female business owner

A Little Better: The vision for your business that REALLY matters

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Pre-S: Key links you might be looking for… Enrich the mastermind. The Better Christmas Plan course. My upcoming FREE workshop on how to stop people-pleasing.

Reminder: 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 episode is about the vision that matters in your business.

At the beginning of August, I wrapped up a 6 month mastermind. This intimate, soul-filled group of three women with creative businesses have been meeting with me every Monday afternoon, more or less, since February.

We’ve talked about business struggles, goals, personal challenges and strengths. We’ve learnt about each other – and about ourselves and what works for us.

Towards the end of our six month journey, we talked a lot about what we really want. About that line between what our logical, eager, opportunity-seeking brains can see, and the deeper longings of our creative souls.

We journalled. We coached. We talked. We uncovered.

I can’t tell you how powerful it was to get into the detail of it all.

We’ve been reflecting in our group chat recently, and it has made me think a lot about creating visions.

I’m a visionary sort of person. I can see possibilities and opportunities. It’s a strength I have, part of my personality. When I first started my business and started mentoring small business owners, I believed it was a big deal – an important piece of the puzzle. I could step into a client’s shoes and SEE.

As I’ve developed and trained more deeply, I know that my vision for a client is often a distraction. My excitement about a certain possibility can get in the way of uncovering a client’s true longings. These days, I’m dedicated to getting my vision out of the way and pouring my creativity into nourishing your vision and supporting you instead.

Here’s what I want you to know:

My vision for your business doesn’t matter.

Your partner’s vision for your business doesn’t matter.

Your staff, your friend, your mum’s vision – none of them matter.

Sure, you can lean on them and listen to them and cherry pick some things from other people’s vision.

But do not get tangled up in them.

You can spend so much energy trying to create something that someone else wants you to have. You can even experience a type of success.

But true success is YOUR vision, your values. It’s the difference between an inner glow as you receive the order or start working with a new client or start a new project – and slogging away as a means to an end.

I use visualisations fairly often in my work. And honestly, you can try it yourself, too. Take 15 minutes, set a timer, let yourself relax, and let your inner wisdom guide you to visualising a significant time in the future. Like mid-December, or this time next year. Notice what comes to mind without questioning it. Feel the energy of it.

Then spend 10-20 minutes writing it all down. You might find some surprises for yourself in there, and my experience is that they will motivate you and support you in making positive changes.

There’s a visualisation for Christmas in my Better Christmas Plan course, which is available for just another three weeks. It’s a game-changer if you’re a product-based business owner ready to level up this season.

And I’m opening up another Enrich mastermind starting in September. If you’re ready for more connection, more vision, more courage, and more soul in your business, this is for you.

To celebrate opening the mastermind, I’m teaching a free workshop on people-pleasing and how to stop it from running your business on Thursday 2 September at 8pm GMT.

Are you a leading lady? Or are you a best friend?

If you’re reading this, chances are you WANT to be the leading lady in your business, and in your life. But maybe you haven’t quite made that leap yet, or perhaps you’d like to feel more empowered, stepping into that Proper Business Owner role…

Today, I’m sharing inspiration from festive favourite The Holiday to give us some clarity and some gumption (great word) as we start to embrace our title role in our own lives.

I’m not ashamed to say I’ve watched The Holiday a LOT. I can recite scenes, and there are lines I know by heart. This is one of them:

You’re supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for god’s sake.

Iris, played by Kate Winslet, has a tear-inducing lightbulb moment when retired movie writer Arthur tells her she’s being more best friend than leading lady. It’s a lightbulb moment for all of us!

First of all, no shade to best friends. We all need best friends. And in real life (not the movies) we are meant to support each other in being the leading ladies of our own lives. My best friend, Kelly, is the leading lady of her life, and I support her journey. She also supports mine. And in a beautiful way, this happens in our businesses too. I’m a client of hers, and she’s a member of the Better Business Collective – and we lean on each other for different things.

But back to the point, here. Maybe you can relate to this…

In my early twenties, I was being a best friend. Not to one specific person, but to most other people and figures in my life. My boss at work, my family and friends, even the people on the tube, all had more importance than me. I would bend and flex to meet their needs, rather than asking for what I needed for my own sparkling storyline.

By my late twenties, I was a leading lady. Strong in my convictions, I stood up for what I thought was right, for what worked for me. I started my business, I put myself in the centre of my life, and it allowed me to contribute to my relationships, clients, and the things that mattered.

Now, in my (gulp) thirties, I have children, a marriage, a mortgage, and a business. The responsibilities are more complex than they were 7 years ago. I am in a new phase of being a leading lady, one that requires grace but also integrity. It requires putting myself at the centre of my story, even when mum guilt and society tell me to just play it small and quiet.

So how do we put being a leading lady into practice?

It’s a good question. Let’s use the movie metaphor a bit more…

In a movie, everything that happens – every action, scene, dialogue, piece of information – ultimately tells us more about the leading lady’s story. Anything that doesn’t move her narrative and development forward is superfluous.

So her best friend is there to provide insight. A challenging situation or accident or any external action is there to show us how she responds to it. Her enemy or antagonist is there to challenge her, help her grow, change her for the better.

