21 ideas about business that seem obvious to me, until I hang out with friends who are outside the leftist-progressive-anti-capitalist-diversity-inclusivity-feminist bubble that I sit within, and then I realise that they’re actually pretty radical.
- All the attitudes and beliefs you learnt at school or university will actively work against you in your business. Unless you were lucky enough to go to one of those radical leftie schools, you’ll need to deconstruct and reconstruct your identity if you want to grow your business over the long term.
- Feminism is thriving. Be very wary of any person or institution encouraging the old martyr and saviour complexes. These are designed to keep you working hard for someone else while being morally rewarded for your self-sacrifice. I don’t buy it.
- Ditto conscientiousness. Don’t confuse high-integrity values with overworking and overthinking.
- Your income plateau isn’t because your offerings are too “high-touch” or “bespoke”. Your income may be plateauing because you’ve confused “value” with “more stuff”, or “worth” with “time and effort”.
- Rest is a radical act. You don’t need to perform your worthiness through relentless productivity. You’re invaluable exactly as you are.
- Communication is the most important life skill you can develop. Getting excellent at it will improve every aspect of your business, relationships, confidence and life, and the lives of those around you.
- The only constant is change. And that includes your business model, prices, ideal client group, brand positioning, working habits, and your identity. To stagnate is to die slowly while squandering your good fortune.
- Knowing is very different to doing. Knowing everything and doing nothing about it gets very tiring, very quickly.
- Self-employment is the most accelerated form of self-development out there. All your unresolved issues will be triggered. Learning how to deal with this, regulating your own nervous system, and processing your emotions in a healthy way is part-and-parcel of healthy, future-focused, sustainable business.
- Narcissists and energy vampires love capable, energetic, can-do people. It’s not your fault if one comes into your orbit and doesn’t respect you. But if it keeps happening, then take responsibility and change things.
- Productivity taps out after six hours. Design your work culture and days accordingly. Productivity has nothing to do with what hours you put in, but what you put into your hours.
- Don’t confuse being authentic or heartfelt with being disorganised, unreliable and self-sabotaging. Planning is a form of self-care.
- You are your biggest business asset. Invest accordingly.
- It’s highly likely that you’re undercharging and/or overdelivering right now, and neither is helping your clients.
- The more complicated stories you create about something or someone, the more likely it’s a load of fear you’re hiding. Truth doesn’t need complicated stories.
- Pricing low in an attempt to be ‘accessible’ to people is having the opposite effect.
- You become great at something by doing a lot of it, whether paid or unpaid. A big part of this practise is editing and iterating. First you need to launch, before you can edit and iterate.
- Success is not having a VA, an inner-city office, using a particular software program, or going on glamorous business retreats with high-profile ‘besties’. Success is personal to each individual. But don’t fool yourself that you’re okay with earning a barely liveable wage. There are easier ways to make a living than running your own show.
- As solo operators are, by definition, limited, they’re perfectly positioned to be high-end. But most are delivering a high-end service for low-end prices.
- Most B2B services, coaching, educational programs, and consulting services are luxuries. Luxuries aren’t frivolous; they create convenience, comfort, and pleasure.
- Your ‘special something’ that people love and admire you for? It’s likely the very same skill that you take for granted and don’t believe you could possibly charge for. This belief is the byproduct of 1000 years of history. When someone wants to pay you top dollar for something you find fun, easy and comes naturally, take the money. You’ve just discovered the holy grail. Congratulations.
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