Are you feeling called to the next level in your business?
If so, you probably feel the pull on your heart, you know the one. You’re excited about it, so excited in fact, you just can’t stop thinking about it.
And chances are, if you are ready for that next big project, not only are you excited but you probably feel a little overwhelmed too.
Actually getting to that point of taking your business to the next level can feel hard. It likely feels hard because you haven’t done it before. You haven’t gotten to that next step.
So in this episode, I’m actually going to share three steps that you can take to level up in your business faster and easier.
Pop in your earbuds and listen in, then say goodbye to overwhelming and hard and hello to that next level in your biz.
BIG TAKEWAYS:
- The 3 steps to take if you want to level up your business faster, and easier
- An action step you can take right now to help you move forward and begin to implement immediately
- Why so many in business stay stuck and struggle to level up
LINKS IN THIS EPISODE:
Rather read than listen? ⬇️
Are you feeling called to the next level? Chances are if you are listening to this episode you know that you are ready for the next step, the next big project, but it feels overwhelming.
It feels hard because you haven’t yet gotten to that next step (duh!) but also because you don’t want to waste your resources.
You are already stretched thin on time, energy, space, finances and to be honest, you aren’t really sure if you can do it.
You can feel the pull on your heart and some have even blindly told you that you can do it, but their words provide little comfort and no actual help on how to get there.
So I’m sharing with you some steps you can take to make that next level easier to reach beyond JUST inspiring a belief in you.
Steps to Take Action On Your Next Level
The first step is to normalize challenges.
April showers bring May flowers. I learned this adage in kindergarten and it was reinforced each school year with coloring pages, storybooks, and sing-song repetition.
The idea behind that phrase is that difficult, unpleasant, grey days lead to beautiful results, so you can appreciate when things aren’t going as you planned because something better is on its way. But what if we were just grateful for those grey days?
Have you expressed gratitude for hard times? Not despite it, but specifically for your plans being destroyed, your routines demolished, and your headspace focusing on trying to figure out what in the hell is actually going on and when it will end?
Yea, it isn’t in our nature to be grateful for stuff that hurts.
And that is what is happening. Uncertainty breeds fear and extended fear is painful. Disappointment leads to grieving the plans you had. And that is okay. It is normal.
You know what else is normal?
Entrepreneurship is work. I’m gonna go ahead and be that person and say, “if it was easy, everyone would do it.” I hate clichés as much as the next girl, but man, you gotta give it to this one.
Although right now is especially intense, there is always a need to be flexible, adaptable, and able to pivot in business. When there isn’t a global pandemic going on, there are still failed launches, economic hardship, overcoming your own limiting beliefs, and trying to figure out what in the world you should do next.
Growth comes from a place beyond your comfort zone. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to move forward, to push beyond what you are currently capable of.
The challenge then becomes that when things aren’t going how you want or expect, you have to see that as an OPPORTUNITY to grow, level up, pivot, and adapt.
Seeing that opportunity doesn’t come naturally to most. Why? We aren’t biologically wired that way and we aren’t taught it as small children.
Back in the caveman days, discomfort meant danger. Both physical and emotional pain indicated danger. A bug bite could be deadly and rejection from the group could mean inability to survive.
Charging towards new territory and uncertain outcomes led to peril and demise, so those that naturally did that died, didn’t procreate, and those genes weren’t passed along.
Those who were cautious and avoided pain, they stayed safe and were able to procreate and teach their kids the same thing.
Now, think about when you were little. Did your parents encouraging a toddling two-year-old to explore at your own discretion or were there warnings to not walk out the front door, pull heavy bookshelves over onto yourself, or stick your hand in the dog’s mouth?
We aren’t wired or initially taught to lean into uncertainty and discomfort.
Growth is leaning into uncertainty and discomfort and pushing past it.
Think about it when you are “growing” up, you are encouraged bit by bit to take more calculated risks as you get older and have the capacity to do so. (At least I was.)
So what does growth have to do with being successful?
Achievement and fulfillment doesn’t come from what is easy. You have to keep pushing yourself to keep succeeding.
Just doing what you already know you can do won’t impress others (they already expect it) and more importantly, it won’t impress yourself or fulfill you.
How do I know this?
Well, personal experience is one way. My personal definition of success is continuing to exceed my own expectations of myself. I set those expectations through goal-setting. Once I achieve a goal, I have to set a new one, because stagnation is time wasted.
