Quote: “What kind of container are you building that accomplishes the task of allowing you to explore your deepest joys and passions, while also adding genuine value to other people’s lives?”
Well, hello there… HeartBased Solopreneur. For this Sunday Letter, I’d like to share some reflections about the importance of patience, consistency, and finding your flow — when it comes to building a business that ultimately adds beautiful value to your (and other people’s) life.
Settle in with me here, and let’s walk together and take an honest look at the real opportunity we have to make some meaningful steps of progress.
Heads Up!
My Heart-Based Solopreneur Group Training program is now merging with my Deep Diver’s Group Training. So, get both in one, AND… it’s now accessible via a sliding scale according to personal income! 😮 BUT… there’s only room for 60 people per year.
Clarifying the Opportunity
It’s important to, every once in a while, step back and just get clear about the heart behind all your efforts. Naturally, and understandably, it’s easy to get lost in the expectations, doubts, and fears that create a somewhat resentful business journey. Yet, there’s a deeper simplicity, a more sincere intention, that invites us to be both practical and honest about the business we are building.
When I ask myself:
- Wait, what am I building here? What am I doing with all of this effort and time spent trying to make things happen?
The answer, often, is to see how I’ve forgotten the heart of the opportunity, believing that the prize I’m chasing is beyond the horizon in some distant future. Of course, this creates an agitation that feels like I’m both exhausted and behind.
It reminds me of that feeling when you’re trying to run in a dream, but as you run after something, it only appears to get further away from you.
Relax, take a breath, and maybe discover an openness within yourself to see there’s nothing to chase after; that the real opportunity is much more present — here and now.
What I find myself remembering is that this opportunity of creating a business is more like a gift I give to myself that allows me to engage in something that’s… worthwhile; something that facilitates learning, growing, and playing.
The opportunity is for me to SHARE myself with the world, not anxiously try to take from the world. In the remembrance of this, it helps me relax into an attitude of being in creative service, by way of small steps that focus on building something very clear and specific — that is the container that allows me to… do what I do.
Okay, so what am I building? That’s an important question. I invite you to reflect on that:
- What kind of container are you building that accomplishes the task of allowing you to explore your deepest joys and passions, while also adding genuine value to other people’s lives?
The Art of Patience
Time — is the container that allows for discovery, growth, and the deep assimilation (or embodiment) of profound insight and wisdom. Also, for anything that gets built, the simple fact is that it takes time.
The art of patience, when building something worthwhile, is a skill discovered in our joy for the process; where, the process of building is where we find the real prize, more so than whatever we imagine will be there in the completion of our project.
Just like in an intimate relationship with a lover, the prize is not found in reaching a 25-year anniversary. The prize is found in the day-to-day opportunity of discovering new depths of connection. These small steps of discovery allow you to see yourself more clearly, see your partner more clearly, and in doing so, open you up to experience a deeper richness in different areas of your life.
If we assume the prize is in the outcome, which is really to chase some self-important ego fantasy, then all of those present moment challenges and difficulties are seen as violent obstacles that stand between you and where you’re trying to go. We completely miss the deeper and more sincere opportunity, which is to allow Life to show us the learning opportunities, the growth opportunities, and guide us through the great adventure of evolving our consciousness.
You see, the art of patience is seeing more value in where you are, rather than projecting the value in some distant future. There’s this beauty in releasing the outcome, releasing the future, and simply coming back to the here-and-now and being open to learn, grow, and play.
I’m not in this life to get somewhere, I’m in this life to learn, grow, and play — and all of those things are only possible in the present moment experience of my everyday life.
The Courage of Consistency
In my journey, I can see where I’ve been wildly inconsistent. Yet, in the same breath, underneath that inconsistency has been a consistency of learning through the inconsistency. Sure, I get knocked down, sometimes I appear to give up, then, after some time, I find myself re-engaging and trying again.
I say this so that we might forgive what appears to be our wild inconsistencies and make contact with that part of ourselves that has obviously been courageously consistent. I mean, here you are now, reading this, with an obvious willingness to keep going.
It’s easy to look back at where we’ve failed, where we’ve given up, and assume it means we should just “settle” for something less than the fullness of what we are (whatever that might be). However, at least for me, and I assume the same for anyone who’s willing to read this, there is this impulse within us to keep going, to keep exploring.
