A powerful portal of curiosity has opened over the past three years. Many women have a fresh appetite for adventure and living a purposeful life. To this end, there is little more encompassing of both, than the world of entrepreneurship.
Designing a business that nourishes you, while allowing the space to simultaneously weave a life-tapestry complete with travel, romance, financial abundance and quality family time, demands a fertile inner-soil from which to bloom.
As a woman who has been through the throws of self-deprecating behavior to the point of anxiety, burnout and addiction to exercise: building better self-love was the catalyst of my confidence and self-belief to build the global business I have today.
Self-love is defined as having regard for one’s own well-being and happiness.
Let’s explore three must-try practices to cultivate a richer experience as a Startup Entrepreneur:
Practice One: Rituals Over Routine
“When you show up for yourself, you can show up for the world more completely.” – Gabby Bernstein.
While routine can serve to promote deeper levels of self-trust, it can also become, well, boring. Predictability is afterall the archenemy of adventure.
Rituals on the other hand, nourish the soul, activate the heart and bring us home — to ourselves. And in my experience, business is 100% a spiritual journey that demands an acute awareness of our own inner-landscape and external wellbeing-barometer.
As you begin to pour into your business and expand your capacity to hold an influx of clients, new realms of wealth, and the freedom you have always wanted, there’s one thing that must take priority. Caring for yourself is actually the ‘Secret Sauce’ that many will try to sell you as the ‘everything you need to scale to $10k months strategy’.
Begin or enhance your journey by: creating a ‘Soothe Ritual’ list. This will be full to the brim of all the things that anchor you and nourish you. They are specifically designed to unplug you from the monotony that is your day-to-day routine and infuse your soul with freshness and stability while igniting your creative and magnetic flow.
Practice Two: The Body Is the Portal
“The very second we choose a loving thought, our emotions shift and our energy changes. This is realignment with the Universe.” – Gabby Bernstein
Thoughts are 10x more powerful than emotions, however feelings are what become lodged in the body when suppressed or repressed. When starting up your business, there will be moments where you are stretched to your growth edge, and stir up feelings within.
Many of us grew up in a world where children were to be seen and not heard. This meant pushing down every desire to speak, to share your opinion or perspective. When it comes to selling as a woman, these repressed emotions will often rise and begin to feel like a lump in the back of your throat.
Over the past 2 years, somatics have played a huge role in the expression of trapped energy within my body. The word ‘Somatic’, simply means via breath or movement. Through these practices along with deep shadow work, a lot of what I used to keep ‘hidden’, has now emerged as a superpower. And it all happened through my body.
Begin or enhance your journey: Next time you feel heat begin to rise within your body from anger, or tears well in your eyes from sadness, or the desire to react and project via a sentence you may regret later, pause.
Then lovingly, remove yourself from the situation, and ask your body what it needs to process this emotion. Provide a safe space for this to occur. It may look like shaking, brushing the skin, jumping, screaming into a pillow or taking a walk with some soothing music.
Practice Three: Make Life Richer
There is an artistry to designing a business that provides the foundations for a rich life. Yet most startup business owners wait until they have the money to live the life, telling themselves that richness is received at the altar of money.
Statistics show that not more than 5% of new entrepreneurs make it beyond the first 5 years — a statistic that I am determined to shift. The pressures of society on women continue to grow, and if we are to thrive, we must make it a priority to restore the balance in our lives. We’ve come to accept a culture of putting the needs of others first, and supporting their achievements while our own deep desires fall by the wayside.
In my experience, the richer a Startup’s journey to consistent $5k, $10k months and beyond, the more sustainable their growth and fulfillment to a multiple six figure business is. It all comes back to how fertile the soil is, in which your business is rooted.
Begin or enhance your journey: Audit the soil. Where is your happiness, joy and community predominantly drawn from?
Notice when your husband is asking for your attention, when your children are longing for connection, when you are sacrificing sleep, movement and good food, for late nights, sloppy self-care and fast food.
In the end, what you will regret is not the money you didn’t make, but the priceless moments you exchanged to make that money.
By understanding and implementing the art of intentionality in your life, your newfound richness will be reflected in the number of clients you begin to attract. People are magnetized to others who are abundant and happy in life. Ultimately, this is what everyone wants.
In Closing
Designing a business that nourishes you and gives you the space to simultaneously weave life’s tapestry complete with travel, date days, financial abundance and plenty of time with your family, demand a fertile inner soil for these desires and visions to bloom. That fertile soil is determined by your values and your intention to align with them.
Rerouting from routine, sacrifice and head-heavy leadership will translate into a startup entrepreneurial journey of abundance, limited only by the infinite depth of your own imagination.
WORDS and WISDOM: SHANNON ROSE
