Welcome to the final episode of the show for 2022 where I share what my business has taught me this year. These aren’t just business lessons or things I’ve learned from other people or even from experience. It’s specifically what my business was meant to teach me one way or another.
Tune in below:
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Mentioned:
Show Notes:
- Why I took a break from everything
- A goal I’m letting go of and why it never felt aligned
- How I lost touch with myself and my business
- What my intuition told me to do next
- Choosing the wrong mentors and getting triggered
- The Instagram trap
- How to ‘go back to basics’ in business
- How to have your most epic year in business in 2023
Transcript
This and last week I took a break from everything and everyone and am reflecting on some of the biggest lessons my business taught me in the last 12 months.
Things haven’t been going the way I wanted them lately and that’s when it’s time to remove distractions, find a quiet place, and listen. Listen to what your intuition is telling you, to what your heart truly wants, and to what your soul is calling you to do. Because chances are you’ve been listening to voices other than these lately.
That was the case for me so now I’m doing a reset. I’m remembering who I am and what I came here to do. And that wouldn’t be the case if it wasn’t for my business, which is also one of my greatest teachers.
So let me share what it has taught me this year. There’s a lot more but I guess for now, these were the lessons I was ready to open my eyes for and actually learn. Here we go.
1. Humility
I took my work for granted for many months. I didn’t invest my precious energy in it the way I did before.
I followed a path that wasn’t meant for me and started chasing a goal that wasn’t mine yet. Slowly but surely, my business brought me back to reality and made me look in the mirror.
To see why things weren’t working, why I didn’t see results, why everything was less than before, and why I didn’t feel good about my business, I had to look at myself, at the shadows, at the things I didn’t wanna admit and bring to the surface.
A lot can be discovered in that dark space if you’re willing to go there.
For example, thanks to some deep reflection, I realized I was going after a goal that never felt align in the first place. That’s earning 10K/month as a course creator.
All this goal did is take me further and further away from that number, make me feel lack when I wake up every day seeing how far I am from it, and take unaligned actions as a result.
There’s nothing wrong with the number itself, it’s the energy I put behind it. It’s why I wanted it, or – should I say – the lack of a truly authentic why.
This wasn’t gonna make me happier or provide for a lifestyle I desperately needed. Instead, it was going to make me enter a category of business owners online that get to share their big numbers and get more attention thanks to that, and as a result teach more people how to do the same. So the reason for this goal wasn’t good at all.
How I lost touch with myself and my business
I also started watching business owners who were throwing big numbers around like it’s nothing and making anyone who’s not earning this feel worthless. Or like they are missing out on one small simple action that will take them there and that’s why they need to invest in them.
When I spent some time connecting with that goal, meditating and asking my intuition questions, I realized this desire was never mine to begin with. It never felt right and that’s why it never felt easy.
But if I say 5K months, for example, that feels familiar. I’ve had it and I’ve had it without pressure and overwhelm. It’s mine and it always has been.
But the bigger financial milestone is not meant to be mine yet. While getting there is possible, setting it as a goal and letting it guide me is not how I’m supposed to make it happen.
As a result of this and sticking to this vision for months, my business started feeling off. Engagement went down. And the worst is that I began creating content that sells, not content that helps. Maybe in some moments I let money be above passion – which has always been guiding me, my passion for what I do, and above the desire to help people and provide value.
By doing this for some time, I lost touch with myself, I stopped hearing my intuition, my audience stopped reaching out, and I couldn’t see what was wrong.
The original why
So when I asked my highest self lately what I’m meant to do now, it told me to get back to basics. It speaks to me in a quiet voice that can only be heard when I’m in my own energy and grounded. And I knew what it meant.
That I go back to my original why – the love for my craft. I go back to creating the content and products that people need and which help them the most. I leg go of financial goals.
And most importantly – I start seeing the abundance that’s already here now before things start moving financially again and the business is growing. That’s always been part of the process.
I was seeing lack for some time, even when there wasn’t, and it only increased. But abundance is already here, it always has been regardless of what happens in your bank account. It’s a choice to look at it and focus on it as many times as possible daily. Then we start seeing more and more of it until we feel abundant. From that energy, we can create anything we want.
Another way in which I’m going back to basics is to focus on the blogging business again, not so much on the course creation one.
While both will exist and grow, I left behind the blogging business which was my first passion project and what was bringing me consistent revenue month after month.
