Essential Elements of Building a Calm Business

Susan Boles:
00:03

Calm businesses don't happen by accident. They have to be intentionally designed that way. And if that's the case, then the question really is, what are we designing to? What are the elements or component parts that make a calm business, well, calm? How do you actually engineer a business to be calm?

Susan Boles:
00:25

That's the question I wanna explore over the next few episodes. Hi there. I'm Susan Boles, and this is Beyond Merchants, the show where we deconstruct how to build a calmer business. While calm businesses all look pretty different in terms of business model, approach to work, size of team, industry, there are actually some elements that they all have in common. These elements are the foundational blocks to focus on if you're trying to build a calm business for yourself.

Susan Boles:
00:54

It's really, really difficult to create a calm business without these pieces. So you can think of these as touchstones or like foundational bricks. These components are what you are considering and building into each area or process of your business, and that's what actually makes your business calmer. But before we actually get into what each element is, we need to step back a little bit to understand why these are so important. So you might have heard me talk about default decisions before.

Susan Boles:
01:24

In fact, the very first episode of this podcast was actually about default decisions. I just relistened to it in preparation for writing this episode, and it is surprisingly good and actually not at all embarrassing, which is a surprise in itself given that it's my first episode. So here's the deal. Default decisions are decisions in your business that you don't even think about or realize that you're making. They just kind of are.

Susan Boles:
01:49

Default decisions are the shoulds, the choices you make because that's what you're supposed to do. They are best practices or the what's working right now. But the thing about making decisions by default, it leads to building a default business. Those default choices are informed by the business culture we are steeped in, and that default solves for growth at all costs. So whether you intended to or not, you probably internalize these messages from our culture at large and then probably ended up building your business that way, only to find yourself hating it and wanting to burn it down.

Susan Boles:
02:27

We've all been there. But in reality, that's probably not what you envisioned or intended when you started your business. Likely, you wanted freedom, flexibility, Fridays off, chaperone your kids field trips, those sorts of things. But here's the thing about businesses. They do what they're designed to solve for.

Susan Boles:
02:47

What you solve for is what you will end up creating. Trying to make a business do something that it's not designed to do is like trying to hold back an angry hippo. Whatever your overriding priority is for your company, that will drive every single one of your decisions to the detriment of everything else. So if you design to the default, that is what you end up with. If you wanna end up with a different business, one that isn't sacrificing everything else for growth, you need to solve for something different.

Susan Boles:
03:17

You need to engineer each part and piece to that thing that you are solving for. Now I believe that the thing you need to solve for is calm. Big surprise. Right? Ultimately, solving for calm is what builds calmer businesses.

Susan Boles:
03:31

And, honestly, calmer businesses are way more enjoyable to run, They're more enjoyable to work in, but they're also more sustainable. They don't cause burnout, and they don't make you wanna burn them down. But calm, like anything else you're solving for, it doesn't just happen. It is in fact engineered. So the way you package and deliver your services, the financial choices you make, honestly, even what KPIs to measure.

Susan Boles:
03:57

Every single aspect has to align with what you're solving for. So if you've stuck with me this far, I assume you are on board with this idea that you want to build a calmer business. And you understand that in order to make that happen, we have to engineer that calm into the business. So after a quick break to hear from our sponsors, we're gonna dive into how you actually do this. What are the elements that need to exist in order to build something calmer?

Susan Boles:
04:25

So there are 6 elements that are the hallmark of all calm businesses. You can remember them using the acronym CALM. They are clarity, autonomy, a lens of care, margins, efficient systems, rest, and reduced urgency. So let's go into each one of these a little bit deeper. Clarity.

Susan Boles:
04:47

Calm businesses are very clear on what they are doing. They are very clear on what is important and what's not. They are clear on what the goals and the definition of success actually is, and that clarity is reflected in their internal and external communication. So everyone involved in the business knows what their role is, knows what the expectations are, they understand the bigger picture, and that clarity is the thing that enables them to have a culture that prioritizes the second element, autonomy. Calm businesses do prioritize autonomy and autonomous decision making.

Susan Boles:
05:25

Because if you are micromanaging someone or you have to make every single decision in the business and wear every hat, well, first of all, that sucks. But, also, it's not call. It creates bottlenecks, it slows down work, and it just generally makes taking action way harder. And that autonomy, that leads to more efficient operations, which are a key component of a calmer business. But calm businesses also approach their work, their team, and their business through a lens of care.

Susan Boles:
05:56

They prioritize the well-being of the team, their clients, and their community. The people are more important than the financial results of the business, and this lens of care is reflected in all actions of the business. It's considered when policies are written, when you decide how work happens, when you're planning projects. Care for the people comes first in a calm business. Calm businesses also have comfortable margins.

Susan Boles:
06:21

And I'm not just talking financial margins like profit or cash, but emotional margins, energetic margins, capacity margins. The word margin really just means space, and calm businesses have space built in everywhere. Because the reality is if you are operating at your max all of the time, you really can't absorb surges, and it's a business. The unexpected is always going to happen, so having margins everywhere means that you can absorb those surges without getting overwhelmed. So even when things aren't going quite perfectly, it can still feel pretty calm.

Susan Boles:
06:59

Now one of the ways that you can create solid margins is to lean into efficient systems. I like to say that efficiency can be used for good or for evil. You can create efficiency in your business and use it to do more, or you can use that efficiency to build margins, to build space, to give you some breathing room. And calm businesses all have efficient systems. That focus on building strong systems is a core component of a calm business, and this particular element actually creates some of the other elements.

Susan Boles:
07:33

Margin, care, clarity, autonomy, they're all actually created or strengthened by the systems in a business. And then finally, calm businesses prioritize rest and reduce urgency. In a calm business, rest is a given, not a privilege. One of the biggest mindset shifts required to create a calmer business is realizing that a lot of the urgency in a business, which is the default, it's all manufactured, and urgency is the enemy of a calm business. Most of our deadlines are self imposed.

Susan Boles:
08:05

They're made up. And in order to build in the space to rest, sometimes the thing that needs to get taken away is that false urgency. So anytime you can remove urgency, it'll just feel calmer. Now throughout the rest of this mini series, I wanna explore and deconstruct each individual element. So hopefully, you'll come along with me and explore this.

Susan Boles:
08:28

Each episode of this miniseries will dive into a single element. How does that element contribute to designing and engineering a calmer business? What does that look like practically in a real world business like yours? And what are some of the actions you can take to actually start incorporating that element into your own business? So hopefully, you'll stick around for the series and geek out with me.

Susan Boles:
08:51

Big thanks to everyone who supports Beyond Margins. If you are a listener, a sponsor, or a partner of any kind, I could not do this show without you. For more ideas and stories from me about how to build a calmer business with comfortable margins, head to beyondmargins.com. While you're there, you can sign up for my free newsletter. I send it every week, and it's all about one question.

Susan Boles:
09:11

What does it take to build a calmer business? Thanks so much for listening, and I'll be back in 2 weeks.