The courage is not found in the absence of failure or in the absence of inconsistency. The courage is found in our willingness to learn and grow through those things. The courage is found in our radical self-honesty, where we can take a breath, step back, and re-evaluate the situation with more heart, and realign ourselves with the deeper and more sincere opportunity.
The lessons I learn through this, as it relates to building a Heart-Based Solopreneur Business, is my ability to refocus on simplicity; refocus on what’s most important for me to make small steps every day or week that allow me to build something worthwhile. Of course, to do that, I have to be clear on what I’m building.
Here’s a courageous question to ask yourself (after you have a clear sense of what you’re building):
- What are the 3 most important things I can do every week that would allow me to make tiny steps of progress — that would compound beautifully over the next 12 months?
You see, it would be easy to make a list of ten things or even hundreds, but there’s a playful and important challenge in simplifying and prioritizing what’s most important. You can’t be consistent when trying to do one hundred things consistently. However, when it’s just a few things that you see are deeply important, it’s much easier to cultivate an attitude of devotion that you can focus on.
Depending on where you’re at in your solopreneur journey, here are some recommendations that may or may not resonate.
Aspiring Solopreneur: 3 most important things
- Educate myself on the problem I want to help people solve in their lives.
- Build relationships with other people who are struggling with that problem (find a community).
- Improve my communication skills and clarify the message I want to bring to the world.
New Solopreneurs: 3 most important things
- Reach out and interview people who are struggling with the problem you want to help people solve, so you can learn more about how they see and experience that struggle.
- Set aside 2 or 3 hours every week to write (or create) something for free that would add value to your ideal customer’s life.
- Learn new online tools that would help you stay organized and consistently deliver value to people’s lives.
Active Solopreneurs: 3 most important things
- Find ways to grow your email list while also improving the experience for your current email subscribers.
- Improve your systems, processes, automations, and delegation to allow you to focus on high-value work you can enjoy, without sacrificing the client/customer experience.
- Obtain client/customer feedback and testimonials that help you communicate and improve the value you provide.
Again, these may or may not be relevant to you, but I encourage you to have a playful conversation with yourself that explores the 3 most important things for building your business container.
Finding Your (Solopreneur) Flow
Nature, like music, has a rhythm that flows in a natural and somewhat effortless way. There is a heartbeat of sorts that carries nature along and allows it to fulfill its purpose and function. Being that humans are simply an aspect of nature, similar rhythms and flows can be found within them.
There are cycles of being asleep and awake, being busy and finding a space of relaxation, or being super creative and super bored. These are natural aspects of the melody that we call being human, carried by a heartbeat that beats in sync with the natural flow of life.
In the same way that the ego can resist the timing of winter and anxiously await the arrival of spring, our ego can resist our natural rhythms in service of trying to reach some impossible version of the future.
- The ego says: “If only I can make life be how I want it to be, then I can finally be at peace.”
The same insanity happens when engaging the solopreneur path, where the ego thinks it knows what the flow should be or how it should look, rather than discovering the natural flow of your most authentic nature (which is very much a part of nature).
There’s a trap of imagining the perfect flow, maybe based on a comparison with someone else or based on what might have been true ten years ago. This fantasy of flow can be wildly out of touch with the sincerity of flow for the particular stage (or season) of life you are currently in. When lost in this trap, we can find ourselves fighting against life, against our authentic nature, rather than melting into the natural flow that carries us through the journey.
Finding your flow is first setting aside all of the expectations and conditioning, and experimenting with your humanness to find what supports your overall wellness, while also allowing you to make meaningful steps of progress.
For example, when engaging in a fitness plan, you could compare yourself to someone who is five years ahead of you and think you need to do 200 push-ups per day. Good luck with that when you’re just starting out. Maybe a better and more honest flow for you could be starting out with a devotional commitment to do 10 push-ups per day.
Since we are a diverse range of creative human beings who often have different flows and melodies to express in the world, I can’t say what your flow might be without having a personal conversation with you about your experience.
However, what I can do is share my direct experience, and maybe you’ll find some inspiration or direction.
Here are some discoveries that have had a profound impact on me, getting in touch with my most natural and effortless flow.
Health Discovery for Finding my Flow
- The food I put in my body profoundly impacts my cognitive function and my ability to focus. This, of course, greatly impacts my ability to flow with my most natural state of being. For instance, I used to stay up late and have super slow mornings where it took me a while to “get going.”However, in the most odd and fantastic way, when I removed sugar and ALL processed foods — mostly eating quality proteins and fats — I instantly became a morning person who wakes up between 3:30 and 4:30 and is ready to tackle the day. My sleep cycles became much more consistent, finding a rhythm that made it easy to fall asleep and wake up. This has greatly contributed to me being in a flow that allows me to engage in my business journey.
