New Year, New Results

Welcome my friends, to a new year full of endless possibilities! As we stand on the threshold of new beginnings, it's the perfect time to set intentions for our businesses.

Reflecting on the Past: Before we venture into what lies ahead, take a moment to reflect on the past year – the victories, the lessons, and everything in between. Our entrepreneurial journey is an ever-evolving tapestry, shaping us for the road ahead.

2023 may have been a wonderful year full of growth and abundance or perhaps it was more of a struggle as you faced challenges and disappointments at every turn. Or maybe it was a mixture of both.

For me personally, 2023 was certainly a year of growth but it wasn't without it's challenges either. As I set my intentions for 2024, I'm looking back to learn from both my achievements and my shortcomings, so I can plan for more growth and improvements where desired over the next 12 months. I encourage you to do the same.

Journal Prompt:

Ask yourself: What did you learn from challenges faced? How can those lessons propel you forward? How can you improve on successes? How can you create even greater victories?

Casting Ahead

Now that you are armed with lessons from 2023, I would like to add further to your arsenal, by giving you three important things to keep in mind when casting ahead to make plans for 2024 and 3 things to try to avoid as you implement your strategies.

Set Heart-Centered Intentions:

First and foremost, and possibly the most important part of goal setting, is ensuring you are setting heart centred intentions. And by that I mean, goals that align with your heart and soul, not your mind.

Because my friend, your mind is limited. If you allow it to, your mind will talk you out of every good idea you have. That inner voice will instantly come up with reason why it would be hard, or why it wouldn't work, or why you aren't the right person to do it and so on. Your mind wants to keep you safe, so it will find a reason stop you doing something new, if you let it.

Instead of listening to your mind, listen to your heart and then go for it. The how you will do it, will all come into play once you start. So tell your mind not to worry about that.

Quieten the mind and connect to your inner wisdom to set intentions that resonate with the beat of your wild heart. These goals or intentions might be a little scary but they will light you up and give you a sense of excitement and joy. In fact that's how you will recognise them.

Try not to let your mind limit your dreaming or thinking. Try not to let it keep you playing small with your goals. Try not to allow it to dictate how far you can go or where you will go.

Listen to your heart it knows the way.

Balance Practicality and Energetics:

In the dance of business, the balance between the practicality and energetics is key. It's important not to get lost in one or the other.

One can't manifest from visualisation and vision boards alone. One must take action and create momentum to open doors and opportunities.

And similarly one must not get lost in hustle and busy-ness. We must practice creating space to breathe and be present so we can notice all of those open doors when they open.

In my experience the easiest way to create balance is to build a short daily light practice or energetic practice. This can be some sort of body movement like yoga or Qigong followed by some meditation, journaling and tapping. (Or whatever your heart calls you to do).

And similarly to build a daily practice and commitment to action. Commit to taking 1-3 action steps to bring you closer to where you want to be every day. Write down what you commit to doing each day and hold yourself accountable. (Or ask someone to keep you accountable!) These actions can be simple tasks like sending an email, making a phone call, writing some content or doing some research and so on.

However you bring balance of practicality and energetics into your business is up to you but please know that it is important to do so! Trust me I've learned this the hard way.

Believe to Achieve:

The role of self belief and confidence will play a big part of your success this year. And I don't say this to mean "If you doubt yourself, don't bother trying". I say this to bring your awareness to it.

If you do doubt yourself, first of all that's normal, we all doubt ourselves from time to time. Sometimes a lot of the time. But if we let that self doubt paralyse us, or influence our decisions and actions we simply will not progress at all or as much as we could.

The old idea of fake it til you make it will only take you so far.  You may take action but perhaps with a subconscious expectation of failure. Energetically your doors for business will be closed because you don't truly believe you are worthy or capable.

Some deeper work is needed to really cultivate belief in yourself and your ability, and there are lots of ways that you can do that. Coaching, hypnosis, tapping, energy work, journaling, practicing affirmations or simply making and keeping small promises to yourself. Shifting some of your focus onto this will drastically improve the results you are seeing in your business.

Avoid these 3 common pitfalls

On my own journey thus far and from working with my clients I have noticed that there are common pitfalls that seem to hinder entrepreneurs in the early stages of business and negatively impact results. Take note of these so hopefully you can avoid them, or at least recognise them when they crop up.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls:

 

1. Giving up too soon: Don't let early challenges deter you. I see this a lot. Often someone will announce an event or a new offer and if they don't get an instant resounding response of sales and bookings, they give up. Not only do they stop promoting their offer but they make themselves smaller and hide away hoping no one noticed that they mentioned it in the first place. Can you see how this would effect business energetically? Not to mention practically as they are no longer taking action to move forward, in fact they're taking action to move backwards. So commit to promoting it until a certain date, in fact be willing to go beyond that date if you have to. Don't give up too soon.
2. Shifting focus: Focus on and follow through with one idea at a time. I see this a shift in focus a lot with clients. They will be working towards a certain event or offer and then halfway will change the plan. They'll decide to launch something different entirely. And when this happens again and again, what you are left with is lots of maybe brilliant, but unfinished ideas. Incomplete projects. Sometimes this is a good decision and might have been necessary to change things up but more often then not it's a way of not committing to their business. Not committing to an idea or plan because they want to avoid failing.Even though it can be scary and uncomfortable to fail, it's actually better to follow through with a plan and fail than to leave it unfinished. Because at least then you have data. You have something to study, you can see what you did and what the results were. And know what not to do next time and come up with what you could do next time. Unfinished plans and ideas can't help you like this, in fact they can undermine your confidence. If you let them, they can fester away and tell you that you weren't good enough. So my advice is to pick something to focus on and try not to get distracted by other shiny ideas or the doubt gremlins telling you the idea won't work. Just stick with it and know that by doing that, it will either all work out well or at the very least you will receive a roadmap on how to make it work well for the next time. Win win.
3. Working in isolation: I admit am guilty of this! I happen to like my own company, I am aware that I tend to work in a vacuum. And I know that that isn't always good. I know how much more alive I feel when I am networking and meeting new people. When I get to collaborate and share an experience with a like minded soul. And similarly I see the same in clients and others on this entrepreneurial pursuit. Trying to do it all on your own is hard. It's lonely. But it can also feel safe, if can feel safer to do it on your own because then you are only disappointing yourself if you fail, in fact no one else will even know if you fail. And that feels safe doesn't it?But here's the thing, and I say this all the time. Nothing grows in the comfort zone. If you feel comfortable and safe you are not growing, and either is your business. Do not underestimate the power of collaborating with peers, joining a mastermind, hiring a coach or joining a group container. Yes it might be a bit scary at first, but once you have that space to keep you accountable and on track you'll start to notice all of the other benefits too. You'll feel more alive and energetic, you'll feel more excited and capable, you'll feel like you belong and that you are on the right path. Don't hide away on your own. Ask for help and support, collaborate, mingle with others on a similar path.

 

To Conclude: Whatever you have planned for 2024, I hope you find joy, strength, and courage along the way.

As we embark on this new chapter, remember that the journey itself is as precious as the destination. May your path unfold with measured steps or exhilarating leaps. Here's to a year of growth, magic, and realising the full potential of your business.

Enrolment for The Wild Heart Inner Circle is currently open! If you're ready to take action and implement your business plans, consider joining The Wild Heart Inner Circle. It's a 6-month investment in you and your business, providing a structured space for growth and strategy implementation.

Click here to learn more.

Or if you'd like to discuss it The Inner Circle is suitable for you, please reach out via email (info@wildheartmarketing.com) or find me on Instagram @wildheartbusinesscoaching.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Ailish x