What assumptions do you make about your business? About the way it operates? The amount of income it can earn? About the way your customers buy… even who they are?
In Chris Guillebeau’s brand new book, The Art of Non-Conformity, his mantra is:
“you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.”
Chris challenges everyone to live the life they want, redefine work, and change the world. No short order. And his book is a beyond-basics guide for doing just that.
But I won’t spoil anything from the book, I just want you to think about that first guiding principle:
“you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.”
At the heart of this principle, is that people make assumptions about the way you’re “supposed” to live. Whether it’s our parents or our friends or our teachers or even our children, we make assumptions about the way they view our successes & failures. Even more so, we make assumptions about what others expect from us. The thing about those assumptions is that they end up being self-fulfilling prophecies. They end up controlling us without having been given much consideration or even investigation to find out if they’re true. What assumptions do you make about what others expect from you?
Do you think that if you’re …
- an artist, you should be a starving artist?
- self-employed, you have no security?
- not happy, there are no other options?
- ta small business owner, you have to struggle to stay afloat?
- a responsible adult, you make a home & stay in one place?
If you know me, you know that I don’t believe any of those things. I agree with Chris –
you have the ability to create a life that is unique, passion-filled, and secure by following your own path.
I also believe that people’s assumptions are changing. That this kind of life is not so strange and that we have the power to challenge others assumptions and our own.
As a small business owner – or aspiring business owner, you instinctively know this already. But what you may not realize is that you’re making assumptions about your own business that could be holding you back. Do you assume that you:
- have to go it alone to make a profit?
- know what your customers want?
- have to keep prices low to get any business?
- need to put all your time into administrative tasks?
- must pursue balance at the expense of success?
Your business might be changing or maybe it was never the way you thought it was from the beginning. You’ve made assumptions about what it takes to turn a profit and how your customers interact with your brand. You’ve decided to push on through, to keep struggling, instead of waking up to the fact that things may not be as they seem.
Form your business around your hearts desires while forming your business with profit in mind.
You can create a life & a business that work together to make you happy, instead of opposing each other and leaving you frustrated.
Not every business idea we have is a good one, not every lifestyle decision we make is a positive one. But allowing assumptions about others expectations to dictate the course of our life is never positive.
Today, brainstorm what assumptions you’ve been making about your business. Examine what your customers want and how you’ve been delivering it. Dissect your product offerings, your workflow, and your business communication. Consider how your preconceptions have affected those around you. Allow yourself to devise alternatives. Embrace truth & reality instead of assumptions.
