Little Better: Cultivating human connection in business

This week’s podcast episode unlocks a key to being successful in business that you may not have heard before: cultivate human connection. How? Listen in to discover more!

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Do you struggle with motivation as a small business owner?

Maybe you find it hard to sell your products with conviction?

Or perhaps you find yourself scrolling social media, because that’s the easiest way to get what feels like connection?

I want to offer one guiding principle to help with all those questions – and many more.

The answer? Cultivate human connection.

With the vast majority of businesses now doing most of their business online, and that tricksy little global pandemic, many of us are craving human connection.

Rather than going to an office, doing errands in small communities, and having close-knit friends and neighbours, we’re on t’internet pretty often. This is fairly tough for us primates, who like eye contact and scent and loads of other biological factors to feel trust.

It’s no surprise we turn to social media for a quick fix. It’s not the same, but it kind of meets the craving. It doesn’t fully satisfy it, though.

When you take the time to cultivate connection with humans (and sometimes pets), it recalibrates your brain. So spending quality time with family and friends outside your business will help your business, because you’ll feel more connected.

It will also help you to feel motivated and sell more, in the background.

But here are some specific ways to cultivate human connection for your business.

To build up motivation:

You need to have a business squad.

I’m a big believer in finding the right support for you in business. That’s not necessarily your closest family or friends – unless you’re really lucky!

Instead, boost your motivation by cultivating connection with business besties – people who get what you’re doing, can cheer you on, and support your success.

I created the Better Business Collective for this exact purpose.

To find confidence when selling:

Cultivating human connection in your marketing makes it easier to sell, no matter what you’re selling.

See your customers as real humans, with real aspirations and needs and wants and problems. Be human, invite in their humanity too.

Show your human self, or at least content with humans in.

Rather than getting stuck in “buy my thing”, step back and consider what it gives another human in their everyday experience.

This will give you language and confidence to step up and share, and I promise it will feel good, too!

So go and book a coffee date with a friend, hug your kids or pets, and start finding that business squad.

A Little Better: Are You Trying To Sh*t Miracles?

Pre-S: Looking for the How To Find (And Keep) Your Focus workshop? Head here.

Does your to do list require miracles to get ticked off? My wise sister’s advice is for you in this week’s mini episode!

Today’s Little Better episode is my first sweary podcast episode. I mostly try to avoid swearing because as a podcast listener, I sometimes listen with my kids around, and I want you to be able to listen whenever works for you, too.

But I couldn’t get around this one: we need swearing!

So if you’re up for that, let’s dive in.

Beyond swearing, this episode is about the need to focus in business so that you can actually make progress and see the success you’re dreaming of.

A few years ago, I had a photography studio in addition to my coaching business. I had a talented team, and we produced product photos and content for product-based businesses. My incredibly talented sister (now a fancypants producer for Adidas), Holly, was the Studio Manager and we had such a blast working together. 

In her wisdom, and with her deep wit, she said something to me that I’ve never forgotten.

She said, “Are you trying to shit miracles today? It really seems like you’re trying to shit miracles.”

My friends, she was right. The to-do list wasn’t realistic. It was based on the idea that miracles would appear from nowhere.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in magic and miracles. Daily. Regularly. Unexpectedly.

But basing the success (or even viability) of your business on overcoming the odds, being superhuman, isn’t the way to go. If you need a series of miracles in order to get through the day or week, you need to take another look.

There’s a reason I don’t have a photography studio anymore.

Since then, I have honed and developed a talent: focus and flow.

Focus: to dial in on the things that move my business forward and have greatest impact.

Flow: to allow the things that trip me up or ask me to shit miracles to flow away.

I’ve always been kinda good at prioritising. These days, it’s the first place I start, and it’s a huge part of how I help my clients and Collective members.

The first step is to realise that focus is your friend.

Focus allows you to create a meaningful, profitable business with your sanity intact. By reducing your focus to 2-3 key projects, you actually increase your productivity overall. Focus means you can complete projects in a way that feels really good and has desired results, rather than being all over the place with 10,000 things you’re kind of doing half-heartedly.

Focus allows you to be all in on the things that matter.

Ready to learn how to focus? Curious about the systems I use to keep me focused? Want to stop waiting for miracles just to get through the day?

Join me for a free workshop on How To Find (And Keep) Your Focus As A Creative Business Owner on Friday 10 September, 10:30am GMT.

A Little Better: Friday 13th, Feeling Lucky, & Creating Your Own Luck

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This summer, on The Better Business Podcast, I’m releasing a capsule collection of shorter episodes that you can dip into for inspiration. They’re released on Fridays throughout August and September. Full episodes will be back in October.

Today’s Little Better episode is about Friday 13th, feeling lucky, and creating your own luck.

A couple of years ago, I went to a DIY shop to get a replacement shed lock (glamorous life, as always!), and I decided to register for an account. As I gave the nice chap at the counter my address, he noted that I live at number 13.

“Unlucky 13!” he said.

“Unlucky for some,” I replied. “Not for me!”

I told him how I had also grown up in a number 13, and so I always associated it with home. I didn’t tell him about the energy of that particular home and time in my life were full of happy memories and energy. It was a DIY store on a Thursday evening, so I didn’t want to push it.

But 13 has never felt unlucky to me.

As I was thinking about this encounter recently, I thought about luck. I might not care about Friday 13th, but what are my stories about being lucky?

Do you feel lucky? Do you tell yourself that you’re unlucky, that it’ll never happen?

Meghan Genge talks about magic and miracles, and how when we expect them, we see them.

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it,” said Roald Dahl.

The voice that tells you it’ll never happen for you, that you’re just not the sort of person that gets the big break or the good news – that’s your inner critic, trying to keep you safe and small and avoid vulnerability.

It’s safe for you to see everyday miracles, like finding the perfect parking space, or having all the green lights. Notice them where they happen.

As I was writing my ideas for this episode, I saw a quote from Shonda Rhimes, one of my all-time favourite humans, the powerhouse behind Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and loads more.

She said, “I am not lucky. You know what I am? I am smart, I am talented, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way and I work really, really hard. Don’t call me lucky. Call me a badass.”

I mean, she’s not wrong.

But what if we can be lucky – and create and grow our own luck?

What if we get smarter about spotting opportunities?

What if we become a total badass at courageously putting ourselves out there, shining our light, and graciously receiving the luck, the prosperity, the good news, that we get in return?

Your mission, if you choose to accept it this week, is to get luckier.

Notice the luck you have. Articulate the luck you want. Switch on your opportunity detectors. Channel your savvy boss lady energy into creating more luck for yourself.

Friday 13th is a great day to change the story, and change your world.

optin-cup

Enter The Forge

Life's too damn short to chase someone else's definition of success. I'm here to give you the courage and tools to forge your own path.