So many entrepreneurs come to me feeling like there is more for them that they have more to give, but their capacity is maxed out and they can’t figure out what their next step is, what their Brave Yes is going to be or what that next bold move is going to be.
They want to shake up their business model or shake up their income or their sales, but often as part of the capacity building that we need to do in order to make big moves, or even to make decisions about big moves, we need to help them find their joy again.
Business can be a joy zapper.
Joy stealers are all abound in entrepreneurial life.
Some of the common complaints I hear from my clients who are in this place is they say,
I’m bored with my business
I’m burned out
I don’t get excited about anything anymore.
I don’t have time for joy in my life or my business.
I’m too busy slogging through the daily grind.
My business takes every ounce of my energy.
There is nothing is left for me creatively.
I’ve outgrown my business. And I don’t know what to do next. But I’m too trapped in the day to day to figure it out.
Even if what you’re doing is something you’re not passionate about — and this speaks to the passion paradigm right now, right because Everybody wants to start a business and thinks they will be happier.
Should you follow your passion, or should you do something more practical?
And maybe maybe you’re doing something that you’re passionate about maybe or not, doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter doesn’t matter.
Joy is still available to you to everyone.
And it must be included and baked in for people like us.
For people like us, it is very important to prioritize and operationalize joy.
everything I know about being a creative a creator, and an entrepreneur, which I’ve been doing for 15 years, is that when my passion is 100%, my joy follows. And when my joy leads, business thrives.
Tiny Changes to Make Your Business Feel 10 Times More Joyful
When when you’re trapped in the land of bitter and sour or when you are slogging through doing the boring things that you are not interested in doing. Expansion doesn’t happen in safe zones. And so yes, choosing joy in your business is a brave Yes.
Here’s three changes to make. So that you feel 10 times more joyful in your business …
ONE: the first way, first change that you can make in your business to feel more joyful, one, release the heavy stuff that isn’t working for you. And in this case, I would recommend doing a business cleanse, this is where you stop doing everything that doesn’t feel like joy, everything. And if you can’t let it go, and that is a sign that there is something that needs to change. If there’s still stuff that you have to slog through and do, it feels heavy and hard, and you’re very resistant to doing it, but you have to do it, there’s a sign, there is a red flag there that there needs to be a change in your business and your business model.
TWO: reassess your priorities and recommit to the projects and aligned clients that bring you the most joy or contentment. When you focus on impact and joy, everything that doesn’t meet that criteria has to go and so when you are adding back into your business and you’re deciding what projects you want to do, what clients you want to serve what’s offers you want to put out into the world.
THREE: Focus on your next brave Yes, as the founder of your business, focusing on your possibilities is a great way to boost your energy and your joy. And you know, truthfully, like, if you can prioritize your next brave, yes, either discovering it or following through on it. You’re gonna feel more joy. You’re gonna feel more joy. You just start. And again, brave. Yes, is about the Yes. There’s lots of things we need to do in business that are brave. But they’re not all brave, yeses. Some of them are just brave. Some of those are brave sucks, right? Like, you’ve got to suck it up and do it. But a lot of things can also be a brave Yes, where we’re just feeling good, joyful. Energy is stretching us in a good way. And we are excited about it.
Running a business is not just about money — it brings meaning and purpose to our lives.
To be #BusinessBrave means we pour our heart and soul into what we offer, how we offer it and who we serve — without apology.
And, while we must keep our business separate from our soul-selves, we must also recognize that the kind of energy WE bring to our business is the energy our clients and possible clients experience.
So, your business … it’s personal.
So invest in yourself, the CEO, the owner, the leader, the founder.
5 Prompts for a Soulful Mid-Year Review for Creative Entrepreneurs
How am I different right now compared to the beginning of the year? What is still the same? Is that OK with me?
On a scale of 1-10, how much risk-taking have I done? If I invested in being more courageous, what would change for my business?
Am I leading or being dragged?
What am I being called to create or make this year that hasn’t yet happened? What is stopping me from making this happen?
What goal can I let go of now because this isn’t the right season or timing?
This midway point in the year is a great time to make space to reflect and contemplate not just on the numbers of your business — which may be out of your control — and, instead, focus on who you want to be and how you want to lead.
Which question speaks to you the most? Share in comments.
