The weird thing was, the books that made the bestseller lists at Christmas were being ordered in July or August, so you had to predict what was going to sell four or five months beforehand. Fortunately, in bookselling there are many publishers, distributors, and agents who are quite happy to tell you what’s going to be big in six months time. So the industry had its seasons, sometimes determined by customer need and sometimes driven by the suppliers’ marketing machine.

I was reminded of this ‘forward thinking’ this week when I suddenly found myself in March and wondered, what do I usually do this time of year? What season am I in?

For me, March means getting things up and running for April starts (for the 90 day cycle that takes us to the end of the financial year in June). However, working with people around the world means working with different cycles. For example, in some parts of the world the end of financial year is this month, so that brings all those questions forward.

Jeanette and I have recently been looking at how business can be enhanced from a permaculture framework. (Permaculture is an organic, systems-based approach to living and is usually applied to gardens). As with the season’s influence on when one plants, harvests, stores, and celebrates, I think we have natural seasons in business.

• When is your time to plant in your business? When do your seeds get sown?
• When do your seeds produce a yield?
• Are there times where you have resources in store? Do you have dry (lean) or rainy (abundant) seasons that influence how you work?
• When do you light the metaphorical bonfire and celebrate your yearly harvest?

Okay, the growing metaphors do sound a bit over the top, but, being aware of the cycles in how you work (especially those that you have little or no control over) means that you can look at how to work with the seasons. For example, you can:

• stop beating yourself up for not having much work at the moment when it may be a natural market cycle of your industry
• take advantage the slow times to ‘prepare the soil’
• use your knowledge of the seasons to prepare for foreseeable obstacles and opportunities
• celebrate the harvest – even if it’s not a bumper crop.

So what are your seasons? What season are you in now and how can you use this knowledge to help your business thrive this year?

This article first appeared in Design Notes, the newsletter of the Work/Life Design Program.

Related posts:

1. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner
2. Organic business: Why I’ve gone organic
3. Seven ways to create a sustainable business

Lately, I’ve been exploring Needs – those essentials in life. I’ve been wondering what are the simplest building blocks of a good life and how can that be applied to business so that we aren’t continually producing waste (products, time, energy, etc). As I delved into the world of Needs, it became apparent that it wasn’t just about minimising waste. Creating essential products and services can mean your business survives (and perhaps thrives) in uncertain times. Here’s my recently published article from Flying Solo that explains it more…

When cashflow gets tight, a natural response is to start eliminating those expenses that aren’t ‘essential’. How do you meet your clients’ needs and ensure that you don’t get crossed off their essentials list?

Recently I wrote about how understanding your needs as a soloist can help improve not only your enjoyment of your work and wellbeing, but also your performance. To ensure you’re not crossed off your client’s list of essential services, you need to be sure you’re meeting your clients’ needs.

This begs the question: what do people really need?

In my last article, I looked at our needs as soloists and found that in addition to our basic physiological needs we have the ABC of psychological needs of autonomy, belongingness and competence.

Most businesses meet some need – sometimes indirectly and sometimes creating more needs in the process. You can trade on your client’s fears and get them to continue buying your product because it gives them a temporary feeling of security or feeling good. For me, making clients buy five products to meet a need or setting up client dependency is akin to selling junk or creating waste – it is not only unethical but not sustainable.

The idea of creating services or products that help your clients to the extent that they no longer need you may seem to conflict with the purpose of business. Aren’t we here to maximise profit? Well, no, not all of us.

Most soloists I know and work with have moved beyond this approach. They want their work efforts to be more than the passing of time or making a buck. They are interested in providing great services or products that truly improve their clients’ lives.

A sustainable business for uncertain times addresses clients’ needs as directly as possible and does not create more needs in the process.

How do we create businesses that meet clients’ needs?

Your business may already address a basic physiological need. For example, you may produce the snuggliest winter coats this side of Antarctica and thus be meeting people’s need for warmth. Or, you could be addressing the need for shelter by providing access to home loans or rental properties. As a bookkeeper you are addressing your clients’ need for security and sleep – knowing that their BAS will be in on time!

