I was scheduled to work with a client today at 9 a.m. and planned to be done around 11. My client runs a center for women in transition - a place where she holds a space open for each one to decide the next step in their lives. It has been a dream of hers and is in the second year of its brick and mortar existence.
She has struggled with the business aspect of it knowing it had to at least pay for itself so she could continue creating the content for programs and retreats that have the real potential for financial freedom.
In order to remove herself from the daily management of the center she brought in several "partners" who offer holistic services and would host the open times. Each partner was supposed to do one event each month that was free for the members. The rest of the time they were welcome to bring in their own clients and use the space as they wished. She is compensated by the number of clients each brings in monthly. Her responsibility to them is sending out a newsletter highlighting each one once and then listing them as a group each week. She was quite blunt that she was offering them space and they would be responsible for getting their own clients.
She has already decided that method of getting a return on her offer of space is not working. Instead she plans to offer levels including facility rental, associate and partner. So far so good at least in my mind.
She was upset as the "partner" who was scheduled for open time today so we could work together didn't show up on time. People started coming in and our session was delayed until the partner came in a little after 11. I was scheduled somewhere else and so the conversation my client so desperately needed was not possible.
I asked why she continued having this woman as part of her circle and she said she just hated the business part of her work...she could not do it. Fortunately I knew this was just part of the process and I offered to run the business end for an entire month. During that time I told her to stay away from the center and focus on what she really wanted to do.
She proclaimed that scary. I agreed. Be careful what you wish for. On the other hand not everyone is cut out to do the management of a project especially when they have such vision and leadership gifts. You cannot do both. They are different mindsets.
What will she ultimately decide to do? Not sure. I was encourage when as I left she said, "It's my business and it's all on me to be successful". Ah, the morning had surely not been wasted.
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