#16 The non linear path to your business summit

And welcome to another episode of The Mastery Method. My name is Anna and I am your host. It’s been a little while since I’ve been able to hop onto the podcast, just to give you a little update of what’s going on on my end. Is aside from this platform and the coaching business that I’m growing here as part of the mastery method, I do have a bricks and mortar business that I’m still very involved in and has been needing some of my more immediate attention and what has inspired this episode today is a little bit of what’s going on. Over there in that business. And it’s all about the seasonality of business. Oh, there are very natural stages to go through. And how there isn’t one very clear linear path straight to the top. And I’ve seen this also in several of my coaching clients as well, who are kind of going through different experiences within their business. There’s been a little bit of a change. There’s been a little bit of a shift, you know, things. I’m not going to say they’re not flowing as well as they could, because that’s actually really not the case and they just flowing differently. And for me, who has actually been really self employed. For far too long that I care to mention because I don’t want to age myself, but for somebody who’s been in business for a really long time, I’ve seen over the years, the natural ups and downs, the natural seasons, the changes in tides, all of the appropriate metaphors that we’re all extremely familiar with. When it comes to seasons, which very much also apply to our businesses as well. And what I really wanted to share with you today is a little bit of insight into the different types of seasons within business, the changes that you may experience, and to help give you a peace of mind in understanding that they are perfectly normal. And just like a weather season, Um, it will pass. Um, if it’s a season that perhaps you’re not quite happy in, for example, but also every season changes and grows. You’re not caught in a phase within your business that you’re going to be stuck in forever. Even if. Like the tide is rolling in and everything’s feeling great and everything’s working for you as you wish that it should. Um, you feel like yes, you finally got everything sorted. It’s like all this hard work’s paid off, you know, it’s all ticking along really well. I certainly don’t wish to burst your bubble, but even that will change at some point as well. I am by no means suggesting that you’re gonna like go back to day one because no, of course you won’t, but there will be changes that will happen even there as well. So for today, let’s kind of get into everything and off the back of what I’ve just said, part of why I wanted to share this is not only to give you an insight of different phases of business and, and where you may find yourself, but also, and most importantly, to help you empower yourself with where you’re at within your business, either to give you the inspiration change the season because unlike the weather, when we are self employed, we do have the power to steer our ships in different directions. Now, depending on the size of your business and where you’re at, At, you know, you could be a little speed boat and things could be super easy just to tweak and turn. And suddenly, you know, you cut off into a different angle and go in a different direction and things are easy. Or if you’re a little further along, you might be a little bit more like a cruise ship. You know, you’re in steady waters. You’re a lot bigger. You’re a lot kind of heavier. There’s more moving pieces and to do a shop kind of 90 degree turn. Isn’t quite as quick, so it can take a little bit longer, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t. Okay, so again, I also just wanna reiterate that with all of the seasons that you may experience within their business, I don’t see them as being negative. So I’m gonna highlight a few differences between all of them, but I don’t wish to put a judgment on it either being good or it’s simply. Is it’s just another phase. It’s a different experience that you are learning to navigate. There are different lessons you are learning within this, and it is all paths leading you ultimately to the success of where you wish to go. I recently also pondered that If we simply were to just be successful from day one, that we would really miss a lot of lessons. And when you look at a lot of the business grades out there, like your best mentors, um, and even my own experience after so long being self employed is that the mistakes, the expensive ones, and Just the cock ups. It was just like, what was I thinking? Those are the ones that always shine the brightest. Not because I begrudge the situation from happening, but because I’ve been able to pull myself out of them and navigate myself to calm seas. And that has made me stronger. That has made me empowered and that has made me Just a force to be reckoned with when it comes to business. And that is the power that I wish to share with you. It’s not up to me as a coach or a mentor to simply tell you what to do in business. Like, yes, I can guide you, but it’s not my Dharma to make decisions for you. I don’t know what’s in your best interest. Nobody does. Nobody can claim that they do. It is up to you to sit back and go, right. Yep, that