Have you ever found yourself feeling uninspired and unmotivated, wondering how to realign your business with your passion – like how it was when you first started? I get it.
Nobody likes to talk about it because we’re supposed to be 24/7 “When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life”… but I’ve come to find that idealism can turn kinda toxic positivity pretty quickly.
Whether you’re feeling it right now (the bleh) or you’ve been going through a rollercoaster of emotions lately around your work and your business, this post is for you.
Maybe you’re not hating everything. It could just be that you haven’t checked in for a while and something feels off but you can’t quite put your finger on it.
So, instead of suffering alone, let’s talk about it.
Before we start, make sure you download your free Gentle Growth Planner >>>
Take 5 minutes out of your day to check in, realign, and start making progress in the direction of the kind of success you ACTUALLY want.
DO YOU PREFER TO LISTEN RATHER THAN READ? NO WORRIES! CHECK OUT THE COZY BUSINESS WITH KATHERINE PODCAST EPISODE OF THIS POST:
The Passion-Business Disconnect
Probably one of the most frequent conversations I have with people who have been in business for a year or less is that they had no idea just how many other tasks and roles were involved in starting a business.
They just assumed they’d be coaching (or insert other professional service here) all the time.
Then, when they start getting into the weeds, they found themselves spending 90% of their time creating content, doing admin, trying to find clients, writing emails…
And very little time actually doing the thing that brings them joy, of course can make you feel disconnected from your business.
Ever heard of the E-Myth Revisited by Michael Geber (*affiliate link) – it’s about this exact dilemma.
Signs You’ve Strayed from Your Purpose
There are probably a million, but these are a few to get you started off the top of my head (and from personal experience):
- You’re doing a lot of scrolling and comparing on social media
- You dread doing anything related to your business, even things you usually love
- You’re spending more time THINKING, than actually DOING anything and, as a result, not seeing any momentum happening but you also feel exhausted (fun fact – did you know that we can trick our brains into believing that thinking IS doing stuff?)
- You’re signing up to a lot of freebies and low ticket items from random ads online without any purpose or intention
- You’re doing things because someone told you that you “should” and not because you have a clear purpose and strategy behind them.
Having trouble making time for your business? You might enjoy this post of 10 Tips To Make Time For Your Business
7 Steps to Realign Your Business with Your Passion
So, maybe you’re starting to realise that you might actually be a little out of alignment right now. First, let me just say that is A-OK.
I really believe that it happens, especially if you are a fellow energy-sensitive person. We are so impacted by the energy of others, and we are receiving SO MUCH INFORMATION every single day, it is kind of inevitable.
The most important thing is having awareness around this, know what your signs are that you’re actually off track, and taking proactive steps to check in regularly and get back into alignment.
Here are 7 steps to get you started realigning your business back with your bigger vision and passion.
Step 1: Reconnect with your “why”
I know, I know, it’s so cliche at this point. But – tell me – when was the last time you actually stopped and checked in with your goals and your bigger reason WHY business and why THIS business?
I’ll give you a minute.
I never expect to stay on one path all the time, in fact, one of my favourite things as a neurodivergent business owner is to go on side quests all day, every day. It’s part of how I learn, it keeps my brain active and it’s actually a big part of the passion I have for my work.
But the bigger reason why I’m doing my business and why this business is always front and centre.
Implementation step: Spend 10 minutes journaling about your big ‘why’. Be brutally honest, even if it’s uncomfortable. Distil your insights into a brief statement or visual reminder, and display it prominently in your workspace as a daily touchstone.
Step 2: Create opportunities to practise your craft
I swear this is the biggest reason people want to quit their business. Because they haven’t been able to do the thing that lights them up and serve their people.
But ever since I started my business – even if my client calendar was a little light – I always looked for (or created) opportunities to practise my coaching and content creation.
Some of the things I’ve done over the years to keep practising and being in the energy of my work include:
- Monthly free workshops to grow my list, practise my skills, and get more confident speaking on camera to a group.
- Weekly livestreams in my Facebook community to get over my fear of going live and public speaking
- Offering free one-off sessions to my community when I was having a quiet month in my business so I could do more coaching
- Going into other communities and giving amazing value while I was building my own so I could be top of my game when people finally started asking questions in my spaces.
Implementation step: Before you move on, jot down 3-5 opportunities you can create for yourself to make sure you’re doing your coaching, consulting, energy healing, every week in some way.
Step 3: Define your unique version of success
If you have especially been following somebody else’s steps to success or following certain influencers in your niche. Or – let’s face it – if you’re just a human trying to exist in the world.