In the weeks and months after I began a deep dive into my Personal Fear Story — and this was this was several years ago now — I was doing a lot of reading on how to be more courageous.
At the time, I had a really wonderful business that had six figures but then kind of plateaued and I wasn’t sure where to take things from there.
I knew that I needed to take some risks but I really was afraid to do what I knew I needed to do.
In fact, I laughed a lot because while I was so busy not changing a thing, my business mentor at the time — and somebody who has actually kind of opted out of the business world since — was literally pivoting every five minutes it felt like. Seriously, every year she was rebranding or changing up her business model here I was slogging along with the same old model.
In 2020, I reached a point where I was like OK I cannot keep doing this – in fact, I believe the words that came out of my mouth was “if I have to do this for another year I am literally going to lose my mind.”
So when I threw the backpack over the wall in 2020 and burned down my first business, I am not being fully transparent.
There was so much more to the story.
There was a spiritual component to that move and I was spiritually and emotionally ready. I had done the work.
I’ve been doing a lot of work to get to that point before I burned down the old business and started my new one.
This idea of “feel the fear and do it anyway” was the most common advice that kept popping up as I was researching courage and bravery.
It kept coming up … fear the fear and do it anyway
fear the fear do it anyway
But I immediately knew that that was never going to work for me or my work or my clients it is rooted too much in toxic masculinity which I reject 1000%. I reject toxic masculinity, which promotes being tough powerful and hard on yourself.
Scarcity mindset first showed up for me a few years into being a creator and business owner.
I am an accidental, self-taught entrepreneur — which means I didn’t go into business considering the many obstacles I might experience. Nor did I struggle to start up. My business began fast — and at scale, serving hundreds of women within a couple months.
But over the years, as the market shifted, the certainty bottomed out and there were times of ease and flow — and times of struggle and famine.
When in flow, life and business was so easy. Effortless.
When in famine, life was so hard, and my mental health was affected — more so by scarcity mentality than scarcity itself.
Since my Brave Yes Coaching framework is about saying YES to yourself — and feeling safe to do so — I work with my clients on healing their scarcity mindset and working on correcting any “scarcity holes” in their business and life.
Scarcity is a belief that we are all here to compete for limited or scarce resources and that there is not enough to go around for everyone.
Scarcity mindset or mentality is when you become overly obsessed on something feel you do not have enough of in your life. When in this state you struggle to enjoy life because you are so obsessed with what is lacking.
This creates a survival mode and desperate approach to being in this world. Just look at the more is more culture that the corporate world operates under to see the grips of scarcity and how it works.
All you have to do is see the lines outside a business offering limited availability of a product to see how scarcity creates hysteria.
TrueScarcity is when there isn’t enough to go around and we have to fight for what we need or want. It’s a feeling or state that means we do not have all that we need — or want. This is rooted in the present. If you aren’t sure how you will pay your rent, money truly is scarce.
Scarcity mindset is a perception that you won’t have enough and it’s often rooted in fear of losing it all or comparisons with others who appear to have more. It’s more based in the future.
Are we ever really doing enough?
Do we ever get to the end of our workload?
And since our livelihoods — especially if you have a business or do work in a company — depend on the outcomes of our output it’s really easy to get bogged down in what we haven’t yet acquired and our lack.
There are a few types of scarcity that I have noticed with my clients over the years:
Scarcity of money
Scarcity of resources
Scarcity of time
Scarcity of power
Scarcity of belonging/support
Scarcity of motivation
It’s normal to feel these areas of lack or not enough sometimes.
“Most people — the average human being — doesn’t realize the power of these types of scarcity driving their daily lives and their every action, thought and feeling.”
SHAWN FINK
There are a lot of people awakening to these daily drivers — but who are teaching methods to gloss over them rather than to heal them and work through them so they don’t take over.
The Spiritual bypassing of True Scarcity
With more and more people feeling determined to become millionaires and to work freely anywhere in the world, there has been a ton of spiritual bypassing happening around true scarcity and feelings of scarcity mentality.
Some spiritual and business mindset gurus tell you that if you want to get YOUR piece of all those scarce resources all you need to do is adopt an abundance mindset and manifest.
In fact, they will tell you that if you want more, more, more you just need to give yourself some mantras or affirmations and will your desires into fruition. along with not enoughness is so prevalent in our society.
Make a vision board!
