It Sure Beats Working

Who's Mowing Your Lawn?

It takes me about two-and-a-half hours to mow my lawn.   It’s about an acre, and although I’ve got a rider mower, the machine is ancient (slow) and there are a lot obstacles in the way.  My wife sometimes asks why I don’t get my oldest son to do it or just find some other way, so that I don’t use up that time every Saturday morning.

I realized recently (yesterday) that I don’t mow the lawn just to get it done.  I also like how the activity keeps me in touch with “the property.”  Mowing the lawn requires covering just about every inch of it and it just sort of keeps me in touch -- at a very granular level –- with where I live.

Running my own business feels the same way.  I like the fact that as a solo professional, I do everything from vacuuming my office, to going to the post office, to selling and creating the client work.  It keeps me grounded in the work; it makes it feel real.

That’s very different from when I worked in middle management within a large company.  There, I didn’t see the top or the bottom (or the sides) of the way we did business.  I just did my one little compartmentalized thing… it was like living in a house where the lawn was always mowed.

How about you?  Do you like the “lawn mowing” tasks related to your business, or would you just as soon have someone else take care of them?

Hobby or Job?

Following up on yesterday’s post (two days in a row, how do you like that?), I finished Hugh MacLeod’s book last night.  Lots to think about.

In chapter 35, he raises an interesting question, essentially suggesting that if your hobby becomes your job, you no longer have a hobby.

I’ve always looked at it the other way: If your hobby becomes your job you no longer have a job.

What do you think?  Is making a living doing what you love a blessing or a curse?

Advice on Advice

I’ve been reading Hugh MacLeod’s new book, Ignore Everybody.  And 39 Other Keys to Creativity. I like the book and I like his point of view and voice.  

Some of what he says I totally agree with. (“Good ideas have lonely childhoods.”)  Some of what he says I think is completely wrong. (“Keep your day job.”)

Either way, what I’ve noticed about expert advice from successful people is that even if they are in fact expert (a big “if”), and even if they are in fact successful (an even bigger “if”), when they show you the path, they’re really just showing you their path.

It’s not a universal truth -- it's a data point. 

If you like it, use it.  But if you don’t, feel free to just keep walking.  Your job is to figure out what works for you.

 

Roll The Dice Every Day

I was thinking today as I was driving to my office how much freedom I have as a solo professional.  Not just the freedom to come and go as I please, either (although that’s significant).  I was thinking about the freedom to follow the opportunities and interests that arrive in my life.  

 

If I get an idea for a business service that I want to pursue, I just do it.  If I’m invited to go on a three-week book tour, I just go.  If a new client appears with a project that I want to tackle, I’m free to take it on. 

 

That’s big. 

 

Having a job that more or less consumes 100% of your available work time, on the other hand, prevents you from following the opportunities that life blows your way.   It might pay the bills, but the predictability of a steady paycheck interferes with the unpredictability of pursuing your passions, most of which appear as little side projects before eventually growing into full-blown dreams. 

 

Even if opportunity knocks, you don’t have the time or energy to stop and chat. 

 

For me, never knowing what the next day will bring is a big part of what makes solo professionalism so rewarding.

Every Little Bit Hurts

Like you, I buy a wide range of services from other professionals: legal, accounting, coaching, financial planning, insurance, design, IT, etc.  I've got a team of people who fill different, important roles in helping me keep my business going.

The interesting thing is that each has a different approach to billing.  I don't mean the rate or frequency with which they charge, I mean how generous they are with their time.

For some, it's "every minute has a price."  If I  ask a quick question or need a fax sent or, frankly, want anything, it shows up on the invoice.

For others, they only seem to bill me for the "big chunks."

Who's right?  I don't know, but I can tell you this.  While the former group certainly has the right to bill me for every interaction, they get a lot less of my business. I'm so concerned about the clock -- they've trained me to be -- that our relationship remains at arm's length and they never learn enough about me or my business to offer me more.  I tend to think of them as vendors.

The other group, on the other hand, gets the big checks.  They don't get paid for every interaction, but over the (just slightly) longer term, I send them a ton more business.  These folks are my partners, my advisors.

It's easy to see which approach makes for a better business model.  As a wise professional once said, "The slower you are to take someone's money, the more of it they'll eventually give you."

What's Your Secret Sauce?

