You are in the business of making a difference.
Can I start by saying that I don’t think making a difference is (solely) what you do for a living. I think it’s how we do being a human being.
That said,
How is moxie relevant to you and your business?
Why does confidence, courage, bravery, authentic, bold, fearlessness, clarity, being aligned to your core really matter?
Okay,
How much have you spent (time, money and resources) on how to market yourself and your business? How much time and money have you invested in skills and development workshops? How many classes have you taken to ‘get more clients’, ‘increase your bottom line’ and just how much time have you spent on trying to remove the doubt, sabotage and fear in your business?
And has it worked?
You want to do work that matters, you want your business to be a true reflection of who you are and what you stand for: real, authentic, values led, completely aligned with your core, that sort of stuff, yes?
You want to make your living being of service, somewhere to something, someone, some cause.
Okey dokey …
I get it. I do. I really do.
The path you’re walking on – when you’ve chosen to do work that really matters – when you crave to make a difference using your talents and gifts to be of service – the road can be bumpy, uncertain, overwhelming, at times isolating and lonely, and you may feel like it’s a never ending uphill trek.
And yet, it’s can also be beautiful, rewarding, creative, exhilarating, inspiring, authentic, filled with truth and the full version of you.
And for those of us who choosing to hike this path, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We know it’s right, for us.
The make a difference path starts with you, and ends with you – who you are, what you care deeply and passionately about, what difference you want to make and why you are making it – it’s all of you. All in and wholehearted.
Rooted in and rising from your core – your values, your beliefs, your life experiences – all of them fusing and melting together in a package where you may relieve a pain or suffering elsewhere. It’s a big deal.
I compare it to a love affair.
Sometimes steamy. Often a challenge. Plenty shades of unknowns. It begins with the sexiest honeymoon: filled with excitement, exhilarating, a container of hope and anticipation of what could be created and what’s possible.
You – like every other person who has taken this path – realise pretty darned quickly that this affair you have chosen for yourself is going to be a relationship like no other. It can be a test, it will grow you, develop you, teach you about your hidden depths, fears and doubts, and although many have perhaps warned you about what it’s really going to take, it’s not until you begin do you really understand what they meant.
Some days you find you want to divorce and separate yourself from what you’ve started/created – ‘it’s not you, it’s me, I can’t keep this up, I’m tired, exhausted, I’m stuck, stopped, stalled, who am I in this relationship?’ – other days there is no question in your mind that you’re exactly where you are supposed to be, creating, being and doing what you’ve been put on this glorious earth to do, and all of it is worth it.
This path,
The do work that matters, doing what you love, making a living, making a difference route. It’s all about creation.
It’s all about being: being you, being real, being ‘in’ and ‘of’ service.
And it’s a v-e-r-y personal trip, that even those closest to you will not fully understand no matter how much you try and explain it to them.
It is a challenge – especially when there is a very noisy world telling you this is how it’s done, pay attention here, this is what you should be doing, go big, or go home, make a million by Tuesday, do this or you and your business will dies a slow and painful death, this is the way – to remain true to yourself, your word, your core, the reason why you started.
A heard a famous marketer once say, ‘No business is different’. I agree. Business (by it’s definition) is just the exchange of goods and services.
But you are different, and you are the one leading the exchange
You are unique. The difference you want to make cannot be created by any other human being in your lifetime, or ever again. Nobody else can be you, replace you, or do your work and calling in your way.
You have to be there/here.
You don’t fall in line, you are the line.
You make the decisions and choices of how you are going to show up and do your work.
You and your values, your beliefs, your core, you have to bring your whole Self to the party.
And, I believe, that takes moxie,
It takes courage, confidence and bravery to create while staying in touch and connected with who you are.
It takes commitment and compassion to allow your work that matters to be shaped and guided by your core values: to allow them to show you the way through tough and challenging moments, to allow them to help keep your passions and purpose alive and ignited, and always there in your first thoughts when choosing where to focus your attention. For them to move you gently and gracefully towards what matters, and not away from it.
The service and the product comes from you, it is secondary in business.
But,
At some stage you’re going to have connect, you are going to have reach out and build relationships with the people you want to work with, help and serve.
That means you have to take all of who you are and put it out into the world to be seen, in a language that people understand and can connect with so that they can make a choice if what you are offering is for them, or not.
And this – in my experience and those of my clients – is where people can start to disconnect from their core, they get lost, get overwhelmed and let fear take over.
As easy as it sounds, and even easier to type – staying true to yourself and to your core – you may find yourself wandering off, leaning another way, ignoring your instincts.
The result?
You may not remember the road you set out on and the reason why you started. Your values get side tracked and hijacked by the shiny lights and publicity stunts belonging to others. You may start to doubt yourself and wonder what gives you – unique you – the right to be showing up and doing.
What happens?
