As my business has changed and I have had time away from doing and more time being, I have found time to reflect on whether to grow bigger or to focus more on being the best at what we do.
Business training used to focus on growing bigger. We were told to number crunch, time crunch and make it happen. Perhaps the measure was how many hours a day or week you worked? Or was it down to how much money you had on the business bank account each annual review?
The goal was to scale up and out; that was what success looked like, right?
My recent time to reflect provided the space I needed to define the success of my business on my own terms. Understanding the risks and rewards of succeeding in my business gave me the freedom to be creative in growing it and the focus to prioritise what was important for my clients and my team.
Success to me means close connections, a strong community of colleagues and clients and most importantly, being the best at what we do. Rather than promising bestselling books, the focus of my business is to help authors be confident to shine as their authentic selves.
It is always a proud moment seeing an author step into the limelight and confidently shine as they share their creation. It is also a proud moment looking at the content faces of my team who have encouraged and motivated the author throughout this growth period, providing quality, customised services to help them reach this newfound career peak.
It is with these reflections in place that I cemented my definition of success and chose to stay on this path of excellence rather than expansion. Bigger is not always better; better is better. Manageable, sustainable and personally customised is better.
Marketing guru, Seth Godin, captures it perfectly in his July 26 blog post, Too big to care, as he highlights that the only way to really care is to have human beings who care and to give them the authority and resources to demonstrate that.
My business is now reflecting me, not the other way around. I am happier with more time to create, read new creations by our fabulous emerging authors and be with my clients. This is what success feels like to me.
What does success feel like to you? I’d love to hear your comment below on what your definition is and how you reached that point in your life.
