In last week’s post, I talked about having created a “strong standard around not allowing clients to abdicate responsibility for their own businesses by becoming dependent on me.”
Jasmine wrote to say, “Why not dependent? Don’t we want clients to depend on us—to know they can count on us to be there for them?”
Depend—yes. Dependent—no.
Bit O’Moxie: It’s healthy for clients to depend on you. It’s not healthy—for them, you, or either of your businesses—if they are dependent on you.
Depending is counting on, relying on, trusting another to do, be, say whatever was promised, but it never removes the depending party’s ability to handle things himself.
Dependent on is dysfunctional because there’s an inherent abdication of responsibility and capability that goes along with it.
Trust me when I say, you do not want clients dependent on you for a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g!
Your clients should be able to get along without you at the drop of a hat, should they need to. Make sure they can, by keeping them in the loop about all that you do. To that end, you’ll find it especially helpful to create a policies and procedures manual for the work you do for them, sending them updated copies whenever you add/change something in your master version.
And just always remember—depending, not dependent! Let it be a mantra for your success!
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