Me musing that “less is more” doesn’t apply to books or service offerings.
I love learning, but not as much as I love teaching. I get intensely interested in a topic and then dive deep to learn everything I can about it. But it’s more than just a curiosity for learning - it’s a desire to apply this knowledge by helping others to learn it too.
And so I’ve built my business upon teaching all of the beautiful learnings I’ve collected over my career. As I learn more and more about scaling businesses, organizational management, training and documentation, I’m able to provide even more value to my clients during our engagements. It’s awesome.
But for many of us, there’s a dark side to collecting all of this expertise: the temptation to want to do it all… to help everyone with all the things.
When The Process Mavens began in December of 2017, I was on my own. I focused mainly on developing no-code software solutions - think Smartsheet and Monday.com - for small businesses to streamline their operations. It was really fun and we made a big difference.
Then, in 2018, we grew in size and became Certified Trainual Consultants, helping businesses to develop training and documentation for a wide variety of businesses. Being a team of instructional designers, it made perfect sense to add those services on top of the ones we were already doing. No problem.
In 2019, we began offering broader consulting services to our work; helping business leaders figure out where they wanted to go, which people they needed to help them get there, and making sure they had an actionable plan each and every quarter. What’s another couple of services when you’re making an impact, right?
We just kept collecting services and adding them to the menu. It felt mostly good as we continued along the path. Until it didn’t. Which brings us to the present-day.
Our clients are happy, but every time we add a new awesome thing to the list, our work gets a little less efficient. It becomes a little harder to find our ideal clients. We become a little more dependent upon the genius of individuals instead of strengthening our systems and team. It’s a funny thing to know you’re providing so much value but be unable to clearly describe “the thing” you do.
The fact is, I want to grow my business and my leadership skills. I’m ready to level up. But I’ve been ignoring a nagging call to let go of what my business was (and who I’ve been as a leader) so that I can step into what it needs to be next.
Seth Godin so rudely put it best...
Often, we try to pretend that growth comes with no goodbyes, but it does.
Yes, it’s super important to have plans for all the things you want to accomplish in the coming year or quarter. But it’s equally important to stop and assess what you need to say goodbye to in order to make those plans a reality. Maybe it’s ...
a team member who just isn’t a fit for the culture you’re trying to build.
a leader who has helped you get this far, but won’t be able to help you get to the next thing.
a service offering that’s sucking all your time and slowing your growth.
a client who just isn’t aligned to your new direction.
a responsibility you’ve taken on as CEO for years that you need to hand off to someone else.
Letting these things go can be PAINFUL, but that pain comes with a whole lot of newfound wisdom and growth. And it’s not like you’re carelessly tossing them aside like a jerk. You can let go of the things that no longer serve you with genuine gratitude for helping you get where you are today. But now it’s time to embrace the tension of letting them go so you can get to the other side of what’s possible.
But you can’t get there unless you first say goodbye.
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