And I am not alone.
Dave Hollis of The Hollis Co. left his 17-year tenure at Disney to become CEO of The Hollis Company, a small business that his wife Rachel Hollis built. Specifically he left behind certainty, accolades, and a hefty paycheck for the opportunity to challenge himself to grow because he was lacking fulfillment in his job as President of Worldwide Distribution for Disney.
Many high-achieving individuals site grit, risk tolerance, decisiveness, and the determination to keep going as attributions to their success.
So, each season of uncertainty and potential hardship is an opportunity.
Use this opportunity to prove to yourself you can do hard things. That you are made for more.
And hard things for me may not be the hard things you need to lean into.
Each person’s individual experiences, skills, talents, beliefs, etc. lead to different challenges.
So when push comes to shove, how do you respond? How do you push forward?
Will you retreat into a safe place, or will you lean into the discomfort?
Also, let me just say, the pivot won’t be perfect. Adapting is an experiment. Everything in business is a giant experiment. You take the data you get from what you try and make better choices. The only way to fail is to stop trying.
There is beauty in your resilience. There is beauty in hard things. And my dear, you were built for hard things.
So if you look at normalizing challenges as part of your next level, know that there are going to be things that pop up, there are going to be things that don’t go as planned. And it is all part of the journey. You can use each challenge as an opportunity to lean in, not only to overcome hard things but also to create something that is potentially greater than what you originally imagined and that fulfills you even more.
There is immense power in planning. And that is what step 2 is all about.
Creating The Plan
As entrepreneurs we have so many ideas and generally want to act on them as soon as possible. But creating a plan for what we’ll do and when can provide a scratch to the itch of taking action while allowing you to be strategic with your limited resources.
What do you truly want to do and why? Is that next level becoming a paid public speaker? Creating a group program or online course? Starting a podcast? Writing a book? Learning a new marketing platform?
Not all ideas are created equal and knowing why you are being pulled in that direction can give you some great insight on how long you may feel this pull and if it is, for the long-term how to go about getting there.
I know I learned this the hard way when I decided my next level was creating a whole suite of courses, a mastermind, and a podcast in just a few months while also hiring an IG strategist and a VA. I was moving forward on each of these projects but didn’t really understand how everything fit together. I was building in a vacuum but luckily realized my scatteredness before I got too far and was able to course-correct.
By understanding how everything fits together and why each new project or level matters, you can stay focused on your mission to serve others and big personal motivations and make decisions based on that.
Then you can start to create the plan. Scheduling some time to sit down and write out what the minute details are to get you from where you are to where you want to go and then putting a timeline to it is real progress. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The freedom to create may be one of the things about entrepreneurship that you didn’t think about at first (usually freedom of time and finances are initial drivers) but that creative freedom can be why we stay in entrepreneurship. And making a plan isn’t the end-all because although we all know there is freedom in being your own boss, it can sometimes feel like we are trapped by our own business.
If you are stretched to the limit on resources, even the best laid plans won’t alleviate it to make way for your next level. Only you can do that. And that is step 3: to make some space.
Make Some Space
This step is imperative because its going to allow you to actually move forward on that plan.
And the brilliant part about that is that it can look exactly the way you want it to — there is no “right” way to do this step.
It might look like outsourcing podcast editing so you can gain back that time for your next project.
It might require you to hire a business coach to help guide you through creating a course so you can do it quickly and without having to learn everything yourself.
You may need to delegate your social media to a virtual assistant so you can take that time to position yourself as a public speaker.
You may need to clear out your calendar to make way for market research calls for that next project.
Maybe you need to clear physical space to make room for your next level, your next endeavor.
Maybe you need to reallocate funds because this next project requires investment.
This step is so important because it signals to you and the universe that you are serious about moving forward and leveling up.
It is your buy-in to this idea, this next big project.
It is so possible for you to get to your next level and starting is truly the hardest part. The steps I’ve shared with you can help you get started so you don’t stay in that place of desiring your next level without making moves to get there.
Action Step:
I always like to end each episode with an action step that you can take right now to help you move forward and begin to implement immediately. Here is your action step for this episode:
Decide what your next level will look like and what you’ll need to do to make space. Write it down, create a brainstorm document, have a dreamy convo with a biz bestie.
