Most of the owners I work with are fully identified with their businesses. The business is their life, their identity. When the business is going well, they are euphoric; when it’s going poorly, they are despondent. The success of the business is their success, and any failure is their failure. Without their efforts, the business…
“Each person deserves a day in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from cares which will not withdraw from us” – Maya Angelou Every month I take one day off. Not a weekend day – a workday. On that day I don’t do anything. I turn…
This is it! After being inside with just our immediate family for the last year, you’ve gotten your shots and are ready for a summer vacation! Whether you are headed out to see the family you haven’t seen in 2 years or escaping to the beach to be by yourself, going on vacation – when…
On Tuesday, we talked about making work more fun by eliminating work that you don’t enjoy. On Thursday, we talked about how my happiest clients are the ones who have systematically moved routine work and client work off of their plates to free up time to think, plan, and move their businesses forward. Does this…
Every Friday, I step back and look at all of my active clients and ask myself the question, “How’s it going with this client? How can I serve them this week?” As I was doing this last week, I noticed a trend, and it surprised me! The clients that are the happiest with their work,…
I don’t mean a little bit fun. Like fun when something great happens or when you have a breakthrough. I mean fun all the time. What if work wasn’t hard, or stressful, or overwhelming, or burdensome. What if it was as much fun as playing a game? What would have to happen to make that…
I was cleaning up the kitchen one night after everyone was asleep. I had made quite a mess cooking that night (as is my habit), and so by the time I was drying the last pot, I was a little bleary-eyed. So when smoke rose out of one of the pots I was drying, it…
“It’s about getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment and helping to find a way to innovate” – Marissa Mayer You want your agency to grow. You also want it to be a great place to work, where smart, creative people thrive and do great work. You might also be one of…
Last week I talked about spending more time thinking so that we can make better decisions. One of the categories of decisions that I see the least thinking about is new business decisions. When someone wants to talk to us about starting a new project, there is no pause – just a pavlovian response, “When…
I spent most of my life being very goal-oriented. In fact, one of my internal “rules for life” was, “You can rest when all your work is done.” When I get 5 clients… When I can carry 10 clients… When I build my team… When I earn $XXX, 000… That’s when I can relax. That’s…