Happy Monday, everyone, and welcome to November!
This week, I’m starting my Monday Motivation with a little reflection on OZ Events Ltd, my events and production business.
I asked myself some important questions.
What’s working?
What’s not working?
Am I still working towards the vision I had when I started?
What needs to change?
What do I need to stop doing?
And what do I need to start chasing?
That exercise was very much about looking at my business from a business owner’s perspective. I was thinking strategically, reviewing my vision, my goals, my processes and the direction I wanted the business to take.
If you missed that post, you can [read my September business reflection here.
But this November, I’m doing something slightly different.
I’m taking off my business owner’s hat and putting on my client’s shoes.
And I think this is going to be a very interesting exercise.
Looking at My Business Through My Clients’ Eyes
One of the most consistent pieces of feedback I’ve received from some of my clients is that I don’t communicate enough.
Now, this is interesting because not every client feels that way.
Some of my clients absolutely love how I work.
We have our initial consultation, agree on what they want, I send them a quotation, we arrange an instalment payment plan, and that’s pretty much it.
They make the necessary decisions, I get to work, and sometimes we barely speak again until the event.
And when the day comes, they’re happy!
Some will even say:
“I know you. I know you’ll come up with something beautiful.”
They trust my creativity. They trust my judgement. And they don’t necessarily need to be involved in every little decision.
But then there are other clients.
Clients who want to be taken through the entire journey.
They want conversations, updates, reassurance, suggestions, feedback and sometimes quite a lot of back and forth.
I remember a client once saying something along the lines of:
“I send you things, and all you do is give me a thumbs-up. You don’t even comment!”
And I laughed because, genuinely, sometimes that’s exactly what I do.
I see the message.
I understand it.
I agree with it.
Thumbs up. 👍
In my mind, we’ve communicated!
But clearly, that’s not how everyone experiences communication.
And that’s something worth reflecting on.
The Reality Behind the Business
Something I’ve noticed is that the clients who know me personally, who see me regularly and understand what my everyday life looks like, tend to have a different experience of working with me.
Perhaps that’s because they understand the many things I’m balancing.
I’m a mum of two young children, and I’m often managing things at home on my own.
I have a full-time job that I’m incredibly committed to.
I have my event planning business.
I have other business interests.
And I have my responsibilities in God’s work, which are equally important to me.
There are days when I’m moving from one responsibility to another without much breathing space.
So when a client and I have discussed everything, agreed on the details and made the necessary decisions, my natural instinct is to get on with the work.
I’m not someone who enjoys unnecessary back-and-forth conversations.
If there’s nothing new to discuss, I’m quite happy to carry on working behind the scenes.
But here’s what I’m beginning to understand.
Just because I know what I’m doing doesn’t mean my client feels reassured that everything is being done.
And that’s the difference.
My client doesn’t necessarily see the work happening behind the scenes.
They don’t see the planning, the sourcing, the preparation or the many little decisions that go into bringing their event together.
They only experience what I communicate to them.
And perhaps that’s where some of the gaps are.
Feedback Is Not Always an Attack
I’ve been thinking quite a lot about this.
Because it’s very easy, as a business owner, to explain why you do things a certain way.
I could easily say, “Well, I’m busy.”
And that’s true.
I am busy.
But my clients are not responsible for managing my busy schedule.
They’ve paid for a service, and they have expectations of what that service should look and feel like.
The interesting thing is that those expectations are not always the same.
Some clients want independence.
Others want involvement.
Some want to be surprised.
Others want to know every detail before the event.
And neither approach is necessarily wrong.
What matters is understanding the type of client I’m working with and establishing expectations early enough.
Rather than seeing feedback about communication as criticism, I’m choosing to see it as information.
Information about what my clients value.
Information about where my processes could improve.
And, perhaps most importantly, information about what kind of support I need as my business grows.
Because this exercise is also helping me think about recruitment.
If I eventually bring someone into the business, what exactly should that person be responsible for?
Perhaps client communication and relationship management need more dedicated attention.
Perhaps I need better systems for sending updates.
Perhaps I need to identify, during the initial consultation, how involved each client wants to be.
These are the questions I’m beginning to ask.
And this is why reflection matters.