Manifest!
I call BS.
I do believe in the Law of Attraction but I also believe that marginalized populations of our society can’t manifest their way through racism, sexism, oppression and being trapped in the broken systems of navigating poverty.
Scarcity is a very real thing for many perfectly wonderful people and it must be dealt with effectively — not glossed over.
“For many people the thrill of having more is intensified by the presence of those who have less. Waste is not the issue here. To many greedy individuals, power lies in withholding resources.”
bell hooks
There are many people in our communities who truly are unable to get their needs met because they are a person of color, LGBTQIA+, indigenous or a woman or because they are not educated enough, because they have mental health obstacles, and many other factors etc..
So if you are a privileged person does that mean you can’t experience scarcity?
Sometimes scarcity is real. Sometimes, though, it’s an illusion.
Regardless, the solutions are always, in my work, taking intentional, aligned actions.
My former longtime business was called Abundant Mama and my work was very much rooted in abundance work because I believe abundance work could change this world for the better. The work is not mindset work — it’s intentional and algined actions toward healing scarcity and feelings of scarcity.
Imagine if everyone felt safe, taken care of and as if we all have our needs met — always.
Since realizing from doing my own work on racial justice that “abundance mindset” is based in white privilege I do not promote it — but rather coach and mentor women through building their own abundance toolbox — actions YOU take that lead you toward feeling more safe, more trusting, more secure and more confident.
The Way Through is Through
Sometimes scarcity is real — even for the dominant culture.
To heal scarcity in my work with ALL women, we first get super present with the facts of your personal situation. My coaching offers safe space for you to share personal and confidential information that you might otherwise feel scared to share.
Sometimes scarcity is healed through real conversations where you get to be heard and seen — and valued. It’s amazing how much we bottle up inside.
You can suffer from scarcity if you are seriously are worried you are not able to pay yourself or your bills — or if you are legitimately worried about where the money will come from.
However, the work is always — whether rooted in fact or fiction — about taking aligned and intentional actions for mindful progress. I would never suggest a client “mindset” her way out of money problems and money fears.
There’s action and inaction. AND, since I work in soul alignment as well, there is some level of trust work that needs to always happen when we’re thinking about money and resources that we need.
So for me abundance begets abundance and so I practice taking actions that lead to more abundance.
When scarcity does show up for me — I dig deeper for the truth. In my case, there’s always been a legitimate fear at the root not just my mind playing tricks.
And then I take action to address the root issue.
In my GRIT coaching exercise that I offer to my clients in the zone of Scarcity, the aligned actions we work with around scarcity is based on the following themes:
Grow with a Growth Action List
Re-align with the Present
Implement Radical Self-Trust
Thrive and Flourish with Positivity Pauses
Gratitude falls under T — thrive with positivity pauses since it’s a cornerstone positive emotion — but there are many more ways to actively cultivate positive energy.
Gratitude is my favorite place to begin because it’s such an accessible practice that most people know how to use it quickly and easily.
Gratitude is a cornerstone positive emotion and antidote to scarcity mindset
It’s hard to feel lack when you are focused on all that you have and all that is going well.
It’s hard to feel angry when you are feeling grateful.
Cultivating true feelings of gratitude requires intentional actions — not just rote reciting of random things like we hear around the Thanksgiving dinner table.
When I tossed all faith to the universe and quit my 9 to 5, we had managed to have about 6 months of income saved up. We gave it that long to make the dream happen. If it didn’t work, I would go back to get a real job. Thankfully that never was needed as Abundant Mama did well instantly. But it wasn’t always easy.
That’s where my daily gratitude practice — going strong for 11 years and soon to be 12 — truly became a foundation for myself, my mental health and my work.
Why is Gratitude so powerful — what does the science say?
Putting a deep focus on what you value, what is good and what is working improves your wellbeing — giving you the capacity and clarity to focus on getting what else you need or want.
This is one of the many powers of gratitude.
When I started my gratitude journaling 11 years ago, I never dreamed I would stick with it this long.
But the truth is that I have found nothing but positive energy from. the practice. A big part of my success is in being consistently motivated and moving forward in my life and work. Gratitude is a key part of my self-care.
When we have positive feelings inside of us, have the energy and the capacity to do challenging things or to navigate through tough situations.
