Small Business
Some jobs need you to show up in person (and for the time being, surgeons are in that category, but with robotically controlled waldo arms, who knows…).
But many jobs can be done more effectively with a combination of asynchronous work, video calls and emotional effort.
Don’t confuse a long or risky commute and co-work with showing up with your full self.
If they don’t need you in person, perhaps it’s better to show up with a great attitude instead of paying the high price it takes to be there on time, in real time.
And if they do need you in person, then be there. Truly there. 100% present.
It’s the slots in between, where attendance is taken, power is on display and the work is mediocre that cause us a lot of stress.
S.Godin - AUGUST 19, 2020
We don’t pay surgeons by the hour.
And if the person who cuts the lawn shows up with a very fast riding mower, we don’t insist on paying less because they didn’t have to work as hard.
Often, what we care about is the work done, not how long it took to do it.
And yet, some jobs, from law to programming, charge by the hour.
When you sell your time, you’re giving away your ability to be a thoughtful, productivity-improving professional.
Sell results.
10/08/20 S.Godin.
Not a retreat, but a chance to advance.
Set up a zoom room. By yourself, perhaps. Weird but do-able. Or possibly, bring a coach or a colleague. But only one person.
No phones. No internet besides Zoom.
Spreadsheets.
Pads.
Spend four hours in isolation, with nothing to do but figuring out what’s scaring you and what you’ve been avoiding.
Spend half a day figuring out the difference between urgent and important.
If you’re too busy to do that, it’s probably because you are spending too much time on the urgent.
28/07/20 S. Godin.
Fewer meetings, fewer resources, fewer constraints.
The biggest advantage that a small business has is that the owner can look customers in the eye. And vice versa.
Instead of policies, groupthink and leverage, the way forward for a small business might be the very thing that fueled you in the start: find out what people need and help them get it. Right away.
It’s never been easy to be a small business and it’s even more difficult right now. But resilience and flexibility go together.
The first rule remains: figure out what people need and bring it to them.
MAY 24, 2020
S. Godin.