advice will work. I can take that on and really think about any information that you’re giving in reading and make empowered decisions for yourself. From there, that is where growth, like, Exponential growth can occur in your business. You listen to your intuition. You listen to your gut instincts. You take stock of the 3d of where you are currently at, and that can constantly change. Okay. So long as you keep moving and you keep trying when you are operating from a place of. My success is here and there are multiple paths that can get me there. There is not one straight linear path to the top in business. Okay. Now let’s have a look at a couple of different seasons that you may experience. Excuse me, within your business. Now, the first I want to dive into, and the most obvious, is the one where it seems that everything has clicked together, where it all effortlessly comes together for you, things are flowing, you’re in the groove, things are just coming your way, um, you know, your schedule is filling up, your bank account fills, fills easily, and you’re in, you’re in the groove. A phase on a season where there’s a real sense of ease about it. You know, you can see like a clear growth path. You can see, um, you can see the sky in front of you. There’s no storm clouds, so to speak. And by all accounts and purposes, it’s a phase of business that we’d all inevitably love to permanently be in. And I like to. Really think about this phase as being the default. It’s like, okay, we do the groundwork. We navigate some stormy seas and we come back to the clear path where everything just clicks in. It’s almost like the season of reward where. All of the hard work and everything you’ve been doing has put, has clicked together for you. You know, if you’re running a campaign, for example, you’ve been through the trial and error of, um, your, your funnel, you figured out your ads, you’ve got the metrics. Good. You’ve got the landing page ticking over. And finally, there’s a real clear link of sales coming through. You’ve got people, um, It’s, it’s all just working. This is a phase in business that is exciting, uh, but can get boring and it can often lead to people being complacent because there’s this sense of like, Oh, we finally made it like this is where we’d like to be. There’s a place where you’re at risk after a little while of taking your foot off the brake a little bit and going, Oh yeah, it’s always going to be like this. And you know what, it might be for a period of time, but I really do like the metaphor of thinking of your business as a ship or a car, you know, that needs to be steered. It needs to be navigated. And when you do take your foot off the brake, um, sorry, not off the brake, like off the pedal, then. It’s, it will slow down and yes, you can certainly be on cruise control and you can be on like autopilot for a little while, but if you’re not watching where you’re going, you know, you’ve still got to steer in the right directions. Otherwise you’re gonna kind of make it to land or crash into something. Right. Okay. Now another season of business is one where there is effort involved. Um, Projects that you may be working on can come to a natural end, um, you know, clients that you’ve been working with for a little while, they’re sort of like, you know, either in their treatment care, they’re sort of wrapped up or they’re kind of moving away. There’s almost a little bit of a sense of a lull where things are slowing down kind of a little bit. Um, and you’re finding yourself Either completely chilled out by it as it’s sort of come at the perfect time for you and you’re like, Oh, thank God. I really just needed a break. So, you know, the phone ringing a little bit less is good. You can sneak that day off. If you haven’t prioritized it, um, you can schedule yourself a little bit of a holiday or some time off and you just don’t need to be running at full pelt. Right now, alternatively, it may not be. It may be completely stressing you out because now all of a sudden you need to start putting some energy back into the business to sort of start getting things moving again. But if you have found yourself to be a little. unsure as to what exactly is causing the lull, then it may be a season you’ve navigated into if you haven’t really been paying close attention. Now, it’s not exclusively always going to be something that you did wrong. Um, economic factors are definitely going to be at play. Uh, actual seasonal factors are going to be at play. So for example, if you are affected by school holidays, um, summer holidays, Christmas holidays, um, you know, elections, for example, I know sort of in my bricks and mortar business, um, you know, obviously in elections, not something that happens very often, but even when there’s a council election or a state level election, you know, That weekend, for example, isn’t always as busy as the others are because people’s attention is somewhere else and people tend to move in packs like that. There’s sort of like this mass hypnosis, which you’ve seen in other, you know, other aspects of our lives where people sort of just moving kind of groups and waves. And then Teitei may come to town and you never know, like, something completely out of the ordinary can also shift people’s attention completely as well. So this type of season is one that