Sometimes, the feedback you receive today is showing you the structure your business will need tomorrow.
My November Exercise: Three Clients, Three Experiences
So this week, I’m going to conduct a little audit of my client experiences.
I’m choosing three case studies.
Client One: The Happy Client
Someone who was genuinely delighted with the service I provided.
What worked?
What did I do particularly well?
What made their experience enjoyable?
Was it the creativity, communication, organisation, delivery or simply the trust they had in me?
And how can I replicate that experience?
Client Two: The Unhappy Client
Someone who wasn’t entirely satisfied with their experience.
What went wrong?
Were their expectations different from what we agreed?
Was there a communication gap?
Was there something I could have handled better?
And, most importantly, what can I learn from that experience?
Client Three: The Client Somewhere in Between
This is perhaps the most interesting one.
The client who wasn’t necessarily unhappy but wasn’t completely satisfied either.
Maybe they loved some aspects of the event but felt disappointed by others.
Maybe the final result was beautiful, but the journey wasn’t quite what they expected.
What worked for them?
What didn’t?
What could have made their experience better?
I want to examine all three experiences carefully.
Not to prove that I was right.
Not to find excuses.
And certainly not to beat myself up over what I could have done differently.
But to learn.
Because one thing I’ve come to understand about running a business is that you cannot improve what you’re unwilling to examine.
One Business, Different Clients, Different Expectations
Of course, this exercise won’t be straightforward.
Every client is different.
What one person considers excellent customer service might feel excessive to another.
Some clients want you to take complete control.
Others want to be involved in almost everything.
So the goal isn’t necessarily to create one rigid approach and expect every client to fit into it.
The goal is to create a business that understands those differences while still maintaining clear processes, boundaries and professional standards.
And that’s what I’m going to work on this week.
I’ll be writing things down, identifying patterns, looking at gaps and deciding what needs to change.
Not everything will require an immediate solution.
Some things may need better systems.
Some may need clearer conversations.
And some may simply require me to acknowledge that the way I’ve always done things may not be the best way to continue doing them.
And that’s okay.
Because growth requires adjustments.
Now, I’m Inviting You to Do the Same
You don’t have to own a business to do this exercise.
You can choose any aspect of your life.
Your career.
Your parenting.
Your friendships.
Your relationships.
Your finances.
Your faith.
Your personal development.
Whatever it is, take some time this November to examine it.
We’re approaching the end of another year, and before we know it, we’ll be stepping into 2027.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to enter the new year with a better understanding of ourselves?
Not just celebrating everything we’ve achieved, but also recognising where we need to grow.
Ask yourself:
- What have I done well this year?
- What hasn’t worked as well as I hoped?
- What feedback have I received that I may have overlooked?
- What habits or approaches do I need to change?
- What have I learned, and what do I need to unlearn?
- What can I do differently going forward?
And please, don’t make this exercise about finding faults with yourself.
Make it about becoming.
We Are All Still Becoming
One thing I genuinely believe is that none of us has fully arrived.
None of us has completely evolved.
There is always something more to learn.
Something to unlearn.
Something to improve.
Something to understand differently.
From my perspective as a Christian, life is a journey of purpose.
The Bible often describes our journey of faith as a race, one that requires endurance, growth and perseverance.
And while we’re still here, there’s still a race to run.
There’s still purpose to pursue.
There’s still work to do.
I think about Paul’s words in Philippians 3:12:
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on…” - Philippians 3:12 (NKJV)
That scripture beautifully captures how I feel about personal growth.
We haven’t arrived.
We’re still pressing on.
And I don’t believe we should ever become so comfortable with who we are that we stop being willing to become better.
So this November, I’m choosing reflection.
I’m choosing to listen.
I’m choosing to learn.
And I’m choosing to improve.
Not because everything I’ve done so far has been wrong, but because there is always room to do something better.
And I hope you’ll join me.
Pick one area of your life this week.
Look at it from a different perspective.
Be willing to ask the uncomfortable questions.
Write down what you discover.
And then do something with what you’ve learned.
Because reflection without action is simply another thought.
Let’s keep learning. Let’s keep unlearning. Let’s keep evolving. And let’s keep becoming the best versions of ourselves.
Happy Monday, and happy new month!
With love,
Ayo
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