Do you live with a sense of daily business ease? Or have you ever thought about a solution to a business problem and then said: Oh, that’s too easy.
When did easy pick up a bad connotation? That’s easy. She’s easy. Ouch.
When did easy become a bad thing? Especially business ease?
I’ve been noticing this a lot lately: we as human beings don’t like to do what comes easy. It’s not that we want the challenge, though sometimes that’s part of it. It might be that we think success or winning takes a lot of hard work.
We’re raised with the expectation that to win in business or life, we need to work hard, nose to the grindstone. In fact, we’re almost taught to run away from business ease.
What I’d like you to contemplate right now is exactly the opposite.
What if in order to succeed you had to do what comes most easily to you?
I’m not talking about watching hours of Castle or CSI in front of the TV, or eating a pint of ice cream. Sure, that comes easy but so does sleeping (for most people). But rather let’s look at what business ease you might possess.
What are you really good at? What are your strengths? What do you do that other people can’t or would rather not?
Are you able to write with ease? Is it easy for you to get up in front of a crowd to present? Do you find it easy to listen attentively to someone without interjecting?
A bird flies with ease. A fish swims with ease. It’s easy for a horse to walk.
The formula for success: do what comes easy
For two years in my raw food business I did work that wasn’t easy. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot, grew a lot, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without this experience. But it wasn’t easy.
The work I do now, the combination of web design, marketing, and technology strategy comes easy. I’ve been doing it since my little fingers connected with the keyboard on the Internet for the first time.
It’s easy. Maybe too easy, and maybe that’s why I resisted it.
Let me give you another example. A wonderfully gifted client of mine wanted to start a new business around getting people fit and healthy. It was something she did for friends and family, and she knew there was a need.
But working together we kept going over the same items: the web site was done, but there was no traction, no energy.
Finally my client realized that it wasn’t coming easy, and there was a reason for that. It wasn’t her great work.
As soon as she decided to get into another line of content work that came naturally to her, she landed two clients, and got massive amounts of traction for her new business. Bam, business ease!
Easy Money? Or Business Ease?
Is there such a thing as easy money? Maybe.
Tara Gentile says in The Art of Earning that:
“What is easy to you, what comes naturally & beautifully to you, is ugly, difficult, and downright nasty to someone else.”
What comes with ease to you is exactly what you should focus on in your business and career. It’s what sets you apart, it’s what makes you marketable, and it’s what will make you the most money.
Your innate strengths might be easy for you, but it doesn’t mean there will be zero work involved in bootstrapping or growing your business.
It just means you’ll focus on your core competencies instead of adding obstacles in front of yourself just for the thrill of jumping over them.
I’m not saying that we can never grow or learn new skills, but rather that we don’t NEED to struggle in order to succeed.
Think “business ease”, it’s your new mantra.
So tell me, what comes easy to you?
Leave a comment below and let me know what comes easy. Think back to a time in your early life to see if any patterns emerge that might tell you what your great gifts are.
