September 3, 2024 • 9 mins
What if you could design a business that inherently operates on calm, not chaos? What are the essential elements to make this possible, and how can they be systematically incorporated into your business model?
As we dive into our new series on creating calmer businesses, we explore the foundational elements that make businesses serene and sustainable. Each episode of this series will deconstruct a key component, starting today with an overview of what it takes to design a business for calm.
So, how do you start engineering a calmer business with limited resources? Using the CALMER framework, we'll look at how these elements function as the building blocks to a less stressful and more effective business model, providing actionable insights that can empower business owners to make intentional, strategic decisions.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
- How clarity in roles and goals reduces stress and confusion, leading to more effective operations.
- Why autonomy in decision-making can prevent bottlenecks and enhance job satisfaction.
- The importance of a Lens of Care in prioritizing well-being over profits, affecting every aspect of business operations.
- How building in margins—financial, time, and emotional—can prepare your business for unexpected challenges.
- Why efficient systems are crucial for maintaining calm and how they can be implemented to support overall business health.
- The role of rest and reducing urgency in avoiding burnout and sustaining long-term productivity.
Learn more about me, Susan Boles:
- (00:00) - Introduction to Calm Businesses
- (01:20) - Understanding Default Decisions
- (02:44) - Engineering Calm into Your Business
- (04:25) - The CALMER Framework
- (08:19) - Deconstructing the 6 elements of a calmer business
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Susan Boles (00:03):
Calm businesses don't happen by accident. They
have to be intentionallydesigned that way. And if that's
the case, then the questionreally is, what are we designing
to? What are the elements orcomponent parts that make a calm
business, well, calm? How do youactually engineer a business to
(00:24):
be calm?
That's the question I wannaexplore over the next few
episodes. Hi there. I'm SusanBoles, and this is Beyond
Merchants, the show where wedeconstruct how to build a
calmer business. While calmbusinesses all look pretty
different in terms of businessmodel, approach to work, size of
team, industry, there areactually some elements that they
(00:46):
all have in common. Theseelements are the foundational
blocks to focus on if you'retrying to build a calm business
for yourself.
It's really, really difficult tocreate a calm business without
these pieces. So you can thinkof these as touchstones or like
foundational bricks. Thesecomponents are what you are
(01:06):
considering and building intoeach area or process of your
business, and that's whatactually makes your business
calmer. But before we actuallyget into what each element is,
we need to step back a littlebit to understand why these are
so important. So you might haveheard me talk about default
decisions before.
In fact, the very first episodeof this podcast was actually
(01:27):
about default decisions. I justrelistened to it in preparation
for writing this episode, and itis surprisingly good and
actually not at allembarrassing, which is a
surprise in itself given thatit's my first episode. So here's
the deal. Default decisions aredecisions in your business that
you don't even think about orrealize that you're making. They
(01:48):
just kind of are.
Default decisions are theshoulds, the choices you make
because that's what you'resupposed to do. They are best
practices or the what's workingright now. But the thing about
making decisions by default, itleads to building a default
business. Those default choicesare informed by the business
(02:09):
culture we are steeped in, andthat default solves for growth
at all costs. So whether youintended to or not, you probably
internalize these messages fromour culture at large and then
probably ended up building yourbusiness that way, only to find
yourself hating it and wantingto burn it down.
We've all been there. But inreality, that's probably not
(02:31):
what you envisioned or intendedwhen 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 aboutbusinesses. They do what they're
designed to solve for.
What you solve for is what youwill end up creating. Trying to
(02:51):
make a business do somethingthat it's not designed to do is
like trying to hold back anangry hippo. Whatever your
overriding priority is for yourcompany, that will drive every
single one of your decisions tothe detriment of everything
else. So if you design to thedefault, that is what you end up
with. If you wanna end up with adifferent business, one that
(03:12):
isn't sacrificing everythingelse for growth, you need to
solve for something different.
You need to engineer each partand piece to that thing that you
are solving for. Now I believethat the thing you need to solve
for is calm. Big surprise.Right? Ultimately, solving for
calm is what builds calmerbusinesses.
