#1 Are you burning your business down or sparking a beautiful light?

It is my mission and absolute pleasure to help you stop being burdened by your business. And to step into the shoes of becoming an empowered entrepreneur.  I have spent many years in business, and I’ve seen everything and I’ve made every mistake under the sun.

Most importantly I’ve learned from them and that’s why I’m here today to offer you my wisdom and my assistance.

0:43  One of the main things that I see in business is that there are people just like you who are amazing at what you do. You are masters of your trade. You are excellent practitioners. You love the product and the service that you offer. And you are called to deliver it in a way that you haven’t found in the market yet.

1:19 But when it comes to the business side of things you may find you have already, or you will soon realise that the business side of things isn’t quite there yet. It’s not something that is naturally easy for you.

And why would it be?

It is not what you learned. It is not the trade or the craft that you mastered.

And so what is happening, and hopefully won’t, but there is a way out from it if it does. Is that this lovely business of yours that you’ve gone out to create has turned into a rather expensive, time consuming and low paying job. And that’s kind of not the point is it?  It’s certainly not what you set out for and it’s not you want to happen.

2:22 As your coach or your mentor or whatever title we use.

I want to help you bridge the gap between being burdened by your business and stepping into the shoes of becoming an empowered entrepreneur.

The way that I offer that, and the way that I do that is by blending the digital strategy and infusing that with your intuition. Along with your internal wisdom, your internal guidance mechanism, your mindset, and your energy to succeed.

308: I am a little bit Woo. We are definitely going to be talking about things a little bit Woo here. And I appreciate that it’s not everybody’s cup of tea , and if instantly you’ve gone “ah nope, too airy fairy” no problem I wish you well.

For those of you still listening to my very first pod let me say that I wouldn’t have been able to master the success in my life, and in my business if I wasn’t able to blend both aspects of business and intuition together very harmoniously. You need to have strategy and a digital presence. There are foundational elements that every business must have and must master in order to succeed. I’m not saying that there isn’t, of course there is!

4:11 But what I’m offering, is to help you master those elements.

And mastering your personal intuition is the secret weapon behind everything.

To help guide your mindset and your energy and intentionally to move forward in business. I am going to chat today in my very first pod, I’m so excited about my fireplace! And before you go: “What? What on earth does that have to do with business?” Here Me Out, watch me stumble, I’m gonna look at my notes, that’s okay! That’s business! We learn, we get better and that’s it.

510:  For today, back to my fireplace and how it’s connected to business. I’m going to say that getting a fire going is a lot like getting a business going in those early days. You’ve got to have the right ingredients and then you’ve got to be able to have some Sparks in order for it to catch.

Now, if your wood is wet. If its the wrong wood. If you don’t have a lighter. Or you don’t have the proper container. You don’t have the ability to light it, to get the Sparks going initially you’re not going to get a fire going.

You won’t have the benefits of the warmth. You won’t have the benefits of the beauty behind it,  And all of the support that it offers.

610: Business is much the same wouldn’t you agree?   Because if you don’t have the right ingredients which is:

–  A website. The product or service that you offer

– If you don’t have socials

– If you don’t have a phone, or obviously a location if you are bricks & mortar

These are fundamental ingredients. If you don’t have them, what is it that you’re offering? The Sparks, the Sparks are all you!  Because you infuse your business. It is your energy that brings it to life!

 656: Yes, you need to run ads and put socials out there and have a website presence.

Have a Google my business listing if your business can.

But what is it that attracts things in? And yes the algorithm will do that, but it’s you!

Because you are the brand, and the face behind your business.

You are the master of your trade. You are the master practitioner, you offer the product or service that you love, so the Sparks are you!

And if you don’t infuse your business with the right level of energy.

The right consistency in posting on socials.

Having a functional website that works. Because lets be real, there are so many websites that aren’t great.  If you have a number (where appropriate) that people can call, that don’t answer. If you don’t return people’s calls, those are all mismatched Sparks that won’t light your business up in the early stages.

808:  So all of a sudden we can see the connection to the fireplace. To the importance of having actual tangible things that a business needs. This combined with your inner energy, your inner power, your spark to get this thing to life.

Once you’ve managed to get the fire going and you’ve got some Sparks, it’s not done and dusted yet! We’ve lit some sparks and now you need to actually get the fire going. This like “We’re out of opening the doors” and stepping into the early growth stage. We’ve done the setup, we’ve done the hard stuff and now we’re moving into the early stages of growth in your business.

