I WORK WITH HUMAN SYSTEMS

“Let your business drive the change you wish to see in the world”- Michelle Gay

I have never met a business owner that started a business saying I am going to run this business for 5 years and make $500,000 and that is the end. Businesses start with an idea that burns so bright within its creator that it has to be built and shared with the world. Businesses are built with passion, fire and a desire to bring something to the world that it may not have. In the beginning, they are as pure as a freshly fallen snow.  

Then it happens, you share your idea with someone else or you start reading about how to build it and the world of the should, supposed to’s and have to’s comes crashing through your doors, taking on a mind of its own. This is where businesses can go off course before they even take their first breath. 

Let’s take a pause. Remember that spark that made you start the journey? Take a moment and let your mind go back there. Aah…I can see in your face that that spark is still there. What if you took a step back and spent some time fanning that spark into a flame? What would it take to make it burn as brightly now as it did then? Let’s try unpacking the shoulds, supposed tos, and have tos. Let’s take some time to look at that spark and see what it really needs to expand into the vision that it told you that it wanted to be? What would stay and what would go? What does it need to be resilient, like bamboo, throughout all of the ebbs and flows? 

How does a business lose its soul?

That is a great question. It can happen without anyone noticing. 

• Some businesses never had a soul of their own. Their business was riding on the coattails of the owner’s passion. When that wanes, there is not much left to drive them both. 

• Other businesses had owners who let the culture evolve without thought or intention. When the business got big enough, it had no true direction and therefore no true soul and was being pulled in many directions based on the unintentional culture that evolved from everyone’s personal agendas. 

• Sometimes, even with intentional culture created, an owner hangs on too long and too close to the center without enough support. When they lose their connection and passion for the business, the company’s soul slowly dies from the inside out. 

Any of this feel familiar? What if you could re-energize the soul of your business? Have support in the times when it feels so much bigger than you that you want to close the doors, walk away, and let it go? Have a place to be heard that will support you through sorting through the ashes to find the gems that will light up that soul fire again? Someone who gets that this started from something bigger than you and can help you build it to be resilient enough to step into all of the possibility that you desire for it? A place to come to be bolstered when it all feels too hard? 

If this story feels like you, speaks to you…I would love to meet you at your favorite coffee shop and hear your story.