And, honestly, calmer businessesare way more enjoyable to run,
(03:35):
They're more enjoyable to workin, but they're also more
sustainable. They don't causeburnout, and they don't make you
wanna burn them down. But calm,like anything else you're
solving for, it doesn't justhappen. It is in fact
engineered. So the way youpackage and deliver your
services, the financial choicesyou make, honestly, even what
(03:55):
KPIs to measure.
Every single aspect has to alignwith what you're solving for. So
if you've stuck with me thisfar, I assume you are on board
with this idea that you want tobuild a calmer business. And you
understand that in order to makethat happen, we have to engineer
that calm into the business. Soafter a quick break to hear from
(04:17):
our sponsors, we're gonna diveinto how you actually do this.
What are the elements that needto exist in order to build
something calmer?
So there are 6 elements that arethe hallmark of all calm
businesses. You can rememberthem using the acronym CALM.
They are clarity, autonomy, alens of care, margins, efficient
(04:39):
systems, rest, and reducedurgency. So let's go into each
one of these a little bitdeeper. Clarity.
Calm businesses are very clearon what they are doing. They are
very clear on what is importantand what's not. They are clear
on what the goals and thedefinition of success actually
is, and that clarity isreflected in their internal and
(05:02):
external communication. Soeveryone involved in the
business knows what their roleis, knows what the expectations
are, they understand the biggerpicture, and that clarity is the
thing that enables them to havea culture that prioritizes the
second element, autonomy. Calmbusinesses do prioritize
autonomy and autonomous decisionmaking.
(05:25):
Because if you are micromanagingsomeone or you have to make
every single decision in thebusiness and wear every hat,
well, first of all, that sucks.But, also, it's not call. It
creates bottlenecks, it slowsdown work, and it just generally
makes taking action way harder.And that autonomy, that leads to
more efficient operations, whichare a key component of a calmer
(05:49):
business. But calm businessesalso approach their work, their
team, and their business througha lens of care.
They prioritize the well-beingof the team, their clients, and
their community. The people aremore important than the
financial results of thebusiness, and this lens of care
is reflected in all actions ofthe business. It's considered
(06:09):
when policies are written, whenyou decide how work happens,
when you're planning projects.Care for the people comes first
in a calm business. Calmbusinesses also have comfortable
margins.
And I'm not just talkingfinancial margins like profit or
cash, but emotional margins,energetic margins, capacity
margins. The word margin reallyjust means space, and calm
(06:33):
businesses have space built ineverywhere. Because the reality
is if you are operating at yourmax all of the time, you really
can't absorb surges, and it's abusiness. The unexpected is
always going to happen, sohaving margins everywhere means
that you can absorb those surgeswithout getting overwhelmed. So
(06:54):
even when things aren't goingquite perfectly, it can still
feel pretty calm.
Now one of the ways that you cancreate solid margins is to lean
into efficient systems. I liketo say that efficiency can be
used for good or for evil. Youcan create efficiency in your
business and use it to do more,or you can use that efficiency
(07:15):
to build margins, to buildspace, to give you some
breathing room. And calmbusinesses all have efficient
systems. That focus on buildingstrong systems is a core
component of a calm business,and this particular element
actually creates some of theother elements.
Margin, care, clarity, autonomy,they're all actually created or
(07:38):
strengthened by the systems in abusiness. And then finally, calm
businesses prioritize rest andreduce urgency. In a calm
business, rest is a given, not aprivilege. One of the biggest
mindset shifts required tocreate a calmer business is
realizing that a lot of theurgency in a business, which is
the default, it's allmanufactured, and urgency is the
(08:02):
enemy of a calm business. Mostof our deadlines are self
imposed.
They're made up. And in order tobuild in the space to rest,
sometimes the thing that needsto get taken away is that false
urgency. So anytime you canremove urgency, it'll just feel
calmer. Now throughout the restof this mini series, I wanna
explore and deconstruct eachindividual element. So
(08:24):
hopefully, you'll come alongwith me and explore this.
Each episode of this miniserieswill dive into a single element.
