I had a dream yesterday. One of those vivid ones you remember.
In the dream, I was consulting for a group of people. After several months of intense work, the representative on the client’s side informed me that I had transformed their lives. She complimented my work and the results. She then said the company would be investigating other issues and so, was bringing in more specialists. Essentially, the contract would no longer be mine alone, but split among others.
I remember feeling taken for granted in the dream, and that this was a classic case of see finish. I had done the ground work and opened the client’s eyes to possibilities. But they didn’t think I could handle the next stage.
When I woke up, the following lessons from the dream came to mind.
First, as a teacher, a consequence of your role is to open people’s eyes, make them aware of new choices and cause them to crave more. That “more” may end up being someone else. It is not always a criticism of your work or a judgment of your capacity. Rather, it can be seen as validation and proof of your impact. Students must graduate and move on.
Second, it is important to expand one’s client base. A way to mitigate being taken for granted and to avoid being dependent on a few clients, is to be in high demand. Never tie your fortunes to legacy clients. Expand your client base. Seek new markets and opportunities.
I hope this helps someone.
For more, please read Dream Technologies & Space Jumpers.