The other day I was talking to someone I love.
I’ve known this person all my life. We’ve been talking quite a bit, and I’ve been trying in my own smallish, elephantish way to help him with his business.
Recently, I’ve even been a bit frustrated that he wouldn’t take me up on my offer to help — particularly since I can see some things we could do together that just make so much sense and that would help things move forward.
And then, it happened. He asked me if I had a brochure I could send.
I must say, there was probably a long and uncomfortable pause. Uncomfortable for both of us.
It was at that moment that I realized I do have a red velvet rope. It is the fact that I do not and will never have a brochure. In my nearly 4 years of business, I’ve never had one.
I tried, ever-so-lamely, to explain that I simply don’t have one. That I’ve never needed one. That people who need me find me and then we talk and start working on their stuff. I wondered what one would say.
After all, I have a blog and an elephant manifesto. Isn’t that enough?
I ended up feeling like I must really be quite insignificant as a business person, since I couldn’t produce a little teensy brochure upon demand.
And that made me more than a little bit mad.
It also made me mad that I had so poorly communicated my what and my how to this person. He just wasn’t getting me.
This also started me thinking about something: That we can love people and care about them deeply, but that it doesn’t make them our “right people”. At least not for business.
My right people for my business are a bit shy. Introverted is a good word for many of them. They are often moms, or have the qualities of moms with lots of taking-care-of-others kinds of things they naturally do. They have businesses that resonate with who they are — therapist-ey kinds of things, life-changers, and creative types. They are often kind of bookish and very often hilariously funny. We get along extremely well and I honestly love them. It’s not work. It’s collaboration.
My right people are not many things. They do not, as a general rule, use Linked-In. This is good for me, since I find it to be an uncomfortable venue that makes me feel icky. They generally do not do things that are very sales-ey, although they do sell things. Often they are brilliant salespeople.
And they do not, apparently, use brochures.
That’s too bad, especially for this person I love and whose business I do want to succeed. Perhaps I can help him find someone who has a brochure who can help.
An update from Effie
Effie wanted me to let you know that she is preparing to do a new little guide. This one will (we believe), be something like “Effie’s Guide to Networking”.
We are all very happy about it here at our world headquarters, and just wanted to let you know of its existence. A draft will be available in about a week or so, and if you’d like to read and comment on it, we would love to have your input.
Just send an email to EffieTheElephant [at] gmail [dot] com, and we will forward it to you when it is ready… and of course, if you do read it and comment, we will mention you and a link to you in our final copy. 
My odd game
Remember the “One of these things is not like the other” song from Sesame Street? I feel like I’ve been playing the “live” version of that game this fall.
In recent months I’ve gone off on several of my usual tangents. Not quite as many as in the past, but a few. It’s become a complicated mess, but it’s gradually sorting out. Effie has given me strict orders to go on no more tangents. I’ve probably driven some people away as a result (perhaps another example of a red velvet rope?).
Actually, this morning, things sorted out extraordinarily well. The pieces fell into place, which is awesome. It’s like an Ikea catalogue — I can now see where everything can beautifully fit.
That being said, you’ll notice a couple of changes around here soon. Just a bit of housekeeping and decluttering, really. It’s exciting, and promises to make the new year really clean and focused.
This week’s request
As you know, I am now under strict guidelines from Effie to make my phone calls a priority. This is working well, and I’m loving the caramel rewards.
In line with this, and with my slight expansion of business hours, I will be taking one new coaching client.
If you’d like to be that one client (and if you can manage to do this without a brochure), please email me at lizmcgowen [at] gmail [dot] com, and we’ll connect.
The brackets are to ward off the strangely large number of Russian porn providers who still continue to email and spam my blog for some reason. I have no idea why they do that. Sorry for the subterfuge.
Please know that this person is quite possibly the last person whom I will be able to take under my current coaching payment structure — which you can read about here. So if you really want in, now’s the time.
My coaching policy is getting too complicated to track now that my practice has grown, and I’ve become busy enough that it’s going to be necessary for me to become selective. I guess that’s about to be another red velvet rope. Hope you can understand.
Back again? That's awesome. Thanks for stopping by!