I have a multi-7 figure business.
I grew my business organically, without ever buying ads.
I work my own hours and take time off whenever I want.
You can have all these things, too.
Do you believe me?
Do you believe all of the statements above?
They are all true.
They are all true, if you know the context.
My business has made multiple 7 figures... in its lifetime. I do not make multiple 7 figures in a year. (Yet!)
So, my statement was true... but the context changes its meaning, a lot. Doesn't it?
I have grown my business without ads. That's true. But I don't have a huge audience or a huge list - I just don't sell that way.
Context matters.
I do work my own hours and take time off whenever I want... but I have so many responsibilities that I can rarely do so.
Context matters.
But I'm not here to convince you that all of the grandiosity and claims you see out there are false. Definitely do your research before taking them to heart, but I think (at least at some level) we all know there is more nuance behind the claims.
What I want you to notice is how willing you were to believe all of the statements about my business, contrasted with your willingness to believe my claim that you can have that, too.
Did you read that and think "Yes! I can do that too!"?
Or did you skim over it and think "Yeah, yeah. Sure. Not me."?
We are much more willing to believe in others' success than we are in our own.
Read that again.
My client and friend, Tasha Chen, taught me something last year that instantly invoked a huge shift in my own thinking.
She said there are three pillars of success for us as business owners - what we have, what we believe, and what we do. She said most of our success does not come from what we do, but rather from what we believe ourselves to be and what we envision ourselves having.
And she was absolutely correct.
As a die-hard doer, I felt instantly naked.
When I started to think about my clients in my other business, I realized that most of them come in to this journey and struggle not because they don't know what to do, but because they have a belief gap.
They cannot get past convincing themselves that they can be a person who is successful, that runs and grows a business, and that develops a new identity as a business owner.
They throw up all sorts of reasons why not, and those become self-fulfilling prophecies.
Belief matters. A lot.
I have one client right now that I worked with all last year. We made some good progress on her business, but she wasn't making the big leaps she wanted. She just couldn't see her way from where she was now to where she wanted to be. She was attaching her potential progress to all of the things she could do.
We had a mind-blowing conversation in December, after I had the privilege of spending time with Tasha and her community in Florida, and it was like we both made the same shift at the same time, and she saw how completely possible it would be for her to reach that next level, if she changed what she believed about herself and her role in her business.
It's like we both just suddenly saw the path forward and it only came when she shifted her beliefs.
I'm not talking about positive self-talk, or rah rah-ing with intention.
She shifted what she believed about her business.
Specifically:
- "I can't afford to do anything that will move me forward"
- "I need to manage everything or it won't get done properly"
- "It's always hard as a business owner"
- "I never have time to develop my craft"
And so on.
When we defined what she wanted those beliefs to be instead, all of a sudden we could see ways to change how we organize the business and let her behave like the CEO she envisioned.
Right away. Not over time.
So, yes... we made changes to what we will do, but only after we made changes to what she believes and what she has.
And, like the good student she is, she has faithfully stepped into this new belief and this new role. And it feels expansive, aligned, and is giving her the space to focus on the work she should be doing, rather than what she imagined she had to (which, ironically, was holding back her growth).
Once we had this clarity, and the vision for where we wanted to be, we were able to very easily make decisions about what we were going to do for the next year in order to achieve our goals.
It's pretty amazing how we can make the connection between something so emotionally driven and something so practical.
For instance, if one of the shifts we had to make in her beliefs was from "I never have enough money to support the business" to "I am always well supported in my business", then I knew we had to put more robust financial management systems and processes in place and get her some support on that front.
Because part of the problem was that she never knew what her money situation was - she hated doing anything financial and didn't have the right support, so she couldn't be confident that she had enough. (Spoiler alert: she did - she just didn't have the insight into where it was).
Here's how to shift your beliefs:
- Define who you would like to be as a business owner. Blue sky here, don't limit yourself.
- What do you think about?
- What do you prioritize?
- What do you have to support you?
- Ask yourself: "What beliefs would I need to have in order for that to be true?"
- Then ask yourself: "What would I need to stop believing in order for that to be true?"
This is powerful work. And once it's clear, then we can start building your "do" strategy. It's actually magical how it all connects. As a strategist who always focused on building the execution plan, I now see how to make that plan complete, and align all of our work to a higher vision.
The impact has been so significant, I have created a whole tool for defining and assessing beliefs and belief shifts before we do any strategic planning or roadmaps, so that I can help my clients step into this powerful new way of being.
So, what needs to shift in your beliefs about yourself in order for you to become the business owner you really want to be?
(And thank you, Tasha, if you're reading this. You've changed my life and the lives of my clients.)
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