Beautiful Businesses

I was asked yesterday where I find the Beauty in my Business.

It’s an Interesting Question, don’t you think?

(Big thanks to Fiona Morris of Divine Business Circle and Nourish and Flourish fame for that one!)

There are so many areas of beauty in our business but, more often than not, we’re so busy just getting on and working that we forget to stop and appreciate what we’re surrounded by!

So, I thought I’d explore the concept of the Beauty in my Business a bit more.

Confidence

Perhaps the most obvious Beauty I see, is in the people I work with.

Often when you point a camera at someone they freeze, get nervous and fidgety or simply become completely tongue tied. (I’ve already written about why people are often camera shy and you can read that here.) However, anyone - and I do mean anyone! – can learn to present themselves on camera and it’s so wonderful to watch people relax, open up and share their experiences on video.

There’s an innate beauty in observing someone’s personality shine through as they grow in confidence and happily chat away on camera - with a wee bit of helpful direction!

And, of course, there’s also the story that they want to share - everyone has a story to tell, whether it’s about their products, services or experiences - and knowing that you’ve helped them to get it out there is great. Being able to assist someone help other people really is a marvellous thing, isn’t it?

So, for me, the most striking beauty in my business is in watching the growing confidence of the people I direct and get in front of a camera – it’s just wonderful to watch!

Creation

Besides helping people to present themselves confidently in front of the camera, it’s also very fulfilling to actually produce a video. If you’ve ever done this, you’ll know what I mean!

There’s the whole process of planning and scripting, setting up, recording and editing. Bringing together all the elements of the message, the images and the sounds of dialogue and music can bring so much pleasure (and pain!) as you work towards creating something that will inspire and inform.

There is a beauty in producing your ‘baby’, your creation, your work of art. Of course, there will always be something that I’ll wish afterwards I’d changed, done differently, added in or taken out – that’s the nature of creativity – but when all is said and done, it’s there, you’ve made it, it’s a tangible creation and that is beautiful!

Systems

You might consider this a bit more mundane but have you considered the beauty of the systems you use? You might sit and work at a laptop or use your mobile but the connections you have are lines of beauty which stretch across the world as you chat with people in Australia, Europe, the US and so on.

Whether you’re selling products or services, you can reach out to people on various social media platforms, through your website or with newsletters sent out by MailChimp and other automated services. This all happens beautifully (most of the time!) by just hitting a few keys on your keyboard. (I don’t recommend you literally hit your keyboard - unless it’s one of those times when the gremlins are out and that beauty just isn’t happening!)

There is beauty in the simplicity and the advancement of all modern technology which means that anyone can make a video and post it online either instantly or within minutes. When I started working for BBC Television many moons ago, everything had to be recorded onto tape and transferred in real time eg a 30 minute programme would take 30 minutes to transfer. Now things can be sent, uploaded, whatever you want to do with it, in no time at all! (My kids seem to think it’s very funny if I ask them to rewind something we’re watching because “rewind” means nothing to them!)

So, if you have systems in place or if you use technology of any variation, there’s a beauty there in all the gubbings and the goings on behind the scenes – you just press the key or button and it all happens! That’s beautiful!

Support

Let’s be honest, working for yourself can sometimes be lonely, it can sometimes be confusing and it can even, at times, be demoralising. However, those connections and lines of beauty that I mentioned above are ready and waiting for you!

There is a true beauty in the friendships that have blossomed in person and online for me as a result of my business. People I’ve met in networking groups have become friends. People I’ve never met have supported me online. I’ve been given encouragement, advice, knowledge and friendship. Clients often become friends and the support they’ve shown me and each other is inspiring!

Wonderful people like the lovely Julia Bickerstaff with her fab Business Bakery and motivational 100 Day Goal, Alisoun Mackenzie with her Give to Profit group, Claire Mitchell and her Awesome Marketing Planner and Fiona Morris with her Divine Business Circle share their knowledge and promote groups which offer support - and it hasn’t escaped my notice that the people I’ve mentioned are not just wonderful, they are all Wonderful Women!

As a small business owner, the friendships I’ve made and the support I’ve received from friends and strangers alike has been phenomenal - and that is beautiful! Thank you to you all!

[You might be interested to know that I’ll be starting a new group soon so please watch out for more news on that! If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, you can do so here!]

Flexibility

I am so grateful that I can work from home and fit stuff in around my family. Yeah, sometimes it can get a bit lonely and yeah, I do love teamwork and I miss that at times but - and it’s a big BUT - I love that I could go to my daughter’s class assembly at school today. I love that I can hang up the washing during my tea break. I love that I can juggle my workload to suit sick days for the kids or their trips to the orthodontist.

Ok, if I’m honest, sometimes it is frustrating that I have to stop mid-flow when someone is due home from school but I love that I can be here for my kids when they finish school each day – they’ll be up and away from home before I know it and I want to spend time with them now. If I can be with my kids, look after the house AND work on my business on my own terms then that is a truly beautiful thing!

In Conclusion

I guess, for me, finding the beauty in my business equates to looking for the positives and being grateful for as many areas of my business as possible.

When was the last time you considered all the things that give you job satisfaction or help you in your business or, indeed, how your business helps you in your life?

If you’re having a tough day, lacking motivation or just needing a wee reminder as to why you’re doing all this, then I would definitely recommend that you look for the Beauty in your Business! And Fiona, thank you for bringing that beauty to my attention!