Don't build your business to be your cage.
Three exciting things I see entrepreneurs thinking about right now.
When I saw this Instagram post this week I knew we needed it to live here too.
Can anyone else relate? I love us for what we have done by ourselves. I know how extraordinary you are and what you have decided to just get done because help was not something that was normal for you.
And, also (my favourite words) I think we are in a really gorgeous moment of entrepreneurship right now. A critical mass of women and other non-traditional style leaders have gone ahead and started their own businesses. And they have had a minute at it now and are realizing some things.
They didn’t do it to build their own cage.
What’s the point of taking all the risks of running your own business if in the end you build something that relies on your overwork and exhaustion as much as a traditional job? It’s much worse that you are doing it to yourself! I think many of us get a good look at this possibility and have to decide what we want to do about it. It’s uncomfortable and maybe the most important moment for creating real change.
They have to learn how to source help and support.
Once you see that there is a diversion of paths—one where you are commodifying yourself in the name of your business and another where your business is actually serving and supporting you—you have to decide. Decide whether you’ll keep going or change course to build something sustainable or even decide not to have a business. If you decide to change course within your business you have to learn how to source help and support. All the training to put everyone else first and be the one that helps not be helped has left so many women unable to allow themselves the help they actually need. If we want a world that values help we also have to value it for ourselves!
They are building their businesses for a reason not just to do it.
So much advice out there is about MORE and SCALE without any endpoint. I keep hearing from women that they are building their businesses for a purpose. To provide for themselves, for freedom, to help others, etc… When they succumb to the false pressure to build past their own needs and dreams they start to get really dissatisfied with it. And without recognizing what the problem actually is, some quit everything, some blow the business up. But this gives me so much hope for the change we need to make life on this planet sustainable in so many ways. Women entrepreneurs might be on the forefront of denying the pressure to conform to ideas of extraction for no purpose in their business. And there are enough of us out there now to really rock the boat in the best ways.
So build the business of your dreams! (And I have no opinion on the size or shape of that dream—it’s yours.) Make sure you and your life aren’t one of the costs of its success, because how can that really be success? Teach yourself how to get and receive help. And keep tabs on your for what and make sure you freaking enjoy that!
Susie
PS. Want my help figuring out that new path? Check out Resiliency Club or shoot me a message so we can discuss what might be right for you. If you want some quick help learning how to make decisions and take action check out my short audio course How to Give Yourself Permission.