How to show up in your business when life is hard

Today’s episode of the podcast is all about the challenges of balancing personal life and business when things are not going as planned. In this episode I discuss how as business owners our personal and business lives can be very much intertwined, and I share my top tips around what to do when managing both feels incredibly difficult. I'd love to know if this episode helped, and whether you had any lightbulb moments whilst listening to it? Please feel free to drop me a DM on my social media and let me know! KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST Practical action you can take to keep moving forward Being able to prioritise what needs to be done The importance of giving yourself grace and practicing self-care LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter Transcript You are listening to Your Dream Business Podcast, and as always, I am your host, Teresa Heath-Wareing, and welcome to today's episode. How are you doing? So? I am recording this episode on the Wednesday before it goes out on the Monday, which is very unlike me. But one thing I pride myself on is being honest and upfront and showing you that business is not always the Instagram dream that we want it to be. And these last few weeks I have really, really struggled to get myself organized and get things ahead of time. In fact, I haven't sent an email to my list for two weeks, I think now. And before that I was sending it like, I think I was just about sending it consistently as I normally do on a Tuesday and a Thursday. But I have had a ton of stuff in these last six weeks. Like, work stuff from traveling to meetings, to being away from home for like two and a half weeks in the States, and then being back, and then being away up in, Newcastle, doing my own in-person events, doing other people's events. And then I have had a lot go on in my personal life, and it's not to say that I wanna sit here and share with you all, not that I don't normally share, but some of these things that have happened are not my stories to tell. But the reason I wanted to mention it again, is not for sympathy. It's not for people going, is everything okay? And you know, like anything that I really don't want you to do that, that's fine and I am fine. I think the reason I wanna talk about it is because, or the reason I've brought it up is because stuff happens in our life. And what do we do when literally it feels like the world is falling apart around you and you are still trying to show up and run your business? Because that is one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do, ever. I was thinking about this, so I did a coaching call with my executive club members and we're really kind of changing up how things are happening. And in fact, I came back from the States completely fired up of like, right, loads of changes are happening and then personal life kind of fell a bit on the floor and that all got shelved, obviously. But one of the things that is gonna change in the club is, is how I'm showing up and what I'm doing and, and I guess being more of the coach that I am, And doing more of that. So I asked the members before my last coaching call if they could change one thing or like manage one thing better with them or their business that would make infinitely like an easier life for them or lead to them having a better business, what would it be? And you know what was fascinating is they all said different things, but it almost all boiled down to such similar stuff. Now in my world, I, and actually in the executive club, we only have females. Not because I only have females, but that's only females in the club. And they, a lot of them have children and a lot of them said, if I could just be more organized, if I could not have procrastination, if I could just focus a bit better, if I could not feel guilty about, you know, spending time with my family when I spend it with them and then feel guilty about spending time at, won't wanna spend it with them. And it kind of reconfirmed to me, not only with what's happened in my world, but them as well. That actually your personal life and your business life when you are a business owner are like literally so intertwined. It's unbelievable. And how do you manage that? You know it's great when things are fine, but how do you manage it when things aren't fine? And quite honestly, you want to go and hide in bed and you don't wanna be a grownup anymore. And you don't wanna be an adult and you've done enough adulting and you want to now be a child that someone looks after.. Cuz sometimes that sounds really, really lovely. But not only do you have to adult, but you have to be your boss as well. And you have to motivate yourself. You have to be your cheerleader and you have to be the person who cracks the whip, and you have to be the person who does the work. And it's hard, and I'm not even gonna pretend for a second, it isn't. It is one of the hardest things I have to do. So, When life doesn't quite go as planned, and I've talked about this on before on the podcast, as you will know if you are a long listener or have been in my world a long time. My mom passed away a few years back and actually as I record this, tomorrow is her birthday, and, and I recorded an episode around then basically saying that, How do you manage when hard things happen? Because obviously that was a really hard thing that happened in my life and, and I thought, oh, should I do another one that's similar? And I thought, yeah, because it constantly changes and how I deal with things constantly changes. So I think the first thing I kind of think about, and when I talk to my members, so when they say to me, I wish I could be more organized. I wish I didn't procrastinate, and then they talk to me about what is happening in their life. I have a huge amount of empathy for them in the sense of you know, they could be fighting and dealing with some big stuff in their life, and therefore, the first thing I asked them to do, and the first thing I would ask you to do, and maybe this has hit you at a time you needed to hear this, is to give yourself grace. If you were employed there is a fair chance you would just be off work. Okay. There is a fair chance you would say, I'm taking two weeks off. I need to sort myself out and I'll see you then. And you probably wouldn't think a whole lot about what was going on at work because you could potentially just hand that over and someone else would pick it up or it'd have to get done. And that's not your concern. You can't always do that when it's your business. But I do want to encourage you where possible to start to really address and review, what do you have to do? Now, you know, I'm all about pushing people forward, getting your goals, achieving the next best things, doing the stuff. But one thing, and I think I mentioned it last week when I gave the review of the Kajabi conference and Brendon Burchard one thing, and I think the word he used was motion and always making sure you're in motion. Now that motion doesn't mean constantly thriving or constantly growing or constantly building and selling more and doing more things. Motion can mean doing the bare minimum you have to do to get by. That is okay. And if life is throwing you all the absolute rubbish and it will do. And I guess lots of my members and lots of people in my community are similar age to me. So I'm 44 and I think you get to this point in your life and your kids are growing up or you know, and they're bringing issues to your door and then your parents are getting old and that causes other issues and. Like the, I just feel like this is a, a stage of life and a season of life where suddenly there is a lot going on and, and so I just want to ask you to give yourself a bit of grace and to understand and to know you are not a superman or superwoman and you can't do everything. So if for the next week or two weeks, or even for the first quarter of a year like I have done, or. Even for a year, you don't start brand new stuff or you don't show up every whatever and do all the stuff that is okay. What you need to do is continue with your business and ensure it makes money so that you have a business, and if that means doing the bare minimum, then that's fine. And what I mean by bare minimum is, so in my world, in the online space, what do I have to show up for? I have to show up for the stuff I've already committed to and for the stuff that my members do. So I have to show up for a coaching call. That is absolutely what I do. That's my job. If I put someone else in my place, they would really wonder what the hell was going on and they wouldn't like it. So I have to show up for my members, so that's fine. I have to show up and do the podcast. I have to show up and be interviewed or talk on stage or do some events in other people's groups. That has to be me. I don't have to make some changes in my business. I don't have to start something new. I don't have to plan something huge for September or put on another date in the diary for an in-person event. I don't have to do any of those...