I had a moment today when a friend of mine asked me to introduce her to someone via Linked In. I had never even heard of the person she wanted to be introduced to but, sure enough, she was connected to me on Linked In.
I looked at my Linked In Account and realized that I never use it. I had 984 connections, of whom I probably actually knew 50. Most were either old work contacts from past jobs or people who had randomly connected with me (I get lots of these).
And it felt like baggage. Old baggage just sitting my hall, taking up my attention from time to time, occasionally bugging me but not doing anything useful other than taking up space. So I gave myself permission to close my account and it felt GREAT!
Woohooooo!
To be honest, it's been a week of simplification for me.
Earlier in the week I was looking at my goals for this year and realized that one of them just didn't work for me.
I had put in a target for speaking gigs - either mine or other people's. But, do you know what?
I don't enjoy it.
Webinars? Love them.
Getting up on stage speaking to people? I'd rather stick forks in my eyes.
I had a little talk with myself. It went like this:
'Claire, you've created your perfect lifestyle where you sit in front of your Mac in your lovely office, drinking green tea, in your jeans and scruffs. You spend all day working with amazing women. You speak to loads of people every week via Skype or phone. You get to drop Chloe off on a morning and collect her on an afternoon...
Why on earth would you want to leave your warm office, travel around the UK (every day I'm away from home is a logistical challenge, as all you mums know) on crowded trains or busy motorways, just to do a speaking gig that you're not going to enjoy?"
And I thought "WHY WOULD I DO THAT"??
I wouldn't take a job doing that, so why on earth would I include it in my business, if I don't want to do it?
Ditto, networking events, Linked In, black tie dinners.
So, anything that doesn't fit? I've given myself permission to stop doing it!
It Made Me Feel A Bit Nervous!
I feel quite rebellious. I sort of had a feeling someone would appear and tell me off! But my overwhelming feeling is of relief. And a slight irky feeling of 'why did it take me so long to figure THAT out??'
You see, I don't have to do all of those things because I've found a way that works for me without them.
I built a 100k business without doing all of those things so I reckon I can build an even bigger business, still without doing them.
Instead of Linked In, speaking gigs and networking, I'm going to write my book, meet up with a very select group of like-minded ladies every quarter so I don't turn into a complete hermit. I'm going to develop my strategic alliances and attend conferences if they sound interesting (most don't). Other than that I'll keep doing what I've always done:
•Writing great content for my ideal customers
•Giving great value
•Helping as many people as I can
•Charging good money for my products and services, because they're worth it
•Marketing like a crazy woman
•Having fun in my amazing business
So my challenge to you is to give up doing the stuff in your business that you hate. Why would you do that? Find a workaround - there is always another way!