It was a lovely July morning, and I was sitting on my swing seat in the garden, enjoying the fresh air, listening to the birds and looking at everything growing around me.
Fast forward to November, and although there’s still blue sky, it’s a crisp morning. The first hard frost arrived yesterday, but I’ll still take five minutes to sit in my garden and enjoy it.
Back in July, I wasn’t particularly thinking about work. I was simply enjoying being outside when my mind started wandering.
And I found myself wondering just how many similarities there are between gardening and running a business.
Quite a few, as it turns out!
Both Need Attention, But Not Constantly
If you plant something in your garden, you can’t simply forget about it and expect it to flourish.
It needs the right conditions, some watering, perhaps a bit of feeding and occasionally some protection.
But there’s also a point where you need to leave it alone.
You can’t keep digging up a plant to check whether its roots are growing. You need to give it time to establish itself.
Business isn’t really that different.
When you introduce a new service, start working with a new client or try something different, you need to give it attention. But you also need to give it time.
Not everything produces immediate results, and constantly changing direction doesn’t necessarily help.
Both gardening and business benefit from routines too. A little regular maintenance can prevent small jobs from becoming much bigger ones. And, as I’ve explored before, planning for your needs in self-employment can make a real difference
But routines shouldn’t mean rigidity.
Sometimes the weather changes your gardening plans, just as life sometimes changes your business plans.
Both need attention, patience and a little flexibility.
One Person’s Weed Is Another Person’s Flower
Here’s something interesting about weeds.
A weed isn’t necessarily a bad plant. It’s simply a plant growing somewhere you don’t want it.
Something you consider a weed in your garden might be exactly what somebody else is deliberately growing in theirs.
And business can be very similar.
Perhaps you’ve got a service you no longer enjoy providing, a task that’s stopped being useful or a client who’s absolutely lovely but whose work is no longer the right fit.
None of these things is necessarily bad.
They’re just not growing in the right place anymore.
And just because something isn’t right for your business doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be perfect for somebody else’s.
One person’s weed can be another person’s flower.
Sometimes removing something from your business isn’t about getting rid of it completely. It might mean passing an opportunity to somebody who would genuinely enjoy it.
Why keep something that’s draining your time when you could be making room for something you’d rather be doing?
And, just like gardening, weeding isn’t a job you do once and never need to think about again!
Every Garden and Business Has Its Seasons
Gardens don’t look the same all year round.
There are times when everything seems to be growing at once, times when you’re busy planting or harvesting, and quieter periods when there’s much less to do.
Businesses have their seasons too.
Some weeks you’re juggling clients, deadlines and commitments. Other weeks are quieter.
But quieter doesn’t necessarily mean worse.
We don’t expect our gardens to produce flowers, fruit and vegetables every week of the year, so why do we sometimes expect our businesses to operate at full speed all the time?
Quieter periods can be an opportunity to catch up on maintenance, make plans or simply enjoy what you’ve already achieved.
And both gardens and businesses continually evolve.
What worked beautifully last year might need changing this year. Our circumstances, interests and priorities change, and sometimes we need to decide what to keep, what to move and what to try next.
Neither a garden nor a business is ever really finished.
And I think that’s part of the enjoyment.
Enjoying What You’ve Grown
One of my favourite things about having a garden is simply being in it.
I love sitting outside, listening to the sounds around me, looking at the colours and enjoying the different scents.
I don’t have to be planting, weeding, watering or harvesting.
I can simply sit there and enjoy it.
And when the vegetables are ready, that’s an added bonus!
Sometimes I even grow more than we need, so the surplus goes on the wall outside for other people to help themselves.
But the vegetables aren’t the only reason I enjoy gardening. It’s the whole experience.
And shouldn’t running a business be a bit like that too?
Of course, our businesses need to generate an income, but surely there should be enjoyment in what we’re doing along the way?
It’s easy to become so focused on the next client, project or achievement that we forget to appreciate what we’ve already created.
One of the things I particularly enjoy about being self-employed is having some flexibility over how I spend my time.
That doesn’t mean I can abandon my clients whenever the sun comes out!
But it does mean I can sometimes arrange my work around other things that matter to me, including spending time in my garden.
Getting outside gives me a change of scenery, particularly after hours sitting at my desk. It’s also part of listening to your body in self-employment and recognising when you need a break.
Sometimes it’s simply a break.
Other times, stepping away gives my mind the space to wander, and an idea appears.
Which is exactly how this blog started!
I hadn’t sat down intending to come up with something to write about.
I was simply enjoying my garden.
Not every moment needs to be productive to be worthwhile.
And sometimes doing absolutely nothing is exactly what we need.
But perhaps the most important similarity is that we should be able to enjoy what we’re growing, rather than constantly worrying about what needs doing next.
Back in July, I was sitting in my garden enjoying the sunshine when these thoughts first appeared.
Now it’s November. The garden looks completely different, and the first hard frost has arrived.
There are fewer flowers, the vegetable beds are quieter and the garden is preparing for winter.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy.
I’ll still take five minutes to sit outside, look around and appreciate what’s there.
Because whether it’s a garden or a business, there’s always something changing, something growing and something to enjoy.
What similarities have you noticed between your business and the things you enjoy doing outside work?