When I look at the businesses on my outgoings list that I consider ‘essentials’, it consists of businesses that not only meet some of my basic physiological needs but also my psychological needs. They give me choices, make me feel that I belong, and help me grow.

What can you do to better meet your clients’ needs?

1. See your clients as whole people

Your clients have a complex range of needs and are not just consumers who can be manipulated into buying an unending array of products.

2. Meet your clients’ need for Autonomy

How can your product or service increase your client’s autonomy? Do you give them choices? Do they have more choice in life after using your product? Does your product help them feel the “master of their domain”?

3. Meet your clients’ need for Belonging

Does your product help your clients connect with others and feel that they belong? Does it make them feel part of humanity or does it make them disengage with people and with life? Do you treat your clients with respect or speak about them disparagingly behind their backs?

4. Meet your clients’ need for Competence

Does your product allow your clients to learn new things and grow? Do you acknowledge your clients existing competence and give them ways to enhance it?

Finally, and most importantly:

5. Ask your clients what they need

Delve deeper should they answer “more money”: what does more money gives them? Choices? Security? Food on the table?

The opportunity awaits you to find creative, sustainable ways to meet your own and your clients’ needs – and not get crossed off that list.

This article was first published in the online community for solo business owners, Flying Solo.

Related posts:

1. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner
2. Dealing with Non-paying Clients
3. Seven ways to create a sustainable business

To succeed in your solo business, you have to understand your physiological and psychological needs. So how do you identify these needs and get your business to satisfy them?

Broadly speaking, needs can be divided into two categories: physiological and psychological.

Basic, physiological needs

These needs are the essential, innate and universal requirements for our well-being and health. We all have physiological needs that have to be satisfied for our bodies to function and stay in good health. These include air, water, food, warmth, shelter, sleep/rest, and safety from harm.

As soloists, we work to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table and that extra warm coat for when we have to venture out of our snugly home offices in winter. But on closer examination, some of the things we might refer to as needs turn out to be something different. Often, we confuse our Wants and Needs.

While our Wants are certainly helpful in providing a window to our actual Needs, they can also thwart or compete against other Needs. For example we may feel we need the waterfront home in the best suburb, but a high mortgage may undermine our ability to satisfy our food, sleep or safety needs. Alternately, the waterfront home might be temporarily satisfying or thwarting another type of need – our psychological needs.

Satisfying your psychological needs

In addition to our physiological needs, we have psychological needs. You may have come across these through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow believed that it wasn’t just physical and safety needs that had to be satisfied. People also needed to feel that they belonged to a group and were loved, respected, and were able to self-actualise (live their potential).

Maslow’s theory provided the spark for us to begin understanding how human needs influence behaviour. Today, our understanding of psychological needs centres on how our behaviour is self-determined and presents an ABC of psychological needs:

Autonomy

Autonomy must be close to the heart of all soloists. It doesn’t mean we all want to be islands in the sea of humanity, rather that we need to have choices and be free to act as we choose. And think about it, how many of us chose the solo business path because it gives us the opportunity to be our own boss? There are plenty of opportunities to revel in our autonomy as soloists – from designing and delivering our own product or service, to poring over options for that new computer purchase.

Belonging

We need to feel that we belong to a group, whether it’s our family, friends, or work colleagues. We need to feel we are able to connect with others. And as soloists, this is a need we often meet head on in the early days of our ventures. Consequently, we participate in forums and join business or professional groups. Also, part of the belonging (or relatedness) need is love – to be loved and to love others. And while business and love aren’t usually two words that appear together very often, love can flow in our solo ventures. It might be the love you have for your work, showing you care for a client, or your client showing their appreciation of your work.

Competence

We need to feel that we are capable of getting the outcomes we desire. Many soloists start their businesses in fields that they’ve been working in for years, and so have developed a certain level of competence already. But going solo means facing new challenges and in doing so, developing further competence. It can also be the case that soloists are embarking on a new field and have to develop their skills and knowledge as their business grows. When the task is too challenging and the competence need is not being satisfied it can lead to stress, overwhelm and doubt, and thwart other needs.

