​How do you feel about the word “competition”? For us self-employed people, that word can create anxiety and resistance. Being “competitive” tends to make human beings less cooperative.

Instead, I recommend using the term “niche mates” — other worthy human beings who occupy the same industry niche as us.

They, too, have families to feed, and dreams they hope to achieve. And, similar to us, they also have hidden suffering in their life that, if we only knew, would inspire our deep compassion.

The world is starving for genuine, win-win collaborations.

Let’s find a better way to think about, and work with, our niche mates.

​You’re a connector and love introducing people to each other. It can be a wonderful (sometimes career-changing) effect when it’s the right match!

Yet, when it’s the wrong match — unfortunately much of the time — by being the connector, you just added a burden to them. Now they’re in an awkward position you’ve forced them into, where one person, if they don’t want to connect, will come across as unfriendly or unapproachable.

​The 1% own more than 40% of the world’s wealth.

The accumulation of assets in the hands of the few erodes democracy, as societal power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few.

Knowing this, anything we can do to support small businesses will not just help those entrepreneurs survive, but will support more democracy, creativity, and true livelihood in the world.

Similarly, the 1% most famous people own a huge share of the consumer’s attention.
Influencers like Gary Vaynurchuk, Marie Forleo, Brene Brown, Joe Dispenza, and other celebrities own a disproportionate amount of our content consumption time.

​The accumulation of attention in the hands of a few will erode the diversity of creativity, true livelihood, and authentic business... 

(originally written in 2018, updated for 2020.)

One of the best ways to gain new clients and opportunities is to reconnect with your network: your colleagues, past clients, those friends you’ve been out of touch with, or people who have inquired about your services.

Your friends and family probably don’t remember what your business is really about. Even if they understand what you do and who your ideal clients are, they don’t think about it often enough to be able to refer business to you.

Keeping in touch with your network can result in new clients.

The problem is that when you reconnect with a specific agenda in mind, it can feel “off” to the other person, and it probably feels awkward to you too.

​I recently received an email that demonstrates this exactly…