Dennis Moseley-Williams

My daughter has been taking ski lessons. I had Ella on skis last year when she was only three, and this past Sunday we had a major breakthrough, Ella can now do The Pizza Slice, she can turn and stop. It’s all downhill from here!

Of course the goal hasn’t been to teach Ella to ski – the goal has always been to get Ella to LOVE skiing, ideally with me. The instructor’s job is to teach the mechanics, my job is to teach Ella how fun it is to be with me, to be outside, to exercise and explore and get into the wild woods. This has always been my purpose.

What I have to do has nothing to do with skiing and everything to do with French fries (Freedom Fries … Je me souviens.) and anything chocolate.

My goal is to have meaningful conversations with my daughter on the lift.

I want us both to want to get up and rip first tracks before the herd shows up. None of that has anything to do with me teaching her how to ski – I’m going to leave that to the professionals.

However an appreciation of the joy of it all – that’s my gig right there. The wonder. The hoar frost. The light. The sound. The poetry of movement. The adrenaline. The complexity and technical aspect of the truly gnarly, and then eventually the coldest best beer in the world served with ski boots on, the hot tub, the French restaurant and then of course the will to do it all again.

Too many entrepreneurs are trying to sell more, or move more, or cut more, or in some way get more when they should be thinking of giving more. Too many entrepreneurs want more people to talk to when they should listen more to the people they know.

You’re looking for answers? How about some questions …

What business are you really in? What are you trying to accomplish? Who should you get to help you? What isn’t getting done that you should do? What do your preferred clients want, and what do you presently deliver to them? What are you doing now that makes you different and truly unique?

If you will indulge me a little personal story. A week ago I went skiing with some friends and on our way home we stopped in at Le Chateau Montebello, a famous hotel that is near Ottawa.

I have been really lucky in my life, I have stayed at most and maybe all of the nicest hotels in North America, some of them several times, but Le Chateau Montebello is the only hotel that literally stopped me in my tracks in absolute wonder. Check out this photo of the lobby.

Wonder is powerful – it makes you stop, and take notice. Wonder transforms the ordinary to the extraordinary. Wonder makes anything stand out and wonder is so rare that it is refreshing. The care that someone takes to create this experience tells us more about the business and the people running it than anything else does.

A sense of wonder makes us feel good about ourselves. When I was standing there in that hotel I honestly felt blessed. I really did, I said to my friends “Can you believe this place, who are we anyway?” They all felt the same way. We were transformed by the experience.

Creating this experience requires courage – it’s so easy to do what everyone else does and leave wonder to the artists, or the film directors or the musicians or the hotel decorators but we shouldn’t feel that way.

When you think that way you sell yourself and your clients short.

Think again. You are a wonder.

Stop thinking of what you do for money as a job or career think of it as your craft – your life’s work, your art. Your business is your craft, and the experience you deliver is your art.