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Three things I have learnt!

By 13th December 2013October 9th, 2020No Comments

So we’re into our second year running the ‘Conscious Project‘ and by most measures, it’s fair to say we are thriving. Sure it’s incredibly hard work being an entrepreneur, and there is the constant ebb and flow of workload and client demands, but overall, our start-up year has far exceeded our expectations. 

I have learnt plenty, but three things are particularly significant, and as it’s been a very long time since I blogged I thought I’d share them here:

1) Choosing to believe needs to be a daily habit…
I’ve realised that every day requires me to make a conscious decision to believe in myself, and the vision we have for the business. Half believing doesn’t cut it. Some days believing in myself is hard. Very hard. It’s the intentionality that has surprised me, i.e. choosing to believe is a choice that I need to make. No-one’s going to want to work with us if we don’t believe in what we’re doing…
NB Believing in oneself is made easier when you are surrounded by brilliant people who appreciate what you do and recognise the value you bring, so surround yourself with those brilliant people!

2) Nurture the ‘No’
Sometimes opportunities come along but they really aren’t right for us, or the business. I’ve learnt it’s very important to know our thing, and to ‘keep the main thing the main thing’. I’ve also learnt that it’s ok (important even) to choose clients carefully, i.e. to choose clients whose values are aligned with ours, and to do work where we can bring our unique contribution and add real value. So if the work doesn’t fit, then we refer the client to an associate or another organisation. That’s hard, and potentially risky, but there is an art to saying no and this skill needs to be nurtured. So far it seems to be working out ok. Better a client gets who and what they need, than we end up doing something we shouldn’t… 

3) The work is always only hard
In hindsight, this is the most obvious lesson, but somehow it came as a surprise when I looked back over the last year or so and realised that every assignment had presented us with a unique challenge to overcome. I think we have risen to the challenges well, and we are certainly not afraid of hard work and ‘doing the miles’ . But the reality is that for now, the work is always only hard. I guess if it was easy or straightforward then it would have been done already! This realisation takes me conveniently full circle back to 1) and the importance of self-belief.

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Ben Emmens