intuitive business Archives - Page 7 of 8

Here's the thing: simple abundance

As I write, I have a list of ten blog posts I want to write. This subject of simple abundance didn’t quite make the list this week, especially as I posted about finding enough last week, but it really feels like what I want to say today, so here it is.

Abundance is a challenging concept when we’ve lived in a world that forces scarcity down our throats in a bid to get us to work really hard, buy the “right” things. In a world where having the majority of people feel inadequate is “good” for business – good for capitalism.

Abundance is a challenging concept for small business owners, entrepreneurs and creatives. When you’re self-employed, there’s a leap of faith. A client asked me this week if I thought that it ever stops being uncertain. The answer, truthfully, is no, I don’t think life ever stops being uncertain, we just get better at trusting it and ourselves. We just get better at making huge leaps of faith.

Abundance is a challenging concept for parents, especially when you’re a small business owner, but also just in general. It can feel like there’s an infinite amount of time, money, and energy you need or could spend on your children and your life. And how do you teach your children the resilience required to live in a world that believe in scarcity, when you’re afraid yourself?

First, let’s just decide to believe that you are stronger than you currently believe. You have resources you haven’t even dreamt of. Or perhaps you remember a time in your life when you really had to dig deep – you know what you have within you. Except there’s more.

And then let’s decide that there’s enough in the world for everyone. There’s plenty, in fact. Perhaps that’s quite a suspension of disbelief for you. Just try it on for a while. There’s plenty of time, money, resources, customers, ideas, opportunity, love, space. It’s just a matter of seeing it.

The trick, really, is to be able to see it.

And that requires a hell of a lot of strength. Because you have to get really clear about what you want more of (and what you don’t). You have to keep holding yourself to want you want, and set up all these boundaries around it, so that you’re not leaking out your time and energy to things that don’t give you what you want.

That hour you spent scrolling through Facebook? Not giving you what you want. The time you spent lying awake wondering what to do about such and such project? Not giving you what you want. The energy you spend second guessing yourself, or the world, or your customers? Not giving you what you want.

Here’s the thing:

Start finding your own simple abundance in the everyday. Discover for yourself that there’s plenty right in front of you. And start finding the leaks and gently, carefully, sealing them up.

Abundance is the fully functional tap in your kitchen. As much water as you like, whenever you like! And hey, is that a kettle I see over there? You already have the means to make as much delicious, comforting tea as you like. Do not compromise on tea. Get your absolute favourite out right now and enjoy it! Maybe you even spend a moment feeling grateful for everyone who has made it possible for you to drink such a delicious cup of tea – the tea-pickers, the tea company, whoever invented tea bags or tea pots, the shop you bought it from, the plumber who hooked you up to the water main, the kettle manufacturer. Simple abundance, in a cup.

Abundance is the 10,000 (approximate figure) opportunities I see on a daily basis. To create an amazing pop up shop. To send out brilliant press releases. To put yourself out there. To add personalisation to that product. To improve your photography. Endless tweaks, and big business ideas. But listen: you can’t see them if you’re caught up in scarcity or fear or busy-busy. You get to choose how busy you are. Choose the things that bring you closer to abundance, rather than feeling unfocused and weary.

Some leaks to fix:

Social media. Switch off your notifications for at least an hour a day, if not more. Feel the clarity rush back into your brain.
Working when you’re over-tired. Rest is essential to productivity. The better rested you are, the more efficient you’ll be. Sleep. Have a lie down. Seriously, have a lunch break or a quiet sit today.
Requests you don’t want to agree to. Do you keep getting caught up in doing people favours that aren’t fun, or dealing with customer requests that take up your time? Put a boundary around your time and sanity, and say no. Consistently. With grace. And then move on.
Email. I don’t have the answers to this, but start by unsubscribing from anything you don’t read. And then set up filters or rules to move any notifications into a folder. Simple abundance.

These are the small tasks that take courage, energy and strength to do the first time. But I promise that as you do them more, they’ll become less of an effort. You’ll be able to say no with ease, and you’ll realise how much benefit you get out of keeping your energy for yourself and your business.

Abundance is simple. It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be a sudden increase in sales or income. It doesn’t have to be a mansion or a yacht. It can be a cup of tea and an entire hour to yourself.

Give yourself abundance. The world isn’t going to. But you definitely can.

PS My new ecourse, Inspired Action, is now open for registration. Taking place in July, it’ll include four weeks of inspiration and guidance to help you start or improve selling online. It’s basically everything I know about setting up shop! Read more and register here.

