Loving Your Business summary

Now that you know what your instruction manual is, how do you go about changing it?

There’s no secret formula here – the process is exactly the same as giving someone instructions on how to build a table or bake a cake. By writing out the steps you need to take, you’ll learn what processes are needed and which ones aren’t.

Imagine something happens at work that makes your life more difficult – for example, a top employee resigns without warning. How would you react? Chances are you’d be upset that the employee’s leaving and stressed out about the new work you need to do to replace them.

But here’s the thing: an employee leaving doesn’t have to stress you out. It may feel like the natural and automatic reaction, but don’t be fooled. It’s not a law of nature like the sun rising in the east or water boiling at 100 degrees Celsius – you can change your reaction to these events.

Knowing how to rewrite your internal instruction manual is only half the battle; actually doing so is a process of its own. There are common pitfalls that come when you’re trying to put a new mindset into action. Recognizing these traps will help you turn purpose into action.

The key message here is: Minimize interference and thoughts of blame to avoid negative feelings that drag you down.

By now, you understand that being in control of your thoughts is essential to feeling better about yourself and your business. But even after you’ve made the decision to look for solutions instead of wallowing in negativity, there’ll be situations where answers aren’t so easy to come by. For example, when it comes time to choose between prioritizing price or quality on a project, it’s easy to feel like no matter what you do you can’t find a solution.

But here’s the thing: in some cases, there are no permanent solutions. The price/quality tradeoff is called a polarity, and part of loving your business is learning how to manage these. The important thing here is to remain aware of your thoughts and go with the flow.

Would you buy your business? Think about it. If you were an outsider learning about your business with an eye toward purchasing it, would you be interested? It’s an important question because it reveals a lot about what kind of business you run. If you lose sight of the fact that your business is an asset, you can fall into the lifestyle business trap – when the business owns you, instead of you owning your business.

The key message of this blink is: To avoid the lifestyle trap, treat your business as an asset and focus on increasing value.

Picture it: you’ve got a company with consistent revenue, an attractive product, and a sterling reputation. It has a well-trained staff that doesn’t depend on any one person to keep things running. In short, it’s a company that’s as attractive to a potential buyer as it is to the person who created it. So what do you do when you’ve made it?

Deciding whether to sell or not is a good problem, but a problem nonetheless. Luckily, the same skills and thought practices that turned your business into an attractive asset can help you decide.