Hey Reader,
Last week I introduced something I've been working on called HARMONY. It's a framework I've come up with that has helped me answer the question "Does the business I'm building actually fit into the life I want to live?"
The first part of HARMONY is "Happiness."
First things first - I want to get this out of the way.
I know that when we talk about "happiness" we run the risk of very quickly getting very "fluffy" and "rah-rah" sounding.
Things like "Do what you love!" and "Follow your passion!" come flying at us every day from people who preach ways to find happiness.
Here's a really REALLY important reality I need to be very clear on: No business is going to bring you joy every second of every day.
There are parts of my business that I absolutely love. And then there are also taxes...and human resources...and contracts...and unexpected problems I did not wake up excited to try and solve.
When I talk about Happiness, I do not mean loving every part of your business.
I am talking more about whether the business, as a whole, gives you more than what it takes from you.
Does the work energize you? Are their parts you genuinely look forward to? Do you enjoy working with the people you serve? Does solving the problem you're solving still matter to you? Are you proud of what you're building?
OR...has this thing you've created turned into another job you don't particularly like?
The truth is, a lot of us start something because an opportunity presented itself:
- We start sharing content online because we created something in our classroom that changed the way we teach.
- We become a speaker because someone asked us to share something at a conference.
- We offer coaching or consulting because people asked follow-up questions and we love helping others.
- We launch a podcast because we love having conversations with interesting people.
Then, something starts work. And because that thing worked, we do more of it. Then we build systems around it, and we monetize it, and we start to scale it.
And then somewhere along the way...we ask ourselves, "why am I still doing this?"
[Continued after this ad from our friends at Superhuman.]
Just because something is working, doesn't mean you need to keep doing it. And just because something makes you money doesn't mean it should be part of your business.
This is where Happiness fits into the HARMONY framework.
Before we dive into things like revenue streams, product verticals, SOP optimization, profit margins, hiring and scaling, and all the other business-y things we'll get to, I think we need to start with the person running the business.
That's you. I'm talking about you.
What parts of your business actually make you happy?
Or, let me ask that a different way: What parts give you energy?
I think sometimes energy is easier to recognize than happiness.
There are things I can spend hours doing and still walk away feeling energized. There are other things I can do for 15 minutes and it feels like 8 hours.
Your business likely has both kinds of things.
Our goal is not to simply eliminate the things that don't bring us energy. The reality is, some of those things just need to get done.
What I want you to do, though, is to pay attention to the ratio. If the business you're building requires you to spend most of your time on the the things that drain you, so you can sometimes get to do one of the things you enjoy, then is that really a business you want to build?
I cannot answer that for you, so I've got some homework for you this week: Pay attention to this while you work on things. Try to take notice of the things that give you energy...and the things that take your energy.
I am NOT asking you to create a spreadsheet or diagram or lay this out anywhere.
(Please, do not turn your happiness into a spreadsheet)
All I am asking is for you to just pay attention. Notice things and take a mental note. And then, at the end of next week, ask yourself "If my business continued to grow exactly like it is now, would I be excited to do more of this?"
I ask it this way because growth tends to amplify what is already there. So, if most of it doesn't bring you happiness (energy), then we may want to change some things before that growth makes it worse.
Next week, I want to talk about the A in HARMONY: Alignment.
That one is a big one, so keep an eye out for it.
I hope this helps.
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~ Jeff
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I appreciate you.
Jeff Gargas
COO / Co-Founder, Teach Better Team
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P.S. When you're ready, here's how I can help:
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