Rebecca wrote the other day to see if I had any idea why so many of her relationships were ending soon after they’d begun. After some back and forth in email, it became clear that Rebecca very much wanted to do the work, but wasn’t so invested in the relationships with clients—she very much just wanted then to give her work, and then leave her alone to do it.
In my view, the “juice” is in the relationship. That’s where every bit of real goodness occurs. And that’s true regardless of whether we’re talking about the relationship between a man and wife, or brother and sister, or two friends, or colleagues, or doctor and patient, or plumber and home owner, or VA and client.
The work is important. I will never say that it’s not. But the work itself is only rocket science if it’s pretty much rocket science, you know? Otherwise, it’s stuff that can done by countless people.
So where you’ll have the biggest opportunity to stand out and make a difference as the sole business expense your clients can’t live without is in the relationships you have with your clients, and the investments you make in those.
There simply is no other you, and there will be no other relationship like yours for each of your clients. And in the relationships, you will either make it or break it for the clients who are really understanding of the reality that what they’re getting isn’t a commodity from you (the others will never get it, no matter what you do).
Bit O’Moxie: Do the work. Do the work fabulously. But focus more on the development and longevity of the relationships you form. Say “yes” to the relationships, even when you can’t do the work. Be as, if not more, committed to the well-being of the relationship than you are to doing the work. Otherwise, you'll have well-done work, but lousy relationships that won’t last, and you’ll begin to question whether you’re in the right business. And that’s not the question you ever want to have to ask yourself.
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