As I look back at 2015 and prepare my business for 2016, I can find plenty of successes AND plenty of failures.
Successes include the launch of the Husky Fast Network and relaunch of Game Day Bunker. Failures include less revenue than we wanted, a lack of focus on a long-term growth strategy, and turning that strategy into a daily to-do list.
I’m betting your business wasn’t perfect this year, either.
But what matters more than listing the good and the bad is understanding WHY… why did certain projects succeed and why other projects did not.
One of my problems? Too much giving, not enough serving.
Serving vs Giving
Katie Bialy wrote a great blog post a couple of years ago about the problems of giving. It makes us “feel good” to give money to help other people but, as Katie explains, simply giving things to people actually hurts them in the long run.
Having been in Haiti this summer, most people don’t NEED our stuff. But I don’t want to be a giver of stuff. I want to be a giver of skills. I want to be a giver of passion and inspiration for ideas. I want to be a giver of training. Haiti does need this! I’ve been begged at for English classes. I’ve been begged at for jobs. I’ve been begged at for education. These are non-material things Haitians still are desperate for.
As I look back at the past 12+ months, I see several instances where I’ve given my time, knowledge, skills, and resources to clients and potential clients – for free. I’ve chalked it up to my nature of “helping other people.”
But I’ve realized those gifts didn’t help anyone. The recipients of my gifts didn’t learn any new skills – just a phone number of who to call when they needed something done for free, and my business was unable to achieve its business goals because of my gifts.
For those reasons, I apologize to you. I apologize for giving you too much and not serving you enough.
The Theme for 2016? Serve
My word for 2016 is Serve. My goal this year is to serve you better, teaching you the skills and providing you the resources you need to be more successful in your business, career, and life.
In other words, less giving and more serving.
Be on the lookout Friday for a special announcement from me… I will post more details then on how I plan to serve you better in 2016 (you can get details faster by signing up for my weekly pep talk here.)
What Do You Need?
In the meantime, if there is something specific you want to learn, please contact me and let me know.
~Dennis