The Client Letter
August 23, 2012
Sedona, Arizona
Partly Cloudy 79 Degrees
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I’d like to follow YOU! If you’re on Twitter, reply to this email with your Twitter username and I’ll follow you!
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A lot of service providers run their businesses like they’re attending a buffet.
I’ve done it many times myself.
There’s a reason you don’t see too many 5 star “buffet style” restaurants. That’s because there’s a big drawback with buffets (apart from the food sitting there for hours collecting who knows what). The drawback is that your set of choices is limited.
You technically DO have a choice about what to eat, but your only options are from among the food being served.
You can have what you want, as long as it’s what’s being served.
If you’re not paying attention, this can happen in your business, especially when you’re working one-on-one with clients.
You get what’s being served.
If you are not aware of how you want your business to look, feel and operate, you will default to acting in a manner consistent with how your clients expect your business to look, feel and operate.
I’m all for being flexible, but I think that “taking what you get” as a default way to live is awful.
It’s easy to forget just how in control you actually are.
I forgot for years. I was so busy pleasing others I didn’t take any time to consciously choose where I wanted to go. Finally, tools like Psycho Cybernetics showed me just how much of an artist I am when it comes to business and life.
In other words, I either actively create or I just get what someone else has actively created.
Take the whole idea of getting paid by your clients. At some point, the habit started that service people get paid after the service. Or that payment gets split up, 50% on commencement and 50% on completion.
While this is well accepted, think twice before you accept it as rule for you. The only reason you do it is if you choose to do it.
The point isn’t what choices you make (although some I prefer, like the ones in this), the point is that your choices are conscious.
Look at your business and ask yourself which parts of it were consciously placed there by you and which parts were unconsciously placed there by someone or something else.
This is your business. Think of it like a blank canvas. Give thought to what gets put onto that canvas and why.
Everything is negotiable. When you get paid, how you get paid, how much you get paid. And that’s just the beginning.
Your business is there to serve your life. But it’s your responsibility to make sure that happens. No one else will ever do it for you.