So I thought I was totally done with introspection –
Was that not the theme of my life last year!
So over this past long weekend (we have many in South Africa) (FAR too many) (anyway) so I found myself introspecting again this week.
I’ve been so busy this past month that it’s been really hard to keep a tab on everything I’m involved in.
A friend called me last week and I told him, “I’m working so hard, and yet, ask me what I’ve accomplished and I couldn’t tell you.”
This is the problem of getting too busy with far too many things. Sometimes we fail to yield results. Sometimes we lose focus. At times we lose the reason we started. And dangerously we forget who we were when we set out on our journey.
So while you may think it may be mushy to talk about emotions and the core of who you were when you started your business, may I point you to Brene Brown’s talk on vulnerability.
It’s soft and it’s mushy and it’s one of the most powerful talks I’ve ever heard.
If I asked you to tell us in one line what your business aims to achieve, what would you say?
Could you honestly tell us, or more importantly, yourself, that you are still on the right path? The path that creates what you do for the sake of making a difference to the people you come into contact with?
As human beings we are now demanding from places we spend our money what we’ve always demanded from each other: Love and Attention.
Isn’t that why horrible service pisses us off so much? It’s because in treating us with such disrespect the establishment/s we’re spending money at are telling us, through atrocious service, that we don’t matter. They’re telling us to bugger off and go ask someone else for attention. And most times we do.
What is your business telling your customers? Is there love? Is there attention?
How you treat your customer after the purchase is perhaps even more important than how you treated them when they walked in.
Are you the guy that shags the chic and moves on without ever calling?
Or are you the guy that commits? The guy that stays when the going gets tough. And then gently and lovingly makes love to the woman that’s dropped everything to be with you?
Business is no different. I hope you know that.
Introspection every now and then- bring it on!