Celebrating ten years in business

I cannot believe where the time has gone.  I am so very proud of myself for sticking at this business-building thing through all of that time.

It might look as though I have it all sussed out, but it’s not been plain sailing (and still isn’t).  And it’s taken a lot of effort behind the scenes.  Effort that you won’t necessarily have seen.   Think about Strictly Come Dancing as an analogy – those non-dancers put their heart and soul into becoming the best dancers they could be, and they suffered from blisters and pulled tendons and exhaustion. And what we saw at the end of each week was some seemingly effortless dancing, gliding around the floor, or bouncing depending on which kind of dance it was.  But they couldn’t have done that without all of that willingness to learn, the trial and error, the extended practice sessions, and dancing in their sleep.

That’s what building a business is like. It’s not for the faint-hearted.  And I wish that more coach training organisations would be honest about that before they train more coaches – it’s one thing to learn the skill of coaching.  It’s quite another, learning how to set up and manage a business.

But hey, this is a celebration of all of that hard work, not a gripe.  I do want you to know though that the hard work does not ever stop.  The need to cancel open programmes that haven’t been filled is still very much present.  It’s not all rich pickings!!  My business model doesn’t lend itself to bringing in more and more each year.  In fact, I feel a tug-of-war style of resistance to the business growth curve right now.  I want depth and creativity.  I don’t want success at any cost.  Don’t get suckered into believing that the busy-ness displayed online is representative of mine or others’ earnings.  The two are not always linked.

And now I wonder what I am putting out in the world by saying all of that.  But it’s a sense of something different emerging.  Not sure what yet.  It’s mysterious and elusive.  I’ll likely share when I know!!  Though it may not be a head knowing.  So difficult to capture in words.  That’s hard for me to contemplate, as finding the right words has been so important to me in my books, blogs and posts.  And in conversation too.  I am baffled by this lack of access to words to describe what is happening.

And that is what I am celebrating right now.  The mystery, the not knowing, the being with whatever is, the finding my place, the love.

Hmm, love. That’s where my focus has been this past year.  How to lead with love.  I’ve read around the subject, I’ve worked with a therapist to bring the loving and not-so-loving parts of myself together, I’ve seen a softening in my way of being, and I’ve opened my heart more freely.  It’s been rather a love-ly year, in summary.  Learning how to be both a strong entrepreneur AND a loving one.  And there is still more to emerge.

This poem speaks to me about where I am (thankfully, someone else found the words):

I know it’s not easy when you are stuffed full
with ocean, mountain, sunlight—when
there are infinite unwritten stories
that have been trying, for longer
than you can remember, to claw
their way out. When there is so,
so much you don’t understand.

I know it feels impossible to keep trusting
when noise keeps growing noisier, when
it seems not one other sees
or believes, when the spark of trust
you have tried to have sometimes dims
to faint, faded flicker. When you are
just so, so tired.

But please, please Love, allow the noise
of this hustling world to roll, roll away
like a far-off distant wave.

Listen instead
to the voice, the real voice, that sits
in the center of every
ancient thing. The voice that whispers:

Please, please Love, be patient with your own, slow unfolding.

There is a rhythm, a readiness, a reason
you cannot see with your small,
impatient eyes. Keep coming here

to where words and heart gather,
where you can hear your own voice speak.
You will know it is your own
because she feels like ocean, like mountain,
like the truest, kindest thing. Like the slow,
fierce unfolding of a thousand sunlit wings.

©Julia Fehrenbacher

Sorry if you thought this might be my top ten tips for building a successful business.  That’s not where my head is at right now.  But if that is what you would like, you can read a post from 2021: https://clarenormancoachingassociates.com/my-business-development-story-and-some-lessons-learned/  I am not that person anymore, but the lessons may still help you to figure out your own lessons.