How does that element contributeto designing and engineering a
calmer business? What does thatlook like practically in a real
world business like yours? Andwhat are some of the actions you
can take to actually startincorporating that element into
(08:46):
your own business? So hopefully,you'll stick around for the
series and geek out with me.
Big thanks to everyone whosupports Beyond Margins. If you
are a listener, a sponsor, or apartner of any kind, I could not
do this show without you. Formore ideas and stories from me
about how to build a calmerbusiness with comfortable
margins, head tobeyondmargins.com. While you're
(09:06):
there, you can sign up for myfree newsletter. I send it every
week, and it's all about onequestion.
What does it take to build acalmer business? Thanks so much
for listening, and I'll be backin 2 weeks.
Calm businesses don't happen by accident. They
have to be intentionallydesigned that way. And if that's
the case, then the questionreally is, what are we designing
to? What are the elements orcomponent parts that make a calm
business, well, calm? How do youactually engineer a business to
(00:24):
be calm?
That's the question I wannaexplore over the next few
episodes. Hi there. I'm SusanBoles, and this is Beyond
Merchants, the show where wedeconstruct how to build a
calmer business. While calmbusinesses all look pretty
different in terms of businessmodel, approach to work, size of
team, industry, there areactually some elements that they
(00:46):
all have in common. Theseelements are the foundational
blocks to focus on if you'retrying to build a calm business
for yourself.
It's really, really difficult tocreate a calm business without
these pieces. So you can thinkof these as touchstones or like
foundational bricks. Thesecomponents are what you are
(01:06):
considering and building intoeach area or process of your
business, and that's whatactually makes your business
calmer. But before we actuallyget into what each element is,
we need to step back a littlebit to understand why these are
so important. So you might haveheard me talk about default
decisions before.
In fact, the very first episodeof this podcast was actually
(01:27):
about default decisions. I justrelistened to it in preparation
for writing this episode, and itis surprisingly good and
actually not at allembarrassing, which is a
surprise in itself given thatit's my first episode. So here's
the deal. Default decisions aredecisions in your business that
you don't even think about orrealize that you're making. They
(01:48):
just kind of are.
Default decisions are theshoulds, the choices you make
because that's what you'resupposed to do. They are best
practices or the what's workingright now. But the thing about
making decisions by default, itleads to building a default
business. Those default choicesare informed by the business
(02:09):
culture we are steeped in, andthat default solves for growth
at all costs. So whether youintended to or not, you probably
internalize these messages fromour culture at large and then
probably ended up building yourbusiness that way, only to find
yourself hating it and wantingto burn it down.
We've all been there. But inreality, that's probably not
(02:31):
what you envisioned or intendedwhen 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 aboutbusinesses. They do what they're
designed to solve for.
What you solve for is what youwill end up creating. Trying to
(02:51):
make a business do somethingthat it's not designed to do is
like trying to hold back anangry hippo. Whatever your
overriding priority is for yourcompany, that will drive every
single one of your decisions tothe detriment of everything
else. So if you design to thedefault, that is what you end up
with. If you wanna end up with adifferent business, one that
(03:12):
isn't sacrificing everythingelse for growth, you need to
solve for something different.
You need to engineer each partand piece to that thing that you
are solving for. Now I believethat the thing you need to solve
for is calm. Big surprise.Right? Ultimately, solving for
calm is what builds calmerbusinesses.
And, honestly, calmer businessesare way more enjoyable to run,
(03:35):
They're more enjoyable to workin, but they're also more
sustainable. They don't causeburnout, and they don't make you
wanna burn them down. But calm,like anything else you're
solving for, it doesn't justhappen. It is in fact
engineered. So the way youpackage and deliver your
services, the financial choicesyou make, honestly, even what
(03:55):
KPIs to measure.
Every single aspect has to alignwith what you're solving for. So
if you've stuck with me thisfar, I assume you are on board
with this idea that you want tobuild a calmer business. And you
understand that in order to makethat happen, we have to engineer
that calm into the business. Soafter a quick break to hear from
(04:17):
our sponsors, we're gonna diveinto how you actually do this.
