Some days, do you find yourself wondering: Will my business work?

Maybe it's a full blown, active worry, something that feels like it won't leave you alone. Every time you connect with a colleague, look at last month's numbers, or attend a marketing webinar, it's there.

Or maybe, it's buried deep. Perhaps, you keep yourself so, so busy doing all the things, you don't have time to slow down and recognize that it's something you're wondering about. Until you hit a quiet moment, that is. And there it is. Right there.

Wanting to Know

You need to find more clients, and you seem to be doing all the things you’ve been told you’re supposed to do. And still, you wonder:

Can I make my business work?

I hear it from many coaches, healers or creatives - from those newer in business, but also from those that have been at this for a while.

So many people want to know this. I did. For sure. Every seminar I attended, every business course question I asked, underneath it all it seemed was always a longing to know:

Will this business I have work?

A Surprising Answer

When people come to me and ask this, I say something that often surprises. It's certainly not something you hear from many other marketers out there promoting their business coaching or marketing seminars.

When people ask, I say: The truth is, I don’t know.

I don't know if you can make your business work. I wish I did. While I do sometimes get a strong intuitive sense about some of the people I work with, the reality is, no one knows for sure. And that feels risky. Scary. Uncomfortable.

We all are longing for some sense of certainty. Especially about something as important to our hearts as doing this work.

And yet, on a deeper level, I think people recognize the truth of this. There's a peace that comes about in accepting the unknown of business building, and deciding to go ahead anyway.

Building a Business, Planting a Garden

When a gardener plants a seed, she doesn’t know if it’s going to germinate. If she does the right things to create a good, healthy environment for the seed to flourish in, yes, she's given it a good chance. And yes, it might.

And, in reality, there are many things that could go wrong. Maybe the seed wasn’t dried correctly, or it’s carrying some type of pathogen, like a virus or bacteria, that would stop it from germinating correctly. Or it could end up being eaten by an insect or a bird and never growing.

So much of business building is exactly like this. If you develop your business, and do the right things, showing up and marketing it in a healthy, authentic, clear way, yes, with time and patient, consistent action, it can grow. And. There are lots of things that could come in and affect that. On a macro scale, like a global pandemic and economic down turn, to a micro scale, like a family crisis or a personal injury.

Where Are You Taking Action From?

While you're not in charge of the outcome, you can control where you're taking action from.

For example, what if the gardener focused her efforts on wanting to know if the seed is growing, even when it seems it might not be?

Well, she might spend all her time checking for signs of growth, digging around the planting site, obsessively hovering over the dirt. Maybe she checks and rechecks the recommended water amounts or runs out to buy the latest artificial light filters.

Some of these things might help, but doing so in the long run is exhausting and unsustainable. Plus it puts her focus on the wrong things.

I see the same thing in business and marketing.

So many people rebel against the not knowing if their business will succeed. The not knowing is uncomfortable, so they spend time so much time looking for assurances their marketing is working. They look in their inboxes, website analytics, client rosters, Instagram accounts. They want clicks, likes, engagement! - proof their business is going to be successful.

Looking for promises of a future when none exist can be agonizing and draining.

Reframing Your Approach

You can choose to approach your business building and marketing from a different direction.  What would happen if you accepted the fact that you don’t know if you can make your business work?

What would that mean?

Gardeners don’t know if their seed will germinate, but they act on faith that it will.

They buy the seed, and then set about doing all the things that give it the best chance of growing. They plant it properly and at the right depth. They give it the recommended amounts of light and water. They tend it consistently and with care. And, if they do these things regularly, they have good reason to believe it will grow.

In the same way, if you allow space for the fact that, in this moment, you don’t know that your business can make it, you can then choose to show up for your business and marketing in a way that gives it the best chance to succeed.

You show up with a clear picture of your ideal clients and a concise and compelling way to express what you are offering to help them with. From there, you build core messages and a simple plan to start reaching out and engaging in the marketplace in a way that feels good and builds on your gifts and natural strengths. 

Instead of spending your precious time and energy looking for guarantees, you show up for your business consistently with authenticity and love.

If you feel called to offer your transformative, healing or creative work to the world, then you can put the time and effort into learning how to effectively market your business.

Show up with curiosity, tenderness, and heart. You might just be surprised one day to see beautiful blooms have arisen outside, when for so long it seemed nothing was growing at all.

Free Intuitive Business Energy Sessions

If you’d like to get in touch with your business’ energy on a deeper level, now through January I’m offering up to 18 free intuitive energy sessions for coaches, healers or other creative entrepreneurs.

In these sessions, I’ll intuitively read your business’ energy, giving you insight and information on any issue you’d like to bring to the call. As a side bonus in this session, I’ll also offer you a more practical assessment of your business’ marketing, where I’ll ask you a couple of short questions to offer my perspective on where you can best focus your next marketing efforts.

The combination of an intuitive reading of your business’ energy and a practical assessment of your marketing will offer you a unique, powerful way to move your business forward. Click here to register.

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Photo by Katherine Chase on Unsplash