I want to speak to something that has been coming up with a few of my clients recently and I don’t hear being spoken about much in the online space.
Which is, “how do I continue to run and grow my business during a time in my life where I am facing a difficult time”. Whether that means health challenges, personal issues or simply feeling disengaged from your business.
Of course, this may look different to everybody and so I wanted to share with you some ways which have supported my clients’ move through these periods as well as some ways I personally approach periods in time where life feels a bit more like you’re walking through mud.
The number one thing here is, I want to normalize times like this happening in the first place.
We are beautifully, emotive, creatures walking around trying to figure this all out together. A phrase that supports me during periods like this is, “this is living”. Meaning, (perhaps controversially), that I don’t believe that we are supposed to be brimming with ecstasy every moment of every day.
We are meant to feel everything; this is all part of living.
The joy of running your business, setting your own hours, eating your favourite breakfast every day through to sadness, anger, frustration and everything else that comes with being human and a business owner. So, I encourage you to release any guilt or shame around feeling this way and find comfort if you can, that this is the universal experience of every business owner at some stage and that is completely normal and natural to feel.
Could work be my reprieve?
For many of us, we are doing work that we genuinely enjoy doing. So consider the reframe, could work be my reprieve right now? Could I lean in instead of leaning out? Sometimes it’s giving ourselves permission to know that yes we can feel challenged, and we can also use this feeling to lean into our businesses so it can support us instead.
Otherwise, as yourself:
What does ‘bare minimum’ look like right now?
If plugging out of your business is what you feel would serve you best right now. I would encourage you to consider, “what does bare minimum” look like for me right now? Knowing that this will be different for everyone.
Perhaps it looks like showing up for your client calls, posting 3 times a week, nurturing your leads and that is all. Look at what your business really needs and decide what that is going to be for you and commit to giving yourself space outside of that. Knowing that if you want to dive back in at any point, you absolutely can.
If it serves you, you can put a timeline towards this, “I’m going to do this for one week, give myself permission to self-care and after that I’m back in again” or, “this is what this season looks like and that is okay, next season will look different”.
Another question to consider here is:
What does support look like right now?
Do I need to lean into my coach and get their support throughout this period? Do I need to delegate more to my team? Do I need to lean into my friends and family more?
Remember that you are not in this alone, we’re social creatures, we’re meant to be in community. So lean into yours if you feel the need to.
If reducing your workload isn’t on the cards for you, how can you make business as automatic as possible?
How can you make it so that you are “running through the motions” so to speak. So you can plug into your business, get the work done and plug out when you need to. What systems can you set up? What automations can you put in place to help support you and alleviate some of your brain space throughout this period?
If you are feeling this way at the moment, I hope this words have supported you and if you’re not, I would encourage you to consider how you can pro-actively set yourself up so that you have the support and systems to set you up through the natural ebbs and flows of life and business. Doing so, will not only support you in difficult moments, but can also give you more space within your business in general, so you can spend more time working on your business or doing other things you love to do.
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