I tend to subscribe to the “no news is good news” club—I do not necessarily need to hear positive feedback and compliments, but I would rather not hear complaints and negative feedback. In our small home businesses, we may not be getting the compliments that we might be used to in the more traditional work environment, however, and for some of us, we might really miss it!
Without a boss or coworkers, our business relationships might be heavy on the business and not nearly as cordial as we might be used to and this can be tough. For others of us, we may be working with friends or family and the compliments may lack a bit of sincerity. Any time we are relying on external validation to keep us motivated, I think it can create some problems. This does not mean that compliments are not good or that we should be embarrassed if we crave them, we just might need to get things in perspective and learn to look for other things to keep us motivated.
Customer and client loyalty and longevity are important, but if it is positive feedback we are needing, we can conduct a survey or ask our clients and customers to offer us constructive criticism or critique our work. Asking for testimonials is another way to garner some productive, positive feedback. It can be challenging to keep working away without knowing if we are making a difference or making our customers and/or clients happy, so finding a way to communicate with them and gather feedback can be productive—we just have to watch out for “fishing for compliments.” Our clients and customers can see right through that sort of behavior and may not have much appreciation for it.
There is nothing wrong with wanting compliments and needing positive feedback for our work, we just need to keep things in perspective and not let the craving for compliments overtake our common sense and good judgment in operating our businesses.
Also: Success Can be Scary