Permission to Row
Writing to you from Northern California– far enough away to not be physically impacted by the wildfires– but close enough that I know lots of people who are, including beloved clients, childhood friends, and others I love dearly.
How does one grow a business when the world is on fire (literally and figuratively?)
How do we cultivate the hope, optimism and vision that is the driving force for entrepreneurship despite feeling otherwise?
How do those of us not directly impacted continue to have deep compassion and serve when the devastation others face is so overwhelming?
This is when Angela and I lean hard into our core life philosophy, and the premise that we built our business upon: BOTH/AND.
Life, at all times, is BOTH/AND.
Both beautiful and tragic.
Both abundant and traumatic.
Both happy and hurty.
Both full of grief and soft relief.
Both incredibly hard and so deeply awe-inspiring.
The idea that multiple things can be true at once is what gets us through the hard– the impossible parenting days, the loss of loved ones, challenges in our business, and everything in between.
Every month seems to bring on a new wave of devastation– if not from a massive weather event, from all the other myriad ways we hurt one another.
And yet…
The world still turns. People are still here to serve. And we are called to love greater anyway.
I actually wore a sweatshirt the other day that says LOVE ANYWAY— just to remind myself.
For us entrepreneurs, loving anyway can mean organizing or donating or raising awareness.
But it also can mean doing what we can to serve in all the ways we know how.
And for most of us, it’s through our work.
For Angela and me, our work is to help you create a life-first business. One that bends, but does not break, when life– in all it’s truth and beauty– devastates us.
Also, a business that allows us to keep moving when we are on the sidelines feeling overwhelmed with what we should say or do to help.
We like what Sharon McMahon, author of Small and Mighty says,
“We let the enormity of the world’s problems keep us paralyzed with indecision on how to help. And I’m here to tell you: the answer is to just do SOMETHING. Stop letting the wheels of your mind spin, and just pick up and oar and start rowing.”
Most often, for us entrepreneurs driven by the desire to help people, your oar is your business.
Permission granted to row.
THIS WEEK
PONDER: On expecting miracles.
READ: Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life by Beth Kempton
LISTEN: Light of Love by Florence and The Machine
LEARN: We all need each other. Imagine what it would be like to share the burden of building your dream. You’d never be alone. You’d always have a sounding board. A place to celebrate your success and a place to work out your challenges with sound, smart strategy, always pointing to your highest good as a whole human. This is how we do things in the Impact Incubator.You will be seen. What’s important to you and your business will be important to us. And we guarantee results. Book a call to see if it’s a fit.