907 Let’s talk about the fire first. You’ve got to keep paying attention to it. You’ve got to keep going back and checking it, making sure it has enough oxygen. But not too much so that it doesn’t burn out. You also need to make sure that your not using dry wood but the right wood. These are the foundational elements we touched on earlier.

934 It’s important to have good quality kindling wood and then nice solid dry, but hardwood on top. It needs to move it around. Stoked, to make sure there’s enough oxygen. This will help it light. Make sure that there’s enough pieces of wood in there. Lay it up correctly in order for it to take, but again not too much and not pieces that are too big.

Because if you put a log that’s too big too soon it’s gonna smother the fire, it will put it out.

Likewise if you don’t put enough wood in it’s also going to burn out, especially if you’re not paying attention to it.

In the early days of business, we’ve got the phone ringing. There are some clients coming through. And all of a sudden we get busy in the delivery side of what we’re putting out there.

You’re working with your clients, you’re going out to see people, you’re starting to sell your product and you get busy, great! That’s what we wanted! But is it? Because with all that, are you stoking your business? Have you put your socials on the back burner? Did you forget about them? Have you miss a couple of calls and decided that you don’t need to return them back because you’re busy?  Did you not check your junk mail folder for the emails submitted through to you because you’ve got other work and you can’t get to it?

1130: Can you see how as soon as your attention turns off of stoking your business, because remember as a practitioner, as a trade, as any type of service, even if it’s digital or bricks and mortar, your role is dual. You are doing the work and you need to also be working on your business.  It sounds so simple; I said it and you’ve gone ‘Yeah D’uh” but if you don’t know, you don’t know! And if business isn’t something that’s come naturally to you it’s not what you know, and it is your first time in business then how would you know?

1216: You assume:

“I’m going to open my doors, people are going to come in.”

“My websites good I’ve got a couple of bites”

Of course it’s going to flow!

And it might, but more than likely it’s gonna burn out or fizzle out, or you will! You’ve been putting so much hard work and effort in. The metaphorical meaning of the fire burning out, doesn’t mean your business will die. But rather that your energy is going to suffer and that you’re going to burn out.  And it’s important to make sure that you can manage yourself that way. That’s going be a more specific conversation for another time.

1307: With business, and you’re energy, you can already see the duality that I’ve previously mentioned? You want to have to digital strategy, you need to have the intuition, you need to have your energy, and mindset work. That is your stoking of the business side of stuff. You have to have both.  I am teaching mentoring coaching you with both.  If you pull back too soon from doing socials, from going out networking, from connecting with people, then your business may burn out. Can you get it going again?

Absolutely! Just like a fire! But once it’s going you want to keep it going. That is what nourishes. What provides. And so it gives you a metaphor of warmth by way of consistent income and consistent clients.  If you put a log in for example to the fire that’s too big, it’s going to smother it. That’s you taking on a contract that’s too big, too soon. And you’ve got to let go of everything else. Effectively, you’ve stopped running a business and your working as a contractor now. That’s okay if that’s what you want to do. If your business is there to be a business then you may not want to take on a “log” that’s too big because you don’t want it to metaphorically “smother you.”

The key that I really want you guys to take away from this pod today. Or if you’re watching me on YouTube then from this video.:

1504: What are you making it all mean?

This has been singularly my biggest lesson in business. Everything is just feedback and data.

When learning to get my fire going. And most importantly keep it going. Every time it went out or burnt out I didn’t say “I’m a shift fire starter, I can’t do this very well.”  I didn’t! I was like “okay what did I do that led to this result? Let’s not do that again in that way.”

These are the lessons that I’m now sharing. If you have put too much wood in, and then you close the door and it’s gone out, that is data! When you put a social post up and nobody comments, and nobody responds to it, it’s just data.

I don’t want you to make it mean anything about you, about yourself,  about how your going to fail, about how this is too hard. Can you see how the process goes, and the wheels turn and that as you go it’s very easy to talk yourself into a negative headspace. This is going to make you feel like crap. which is energetically going to be repellent, which isn’t going to be inviting people in. Your energy, I dare say may be desperate, your energy is tired, and you’ll be over it

1715: Now if you take this social post that “didn’t do well” and you look at it, and you go right did I like that image? Yes or No? That’s it. – The copy? Can I do it better?  – Is there a way I can I be more specific?  – Can I address the needs of my audience better?  –  Did I use hashtags, were they the right hashtags?

All of a sudden what we have is data.

And the next time you put a social post out, as an example. You can take the data that you got from this other post that perhaps didn’t quite go so well, or not as well as you would have liked. And you can adjust it, and you can tweak it, and you can deliver it again and watch that it’s going to do better.  If it doesn’t a second time then we review again and we tweak again, and we keep going.

