As business owners, it’s common to feel the weight of having to know everything and do it all well. Though we feel called to start our business from our passion and purpose, we may not immediately have the capital to invest in staffing, employees, or subcontractors. Instead, we feel like we have no choice but to do it all. However, when entrepreneurs wear too many hats, we become stretched thin, frustrated, annoyed, and overwhelmed. If we don’t take steps to relieve the pressure, we can quickly become burned out.

The best news is that we don’t always need financial capital to be able to find economical ways to delegate duties within our business. There are creative business and compensation models that can support your heart as the business owner, create work opportunities with someone else’s areas of strength, and in turn increase community reach and profit of your business.

Spring

The season of new beginnings

The time for new possibilities.

Jacquie Coston

April showers bring May flowers – which will be nice, but let’s get real! We are all hoping that it also brings some calm to our current pandemic. Hands up if you have had enough?

I will look back at the past month - April 2021 - with two vastly different perspectives. Being based in Ontario, the 3rd lock-down is very heavy on the heart. I pray for all those that are essential or front-line workers and for the parents who are managing the combination of school and their jobs/careers. These are extremely difficult times.

The stories we are taught to believe are endless: don’t cry or you'll appear weak, don’t show emotion or people won’t take you seriously, don’t let your clients know you are struggling or they won’t think you are professional. Your vulnerability shows how fragile you are. Your stories of pain, fear, and conflict confirm that you’re not enough. 

In a society that systematically praises strength, fearlessness, and power, we are conditioned to lean away from the wholeness of being human. The dark parts of self are not to be seen by our community and even ourselves. And they must especially not be shown in our business. We push, dismiss, resist, numb, and/or avoid our fear because it’s not “supposed” to be here.

There is extensive discussion on emotional intelligence, and the impact that it has on our self-awareness, self-agency, and self-acceptance. We also know that gaining this wisdom and journeying through discovery would serve us well in business and in life.

How does this fit into the world of entrepreneurship.