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An Essential Mindset Shift For Entrepreneurs

An Essential Mindset Shift For Entrepreneurs

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”

Napoleon Hill 

In this post, I want to tell you a story about a woman I once coached. As you read the story, see if you can relate to her experience.

It was a woman I hadn’t spoken to before. I had “met” her in a Facebook Group and offered her a complimentary coaching session. Not only did she show up (not everyone does) but she was on time, which was an encouraging sign. As soon as we began, I could see that she was keen to make the most of the session.

I opened the session as I always do with someone I don’t know, by asking her if she’d ever had coaching before. She hadn’t, which led me to explain a little about how I coach. I explained that one of the primary tools I use to uncover what’s really going on and what might be getting in the way of my client moving forward is language.

I explained that the language we use, shapes our world and often, what we’re saying out loud (and internally) on a regular basis limits and hinders our personal and professional evolution in far greater ways than we ever realise.

She nodded. I could see that it made sense.

I asked her to tell me what was going on in her world.

I am my own worst critic she said.

I wrote it down and nodded at her to go on, I wanted to hear more.

She told me of her troubles, her worries and her uncertainties and then she said these words.

I’m one of those people who….

It’s a bit like an alarm going off in my head when I hear those words, everything thereafter feels somewhat irrelevant, for I know that it’s in those seemingly, inconsequential words that the struggle lies. Not in the words that follow.

I went on to explain that when we categorise ourselves as one of those people who…(complete the sentence any way you like), we immediately limit what we’re capable of. We put ourselves in a box that’s incredibly difficult to break out of. I put forward the case that nothing, but our own limited view of what we’re capable of, stands in the way of our ability to achieve our greatest potential.

This is just one example but I hear those words often.

Here are some of the most common things I hear as a Business Coach.

I’m just one of those people who…

  • can’t finish things
  • gets easily distracted
  • can’t focus
  • is rubbish at…
  • has no discipline
  • finds it had to get started
  • gets easily overwhelmed
  • doesn’t like to…
  • struggles to concentrate
  • can’t create on demand.

I invite you to consider which box you are putting yourself in and to politely call bullshit on it.

I’m able to call bullshit because I have a multitude of examples from my own life and from the people I’ve worked with who have, with time, exceeded their own expectations of themselves and broken free from the boxes they themselves created and I bet that if you look within, you’ll see examples from your own life too.

And this doesn’t just happen to us on our entrepreneurial journey. If we get wise to it, we start to see how we do this to ourselves all over the place.

To share a personal example. I used to say (often) that I’m one of those people who kills plants. Try as I might, whatever type of plant or flower that came into my care, would die swiftly, no matter what I did to sustain it.

Last summer, I decided to change this story and committed to starting a balcony garden (not my first!) that would thrive rather than whither. THRIVE was my 2018 word of the year after all! I promised myself that this time things would be different, which in turn allowed me to show up differently.

Here’s what did to honour my commitment to changing that story:

  • I watered my plants every other day without fail (and showered them with whispered compliments as I did so).
  • When we went to the UK for 6 days, I implored my partner to rope in a family member to come and water them in our absence.
  • When they looked a bit sad, I went on a mission to buy larger pots and two bags of fresh soil and I repotted several of them, which seemed to cheer them up.
  • I googled how to take cuttings from my mint plant, rather than rip off leaves mindlessly.
  • and possibly most importantly of all I trained my then 15 month old not to smash my plants with his toys and to be gentle with them instead.

Two months after beginning my balcony garden journey, it was thriving (see picture below). I remember feeling thrilled and amazed because never before had plants under my care looked like this.

The difference I’m illustrating here is the difference between a fixed mindset (this is just how I am and I can’t change it) and a growth mindset (this is how it is right now but let’s see what I can do and learn to improve things).

“when we have a “growth mindset,” we believe that our intelligence, creative abilities, and character are things that we can improve in meaningful ways. We can always learn and get better at what we do.”

~ Carol Dweck

Take a moment now to look at where in your life and business you might be limiting yourself with a fixed mindset and consider what you could do to change the story. Perhaps you keep telling yourself that you can’t put yourself out there because of your introverted ways. Perhaps you’ve convinced yourself that you can’t create until inspiration strikes. Whatever the story, challenge yourself to break it.