Here's the thing: defining enough

When you’re working by yourself, in charge of everything, it can be really hard to decide when to stop working, when to finish a product, when to say ‘I’ve done enough today/this week/for now’.

This has become a theme in recent conversations with clients, and having also made some headway myself on this, I thought I’d share some guidance on how to define ‘enough’ for yourself.

And I want to caveat this post by saying that I, too, am walking the line a lot of the time. I don’t do this perfectly. It’s a practice. I’m working on it.

And let’s work from a place where we all know that cultivating the belief that we are enough – good enough, wonderful enough, worthy of love and belonging – is vitally important to our wellbeing as human beings. Practicing doing enough won’t get you there all by itself – you also need to work on the fundamental belief – but it will help.

So. Let’s dig in.

Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t believe that enough is defined by an external measurement. Or at least, that’s the way to madness. If someone else gets to decide when you’ve done enough, or when you’re a worthy person/business, you’re going to spend your entire life hustling for someone else’s approval. And, seriously, that’s never going to bring you happiness.

Defining enough by other people’s standards or approval might look like:

Being ‘enough’ when you force yourself to work 9 to 5 (or beyond) because you ‘have to’
Being ‘enough’ when you achieve a certain number of sales per week, month or year (that rapidly increases when you get there)
Being ‘enough’ when they like you
Being ‘enough’ when you’re featured as much as other people
Being ‘enough’ when you can say yes to every single opportunity that comes your way without struggling

These are just some examples. I think it’s important to note that defining yourself by a sales target is troublesome for me, because you’re ultimately relying on other people (customers, clients) to ‘approve’ of you, like your products, take an action that you can’t control.

And this is about defining ‘enough’ for you, within the realms that you can control, or at least significantly influence.

Last week, I announced on Facebook that I won’t be taking on any more clients until at least July. That decision was scary. I’d been thinking about it for about a month before I finally made the call. Yes, I was still scared when I put it out there. It’s brave. But ultimately it’s a decision that came with a whole bucket of relief, and has allowed me to feel like I’ve done enough each day since.

I knew that I was taking on too much work – way more than I could complete to my high standards. It felt like I was never at the end of the to-do list, that I’d never done enough at the end of each day.

So, I asked, what would be enough for me to do each day?

I’ve asked myself this before, when I started my business. But that was nearly a year ago. Some of the things I put in place still ring true, but my daily and weekly routines are much better defined now.

My daily enough has themes, but it changes from day to day. For example, on Wednesdays, I have three client calls, which is a lot for me. I have allowed myself to make those calls the minimum to reach ‘enough’ for that day. I don’t have to do anything else to have done enough. Sure, I often complete my notes as well, or get through some project work, or emails. But I don’t pile on the pressure to do any more than show up for those calls.

You might decide that enough is getting out orders for the day. Anything else is a bonus. Of course, you might get 50 more orders a day, and you can’t control that, so you might decide to define a number for yourself.

Here’s the thing…

How to define enough for yourself:

Set the bar low. If you expect yourself to achieve too much within a given timeframe, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Focus only on the things you can directly control. I can’t control how a client is going to feel after a call. I can’t make it a success, or guarantee I’ll give them exactly what they need. All I can do is show up, without distractions, with an open mind and heart, with all my experience, and without judgement or agenda.
Do not compare yourself to others. Their enough is not your enough. You cannot see the resources they have available, as much as you might like to think so.
Start by defining enough for each day as it comes. Then collect the themes together. Sometimes each day or week requires its very own enough, rather than trying to cookie-cutter your enough definition amidst shifting circumstances.

Some additional questions to ask yourself:

How many hours would be enough today? I typically don’t force myself to start ‘work’ – emails, phone calls, projects – until 10am. I spend a huge chunk of the morning reflecting, setting up my day, so that I’m settled and fully present. Low bar.
What’s really, truly essential? Don’t let anyone else define, for you, what’s important to do today. Just because someone expects an immediate response to an email doesn’t mean you have to give it, especially if it’s not a priority for you.
How will you respond to the unexpected? If your child is sick and you suddenly have to drop everything to take care of them, can you shift your ‘enough’ definition? Because you won’t be able to do what you usually do. And you’ll still have done enough, you’ll still be enough.

These are really just starting points on how to define enough. I think it is an ongoing practice, and inevitable is a personal practice, too.