Understanding your own physiological and psychological needs and creating the environments to satisfy them will not only give you more satisfaction, performance and well-being, but it can also give your business an edge when used to understand your customers’ needs.

This article first appeared in the online community for solo business owners www.flyingsolo.com.au

Related posts:

1. Meeting your clients’ needs
2. Seven ways to create a sustainable business
3. Career Change: Designing my new brilliant career

There is plenty of career advice out there for job jockeys who want to change their employer. But what about a career change for soloists? What do you do when you’ve lost heart in your business? How do you tell it “I’m just not that into you”?

I’ve been going through what those in the personal change industry call [adopt warm counsellor voice] a transition. I’ve been in my current field for seven years, just completed a qualification in a different field, and most importantly, have discovered another (yes, third) field that I’d rather be playing in. Sigh.

In a way, it’s exciting because like the kid in the candy store, I can see much joy ahead of me. On the other hand, part of me doesn’t want to let go of my current business. We’ve had so many fun times together. We’ve grown together. Spent so many late nights together. Parting seems intolerable.

So I’ve decided to go for Option 1.5 The Cake and Eat It strategy. That is, it takes the best aspects of each of my options (1. Stay and 2. Leave) and creates a new option, 1.5 my new brilliant career.

So how did I get here?

1. The thrill has gone. I think it’s common for your feelings about your business to change over its lifecycle. But when my feeling of unrest was joined by a lack of interest, I knew it was time for a rethink. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ditch the business and do something different or if it just needed a bit of a rejuvenation jag.

2. The cycle of (work) life. Over the course of my working life, I have changed my career focus about every seven years. The lack of attachment to one, lifelong career has given me the freedom to move or shift as my life or situation changes. And as a soloist, I can act on a career change when I’m ready.

3. What next for me? Having made the decision that I was ready to move on (or at least sideways), I sat down and re-visited my values, purpose, strengths, interests, knowledge, skills and abilities – all those things that I personally bring to my work.

I asked myself: what am I interested in now? What’s important to me now? What aptitudes do I want to develop? All this comes together and forms my soloist capital or potential – something that I can access whenever I choose.

4. What next for the world? Here at Flying Solo, you’ll read a lot about business being about connection. Recent technology changes mean that connecting with people who are interested in your product or service is easier than ever. With the world in flux, new market needs are emerging every day, some of which will endure. For me, I see so many opportunities to address these needs with my unique mix of soloist capital.

5. Embrace my inner-entrepreneur. This is my favourite step as it’s about bringing it all together, creating something new and getting very excited. It’s the time of grand visions and audacious goals. Enthusiasm for what I’m doing not only means that I enjoy my work (yay), but it also goes hand in hand with being more productive. And I’ve found that people love to be connected to exciting things.

So I’m now putting Option 1.5 into action. I’ve taken aspects of my former business (the knowledge, the skills, the contact list!) and merged them with the opportunities (the excitement, the obsessive interest, the talent to be developed) and created something fresh: My new brilliant career.

And as a soloist, I don’t need to go out and find an employer who has a position like this. I am my own job creation programme.

This article first appeared in the online community for solo business owners www.flyingsolo.com.au

Related posts:

1. How people change: Working with the stages and processes of change
2. How will a sea change affect your business?
3. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner

The evidence is everywhere. If we don’t treat clients with respect, we lose them. If we take non-renewable resources from the planet, they run out. It’s time to look past our financial bottom-line to see how to create a truly sustainable business.

For me, it always hits me when I buy paper. Do I get the budget $4 ream or spend a couple of extra dollars on the eco-friendly, post-consumer-waste, recycled stuff? Sure, “What’s one ream of paper ?” I say, but what if every business says that and leaves it up to someone else to make the difference?

The challenge is not just to run a profitable business but to run a sustainable business – a business that gives back the resources it uses. Assessing your business with a triple bottom line looks at its environmental (planet), social (people) and economic (profit) impact, and it’s just as relevant to soloists as it is to large corporations.