As I write this, I’m on day 9 of a personal challenge to write 30 posts in 30 days after I had previously been struggling to write one a week. When I first conceived of the idea, my first thought was there is no way I can do that! then my growth mindset kicked in and my second thought was let’s give it a try and see how we get on!

“In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you’re not the best—it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome.”

~ Carol S. Dweck

Trust me when I tell you that you have infinite amounts of potential within you and to access that potential, sometimes all  you have to do is change the story.

I’m curious where in your life do you know you put yourself into a box? Where in your life are you giving yourself an excuse not to take action by telling yourself that you’re just not the kind of person who…? Please share in the comments below any insights you’ve had from reading this post and any new stories about what you are capable of that you’d like to now write. 

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The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

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3 Books That Have Influenced My Creativity

3 Books That Have Influenced My Creativity

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” 

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

I loved this book so much. I read it years ago and still talk about it with people often. It’s a book about creativity, which means some people might dismiss it, if they don’t consider themselves a creative but as Liz says in the book: “If you’re alive, you’re a creative person.” And as far as I’m considered if you are an entrepreneur you’re highly creative or at least you need to be.

There are two main ways this book has influenced me. The first was a huge insight I had around fear. Realising that we don’t get to eradicate fear and more to the point, fear is always going to shout the loudest precisely when we are about to create something, anything. The question then becomes how can we continue to show up and create in the face of our fear?

Liz answers this question beautifully with her analogy of a road trip. She says this:

“It seems to me that the less I fight my fear, the less it fights back. If I can relax, fear relaxes, too. In fact, I cordially invite fear to come along with me everywhere I go. I even have a welcoming speech prepared for fear, which I deliver right before embarking upon any new project or big adventure.” 

You can watch a video of me below reading the welcoming speech she mentions. I highly recommend taking the time to watch it as it just might change the way you see fear forever. It has me.

There are many other big ideas and aha moments I got from this book. One other that stands out is the idea that women, more than men, are prone to perfectionism. She says this:

“Perfectionism is a particularly evil lure for women, who, I believe, hold themselves to an even higher standard of performance than do men…too many women still seem to believe that they are not allowed to put themselves forward at all, until both they and their work are perfect and beyond criticism”

I’ve definitely witnessed this in my work with many female entrepreneurs but reading Gilberts’ words on the subject were powerful and affirming. When we are more aware of this propensity, we can take measures against it. I definitely have benefited from taking the “wild leaps” Gilbert says she wishes more women would risk taking.

The War of Art: Break Through Your Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

What I loved most about this book is how adeptly Pressfield puts into words what most of us experience when we try to access our creativity. He calls it Resistance with a capital R and in his straight-from-the-hip style he shares with us how we can win battle against our own resistance.

It’s in this book that he first introduces the concept of turning pro and in the context of our creativity, simply put, means getting to work. As he states in the book: 

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.

Why is this so important? 

Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious begins to happen. A process is set into motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose…

When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favour in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.”

He covers meaty topic like procrastination and fear and has something smart to say about it all. This book isn’t so much thought-provoking as it is action-provoking. What it helps us to do is have a heightened awareness of the existence of Resistance and the lengths it will go to to keep us small. If you know that your inner game is keeping you from truly contributing to the world, then consider this book because as Pressfield says: “Creative work is….a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

 

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

This is the book that I read most recently and it’s been a total game-changer for me. In it, Newport argues that ‘deep work’, one of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. In a mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice he convinces us not only of the merits of deep work, in terms of both professional output and personal fulfilment, but of the dangers of the increasingly dIstracting and informationally overwhelming world we live in. 

“Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction…[it] will make you better at what you do, let you achieve more in less time and provide the sense of true fulfilment that comes from the mastery of a skill.” 

There are so many big ideas in this book that I will have to dedicate a whole blog post just to the concept of deep work, but I want to at least give you a flavour of how great this book is.

After doing a really great job, in part 1 of the book, of convincing us how important a skill deep work is, in part 2, Newport shares with us 4 rules to follow to get better at this important skill. #1 Work Deeply, #2 Embrace Boredom #3 Quit Social Media and #4 Drain the Shallows.

I know, I know! Quit social media!? I feel you but don’t worry, in this chapter Cal teaches us several ways to take healthy breaks from social media and to be more selective in our use of it. He argues that most of us have adopted an “any benefit” approach to choosing which social media tools to use, meaning that we rarely consider if the benefits of using the tool are worth the costs of doing so. So for example, if we join Instagram just because it’s fun to be on social media but then scrolling through countless images becomes our main form of procrastination, was the benefit really worth it? Food for thought indeed.

