The 4 Beliefs Fueling my Business in 2020 (and beyond!)

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As I think many of us do this time of year, I have been fully embracing any opportunity I can to dream, plan, and envision for my own business in the coming year. In this process of future visioning, I keep coming back to this definition of a brand, which I first heard from Root + River:

A brand is how others experience what you believe.

Letting those words sink in for the first time, they blew my mind! I think so many of us get caught up in the minutiae, in the tactics. We see a brand as a logo and a website, and we forget about the language, the feelings, and the experience we wish to cultivate, and ultimately, the impact we want to have on the world through the work we do—that’s all part of your brand, too.

When I recently attended Root + River’s Brand Visioning BrandLab workshop, my main takeaway was to define four beliefs and standards for your brand. These are the pillars on which your messaging and strategy are built. After a series of morning journaling sessions, meditating on these, and doing my bit of wordsmithing, I have finally settled on my four beliefs and standards that will take me into 2020—and beyond!

1. Infuse the entire experience with radical generosity.

This came in strong and clear from the very beginning. I have a deep desire to change the way we do business, one that values the whole human on either side of the exchange. Especially with my background in marketing, I’ve studied (and have fallen prey to) the manipulative tactics by which most companies operate. Toying with our scarcity mindset, exacerbating the feeling of lack, perpetuating the idea of othering… and I don’t want to participate in that any longer.

I want to operate my business from a loving, caring, understanding place. In whatever way I can as a singular human on this planet, I want to break down barriers that have prevented folks from receiving that type of care for their businesses. I want to take back how others generally perceive marketing as something that’s manipulative and domineering and be a part of the movement that redefines marketing as artful storytelling and a true invitation into the purpose you’re championing. For me, radical generosity is my way. A gentle, yet subversive, way in.

How I put Radical Generosity into action:

Three ways are already in place, and I’m working on a few more as we speak! My hope is to continue to share these more broadly so that as many people as possible may take advantage.

Virtual Office Hours - 30-minute calls for you + me to chat about whatever is on your heart or mind. Always free. A few spots available on my calendar every week.
Shift Sessions - 60-minute, pay-what-you-are-able virtual strategy sessions to help you gain clarity on a current business challenge. These are jam-packed and hyper-focused to get you answers ASAP, and at a rate that fits any budget.
Mentorship - 4-month, needs-based program for a select number of small business owners. (I’m accepting applications for Jan-Apr until Dec. 13, if you care to apply. Or, perhaps you’re feeling radically generous, too, and want to forward this to a friend and fellow biz owner who you think would really benefit.)

2. Create an environment of reciprocal kindness.

I really could call this one, “Kindness matters.” This ties directly into a strong personal belief that kindness needs to be a fundamental baseline for how we live. If you subscribe to the belief that all humans are inherently good, then how could we possibly live our lives in any other way? I understand that when fear is present it can make us do or say irrational things, but if we truly want to live from a heart- or soul-centered place, kindness is non-negotiable. It’s a mindset that allows us to see the other person as an extension of ourselves, and ultimately we all want to feel valued, seen, and heard.

When it comes to business, there is no difference. Whether you are a service-based or product-based business, it’s helpful to remember that there are humans on the other side of every interaction. When you embark on the customer experience journey, place yourself in their shoes and invite in the opportunity to pleasantly surprise your clients, customers, vendors, suppliers, etc. with moments and small details that really set the tone and underline the message that you really do care—in whatever beautifully unique way that you choose to show it.

How I put Kindness into action:

My emails have a tendency to be on the longer side, but I find it important to make space for checking in with my clients before diving into the work. Because ultimately, the strategy we aim to implement means nothing if the person is not in a place personally to take those steps. I also ensure that every call starts with a gentle personal life check-in, just so that I can understand what other factors are at play.

I also aim to eliminate distractions so that I can gift the other person my full attention. In today’s world, that feels like the biggest act of kindness to be fully present. I do this by going full screen with the video call so that I don’t see emails or texts or Slack messages rolling in. I also take handwritten notes during calls because for me the physicality of it keeps me present and engaged. What might some of these small gestures of kindness look like for you?