You may end up saying, like these people before you …
I am terrified beyond belief.
I am so afraid that I will spend days (weeks) working on business activities, but I just know I am working on the wrong thing. I used to say I fear success, but I don’t, I fear failure. I fear not making a go of this. I fear people telling me I was wrong to start. I’m terrified beyond belief of putting my work and myself out there. I am at the point now where I just seem to have given up. Then there are days when I feel that I am going to make it. But I don’t even know what making it means. – TR
I don’t know who to turn to or ask for help.
I work in therapies. I have worked so hard these past three years to learn (and I have spent a fortune in doing so). I am at the stage now where I tell myself, ‘Just do it. Just get it done’. But then I stop. I have no idea why I’m doing this. For a few months I got so low, I felt invisible, I watch others and yes, I do get extremely envious at the ease in which they are able to be fearless in their business. I am not wanting to quit, not yet. But something has to change. I need to get over this block (once I know what it is). I have told nobody this before, and I have no idea who to ask as they may see me as weak. – SC
I feel that I’m letting myself down.
I don’t want to feel fearful anymore. I wanted to start my own business so badly, and for a while, at the start I was totally confident that I would be okay. I didn’t realise how many people were in the same field as me, now I just spend my entire days comparing myself to others. I have clients, but not as many as I would like, I have taken a few classes but the class I need is the No B.S class. I belittle myself and my skills, I tell myself that I’m not good enough. I want to speak to someone but who? There is nobody near me, and nobody I would trust. I don’t want anymore tactics, I want someone who can help me ditch the nonsense that is flying about in my head. Because I am good enough, in fact I am really good at what I do, I just am scared that I am letting myself and my family down.
I still don’t know what to do, and I’ve spent £20k to learn.
I signed up for a business course online – I spent 3k on one, and a further 3k a few months later. Then, I maxed my credit card out by signing up for a 10k private coaching programme. The courses were good, I met a lot of great people, however I still have no idea what I meant to be doing. What is it I’m missing?
I have my own thoughts about how it all happens.
Maybe you have chosen a path that you haven’t walked before.
How can you know the route before you step on it?
You aren’t born with any title or label, they are given to you or we put them on yourself – business owners, creative, change makers – and that means you don’t know what you have to know until you begin. You have to start, learn, grow, evolve, change, learn what you need at the time you need to learn it.
How I can help you,
I am aligning my work to help those who are called to align themselves to help others, either through their work, their careers, their ideas, their art, their words. I want to help you reclaim your inner courage and confidence, connect with your core so that you can create what is meaningful to you and is serve others in only they way you can serve them.
I’ve seen it happen time and time again, and I have been here.
The most amazing, heart-centred, passion driven, savvy, smart and genuine people – with great ideas, talents, gifts to offer the world – completely lose themselves, they core, their meaning. They go round and round in circles, trying to connect all the dots in their marketing, operating from fear not from their core, the compare themselves and their work with others, they burnout, struggling with the truth, because of their values, that it’s okay to make a living doing what you love.
I want to help you:
1. Connect with your core
Maybe those comments above aren’t alien to you. You could have written them yourself, perhaps you can relate to the doubt, the fear, not being good enough, scared of what others say and think, feel like you are missing something everyone else seems to know, the comparison, the being lost, stuck, stopped … need I go on?
When you are connected to your core – in business, in life, in making your difference, in doing the work that matters – these separations don’t exist, or maybe they do crop up sometimes but when you remember why you’re doing what you are doing, when you reconnect with values holding it all up the vision becomes stronger than the fears.
To help you begin the reconnecting with your core download the Core Values Workbook
2. Be true to your-Self
If you connect with your core – who you are, your values and what you believe – you stop trying to create the visions belonging to others. I mean, you no longer compare, copy, worry if there is enough room for you. If you remain 100% true to yourself it doesn’t matter what comes up on the path you are on, you will be able to navigate it all with ease, no fear and absolute clarity.
When you are true to yourself and aligned with your core it’s not just what you are creating that benefits, it’s all areas of your life. I know what you’re doing, why you are creating what you’re creating – you do believe that you are here on this glorious earth to be of service, you believe you can make a difference, you don’t have to sacrifice any other area of your life to be able to do that. You don’t have to lose your soul in order to serve others.
When you remain true to yourself your marketing is joyful and fun, your vision is easy to explain, your operate from your heart, what is there to fear about that? Even if you make mistakes, fall, trip up, make a wrong turning it doesn’t matter, your values (if you allow them) will help you find your way back to who you truly are.
Read: Don’t Dilute Who You Are
Read: Quit Doing Business With the Comparison Fear
Join: The Moxie Project
3. Connect and align both to your ‘work’
Connect with you core and be true to yourself, it takes courage, confidence, clarity and love.
Here’s how I can help you with that.