5 NEW BUSINESS MANTRAS FOR 2023

Over the last few weeks I’ve been ruminating - allowing thoughts and ideas to come when they’re ready and I usually find when I have a bit more space or margin, I can sense certain things taking shape naturally. I notice that I keep coming back to certain themes within myself, in my processes and thoughts and I notice those things appearing or being talked about more frequently in my calls with groups and clients so I thought I’d share some of them with you today.

I’m calling them Mantras - 5 ideas or ways of being that I really want to hold onto as I run my business and do my work this year. Some of these have been brewing for a while and are finally landing in my head and my heart and I want to offer them to you so you can think on them as well.

The first one is this:

Trust is paramount (in yourself and your clients)

An idea that has never steered me wrong is that I already know what I want. I already know what I want to do, how I want to do it, how I want to develop my work, what I want to earn, who I want to work with and how valuable my offers are. I already know it. And I believe that you know it too for you. However - if it was that simple, we’d all be out there doing it. My intuition is the more innate, true part of me and it has so much wisdom for me but it gets clogged up like a sink with fear, with other peoples opinions, with the noise of social media, with my own protective habits. All of this can clog my intuition but it’s there waiting for me to listen to it because it is trustworthy and it won’t push. My responsibility to myself this year is to make space for it. To face the clogs and dig them out of the way so that my own desires and knowing can flow. 

This goes for my clients or any potential clients too. As a coach, I want to fully trust my clients to show up for themselves and for our work together. I position myself as a reliable, trustworthy person and believe the same for them. I believe they have full autonomy over their decision making and I am not here to cajole or manipulate them into doing anything outside of their own knowing. I trust them to do that clog digging work with me for themselves and operate in their fullest sense of power. Anything less than that is babysitting or codependency and I am not interested in coaching dynamics like that. I totally trust anyone interested in working with me to make the best decisions for themselves about when and how they do that and am only willing to work with people who really trust themselves to begin coaching from a place of empowerment. 

The second mantra is this:

Growth is not measured by numbers, but by depth of trust and impact in your work

I am determined this year to only measure growth and progress through the lens of trust and impact. I feel like this goes against all the traditional advice to be checking numbers and figures and dont get me wrong - those are important too. I’m not working for free - I value myself and my skills too much to neglect the financial side of my business. Make no mistake, I want to earn a living from my work and I do, but I’m no longer going to be sneakily distracted by numbers, followers, subscribers and sign ups. The real metric that matters for me this year is the level of trust I am building in those that have not yet worked with me. Trust that reflects all that I talked about in the first point. Trust that I am someone who values them, trust that I am the right companion to support them in their work. Trust that I have the skills to help them free themselves from restrictive or punitive ways of working. Trust that I can help them to build a truly aligned business. I’ll know this by the conversations I have in DM’s, by the responses to emails, by the good discussions on free strategy calls, and maybe by how many of those people feel empowered to join me in doing this work.

And I want to grow the impact of my work - the depth of which my clients are showing up for themselves and truly finding more freedom and joy in their businesses. I love nothing more than seeing how the tools and resources we use together have lasting impact in their work. I see them staying aligned, bringing in brilliant customers and clients, being loyal to themselves, making hard decisions, optimizing their time and looking after themselves. A lot of people often come to my work through the feedback or sharing of my clients - they tell their friends or colleagues and I love this. It means so much to be able to help people this way.

Thirdly comes this. This year I am focused on

Creating a body of work rather than churning out content.

I want everything substantial that I create to be adding to a body of work that people can utilize or dive into at any time. Relevant, supportive, practical and provoking. I don’t want to get caught up on the content train where I have to perform for a platform that is insatiable for new stuff or stimulation. Social media platforms are noisy and distracting and it’s hard to hear all of the nuance amidst the advice and I love nuance and context so I don’t want to show up there with soundbites that can’t be unpacked with care. I also think it’s pointless to serve up really huge concepts on social media because there is rarely any time for integration or embedding of them. We simply can’t digest all of the well meaning goodness that we are hit with as we scroll. We get a second of a hit of dopamine when we read something that is important or true but then we pass by it and don’t get the chance to think about how it could really apply, so this platform, this podcast and my emails are going to be where I create my body of work that reflects what I really want to say and social media will be a little library snapshot of all of that and point my audience back to here. Viewing what I create as a body of work gives it value for me the creator - knowing that someone can find my work and go back to the beginning of this podcast and listen through as much as they want really helps me concentrate on providing honest, authentic and meaningful content. It also gives me freedom to use social media a bit more playfully, because you know I love a good play on there. 

The fourth mantra that I’m focusing on is in relation to how I show up and offer my work and its this: Everything is an invitation, never an expectation. My friend Michelle taught me this expression and I use it daily to lesson the icky feelings that come up when I think about how to market myself and make sure people know about my work. It can really be this simple. You are always invited - invited to come along, to listen, to contribute to the conversation, to comment, to sign up, to invest but it’s never an expectation. I don’t know you, your circumstances, your capacity, your financial situation, your pressures so I want to approach all of the offers that I have with that knowledge and compassion. Back to trust - I truly believe that anyone contemplating working with me on their business has the autonomy and deserves the respect of never feeling like joining me feels pressured. I want my marketing and selling to feel invitational and so I will leave plenty of space for those decisions, I will follow up with grace, I will invite regularly so people don’t miss it (because people always miss it) and I will be loyal to myself and make sure that I am sending those invitations out and giving people the opportunity to join in in what I have or will create. Always an invitation, never an expectation.

And finally this:

I don’t have to do this alone

I know that my temptation will always be to keep any struggles I have to myself - to not reach out or ask for help. I know my pride can overshadow what I know to be true - that doing any kind of important work to me is always better shared and that there are communities around me that will meet me with support, encouragement, ideas and love. I may be the person most invested in my own work, closest to it and most emotionally and physically connected to it but I know I’m not alone in the similar issues and questions that I have and I have experienced the power of a community of supportive women so many times in my work that I have seen to really show up and cheer each other on and listen to what each other is going through that I want to make sure to activate this for myself as the year progresses. I want that for you as well because I know how powerful it truly is. When we release some of the insecurities we may have of worrying about other women being competitive or of thinking that no one will care - we can really find amazing connection that can propel us forward knowing that us having each others back is part of building a different model of business - one much more interested in the greater good and the flourishing of all people rather than viewing business as something to tightly hold onto.

So those are my five mantras:

• Trust is paramount (in yourself and your clients)

• Growth is not measured by numbers, but by depth of trust and impact in your work

• Create a body of work rather than churning out content

• Everything is an invitation, never an expectation

• I don’t have to do this alone

I wonder if any of these feel important for you to explore or take up for yourself and your work this year? I’d love to know if they are - so do feel free to DM me on instagram @melwiggins or to reach out on email hello@melwiggins.com and let me know.

And if you are interested in working together this year to help move your business and work into a place of alignment with your values, and of profit and purpose, my invitation to you is to have a look at my Brand Builder Programme. We have a beautiful community of female business owners in there that are working through the really powerful resources and tools that I’ve put together that will bring so much more ease and clarity to your work and over the life of the fourth month programme you’ve got me with you every step of the way. The link to find out more is in the shownotes of this episode and I’d be more than happy to chat with you about whether this could be the right next step for you in developing your business and you as the business owner. You are always invited.