👶 You know you’re living in extraordinary times when the best way to show your love is to plan NOT to visit your grandchild when he’s born. 😮😢
This was one of the tough decisions my in-laws had to make due to the coronavirus 🦠 epidemic … even though they’ve been waiting for this for 18 years.
It’s disappointing. It’s upsetting.
But Paul and I have looked at the risks … the current practices and precautions for newborn babies and moms who get the coronavirus or are under investigation … and we’ve made the hard choice to be okay with things being upsetting.
Because this is what’s right for us. In the long run, in the big picture, this is what’s most important for us right now.
Which brings me to you and your business.
First Things First: Are You Okay?
We’re living through a historic time. Entire books and documentaries will be written about this. Your grandchildren will be asking you to tell and retell what it was like during the pandemic of 2020.
So I’m hearing questions from you and from across the internet: “How do I manage my business during this time?”
The very first thing I want to tell you is this: Take care of yourself.
Are you safe? Are you okay? Do you have what you need in this very moment?
You’ve got to take care of yourself and your loved ones before you can show up for anyone, anywhere else.
“Put on your own oxygen mask first.” “You can’t pour water from an empty pitcher.”
I know, those sound corny and trite. But in this case, they’re absolutely true.
It’s not just the coronavirus spreading out there.
There’s also all this frenetic, frantic, wild energy going around.
Protect yourself from all that, too.
And you do that by getting centered.
When you are centered and clear—when you feel safe in this moment—then you can show up in the world for everyone else.
Click to TweetWhen you are centered and clear—when you feel safe in this moment—then you can show up in the world for everyone else.“This Is Not the Time to Be a People Pleaser”
You can’t serve others well if you aren’t well taken care of.
Because have you noticed, when you’re coming from a place of panic and anxiety, you don’t make the best decisions.
When you’re feeling lack, you can’t give generously to others.
And so, be sure to take care of yourself before you worry about taking care of your community, your clients, and your prospects.
In taking care of yourself, be prepared to displease others.
“This is not the time to be a people pleaser,” I saw in a Facebook group.
Great advice! But as someone who used to be one, I know it can be really hard to stop trying to earn the approval of others.
People expect things of you in both your personal life and in your business.
In these extraordinary times, people expect you to do things. They will pressure you to think or behave a certain way. They’re going to impose rules on you like, “Always start with what the market needs.”
Don’t listen to them.
Listen to your own heart and decide what’s right for you.
The first question to be asking right now isn’t “what do other people need from me?”
The first questions to ask yourself are:
“Who am I?”
“What do I want?”
“Who do I love to serve?”
“What problems do I like to help with?”
“What offer would I love to deliver that would solve other people’s problems?”
Don’t do the things other business experts say you should do, just because they’re ideas other people might like.
Don’t feel like you need to sell more or sell less, or to create something different, or to market differently; you don’t have to.
Do the things in your business that you want to do, that light you up.
Because doing something or changing the way you do business—just to take advantage of the situation—isn’t going to work.
As a heart-centered entrepreneur, this won’t feel right for you.
And so, begin with you.
That’s the first lesson I’ve been teaching in Make It Work OnlineⓇ—long before “pandemic,” “PPE,” and “quarantine” became part of our daily vocabulary.
It’s always been true: You have to be genuinely excited to do something because you want to do it.
Not because you think it will sell. Not because it will get somebody else’s approval for your offer. Not for any other reason.
Staying true to your heart and what you’re here to do is how you have a business that truly serves others AND generates sales AND thrives.
That’s always going to be true, coronavirus or not.
After you find that inner clarity of what you want to offer, how much you do or don’t have to give, and where you feel called to serve … then you see how this meshes with what the world needs.
Create that.
Do that.
Sell that.
Whatever that turns out to be.
The True Opportunity In These Challenging Times (It’s Not What You Think)
Another common advice you hear nowadays from other biz experts is to dig for opportunities, even in a down economy.
“Opportunity is everywhere even in a recession,” they say. Or “you just have to make your own opportunities.”
In this and in any other difficult situation, I see a different kind of opportunity: the opportunity for personal development.
Yes, we’re all in a challenging position and a trying time.
And … I see a silver lining in this!
That’s because I look at every situation we face in business as an opportunity to grow, to develop, and to improve.
Click to TweetEvery difficulty is an opportunity to grow, to develop, and to improve.Times like this force us to stretch, to dig deeper, and to find strength and talents in ourselves that we may never discover otherwise.
Today’s circumstances are giving you—giving all of us—that opportunity.
And I don’t know what the opportunity is for you. It’s different for everyone. Same circumstances, different individual, different opportunity.
Maybe the opportunity is for you to fully embrace this new online thing you’ve been tentative about before.
Maybe the opportunity is for you to honor your truth more.
Maybe the opportunity is for you to say no to more people and yes to others.
I have no idea.
What I do know for certain is this:
You are being called to show up differently than you have been before.
It’s perfect.
It’s beautiful.
Click to Tweet”You’re being called to show up differently than you have been before.”Surrender, Surrender, Surrender
One of the things that’s taken me a really long time to learn in business is that there are so many things we’re not in control of.
We’ve created this illusion of control, but really, we’re not in control of anything.
And so for me, the big lesson of these past few weeks has been to surrender … surrender … surrender … surrender.
Honor your truth, show up, then let go with everything else.
That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from business. And the coronavirus has only reinforced it.
Everybody has a different lesson to learn in business and in life.
Embrace this opportunity to learn the lesson life holds for you.
You can fight it, try to get out of it, change it, deny it, or ignore it.
But the more you do that, the longer it’ll take for you to discover your lesson.
None of us wanted this, but here we are.
As I saw on Instagram recently, “At some point, you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.”
And so, go all-in with the wild circumstances we’re in and embrace the learning, the gift it holds for you.
This has always been and continues to be true in your business.
If you haven’t already, now’s the perfect time to begin.
My Personal Recommendation for YouStarting and Growing an Online, Service-based Business
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