What if thriving in business isn’t about hitting an income goal or achieving passive income, but something entirely different? Listen in for 3 things you need in place to thrive, not just survive.
On the last few episodes of the podcast I’ve been talking about hitting your income goals and finding consistent clients. And while these things are critical, they aren’t everything you need to be able to thrive in business.
You can have a hugely profitable business and still be doing work you hate. You can follow a business leader’s model of creating courses or running programs and not be meeting your family’s financial needs. You can reach or exceed your income goals but have no time freedom and be tied to your work 24/7.
This is not what I want for myself or for you! It’s why I hate to see women feel like they have to do all the things instead of focusing on the path that will help them reach their own unique goals.
So today, I want to share with you what I have learned about what it truly means to thrive in your business, and the 3 things you need in place in order to do so.
“Brining in more clients and having consistent revenue is not the only thing you need…to have a thriving business.” -Esther Littlefield
Today’s sponsor is my upLIFT Mentormind for Christian Women, and I’m excited to share that we are open for enrollment TODAY!!
upLIFT is The solution for motivated, multi-passionate Christian business women who want to find their sweet spot, optimize their marketing, and reach their financial goals. Participants receive business coaching and marketing strategy from me, training targeted to your level of business, and the support of an incredible community.
The doors are open right now so head over to upliftmentormind.com and apply today.
What it Means to Thrive
Often in business it can feel like we are just surviving. Feeling like you’re barely keeping your head above water… frustrated that you’re not hitting your goals… unclear on how to create a strategy or plan for moving forward.
After building my own business online, and working behind the scenes or coaching dozens of others, I’ve found that there are 3 essentials to having a thriving business.
First, I want to share with you why I chose the word thrive.
The dictionary definition of thrive is: to prosper; be fortunate or successful; to grow or develop vigorously; to flourish.
This word represents what I think God wants for us in our lives and our businesses. He doesn’t want us struggling all the time, and barely hanging on in our family, marriage, business, life. He wants us to thrive.
I’ve created the Thriving Business Framework to encompass the 3 things any business needs to have in place in order to thrive.
The 3 Essentials You Need to Thrive in Business
1. Alignment
You need to have alignment in your business in order to thrive. You can earn income and even sustain a business without it, but you will find it difficult to thrive. When you do get the right things in alignment, it will work much better.
Here’s what you need to make sure is in alignment:
- Who you are: This is your gifts, your skills, passions, experiences, personality, values, calling or mission. Who has God made you to be? If you’re feeling shaky or unclear on your purpose or passion, check out these episodes from my Christian Woman Leadership podcast.
- Who God has called you to serve: These are the people you feel God has called you to or the ones he has brought to you. Often they are the people who you can make the most impact with.
- What you are offering & how you offer it: This is the services or products you offer and your overall business model. This has to be aligned with the other 2 things. If you aren’t sure if you have the right business model, go back and listen to episode 30 of this podcast.
Sometimes we end up creating a particular course or a particular service but it doesn’t actually align with our gifts or personality OR it might not be what our audience needs. We’re not in alignment, and therefore we struggle.
If this has happened to you, you’re not alone! On my business journey there have been times that I’ve been out of alignment in one of these areas, and wasn’t thriving. Reflecting on what wasn’t working helped me refine what I was doing and get into position to thrive.
“Who has God called you to serve?” -Esther Littlefield
2. Refine
Once you have aligned who you are, who God has called you to serve, and what you are offering, then you need to make sure you refine the backend of your business.
You need to make sure that the systems are in place to take in new clients, track finances, maybe manage a growing team. There is a level of order needed to run your business and keep you moving forward.
This is less exciting for most of us, but it’s essential if you want a thriving business.
What’s involved in this piece?
- Financials
- System, workflows and processes for onboarding clients, managing projects, keeping track of your time, etc.
- Team management, hiring and firing
- Record keeping
The reason I use the word refine here is that this is an ongoing process. You are almost never going to get the operations or systems 100% perfect. As you come into better alignment, your business grows or circumstances change, there will be a continual process of updating and refining what is needed to keep your business running smoothly.
“You might have to tweak your business model a few times to get it into the place that really matches who you are and who God has called you to serve.” -Esther Littlefield
3. Shine
Now, we can focus on my favorite part: shining online! This is the part where we work on your marketing strategy and your visibility plan. It’s the piece that involves you sharing what you have to offer, and includes:
- Content Creation (podcasting, videos, blog)
- Email Lists
- Social media
- Networking
- Speaking
- Book writing
- Workshops
When you have aligned your offer with who you are and who God called you to serve AND you have the systems in place to manage operations, THEN it is so much easier to get out there and share and promote your offers!
You no longer are promoting something that you’re unsure about or don’t feel confident in.
Bonus Concept: Taking it to the next level with outsourcing
Once you figure out how to get who you are, who you serve, and what you offer into alignment, you might be able to get some help with Refine and Shine.
You could have someone support your marketing efforts, create content, or schedule social media. You could hire an operations expert to implement and manage systems. Whatever works to help you accomplish your unique goals for a thriving business.
So when you get these 3 essentials in place and you start to work on them strategically in your biz, you are going to set yourself up to not only thrive, but also take your business to the next level.
How To Make It All Work For You
Maybe you are wondering, okay how do I create a thriving business? How do I take my business from surviving to thriving?
I believe it’s best done within the context of 3 things:
- The leading of the Holy Spirit
- The guidance of a coach and mentor
- The support of a community of like-minded women
And this is why I’ve structured my upLIFT Mentormind to provide these 3 things.
Each month, we focus on one of the three aspects of The Thriving Business Framework so that we can establish and optimize where we are at.
upLIFT keeps faith at the forefront, provides coaching, mentoring, and direct access to me, and includes an incredible community of Christian business women.
If that sounds like what you need in your business, then be sure to go to upliftmentormind.com and apply today! Space is limited since this is an intimate program where I provide 1:1 access to me. I would love to have you join us!
Faith Focus:
James 1:17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
I’ve been thinking about the blessings we receive and the way God moves in our lives. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that these things are from God. This passage reminds us that the good things in our lives are all from him. I want to encourage you, in your business, family and life, to always remember that the good things come from Him. Consider pulling out a journal or pen and paper and taking a few minutes to focus on some of those gifts you’re grateful for.
Shine a Light Segment:
Today I’m shining a light on Erin Harrigan. Erin is a speaker, author of Pursuing Success God’s Way and host of the Hustle with Heart podcast. She teaches ambitious women of faith to redefine hustle & pursue success God’s way!
She offers coaching, a course that aligns with her book, a membership program and free resources to help you get out of the cycle of driving, striving and hustle.
Connect with Erin on her website https://erinharrigan.com/ and on IG: https://www.instagram.com/erindharrigan/
Connect with Esther:
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