Do you need a business reset? Yet another year is nearing its end, and many of us make mindless resolutions for the new year, so let’s change things up a bit and spend a moment digging deeper. “What is success to me, when I block out the opinions and expectations of others?” In this post we provide you with a moment to pause, reflect, and perhaps create some much-needed change that you didn’t even realise you crave. Grab our free worksheet where all the questions are available in one place for your convenience!
Arriving At A Definition Of Success In Four Stages
We are going to work our way through your unique circumstances in four stages. We start from social media, because many entrepreneurs spend considerable time there, both due to a necessity, and because doom scrolling happens to the best of us when mindfulness is absent.
Next, we go back to the foundation of your business to re-connect with why you chose entrepreneurship originally.
Then it is time to dream big, and be brave enough to put those thoughts on paper.
Finally, you are ready to ponder your own definition of success. Hopefully your hear yourself better at this point, after having worked your way through some rather deep questions!
Turning Off Autopilot: How Are Social Media Influencing You?
When surfing the wave of social media it is easy to absorb ideas of others, and unfortunately we can end up working towards people, things and experiences that are in alignment with someone else’s values only.
Some questions you can ask at this point to warm up your brain and mind:
- If I’m honest with myself, do I enjoy the vibe that the accounts I follow put out there?
- Do I appreciate their views on external and internal success?
- Do their daily activities align with what I think is the road to where I want to be in a year as well?
Autopilote mode engages when we keep going without much reflection of any type in our everyday lives. Parents, kids, pets, homes and leisure happen in addition to work, and somewhere down that road we may get a bit lost. The first step is to take note, turn off that pesky autopilot, and simply sit with our thoughts for a while. It can be something as mundane as when riding an elevator, waiting for the kids to show up at the car, or my personal favourite, when showering. A short moment of clarity, a pause.
Maybe you used to meditate, but got off track for some reason? Now is a good time to reintroduce your practice step by step. Start small, build momentum. And as some people say about yoga classes, leave your ego at the door.
Corral Existing Resources: What Does Your Business Foundation Look Like?
What business resources have you already created? I am thinking of strategic documents such as vision, mission, values, business plan, current and possibly archived business models, strategic plan, marketing strategy and marketing plan among others. And how about a personal brand?
If any of these are available, gather them together so you can get a nice overview of where you were when they were put together, compared to where you are today. Does some of it need an update? Schedule a meeting with yourself and/or others to get it done.
If you have yet to create some of the above mentioned resources, you are one step closer to getting to know your business better. Take note of the missing links now.
Delicious questions to ask:
- Why did I start a firm in the first place?
- Is running a firm still my thing?
- Do I experience joy in my work often enough?
- What works right now?
- What things should end in my firm, either immediately or soon?
- Where is room for improvement in processes, team structure, and products/services?
- Am I chasing the latest fads instead of looking at my numbers, paying attention to what already works, deepening the relationship to existing customers, and trusting my instincts?
Perhaps success as a concept is more nuanced than expected?
Personal Meets Professional: What Are Your Hopes And Dreams Truly?
Most people want more money to have fewer worries and more options, whether it concerns for example their health, home, wardrobe, hobbies or people they engage with. The disconnect can surprisingly happen when a personal vision is missing as motivator of working hours.
Interesting questions to ask:
- How do I work more efficiently without increasing weekly hours, but by possibly decreasing them?
- How do I do “all the things”?
- Is it relevant to do “everything”, or would it serve me better to make a serious overhaul of some sort?
- If I am dreaming of retiring early, how could I go about it?
- Do I hold limiting beliefs about what kind of revenue is possible for my firm?
It can be near impossible to create major change at work without the proper reasons. Clarity and focus happens only when there is less frantic busy work, which in turn happens only when we are good at blocking out external noise.
Maybe you are noticing now the importance of checking in regularly with yourself? When the situation becomes fuzzy and overwhelming, one culprit can be an overflowing calendar of unnecessary meetings, low-priority tasks, and stuff others delegate to you when they don’t feel like doing their own job.
Every situation is unique, but a typical issue among solopreneurs is that the decision to hire help (in-house or invoice-based) is long overdue. Again, be respectfully honest with yourself. The only one, who knows what you need is you.
A first step in this latter case is to get your business foundation in order, because if it is a mess, there is no way you will be able to add others to the team in a sustainable way. If you can’t explain your firm to yourself, how can you explain it to an outsider? In order to build for success, you must first strengthen the parts that your firm is leaning upon, and only then add to the team. We are here for that process.
Do You Know Your Subjective Definition Of Success?
Success is personal, an inside job. This concerns both the definition of it as well as its creation. There can be strength in numbers, but likewise you may find a one-person show the leanest option, at least for the time being.
Going back to our original question and wrapping up:
- What is success to me, when I block out the opinions and expectations of others?
- What is my main conclusion based on these questions?
You can let your reply simmer for a while, because there might be unexpected layers of complexity being revealed during this process of digging deeper. Also, there is no right or wrong answers here, but the reflections are yours and you can keeo them close to heart for a while, if you feel that some announcement is due eventually. Getting to know ourselves better can be a bit like treating a delicate flower with great care, so be mindful of your needs throughout, and only let others in if/when you feel ready.
Our Final Suggestions: Creating Multiple Income Streams
Remember not to put all eggs in one basket, but to diversify streams of income if possible. Dig deeper so you can question whether parallel entrepreneurship is for you. Working on more than one brand is quite a time suck, something that takes getting used to, but it would also be a shame not to learn from past mistakes and make better decisions, if you do have it in you to build a new brand, slowly but surely, as long as you still recall lessons learned.
If you need sparring help for topics concerning parallel entrepreneurship in particular, I am here for you. Don’t hesitate to send me a message through our Contact page, because we definitely want those dreams turned into goals! And there is no better time for it than today.
Whether you for religious reasons believe in reincarnation or not, fact is we have only this one life as us, and we have no idea of when it ends. For this reason I warmly encourage you to think of success both as a long-term and short-term concept. While you may work towards something huge, a big success if you will, life can end before you achieve it, but in everyday life you may still experience an enormous number of small successes—as long as you choose to notice them.
I wish you a wonderful 2022 full of fantastic experiences, but do start today rather than next year, stay away from meaningless resolutions, and surround yourself with people, who dare to dream big yet practice gratitude and notice the small beauties of life!
If you found this blog post helpful, you might enjoy these, too:
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.