Through the Eyes of a Child

As part of my Father’s Day festivities this year, I received a very sweet memento from my 6-year-old daughter that she made for me in Sunday School. It was a laminated certificate in which she gave responses to questions intended to reveal something about me and our relationship. It is a time-honored tradition shared by many faiths (I assume), and I looked forward to reading what she had said.

It started with the basics such as our names and my favorite food, which she said was pizza, and then moved on to more telling questions. Her favorite thing about me is that I read to her every night, which is not completely accurate, but we have made our way through a few selections from her new detective “chapter books.” I’ll take it.

Then she had two “complete the sentence” questions that really revealed an interesting reality for both home and the office. She said, “My dad likes to…take breaks from work.” And she followed that with, “I love my dad because he …sometimes stays home from work.”

Once I got past the thought that her teachers were probably not terribly impressed with my ambition or work ethic, it made me realize how snippets of time – captured moments – can make such a lasting impact on our memories and view of reality. As I have discussed here before, I really struggle with working too much, not too little, and I am constantly searching for the proper balance between being with my family and providing for our financial needs.

But I think there is an important lesson here. While I am not a “quality time instead of quantity time guy” – quantity is crucial and cannot be made up for through intensity – there is something to be said for making moments count. And the same is true as we deal with clients.

While we are busy with everything we do to keep the business moving forward, a well-timed personal communication with a client can go a long way in keeping them connected. A phone call, a lunch or even an e-mail just to check in, say hi or ask how things are going will do wonders in that department.

I think it is awesome that my daughter believes that there is no place I would rather be than home with her and the rest of the clan. And she is absolutely right. I think our customers can have that same feeling – without having to read to them at night.

Keeping Our Ears to the Ground

I have a pretty basic question for you this week. Should we ever stop being open to new possibilities concerning our career? I mean, should we ever stop thinking about the potential of something different, something challenging, something better?

If any of my past employers would have asked me that question while I was still on their payroll, the answer would most certainly have been, “Yes. I cannot possibly imagine anything more satisfying or rewarding than working for you.” Which at various times in my career would have been the truth. I have been blessed to work with and for some wonderful people who have taught me much.

And this is a tricky issue for me, because I am a big believer in contentment. I watch people waste so many good years waiting for things to be better or sacrificing way too much to “make it,” but they never do. Because you never can. If our motivation is getting more stuff or having a fatter savings account or a larger investment portfolio, then the wheel never stops spinning. We can’t “make it” when the bar is constantly being moved higher.

That is not what I’m talking about. I am referring to the spark inside that keeps us on our toes and open to new ideas. It is the balance between being grateful for what we have and being curious about needs that are not being met. In my career, there has always seemed to come a time when I started wondering if there was a new way to apply what I was doing, or if a slight shift in focus might open up new opportunities.

That was certainly the case when I started SalesTouches.com last year. A few of my regular writing clients were cutting back, and I needed to explore new applications of my skills. When requests for a couple e-mail newsletters were made and research uncovered a gaping hole in the market for businesses and organizations looking for more than an online, do-it-yourself option, I was off and running.

This is where I would love to say, “and the rest is history,” but I’m not quite there yet. I’ll keep you posted.

So even after I owned my own business for seven years, I was still changing, adapting and getting excited about new opportunities. I guess I have answered my own question. You don’t have to leave your job to take on new challenges, just find a way to do it better, and always keep your ear to the ground.