In rule #1 Work Deeply Newport teaches us about the importance of downtime and says: “downtime helps recharge the energy needed to work deeply.” and he gives us plenty of ways to ensure we take effect effective breaks. One of my favourite ideas from the book is that of a strict work shutdown ritual to conduct at the end of your working day and you can see the one I wrote and printed out for my office below.

I don’t manage to do this everyday. Sometimes my 2 year old gets home from nursery before I get a chance to do it and his cries of “Mama!” pull me away from my computer quicker than a hand touching hot coals. But when I do get the chance to do my shutdown ritual, it feels so great to leave behind my work, knowing that everything is taken care of and ready for me to start the following day knowing exactly what needs to be done.

Essentially that’s the beauty of this book for me, this idea that when we work, we really work, we go deep and refrain from the shallow and when we stop working we really switch off and think about anything but work. 

I love these 3 books, each has shaped my approach to my work and my creativity as an entrepreneur. Gilbert has influenced how I handle my fear, Pressfield my Resistance and Newport my distractions. Have you read any of these books? If not, has reading this post inspired you to pick any of them up? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below. 

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Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

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How Easy Is It for Your Ideal Clients to Find You

How Easy Is It for Your Ideal Clients to Find You

In this post I want to talk to you about how easy you are making it for your right-fit people to find and to buy from you and share some simple steps you can take to really improve your reachability. 

I’ve been listening to an amazing recording lately of a Marketing workshop run by the wonderful Tad Hargrave in which he shares, among other things, the idea that our right-fit people are looking for us, yet so many of us are doing a terrible job at allowing ourselves to be found. He stresses the importance of having clear paths that lead people right to our door and uses this analogy:

“So many people set up their businesses in the middle of a forest with no paths leading to it. They are hoping that somehow, lost in the woods, the right people will stumble upon them and want to buy what they’re offering.” 

The more paths you have established that lead to your door, the more easily you can be found and ultimately the more revenue you will generate. One caveat to this is that some people have the paths piece down only to drop the ball when people show up at their door. More on that below.

I’d love you to take a moment now to consider the paths you have set up. Below are some examples of paths you might have in place or that you might consider setting up:

  • Blog post writing 
  • Being active on social media (then there are several paths within this such as Insta stories, being active in groups etc) 
  • Hosting a podcast
  • Advertising 
  • Public Speaking 
  • Running Workshops
  • Networking
  • Leading webinars
  • Giving out flyers

And so on, there are many more paths out there than this but hopefully this gives you an idea.

What’s important to note here is that having the path in place is not enough.

To continue the analogy, what you absolutely must do is make sure that your home is set up to receive guests once they land on your doorstep. Imagine if you did all this work carving out the perfect path but then your doorbell was broken so you didn’t even answer the door to people because you had no idea that they had even arrived.

This is more common that you might believe. Let me give you an example of how this can go.

A business owner has heard that a great way to connect with her right-fit people is to show up and be active and supportive in specific groups on Facebook. So she spends countless hours doing just that and it works, it’s getting people’s attention, they love what she has to say and how she is showing up in the group.

The problem is that when people read her wise and informative comments and then click on her name to find out more, her personal profile gives no clue as to what she does or how to connect with her business.

I see this all the time and what it means is that the path created is pointless because it’s not actually getting people through your front door (and having them become subscribers or customers).

I don’t actively promote my business on my personal profile but I do make sure that anyone who is checking me out on Facebook can find my business through it. To see my profile head here (and feel free to add me as friend!) or look at the Intro section of my profile in the image below and you’ll see that it’s fully optimised with links to my website, my business page on Facebook and a clear one-liner about who I work with.

This is just one example of where and how you might be losing people who have followed your path. Another common one I see is no clear way for people to take the next step to work with you once they land on your website. Not having clear calls to actions that allow people to easily take the next step is another way you might be missing out on new business. Be as clear as you can be about what needs to happen next, is it an email or a call? Do they need to complete a set of questions? Do you have your prices and packages clearly laid out? Be certain you’re not making them jump through any hoops to get all the information they need in order to hire you.