Now you may not be ready to go solar, but here are seven simple things you can do to reduce your business’ environmental impact and create a more sustainable business.

Consume less

1. Switch off  the lights, the computers, the fax and the photocopier at the wall at the end of the working day. If you’re not ready to harness the sunshine, then get supplied with green power. Put on a jumper rather than the heater. Open the window rather than cranking up the air-conditioning. In the heat of the day, have a siesta, take a long lunch or adopt a more European work day.

2. Get on the phone. Can that meeting be conducted by phone? Do you need to take the car or can you hop on the bus or carpool? What’s the impact of your air travel? If air travel is essential, buy some carbon offsets for your business.

3. Embrace working from home. Reduce your travel and doubling up on equipment and resources. Or share an office space with other soloists. When sourcing equipment and services, consider buying local to reduce travel miles.

4. Use less materials. Do you really need to print that? Do you need the glossy promotional materials? Could you ‘go digital’ instead? Consider ways of standing out from the crowd without producing endless bin fodder.

Reduce waste

5. Recycle. It’s now easy to use recycled paper, envelopes, pens, equipment, furniture and clothes. Keep the flow happening by recycling your own resources. Choose lunch on a ceramic plate or get your takeaway coffee in a ceramic mug.

6. Do no harm.  Be aware of the potential harmful effects or by-products of the production processes you use. Are your raw materials contributing to rainforest loss or river pollution in the far off place they are produced?

7. Increase lifecycle. What about the lifecycle of your products? Are you buying equipment for life or something that will need to be replaced or upgraded in 12 months? Are you producing high-resource, short lifecycle products to make a fast buck? Or are you creating products that will last beyond the season, the fad or the warranty?

We have the opportunity as soloists to make immediate changes to create a sustainable business, so our business reflects our values and the world we wish to live in. We may be only one business but together we make up a vast chunk of the workforce and can make a difference.

In the next article in this series of three on creating a sustainable business, we look at our relationships with clients and suppliers and ask the question: what’s the social impact of your solo business?

This article first appeared in the online community for solo business owners www.flyingsolo.com.au

Related posts:

1. Meeting your clients’ needs
2. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner
3. Organic business: Why I’ve gone organic

If you’ve been looking for a job recently, you’ll know that relying on the newspapers or job sites for finding out about job opportunities doesn’t turn up many “woo hoo” jobs. At the other end, if you’ve ever looked for staff, you’ll know that advertising can be costly and often, unproductive. So how do you tap into something that everyone acknowledges is hidden? 

It’s all about connections. At the moment we are inundated with new ways to connect with others. Word of mouth, or buzz, is just a Facebook or Twitter update away. But is anyone using this new accessibility to connection to match those who need staff with those who need work?

A philanthropic venture called Karmic Leads is giving job hunters and employers an alternative place to connect. And it’s not just a service to hook you up with “jobs” but includes matching for mentoring, speaking, and board positions. 

I love this idea. It’s sort of like a Craigslist for work and it goes beyond the “9to5, full-time, employee” work model. 

I have no idea how they are making money from it – as it is apparently a no-cost service – but I assume it is being approached with long-term goals. While the site doesn’t mention any other services, I would imagine that reciprocity would be at work.  Those who use the job connections service would be likely to pay-it-forward by perhaps using one of the parent company’s other services. There are lots of possibilities to make this one work, if only for the database and connections it makes for Karmic Leads. 

I’m not aware of any similar local sites but it would be a very timely business opportunity for someone who likes to connect with others. And it would get us a step closer to making the real job market visible. 

I wonder if I know anyone who would be up for the job?

:: Thanks to Triple Pundit for the lead. ::

Related posts:

1. Dismantle the Job Network
2. True stories from the Job Network
3. Career Change: Designing my new brilliant career

Last month we talked about getting together with other soloists to support and grow your business through a Business Action Group (BAG). If you’re thinking “This is for me” then here are the steps to setting up your very own BAG.

