Since starting my consulting and coaching business earlier this year, I often get asked: “Who are the kinds of customers you want? Who do you want to see knocking on your door? And what’s the ideal state for this business?”
My whole focus is helping others that want to solve problems that matter. That’s the real gist of it: Using my talents and my gifts to solve problems that matter. And in so doing, hopefully, transform at least the world around me if not the larger, greater world, in a positive and powerful way.
So those are the people that I want to work with, those that are inspired by and committed to this type of mission.
And to be perfectly honest, the journey to this point was a little bit surprising. At the start of this year, I didn’t even know that I was going to start my business, to be honest. I had just had a baby at the end of last year. So I spent last year not doing much in terms of personal activity, you know, I was pregnant for most of it. And by this, I mean the fun things: I love music, so musical festivals, wine tasting and travel. I couldn’t do any of that. So when this year started, I said, I’m actually going to enjoy this year as much as possible. But the recession and the way that it was progressing made it clear that this really wasn’t that realistic.
So I had to kind of do a little bit of soul searching and redefine the way I think about joy. And that was really the spark that ultimately got me to where I launched my business. I started noticing:
What are the things that fill me up? And I discovered three things:
1. I love to learn and problem solve all day, every day. I mean, I do it for free, I enjoy it.
2. I genuinely love to engage with people and to connect.
3. I’m inspired when I believe in what I’m doing and enjoy it. And being inspired matters. It allows me to create bigger impact faster.
So once I realized these truths about myself, I reconnected with some of my key supporters and said, “Hey, you know, I just want to thank you. Because I’m so grateful for how you’ve supported me. And I’d love to hear a bit more about what you’re doing.” And one of them said back to me, “You know what? I need a little bit of help solving something that matters to me. And your approach is really different.”
I said, “What do you mean?” He replied, “You actually want to solve the problem. And you approach it by exploring different perspectives.”
And in that very moment, I thought: Whoa, wait a minute. Stop right there. This is an opportunity! There’s a gap in my industry, I’m in the business of problem solving. And you’ve just told me that, by me being me and approaching things the way I normally do, I can plug that gap.
So that was the first thing that made me realize: Wait, there’s something here. And everyone else was shutting their doors and getting into a scarcity mindset, and I completely understand that. But I wanted to do more. I wanted to go out there and just give this a try.
So I said to my husband, “I think I’m going to start my own consulting and coaching business, because I want to be able to help those that want to solve real problems and get things done.”
And he looked at me and said: “About time!”
I didn’t expect that.
So watch this space.
I’m finally tapping into my power. And I have a feeling, I’m just getting started.
I would love to hear from you! What keeps you motivated and energized? And how do you tap into this to maintain momentum in your business, career and life?
