There’s been something weighing heavy on my mind lately. That something is my “gut”. Not so much my “gut” as it pertains to my personal life, but rather how it pertains to the entrepreneurial part of my life. Today I’m going to share some thoughts about following your “gut” in business. I hope that my thoughts help you aspire to achieve your version of success in business.
Following Your “Gut” In Business
Let’s face it, you and I both know that following our “gut” is a scary thing, especially in business. What I’ve found over the last 11 plus years of working for myself is that following your “gut” is hard. Following your “gut” takes courage, patience, and a huge level of trust.
You must trust in yourself, your passions, and believe that success is more than just a dollar sign.
On Being Homeless
I truly think that living homeless for five months helped me get back to a really solid place. This solid place is a new version of me, better if you will. That version of me believes that business is all about staying true to your morals, knowing what you’re passionate about, and trusting that doing what you love will pay off in many ways.
My family slept in a tent for a few months, hotels on occasion, and our vehicles during the five months we were homeless. There’s something about this experience that helped morph me into a newer version of who I already was long ago.
How to Hear my “Gut”
The body is an amazing thing. You have so many things running at all times and that brain of yours is more like a computer than a “gut” machine. The brain can only pull from experiences, while your “gut” pulls from a natural instinct that all humans have. Your gut is more of your guiding light to know that you’re making good decisions or not. Your gut will give you that little fluttery or achy feeling when something’s right or wrong.
The best way to hear your gut is to start listening to your body. Remove all of the negative commentary, the anxiety, and worries based on prior experiences. Live in the present moment and hear what your body is “telling you”. Your gut will only tell you once, but if you’re not listening it will make you ill. My trip to the ER was proof that my gut was sick of me not listening.
What’s Right For Your Business?
Listen, I have no idea what business you’re in so I cannot tell you what’s right for your business, but I can share something that enlightened me recently. After being homeless for five months and trying to just make money to pay a weekly rent bill for 8 months, I came to realize something. What was making me money, was deteriorating my health. This ‘success in the money’ was just that. I was able to support my trio, barely, but I wasn’t living my best life nor doing business on my own terms!
In order to find out what’s right for your business, you’ll have to do the scary thing called a pause. Catch up on all the work you already have, while taking in minimal new work, you know because we all have bills to pay so we have to make some sort of income. Slowly check off one to two old tasks each day as you work to promote another option of making money by following your gut.
How do I know This is a Right Choice?
I spent a few days each week making no money. I started to get worried that perhaps my skill isn’t that great. Let’s face it, being homeless meant I took on more than I should and I overextended myself all the while undervaluing my skill. I basically worked for pennies on the dollar doing something I’m good at just to get into a home by winter. I wasn’t feeling it. My work wasn’t as high-quality. I was starting to feel depressed. That’s when I made a commitment to myself.
As soon as we got into a home, I made a commitment to slowly transition my business model to an automated revenue stream, while I work to create content packages that 1) aren’t undervaluing my skill and 2) won’t make me continue on this spiral into depression. I made the choice to sell instant download products, all the while catching up on content orders that I took to survive financially the last year.
Is it Scary to Follow your “gut” in Business?
Oh yes! It is extremely scary to follow your gut in business. I’m not going to lie. I’ve spent a few days here and there making nothing for income, all the while feeling good about catching up on old content orders. It was a scary decision to pause and focus primarily on setting up downloadable products for marketing all the while catching up on old content orders. The thing is, while it is scary to follow your gut in business, I felt confident that this was the right choice.
Even without making daily income, that I had grown accustomed to, I didn’t feel anxiety, or self-doubt during this process. I’m still continuing to change up the model for my business, but each day I wake up feeling more confident in not only my skill set but my business as a whole.
In conclusion, following your gut is hard in all areas of life. It’s not easy to realize that you’re not living the best life possible. It’s not easy admitting defeat or failure as some would call it. The thing about the “easy route” though?! Is that the easy route will slowly kill your passion and you’ll start to have health problems, feel depression sneaking in, anxiety rising, and so many other negative things. That’s why I’m bringing back my mission to help others trust in their gut, to follow their dreams, and to have confidence that doing those two things will pay off in the long run for both business and personal life.
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