3. Make space for the soul to be heard.

A lot of the work I do with folks is about pausing and taking two steps back before we move forward. It’s imperative to establish your raison d’être before creating any strategy, and in order to access that truth, you have to drop below the surface level mind chatter and get into the soul. This requires patience, and space, and inquiry, and gentleness. In order for me to guide clients through this process, I also have to ensure that I’m practicing what I teach to find new and different modalities to get at the truth.

Creating space is uncomfortable. We want answers ASAP. For many of us Westerners, we measure forward progress with external markers, and soul work is not visible to the outside world. It’s a practice done in quiet, in solitude, in nature. It’s difficult work, but when we can truly allow ourselves to drop down into those depths and get quiet enough to allow the soul’s whisper to be heard, we will find enormous truth there. As a strategically-minded person, I have to watch myself and keep from jumping to tactics before we’ve fully uncovered the Truth. I have to graciously protect a safe space for clients to explore their souls. It’s never on the timeline we want, but if we can be patient, trust the process, show immense kindness to ourselves as we go, then the results are always astronomically powerful.

How I put Inquiry into action:

Even though I am human, and therefore I am imperfect in this, I do try to never dictate. My goal is to listen for the question that’s not being asked, and then to speak it. Often I’m asked for my opinion on matters, and I’ll give it when prompted, but then I always turn it back on client to gauge their somatic reaction. If something doesn’t sit right with them, then it’s not the aligned way forward, and we can then get creative with other solutions by asking more questions.

For some, this can feel like a really convoluted process. But what I’ve discovered is that if we can detach ourselves from thinking it has to look a certain way or fit within a specific timeline, and if we can embrace a flexible, organic approach to creation, then we find ourselves creating our most meaningful work. It’s about shifting from a linear way of thinking and expanding into multiplicities. It’s about adopting an approach to business that mirrors the spiralic nature of life.

4. Practice on a small scale the change we wish to see in the world.

Do you have those books whose lessons continue percolating in your system long after you’ve put them down? One of those for me is adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy. In it, she talks about how much more effective we can be within the organizations, movements, businesses we’re involved in when we move away from a hierarchical structure with one (or a small handful) of figureheads at the top and into a more flat structure that values interdependence. The first principle of an Emergent Strategy is to embrace the nature of fractals. As brown puts it, “A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop.” (For reference, one of the most notable examples of fractals are ferns, which look essentially the same at any scale.)

This notion has seeped into my pores and down into my marrow, and I do believe that we, as individuals, have more power than we think. Our thoughts matter. Our words matter. Our actions matter. And it’s time that we take responsibility, and aligned action, for the impact we each have on the world. It can often feel like we’re shouting into the void, like we’re an infinitesimal fish in an enormously large pond, but if we adopt that belief, then we invite in apathy and complacency. My hope is that each of us is able to find a way to access our own personal power and realize the impact we do have. When we embody that belief, and take aligned action, we begin the ripple effect for the change we wish to see on a larger scale.

How I put Impact into action:

The change I wish to see is a world that values these beliefs that I’ve shared here. A world in which radical generosity can be a business model, reciprocal kindness can be a baseline for operating procedures, where making space for inquiry is prioritized, and individuals believe in their own power and potential to step forward and take aligned action. My intention is to live this out through every interaction, whether personal or business.

It’s taken quite a bit of internal work to get to the place where I could fully believe that I, as one individual amongst 7.5 billion others on this planet, could make an impact. And what I’ve realized is that my life and my work might not reach all 7.5 billion, but it can make a difference for the tens, maybe hundreds, perhaps one day thousands, of people that comprise my world. And if we all were to adopt this belief, then we could indeed touch every single human being on this planet.

All of these are in service of my larger purpose. I truly believe that:

Your business can be a real conduit for change when you give your soul a voice.

So it’s with that core belief (my newly revised WHY) and these supporting four standards that I step into 2020. What beliefs are shaping your business into the future? Let me know in the comments below, feel free to send me an email, or even sign up for a Virtual Office Hours. I would truly love to hear from you!

Thanks to Root + River for inspiring this deep dive exploration.