How can you make your business support you (instead of the other way around)? Does it work for you right now? Or against you?
Last week, when my good friend, Mande White was on the Divinely Intuitive™ Business radio show, we got into a discussion about the different ways we have built our businesses.
That conversation got me thinking about why we market our businesses the way we do. Mande and I are very different people, and we have very different styles and loves. And we have walked this path together for 6 years, trying lots of different ways to market, and finally settling into what works for us.
But along the way, both of us fell on our faces more than a few times. I tried some techniques that she loves, and she’s tried some that I love. I failed miserably at some things she excels at, and she’s, well, let’s just say, some methods didn’t work out for her either, that have done very well for me.
Why is this? Because we are geniuses at doing different things. But more than that, we have different reasons for building our businesses. And we have different passions pulling us forward.
Ultimately, what I have come to realize about building a business is this:
Your business has its own energy, its own life force,
its own chi – its own personality.
And you are a partner to your business.
In order to birth and grow and nurture that business,
You must listen to it.
You must listen to yourself.
You must know yourself, and honor yourself.
Here’s a great example of this. Right after I met Mande, she invited me to the Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle for Miami. I went a couple of times, but discovered I didn’t like it very much. The people were great, and the content good, but it wasn’t a fit. I didn’t know why, but I just hated getting dressed and driving to Miami once a month.
So I tried other networking groups. And discovered I disliked them as much. However, what I learned that I loved were live events, where people like me in the coaching industry, got together and learned from someone who was further along in their business. They were usually 3-day events, and I had to travel to get to them. I always came away inspired and motivated. And I always made some fabulous connections with people.
For a few years, I made myself wrong for disliking local networking events. I didn’t understand why that was (aside from the getting dressed up, hair, make-up, driving someplace, etc., etc.).
Then one day, I realized this:
My #1 reason for building my business online
was so that I could have the freedom to move
wherever I wanted to, if I wanted to.
One day, when my daughter has children (and I hope she does), I am standing in the intention of being able to move my business so that I can be near her and my grandbabies.
Going to local networking events and putting down roots here in South Florida is not going to support that #1 reason, since she lives over 1,000 miles away.
Mande loves getting dressed up and going to events. She’s putting down roots here in South Florida. She loves connecting with people live and in person. It’s part of her genius.
For me, I love connecting online, through social media and over the telephone. It’s part of my genius.
This conversation allowed me to come up with some questions that will support you as you build your business:
- How is your business serving you?
- How is your marketing serving your values?
- WHY are you building your business?
- Why do you want to do it the way you do?
- Is your marketing supporting that “why?”
If it is, great. If not, then let it go and find a marketing technique that does. There are A LOT of them, so you can find the ones that work for you.
Getting clear on your “why” will help you immensely in creating a business that will support you – not the other way around.