definitely requires you to put your attention back into it, to refocus. But it’s also one where if you do need to take some time out, then it’s the perfect opportunity for you to do so. And if you do find yourself in this space, I would encourage you to consider that, well, what got you here that you are so relieved by the opportunity to take a break. So where in your work is sort of things or are things a little out of balance that perhaps You, you are running at full pelt and then all of a sudden you’re like, Oh, thank God I’m chill. Okay. So ideally we’d like to get you working at a rate and pace that is comfortable for you. Now, business is a marathon and not a sprint, but I wholeheartedly agree that there are absolutely sprints within the marathon that need to take place. So. There will be periods of time where it isn’t like solid effort and you’ve got to push everything together to get yourself over the line and achieve a task, achieve a project that you’re working on, but you absolutely must schedule yourself a break. Now, I. I’m going to take a note here about taking your power back because last night in a meditation, I actually received a really powerful download about taking your power back. And I would like to end on sharing that with everybody. So, and it’s just come to mind as part of the rest, cause it absolutely pertains to that. So I’ve got it highlighted there for me. Okay. Now onto our seasons. Another season that you may experience is a steady one, um, one that ticks all of the boxes, one where you’re slowly chipping away at things, you know, there certainly is flow, not necessarily like a huge amount of it. Um, it’s definitely not the same energy as the first. Uh, season that we talked about, but it is similar in the sense that you’re kind of plodding along a little bit. Do you know what I mean? Like it’s, it’s just fine, right? It’s not bad. It’s not great. You know, you’re meeting your expenses, you’re meeting your bills, kind of, I’m going to say you’re okay. Oh, I don’t know. I’m sort of thinking a little bit like you could be in a rut. You’re doing just the same thing kind of over and over. You’re pushing your socials out. It’s not very exciting. You’re doing it, but you know, you’re not like enthused by it. You know, you’ve got clients coming in. You know, there’s definitely income, there’s definitely work, but it’s just a phase of meh, right? I don’t know how else to put it, but it’s definitely a phase that I have experienced in business. And so I did want to mention it because there are certainly times where You’re not really cruising, but you’re not really like moving forward either. You’re almost dog paddling a little bit. You kind of just in a bit of, bit of a bit of a rut. Okay. But you’re not, not growing and you’re not dying. It just sort of, you’re not really going anywhere. Okay. With this one, I’m going to have to say that in order for you to transition out of it, it’s really important for you to first recognize that that’s where you’re at, because you might not. And if listening to this podcast helps you identify that, Oh yeah, that’s kind of where I’m at. Then good. That’s your light bulb moment to go, Oh, okay. Okay. And. In this, take a moment, do take a little bit of time out, like, you know, go somewhere on the weekend, take an afternoon off and go to your happy place. So if that’s by the sea, if that’s in the bush, if that’s at a park somewhere, if that’s on your couch, it’s totally fine. Favorite restaurant, favorite cafe, it doesn’t matter. Whatever, whatever inspires you. And I want you to go somewhere where you feel good and inspired because the whole point is about inspiration and it’s about what’s next. And in order to pull yourself out of this meh phase, you’ve really got to go right. Okay. Well, where am I going next? Cause there is a sense of like aimlessness with it. You don’t really have a purpose or direction with what it is you’re trying to achieve. And it may be a season that. Comes off the back of the very first one where everything was great and was flowing and you did kind of think that, oh, this is great. It’s going to last forever. And before you know it, it’s like you are sort of lacking in a little bit of purpose there. Okay. And when you can get to a place where you can find some inspiration and really have that bubble up from inside you and really get creative and excited about where it is that you want to go next. And that doesn’t even have to be in business, guys. It might just be On a personal level that you need some additional fulfillment. It could be that you personally aren’t really fulfilled in some aspect of your life. Like there’s sort of, you know, maybe it’s time for you to find a partner. Maybe you’ve outgrown your home. Maybe you need to move to a new place, get a new energy, you know, um, Develop your personal self a little bit outside of work as well. So don’t think that it has to exclusively just be business, you know, certainly when we are solopreneurs and, and even if we’ve got a couple of team members when we’re small businesses, you know, the business is an extension of us. So if we’re not kind of happy personally, like the business is, is definitely gonna, you know, reflect that in a way as well. Alright, now another season that we have is all about the groundwork and this is actually a really