There’s a good chance that you have been influenced by the success metrics of our overly capitalistic society.
That success means millions of dollars, followers, subscribers, or fans.
Maybe you should only be doing the 4 hour work week. Or the 4am club to be successful.
Or that you should be experiencing bigger and bigger growth every year.
And, if I’m honest, all of those things have a big red flag next to them for me. Because they’re not how I want to define success at all.
But if we’re focusing outwardly, we can take on the beliefs that this is what we should also be striving towards. The problem is that when you get there, it feels flat and hollow (or we move the goal posts) because it’s not actually in alignment with our goals or big vision for our work in the world.
Take a moment to sit with what success looks like to you. Really challenge yourself to question the usual markers for success and, instead, think about what YOU want to measure your success by.
Step 4: Regularly audit your goals and values
Honestly, we all know how easy it is to start the year with big goals and then never look at them again until the following January, am I right?!
Every month in Emerge + Expand, we check in with our goals, reflect on the previous month, and set new momentum steps and intentions for the month ahead in alignment with our goals.
It never ceases to amaze me how much time I waste during the month on things that aren’t actually aligned with any of my goals. These check ins make it easier to create more awareness and intention to everything I do in my business.
Implementation Step: Schedule in time each month to take yourself out of your usual work day and get reinvigorated by checking in with your goals, values, projects, and tasks.
Ask yourself:
>> Are they serving you?
>> Are they still in alignment for where you are right now?
>> Are there any tweaks or improvements that you can make to them and how will they inform your month ahead?
Step 5: Align daily actions with your vision
Regularly checking in with your goals makes it so much easier to then make sure that your daily tasks are helping you get closer to where you want to be.
And, when we’re working within the Cozy Business framework, we also want to align with how we are feeling and what accommodations we want or need in our business and, also, how we want to feel.
This takes a bit of experimentation and a lot of self-compassion and grace. Because we have been taught that we must be productive and efficient members of society in order to have value.
When you know how your energy works best, what your capacity is today, and what tasks are most manageable for where you’re at, it really helps to stay on track and stay motivated. Nothing takes away inspiration more than forcing yourself to do things that you don’t have the energy or capacity for right now.
For example: If your goal is to have a cozy business that supports you, stuffing your schedule with back to back calls and no breaks is probably not what you had in mind. How can you create space in your day to rest and reset between clients?
Implementation Step: Think about any areas in your business that feel exhausting or draining. Are there ways that you’re going against your strengths or needs that you can start making small adjustments to get back into alignment with?
Step 6: Incorporate passion projects into your business model
One of the worst things about starting a business out of something you absolutely love is how quickly the fun can be squashed out of it.
Suddenly you have to worry about things like profit margins and lifetime customer value when you probably started your business from a place of passion, creativity, or just wanting to help people have an amazing experience with your work.
How can you bring elements of your passions and your work into your day-to-day? If you’re a energy healer or meditation expert, would it not make sense to infuse your day with small rituals and energy resets?
If you’re a creativity coach, how can your daily tasks have some fun and creative flair to them?
Implementation step: Get creative, how can you infuse the magic of your work into every task you do in your business – especially the boring ones?
Step 7: Learn to say no to misaligned opportunities
Personally, I have always found this one tough to navigate. Mostly because you don’t always know an opportunity is misaligned until you’re already in it and committed.
What I’ve learnt to do over the years is keep track of opportunities, experiences, and people that I have LOVED being involved in. And also ones that I have not.
Ever have that “Well I’m never doing that again” moment in your business?
That’s a great way to determine a misaligned opportunity.
The more you build your criteria list for what does and doesn’t excite you, the easier it is to say yes to the right things and no to everything else.
Remember, especially if you have to be mindful of your energy and capacity, saying yes to something often means saying no to something else. I don’t know about you, but I only want to say yes to things that I know are going to 100% be in alignment for me, my business, strengths, energy, and my big vision.
Implementation step: What’s something you already know is an immediate no in your business? What is a definite yes?
The Importance of Regular Check-ins
If you’ve made it this far, awesome. I hope that you are already starting to feel some inspiration returning.
I genuinely believe that we would just keep pushing through our to-do lists until complete and utter burn out (well, I know that I would). That’s why it is so important to schedule check ins and make sure to keep your own success metrics, big vision, and personal goals at the heart of everything you do.
Overcoming Challenges in Realignment
You might be thinking, “Katherine, I am suddenly realising that I am way off track, do I have to throw everything away and start again?”
