The Desert of Arizona
Cloudy 49 Degrees
At various points in my business life, I’ve gone through periods where I wanted to throw in the towel and go in a brand new direction.
Take working with clients, for example. Years ago, there was a time when I promised myself I’d never work with another client again.
Instead, I was going to pursue another form of doing business online and kind of disappear behind the scenes.
There were just a few problems with this that I didn’t consider.
First, I’m really good at working with clients. And I tend to attract some of the best clients to be had. You could say I have a competitive advantage in that.
Second, I was going to pursue a new business. Something I didn’t understand completely, had little experience in, and absolutely no track record of success with.
Despite all of this, it felt like the right thing to do. What else are you supposed to do when you’re that angry and frustrated?
Well, the smart thing to do in that situation is nothing. Because anger clouds your vision. Frustration clouds your vision. Believing the grass is greener over there clouds your vision.
My emotions told me I wanted to start something completely new. It said that I should “burn the whole village” to the ground and build something else.
Instead, I should have focused on starting something better. That’s a completely different task.
Building something “better,” means taking stock of all of my most valuable skills and putting them to use in a slightly different way.
Just because you don’t like doing X in one way, for a certain group of people, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy doing X if you do it some other way, maybe for another group of people.
It’s not “X” that’s the problem, it’s how you’re currently doing it.
And I was about to throw all of my unique skills out the window so I could pursue something “new.”
Luckily, the universe had other plans for me.
Never throw away your gifts just because the situation you are in might suck. That’s the wrong move to make. The right move to make is to find a new situation in which to apply your gifts.
It’s not nearly as sexy as making that exciting decision to “start something new,” but it’s the smart way to protect your ability to make an impact on the world. P.S. The next issue of The Rainmaker Letter is coming out in about a week or so. If you want to tag along and see what it’s like to live in the trenches as a freelancer, then get your subscription started today. If you like this Client Letter, consider the Rainmaker Letter the DELUXE version. But there are no back issues available, so each month you delay, you miss out! Subscribe here.