These people that we’re talking about, are they my ideal clients? This might seem easy and straightforward but we often stray from it. What’s inherently suggested here is a reminder and you’ll hear me say this like a broken record that underneath is always laser beam clarity of who my ideal people are.
You want to make sure that you know so much about your ideal people, that you’re going to be able to answer this preliminary question because maybe your business goal is to give more talks and you get actually invited to give a talk, but where you’re invited to give a talk, it is very likely not going to have a high percentage of your ideal clients.
That doesn’t mean you say “no” right away, because maybe you’re at the beginning and you just need to practice giving talks and so that could be the benefit. Then, you go back to that number one—”what’s the outcome that I want?”
I did this a lot at the beginning—just get out there and do talks but then as I got busier, you’ll often find that you’ll get requests for your time or to give a certain talk. At that point, when I get those inquiries where people like, “Hey, can you come and do this talk for free?” Sometimes I will if I feel inner calling but if it’s not aligned, if it’s not going to serve my ideal outcome and I’m in a stage of business where I’m pretty busy, my marketing is going well, and I just want new clients, then I’m probably going to say, “no, thank you”.
This is so important for learning how to really balance your qi, which is a big part of sustainable business.