The trick to running a soul-based business is not to get tricked into selling (or not selling) your soul and your time in the name of service. I know you want to serve. At the highest level. But until you know what that is, and how to do that with integrity and value, it can be soul-destroying. A fine recipe for burn-out and bailing out.
I’ve been super quiet the last week. On the backside of my 4-day Biznest Retreat I (almost) ran out of puff. There were no words. Just a gentle coming back to myself, and a few home jobs and lots of time. A week later I’m still quiet. Cups of tea and the oil diffuser on, and no client appointments and no shoes.
The retreat was incredible. The perfect blend of business and spirituality. The duality of morning meditation and then 2017 planning. The mix of local, fresh food and screen time. Workshopping value proposition and an abundance ceremony on the beach with fire and ritual and offerings. Content creation followed by reiki. Marketing and customer segments, giant sticky notes, brainstorming and deep breathing. You know it huh? The mix up of structure and magic. State and strategy. Stillness and action. That’s what soul-based business needs.
As a coach I work in the level of foundations – all the stuff you need to KNOW before you can DO.
Foundations include: knowing yourself, relationships, connection to purpose, figuring out what to do with that, knowing the people you are here to serve, self-care, finding your God/your guidance centre, knowing your worth….so much KNOWING. But all of this UNDERPINS what’s possible. You can know how to do marketing, or to coach or to heal or to speak or to write, but without the foundations clear it doesn’t seem to do what you want it to do. Many people I work with think this is because there is something wrong with them or the beautiful thing they have created. This is so far from NOT TRUE it’s not funny. It’s just being miscommunicated or it hasn’t been created with them in mind (those you are here to serve) because they are not hearing the message or they are not certain it’s for them (even if you are).
One of the biggest job’s we did on retreat (because the women there have worked with me or others on knowing themselves and their gifts) was exploring the customers. The trick of really identifying WHO we can serve, in the best way possible – for them and for us. The trick about loving to serve is that we can get caught in the over-giving or the bit where we know we can help others so we help them for free or for little so they can have something great (but it’s often unappreciated because they haven’t yet seen the value, and then it feels weird. Or we get resentful. Or tired. So very, very, very tired).
Your energy is the most important resource you have. Time feels like a resource, but without energy time is just this thing that ticks away while we sit and try to muster to strength and the motivation and the mojo to move on. Which is impossible without energy. This energy is valuable, so valuable, and when you are healer or a coach or someone who is centred on serving others you need to honour this – by exchanging your energy for other energy (money, resources, fuel, light). If you don’t do this, you won’t be honouring the true gift you have. One of my chicks on retreat said one of her biggest realisations was “by not charging for it, I’m actually disrespecting it”. Yep. Her magic is magical. A pure and loving gift.
When it comes to purpose there are actually two very distinct types of people I work with.
- There are those who don’t KNOW what their purpose is, or what they are meant to doing that, or how a purposeful life would feel. To KNOW is not about knowledge or education. To KNOW is about KNOWING. The KNOWING that lives inside. (If you are not sure if you KNOW, then we should talk so I can help guide you to it. It’s powerful).
- Then there are those that have the KNOWING, or at least a sense of it and just need some clarifying, and then they can go into DOING with KNOWING. Many people in life and business try to DO without KNOWING, and it’s hard. Like hustle. And pushing shit up hill. (If this is you (if you KNOW or sense the KNOWING but don’t know what to do with that), then we should talk so I can help map your pathway to DOING with KNOWING. It’s powerful). Once you get clear you can craft alive the life or the soul-based business that keeps expanding YOU to the world. We need you. We really, really do.
If you want to come to KNOWING in 2017, you should talk to me about incubating purpose. Starting early February.
If you want to get DOING with KNOWING in 2017, you should to talk to me about group mastermind or intensive 1:1. Starting mid-January.
If you don’t know where to start, but know it’s time to do something, you should book in for a free session to map out the pathway forward.
Don’t wait too long. Once you get clear you can craft alive the life or the soul-based business that keeps expanding YOU to the world. We need you. We really, really do.
After I work on retreat, or anything big really I have to make sure I honour myself, my value and the daily holding space and magic-making we did on retreat. The bringing forth of knowing, the challenging, the teaching, the conversations, the organising, the being ON. It’s not been without challenges.
After a day or so of honouring I got bored (or that’s what my ego tells me). I worried about wasting time. I worried if I didn’t write it all out IMMEDIATELY it would be lost (all the good messages and the learnings). I wondered about the cashflow implications of not “working”. And then I breathed and I honoured. I spoke to come other soul-based business people and found out what they needed, and gently reshaped the ideas in my head and my heart about how I can serve them if that’s the right thing for them. I burned a lot of oils and ate lots of food and walked slowly when I picked up the kids from school. I helped them clean and reorganise their rooms. I felt bored hanging out washing (or that’s what my ego tells me). I wrote in my head for brief moments and then stopped. I attempted to unpack the suitcase from retreat, but then left it. Open but full. Breathing.
And now we are back. Back into what needs to happen before the school holidays and Christmas is upon us. The beginnings of mapping out how to support others to have a 2017 that is magnificent for them.
And back to serving, with the duality of nurture and teaching. Business and spirituality. Science and magic.
