The Mentality That Fuels Great Businesses

I’m just going to give it to you straight: your business doesn’t have to be original, save the world (or babies), or be important. Of course, it would be amazing if it did. But putting that kind of pressure on yourself and your business isn’t exactly a recipe for success. What does fuel great businesses is the mentality that fear is inevitable, but that we’re going to proceed anyway. Since you’re an online entrepreneur, I know you’re built for this.

So instead of beating ourselves up for being fearful of the unknown or the scary, or staying where we are because of our fear, we’re going to be as authentic as possible, share what we’re driven to share, and mean what we say. And that’s how you’re going to create an amazing business.

In Fearless Femmepire*, my free Facebook book club + online community, we read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert for November. Each month, we read 1 self-care or self-development book together. I’m calling it the Fearless Femmepire project because each month I’ll post an intro post at the beginning of the month (like this one for Big Magic) and a wrap-up post (like the current post) at the end.

In case you haven’t read Big Magic, Gilbert’s book talks about how fear clashes with creativity, bringing our passions to a screeching halt. Usually, fear keeps us from moving forward (or even moving at all).

But what if, instead, we embraced fear and let it know that it’s OK to hang out for a while? Instead of fighting the inevitable humanness we all share, we actually treat fear with curiosity and respect?

That’s actually a huge part of what I try to do with my clients. People come to me scared to move forward because they know there’s some “legal thing” they should be aware of and they don’t want to get hurt. They don’t want to get sued, be liable, or lose money, either. Reading Big Magic this month has actually helped me to solidify my work with women in this way.

I want women to understand that A// fear is natural and B// fear is always going to be there because of the way our legal system is setup. I want them to feel less afraid, and more empowered, through my legal templates and mentorship.

You could integrate some of Gilbert’s lessons on fear into your business, too. If you’re a health coach, people might come to you because they’re scared of what will happen to their bodies or minds if they don’t take care of their health. Or maybe they’ve faced a health challenge in the past they don’t want to face again. Others might be afraid of food or exercise, and you can help them understand how our culture has contributed to that and how they can respond to it differently with your help.

If you’re a business coach, your clients are probably scared of being successful or not being successful (yes, people are afraid of both!), not getting clients, and putting themselves out there.

You get the idea! We all work with people who are fearful. Heck, we’re probably all fearful, too!

If you’re afraid to move forward because of what people will think of you, what you’ll think of you, what will happen next, or anything in between, let’s shift our mindsets together. Let’s…

• Measure our worth by our dedication to our path and craft, not our self-defined “successes” and “failures”
• Receive ideas with respect and curiosity, not drama and dread
• Focus on creating content and doing good work. Then let’s share those things with an open heart + no expectations.
• Create content, even when we’re not feeling that creative and be thankful for the process we take to go through it.
• Believe we’re allowed to be here, in our businesses, have a voice + a vision of our own. There IS room for YOU.
• Accept that most things have been done, but not by you.
• Pursue what we love, chase what brings us to life, and follow our fascinations.
• Not take ourselves so seriously. Seriously.

What else did you takeaway from Big Magic? What type of mentality do you think fuels great businesses? Let me know in the comments!

PS. If you’re just getting on board, catch up on the Fearless Femmepire project!

• Project Intro Post // telling you all about the Fearless Femmepire Project
• Book intro post: Big Magic (November) // introducing Big Magic to all of you
• December book pick –> The Wellness Project by Phoebe Lapine

*The Fearless Femmepire Project is no longer active as of 2021