Be honest, what story are you telling yourself right now about your potential for business success?

At some point we all hit a personal/financial snag and think: “Well, there goes my chance for success!”  

For busy mum and entrepreneur Lisa Corduff that point has come several times.  

But as she shares in this excellent episode of her Keeping Business Real podcast, a simple shift in perspective brings powerful changes. 

“When people told me not to work from my circumstances, I kept on going, ‘Ok, how do I not have 3 little kids and not be a bit overwhelmed in my life? I can’t change these circumstances…’ Or, ‘It’s easy for blah, blah, she doesn’t have young kids.’ Then I realised I was completely missing the point.” 

Here is the point:

“If you are waiting for your circumstances to change before you create happiness or success or whatever it is, then you have basically given your power away to your brain which is thinking all of these thoughts and creating beliefs for you. This does not acknowledge how powerful you are – to change that story to move forward despite your circumstances. To find a way. When you do this the story starts to shift and you are making progress.”

If that sounds too woo-woo for you right now, then Lisa would urge you to consider the people you admire in business. We all have heroes, right? 

Well, according to Lisa, the biggest proof that we can actually succeed is the fact that there will always be people around us who are succeeding with less than us/or in more challenging circumstances. 

“There is always going to be someone who has less money and is building their business faster than you. Or someone with younger/more kids who is managing to build their business faster than you. If you can see that then there’s your proof that you have attached meaning to the story you are telling yourself.”  

Time to write yourself a new story

Instead of finding reasons to not believe in yourself, Lisa says we should write a new story that convinces us that really, we should. 

“I didn’t think I could grow a big business and be a good mum. But that idea was completely fabricated. As my business has grown, I have managed to do less in my business and more of the things I enjoy,” says Lisa. 

“And yeah I went through a stage where I went through complete overwhelm, but I needed to learn those lessons. It’s not wrong to reach a point in your business that’s unmanageable, or reach a point where you think, ‘Not sure how this is going to work but I am just going to do it anyway’ and it ends up with literal shit flying everywhere!” 

When that happens, Lisa encourages us to find the lesson. 

Finding the opportunity in the challenge: lessons from the coalface

When copywriter Anne moved interstate there was a risk she’d lose her customer base – except that she reframed her decision to their advantage.

“I  told all of my clients there was no reason I could not continue providing the same calibre of service. I only lost one client and they were ready to move on anyway. It was a big confidence boost for me and a recognition of respect, which was awesome. And the move has seen me expand and grow in ways that would never have happened otherwise,” says Anne.

Similarly for soloist Michele, whose willingness to learn propelled her into starting a business in the first place:

“Lack of understanding of the contractual agreement with person who purchased business could have resulted in my never going out of my own. Instead, it pushed me to understand more clearing the rights of employees and necessity for clear terms in agreements and engagement letters,” Michele told Flying Solo.

Choose to learn the lessons

“I told myself that [challenge]] came into my life for a reason. Because I need to learn what it felt like for my adrenals to get really fried!  I really needed to learn all of these things are not bad for me unless I make the meaning of them bad,” says Lisa. 

“I have been able to learn [those lessons] and create new stories around them. Like, my business grows faster when I take care of myself. My business grows faster with the more people I have on my team, helping me do this work,” says Lisa. 

“Instead of saying stuff like, my business can’t grow because I have young kids or I have such little time there is no point in doing this. Or, everyone else needs me more than my business needs me. This is massively disempowering, and if you continue to work from there, you’ll be kind of waiting forever.”

Wise words indeed.