18:28 Because just like with my fireplace, I was determined to make sure that I would learn to get a fire going. And keep it going because I wanted my house to be warm.

Yeah of course we’ve got aircon, and we’ve got other heating mechanisms, but that determined part in me refused to fail. And refused to make anything mean anything other than  “I’m going to figure this out, because my success is inevitable”

And if I can get you to embody that, so that you get up every day knowing that your success is inevitable. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, and keep going.

At no point am I suggesting that you get yourself into debt or debt that you can’t manage. Don’t haemorrhage money, don’t be silly about it, be smart in your business.  When you can operate from a position and a place within yourself of “my success is inevitable. I will succeed with what I am trying to achieve in my business.”

Your energy is going to completely change. I want you to try that on for yourself say it with me “my success is inevitable”

2036: How did that make you feel? Suddenly, there was a spark in you because there’s one in me every time I say it? But I’ve been saying it a lot so you may need to repeat it a few more times to really embody the energy of what that means.  If you love your business. If you want to stay self-employed. If you truly want to deliver the product or service that lights your heart on fire. Then I want you to move forward knowing full well that you will achieve everything you wish.

2127: If you are putting pressure on yourself to achieve certain goals by tomorrow. Or next week, or in a month. That level of pressure, or those goals perhaps are so big that you’ve put your energy into Hustle mode. It’s like “shit, I’ve got to get going, I’ve got to do this.” And you’re coming not from an abundant place you’re not coming from “I’m gonna do this!” You’re coming from “I don’t have it, it’s unlikely to happen. I have to work my ass off to get it.”

Which energy or headspace, so for those of you aren’t fully into the work haven’t really embody the manifesting side of stuff the mindset work that comes with that.

Which one makes you feel better? Take the emotional pressure off and know that you’ll get there. I’m not saying be lazy, I’m not saying put your feet up and wait for things to magically happen, not at all.

But pay attention to the different ways that you feel when you’re in Hustle mode.

Working on an impossible deadline. Versus “I’ve got this. I’m going to achieve this. And if I don’t get there in a month, maybe it’ll take me two. And that’s okay because I’m going to get it and I’m going to do this and I’m gonna figure it out.”

If we tie this back to the fireplace, The Hustle energy is equivalent to the Big Log that’s going to smother the fire

2327: So, if that’s the pathway that you’ve been taking, take a step back. Take a breather. Go stand out in the sun, don’t get sunburnt, but absorb the healing energy. Press pause for a minute. Reboot, reset, and let’s switch you into operating from a place of feeling empowered. Remember, it is my mission to make you an empowered entrepreneur.

There are amazing coaches out there. There are amazing mentors out there, everybody can help in some way or form. With me, where I wish to serve you is to get you feeling great and certain about your business.  Imagine what would be possible for you when you woke up every day, leaped out of bed “I got this! I’ve so got this!” and knowing that you are beautifully blended and that you are and knowing that you are

2510 Beautifully balanced between being knowledgeable about what your business needs. And being adapt at being able to do what you your business needs and doing it well.

Because remember your stoking a fire, your keeping it going.

And you are also balanced in your energy in yourself. You wake up every day feeling great you serve your clients well.

Now, if you have a day with for example and of course it depends on what business you’re in but you know make the example apply to you if you’ve only got one customer.

Go and serve them with everything you’ve got. Be the absolute best for them.

Show up on that day, with only one person with the right energy. The right headspace. And be grateful that you’ve got people that are still showing up because it means that your fire hasn’t gone out yet. And in this example that is what you can make it mean.

What you shouldn’t make it mean is that you’re not very good. Or that business is crap. That current economic situations are too hard. Whatever other story you are telling yourself. At the end of the day everything really is just a story. And so as I wrap up this very first pod and YouTube clip, I want to say a really big heartfelt thank you for making it to the end. Well done you! And well done me for getting this done!

Your takeaway’s are:

– To embody that your success is inevitable.

– That you will continue to do whatever your business needs you to do in order to achieve the success that you desire.

-Take off your plate the really harsh deadlines to get it done tomorrow or next week. Or whatever it is that is stressing you out. Go back and review the foundations of your business. And make sure that those fundamentals are working properly.

That’s something that I can absolutely help you with. Keep that in mind if you need some assistance in going over these foundations. I want you to take away what your energy is doing. Where is your mindset, where is your attention, and what are you making everything mean?

It’s all a story, so choose to get up every day and choose to be empowered, choose to be great!  And operate from that, and then see what will change for you in the next 2 months, 3 months, 6 months time. Honestly you wont recognise yourself!