And, my short answer is, no you really don’t have to.
First of all, sunk cost fallacy
I get it. I’ve been through this myself and have been talking to a client about this recently. She has invested 2 years in a program about building a membership, only to realise recently that she actually doesn’t want to do that at all.
It sucks to feel like you’ve invested that time and money into something but, let me ask you…
What is the cost of continuing to push through to build or achieve something you actually really don’t want?
It can really suck to realise that has happened, but it will serve a purpose later on, even if just to remind you not do it again.
Secondly, managing client and community expectations
You want (or need to) shift directions about an offer that exists and people are expecting certain things from you. Or you have been talking about for a long time and you’re worried they will judge you for changing your mind?
Guess what? People almost never do that.
In my experience, when you are upfront and honest with people about a shift in direction, they are very often relieved.
You are human, it happens and now you’ve given them permission to change their mind when something no longer aligns for them.
And you’re honest and real with them. YOUR people will appreciate that so much, and often they prefer the direction you’re going anyway.
The people who make the most noise are so often not the people you should listen to, and they’re almost never your most inner circle dreamy clients.
Lastly, balancing passion with profitability
In order to have a business that can support itself and be sustainable, it needs to make money and that can be difficult if we are jumping from passion to passion.
I have found that I do as much as I possibly can to create from a place of my passion and joy, but then how can I turn this into something that really solves problems for people and is valuable for them?
This is a practise that takes time to develop. How can you design your day and your business to get the things done that you need to do AND incorporate pockets of joy, passion, and fun in?!
The Benefits of a Passion-Aligned Business
Of course, there are some things to consider to ensure that your business is aligned with your passion AND is sustainable because it’s making money. But there are way more benefits to a passion aligned business than one that’s just focused on profits and hustle.
1. Increased motivation and productivity
This is a no brainer because when you’re doing more of what you want to do in your business, and finding ways to even make the boring stuff fun of COURSE you’re going to feel more motivated.
And when you’re excited about your work again, taking daily steps and building momentum becomes easier.
2. Better client outcomes and satisfaction
Guess what? When you’re feeling excited and passionate about your work, your clients will feel that. Your community will feel that. And they will be drawn to you.
Have you ever noticed that when you have something new and exciting you’re working on, it seems to just magnetise people your way?
They’re curious about what you’re doing but they’re also drawn to your energy because you are excited.
They feel it even if they don’t know it. And you can bet your client sessions are going to improve when you’re operating out of this place as well.
3. Sustainable long-term growth and fulfillment
There’s that old saying that what you focus on expands and there is always some truth to this, I have found, over the years I’ve been in business. When we are having a quiet month and we focus on how broke we are, how ignored we are, how terrible we clearly are at business… that is all we see.
But when we can shift our mindset and realign with our true purpose and passions, we can suddenly start to see possibilities open up in front of our very eyes.
Having a quiet month in your business? Yup, that can really play on your mindset and energy and that can lead to a downward spiral if we’re not careful, but here are some mindset shifts to consider:
- What a great opportunity to finally have space and time to play with some new ideas or projects.
- How can you go over the top with your generosity and gratitude for your community and past clients?
- What have you always wanted to create or do in your business that you have been putting off to when you have time?
I swear, being eternally grateful that I get to do the work I do every day, and always looking for another angle when things feel bleh has been one of the best things for building my resilience and sustainability in my business.
Have a down day. Get all the emotions out. Feel disappointed or frustrated.
And then take that energy and channel it into something incredible that you can do or create for your people.
It will change your life.
What happens when you realign your business with your true purpose?
One thing I’ve always said about staying true to my purpose in my business is that I’m an introvert who is totally content being alone. That means that I will show up every day for my work and purpose before anybody else does, trusting that all I can control is my own commitment.
It has never served me wrong.
People will come when you are willing to stay true to your purpose, document your journey, and keep showing up until…
Until your people find you.
Until you refine your offer.
Until you feel confident.
Until people start to notice you.
Until opportunities start coming your way
Can you imagine?
This is why I created the Gentle Growth Planner.
It’s a free tool to help you gauge how aligned you are with your true vision of success, and to identify areas where you might need to make some adjustments, and create a plan for your next steps and your gentle growth.
This is not a one time and done thing, it’s about constantly checking in, making tweaks and changes, and continuing to accommodate for your own needs nad success factors.
Check out the Gentle Growth Planner here
And, if you use it and love it, I’d love to hear from you! Please hit me up @miss_kms on Instagram or reply to the email and let me know what you think.
