If you grow, your business grows too!
When you run your own business as a one-person-band, you are head of all the departments. You’re the head of marketing, the head of sales, the head of customer service and, deep breath for this one, the head of finance. I can’t be the only one who avoids spreadsheets at all costs!
It gives us the freedom to run our business how we want to but it also means the responsibility of absolutely everything lands on our shoulders. Amidst figuring out your social strategy, sales strategy, onboarding strategy and all the others, have you ever thought about the "you" strategy?
Without you, nothing happens. Without your imagination, creativity, planning, organising, time, effort and courage (because running your own business can be scary at times), your business grinds to a halt.
When you look after yourself, you come up with genius product ideas, plan brilliant marketing campaigns and keep going even when it feels like it isn’t working. Your business can’t help but grow!
As a personal performance coach for business owners, I don’t tell my clients what marketing they should be doing or even what goals to set. They’re the expert in their business. (Even if they don’t believe it yet!) I support the person behind the business, working on their beliefs, mindset and anything that could be holding them back, because I know when they grow as a person, their business grows.
How growing as a person helps your business grow
Self-awareness
When we take the time to work on ourselves as a person, we learn a lot about ourselves that we just hadn’t noticed before. All this is really useful information, especially as business owners who can design our businesses around us. What are your strengths? Create a business where you can use those as much as possible. What areas do you struggle with? Adapt your business to work around that. What are you really capable of doing? So often we discount ourselves and all that we can do.
Clarity
What do you actually want? Would you say your business is a reflection of that? It’s easy to do things because other people said we should or we believe there is an expectation that we do things that way. It could be something our parents said growing up or something we saw someone say online. Either way, we can build our businesses around what we want, even if it goes against what others have said. Figuring out what we want can be a process in itself. When we have the clarity of what we want for our business and life, everything feels easier.
Confidence
As well as getting to know yourself and what you want, building your confidence in yourself is a massive help in business. We have to step into the spotlight, whether sharing a pitch at networking or posting something on social media. It can feel really uncomfortable. At times I’ve got stuck looking for any and all signs of rejection, not enough likes, a coldly worded comment, a yawn. (Thanks RSD!) When we’re confident in ourselves, our business and what we’re selling, we’re less worried about what everyone else is thinking and more focused on finding the people who get us. We can show up loudly and proudly because we believe in what we have to share.
Consistency
A business isn’t built in a day! It takes time and that can feel like the hardest thing about it. We have to keep going, keep showing up, even when we’re not getting the results we want. If we stop, we’ll never get there. It’s a whole mindset, staying consistent even during the rough patches when it would be easier to chuck it all in.
Vibe
I’m a firm believer in the law of attraction. What we put out into the world comes back to us. It’s not as out there as it sounds. How we show up at networking, on social media and in discovery calls affects how people feel and react to us. If we’re full of positivity, self-belief and optimism, that’s infectious. Other people will feel the same, enjoy being around us and trust in what we have to offer. We want to work with people who feel like our kind of people. So show everyone what kind of person you are!
To sum up, when you’re at your best, your business is too! You may be left with the question, ‘Well, how do I grow?’ I’ve got an answer for that. There are various tools that look after you, the person, so you can be the best you, the business owner.
An easy one to get started with is journaling. You just need a pen and a notebook, then write it all out. It’s amazing what you realise when you take the time to write out what’s going on in your head.
DISC allows you to go deeper into understanding yourself and how you can achieve your dreams in a way that feels good. It’s a behavioural model that maps the way you like to communicate and tend to respond to things. It gives you awareness of your strengths and struggles, motivations and fears, and your interactions with other people.
Coaching raises your self-awareness too but this time you have someone asking the questions you wouldn’t have thought to ask, prompting you to push yourself and holding you accountable for the things you really want to do. It helps you focus on your dreams and chase them in your own way.
If any of these tools sound good to you, make sure you’re following me on Instagram and LinkedIn, where I share top tips for using them, and you’re on my email list because that’s where I send exclusive offers.
My new membership for small business owners, Space To Succeed, is launching on Monday 1st June. Give yourself the space you need to reach your desired success with your business by creating time to work on your business, whilst surrounded by an encouraging and supportive community of business owners doing the same. Click here for more information