I left it behind to build a course business, and I devoted myself to that vision for a long time. Now, while I continue working on it, I will bring my energy back to where it all started. That makes me feel good and calm, just imagining it.
So this is how my business reminded me to be humble. Another part of this lesson is that you can’t fake it for long. Eventually the people following you will feel something is off and will stop buying and engaging. The platform you’re on will stop driving traffic. And you yourself won’t be peaceful or satisfied. Until it all becomes unbearable and you gotta look in the mirror again.
2. Stay in your own lane.
This is connected to some of the things I already mentioned. It’s all connected as usual, but this one deserves a point of its own.
There’s a fine line between having mentors, hearing all they have to say, investing in their programs and learning from them, and doing what others are doing in business.
How you feel is usually a big indicator for that. When you’re following the people who inspire you, consume their content and feel empowered, join one of their courses when it feels right – you’re doing great. You don’t even consider copying that person, you are so grateful for having found them, you take what resonates and create your own version of strategies to implement, and still you can’t wait to give them credit and recommend them to anyone who’s looking for help.
But it can go in another direction too, especially in the coaching industry and on Instagram where it’s all about the big numbers, they get thrown around like it’s nothing, and it seems like everyone is making that much in a month.
But we don’t see the many people who don’t make that. They don’t speak up, they often don’t discuss numbers at all but are just doing their thing.
Often, the big business coaches who are guilty of this practice end up working with clients that then move onto creating the same and turning this into the norm. Suddenly, all you see on your feed is people having 100K months.
You’re constantly triggered, wonder what you’re doing wrong, and it might look like the only solution is to invest in that one big coach, or start replicating what seems to be their strategy on social media.
But this has nothing to do with who you are and how you’re meant to help people. The comparison trap is real and stepping away to tune into who you want to be in the online space can bring you back to your original mission – to help, to transform, to inspire, to educate, to be a role model. Not to copy, not to follow trends, not to do what others are doing the way they are doing it.
With so much noise around, it’s hard to stay in your lane these years. But whenever you abandon your path, your business will gently – or not so gently – remind you to come back and do the work you’re meant to do.
3. Letting go.
While that’s something I constantly do, now I had to do it with Instagram. I was so tired of it the whole year and at some point engagement dropped to almost nothing. Then, I unfollowed everyone and felt better about it.
I thought that would remove a lot of the pressure and I could just freely post the content I felt like posting, but no. The unpleasant feelings related to Instagram continued. And I was using the app as little as possible, didn’t see anything I didn’t wanna see, it was under my control, or so I thought.
Even though I never stopped creating valuable content and often in what’s considered long-form even for IG, such as 10 slides of tips in one post, it didn’t lead to anything. So I’d often end up changing direction and strategy all the time based on the results after one or more posts.
I’d end up checking out all the engagement the business owners in my niche earning big numbers were getting and how easy they made it all look. It’s no coincidence they all do the exact same things and have worked with one or more of the other big names in the industry teaching people how to make a lot and using numbers to evoke shame and lack. It’s a vicious circle. So the only way out was out of Instagram.
Also the way the algorithm changed lately is awful. It’s not sustainable for creators who wanna share long-form content on another platform. IG wants you to stay on IG and create content that keeps people there. That’s not my goal, it’s something I avoid both as a consumer and as a creator. So playing by its rules means going against my nature.
I was going to fully leave it behind many times but then once again I’d turn to the 10K months goal and take action to get closer to that vision. That often meant posting a lot on Instagram, in a new engaging way, until it eventually leads to having a hot audience and making many course sales during a launch. What a trap that is!
I only ended up more disappointed and creatively exhausted every next time. I said many weeks ago that I’m leaving IG behind in 2023 and focusing more on my main platforms – the blog, podcast, email list and my program, and that intention still stands.
But those little attempts to get back there and that finally something big will happen – these were for the wrong reasons again and with the wrong energy.
Even though in those moments I tried it looked like I was creating yet another valuable piece of content, my intention behind it just wasn’t right. So for now, it’s best for me to step away from that platform once and for all even though I have so much to say on the topics I teach and I know there are so many people who wanna hear it.
The solution
The lesson here is that the more I pushed it, the less engagement I got and the worse I felt about Instagram. Instagram became an energy leak in my business and I didn’t want to admit it because others seemed to be using it so well.
