Are you totally aligned to what you do?
Are you totally aligned to what you do?
A few years ago I was running a business hub. It was my dream role, a place for myself and others to work from, a place to hold events and a place to get support if you needed it. I did not necessarily know everything but I had been in business long enough to know what a lot of self employed people and small business owners needed.
Sometimes it was just a different place to work, away from the distractions of home or to be among like minded individuals for camaraderie, to bounce ideas around, to seek validation or to have the structure of ‘going to work’, and so many more reasons.
Sadly I had made, and continued to make a number of decisions that were not right for me. The latter decisions were driven by momentum at the time and the belief that I had the right resources in place. I did not realise it at the time but I sure do now. In doing so, the business hub closed earlier than expected and I was left running a business that was never my dream and took me away from the things and people that mattered more to me. Don't get me wrong, together with the team I had, we did some pretty amazing things and I will forever be grateful for that. We had created another kind of hub that I was still proud of and served people to the best of our ability. From there I was still able to do some of the things that fired my soul too.
However, among all the positive things we had achieved, there were plenty of negative ones too, and it just felt like I was fighting fire after fire after fire. I came close to burnout, or maybe I was already there. My health was suffering, my relationships were suffering, my work was suffering, the businesses were suffering and it was starting to show. I could not hide it any longer. Something had to give, before I did.
One day, and I remember it well, I received the last bit of news that was the final straw. I was standing in the kitchen area at that particular moment and realised that it was time to stop the hustle and the grind. I was so far off my path and, if you believe in it, the Universe had been telling me for months, if not years, to get out and to get back on track to what I felt I should be doing and was good at.
Decisions such as those do not come lightly but when you know, in your heart of hearts, that it is the right thing to do, just do it. When you are in so deep, it is not always easy to see or feel your way out of the depths of despair. You soon realise who your friends are and who you can rely on to help you. It does not matter what mess you are in, there is always a way out. It might still be a bit messy for a while but you can do it. Particularly if you can hold tight the belief that everything is going to be ok, particularly if you can look forward to the life you want for yourself and those close to you, and particularly if you remember to breathe, to take care of yourself along the way and accept help when it is offered. Accepting help is something I have always struggled with but have spent a lot of time working on ever since.
I had a deep seated belief that everything would eventually be ok and, despite a few more unforeseen disasters, the future is looking brighter than ever. While I would never want anyone to experience what I went through during those times, clearly I had some hard lessons to learn. The good news is that I now work to a rhythm that works for me, where my values and goals are aligned. I am able to reconnect with the work I started at the business hub, albeit in a different way, and that feels great.
Mindset plays such an important role when you are embarking on a self employed or small business route. Making sure you are clear on why you are choosing this route, what you would like to achieve, how you are going to achieve it and what success looks and feels like.
Small businesses play a huge role in the UK economy but sadly many of them fail within the first five years of trading. Sadly, I am part of that statistic now too. This is often due to not having robust or well thought through plans in place, not having researched their market properly, not having the right mindset, not having the correct resources or not having the right support in place, or a combination of all of the above.
It is funny too. Most of us choose self employment or to run our own small business so that we have the freedom to make better choices for our lives or to achieve a better work life balance. Yet many of us work longer and harder than many employed people. I know, I have been there too. But it does not have to be that way. With clarity, consistency and confidence, you can have it all, as long as you know what having it all means to you. Above all, I would never want anyone to go through what I did and from here on in, I will also offer an ear and, if you want it, guidance to help you through whatever issues you may be experiencing. You no longer have to do this alone.
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To book a free call or to find out more about The Accountability Collective please visit www.ingridvanderweide.com