My hope is that you’ll start to think differently about what you hold yourself accountable to. Feeling enough is something we all struggle with, and some of us it’s a daily struggle, especially when we’re caught up in society’s standards of perfection and a very specific picture of what it means to be ‘good at your job’, or even acceptable.

Please start to shake off those definitions created by other people who have no idea what your dreams are, what your challenges are, what you’re capable of.

Imagine defining enough as something achievable every day, and being able to end each day feel like you’ve done it all. You wouldn’t have to worry about the things you haven’t done, spending precious energy on something you can’t control. Imagine all the energy you’d have to slowly, consciously, carefully, do the things that really matter to you.

For me, it’s about making a significant difference in the lives of my clients. If I’m too tired to listen properly, or too overwhelmed to remember what we talked about last week, I’m not meeting my side of the bargain.

What do you define as ‘enough’? I’d love to hear!

Here's the thing: when opportunity knocks…

How do you spot opportunities? How do you decide which ones to take and which ones to put to one side? Do you struggle with feeling like there are too many opportunities, or too few?

I’ve been thinking about opportunity a lot recently. It seems like it’s a big theme for me, in my business, and for my clients.

In my experience, there are people who tend to see lots of opportunities wherever they are – things that could be done better, new ideas to try, new ways of saying something, a market need or solution to a problem. I’d count myself in that category of people. It just seems to come naturally to me to visualise how something could work. It’s a combination of optimism, idealism, and experiencing things that have worked.

From that point of constantly seeing opportunity, there’s a downward scale to not being able to see opportunity as easily. Sometimes, that’s a result of genetic predisposition, or having been around people who have the gift of opportunity-seeking.

Sometimes, our ability to see opportunity is foggy because we’re in the thick of it – taken over by day to day worries, tasks and to do lists. I know this to be true, especially after running the Small Creative Business Retreat in March, when a weekend of rest, no orders, and no chores allowed my guests to see things more clearly, to see the opportunities in from of them.

So, to see opportunity (before we even think about acting on them), we need to have the mental-emotional capacity and headspace to see them, as well as some experience of using our vision.

And then there’s deciding which opportunities to invest in. This is trickier territory. I’m pretty sure I could teach anyone to see opportunity, given enough time and resources. But deciding which ones to take up? If anyone had a hard-and-fast rule to figuring that out, I’m sure they’d be a millionaire.

Recently, I’ve found that opportunity has come knockin’, as well as the dozen or so ideas and projects I have on a list waiting to be given some attention. It is incredibly difficult to put them to one side! And how do you even decide which ones to push forward?

Here’s the thing:

I thought I’d share my personal opportunity evaluation process, and a bit about my recent decision not to take on any new clients.

What are my overarching business/personal goals and intentions? This is a biggie, but if you haven’t already put in the time to ask yourself this question, spend even half an hour to think about it. Sounds like too little time, but honestly, if you’re really focused on what you want, it’s plenty! Once you’ve got an idea of what this looks like, make sure you have it written down somewhere you can look at it when you need a reminder.
Which opportunities are getting me closer to what I really want to do? Let’s make a move on them.
Are there any quick wins? If there’s anything that requires relatively little effort for a good outcome, I might pop these up the list, but it REALLY depends on what else is going on. When I’m busy, very few things like this move up the list, because I have very little energy/time to spare.
What isn’t time-sensitive? There are PLENTY (think giant notebook full of ideas) of things that I know I’d like to do one day. I don’t have to do them now. There isn’t much lost if someone else does something similar – I’m going to do it my way anyway. So the pressure comes down.
Is there anything I can pass along to anyone else? Sometimes, there are are real opportunities that I can see are going to make someone some money or benefit them in another way. Rather than squeeze myself into every possible shape, I try to share them with people who may be able to make more of them than I can. Sometimes, it’s passing on a product idea to a client. Sometimes, it’s referring a potential client to someone with different experience.

They’re just five pointers I use to figure out my opportunity list. It’s then the art of saying ‘no’, even if I’d love to say yes.

Recently, this has been my big challenge. I’ve been run down by too much going on, too many clients, and I’ve had to cut down on taking new clients on. It’s a big deal, even if I feel relatively confident in it now. There’s always the scared part of me that thinks I should say yes to everything – but I’m not letting that part of me run the show.

I hope you’re able to see opportunities a little clearer with these ideas. It’s all a practice. The more you allow yourself to find opportunities, the more you’ll see them in unexpected places. And the better you get at saying no, the easier it will become.

But don’t forget to say yes sometimes, too.

Here’s the thing:

Here’s the thing:

Enter The Forge