The practice for me is to write in my journal — sometimes 3 things. Sometimes two pages.
And while many have told me they find gratitude journaling rote — and they get tired of writing the same things over and over, I have a natural ability to find the gold in my day to write about so that it’s hardly the same.
I’ve been coaching women through this practice for a decade and offered a lot prompts over the years. However, today I am focused on the standpoint of scarcity.
Scarcity Mindset? 3 Gratitude Prompts to Heal Feelings of Not Enough and Cultivate Abundance
Gratitude journaling can get boring if you don’t know how to elicit the root of the gratitude itself — which is why I try and give my clients new prompts all the time.
These are designed just to help you work through feelings of scarcity.
What can I be grateful for right now that always keeps me safe and protected?
Who can I show gratitude to for always being there for me?
What strengths of mine am I grateful for right now that have gotten me this far?
What part of this post lands for you? Take time to notice and journal.
But like usual, I have a lot to say about these conflicting thoughts between doing and being, working and rest and striving and settling.
I’m a big fan of building in sustainable rest, renewal and revitalizing in mind, body and spirit SO THAT you can do all the amazing things you want to do in your life without forcing it.
I’ve been talking about all of this for years because I know for a fact that we thrive when we’re in flow DOING.
But WHAT YOU ARE DOING is what matters most and when you put your own #UnshakeableResilience at the forefront you are stronger in mind, body and spirit.
I am a doer. I take very good care of myself. My well-being is a 10 6/7 days of the week. I am not problem free or struggle free. I work very hard for my family and my life.
AND
I want desperately to make a bigger impact, to disrupt the status quo that so many others are happy to duck out of and away from and to serve deeply in this world.
My inner fire is hot and rest is not really needed when your soul is on fire with passion.
So, I want to remind you that, yes, you need to take care of yourself AND that isn’t always doing nothing and resting. More often than not it’s actually more essential in choosing the sacred, conscious action that is going to send you into a flow state of joy, contentment and service to others.
Sometimes the Brave Yes is rest.
Listen, my dear one, you absolutely, 1000% deserve to feel really, really good every single day of your life. Including TODAY.
And contrary to what you may see over and over on the Internet … doing nothing isn’t always what makes you feel good.
What?
It’s true.
I know because I doing nothing has about one minute of charm for me – a doer.
And, I also know because I am hired primarily to be my clients’ MIC – Motivator in Chief.
Our tendency as human beings is to rest. It’s actually quite hard to make ourselves work really hard.
And all that pushing that we do to keep up, striving and make things happen is what is utterly exhausting.
And that is what seems to be driving so many people’s desire to REST.
But like usual, I have a lot to say about these conflicting thoughts between doing and being, working and rest and striving and settling.
I’m a big fan of building in sustainable rest, renewal and revitalizing in mind, body and spirit SO THAT you can do all the amazing things you want to do in your life without forcing it.
I’ve been talking about all of this for years because I know for a fact that we thrive when we’re in flow DOING.
But WHAT YOU ARE DOING is what matters most and when you put your own #UnshakeableResilience at the forefront you are stronger in mind, body and spirit.
I am a doer. I take very good care of myself. My well-being is a 10 6/7 days of the week. I am not problem free or struggle free. I work very hard for my family and my life.
AND
I want desperately to make a bigger impact, to disrupt the status quo that so many others are happy to duck out of and away from and to serve deeply in this world.
My inner fire is hot and rest is not really needed when your soul is on fire with passion.
So, I want to remind you that, yes, you need to take care of yourself AND that isn’t always doing nothing and resting. More often than not it’s actually more essential in choosing the sacred, conscious action that is going to send you into a flow state of joy, contentment and service to others.
Sometimes the Brave Yes is rest.
Sometimes the Brave Yes is digging Sometimes the Brave Yes is digging deep and dusting off your inner fire for your life so you can start floating rather than swimming. and dusting off your inner fire for your life.
JOIN ME! — You are invited. Register now for the upcoming Brave Yes Visioning Workshop. We’ll be spending 90 delicious minutes helping you dust off your inner fire and SEE your life more clearly. You’ll want to block off your calendar for this one and bring a journal and plenty of ink for journaling. During this workshop, we will focus on your personal vision as a creative, changemaker or leader. And we are ALL creatives, changemakers and leaders.
For nearly 10 years, I have woken up by 5 a.m. each day.
