What I learned about business from my compost pile
How can you create space for the next phase of your business?
We turned the compost pile last week.
Each year we pile all our garden refuse onto a different raised bed.
Once or twice a year, we sift the fully decayed from the not-quite-there organic matter & distribute the loamy black gold throughout the garden.
Whatever doesn’t pass through the screen gets tossed onto a new compost pile.
This enables me create a semi-closed loop repurposed seeming waste into rich nutrients while rejuvenating my garden soil without tremendous effort.
I have been creating my own rich compost for more than 25 years.
I have also been helping entrepreneurs find riches in their archives for more than 30 years.
I have learned some important business lessons from making my own compost.
Move it or lose it
Nearly every gardener creates a compost pile, but most do not get to enjoy the benefits because they don’t turn & sift it regularly.
Putting the pile on an active bed instead of stashing it in a distant corner forces me to move it if I want to use that bed ever again.
It’s the same with your intellectual property – AKA all the content, courses, workbooks, presentations, handouts, articles, blogs, & other written forms of your wisdom.
Whenever I take the time to reorganize or clean out old electronic or paper files I unearth long forgotten gems that can be repurposed to enrich my offerings.
Purging creates opportunities
When I don’t regularly turn & sift my compost pile, not only to I miss the opportunity to create a more nutrient rich garden, I also create a perfect habitat for all the critters who like to cause havoc in my garden.
Over the years, I have relocated multiple nests of baby field mice, voles, weasels, & rabbits to the adjacent field just outside of my garden.
Cleaning out old client files, shredding financial files older than 7 years, & reducing 2 filing cabinets to 1 creates energetic space for what’s next.
An annual purge of electronic & paper files allows you to clean out the rat’s nests, reset the edges, & refocus your attention on your big vision.
Nothing is Lost forever
Every year I find something in the compost pile that I lost the year prior.
This year I found my favorite garden scissors, last year I found a hand trowel.
I have created hundreds of courses & programs in 35 years.
When creating a new presentation that seems strangely familiar, I take a moment to look in my archives and discover a previous version waiting to be reused.
What treasure troves of wisdom are in your archives waiting to be repurposed?
How can you create space for the next phase of your business?
What mysteries await you in that pile next to your desk?