I’m not suggesting we all turn into raging narcissists where everything is about us – far from it. I AM suggesting we consider our own storyline and development, noticing the things that take up our time and energy, and assess whether they are fuelling the story or getting us off-track.

✨ How does x thing (an event, a story, a person, a conversation) impact you? Is it helping you to move forward and grow, or is it holding you back?

✨ Are you holding your head high, knowing you belong wherever you go? Or are you apologising before you even enter the room?

✨ Do you recognise that your responsibility to yourself is greater than your responsibility to others? That, in fact, no-one else can be the boss of your life?

✨ What if you let yourself be the leading lady for the day, the week, a month?

✨ And are you willing to let your dream, your success, steal the show?

The thing is: being a leading lady is really about stepping into leadership, and I love that Arthur in The Holiday makes that something we can relate to. Because leadership can sometimes sound like suits and boardrooms and hotel conferences.

But what if leadership is being a leading lady? Commanding respect. Feeling empowered and empowering others. Taking actions that demonstrate your commitment to your dreams.

That’s the kind of leadership I can get on board with. I hope you will, too.

How to make better business decisions by balancing head and heart

I’m a big believer in balancing our heads and hearts as business owners, founders, and creatives. Building a business requires savvy decisions, smart strategy, and ongoing education, but building a business that’s right for you and aligns with the life you really want — that’s all heart, and maybe some soul too.

So as a small business owner, whether you’re a one-woman-band solopreneur or creative founder with a fantastic team supporting you, how do you engage both your whip-smart head and your super-strong heart?

Before I share three things that will help you use both, let me explain a bit about what happens when you’re out of balance.

Too headstrong (and not in a good way)

If you’re in your head too much, you probably experience some or all of these things:

  • You overthink everything
  • You get caught up in what other people are thinking or doing
  • You spend ages making decisions, even for small things
  • Or you make quick decisions, without really considering whether it’s the right option for you
  • You’re ticking all the boxes of what you “should” be doing, but you’re not seeing the results or feeling the satisfaction
  • You create new products and new marketing content regularly, but it doesn’t seem to connect with your customer base
  • You’ve reached a turnover or income plateau and don’t seem to be able to break through it

Our brains are really clever. Like, better-than-your-computer clever. But they also get stuck in problem-solving and worrying mode really easily. Unchecked, our heads are too logical (think Mr Spock in Star Trek) and have a tendency to lead us down paths that “make sense” but don’t feel good.

Too much heart

If you’re in your heart too much, there are some things you might experience:

  • You have no idea what you made last month, quarter, or year
  • You have lots of creative ideas, but not so much follow through
  • You find yourself doing a lot of tasks manually when they could be automated
  • You get caught out by unexpected bills you could have anticipated
  • Even though you have a team, you end up doing too much yourself because you aren’t managing the people or the work effectively
  • You spend a lot on pretty things or fun-sounding education, but you don’t see an ROI
  • You often under-price your products and services, or offer discounts
  • You LOVE to go with the flow, but important tasks get neglected until they’re really urgent (I see you, tax return avoiders)

Our hearts are our pathfinders. They’re the creative epicentre of our lives and businesses. All things considered, I believe our hearts and souls are the best bosses. But without the wisdom and savvy of our minds, they can get a bit floaty, a bit ungrounded, and kind of exhausted.

In balance

When our heads and hearts are in balance, we’re in flow. We’ve got the gorgeous creative direction, the vision, and the unique creativity that we’re here to share. Plus we’ve got structure and systems that help us to stay creative – and stay in business.

You might find that you nodded your head to some things on the head list AND some things on the heart list. That’s not unusual. It means that you’re giving your heart some of the head’s jobs and vice versa. Balance means you’re strong and healthy in both areas.

Balance is a verb rather than a noun – it’s something we practice rather than something we achieve.

So how can we practice balance between head and heart more?

  1. Give your brain information

Because our brains are super-computers, they thrive when they have accurate data to play with. When we give our brains information, it filters into our unconscious, giving our “gut” (aka subconscious / heart / soul) more powerful responses.

In practice, this means reviewing your sales figures regularly (I’d say once a month), understanding what your bestsellers are, checking your most popular search terms or website pages, and checking how customers actually reach your website. There might be other pieces of data you want to feed your brain, but these are some good starting points.

  1. Let your heart do the talking

Once your brain has data, it will filter it through to your heart. Which means we can fully trust our hearts to be the strongest compass for our decisions and our direction.

If something looks right but feels wrong, that’s your brain doing the talking. If something looks weird but feels really right, that’s your heart and soul shining through. 

  1. Hire your brain as your heart’s VA

Ever fancy getting a virtual assistant to get things done? Your brain is a really, really good VA. When you let your heart set the agenda, figuring out your vision and where you want to go, you can then plug in your brain to do that tippity top problem-solving it’s so good at.

Your head can check out the numbers on that new product you’ve designed to make sure they add up. Or perhaps you set your head the task of creating a nice smooth process for your order management so that your heart has space to create and dream and feel passionate about what you’re doing.

Whatever you do, don’t let your heart do your mind’s job – or vice versa.

So, are you more head or more heart? What can you do to regain some balance and make wiser business decisions?

Jenny x

PS If you’d like to learn how to feed your brain good data and then let your heart lead, this free workshop is for you.

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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.