Even on the weekends.
Even on vacations.
If you wake up tired every day — even before you’ve gotten out of bed — there are 3 simple shifts you can make starting today.
How you wake up each day is vital to how your day is going to go.
If you wake up late and running behind … that is often the frantic state you will remain in all day long or at least until you can slow down and catch your breath.
As a highly creative woman who loves to work with highly creative, ambitious women on getting things done, I find a lot of my clients don’t just need time management and self-leadership skills.
And since we now live in a time when doomscrolling is real and the fear of the other shoe dropping any moment … maintaining our energy is vital.
Especially if you are trying to show up and make an impact in your work, community or family.
I am a master of my own energy after years of struggling as a highly sensitive mom. Noise, clutter and conflict were my main sources of energy leaking.
I’m preparing to run my next session of The Energy Boost Coaching Circle. In the last session, the group of women were almost all on the same page … they were tired of being tired.
Often their tiredness began before their day even got started, before their feet hit the floor. And so they wanted to stay in bed and not get up. They dreaded getting up, in fact. They wanted to stay in the warm bed. Life, on the other side of that warm bed, was too exhausting, too draining, too demanding.
Something had to change.
My goal as their coach for 8 weeks was to change their energy story and that’s exactly what we did. By the end, they were waking up with SO much more energy — and they were maintaining throughout their day. And, not just that, their positive energy and mood increased as well. During the 8 weeks, we identify your energy leaks and help you learn how to manage them — as well as how to cultivate and be more proactive with your own positive energy management.
Being tired isn’t going to help you shine at work.
Being low energy isn’t going to help you get things done.
Being exhausted doesn’t give you the stamina you need to do the fun, important things you want to do for yourself or with your family.
So, if you want to have enough energy to do what you must do — and to do what you WANT to do, you have to learn how to be your own Chief Energy Officer (CEO).
That is the exact goal of the Energy Boost Coaching Circle — to help you create a whole new energy story that gives you the stamina to make a bigger impact at home and in your work.
Here are 3 Shifts to Make if You Wake Up Tired Every Day
IDENTIFY YOUR ENERGY LEAKS AND ZAPPERS
All day long, you are experiencing energy leaks and zappers. These are actions and experiences that take away your energy and truly reduce it down to a reactionary method of managing your day. When we live in reactionary mode, we live in survival mode — which is where we end up in fight, flight, freeze or fawn states. The goal of managing your energy really needs to move into a place of being more proactive and so knowing what’s causing your energy leaks is a key shift to make. Start a list of your energy leaks. In my Energy Boost Coaching Circle, we’ll work together to identify your toughest energy leaks and zappers AND we’ll help you manage them better so they don’t consume you.
MAKE AN INTENTIONAL EFFORT TO FUEL YOUR POSITIVE ENERGY
It’s not enough to want to live a life without conflict, struggle and negative experiences — such as those energy leaks and zappers you already thought about above. In order to wake up with more energy and vibrancy, you will need to infuse your whole day with positive energy actions. Once you master the ability to increase your ability to FEEL more positive, your energy rises up as well and this will benefit you at work, in your creative work and with your family. And, this will bring more joy to your day — making mornings a bit more fun and less dreadful. I absolutely LOVE helping women establish new rituals, routines and habits that cultivate positive energy and emotions. It’s a huge part of the Energy Boost System I designed just for super busy women who want MORE time for MORE living.
PRIORITIZE YOUR OWN PERSONAL WELL-BEING
Let’s face it, 20 minutes at the end of your day is not enough time to care for yourself in the way you need to feel your best. And yet … the more you are thriving in mind, body and spirit, the more energy you will have for living your best life — and the more motivation you will have to start and live out your ideal day. This means for many women changing how you do your life. It may mean setting new boundaries and new ways of communicating your needs. But it ultimately puts your well-being at the forefront of your life — not last. This is a huge shift many women need to make but don’t even know where to begin. When you truly commit to doing this — especially with a group of women who are doing the same — you set yourself up to be strong enough to really make this a lifelong change.
Once you start feeling more fit in mind, body and spirit and know what your energy leaks are — and how to manage them — you will start to have more freedom to do what you really want to do in your life. You’ll have the energy to play with your kiddos or work on that creative project that you’ve been meaning to get to for years.
