Indiana Jones once said, “It’s not the years — it’s the mileage.” If that is indeed the case, I’m probably a bit wiser than my age alone would suggest.
In other words, I’ve lived some. I’ve seen things. I’ve run and sold businesses. I’ve been a boss. I’ve been an employee. I’m a widower. I’ve struggled with the physical and mental health of myself and others. And I’ve made quite a few trips around the sun.
And over the course of that time, I’ve been asked for my advice a lot — after all, it’s what I do for a living. But of all the pieces of advice I have given, the ones that stood out and were the best received — that people came back and thanked me for years later — were not what you would think.
The advice that I think was most valuable often went beyond business. I have tried to also share the perspective I have gained through my unique life journey. And I’ve reshared some advice that was invaluable to me in the process. Here are a few things that stand out.
• Your fee is your fee. This was actually the advice of a colleague that I received when I first went on my own into consulting, and it stuck with me throughout my career. She said that your fee (or salary for you non-consultants) is the culmination of all your knowledge, hard work and professional experience. Know your value and stand up for it. Don’t sell yourself short by lowering it beyond your own expectations. You’ll just be disappointed in what you’re working on the entire time.
• When you’re slow, take time for yourself. This one’s mine and it’s one of the first lessons I learned after going solo. When I started my consulting business I didn’t have 40 hours a week worth of work lined up on Day 1, so it took me a little time to build things up. Initially during that process, I would feel a little panicked if I didn’t have some deliverable to do. But I slowly realized that those moments when you’re not at maximum capacity are to be cherished. Take a walk. Sit by the pool. As long as you’re not procrastinating or hurting your own efforts to grow, it’s absolutely fine to be slow. For a while. Enjoy it.
• Repetition is the soul of effective communication. This one is credited to my first boss and mentor in public relations, and he said it — you guessed it — over and over again. But he was right. Whether you’re having a one-on-one conversation or running a multi-million-dollar campaign, you can’t always expect people to hear something one time and retain the information. So give them multiple opportunities to hear your message if it’s important.
• Invoice first, do literally everything else second. This is a survival tip for business owners — sometimes, you get so busy doing the actual work that you let the business side of what you do slide. And then it will bite you. And then you will be miserable worrying about it. No business can succeed if it has cash flow problems, so take the time to handle that stuff on the front end, so that you can then focus on what’s truly important — serving the customer.
• Finally, it’s probably going to be OK. Most of the time when people get worked up and worried about something, that something isn’t worth the consternation. It’s not life or death. Deep down, you know when something is truly important and when it’s appropriate to reward that something with your time and energy. Otherwise, give yourself some grace. You’ll get it done, and it will be fine.
Those are just a few nuggets that have helped me through my days (and nights). I hope one of them helps you as well.