It’s your relationship and nobody else’s

March 16, 2018 10:31 AM

I spent many years trying to squeeze
my business into other people’s plans.

From friends to mentors to competitors
to strangers, there wasn’t a revenue model, pricing system or marketing
framework that I didn’t attempt to make my own.

But after a decade of wondering
why nothing ever seemed to gain significant traction, it finally occurred to me
what the problem was.

Anytime we try to execute other people’s tactics against
our strategies, we lose.

Because it’s not true to who we are and what we stand
for.

Like the time my consultant friend completely transformed his client
pricing structure according to the advice of a colleague. Within six months,
profits were through the roof. But he detested the kind of person he had become
in the process. Arrogant, greedy, impatient, that wasn’t his personality. It
was just a costume he tried on for a while. And it failed.

In fact, his exact
words to me over lunch were, “It’s taking
me out of me.”

That’s the type of existential danger we face in clinging to
somebody else’s understanding of what works. And if we’re not careful, we’ll
grind our souls to dust.

It’s like my marriage therapist told my wife and me.

It’s your relationship and nobody else’s.

In the world of business, the same
principle applies to our company, brand product or service. We must turn away
from trying to create a business modeled on other people’s
vision.

Besides, there are very few shoulds and musts in this world.
Spending our time living other people’s lives isn’t helping anyone.

The goal is
to get to the point where we can confidently proclaim, I no longer feel the
peer pressure of having to do that anymore.

It’s profoundly liberating.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Whose business are you plagiarizing?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com