By the Ocean
Cloudy 73 Degrees
5:38 a.m.
In the latest issue of Selling YOU, the focus was on figuring out what business you’re actually in. To many, that sounds easy. But it’s often not. In fact, the more obvious the answer seems, the more likely it is you’re way off the mark.
There are a lot of ways you can look at that issue. You can talk about what you do, you can talk about what “they” get because of what you do, you can talk about what they really get, the thing (their need) that you might never say out loud but the thing that is actually responsible for money changing hands.
I give direction to business owners. I help them strategically engineer how they show up in the marketplace and help them build the systems they need to do that.
I basically offer my brain for “rent.” Often, that’s done in real time. Other times, those brain cycles, along with experience, are packaged up for easy digestion.
When you know what business you’re really in, it helps you organize your time and awareness for maximum impact.
And since it’s my brain and my awareness, I get to charge what I want for access! Then I attract the people for whom it’s a valuable exchange.
For most, it’s not. And that’s the reason for these daily messages. It is my offering of Goodwill to the greater marketplace.
I can add value to the lives of business owners I’ll never work with directly and I can continue on a never ending quest to “out give” the Universe, which always creates magical things down the road.
“What’s the ROI on that silly Jason? You have any benchmarks to support such a fluffy approach?”
I think questions like that are funny. The “business by spreadsheet” guys always want to know the numbers because they haven’t developed their own internal compass for navigation. That’s fine, they should do that! Viva la Spreadsheet!
As it turns out, real business is actually about service. Not about making money, not about your exit strategy, not about going public or customer lifetime value.
No one cares about your dreams or the things humans chase to feel worthy. So scheming to achieve those things is rather shortsighted.
You achieve those things by helping others achieve great things first. Those things you want are byproducts of another, far more valuable goal that has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the people you serve.
If you’re looking for real answers in business, stop thinking and start serving. Then pay attention to what you learn.
If you already have a successful business, ask yourself how the level of service (value) could increase? What other problems do you see that remain unsolved? What problems are others in your space not willing or unable to solve?
A decision to serve doesn’t mean money magically shows up. You still have to pay attention. You still have to adjust. You still have to be aware of what’s happening and what’s not happening.
But service as the central propelling force of value creation for others is the secret.