A new "Aha"

Exactly! bingo!

Having a business is about being in service, it's about replying to a need. Yes, we need to have our needs taken care of as well, but without truly being in service, a business can't flourish. It can't.

In my opinion, a business is defined by who it serves and what problem it helps them with, not by what it does.

The 'what it does' part is too often wrapped up with our own needs- for creativity, for safety in knowing what we're doing, for being an 'expert' or what have you.

But, when you let go of that, and are only in service to people who need help, when you look around this world of ours and see what part of it you'd like to help make brighter, more wonderful, then you probably have a good business idea there.

And the sun!

I had posted a whole thread here: A question about Beth Jone's USP article.

I think knowing some sense of uniqueness can be important, but I also believe it's over-rated in business. :)

Kaya, so strange I would read this today after having a conversation with a friend of mine yesterday. We were talking about real estate because she has only been in this area for 3 years and she says half the people she knows are in real estate. However, with her current job she has the opportunity to meet a lot of people that are selling their homes by owner. It turns out that they are doing this because they do not trust real estate agents.

Although I've been doing real estate my entire adult life, my friend says she sees my biggest passion in helping other people connect. I do volunteer work with the arts and I had connected an artist here on Biznik with her for a tea shop she owns for the art walk. She is an environmentalist and so is the artist. I also helped her find the space for her tea shop, but not as a commercial agent, as a friend. She asked me what I got out of it and I said nothing, just the pleasure of helping a friend.

Therefore, she said that my USP is the power of connecting people of like mind and values and that if I approach my career like that, I might get more joy out of it. I did agree with her so I will be updating my website soon.

Cheers!

Helen

Very important to keep this in mind! Thanks Kaya.