On doing the work you want to be doing
With the clients you want to be doing it with.
When working with clients — whether it’s via Monthly Business Coaching or VIP Days — the goal is to help them put the structure and strategy in place to build thriving, consistently profitable businesses.
A big part of the process, especially at the beginning, is doing a deep dive into their current services offerings and the clients that they’re working with.
These two aspects represent the engine of their business. If the engine of a car isn’t tuned, it doesn’t matter how air you put in the tires or how clean you keep the car’s exterior and interior, it’s not going to run at anywhere near its optimal capacity.
Your motor needs to be running.
What’s the work you want to be doing?
You know the feeling. When you’re working on a project or longer term retainer, and you’re firing on all cylinders. You look forward to the day, the work flows, you’re challenged in a good way, in a way that stretches you to deliver your best work.
You’re operating in your Zone of Genius or at least your Zone of Excellence (vs your Zone of Competence or, worse, Zone of Incompetence). This is the concept developed by Gay Hendricks and first introduced in his book The Big Leap. If you’re not familiar with the idea, the book (linked above) is a worth a read, as is Elise Loehnen’s Substack post where she assesses her work through the lens of the four zones.
If you’re someone who’s not yet tapped into this flow in your work, or is doing so only occasionally, know that it’s there and available to you. And the more you lean into it, the more sustainable your business will become.
Why?
There are three reasons for this:
You’ll be doing work you love to do and delivering at a level that delights your clients who will pay for the work at a level worthy of the product/outcome.
Their experience of your magic will have them wanting to tell other people about you (aka “make referrals”).
You’ll be more sustainable because you’re not burning out doing work that requires too much of your vital life energy and thus drags you down. You’ll have more capacity for the right work.
When I start a monthly coaching engagement (or even a VIP Intensive), we spend time auditing and ideating around their service offerings.
Some questions to consider for your business:
Where is the bulk of your revenue coming from? Which offerings?
What are you known for?
What work do you want to be doing more of (see zones of genius and excellence above)?
What do you want to less of (or none at all)?
Is there something you’re not offering now that has you excited to bring into the mix? What are the possibilities for that?
I find this to be a fascinating process. I’ve had clients say to me, “it generates revenue, but I don’t like doing that work.” Their thinking is that it needs to stay as part of their suite of offerings. My response is twofold: 1) can we turn it into something you would want to do?; and 2) if not, why not stop doing it?
I find that in many cases, business owners have too many offerings they’re trying to sell, not too few. Any time we can remove an offering in order to streamline their messaging, outreach, and service delivery around work that gets their motor running is a win.
Do more of what you like and less of what you don’t. Get yourself running on all cylinders.
Your ideal client.
So you know the work that most has you in the flow, where the hours pass by in a very good way. Now it’s time to marry that with the client that you most want to work with.
There are all sorts of characteristics that go into making someone an ideal client for you.
Some thought-starters:
The project or retainer work excites you — see above.
They’re in an industry or vertical that you want to be working in.
They have a problem you are uniquely positioned to solve.
They are (mostly) a pleasure to deal with in the business development/sales cycle.
They have the funds to pay your going rate.
They pay their bills on time.
They’re communicative and responsive when the work begins.
They respect the boundaries you’ve set in your business.
They appreciate the work you do and express that.
Any other qualities or characteristics of the individuals you’ll be working with (whether 1:1 or as part of a team at a larger client).
On this last point, for me it looks like a business owner who’s committed to the process and excited to do the work necessary to execute the plan we’ve created. And I most enjoy working people who like to occasionally have a good laugh. Life is tough enough. It’s good to have some fun along the way.
Make your own list.
Getting clear on who you want to be working with and then creating the messaging and marketing plan to attract those clients is key to being successful in your business and happy in your life.
The ability to say “no”.
This is huge and it’s not easy.
Saying “no” to a potential client that:
Isn’t in an industry or vertical you want to be working in.
Wants you to provide services that are not part of your core offering and you really don’t want to be doing.
Pushes back on your rate.
Doesn’t want to meet your contractual terms.
Is not pleasant to deal with in the business development process.
Is not respectful of the work you do.
Creates a feeling in you that something is “off” (trust that feeling).
Actor and author Jenny Slate talked about exactly this in her most recent interview with Sam Fragoso on his Talk Easy podcast. She shared that she reached a point in her career when she wanted to take on “full wingspan projects only.”
Her agents were onboard and they told her it was okay to pass on roles that didn’t meet this criteria. They told her it was okay to wait. But…
It’s scary to wait when your job is how you make money. You have to do that.
That’s exactly right. It’s scary as f-ck to say “no” when you’re not sure how long you have to wait for the right opportunity to come along, the one you want to say “yes” to.
But if your finances can manage it, having the courage say “no” means creating space for the right people to come into your world (see my recent post on the topic of creating space). You’re telling the Universe the game you’re playing. Then, you go about doing your part to attract the clients you most want to be working with. It’s a process, and it works.
NB: Matthew McConaughey also wrote about this in his memoir “Greenlights.” Having decided he no longer wanted to be known as “the romantic comedy guy,” he sat out of the Hollywood game for two years waiting for “The Lincoln Lawyer” to come along. Yes, he had money, but he also had a family to support and a team that only got paid when he got paid. And he works in an industry where you can very quickly become forgotten and irrelevant.
Confidence.
This cannot be overstated.
You need to have the confidence to say “no.” You need to have the confidence in the offers you’re putting into the world and the results you deliver. You need to have the confidence to show up in the rooms or in the conversations where your ideal clients are hanging out and are talking. And then the confidence to pitch them.
And the only way to have confidence is to take action. Get results. Adjust your approach, as needed. And take action again.
Yes, it’s uncomfortable. Yes, it’s downright scary at times. But there’s no getting around it. Confidence comes after you take action, not before.
To get your dream jobs with dream clients, you’re going to need to own who you are and what you’re capable of, then take the first step.
A caveat.
There is one caveat. And no, it’s probably not what you want to hear. When you’re starting out, you’ll need to take on work that doesn’t light you up and clients that don’t fit your ideal client profile. With rare exception, there’s no getting around this.
Because you need to:
Get better at your client service delivery.
Build a catalogue of work and testimonials that demonstrate what you’re capable of and the results you deliver.
So that you can attract and sign on the clients you truly want to work with doing the work you truly want to be doing.
Note, that this does not mean undercharging or lowering your fee to close the deal. But it does mean deferring “the power of no” until you’re in the position to feel confident the right client will find their way to you for all the right reasons.
Until next time.
Katherine
#ICYMI
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