Most, if not all, of our businesses are relationship businesses.

I recently heard that those kind of businesses are like gardening rather than mining.

In mining you mine for the precious resources and extract everything that you can from the ground until there’s nothing left. That doesn’t work in a relationship business.

In gardening you plan a seed, you water it, and you wait for it to grow. In Biblical terms “God gives the increase”.

You “plant the seed” by a serving conversation. Then you wait.

You “water the seed” with another conversation. Then you wait.

You “fertilize the seed” in another conversation. Then you wait.

Some of those seeds sprout into plants. Then you wait.

Some of those plants produce fruit, then you wait.

Some of that fruit becomes ripe, and you harvest.

That’s what a relationship business is like — and why you don’t risk too much on any one “seed” turning into the “fruit” of a client.

Mark Butler explains this more on his podcast (where the idea came from): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gardening-a-different-perspective-on-marketing/id1648802407?i=1000583884500

Josh