If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you.

I posted this quote on Facebook the other day and today I was inspired to write more to go with it. I simply love it and wish that all of us could really embrace its intent. When I posted the quote, I remarked that many business owners make the mistake of thinking that they can create better results in their business and in their life by focusing on improving or changing things around them. For example by improving their business systems and processes, re-designing their website, by wanting to change people around them or by simply always trying to do more and be more - working harder and longer, sometimes at the expense of their most important relationships with their spouses and kids.

But in my experience the key to growth and real results comes by leading your business and your life from the inside out. By being willing to look within at what needs realigning in you so that you can show up as a more authentic and aligned leader of your business and your life. I absolutely believe that we all have a unique gift and talent that we are here to share with the world, but sometimes we get out of touch with this along the way. But the more you can be aligned with your gift and step into your truth and lead your business for a place of total trust in yourself and in your gift, the greater results you will experience. That’s not to say that having the right systems and processes, people, website etc. is not important, but the way you show up as the leader of your business comes first. You need to be showing up as an authentic, confident leader, in order to even know what systems and processes and people will be best aligned with your vision and your truth for your business.

How do I know this? Well because first of all I’ve lived it, second, I’ve seen it many times over in my clients and their businesses and lives, and third I’ve seen it show up in the international development work I do, where sustainability of project results is an ongoing issue because many development projects work at the systems and process level, or build technical capacity in people without working with people from the inside out. So when the project leaves, the people have not been empowered within to create lasting change.

Let me highlight what I’m talking about by telling you a little bit about my personal experience. I know for me that addressing some of my core beliefs and patterns has really helped me to take my business to the next level. For a while after moving to the US I got out of alignment with what I truly knew I needed to be doing and I wasn’t really trusting the universe to support me. When I’m in this space my fallback position tends to be trying to do more and be more and pushing and forcing things to happen. Maintaining a sense of control is also really important for me when I’m in this space and at that time so many things in my life had just changed, including moving countries and having a baby, so control was more important than ever. But when I really took the time to feel into what was going on, I realized that underlying a lot of my anxiety was old money beliefs including a fear of lack, and a fear of not creating too much for fear of losing it.

So my mind would tell me that if I relaxed or let go of control even for a second, I would not have enough and/or I could lose everything I did have. The consequences of this for me were taking on work for the money even when it wasn’t in alignment with what I knew I needed and sometimes not charging what I’m worth. This resulted in poor health, from not enough sleep and constant stress, guilt that I was not spending enough time with my kids, general crabbiness with my family and resentment because I felt over worked and under appreciated. I also felt so stuck. I knew my business was not how I wanted it to be but I didn’t know where it needed to be so I did nothing instead of taking the wrong step.

Thankfully I’m surrounded by some great mentors who supported me to do some inner exploration, including working on my money story and this has really transformed how I show up in my business. For me a big key is staying in action. I may not know what the final vision for my business looks like, and quite frankly my business is constantly evolving anyway because as I grow and evolve so does my business, but I stopped and asked myself ok what’s one action I can take to get me more aligned with me and where I want to go. If I woke up tomorrow and pretended the fear was not there, what’s one thing I would do differently? For me that started with saying no to consulting work that was out of alignment with what I needed for me and for my family and trusting money would flow to me in other ways. And it has!

Business owners - can you relate to any of this?

Maybe your business is doing well but you’re not experiencing the consistency that you want in terms of income and growth.
Maybe you’ve tried different marketing techniques, updated your website and put in place a new system for connecting with your customers, but it hasn’t had the result you hoped it would.
Maybe you feel stuck, overwhelmed and don’t know what to do next?
Have you ever thought that maybe the answer is not something you can change, fix or update on the outside, but the answer is in you?

If you are not experiencing consistency in the area of money in your business I encourage you to look at your money story. What did you learn about money as a kid growing up? Did your parents teach you that you have to work hard to get it, maybe it doesn’t come easy, maybe there’s never enough? Maybe money is something you need to hold onto because you never know when more will come? If any of these resonate with you, you’re not alone. In fact all of us have a money story and good or bad our story impacts on how we show up as the leader of our business. If you’re not creating the consistency and abundance you want maybe it’s time to upgrade your money story.

The way we show up as leaders in our business doesn’t just relate to money. I’ve just used this as one common example. Our subconscious and conscious beliefs, patterns and thoughts can impact on all areas of our business, including our ability to be brave and focus our business on what is truly ours to do. I know many business owners that struggle with this and the end result is they stretch themselves so far trying to do too many things, instead of trusting in what is really theirs to do.

But wouldn’t it be nice to:

Break free fast from anxiety and overwhelm and easily and effectively deal with the day to day stresses of owning your business
Manage your work and family responsibilities with more ease and peace
Get more sleep, feel less stressed?
Feel more confident in your role as the leader of your business?
Communicate effectively with employees and family members and build effective and connected relationships in all areas of your life
Succeed in your business with ease

This and more is possible! If any of this resonates with you and you would like to explore how you are showing up as the leader of your business then I would love to start a conversation with you today. Email me or call me on 480 737 0359 to set up a time for your business discovery session.