How to Lead in Your Business and Set Yourself Up for Success

Starting a business is a labor of love. And once established, sustaining it is challenging if you don’t find your flow. Unfortunately, many coaches get stuck in the hustle and become overwhelmed. They work in their business, not on their business. When taking this approach, you subconsciously train yourself to be reactive, and this can be distracting. If you lead your business and take a proactive approach, you give yourself the space and time to accomplish your long-term goals, which sets you up for success.

Lead Your Mission

Your mission is likely tattooed on your heart; it’s what gets you out of the bed in the morning. But, when was the last time you really thought about why you do what you do? Your mission is the North Star that guides you and when shared, it calls in your ideal clients.

What is a Mission?

• It describes what you desire now and how you will achieve your goals
• It answers the question, “What makes me unique?”
• It’s about the journey: The present leading to the future and how you get to where you want to be

TIP: Not a mission person? Try creating a manifesto. Figure out what you believe in—that’s your competitive advantage that makes you stand out in business.

Lead Your Fear

Being self-employed is one of the most challenging things you can do. It requires you to relinquish the security of a regular paycheck. By starting a business, you made a choice to accept risk, and the fear that accompanies the unknown, into your life. Most importantly, as a coach, you’ve made a commitment to handle emotions, including fear, as they show up. How you cope with your fear (or don’t cope with your fear) poses the largest threat to your success.

To lead your fear, reflect on how it manifests in your business. Once you are aware, discovering what is on the other side of your fear will help you determine how to move past it. Often we focus on what could go wrong. We are afraid to fail and for anyone to discover we aren’t perfect. We are worried about being judged. We think: “That won’t work,” “It will take too long” or “It’s like another coach’s offering.”

Sometimes we let fear hold us back, but we can choose to use our fear to lead us forward. When a new opportunity pops up, we are excited—and afraid. Fear is present because it’s new. But, the excitement? It’s there to pull us forward, to encourage us to take chances. Excitement lets us know we are leading our business in the right direction. We lead our fear when we show up with courage.

TIP: When you focus on facts, shift your thoughts and make decisions that honor your mission; you are setting yourself up for success.

Lead Your Energy

Busy is the new black. As an entrepreneur, your time—the energy to fuel your day—is your most valuable resource. As a natural helper, people are often drawn to you, and that need can easily deplete your energy if you don’t guard your time. Unfortunately, energy vampires are everywhere, and they want what you’ve got.

To lead your energy, you must manage your time. For example, a client shows up five minutes early and expects you to coach them the full session. Yes, it’s five minutes, but those minutes add up over a month. Instead, you could use the time to take a 20-minute walk to destress and increase your energy. Over the duration of a year, you could have enough time saved to take a Friday afternoon off to go boating or play golf. The best way to protect your time and energy is to set strong boundaries and stick to them. Answer the call and remind your client of the scheduled start time. Ask them to call back.

TIP: We train people how to treat us; guarding your energy allows you to show up fully in your business.

Lead Your Decisions

The best thing about owning your own business is not having a boss. The worst thing about owning your own business is not having a boss. Sometimes we want someone to tell us what to do. When I left the corporate world to grow my side business, I was paralyzed with fear and overwhelmed by the prospect of being able to do anything, unsure of where to start. I spent my first week binge-watching television. After reflecting on that week, I realized that if something didn’t radically change, I would be forced to get a job. What did I do? I reached out to people who could coach and mentor me through my indecision. Keeping my mission at the forefront of my mind allowed me to embrace and discard strategies to grow my business. It empowered me to lead my decisions.

The faster you make decisions, the sooner you can move forward. Too often, our fear shows up, and we get stuck inside our own heads, where thoughts rattle around and suck our mental energy. What’s one action that’s aligned with your mission? Start there to build momentum.

TIP: Feeling stuck? Maybe your first step isn’t small enough. Break it down into even smaller steps until it feels doable.

How you lead your business and how you show up is influenced by your mindset. If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. Only you know your mission for your business, so ultimately only you can lead your business to success.