Get clear about what you want

People join groups for different reasons. For your Business Action Group to be effective you need to get clear about your own intentions and expectations for meeting, as well as sounding out other members. For example, you don’t want a group where one member’s intention is simply to spend 60 minutes dumping their “woes of the week”.

Select your members

Next you need to identify the people who you would like to work with. In your BAG mix, you may wish to consider skills, experience, knowledge, resources, gender and ages that will complement each other. Also, do you want people from from within (or outside of) your own profession/industry? Finally, check that your expectations and values are a match and your new BAG will be ready to roll.

Your BAG may happen organically, in that you invite one person who invites another and so on, or you might have your “dream team“ already in mind. The optimal size of a BAG is between four and six people. This gives enough time each meeting for each person to focus on their business while maximising the resources and scope of the group.

Get together

Once you’ve identified your group’s purpose and at least one person you’d like to invite then you can organise your first meeting. Here you can find out what everyone wants and create the structure to support this.

Some issues you may wish to give attention to are

•  how you will meet (face to face, tele- and/or video-conference);
•  how often (weekly, fortnightly, monthly) and
•  what your initial commitment to the group will be (e.g. three months and then revise).

From there you can draw on the wisdom and resources of the group to outline how each meeting will proceed and set some guidelines. Meetings usually have the format of:

• General introductions and follow-up from the previous meeting.
• Each member gets 10 to 15 minutes to discuss an issue/question/opportunity they are facing in their business. This includes outlining the issue, getting ideas/questions from others and then committing to taking some action that the group will hold you accountable for.
• Actions are recorded and distributed after the meeting by the leader.

The role of leader ideally rotates through the members, which enables you to get a chance to develop your group leadership skills in the bargain!

Business Action Group basics

Some basic guidelines of BAGs include:

• Creating a culture of respect – everyone brings a range of skills, experience and knowledge.
• Feedback is encouraged but criticism has no place.
• Confidentiality is a given.
• No one person dominates the group.
• Older members can learn from younger members. The more experienced can learn from newcomers. If you didn’t have something to learn you wouldn’t be there.

It’s personal

Whilst all this action talk may make it sound very task-oriented, once you’ve met a few times you’ll find that trust and rapport emerges, discussions become personal and you start to see people beyond their business bravado.

This is when your BAG becomes special. I’ve been blown away by the brilliance of members of my group, or just touched by their courage in the face of adversity, or their vulnerability when trying something new. And yet they do it. And you’re so proud. And you celebrate.

“You’re doing a great job”

Aren’t they the words everyone wants to hear? When you’re the boss, there often isn’t anyone around to say these words. With a Business Action Group, you’ll not only become more effective and will make decisions that you believe in, you’ll also get the feedback that lets you know you are doing a great job.

Go get ‘em.

This article first appeared in the online community for solo business owners www.flyingsolo.com.au

Related posts:

1. Business Action Groups: Your success is in the BAG
2. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner
3. Seven ways to create a sustainable business

This article has a special place in my heart. It was the first to get published at Flying Solo in 2006 which lead to google rankings and traffic for the WLD website.  For me, it’s a reminder that, even when writing business articles, the good stuff comes when I write from my heart and my experience.

When you work in isolation, running a successful business isn’t just about getting clients but about building relationships in a supportive environment. That’s where Business Action Groups (BAG) come in.

Napoleon Hill referred to them as Master Mind groups. Benjamin Franklin spoke fondly of his ‘Junto’. Me? I’ve got my group of Enrichers. Buddy groups, dream teams, action groups – what they all have in common is the coming together of a committed group of business owners who help each other to success.

Business Action Groups are about getting together with others who are passionate about what they do and sharing resources, knowledge and experiences and they are formed specifically with this intention.

BAGs are small (four to six people), meet regularly and are structured to provide a safe, energising space for you to look at the issues you are facing in your business and commit to taking action.

Growing your business can mean entering new territory, making decisions on things you have no track record of, and feeling a little uncomfortable. If you are fortunate you will have people around you who you can discuss this with - a partner, family member or friend, perhaps – but more often than not our relationships with others aren’t built to discuss business issues.

