Are you stopping your business from being successful?

The immediate response is “No! Of course, not. I would give anything for my business to be successful.” I don’t doubt that! Building a business from scratch is no joke. If you’ve made it this far, you have to want it. But there might be things going on in your subconscious making building a business harder than it needs to be. 

Subconscious fear stole the show!

I say this as someone who has been there, done that and got the t-shirt. For example, there was the time I was preparing to launch a new service. I meant to work on it but something else came up. I was going to do it but it wasn’t the right time. I procrastinated and procrastinated. The new service languished on my to-do list for far too long. I couldn’t help but notice I was avoiding it like the plague! 

Why? I wanted to put together this service. No one was making me! I run my own damn business. It was my idea for how I wanted to help my clients and develop my business. Why had my excitement turned into procrastination? I journaled to do some detective work on what was going on and discovered something I had never noticed before. I was scared of the unknown. 

If I finish and launch the service, my business will grow because I’ll have more clients and more money coming in. That was what I wanted but it was also setting off alarm bells in my subconscious. I didn’t know what my life would be like when I was more successful. I know what to do with failure. It’s familiar. Success is completely new to me so there was something in my brain telling me it was easier to avoid it than face it head-on. 

That was a turning point for me. I knew what to work on to get out of procrastination and I was aware of a thought and behavioural pattern to keep an eye on as I grow my business. So rest assured I did finally get around to finishing and launching my service - successfully may I add. 

How do you get out of your own way?

Have you had a realisation like this? Something you do that you find frustrating. Times when you were on the edge of success but somehow botched it. Something you’ve been sitting on and have never got around to even though you know when you do, everything will change. There’s a reason why your brain is self-sabotaging, sometimes without you even realising. If you find it, you can overcome it. 

Recognise it

The first step to getting a grip on yourself and stop all this "I must sabotage my business so it isn't successful" malarkey, is to recognise where you are holding yourself back. This is usually something you are putting off or avoiding, such as not raising your prices in 2 years or being inconsistent with marketing, networking and promoting your business. If you don't tell anyone what you do, they can't buy from you!  (This is a great way to stop your business from being successful by the way) You might be able to name it now or you might need to journal on it for a bit because it’s hiding from you in your subconscious. 

Explore it

Once you’re know where you are stopping your success, get into it. Look at how it changes your behaviour and the affect that is having on your life. Find out the beliefs, thoughts and feelings behind it. Think about where the beliefs and behaviours originated from. When was the first time you did it and why? Often we can trace back thought and behaviour patterns to past experiences. We learned that was what would keep us safe and have held onto it even though it doesn’t help us anymore. Look for any triggers that are sparking the sabotaging behaviours so you can put things in place to prevent these happening.

Get on with it

Now you have all the information you need to make a different choice. You can replace old beliefs with new ones. You can change the direction of thought patterns so they’re more accurate to your current situation and more helpful. You can behave differently. It might feel uncomfortable and scary at first, but when you do it and realise it isn’t that bad, you’ll grow in confidence. Remember to give yourself time to make changes, these beliefs have embedded over a long period of time so be kind to yourself during this process as it will take time to change them to something that suits you much better.

Your journal is your safe space to be honest with yourself. You can own up to what you’re putting off. You can admit what you’re scared of. You can look back at difficult experiences and how they could be influencing you today. You can explore different options. No one has to know. Your journal is for you. 

Joining a journaling group takes the power of journaling even further. Your journal is still your safe space. I provide daily journal prompts on the monthly theme to keep journaling interesting, get you to think about things you wouldn’t otherwise and in a way coach you through your journal. You also have a community of fellow business owners who get it. You can share as much or as little as you like with them to get ideas, reassurance and encouragement both in the private Facebook group and the group sessions. These are a combination of group coaching and getting things done whether you go to the co-working, content creation, masterminds or guided workshop sessions. 

In September, the theme of the Find Your Vibe Business Club is ‘Recognising self-sabotage in your business’. So if you want to get out of your own way and let your business reach its full potential, the club is a great support system.