If you haven’t given adequate time to creating the paths in the first place, then my best guess is that you’re really struggling to get clients.  So here’s what I want you to do. Take some time to map out the paths to the front door of your business and contemplate creating more paths if you realise that your business is lacking in this area.Once you’ve done this, then check out what happens when someone follows each path. Are there any obstacles that might cause them to give up and turn back? Are there any glaring holes that could prevent people from accessing your services once they reach you? When we are busy in the day-to-day detail of our business, it’s super easy to lose sight of the big picture.

Taking some time out, a morning or an afternoon to map out your paths and then making sure that your business is optimised to receive the people who show up, makes far more sense than spending wasted hours working on activities that are sending people to a dead-end. Or spending all of your time creating incredible products and services, but having no paths in place for people to find them.

If you enjoyed this piece, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Feel free to share any insights you gained about your own business and the paths people can take to find you. 

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Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.

Four Marketing ‘Tactics’ That Erode Trust

Four Marketing ‘Tactics’ That Erode Trust

Trust is built when someone is vulnerable and not taken advantage of.

~ Bob Vanourek

As conscious business owners it goes without saying that we want to cultivate trust with our audience. We want to be of service and have our clients’ and customers’ best interests in mind. We’re all about having a positive impact on the world so the idea of doing something that would erode trust between us and our audience is abhorrent to us.

But here’s the thing, as conscious business owners, we are bombarded with messages from online business experts and marketers that in order to succeed we must use strategies that do just that. Erode trust. We know that these tactics don’t feel good, in some instances they feel downright icky but when we so desperately want to get our message heard and share our positive gifts with the world, in the absence of a more conscious alternative, it can be tempting to fall into the trap of thinking they are a necessary evil.

In this post, I’m going to share with you 4 such strategies so that you can avoid falling for them as you navigate the online marketplace and be more mindful of using them with your clients.

 

1. Using false scarcity to pressure buyers 

We see this all the time in online marketing. It’s not uncommon to be told we have 24 hours to buy or the offer goes away forever, only to head back to the same page a few days later to see that the countdown time has reset.

Sometimes it’s the early bird or registration deadline and a big deal is made of this looming deadline, which, we learn shortly afterwards, has actually been extended.

Sometimes it’s claims about limited spaces left. I’ve even talked to people who have actually been told by a business coach to make claims like this, even when they have no sign-ups at all, purely to encourage people to buy.

People use these strategies because often in the short-term, they work but once we catch-on to the lie, the damage to the relationship between business owner and client can be irreparable. As the saying goes:

Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.

There are of course times when scarcity is legitimate. There is a deadline because your program or course starts on a specific date or there is a limited number of spaces because there are only so many people you can accommodate at the venue you’re hosting your talk. Sometimes we choose to limit numbers because we want to make sure we can give each person adequate personal attention. All of these reasons are valid. What is not valid, is using false scarcity as a “tactic” to pressure people in to making a quick decision to buy.

2. Playing on people’s Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) 

“Last Chance” “Don’t Miss Out” “There’s No Time to Lose!” “ONLY 1 DAY LEFT!” I got all of these statements from emails in my junk folder today. Playing on our fear of missing out is so prevalent these days and when it’s used for something you’re genuinely in two minds about buying, this tactic can be anxiety inducing to say the least. Just as with scarcity, there are of course legitimate points at which the potential buyer may miss out on making the purchase if they don’t buy. But there are also times when FOMO is played on when it’s not legitimate just to force the sale.

What’s definitely not okay is when business owners play on your fear of missing out by insinuating that by not enrolling in their program or signing up for their service, you will be missing out on that which you are trying to create or realise. Mark Silver of Heart of Business says this:

“When a marketer is pushing you around not losing out on realizing your hopes and dreams, that should be a caution flag. There is a way to mention this as a point for folks to consider: Is there a dream they’ve been putting off? This is a problem endemic in a broken culture – deferred dreams, and is a legitimate consideration for someone…If, however, the marketer is implying or saying that the only way to stop deferring your dream is to enrol in their program, that is wrong.”

If you are considering a purchase and find yourself feeling anxious because of the marketing messages coming from the business owner, consider this a sign that FOMO is being activated. Consider whether or not you want to invest in a business that uses this to pressure you into buying.

3. Making unrealistic promises or guarantees

Working within the business coaching industry, I’m only too aware and often aghast by all of the “Six weeks to 6-figure” messages we see these days online. “Work with me and I’ll show you how I went from broke to making six figures in six months” often accompanied by filtered images of said business owner living the good life, working on the beach for only 2 hours a day.

