I have a small world… a small footprint. It is just “me” in my little business, working in my small office, master of my own destiny (sort of) each and every day. As a solopreneur, it is just me. But, probably in your solopreneurship, it is just you, too. When we work together, we become more powerful than two, when we build a team, we build an army. That really is how this works. So while to some people I know it may appear that I have a small little world, in reality that world and that reach is as grand as the imagination of my best dreaming client and I, and what we determine to conquer.
Yes, it is true. I work from home. I have my own little home office. I have a small (yet amazing) clientele. But let me let you in on a secret. There’s nothing small about my little business and the work I do for clients. Not to me, not to my clients, and not to the lives they touch.
That all starts with what I bring to the table. I built my business with standards around not just how I run my business with the world, but how I treat myself within my business. When I worked corporate, I struggled along with a slow computer, one monitor (don’t even get me started on dual monitors), and aging software. It’s expensive to keep up with changes in the technology world. I get it. But, when I set off on my own, I decided that I would not ever allow myself to feel crippled as a business the way I felt crippled in corporate.
Don’t get me wrong. I cannot afford to upgrade my computer each time the latest and greatest arrive on the scene. I am selective and careful when I choose to upgrade. But I do bring my clients the speed and the skill they really need and want when they choose someone to help them grow. To me, that is a super fast, upgraded computer, with the most up to date software I can manage. My clients want me to have as good or better of a system than they have for themselves.
My office, while it is not in some Class-A Corporate Building, and I am not often in a freshly pressed suit while I sit at my perfectly matched cubicle while I work… is more than amazing. It is the best office space I would ever want to have. I have my own bathroom, that I don’t have to share with anyone. (Bonus, woot!) I have a view of the gorgeous weather outside, and I have the best tools I can afford at my fingertips. I have what I want in it, from the furniture to the art on the walls, to the electric tea kettle ready at my whim, the cozy corner chair, the ottoman, and the cozy blanket and candles for when I need to find my peace and get creative. And finally, most days I have my amazing my dog, Finlay, resting at my feet.
Does my location and my office space matter to my clients? Yes.
They want me to do my best work, day in and day out. They want me thinking outside of the box and being creative, to help them leverage the work they are doing as far as possible and in new and powerful ways. I do that best when I am in an environment that makes me happiest. It is a freedom I have found as an entrepreneur that I have never been able to recreate as an employee, no matter how hard I tried.
Our worlds matter. If we want the work we do to matter (and I really do) then where we do our work does matter. The way we feel while we are working dramatically effects work quality. The joy we have while working, impacts the joy others have in receiving the outcome of that work. There is balance there. One cannot exist without the other.
I have chosen a world that allows me to my time the way that serves God, my clients, and myself and my family the best… all while allowing me to do the work I have been called to do and love. Yes, it may be a small world… but that doesn’t make it any less powerful than someone with a big world and a big footprint. We can each move mountains.
Are you taking care of yourself in your world, no matter how small, so that you can do your best work?