Seven business lessons you can learn from love

2023 is going to be different to previous years in business. I’m sure you wish you’d never heard that before.

The world of business should have been sorted by now, however lockdown, the Ukraine Russia war and Brexit are all taking its toll and we’re in a potential recession or actual recession, depending on who you speak to.

As a result, soft skills matter more than ever in business, and these often relate to the world of love as well.

Here are my top business lessons that you can learn from love:

Be kind

I was at a networking event last week and saw a business owner standing by himself, staring at his mobile and awkwardly looking up from time to time. My daughter is an introvert and 40% of my clients are introverts so I understand their behaviours. People often think the quiet, shy ones have nothing to say. I respectfully disagree. If you’re introvert, you’re an excellent listener and thoughtful. So, I invited him to join my friends knowing how difficult it can be to approach a group.

The next day he told his client what I did, and the client looked me up on Google. Then hired me for LinkedIn training.

Karma exists. Whatever you put out into the world comes back to you. As Wayne Dyer said, “Given the choice of being right or kind, choose kind.”

Overdeliver

It’s not enough to be loving to your partner on Valentine’s Day or their birthday. You should be loving to them all year long. Same with your client. Don’t get the contract signed back and then just thank them with a Christmas present. Always be overdelivering and let them know you care.

Mental health and focus

1 in 5 people before 2020 lockdown had mental health problems. During lockdown 2 in 5 had mental health challenges and now it’s 3 in 5. That’s a serious problem.

We live in a world of constant distraction and problems. This affects business performance, with reduced sales, reduced profits and that affects business.

So, what can you do?

Create a vision board. Men and women often have different vision boards.

Women talk about family, loved ones, dream holidays, things that deeply matter.

Men have Aston Martins, £50m yachts and at least 1 Kardashian.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t dream big. By all means be ambitious but make it achievable. Create images of what you want to achieve. Keep them on your laptop screensaver, mobile lock screen, fridge and bedside table, so you see it all day long and are reminded of your purpose. When you have a great purpose, you can achieve faster.

Gratitude

We often look elsewhere for happiness, searching for the golden nugget to make things better. Happiness is found is 3 places: within, by helping others and asking for nothing in return and showing love to another human being.

It’s easy to forget how much we have when we’ve been in a relationship for a long time. Never look outside your relationship for happiness.

If you have a client that pays on time and makes you happy, don’t wish you had a better client or a FTSE 100 corporation on the books. By all means go after the big clients if you wish, however, don’t ignore the smaller clients who pay you on time and are a joy to work with.

Reflections

It’s important to sit down every month and see what you’re doing well together and also what challenges you may be happening in your relationship. Most people struggle when problems arise. The main problem in relationships and business isn’t infidelity, it’s money and lack of communication.

Business can too intense sometimes. We often work on autopilot, from meeting to meeting, or even worse, we have meetings about meetings. It’s important to review your day, see what worked and what didn’t work. Do this with your phone off. Go old school with a pen and notepad. It calms you down and stops you getting overwhelmed.

Listening

Women are amazing listeners. Men are often the opposite of women when it comes to listening. You don’t listen to get your own point of view across, you listen to understand.

Self-care

You can’t look after anyone until you can take care of yourself. Do something nice for yourself once a week, whether it’s a bath in peace and quiet, a sauna, a massage or a walk in nature. Fast food does taste good now and again, although it slows you down and affects success. The more you take of yourself, the better you can take care of others, in love and in business.