Also, sometimes you just want to talk with someone who knows what you’re going through. Turning to your peers for support is a logical move but in business your peers are often your competitors.

Business Action Groups allow you the space to confidently make these decisions. It’s a place where you can work out exactly what it is you want, find a few ways to attain it and choose which will work best for your situation.

A BAG can help you in your business in the following ways:

Helps you keep your integrity

To be a person of your word, you need to act on your decisions. Saying “I’m going to do this” to another is a powerful motivator. You know they’ll ask you how it’s going when you next meet. So when you commit to action in your BAG, the likelihood that you’ll follow through and do what you say you’d do increases dramatically.

And that’s even before you factor in accountability – where the group commits to helping you keep to your word by specifically following you up on your action. Yes, in a perfect world we would be fully internally motivated and only need to be accountable to ourselves. But, in the meantime, you have your BAG.

Other perspectives help you solve problems

One of the fundamentals of BAGs is that no one is the expert. Sure, everyone has different perspectives on your issue but there’s no “one right way”. And that‘s important for autonomy-loving soloists. If there are five other people in your group, then there will be five different approaches to consider.

Perhaps they will help you see opportunities that were out of your sight previously. Perhaps you are stretched to playing a bigger game. Or even challenged to not just meet a standard but to begin setting the standard. And you make your decisions based on this much fuller picture of your situation.

You contribute to the success of others

As well as receiving all this support and encouragement in your own venture, your BAG gives you the opportunity to share your knowledge, experiences and resources with others. Often it’s a surprising bonus to learn just how unique you are and what value you bring to any relationship.

…and you will have fun!

Let’s not forget that with this flow of giving and receiving – celebrating the highs and lows of each member’s business life – friendships develop. Fun and laughter is had. And all those platitudes about business being tough begin to melt away.

Suddenly you begin seeing yourself as part of that small percentage of business owners who are making it work.

This article first appeared in the online community for solo business owners www.flyingsolo.com.au

Related posts:

1. Setting up your Business Action Group
2. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner
3. How will a sea change affect your business?

 

I couldn’t just let it ride.

I understand how some soloists manage their finances. Where the question when looking at the pile of bills isn’t “What’s due this week?” but “What can I get away with NOT paying this week?” I’ve been there. When I’ve had slow payers before, all it has taken is a reminder phone call to get my invoice on top of that list and it gets paid within the week.

But that’s not how it panned out this time. I did all the “right” things in the service delivery: clearly negotiated terms and expectations before we began. Checked expectations met on completion. Issued invoice. Followed up by phone, followed up by email, followed up by phone and post, and phone again. I was persistent but polite.

90 days later and my partner laughs when I ask her to check the post office with an earnest “Just in case there’s something there!” In my heart, I realise this one’s not going to pay.

Tapping the wisdom of other soloists

Realising the gently-gently approach wasn’t working, I began scouring the articles and forums here at Flying Solo to see how other soloists handled non-paying clients. But as I read through the advice about taking legal action or engaging a debt collector, something wasn’t sitting right with me.

Sure, my former client may be disrespecting me by not paying her account, but do I want to use an adversarial system I dislike to resolve the issue?

Letting it go

I was determined to find a third way, so I asked my colleagues what they would do in my situation. Their responses not only confirmed I wasn’t alone but pretty much summed up what I’d already done and what I was feeling: Do what you can and then let it go. It was surprising the number of people who shared how the day after they decided to move on, the cheque arrived in the mail.

It’s not about the money

In the end, it’s not really about the money, it’s about fairness, respect and trust. If you negotiate a certain amount of work or an outcome for a certain amount of money, and you deliver, then you will receive said remuneration.

Paying your bills or communicating with a supplier when you are experiencing difficulties shows that you respect them and their business. However, the most important thing when I work with people is trust – as a coach, they tell me their deepest desires and trust that I won’t make fun of them, tell the world or use it to my advantage. In return, I trust they will pay their bill.

