#360: How Better Self-Inquiry Leads to Better Business Decisions

Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia.

Hey there. Welcome to another episode of the High Income Business Writing Podcast, the number one podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love for better clients. With over 1 million downloads from listeners just like you across 101 countries, this episode is much shorter than usual. Rather than my typical 45 minute format. Today I'm sharing a quick tip with you. This is part of the audio insights I publish for my private coaching clients every weekday and I thought you'd find it helpful. So here we go. Hope you enjoy it.

Do you ever get really frustrated at something in your business that just keeps happening? Yeah, right. Silly question. I know, right? It happens probably a few times a month.

I know it does for me.

For example, let's say you turn in a draft of a long form content piece and all these people come out of the woodwork with their own revisions, revision requests, some of them you didn't even know existed. And now you have a mess in your hands. That's just not the first time this happens with this client. That's just very, very frustrating as a result. Or maybe you have a client who keeps giving you last minute rush work and just expects you to say yes, even though you've told her. You can't just drop everything you're doing to do this work for them. It's in those moments of frustration that we tend to react and make rash decisions. We'll say something that we later regret, or we'll do something we regret, like fire the client on the spot or say something really mean that normally we wouldn't say if we weren't under that kind of stress. Essentially, we react to the situation rather than respond to the situation. And the difference between reacting and responding boils down to just two basic things. Number one, taking a pause and number two, asking yourself a different question or a different set of questions. Now, taking a pause is pretty self explanatory, right? This is about not making big decisions on the spot. Instead, it's about taking a bit of time to think and reflect on the issue at hand before you do or say anything. Asking different questions is a bit more subtle though. It first requires paying closer attention to the internal conversation we're having, including the questions we're currently asking ourselves. Because, look, we're always asking ourselves questions, we just may not know it. Sometimes they're not in the form of a question, sometimes they're in the form of a statement. We just may not be paying really close attention to what we're saying or questions we're asking ourselves. So, for instance, for the project that often seems to create all kinds of revision requests for multiple people, we may be asking ourselves, how can I move away from this type of project? I'm just so tired of it. Or some version of that question. But that kind of question is very limiting. It's forcing you to look at the situation in a binary way. A, keep doing this work or B stop doing this work. Right? And another example where the client keeps expecting you to jump through hoops with rush deadlines. Deep down, you may be asking yourself, how do I get rid of this client? I'm just done with them. And here again, the question is very limiting in the ideas that it can generate for you now. Yes, the answer may end up being that you need to fire the client. I'm not saying you don't, but if you start with that question, you severely limit your options. A better question to ask yourself might be, what do I need to change about the expectations and the boundaries that I set here so that I can create a better experience for the client and for me? Here's the thing. You can only ask yourself better questions like this when you pause, when the emotions are in check, when you can create a space to think more calmly. That's why that's the first step is just pausing. And once you do, the quality of your response to the challenge will hinge on the quality of the questions you ask yourself. So try to remember this. Next time you find yourself in a very frustrating and stressful situation, try to take a minute to pause and to think and practice asking yourself a different set of questions.

Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the episode. And just a quick reminder to grab your free copy of my latest book, Earn More in Less Time. The Proven Mindset, Strategies and Actions to Prosper as a Freelance writer. You can get your free copy@b2b launcher.com where you will also find the detailed show notes to this and all my other episodes. Enjoy and have a great day.