Your Touchstone Principle—What Is It?

Last week I told you that some exciting changes were happening for me professionally. This morning I announced on LinkedIn that I took a part-time position working with the amazing ghostwriting team at Peaceful Profits.

It felt like an epic opportunity to be part of a team again, and that has already been so rewarding.

But how did I decide whether this was a good fit for me professionally?

I looked at my professional touchstone principle. Touchstone what?

I developed a method to create touchstone principles for my clients when I realized that mission statements and other sorts of business one-liners were too confusing for people to measure anything in their lives or businesses against.

And I use them myself because they are just that helpful.

Because, as a reformed people pleaser, I need something to measure my decisions against so that I feel empowered to say “no,” when that answer fits.

The idea we’re obliterating today:

If you try every opportunity that falls into your lap, doing so will make you profitable.

The remake:

When I develop touchstone principles for my clients, I do so to make every decision in their businesses easier. Because when something doesn’t align with a touchstone, the answer is no. And even if that opportunity does seem to align with part of a touchstone, the answer isn’t automatically yes.

Today we’re going to look at what a touchstone principles are, how they can guide you in making clearer more confident decisions, and why that matters to your business.

?? 1. What is a touchstone in general? A touchstone is typically a benchmark that is used to evaluate or compare something. In this case, you are evaluating every choice you make as a business professional by the touchstone principles you create. These predetermined principles will give you both clarity and speed when it comes to making decisions that might otherwise take considerable time and energy.

?? 2. What is a touchstone principle? Touchstone principles combine professional values and abilities to guide you and are composed of a major value, a related strength, and a connecting pathway.

There are two types of touchstone principles, a personal one and a professional one. And the key here is to build the personal one first and have the professional touchstone principle support the main goals of your personal one. This way your business will support your life and not the other way around.

?? 3. Personal and Professional Touchstone Principle Examples. I used my personal and professional touchstone principles to help me decide whether joining the Peaceful Profits team made sense for my business journey and my life. Here they are:

Personal Touchstone Principle (for me)

Kristin N. Spencer values being able to support her family and other business owners through helping them create clear, confident language using her empathy-based communication skills and approaches to make the world a kinder place while building in time to prioritize the care of those entrusted to her in daily life.

Professional Touchstone Principle (for Literary Symmetry and other business endeavors)

Literary Symmetry wants to help other business professionals turn curiosity into a superpower for sales and communication through value-based marketing to make Businessland a more curious and therefore kinder place.

And because of the way Peaceful Profit’s own principles align with my own, it made sense to say yes. I’m so glad I did.

In order to keep having professional adventures that make sense for us, we need to know what we stand for. My touchstone principles help me remember. And anytime I’m looking at whether I should embark on a new adventure, they guide me.

Now, ask yourself: Do you already have a quick and easy principle to measure your personal and business decisions against? If not, it’s time to build one (or two).

One Lit Moment:

“And so for a time it looked as if all the adventures were coming to an end; but that was not to be.” –C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

What Kristin is Writing/Thinking About:

Right now, I’m thinking a lot about business books. What they’re made to do. How we can make each one exceptional. And what that looks like for me as I implement the developmental edits inside Alice in Businessland: Where it Pays to be Curious About Which Words $ell.

At the same time, I still have 1 more space for a private client over the next six weeks. Are you ready to get the clarity and confidence you know you need but don’t understand how to create when it comes to your business communication?

Let’s hop on a call.

Talk soon,

Kristin N. Spencer

About the Author:

Kristin N. Spencer is an International Bestselling Author, Writing Consultant, Value-Based Marketing Expert, and Speaker who has worked as a Ghostwriter on the bench of Forbes Books. She is the owner, lead writer, and big boss lady for Literary Symmetry, LLC where she helps companies and entrepreneurs craft language through copywriting that make sales easier and faster with her proven, contrarian approaches. Kristin has hosted two top 5% podcasts, including Your Business Story, and is always excited to help business professionals share their strategic stories.