What’s your sweet spot, in business that is? I had a client a number of years back named Jim who was referred to me by another client. Jim was in his carpeting business for 35 years and he simply lost his mojo, he lost his juice and passion for the business.
Jim and I started having a conversation and eventually proceeded in doing business together. The first thing we looked at in the coaching client relationship was his numbers. Jim didn’t know his numbers as well as he should have. To begin the process of correcting this, we created a budget system for him.
Jim created a budget going a full 12 months out with a 20% increase, and each month we would go over the numbers and compare the actuals to the projected. As we went along, I would begin to ask questions on certain line items. Jim didn’t necessarily know all the answers to those questions however, he did the following week.
Over a three-to-four-month period, Jim began to understand and know his numbers inside and out, which led toward the second step. He started investigating things differently. He started looking at productivity. He started measuring the efficiency of the team and organization. At the same time, we were working to align the team with the organization. We created a vision, mission, and culture. With this process, the team started becoming more synergistic. At the same time, Jim began to gain his passion back for the business.
On one particular coaching call, the moment that I always hoped for with a client finally came. He said, “Coach, Coach, I got it. I got it.” “So, what’s that Jim?” He shares, “I finally figured it out. I found the product, and services I love doing the most, delivering them to the customers and clients I love working with the most, that also just happen to have the best margins.” Bravo, Jim found his sweet spot, the product, and services that he loves doing, with the clients he loved doing them with at the margins he enjoyed receiving in return. Everybody’s happy, everybody wins.
It was a process to get there, however, Jim eventually found his sweet spot. And over the next two years, that Jim and I worked together, he had his best two years in business ever, of which he eventually sold that business to one of his long-time employees.
I share this story and pose the question, what’s your sweet spot in business? To get a business that works for us that we can be passionate about, enjoy doing, have fun day in and day out, you have to find the product and services that you love delivering to the clients and customers you love delivering to, that just so happen to pay you and your organization well.
In addition, as you align your team with the culture and vision of the organization, everybody’s on board, everybody wins. If you haven’t found your sweet spot, I have shared a little tool that won’t take any more than 5, 10 minutes, to help you get really clear on exactly where your sweet spot in businesses is, where you have the most fun with the clients you like having fun with, and you’re getting paid handsomely for it. Isn’t that what we all want in our business anyway?
Tool to guide you in finding your sweet spot – The Skill/Fun Matrix
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning, Certified, Business Coach, Speaker, and Trainer. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Michael’s passion is to both encourage and challenge business owners and entrepreneurs to become their best selves both personally and professionally to obtain all they want in their business and life. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com