Relationships Discovery for Finding my Flow
- Relationships, whether it’s my relationship with people, plans, seasons, or circumstances, are all opportunities for me to get more in touch with myself on a deeper level. This discovery is the transformation in how I see life and what appears to be happening, allowing me to flow with (more) rather than fighting against it.The old way was assuming that relationships are a way to help me get what I want in the future. This created a fear-based dynamic (fear of not getting what I wanted) that saw people (and such) as potential enemies. This, of course, creates a block of flow, almost as if something in me assumes it’s not safe for things to flow because… I might not get what I want in the future. The discovery was realizing that everything I’m in a relationship with is there to teach me something valuable about myself; therefore, I could open up to whatever was showing, I could (more so) flow with what was happening.
Business Discovery for Finding my Flow
- To put it simply, the insight is this: It’s not about me, the character I imagine myself to be, it’s about being in service to the wholeness of life.You see, when we find our flow, it’s more about getting out of our own way than making things how the “me” wants them to be. The “me” (ego) assumes that the business opportunity is to validate my imaginary sense of self-importance. Naturally, this leads to various difficulties, which create barriers to flow states and effortless ways of being. Perhaps the most notable barriers are taking things personally and seeking personal validation. This is wanting the world (other people) to tell me I’m important. Flow cannot happen in this mindset.If I am a painter, my opportunity is to enjoy the creative process of painting; to allow the art within me to be expressed onto the canvas of life. This is my prize, to get out of my own way and allow what is within to flow out into the world — my prize is to breathe freely. Now, if I am a painter who seeks validation from the world, I will not paint freely, I will not flow. Instead, I will paint with anxious fear, wondering if this painting will give me the validation I desire from the world. Therefore, I won’t paint what is naturally sincere, I will paint what I think the world wants me to paint. I will disconnect myself from the natural flow and try to force a flow that serves my imaginary sense of self-importance.
Bonus Discovery: The Power of Singular and Undistracted Focus
- Focus is… a superpower. However, in this distracted and instant-gratification-oriented world we’ve created, focus is a lost art that has given us superficial products, services, and relationships. People have become so obsessed with “getting what they want in the future” that they’ve lost their ability to deeply engage in their craft, which results in providing deeper value to be shared with the world.
- In the culmination of the discoveries noted above, along with some unmentioned others, I’ve experienced a deeper flow of focus. I’ve realized the value of setting my attention on a singular task, like writing this letter, and pouring my full heart and soul into it. I’m not merely trying to ‘pump out’ content; I’m deeply interested in creating something (art) that’s deeply meaningful to me and potentially truly helpful to others. This period of focus is both an opportunity to create value I can share, while also serving as an opportunity for me to learn, grow, and play.
- Important Note: My capacity to focus is limited. Meaning, I only have a certain amount of time per day that my brain can deeply focus and create something that’s meaningful. Therefore, it’s wise for me to structure that time, to be clear about how I will use that time, in a way that helps me move forward in my business journey. This is to say, use my ability to focus deeply in a strategic way. Also, importantly, my ability to focus can be developed, improved, and lengthened by practicing and taking care of my overall well-being. For example, if I eat unhealthy food, it kills my ability to focus.
Conclusion &… CTA
And there you have it, dear HeartBased Solopreneur! A journey through the importance of patience, consistency, and finding your flow in building a business that truly aligns with your heart. Remember, it’s not about chasing some distant prize or validation; it’s about authentically serving others and nurturing your own growth along the way.
So, as you continue on this entrepreneurial path, embrace the art of patience, find courage in consistency, and surrender to the natural flow that carries you forward. Take small steps, prioritize what truly matters, and allow yourself to be fully present in each moment.
And hey, if you’re craving even more guidance and support in your solopreneur journey, I invite you to check out my Deep Diver’s Group Training program. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity to dive deep into self-discovery, expand your awareness, and cultivate the skills needed to navigate the ever-changing landscape of life and being your own boss. Plus, it’s available on a sliding scale based on personal income, so you can join in, no matter where you are on your path!
Ready to take the plunge?
Remember, solopreneurship is a beautiful dance between following your heart and serving others. Embrace the journey, trust in your unique gifts, and let your light shine brightly in the world.
