So how is your business going?

Friday night -- after a client workshop in Paris (sounds exotic, doesn't it?) -- I had dinner with a friend (and former colleague) who immediately asked:  So how is your business going? I responded that I was happy with it so far or something equally bland.  Then I tried to explain in a jumble of sentences how it really felt to be so early in it.  The steps I consider to be progress.   The fears that drift in on some days.

During this conversation, we darted through cold rain in the Saint Germain neighborhood, splashing across streets showing "red men" (me usually a step or two behind because in Switzerland we rarely cross until green, even if there's not one car in sight).  We ended in a brasserie, huge this one.  Drank a champagne.  Ate a mountain of seafood.   The intensively French, candid and enjoyable evening lasted until early morning.

As my airplane taxi'd yesterday towards take-off home to Zurich, I decided I need to think a little about how to express the feeling of my business right now.  My intuition says we're moving... we have clients, new products, things to talk about that we believe are important.  And there is a "we."  Others who now contribute to progress.  We are building something that I believe will help real people bring the best of themselves to leading.  The rest is just details and persistence required to make it happen in the long run. It's really the process and the way it (and the people & lifestyle around it) adds to my life now that I feel so lucky to be part of...a sustainable end result will take years. 

I asked a close friend of mine in the States once how it felt to be a new mother.  She said "wonderful."  But it was the look in her eyes and the sincere contentment in her voice that said the most.  It must be a little, just a little, like that...

Comments

[Gabriele Golombeski]

Building your own business is a lot like becoming a new mother -- It too requires nurturing, compassion, patience and most of all, a sincere willingness to accept whatever comes with it. You can only get back what you alone give – nothing less, nothing more. A good friend once told me to dream my dreams yet never lose sight that they don’t always have to remain as a dream – they can become real just by taking that mere “chance” in life. You’ve done it!! I’m so happy for you.

[Helen Palmer]

Little Green Men?

I had to laugh at your comment about crossing the road... I can't cross the road when there's a red man, either!