Perspective

Feb 15

When your business operations seem to lose their sparkle, can you change your perspective to help your business flourish? How can you become inspired again when your passion project becomes just another thing on your to do list?

Let's talk about perspective.

I recently took my first post-pandemic flight. I am actually on it - right now. Inspired. I've found myself sitting in a window seat, snapping pics like a click happy tourist, in awe of the beaming sunshine, the clear skies, the swirls of the river below. All of this awe got me thinking about perspective. In our lives and in our businesses. If I can change my perspective, feel personally renewed and inspired, by jumping on a plane, what is the business equivalent of that? How we view ourselves and our businesses has a direct impact on the smoothness of our operations, the levels of our motivation and our ability to see the next steps to make our businesses thrive. So how can we prevent our perspectives from becoming stale and tired?

Ask yourself the following questions:

How do you view yourself and your business?

How do others (your customers, your peers, your employees) view you and your business?

How can you change your perspective to grow as a leader?

How do you view yourself?

*A little background on my personal perspective.*

So I’m a mom. I make lunches. I chase and entertain a toddler. I do laundry. I pick up 10,000 toys. My world is full. So very full. I operate daily with an immensely grateful heart. But, my world is small. The last 3 years of my life I have spent an overwhelming majority in my home. Working from home. On maternity leave in a pandemic at home. Dreaming up and starting my business at home. Eating, drinking, sleeping, laughing, worrying at home.

When the 4 walls of your home become your whole world, it’s easy for your perspective to shrink. When you finally break out into the big wide world, what happens? Awe! Wonder! Look at the river! Look at those fields! An airplane wing? CLOUDS?! Take a picture! When you change your perspective. You see things differently. It’s almost like you can see things again for the first time. Have I seen all these things 1 million times before? Of course. Have I been on airplanes before? Of course. But this experience, and this change in perspective after the past three years? It's all got it's sparkle back. It's like it's brand. freakin. new.

How you view your business

How you perceive your business is different than each and every person around you.

When you build a business you have to be obsessed. I’m talking laser like focus. Your business becomes your whole world. And consequently, your perspective shrinks.

You know the details. You make the blueprints. You build it, and you hope they come. The problem is that you become so familiar with the moving pieces, you become numb to the values associated with them. You love your business. But somewhere along the way it will become so familiar to you it will lose its sparkle. You’ll wonder if it’s working. You’ll wish you could experience it through fresh eyes, disassociate from the familiarity, magically tweak anything that doesn’t allow you and your business to live up to its greatest potential.

Can you do it? Yes. Let's find out how.

How to change your entrepreneurial perspective

Heres four ways you can change your entrepreneurial perspective and prevent it from getting stale.

Ask for feedback
Hire a pro
Take a hike
Learn & share

Ask for feedback

When you’re creating, rejigging, or rethinking any aspects of your business it’s important to have someone you trust who you can bounce ideas off of. Someone who you can turn to and say “hey, read this, and tell me what you think” and they will give you their honest answer. Honest answer is the key here. Don’t surround yourself with ‘yes people’ who will tell you it’s great even if it isn’t. Good sources of feedback can be significant others, a friend, or someone you trust in your industry. They can help point out any holes in your plans, proofread, or even just give you their gut reaction. Your buddy is your litmus test. Use them wisely.

Customer feedback is the formal version of find a buddy. It is so important for staying on top of any shifts in customer satisfaction, and vital to keeping your business on track to accomplish what it set out to accomplish. Get a formal system in place for collecting customer feedback. Review the results. Implement changes where necessary. This is the easiest way to avoid the “but I thought it was working. No one ever said otherwise” trap. Just because no one is speaking up doesn’t mean there’s not room for improvement. Find the room. Experience it through your customers eyes. Improve it.

Hire a pro

Hiring a third party can provide valuable insight into items that are outside your area of expertise. If you’re constantly frustrated with one aspect of your business, and it still isn’t working for you no matter how many times you go back to the drawing board - you likely need the guidance of a professional. Marketing, IT, accounting (hi 👋🏻), HR. When you hire a pro to look after one of these functions, they usually start by learning what you’re doing now. They'll understand what does and doesn’t work, and find the best solution for you. Yes it costs money. But it also gives you perspective from people who are experts in their fields. This is often the most valuable form of feedback you can get.

Take a hike

Seriously. Take a hike. An actual hike. Go for a walk. Pound the pavement. Run, Forrest, run.

Frustrated? Overwhelmed? Can’t find a solution? Clarity will rarely find you sitting at an office desk or staring at your computer. Sometimes you need to find a new perspective by literally finding a new perspective. Get up. Move. Stop thinking about it. The awe will find you. I promise.

Learn and share

Have you ever been inspired after listening to a keynote speaker? Rejuvenated after attending a conference? There’s good reason for that. Learning, taking in ideas, and sharing with others is a powerful experience in perspective. It connects us with others. It offers a shared experience that allows us to create bonds we wouldn’t have otherwise. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey. Taking opportunities to learn from others, share experiences and collaborate allows us to gain new perspectives and rethink our own ways of doing things. Go to the conference. Listen to the podcast. Read the book. Find a mentor. Go to an event that scares you. Be the dumbest person in the room. All of these things will help to keep your perspectives from getting stale.

Implement it

When our worlds become smaller it’s easy to forget. Forget about everything that awaits beyond those walls, or the wonder within them.

We zoom in on problems, obsess about details that don’t matter and begin to doubt ourselves. We wonder if we’re really cut out to do all there is to do in order to keep our worlds turning. The next time you’re feeling stagnant, or begin to question the next steps of your entrepreneurial journey - try a fresh perspective.

Build formal feedback collection into your email marketing platform and send them to customers or clients at predetermined intervals that make sense for your business (ie monthly, quarterly, semi-annually etc).
Budget for continuing education opportunities and block off time every month for coursework, industry networking events or just to read that book you’ve been eyeing.
Schedule a 30 minute walk in your calendar, and actually take it.
Look into businesses that can help you with any business functions you’re struggling with. Most service providers offer free initial consultations so you can learn about their services, pricing, and how they can help you. Looking for some help with your accounting? Reach out and let us know why you stopped by today.