At the time, we were almost laughed out of the room, and told that we probably wouldn’t be in business for long.  So I started to wonder if my focus needed to change.  After all, he was the ‘expert’ and we had all paid a lot of money to be there that day. 

Against my ‘inner judgement’, I took his advice and started to focus on the sale, the money – and it did start to work (for a while). But it was a hollow win. I stopped being excited about my work and it started to feel like a chore, a job. The freedom that first drove me to work for myself was taken from me, and the passion was being constricted.    

After a while, I decided that trusting myself was more important and bringing back the passion into my work was going to be the focus. You see, we know that being the best you can for your clients and supporting them well, that the money will come.

And I was reminded of this again earlier this week when on a call with Guy Kawasaki, who wrote the book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.  On this call, he said, “Money is a natural outcome of doing something well, so focus on your passion when building your business.” 

It’s so true, don’t you think?

Are you in business and following your passion?  Or are you doing what you think you need to do to make money?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you don’t want to be making money (otherwise, there will be removalist trucks at your front door before you know it!).  I’m just saying that when you focus on serving others, delivering results, and being passionate about the value you add – then the natural outcome will in fact be financial success…

What are your thoughts?  Do you engage in the H.C.I.S.Y Business Model or are you stuck in the outdated W.I.F.M Model