The first time I saw a work like this, it just blew me away. With such intricacies and powerful colors, I couldn’t even imagine how someone had thought of such a thing. Much less created it.

After I saw an artist create the painting, my respect changed … to their accuracy and how they used this abstraction to evoke emotions.

I’ve realized that this applies to business too! Much of what we do might seem like magic, but that’s not where the skill lies.

Instead, it’s about having a process which makes what you do reproducible.

A potential customer walks in the door, and there are certain things you can do and say which dramatically improve the chances they’ll come away satisfied. Even ecstatic.

You have a way of writing contracts which works well for you, honed over a decade of experience. Yet within that, there is still room for approaching the job in a way which makes you and the client happy.

You’ve been able to figure out a few reliable sources of information so that when you have to make a decision to spend a bundle on ordering inventory, you’re going to achieve the right balance. But you also realize that it’s just information, and in the end you have to combine that with your experience and gut feel.

Business is an art, yes, but primarily it’s about process. So you can trust yourself and your people to hit the mark pretty reliably.