For business owners struggling to break even, working every hour god sends and battling self-doubt and fear, promises like these can be seducing. Who wouldn’t want to make money fast and live a life of freedom and reward? But so much of this is, at best seriously exaggerated and, at worst completely fake. If it were that simple to get rich so quickly and so easily, everyone would do it. Seriously. What’s happening more often than not is a pyramid scheme of people making good money from selling people the dream of making good money and how to sell that dream to others.

Whenever you hear a promise that feels too good to be true, the chances are that it is. Don’t get me wrong, there are people whose businesses grow fast, but even that is not necessarily something worth chasing. Slow and organic growth, rooted in integrity and service, rather than tactics and manipulation is a far safer bet in the long term for you and your audience.

4. Dressing up your sales pitch as “free” content or training 

This is a strategy that really erodes trust. We’re offered something free, a webinar, a training series, an article or e-book, only to discover that what we are receiving is in fact a thinly-veiled sales pitch.

How many webinars or free trainings have you watched or listened to which dedicate the first 20% of the call with the host bragging about their credentials and success, 20% of the time at the end pitching a new program or product and the rest of the time full of taster content that’s not substantial in itself but gives you just enough to whet your appetite for more. This is a tried and tested model and for many it works because when combined with time-sensitive offers using false scarcity and playing on FOMO, as buyers we’re really getting clobbered on the manipulation front.

How about offering good quality, meaningful, (truly) free or truly affordable content instead. Wouldn’t that make you want to invest in someone’s services, more than the former approach?

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”

~ Stephen R. Covey

 

Have you used one or more of these tactics? How did you feel about doing so? This post isn’t meant to judge but rather inform, I myself have used some of the above, before I got wise to the fact that a) they don’t benefit my audience or my business and that b) there is another way. It’s the mission of my business these days to empower and educate other business owners how to do business differently.

I’m curious, what unethical marketing and business strategies have you come across? I’d love to know, so please take a moment now to add to my list by commenting below.  

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Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

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Conscious Business – What It Is and Why It Matters

Conscious Business – What It Is and Why It Matters

When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.”

~ Joseph Campbell

What is conscious business? Put simply it’s a business that puts people before profits. That puts impact above income. It’s a business, that, at its core is about caring for others and making a difference.

When we change the way we do business, we change the world. 

Imagine for a moment a world where business was a force for good rather than greed. A world where the primary concern of business was the betterment of humanity and the furtherment of equality, health and wellness of all peoples. A world where business owners genuinely care for their clients and customers and have their absolute best interests at heart. A world where the business owners who operate with the highest levels of integrity, are the most prosperous. A world where meaningful business takes priority over the meaningless.

This is the world of conscious business.

When we change the way we do business, we change the world. 

A conscious business owner:

  • Operates with integrity and knows that how we sell matters.
  • Wants her business to be a force for good and knows that how we do business is a key part of that.
  • Puts the needs of the customer above the goal of making the sale and is willing to turn down a sale when it’s clear that what she is offering is not a good fit for the buyer.
  • Prioritises the cultivation of trust and connection between herself and her audience.
  • Rejects the use of manipulative marketing tactics to pressure her audience into buying.
  • Constantly seeks to ensure her products and services are of real value to her audience.
  • Makes positive impact the goal of everything she creates.
  • Is completely transparent when selling and uses no tricks or gimmicks to hide that fact. Instead simply presenting what’s on offer in a clear and honest way.
  • Works towards sustainability because she knows that an unsustainable business in the long term helps no-one.

Because here’s the thing. Having a product or service designed to have a positive impact on the world isn’t enough. If you employ gross and manipulative sales strategies to make your business work, then you defeat the purpose of creating something positive. As heart-centred, purpose-driven, authentic and conscious business owners, we have a duty to run our businesses with integrity. To be an example of how the world of business can work for good.

When we change the way we do business, we change the world. 

Our business can be an expression of consciousness. Of a deeper awareness and understanding that we are all connected. If we manipulate or deceive one person, we manipulate and deceive ourselves.

It’s no secret that big business rules the world and that it keeps our society in a place of greed, consumerism, selfishness and inequality. It is my firm belief that if we change the way we do business we change the world, when conscious business owners prosper, we change everything.

What do you think? I’d love to hear what the term conscious business means to you? Would you consider yourself a conscious business owner or something else? Let me know in the comments below. 

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I’m learning about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.