natural next stepping point after the phase that we’ve just been in. Now in this phase, there could be an element of like a bit of a pregnant pause about it. Um, you could identify that. It is like, you could be in the really early stages of your business where you are kind of just building and putting the elements in place and you’re not really seeing traction of anything kind of come to pass yet. Right. So I always like to. Consider the early stages of business, almost like if you’ve got a big sort of spin wheel, um, and you’re putting all of your energy into like getting it to turn and just getting it to start rolling. And, you know, that’s the hard part, but then once the momentum builds up, it kind of, it starts rolling and it starts moving and things start gathering and growing. So when you’re in that really early part of your business, where you’re just kind of pushing and getting things moving, uh, that could definitely be. One season of your business. Another could also be when you’re working on a big project. So it’s almost like the pre launch to a big growth phase. Okay. So you’ve come out of this meh phase, you’ve found your inspiration. You’ve started doing some groundwork. You’re putting elements into start kind of building things to just to get things moving again. Um, You’re starting to kind of forge new territory, pave sort of a new path forward. There’s a real excitement there for you as an individual, because you’re getting your creative juices back on, like you’ve got inspiration again, you know, you’re excited sort of about what’s next. It could be even as simple as you bringing in a new product or a new service or grabbing like a new piece of equipment to add to your business. So it doesn’t need to be a complete. Overhaul. Right. Um, but you’re definitely diving into, um, sort of the next chapter, really. It’s, it’s that new height within your business and the pregnant pause aspect could be that, you know, you are sort of maintaining kind of pretty steady within your business. There could be a little bit of a drop off, obviously, because your attention has turned into kind of building something else, so there’s a, there’s a bit of a shift there for you. Um, And I find this space to just be actually really exciting. And if you are in this phase, then just ensure that you keep the balance that with your business that already is existing, but you don’t just a hundred percent, you know, head down, bum up and forget about everything. That’s already kind of working, but absolutely focused on what you’re building, what you’re creating, but don’t forget about what you already have and make sure that. That gets nurtured and looked after as well. Alrighty. So we’ve covered some key phases of business that I’ve certainly experienced over my years. I don’t think that these are an exhaustive list. I’m sure that you might even be considering, you know, there could be something else that you yourself has have experienced, but I feel like this definitely covers, you know, a large portion of. Of what, what happens within business. And the real takeaway message for you guys today is beneath it all. It’s a reminder to be deeply present with where you are at. and where you are going and understanding that sometimes there are things that are very much outside of your control and the economy is a perfect example of that but how you choose to respond to that is really very much up to you and you are responsible for your response to that and how you manage, you know, your business through that. So if you are finding yourself constantly caught up in the, when is this, when is this economic situation going to get better? When is this going to stop? And when is that you, you’re losing your personal power, and you are also shifting your attention away from what is directly in front of you. Now, my steps to navigating through this are first and foremost going ground yourself. You need to kind of come back to center because there’s an element of you being scattered. As soon as you are stressed out about, you know, that crappy client or the person who didn’t show up or the business deal that fell through or the Something you didn’t get approved for or whatever iteration of that example that works for you, when it throws you off balance is an element that it scatters you a little bit. So I want you to pull yourself back. First of all, ground yourself, then take the pressure off. Okay. Acceptance of where you were at, at the moment. It doesn’t matter how you got here, but where you’re at is everything. It is so pivotal. It’s really, really important to understand that you accepting your situation does not imply that that’s where you choose to stay. It simply means you step out of resistance and into responsibility. And guys, that is powerful. And I know how hard that is in the moment. But let me just reiterate this again. When you step into, sorry, when you step into acceptance of where you are at, which phase you are in, in your business. You step out of resistance and into responsibility because in those moments you take responsibility for where you’re at, what is going on, how you got here and what it is that needs to change to either get you back on track or to get you up to the next level for where you wish to go. The next thing I want to say is that there is no. Good or bad, there is