In fact, it’s the #1 way those business owners I mentioned make sales and it’s where they get the most attention. And it looks like it’s the only way to do business these days. So if you try to be like them, you’ll end up sticking to Instagram no matter what, trying as many times as you can until you hate it, and until the only way to make it work is to imitate what they are doing.
But that will feel off, it’s not what your business and your audience need, and it’s not how you’re meant to be doing this work.
Letting go – even if it’s for some time – can let you see things from a fresh perspective, and either leave the platform once and for all, maybe move onto something else, or go back to how you were posting when you had more engagement and before you knew what the 6- and 7-figure business coaches were doing and teaching.
So these are the big lessons my business is teaching me and they only became clear at the end of the year.
If you’ve been feeling stuck or like anything I described in this episode, maybe these things are coming up for you too. Then, I’d suggest to go back to basics.
Reconnect with your why – the reason why you started your business in the first place. Re-evaluate your sources of information, your platform, the content you create, everything.
Don’t be afraid to let go. Make sure you follow passion and enthusiasm when creating anything. Don’t compare.
Leave some goals behind if they don’t feel aligned. It’s okay to even leave a whole vision in 2022. Take some time to grieve – because it is a loss after all and it has to be experienced emotionally – and then start over, work with a blank canvas to create the vision that feels just right.
What do you think?
End the year strong
And I almost forgot. I have my last offer for the year to share with you. But let me tell you the story behind it.
So earlier this month, I recorded a podcast episode where I talked about why you can release a paid offer right now and why it doesn’t need to be complicated. And as I practice what I preach, a few days later I created a new offer.
One that I knew I’d eventually release but it wasn’t quite the time.
But now, I followed intuition, it didn’t matter that I already launched something this month (opened the doors to Bold Business School one final time) and had an event leading up to that launch (free access to a masterclass for a limited amount of time).
It also didn’t matter that some marketing experts say people don’t buy in December, or that this can be overwhelming, or that I should have one big offer per quarter.
Those rules have no place here.
I want you to create your business on your terms, and I am an example of that.
So here’s what happened earlier this month.
As I went to a cafe with my laptop one day and planned to do my 5 hours of work (something I was doing every weekday those weeks to bring back the discipline), I felt my creative energy coming. And I acted on it.
I opened Pages on my MacBook and started outlining the idea. Then I moved onto creating the content. Thousands and thousands of words poured out of me and I lost track of time. I was super energized and that momentum was invigorating. Nearly 6 hours later I left the cafe and came back home, only to open my laptop soon after and continue.
I planned the launch, I wrote the copy for the sales page, I even created the branding for the program and started designing the graphics and the sales page. Then it was time to rest so I left the rest of the tasks for the next days.
Today I want to present that program to you. Know that it’s born from true passion, it’s on a topic I deeply care about and know all of you are interested in – planning your year in business, creating the vision for it and mapping out your content for 2023.
It’s called Epic Biz Year and it’s your go-to resource to creating your most epic year in business yet.
You get lifetime access to pre-recorded trainings and a workbook with strategic exercises to help you create bigger and better results.
Inside the program, we get super actionable and combine energy + strategy to plan out your free content, new offers, launches and anything in-between for your business in 2023.
And the best part? It’s only $33.
But here’s the thing.
I’ll be releasing this every year at the end of December and will be closing the doors mid January so you won’t be able to join after that until the next year.
That’s because this is the time to create the plan and the vision, after which we move onto action.
And here are some of the potent practices and mind-blowing mindset shifts you’ll get access to inside Epic Biz Year:
- You’ll uncover + reframe your limiting beliefs around business so you can stop sabotaging your success;
- You’ll do a detailed year end review to make profound and lasting change;
- You’ll set 1 business goal that will unlock your unlimited earning potential while keeping things simple;
- There’s a manifestation technique we’ll use to embody the version of you who has already achieved that goal and runs your dream business;
- Then you get to set a theme for your year in business to achieve radical alignment and clarity;
- Plan the offers you’ll release in 2023 that will bring consistent cash flow;
- Create a marketing plan so launching those offers can be easy and fun;
- Map out your content for the whole year to magnetize the right people and grow your brand.
I’m so excited to bring this program to life. It’s such an actionable and powerful container.
If it sounds like your kinda thing, here are all the details.
Thanks for tuning in today, and I’ll see you next time.