The other day, I told one of my clients to aim for ‘boring’ in their business.
And, I want to offer the same thought to you.
Look, I KNOW you didn’t start your passion-driven business you’re all fired up about to create something boring, so hear me out. Let me reframe ‘boring’ for you as stable and explain why boring and stable are very good things in business that also leave lots of room for passion.
The sustainability in your business is found in processes you can rinse and repeat to bring in cash results. But, the more well-oiled your business becomes, the more ‘boring’ it can FEEL.
Boring is, in fact, great for your business. Boring often means your business is working very well and there aren’t huge fires to put out or big swings in your income.
Let me share a secret about one of my clients who scaled to a million dollars: the day-to-day of her business felt boring.
It felt boring and that isn’t a bad thing. In fact, we spent a lot of time doing work around making friends with boring and not looking to the business for drama and excitement. Because boring in business usually means stable, sustainable, and scalable. And, frankly, most people are addicted to a little drama, and it isn’t your business’s job to meet your emotional needs.
I know, for someone who preaches building, growing, and scaling a profitable business you love, ‘boring’ hardly sounds like a word I’d advocate. But, what I’ve found over and over in business is that when things feel ‘boring’ it usually means things are working - there’s discomfort in the stability (and not working so hard) NOT a real problem with the business itself. That want for excitement and drama can often be sabotage in disguise.
And, in our online space where we talk a lot about making a profit from your passion, the expectation for business to fulfill ALL your needs ALL the time can make this even more confusing. Looking to stir things up and get your needs met through business when things feel ‘boring’ is one way entrepreneurs sabotage successful businesses.
The truth is, ‘boring’ in business can yield VERY exciting results and create space for lots of new passion-driven and innovative work.
I coach my clients to reframe ‘boring’ as stable and a win in business that represents sustainability and an opportunity to scale. After all, it’s pretty tough to successfully scale something that doesn’t have a stable foundation.
I remind them, the process itself might feel boring, but that only means it’s working….AND, you get to fill that ‘boring’, stable container with your creativity, innovation, passion, and fire through the work you do.
In fact, the more ‘boring’ your business is, the more space you have to get your excitement from new ideas instead of from the ups and downs of your business metrics.
So, before you go sabotaging your ‘boring’ business to try to get a hit of drama and excitement, take pause. Is ‘boring’ really bad or could it mean sustainability? Is there really a problem you need to solve in your business or are YOU bored and asking your business to entertain you? What would it do for your business and life to see ‘boring’ as a benefit and to get your need for excitement and drama met elsewhere?
If your business is feeling a little boring, before you make it wrong and burn everything down, I’d invite you take a pause and check in: is there really a problem? Or are things actually going very well and drama-free, making it FEEL boring?
Wishing you your version of success.