I had a client tell me yesterday how much he likes the writing I do for his company.  How good it makes him look and how well it translates his point of view onto paper.

I tell you this for two reasons:

1.  To brag.
2.  To impress upon you the importance of figuring out what your special gift is. Mine is a particular type of writing (first person, story-based, casual) for a particular type of client (professional service provider).  When this type of person wants this type of writing, I honestly believe that I am the most qualified person on planet Earth for doing the work.

That's big.  Not only because it gives you confidence, but also because when a client believes that about you, there are no suitable substitutes.  They'll wait for you to be available and thrilled when you are.

Lots of people (and companies) try to explain their expertise by using a grab bag of positive, but generic traits: good customer service, professional qualifications, wisdom, good listening skills, professionalism, etc.  All are important, but none come close to the marketing traction you get when a client believes that you and nobody else but you can get the job done right.

Figure out your own special sauce and spread it around.

Best Thing I've Read This Year (so far)

"Your way will be unlike anyone else's, although you will share a deep camaraderie with others on this path.  Being your own boss is both heady and humbling, but it's seldom boring"

-- Barbara J. Winter, Making a Living Without a Job

Better Than a Contract

I had lunch with an old friend yesterday.  We worked together at the same company for years and now both work solo.

We were talking about 2009 and he was asking what I had done to lock down my largest clients for the coming year, in case they had budget cuts and wanted to cancel our contract. 

I told him I hadn't thought about it.  In fact, I don't have contracts with any of my clients.  I write up a brief agreement when we start, just to make sure everybody's clear on the arrangement, but from them on, I just invoice quarterly.  They (or I) can stop whenever we want.

He thought this was strange; how would I keep them if they decided to cut back?  What leverage would I have?

I have to admit, I initially thought that he had a good point.  And I decided to do something about it when I got back to my office.

But then, a little while later and back in my car, I remembered that I don't want clients who -- for whatever reason -- don't want to work with me anymore.  I only want the people who are thrilled to pay me each month for the work I do... not the ones who are waiting for the contract to expire.

Here's how I look at it:  When you start focusing on how to "lock people down," you stop focusing on how to do your best work.  Given the choice between the risk of losing a client, and the risk of just going through the motions for the money until the deal runs out, I'll take the former every time.

Turn Down Your Radio

Lots of bad news out there these days.  Or so I've been told... I don't listen to it. 

Every time a story comes on the radio (or TV or newspaper or whatever) whose purpose is to give me one more view into what's going wrong, I shut it off.

Here's how I look at it: The "economy" is an average of what's going on in general.  It matters if you're an economist, or a member of the media, or an academic, or anyone else whose job it is to report on and predict trends.

But it's still an average of what's going on in general.  I don't live in general -- I live a single, specific life with a single specific business.  And so while I care about the people and businesses whose lives are hurt by the down economy, mine isn't (and will never be) one of them.  I make my own economy.

Is it naive?  Or unrealistic?  Or just plain irresponsible to focus on what's going well and ignore anything bad in the belief that we all make our own future? 

I don't know.  But I do know this:  That's what "they" told me nine years ago when I quit a comfy job, even though I had no clients and no business plan.   

So I say keep pedaling, keep creating, keep focusing on whatever it is you do.  And keep your finger on your radio's off switch.

Get Your Team Together

I had a little scare the other day.  An old client called to say that a newsletter my company designed for him five years ago may have included images that were not licensed.  Stolen, in other words.  The owner of the images was now demanding payment from my client.

Uh oh.  I outsource design and had no idea if the images were licensed. 

So I called my designer.  And I called my attorney.

The good news is that the images were in fact licensed and we were fine.  But it got me thinking... thinking about the importance of having a great team behind me.

I like to say that "I work alone."  But it's not quite true.  Yes, I'm the only employee of my company, but when I took score the other day I realized that I work with a designer, attorney, accountant, financial planer, business coach, web technician, IT support, and several copywriters.

I also realized the other day how important it is to have an "all-star" team of players.  My designer had an immediate answer; my attorney told me just what to do.  Specialists who know their stuff and who are available and can be counted on when I need them.

So I guess the lesson is this:  Don't skimp on these people.  I don't like spending money on "overhead" and my team isn't the cheapest (by a long shot).  But they sure are good.

When the phone rings with a problem -- at 3 a.m. or otherwise -- make sure you've already put your team in place.