Feel like you’re losing yourself in your business?

 

I feel like I just wrote final exams in university.  I’m bloated, my skin’s broken out and my hair has been in a pony tail for a week straight.  That’s because on top of having a full client roster, I delivered two speaking engagements and built a brand new website in the past 3 weeks.  I’m exhausted from too many late nights.

I feel like I’ve lost a bit of myself to my business.

And I’m ready to re-group.

I’ve figured out that when it comes to building a successful solopreneur business there’s a delicate balance between being and doing.

But for most of us, we tip the scale when it comes to doing.  There’s always an email to return, a blog post to write, a session to show up for, a talk to prepare, a website update to make—am I describing your week day?  Our anticipatory antennae are on hyper alert.  Adrenaline courses through our veins.  We can begin to lose ourselves in our business.

We’re in a state of what’s next and what am I forgetting?  Our focus and attention pours outward, away from us.  Away from our internal needs for rest, connection, stillness, even self-care.  We can start to feel disconnected.  Off our center.

The thing is, we often excel at the doing.  And we’re proud of our huge capacity for getting things done.

But at what cost?

When we avoid slowing down and reflecting, what are we missing?  What’s the impact on our business and on our level of fulfillment?

The answers to our biggest challenges often lie in stillness.  In those beautiful moments when we hit pause.  Breathe deeply.  Listen closely.  That’s when we can actually hear our intuition and our inner wisdom.  That’s when we feel connected to something greater than ourselves.

Everyone has a different approach to spirituality—and lots of people have no approach.  Which is totally fine.   But, as a woman solopreneur, I believe that having a daily practice, a ritual or a nourishing routine is a critical component to building our business on solid ground.

Over the  past several weeks, I have been in a whirl wind of doing, I ignored my daily practice.  And I’m paying the price.

Starting tomorrow, I am recommitting to my own daily practice of connection.

I’m inviting you to do the same.

I encourage you to think about how you start your work day.  What would it mean for you to have a daily connection practice?  A way for you to hear yourself think, listen to your intuition—I mean really listen?  What would be different?  What would a nourishing routine give you as you access your creativity, make decisions about what’s next, prepare you for your clients, address difficult situations?

I’m inviting you to explore a daily connection practice.  You get to choose exactly what you’ll be doing and, how you’ll be doing it—and for how long each day.

Want some ideas?  It can be anything under the sun.  Here are a few examples, you may even choose to combine a few:

  • Go for a walk in nature
  • Sit in nature—under a tree, by a lake
  • Meditate on a yoga mat
  • Play music while you stretch
  • Journal
  • Draw
  • Dance
  • Paint, color
  • Sing
  • Pray
  • Visualize
  • Spend time with your vision board

While you’re connecting with yourself . . .

You may want to ask yourself a specific question at the beginning of the session.  Or, you may just want to open you mind to whatever insights want to come on their own.  Sometimes I like to create a visualization in my mind’s eye, where I can have a conversation with my wisest self, I like to ask her the tough questions.

Take the time to listen deeply, to notice how your body feels during the practice and for the rest of the day.

I  invite you to do this every work day for the next two weeks and then report in on what you noticed in the comments below.

Feel like you’ve already mastered the chill factor in your biz? I’d love to hear about what you do to stay connected with yourself.

For you:

“Live your life in a way that you never lose yourself.  When you are carried away with your worries, fears, cravings, anger and desire, you run away from yourself.  The practice is always to go back to oneself.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh {Vietnamese monk, b. 1926}

 Namaste. :O)

 Jac

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Sacred Refinement {and other business revelations}

Do you ever get  the urge to unplug,  press pause,  step way back so you can . . . think forward?

A few times a year I like to step away from my business and retreat into my cave of cogitation.  I like to think of it as this secluded, earthy place where I study what’s working in my business, and what’s not.   It’s where I can see the bigger picture and really feel into whether or not I am fully aligned with my grander vision.

When I take the time to slow down and be contemplative, I tend to experience more clarity and confidence.  I emerge feeling anchored for growth.

I’ve recently emerged from my cave  with new ideas, new commitments and a refined focus in my business.

Here’s what I learned:

Revelation 1:   Sacred Refinement 

When your work is deeply meaningful to you {as mine is to me} you need to continue the sacred refinement of your focus.

In other words:

Discern your people with love and courage:  Your very best gifts, your most needed teachings are meant for a very specific group of people.  Here’s mine. 

Refine your services:  Your people want something very specific from you.  You have something very specific you feel called to share.  The intersection of these two truths is where your most powerful and lucrative services {and products} dwell.

Revelation 2:  Vet your Teachers Wisely

When it comes to business there’s always stuff we could learn.  The more important question is “what do I need to learn right now, this week, this month?”  The next important question is:  “who will be my teacher?”

I have three pieces of advice when it comes to choosing your next teacher:

1.  Investigate.  Scrutinize.  Cross check for quality assurance.   Examine their website, read their testimonials, ask for a mini-consult, ask a lot of questions, ask to speak to real life current and past clients, notice who promotes these folks and whether you dig what *they* are up to in their business.

2.  Let your gut feeling make your final decision, always.  Trust your initial hunch, it’s rarely if ever, off track.

3.  “Believe people when they show you who they are.” ~Oprah  You don’t need consensus, or additional proof to remove yourself from someone’s circle.  If you’ve had a negative experience, an icky feeling or are just plain not-lit-up by their teachings anymore, it’s time to unlike, unsubscribe, unfollow.  It’s time to move out of their world completely and make space for your next teacher to arrive.

Revelation 3:  You are your best teacher.         

Sure, there will be tactics and philosophies that may come to you via the teachings of others.  But the final decision of what is true for you, what fits, and how to apply it to your business can only ever come from you.  So tune in to, and amp up your own internal barometer of “yay or nay”.

Note:  Be wary of those who position themselves as having all the answers for your business.  Or those who lead their product launches with how much money they made in their first year of business.  Aside from being extremely tacky, the truth is that YOU are 100% responsible for making your own money.  It’s really not that relevant what somebody else has earned.

Revelation 4:  Teach what you know, now.

My good friend Kara Exner and I share a favorite quote:

“Go as far as you can see; when you get there you’ll be able to see farther.” ~ Thomas Carlyle

The way I see it:  teach as much as you know right now– soon you’ll know more.  I learn by teaching.  I know more now than I did last month.  I know a helluva lot more than I did my first year as a solopreneur.  Like whoa.  Teaching what you know now, allows you to cultivate, expand and fine-tune your deeply personal point of view.  That deeply resonant message your very best clients are thirsty for.

Teach.  Learn.  Teach.  Learn.  You get the picture.

What revelations have you had this year? 

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