Today’s thought from the Dalai Lama is essentially we’re not on this earth for long, so we had better spend our brief time doing something useful to ourselves and others. That’s a bit of a truism – but hidden inside is something many businesses forget.
If customers are going to pay you, then what you make, do or create had better be of value to them. Too often people try to start a business around something nobody wants – or worse, something that doesn’t really deliver what it promises.
So make sure you have done your homework – in terms of both market research to be sure people actually want what you’re offering, and learning everything you need to know to over-deliver on your promises.
And there’s something else hidden in there – he says we must spend our time doing something of value to us. That translates into making sure your work is something you are passionate about, not just something you do for the money.
Idealistic? Maybe, but I have written many times about Enjoyment Performance Theory – that says we do better at what we enjoy, and we enjoy what we do well – so a key part of having a successful business is actually having a desire to do it.
When I started writing this, it wasn’t planned as a sales pitch – as I wrote I realised that these two concepts – make sure your business is viable and make sure it’s something you want to do, are exactly what my Opportunity Matrix tool is designed to measure.
It’s kinda nice that His Holiness agrees 🙂
I bought a neat little book recently - "365 Dalai Lama" - as the title suggests, it's a daily thought from the Dalai Lama. My plan is to use each thought as the inspiration for a blog - and linking the fluffy woo-woo elements to real-world solutions in business and life.