What are the elements that needto exist in order to build
something calmer?
So there are 6 elements that arethe hallmark of all calm
businesses. You can rememberthem using the acronym CALM.
They are clarity, autonomy, alens of care, margins, efficient
(04:39):
systems, rest, and reducedurgency. So let's go into each
one of these a little bitdeeper. Clarity.
Calm businesses are very clearon what they are doing. They are
very clear on what is importantand what's not. They are clear
on what the goals and thedefinition of success actually
is, and that clarity isreflected in their internal and
(05:02):
external communication. Soeveryone involved in the
business knows what their roleis, knows what the expectations
are, they understand the biggerpicture, and that clarity is the
thing that enables them to havea culture that prioritizes the
second element, autonomy. Calmbusinesses do prioritize
autonomy and autonomous decisionmaking.
(05:25):
Because if you are micromanagingsomeone or you have to make
every single decision in thebusiness and wear every hat,
well, first of all, that sucks.But, also, it's not call. It
creates bottlenecks, it slowsdown work, and it just generally
makes taking action way harder.And that autonomy, that leads to
more efficient operations, whichare a key component of a calmer
(05:49):
business. But calm businessesalso approach their work, their
team, and their business througha lens of care.
They prioritize the well-beingof the team, their clients, and
their community. The people aremore important than the
financial results of thebusiness, and this lens of care
is reflected in all actions ofthe business. It's considered
(06:09):
when policies are written, whenyou decide how work happens,
when you're planning projects.Care for the people comes first
in a calm business. Calmbusinesses also have comfortable
margins.
And I'm not just talkingfinancial margins like profit or
cash, but emotional margins,energetic margins, capacity
margins. The word margin reallyjust means space, and calm
(06:33):
businesses have space built ineverywhere. Because the reality
is if you are operating at yourmax all of the time, you really
can't absorb surges, and it's abusiness. The unexpected is
always going to happen, sohaving margins everywhere means
that you can absorb those surgeswithout getting overwhelmed. So
(06:54):
even when things aren't goingquite perfectly, it can still
feel pretty calm.
Now one of the ways that you cancreate solid margins is to lean
into efficient systems. I liketo say that efficiency can be
used for good or for evil. Youcan create efficiency in your
business and use it to do more,or you can use that efficiency
(07:15):
to build margins, to buildspace, to give you some
breathing room. And calmbusinesses all have efficient
systems. That focus on buildingstrong systems is a core
component of a calm business,and this particular element
actually creates some of theother elements.
Margin, care, clarity, autonomy,they're all actually created or
(07:38):
strengthened by the systems in abusiness. And then finally, calm
businesses prioritize rest andreduce urgency. In a calm
business, rest is a given, not aprivilege. One of the biggest
mindset shifts required tocreate a calmer business is
realizing that a lot of theurgency in a business, which is
the default, it's allmanufactured, and urgency is the
(08:02):
enemy of a calm business. Mostof our deadlines are self
imposed.
They're made up. And in order tobuild in the space to rest,
sometimes the thing that needsto get taken away is that false
urgency. So anytime you canremove urgency, it'll just feel
calmer. Now throughout the restof this mini series, I wanna
explore and deconstruct eachindividual element. So
(08:24):
hopefully, you'll come alongwith me and explore this.
Each episode of this miniserieswill dive into a single element.
How does that element contributeto designing and engineering a
calmer business? What does thatlook like practically in a real
world business like yours? Andwhat are some of the actions you
can take to actually startincorporating that element into
(08:46):
your own business? So hopefully,you'll stick around for the
series and geek out with me.
Big thanks to everyone whosupports Beyond Margins. If you
are a listener, a sponsor, or apartner of any kind, I could not
do this show without you. Formore ideas and stories from me
about how to build a calmerbusiness with comfortable
margins, head tobeyondmargins.com. While you're
(09:06):
there, you can sign up for myfree newsletter. I send it every
week, and it's all about onequestion.
What does it take to build acalmer business? Thanks so much
for listening, and I'll be backin 2 weeks.
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