Keep Your Business Personal

It's common for people to suggest to keep your business life and your personal life separate.  Why?  I've never really understood that.  There are 2 fundamental reasons that this doesn't work for me:

1 - When trying to incorporate separate business and personal lives, sometimes people take on 2 different personas.  If you're wondering if you have 2 different personas, just ask yourself if people at work would be surprised to know how you spend your weekends.  This works for some, but seems like hard work to me.

2 - I believe that truly successful people do not turn on and off like a light-switch.  I'm not talking about vacation and downtime, we all need as much of that as we can get.  I'm talking about the person that we portray at work.  If I portray a trustworthy, high-moral, family man at work...........I can't risk you seeing me out somewhere on the weekend that would make you question that.  I can't turn that on and off.

The high-moral, family man thing is only an example......not a suggestion.  I actually believe that people, in general, aren't as concerned about what type of person you are/life you lead..........they just want it to be consistent.  This is not a message about morals and values.

Also - I'm not suggesting that you invite work connections into your family life.  That's an individuals decision whether or not to do that.  I am suggesting that the YOU that your family knows, should be the same YOU that your work connections know.  Don't separate the two - it's hard work and will create problems for you in the future.

I don't like long posts, so I'm going to keep it at that for now.  Future posts on the same topic will discuss:

**  I do take it personal when I lose
**  We do need to make business decision with our heart, and not just our brain
**  There is a time when it's OK to "pretend" you're better than you really are

Go.......and Be.

This can be taken in many different contexts, but lets think Business for now:  There is a difference between Believers and Disciples.  A Believer will believe in their products, their service, their message, their strategy, their intentions.........whatever it is their selling, but they may leave it at that.  A Disciple believes as well, but then goes out and lives it........and makes other Believers.

In Sales we talk about it, that's actually what we do for a living.  We talk to our bosses about how much we're going to sell, how we're going to sell it, and who we're going to sell it to.  Then we talk to our clients about how great it is, how they need to buy it, and how much of it they need to buy.  Then we talk to our family and friends about how much we're selling and how their companies should have more sales guys like us.  It's what we do..........we are Believers.  We talk about it.

We need more Disciples, the ones who can go BE about it. These guys (and girls) still have to talk about it (it's what they do), but it sounds different.  There is a passion and confidence that is different.  It's not a "do-you-buy-in" message, it's a "watch and join in" message.  "Here's why you should buy from me" changes to "let's see if we are a good fit for each other."  Everyone around them wants to follow, they want to feed from that success.  Disciples don't cut corners or bend expectations to clients.  They promise and deliver. They don't have to talk to friends and family about their success.  Success, leadership, integrity........simply follow and surround them.  These things are in their DNA.

It is a process.  These things go hand-in-hand, and are an evolving relationship.  It grows over time, and continues to grow as you live it.  You Believe, and then you Go and Be.  Summed up in a common phrase: "Don't talk about it, Be about it."  BEing about it is what we all strive for, that's when we've hit our sweet-spot, and that's when we're having the true impact that we are called to.