Despite that I am still me, there’s a lot of love for me in Chicago. It seems like everywhere I go, I connect with someone from there. This time through, I met a few of my people and missed a few. There’s a good chance I’ll be back, though.
Of the collective Chicago love, I have a friend that I started doing work for. Or, I have a client that I’ve become good friends with. Not sure whether the chicken or egg came first, but frankly, it doesn’t matter. The friend / client relationship has grown into something pretty amazing.
For the record, most businesses start out doing work for friends, then friends of friends, then it just gets all blurry. If you’re doing it right, you wind up with a Rolodex these friend-clients that just make work and life one thing.
Funny Business
Since I was in Chicago, I wanted to connect in person with V to get her a simple splash site up for a non-profit she created.
One of the coolest things about being a vision questing digital nomad is that you can make live contact with clients that are nearly anywhere while you’re out “questing”. I highly recommend this way of life, but I’m totally biased.
The next coolest thing is your clients. You get to pick ’em.
V and I made our way to a restaurant with wifi and started setting her website up. After about five minutes, we realized her account wasn’t able to be activated until the next day. Normally, in a business situation, you make idle chit-chat for a bit, then reschedule.
That’s where choosing who you work with comes in handy. We wound up having dinner and chatting for a few hours about life, telling stories, and simply learning more about who each other is.
When is the last time you’ve spent a few hours getting to know who your client is as a person? When is the last time you’ve actually cared who your client
V part II
V’s account is ready the following day, so we decide to meet again and get her setup.
This time, she suggests a more appropriate venue for a business meeting: A movie in the park and a couple beers while we work.
That sounds reasonable for a business meeting. At least my business.
This blows me away: V picks up a six-pack of Lucky Buddha beer. For anyone that knows me even slightly, the idea of Buddha shaped bottles of beer totally resonates with me. When is the last time a client brought something really cool for you to a meeting? … or brought beer to a meeting. (note that I see this as way cooler than ordering a drink at a restaurant).
So, let me recap my meeting to build a splash page site. First meeting spent getting to know my client / friend on a much more personal level. Fantastic movie in the park experience while I’m visiting Chicago. A meaningful gift. Actually got work done instead of just talking about what to do.
Build Your Own Business
When you decide to build your own business, you can build that business to be whatever you want.
My design business started simply doing work for friends. Those friends referred other friends (how I met V). Eventually, my name came up on social media as references from friends. That’s when I started getting clients I didn’t already have a connection to.
When those clients came in I did start taking any client, but very quickly started vetting people by how I wanted to work. Now, I’m at the point where I have consistent clients and I only take new clients based on who they are and what they’re trying to do in the world. As an example, one of my current clients is a Shamanic Healer. You can see where that would resonate with me, right?
You don’t have to build your business based on the model you’ve always known. You can build it how you want. You pick those clients you want. If want to have a loose, flexible, kinda do whatever business, you can. It’s also a great way to figure out exactly what you want to do and how you want to work.
Personally speaking
This site focuses on the experience of an entrepreneur, but there’s no reason this lesson can’t apply to your personal relations. In my first book, I talk about keeping the people around you that support you and letting go of the ones that don’t.
Take that one step further and attract the people that let you be who you want to be. Keep them around and find more like them.
Building your business is really just a metaphor for your life anyway.
I’m terribly grateful for the people I get to share this adventure with. From friends to… who am I kidding? They’re all friends.
