HOW TO PROTECT YOUR PEACE WHILE GROWING YOUR SOUL-ALIGNED BUSINESS
Welcome to the SOUL-LED & SUCCESSFUL SERIES.
This is letter six, so if you’d like to start from the beginning you can find letter one by clicking here.
LETTER SIX:
I remember sitting on my bed (aka my first office) on a Sunday morning just about to open a client call on zoom, but feeling absolutely heart-sick because my son was sitting outside the door crying. Now don’t worry, my incredible husband was home so my son wasn't alone, but he just hated being away from me. He would sit at my door for the full hour every Sunday morning while I worked with my client. As much as I loved supporting my clients and was excited to grow my business, the cost was too high.
The thing about running our own businesses is that a lot of unforeseen issues tend to come up and before we know it our biggest job becomes managing our emotions and our mindset while trying to balance what our business needs with what the rest of our life needs.
For me that looked like, do I protect my peace (and my son’s peace) or do I keep growing my business? I was in the incredibly privileged position of being able to choose peace over profit, but what I really wanted was both. I know you want both too.
So let’s talk about how to build a business that brings in life-changing income, but also protects your peace, energy, time and freedom.
Step One:
KNOW YOURSELF REALLY, REALLY WELL.
This first step is super obvious, and yet, it’s often the most ignored so bear with me…
We all have at least a vague idea of who we are but after 8 years in business I’ve realised that our self-perception shifts rapidly when we start a business. As a soul-led woman I know you understand this. Whether it’s losing yourself in comparison, or realising your identity has been built upon years of conditioning, or discovering new healing modalities and perspectives that push you to look at yourself more deeply, or facing unforeseen struggles and doubts that really show you what you’re made of. Starting a business throws your identity under the spotlight.
And it’s really hard to protect your peace when you’re running yourself ragged trying to be who you think you should be, rather than who you truly are.
When you know who you truly are it is so much easier to make decisions in your business that are deeply supportive to who you are and how you want to live. That’s where you find your peace. Not in the perfect proven strategy, but in knowing who you are and honouring that in every decision. I go into this in depth in my FREE audio series You Are The Magic if you’re interested in taking this further :)
Step Two:
ASSESS YOUR BUSINESS TRAJECTORY AGAINST YOUR VISION
You’ve probably built out a really beautiful business ecosystem. You’re smart, you’re guided and you’re determined, so of course you’ve built everything with intention. However, if you’re like 98% of us (yes I made up that statistic), you’ve also built most of your business around what you see working for other people. Don’t get me wrong, that is incredibly smart, but only if you’ve also run it through your own personal alignment filter (learn how here) so that you can know with confidence that your strategies allow for the growth you desire without leading to burnout.
Often we look at each offer individually and assess it for it’s ability to meet our current goal, but it’s also important to assess how it’s going to impact your life and potential business growth long term.
Maybe right now you can reach your income goal with 6 private clients, but if you wanted to increase your income you’d need to take on more clients and that would mean you no longer have time for your morning meditation. Do you sacrifice your peace to increase your profit or can you tweak the way you run your coaching container to allow for growth?
That’s a super simple example, but I just used it to help you see the importance of assessing where your current business is heading against your vision for your life because upholding your vision also means protecting your peace.
Step Three:
AUDIT YOUR BUSINESS FOR ENERGY LEAKS
Running a successful business while also enjoying a glorious freedom filled life means becoming a master at protecting your energy. Every part of your business has an energetic cost right? That’s a good thing. But how many parts of your business do you find really draining? How many parts of your business are using up more of your energetic battery than necessary simply because you haven’t taken the time to optimise your systems? How many things are you doing because that’s how everyone else seems to be doing it?
There are so many ways that you can be leaking energy in your business. Some energy leaks are worth it because of the outcome. Some energy leaks are unnecessary and can be removed or at least reduced with a bit of creative thinking. Some energy leaks are more emotional than physical. Some energy leaks are because you’re using a strategy that doesn’t align with your unique personality, energy, soul gifts, time availability, boundaries and vision.
Every tiny part of your business has an energetic cost and when you audit your business for energy leaks you’ll be amazed by how much more intentional you get about every piece of your business. When you start to look at your business through the lens of energetic cost you become so much more efficient and it becomes so much easier to protect your peace and your priorities as you grow your business.
THERE ARE TWO THINGS TO BE MINDFUL OF WHEN PROTECTING YOUR PEACE AS YOU GROW YOUR SOUL-ALIGNED BUSINESS:
1. Be aware of any tendency to get caught up in doing things because they seem to be working for other people. Be aware of where your excitement about trying new things is coming from. Are you implementing this new strategy or hiring this new coach, because it's absolutely the right choice for you right now, or because you have shiny object syndrome?
2. Allow yourself to make changes along the way even if something seemed like an incredible idea at the time. You are constantly evolving and growing and that means your experience of all the different parts of your business is evolving too. If something that once worked is now feeling heavy, give yourself permission to let it go. Don't hang onto old things out of habit and emotional attachment because of all the work you've previously put in.
There will be times where, like me, you may feel called to choose your peace over profit in a really drastic way and that's ok. But even if you need to always prioritise profit, there are ways to also prioritise your peace that don't involve burning it all down. Maybe there's a little tweak or refinement you can make that will relieve some of the pressure. It doesn't always have to be dramatic.
This is why my work is so heavily focused on understanding who you truly are before you make any big decisions in your business.
When you know yourself well you are so much more equipped to make choices that will support you in the way that you need them to, even if everyone else is doing things differently. Then you layer really beautiful, intentional strategy over the top.
You are the only one who can decide what you're able to handle and what you're willing to handle. Your business needs to fit into that. If it doesn't, and you're feeling like your business is draining you instead of supporting you, you may like to consider working with me 1:1. This is the work I love to do with my clients. You can learn more about my services here:
With love,
Michelle xxx
P.S. Click below for letter 7 :)