179 If You Don’t Run Your Business, Your Business Will Run You • Dave Kaster

生意 sheng yi, are the characters in Chinese that mean business. They literally mean, “create meaning.” And when you think about it, any successful business does exactly that; it creates meaning and provides something of value. 

From your favorite indy coffeeshop, to the yoga studio where you love to stretch into your body, to the company that makes the winter coat you love to wear, there are people who are spending their life energy creating something in which you find value, meaning and joy. 

Why is it that so often we have such a dim view of business, when business is about creating something that helps to make other people’s lives better?

Listen into this conversation with Dave Kaster as we take a look at how running a business is part art, part science, and requires a steady  and committed heart.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• Being a restaurant manager was not the right thing
• The problem with demonizing profit
• The vital importance of a business that contains a clear vision and mission statement
• Knowing your “What” and “How”
• Our business problems— they are never business problems
• Great leaders all have some blind spots
• If we refuse to run our business, our business will run us  
• Accurate communication is key
• Getting your business vision is not solely an intellectual process
• We are social creatures and we can use our built-in attentiveness to others to clarify our business vision
• The importance of knowing our energy states
• Everything changes in time, so we need to revisit our vision on a regular basis

 Develop and hold fast to a strong, inspiring vision of the future you wish to create.  Hold that vision clearly when making tough decisions, and every day decisions.  This will make your journey much easier over the long haul.

I began in the financial planning business in 1985 with degrees in Business, Computer Science,and Marketing.  In 15 plus years of running and growing my practice to 30 people and over 1,000 individual clients, I obtained advanced financial planning degrees and many technical designations in the areas of finance, sales, and personal service and development.  When I realized that the majority of my clients were business owners, I began to learn more about the challenges each personal service business owner may face during their careers.

I found that the vast majority of my clients would face the same types of problems over and over again, so I began to research how to overcome those issues in a variety of ways.  Once I sold my practice shortly after the turn of the century, I turned to business consulting and began the quest to perfect my vision of how a consulting practice should be run.  Now, after another 20 years, I take great pride in how well my clients do in any economic environment, and I find much joy in their success.”

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