Sometimes, my business causes me anxiety.
It’s true! It’s easy to assume that the businesses you see humming along online or on main street are free & clear of worry and doubt. But anxiety, stress, and self-doubt creep in at the most unlikely of times.
True story.
And I’d say it’s true of any business mentor, coach, guru, authority figure you pay attention to. There are days when the ups & downs of normal business weigh on you. Even when you know better. Even when you’ve planned better.
Over the next few months, you’re going to hear quite a bit about what I’m calling “self-care for your business.”
At the heart of it, business self-care is setting up your business to take care of you.
Click to tweet that little nugget.
I have begrudgingly pulled all-nighters, I have worked for cheap, I have forced launches, and I have created content to serve something other than my higher purpose. It has never worked. It’s never “been worth it.”
Hard work is a necessity. But senseless work is not.
What is senseless work? It’s work for work’s sake. It’s working from your weaknesses instead of your strengths. It’s doing the same thing over & over again and expecting a different result.
One place senseless work has crept up on me – and always caused more problems than its worth – is when I’m worried about where the next dollar is coming from.
When I’ve been worried about discovering the next offer or attracting the next client, I take the focus off my real mission. I take the focus off of recreating our connection to the greater economy.
I take the focus off the organic process of discovery & attraction and I put the focus on acts of force.
Thanks to a framework from Alexis Neely and a language from Sinclair, I have crafted a system for always knowing where the next dollar is coming from. I know months & months in advance what my offer schedule is and, most importantly, why.
It’s not just about the money or sales but about what those sales mean for moving my mission forward – therefore serving myself while serving you and the world.
That said, there are still times I get a little antsy over money. After all, I’m fighting scarcity conditioning that has been in place for quite some time.
My revenue – while sustained – is not always constant. I’m getting used to a new pattern of money flow. Didn’t I just get used to the last pattern? About two weeks into every (planned) down period, I start to freak out.
I start to think about the quick buck. The easy out. The drastic measures I’ll need to take to keep myself afloat.
This isn’t survival mode – which has been known to motivate some pretty extraordinary behavior. This is self-defeating. It’s wasted energy. It’s just plain unnecessary. And it’s potentially very damaging.
Nope, I’m not immune to these bouts of panic.
But I do have a system, a practice to fall back on.
Just like others might fall back on yoga, a long walk, an exercise routine, a good cuddle, or knitting – perfect for taking care of yourself – I know that I have a point of focus and safe space to fall back on in my business.
I can whip out the calendar or jot out a fresh perspective on my planning in my notebook. And, while the panic may linger, the confidence comes right on back.
I can go right back to serving you, creating greatness, and discovering new ideas. I can do the work that matters and stop dwelling on the work that doesn’t.
I weather a storm that isn’t really there. And I still come out stronger & more focused on the other side.
Your next steps:
- Have a business self-care practice of your own? Share it by leaving a response below.
- If you want to learn more about self-care for the soul of your business, check out a little (big) something I’ve been working on for the last few months.
- If you want to discover more of my philosophies & practices for earning beautifully, pick up a name-your-own-price copy of The Art of Earning.
