be a good idea to give me certain tasks… I explained these tasks were not a natural talent and ability for me and they would be wasting their and my time given my capacities in other areas!  Of course, most people ignored this, preferring to squash the square peg into the round hole until they created a big mushy mess of misery for them and me.  Imagine if Frank Gehry had become a bricklayer instead of the magnificent architect he is?  The world would be much the poorer and he would be finding a whole lot less joy in his work!

I see this often with business owners – instead of allowing our team to shine in ways that are natural to them, we create a set of expectations and conditions that create the exact opposite.  And then we wonder why the business is not performing!!  As a business coach, it’s my job to sometimes deliver a little tough love to either the employee who is not loving their work or the business owner who is not creating the possibility for that in the workplace.  

Performance issues are almost always a result of the manager and the employee not being present with the strengths of the person who is not performing.  When we are truly present with our own strengths, talents and capacities it allows us to choose or create a role that is perfect for us (rather than twist, bend and mutilate ourselves to become perfect for the role!!)  

When we are present to our capacities, we work with ease and can easily outcreate and outdeliver almost anyone else… When you have a whole company full of people being present with their capacities and those people are in the roles best suited to their strengths, competition becomes irrelevant because you have a massive peak performance advantage!

Having this presence embodies a confidence, a connection with self and the willingness to be a contribution far beyond what most people see as possible.  Owning this inner presence individually and as a business builds in a set of distinctively different competencies that are incredibly difficult to copy well.  If you desire to build a sustainable, peak performing business, this is a great place to start! 

At the next New Energies of Business events we are bringing you two amazing speakers who live this strategy in their workplaces and beyond… what if we could have peak performance as the norm, instead of wading through the challenges of performance management way too often?  Would that make your business more blissful??  

If you’d like to know more, join us for an adventurous day of uncommon insights into what’s working right now!!  Bookings and more info at www.NewEnergiesOfBusiness.com  (Upcoming dates:  November 2011 in Brisbane and February 2012 on the Sunshine Coast)

(Guggenheim Bilbao image via Pinterest)

So you want to start a business following your passion? Here’s the thing… passion is what happened when Christ got nailed to the cross… yes, passion is a killer. Passion has limitations! It’s all about what’s sitting on the outside, it’s noisy, its brash, it’s full of movement and doing… and it doesn’t always make you money - there's a lot of convincing others to follow your passion when your business is based on passion.  

I disagree with Gary Vaynerchuk (and a whole lot of other people who say ‘follow your passion and the money will come’)… that’s the field of dreams folks, not the way to business bliss. Joseph Campbell said ‘follow your bliss’… he didn’t say ‘follow your passion’. You might think I'm being picky with words here.  I am.  Words carry distinctive energies and I know which energy I'd rather play with!

That’s because passion has an energy that is about hustle, about pushing, about coming to a conclusion and then trying to make it come true. Passion burns out…it’s doing business the hard way. Is that the platform you want for your business?  So what else is possible?

 

Building a business that brings you joy has unlimited possibilities. Joy comes from that quiet space within. It’s not dependent on how much money you make. You can simply choose to BE joy… it’s not something you have to do.

When we create our businesses based on joy we create a platform which allows each aspect of joy we create in the business to keep expanding and building. Joy spreads everywhere with ease... because the people you want to work with choose joy... and they share it when they find it!

Joy allows us to reinvent business. To take the path less travelled. To create a business where we can do what we love, in ways that bring us bliss, with people we adore. Joy is a softer and stronger platform for building business bliss.

Joy still requires a business model, it still requires promotion… but take a look at this… Recently a friend introduced me to Sourced Grocer at Teneriffe. Truly, I am in love. These beautiful people have converted an old warehouse into a gourmet grocer flower shop café delight which whispers joy in every detail.

Beautiful produce, delicious snacks, quirky styling… business cards proclaiming ‘local is lovely’… steps and cushions for lounging in the sunshine… great reading material and my most favourite bit of all… a really joyful team – you can feel the vibe as soon as you arrive… people who really love what they are doing…and guess what all of that brings? A steady stream of customers who get the vibe and contribute to the joy… fantastic word of mouth advertising… and heaps of repeat business.

 

What are you choosing?  To follow your bliss or to follow your passion?? 

 

 

I wake up every morning full of gratitude for the work I do and full of excitement because I absolutely love my work. Why? Because it wasn't always this way! 

Since I took a flying leap of faith and left the land of corporate comfort 4 years ago, my work has gradually evolved into something I can immerse myself in with joy.  As I have refined and refined what it is I do, how I do it and each day look at the question of when and where I work, I can honestly say that it is rare for me to have a day where I don't love every moment!

As a business coach (one of my multiple hats!) I talk to many small business owners every day.  I've come to see that most of them still have a way to go in creating this daily joy in their work.  So today I am asking you to do one simple thing:  just for today, only make choices that will allow you to 'love your work' - and really look at what would allow you to love each part of the work you undertake today...

• Do you just need to approach a task with a sense of joy it will be over soon?
• Do you need to look at that person that annoys you and take comfort from the idea you are contributing to feeding their family?
• Do you need to stop doing a few things that don't add value to your day?
• Do you need to create a space that brings you joy to work in?
• Do you need to totally invent your job or business so that you regain the sense of playful excitement you first started out with?

Whatever will allow you to love your work today, make a start!  And see how you feel at the end of the day... maybe your Monday-itis won't be quite so intense this week!!

I will soon be sharing my new 'Love Your Work' 10 week e-coaching program with you... if you aren't loving your work, make sure you are signed up to the Revive Business Coaching free resources list to discover more!

Love Your Work!  Lisa

P.S.  Did you know that loving your work is contagious?  What if you were surrounded by people that love their work?  Would that make your work way more blissful?  Be you... change the world!