Doing business with integrity

I know some people will consider these expectations naïve, but experience tells me otherwise. I’m not in the business of making a buck through dog-eat-dog tactics and squeezing as much as you can from your suppliers and clients. If I’m talking to a client and fairness, respect and trust aren’t important to them, I’m quite happy to say no to their business.

Being clear about my rules of business

So for me, this experience has boiled down to realising that a client who I assumed played by the “new rules of business” was actually old school. There will be no debt collectors or threatening phone calls, just a realisation that I have different rules. I might even be playing a different game.

I’ve learnt the need to check the rules potential clients play by and be much clearer about my own rules before putting time, energy and commitment into working with them.

Oh, and from now on, I’m taking a tip from the oldest profession and getting the money upfront.

This article first appeared in the online community for solo business owners www.flyingsolo.com.au

Related posts:

1. Meeting your clients’ needs
2. Seven ways to create a sustainable business
3. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner

The decision to make a tree or sea change is relatively easy. But have you thought through how your solo business might be affected by such a move?

It was six years ago when I first uttered the words “Let’s move to the beach!” Only once my sea change boat had been cast from the shore did I get an inkling of what I was letting myself in for.

At the time, my business was less than two years old and the contacts and clients I had built were based in the city.

I believed that provided I had a phone line, I could work anywhere. I had visions of kicking back on the banana lounge and fitting in the occasional client between watching the sunrise on the beach and having cocktails at dusk.

Sure, that vision did happen, but there was so much more and most of it unexpected.

Dude, where’s my network?

The biggest shock was realising that I’d have to build new networks – personal and professional. While it was easy to get on the phone and talk to my city friends and colleagues, after the sea change I missed being able to grab a coffee with pals you bump into in the street.

Because I wasn’t seeing people as often, I wasn’t talking about my business to anyone except my partner who was very supportive but really didn’t want to hear my daily newest, greatest idea. The networks did happen but took time and energy to rebuild.

What’s my business again?

When planning the sea change, I assumed I’d be doing the same thing as in the city, just in a different place. But a strange thing happened once I was immersed in this new culture – I kept seeing opportunities in my local area.

I tweaked my business to make the most of these opportunities. Unfortunately, this meant I veered away from what I really enjoyed. It wasn’t until I went back to the vision I had for my business – who I wanted to work with, what I wanted to do – that I could stop saying yes to everything and make decisions that would keep my business and my life on track.

Let’s go to inspiration point

I love the ocean. For me, ten minutes of listening to those crashing waves is as relaxing as an hour’s meditation and when I first moved, that’s all I wanted to do.

The first twelve months were about finding a new way to work and keep motivated in my new holiday resort. But while my new workplace was very calming and being close to nature was inspirational, there was something missing.

I realised the excitement and vibrancy of the city had provided me with a different kind of inspiration.

Now I’ve achieved the perfect balance whereby I can visit the city, catch its buzz and appreciate it, rather than getting frazzled.

Welcome to far away land

While living in the middle of nowhere is great for never having to wrangle with peak hour traffic, it also often means travelling up to 150km to meet a client or a colleague. This not only takes time but the travel and environmental costs can get out of control.

Fortunately, we have so many other communication options available to us now, such as teleconferencing and Skype, that most client contact doesn’t require face-to-face meetings. The silver lining is that when you do meet up with people, it’s a real treat.

Having the cake and eating it

The sea-changing life isn’t for every soloist. I’ve had periods where I’ve seriously considered moving back to the big smoke. Sure, the thought that I’d have more clients and be more successful in the city crosses my mind, but at what cost?

There are things about regional life that work for me. It is truly serene and I am far less stressed than when I lived in the city; I live and work in a beautiful place that reminds me there’s more to life than making a buck and with regular trips to the city I get to have the best of both worlds.

So how about you? Have you made the big move or are you still thinking about it? How might a sea change affect your business?

This article first appeared in the online community for solo business owners www.flyingsolo.com.au

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2. Understanding your needs as a solo business owner
3. Seven ways to create a sustainable business