I have an interesting scenario for us to envision together:
Let’s imagine that you decide to do a trust fall with your business. As many of you know, a “trust fall” is a relationship-building exercise, well known in team building, in which you turn your back to a partner, close your eyes, and slowly tip backward—trusting your partner to catch you before you hit the ground. Trusting you’ll be safe.
Your partner in our trust fall exercise is going to be your business. You take a look at it in its current operation right now, and you say—”I’m spent. I’ve been doing too much, and i really need a break. I’ve given everything I have and know to give (and learned everything I could in between) for this relationship. I’m going to turn my back and trust that I can lean into you for a bit.”
And, then you did it! You just stopped logging in and checking and doing and making — you stopped even thinking about it for a hiatus. You just put down that giant weight you carry on your shoulders every day and trusted the business to provide.
You said: How about you take care of me for a little while? How about the next couple of months? I’m going to do nothing and rest, and you can provide for us both. Then, you closed your eyes, crossed your arms, and leaned into it.
What would happen next?
Relational Trust-Building
As we’ve been discussing, trust is a necessary nutrient that must be mixed into the soil of your business.
In order to cultivate trust the same as we do in our closest relationships, we need to ask important questions, such as:
- Do I feel free and safe to make mistakes?
- Do I feel free and safe to take calculated risks?
- Do I feel a clean, open, and reaffirming energy with my business?
- Am I willing to face the difficult decisions and have the hard conversations?
- Am I confident that my business operates on sound judgement?
And perhaps the most important questions of all:
- Do I feel safe the business will catch me if I fall?
- Will it be there for me during the times in my life when I need taken care of the most?
You Deserve MORE
Here’s the thing, I know you’re serving. I know for a fact you’re giving more to your business than you ever knew you could give before! You do all the difficult things! Somehow, more difficult things always spring up, and you do those too!
In building your own business, you’ve committed to a life of discipline, courage, and ferocious determination. I commend you, and I’m so honored to be part of your journey in even the smallest of ways.
It’s important that we train your business to give back to you in equal measure.
So, tell me. How did the trust fall scenario above work out for you? In your imagination, when you closed your eyes and leaned back on your business, how long did it support you for?
A year? A quarter? A month? A day? At all?
Contrary to popular belief, your business isn’t a baby. (Have you heard that saying, “My business is like my baby”?—it’s all too common to my ears.) It should NOT need your constant input, nurturing, protection, control, and monitoring.
It’s my hope that your trust fall exercise left you envisioning a glorious year’s sabbatical while the business supported you quietly, abundantly, and like a machine in the background.
You deserve all that and more. I can hardly wait for you to see the information and research I have in store for you this year. Stay tuned!