no right or wrong, just like I mentioned in the beginning. There are many paths to the top, and I want you to understand that whichever phase you are in your business, don’t for a single second think that you are, that you’ve gone backwards, that you’ve lost yourself. You can course correct at any time. And you will absolutely keep swimming and keep going and moving forward within your business. Perhaps not the way that you originally set out, perhaps in a better way, perhaps in something different. There is also an element of, excuse me, divine timing at play here and other factors. So just keep at it. With every phase, also understand that there are Elements of work that needs to be done. So just like I mentioned, when you are in like the super growth phase where everything’s clicking in, like, yes, it can absolutely be easy to just sort of go, okay, cool. We’re good. We’ve got there. I can step back a little bit. But understand that if you do that for too long, you will lose your footing and things will start to slip off. So it’s really about you identifying, okay, so in this phase, how do I enjoy this? How do I reap the rewards and give myself that benefit? But how do we market this business at this different level. How do we grow and expand from here? How do we improve what we’re already doing so that we don’t lose our footing? Okay. So there’s always nuances in correcting and just making sure that things are flowing nicely and easily for you. Okay. Um, likewise, when you’re in the love phase. And when you are subject to seasonal, seasonal discrepancies in your business, like, can you do campaigns for those holidays? Can you launch promotions that also give you a little bit of a boost during those school holidays and those months where things are a little bit quieter. So it’s absolutely about getting creative and having different thoughts about what you can do at different times to grow this business. Okay. So I want to wrap up today’s episode with just going over the messages that I received in my meditation last night about taking your power back. And. For me, that was really powerful. So I sincerely hope that I do it justice in translating it to you, but taking your power back is multifaceted and multi layered. Now I’ve heard people talking about it all the time. Just take your power. I’m just like, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Like for me, it really went over my head. I was just like, I don’t get this. How do I take my power back? Now, multiple levels. Taking your power back is you making choices for yourself that support you for the highest good. So if your personal health is something that you want to work on, you going, you know what? I’m going to prioritize going for a walk or joining this exercise class or whatever it is and committing to it and seeing it through. That’s you taking your power back versus you sort of being in a state of, well, I’m not happy with this and I can’t exercise because I don’t have the time or the weather’s bad or it’s the season’s wrong or my kid’s this or fine edge. Okay. When you are making excuses and you aren’t prioritizing yourself, that’s a way that you’re losing your power. So when you are prioritizing yourself, that is about you taking that power back. Okay, the same goes for healthy food choices. It is a choice between a banana and a banana muffin. It’s a no brainer, okay? The message really has to do with not allowing yourself to, um, B. That’s the right way to say it. Nice not being a victim, but when you are just not allowing yourself to make choices for yourself, for what’s in your best, highest good, because of concerns about other parties or other forces or other things, you operate your business yourself. You move yourself forward. You navigate the season that you are in and you pull yourself out of it. Now, my job as a coach here Again, as I said in the beginning, isn’t about telling you what to do. It is no coach’s job. It is not our Dharma to go, you should do this. You should do that. It is my job to empower you with choices for you to make that decision yourself for what is best for you. See the connection about taking your power back that is coming from you, that is an informed decision from you about what is most powerful and in your highest good for you, even if sometimes it doesn’t make logical sense in the 3D. Alright, so that is all from me today. Short and sweet. I hope, I don’t know how long I’ve been going, but it may be a little while before I am back on into the weekly pod. Otherwise, I will be dropping in and out for a little while. I’m obviously still available for coaching calls, um, and absolutely working with clients, but I’ve had to pull back a little bit from socials because my bricks and mortar needs, um, a little bit more attention for a few things that I’ve got going on there. And so I need to kind of put my head down, bum up for that little business before I can step back into this one in the fullest capacity that I would absolutely love to be in. So stay tuned. I will definitely be releasing more episodes. I will absolutely be getting back into a regular swing of things very soon. But until then, this is me giving me permission and also you to run your business your way, the way that you need to, and the way that supports you. Power to you, blessings, and we’ll chat soon.