Waking up each morning, one of the first things so many of us do is check our emails and messages.

What is the day shaping up to be?

What did I miss?

What am I going to be faced with when I get to work?

We look at our calendar and see the meetings, administration and other commitments that are required to run our business.

We have aspirations for greater sustainability and perhaps growth, but how does one achieve this amidst the running of the business?

…when so much of our energy and time is already wrapped up in what we do every day?

Powerful =

“…having control and influence over people and events.” In this case, I’m referring to control and influence over ourselves and our own impact.

“…having a strong effect on people's feelings or thoughts.” In this case, being intentional with our own thoughts and feelings that support us in our efforts.

We all know the Wealthy Barber story where he saved and invested 10% of his income each month, and over time and the power of compound interest, he became a millionaire. It took time and small increments of his paycheque each and every month.

It’s the commitment, regular modest investment, and the compound effect over time that I’m drawn to in this story as a parallel to consistently making space for your own personal leadership practice.

Having a personal leadership practice allows us to show up powerfully each week.

Here’s a thought: If we don’t have a personal leadership practice, how can we expect our employees to show up powerfully too?

A personal leadership practice doesn’t have to be developed through grand gestures, but can be small, focussed and consistent. (A few minutes of regular planning will go a long way.)

First, what does personal leadership look like for us?

If you’re a business owner and you think building a strong foundation that leads to a valuable business isn’t for you - then I encourage you to continue to read.

You see - there’s a strong link between the value of the business and the freedom you, as the business owner, experience in your business.

I hear from so many owners that the reasons they started their businesses were to experience some sort of freedom - freedom to do work they want, freedom to create their own schedules, freedom to work when they want, and to create financial freedom. Yet, many don’t achieve these things.

Freedom = Value.

Why?

Are you making decisions aligned with your Mission?

First off, do you have a clear sense of your mission now? If you’re a business owner, what is your business’ mission?

If you’re a leader, what is your personal mission for leadership? What are you trying to accomplish in your organization? Is it aligned to your company’s mission?

If you are clear on your mission, then that’s the first step to ensuring that your decision-making is aligned and you move each day to fulfill your mission.

One of the reasons I see businesses plateau in their results is not funding, or lack of ideas, but resistance in letting go. Letting go and letting their employees do what they were hired to do.

And for some, simply hiring someone can be a huge hurdle to cross.

By letting go and increasing the responsibilities of those around you, you create one of the foundational components to growth and scale.

It can be difficult and challenging.

What does it often come down to?

Trust.

Trust in them, trust in your business as an overall entity, and trust in yourself.

As many locations begin to slowly open up, some faster than others, I don’t know about you but for me there comes a mix of relief and anticipation for the things we’ve missed: connection, hugs, seeing people we care about, traveling, greater sense of stability & security.

And, reservation and cautiousness. For me the reservation comes from, not wanting things to go back to exactly the way it was….I want to incorporate some of the changes and things I’ve come to carve out space for: a greater sense of my own purpose, more frequent consideration of my personal wellbeing, making space as a nuclear family in busy weeks, and more space in my calendar and shifting my relationship with time.

Have you noticed any of these things too?

Amidst the worry, anxiety, and fear of the past 15+ months, the challenges have been great. But, what came from that were new perspectives, new ways of working and being, new ways of relating with each other and much more.

Is your business satisfying your ‘WHY’?

In order to fulfill your WHY for being in business, the company you created has to be able to make the impact you had intended it to make.

Whether that’s impacting families through therapeutic approaches, providing housing for seniors, providing financial security for families, or helping others build healthy businesses, without your own healthy business, it becomes harder to fulfill that mission.

That’s why I love these markers of business value. It’s not only your own business you’re building, but having a healthy business means that you can change the lives of your clients and customers.

That’s the real and compelling legacy here and a huge reason why I do what I do. One of my big WHYs is to help you to be successful in growing a strong, healthy, and sustainable business that impacts others.

I’m deeply motivated to improve the lives of others through economic growth and supporting businesses that make a difference in our communities so we all thrive.

One of the markers of a healthy business is how cash flows through it. (This is the fifth driver of business value.)

One of the most common pains I hear from business owners is that there’s not enough cash. Or it shows up as their desire to ‘do more marketing’ or '‘increase sales’.

Is your business a cash suck?

Or does it generate cash quite handily?

If cash is rarely on hand in your business when you need it, you may want to consider exploring these areas:

Happy New Year!

I hope you were able to enjoy your Holidays and they provided you with what you needed.

As we look to 2021 I feel optimistic and excited for what’s to come.

As I look around to the world I still see turbulence, uncertainty, and many challenges. And I also see beauty, kindness, and innovation - solving and addressing some of those challenges we face.

As I turn inward and think about the impact I want to have and the role I want to play, I think about things like:

What kind of impact on the world are you aspiring to make through your business?

Companies who are moving towards their vision and accomplishing big things through their businesses are very thoughtful about WHO they need to communicate to (and with!) in order to get their message to the right people so they can fulfill their mission and purpose.

Having a big vision and achieving that is largely about getting your message to the people who need to hear it.

The question here is: HOW do you get your message to those that need to hear it?

I've noticed that when we plan to accomplish a goal and create our actions, there's a piece missing that can de-rail so many of us.  Setting the goal and determining how we'll get there is only a piece of the puzzle...

Accounting for that 'thing' that has the potential to de-rail us could be an important component of your next goal setting and action planning exercise.....