Why you want to Build the Business Owner to build the business

Whatever you want from your business for your life, whether you want to travel the world, give your kids an easier start in life, support the causes closest to your heart (or all three and much much more, because why should you have to choose?)

THE work that will support you to grow the business that gives you this is to Building the Business Owner which means focussing on your personal and leadership development as priority business activities, treating your own development as importantly as marketing, selling, forecasting, planning and all the many other areas that go into business building, so that you can make decisive decisions and take confident action in your business from the place of being the leader your business needs you to be.

I’ve been in the online space for a number of years now, having started my first business (an eco-friendly stationery business) in 2016 and it was that experience that showed me the importance of ‘inner work’ as a business owner and it was an invaluable apprenticeship (albeit a haphazard, fear-ridden one!) for what I do today.

I’ve been thinking about what I found most difficult over the first few years and it can really be boiled down to this:

1. Keeping the faith when I’m wasn’t seeing the results I wanted in my business (I didn’t realise how much I needed to cultivate patience)

2. Trusting my own decisions instead of being swayed by the noise of all the well-meaning advice in the online space. (I was very familiar with shiny object syndrome and looking around me to see whose freebie/post/livestream/course might contain “the secret to success”)

3. Maintaining the energy and belief to take consistent action based on my own decisive decisions and not succumbing to the self-doubt that leads to procrastination, overwhelm, fear of being visible, fear of sharing what I want to share and the like.

It wasn’t the marketing, pricing, social media algorithms, thinking about what offers to make or who my ideal client was that caused me the most angst

It was the way I was approaching these activities that caused the angst (looking for the external validation of immediate results, thinking that everyone else knew something I didn’t, feeling like I wasn’t good enough to keep going with this ‘business thing’ because it was making me feel like sh*t)

I was doing the external work (learning about marketing, pricing, social media algorithms, thinking about what offers to make or who my ideal client was and a gazillion and one other things)

But I wasn’t paying any attention to how it was making me feel personally and the resulting negative impact on my ability to take quality action that occurred.

I felt as though I was working successfully in my business, because I was doing a lot of things. However I wasn’t working successfully for my business, because I wasn’t paying attention to the results (or lack of results) from my actions.

I was taking action, so much action, but I wasn’t evaluating it, not because I didn’t realise that evaluation is necessary, but because I was:

a) chasing my tail trying to do all the things and 

b) looking for some concrete answer as to what constituted being consistent & patient to see a return versus what was doing something just for the sake of doing it. 

I was taking action, I wasn’t taking quality action which is, by contrast, taking action from a grounded, intentional space with the capacity to evaluate results (or lack of them) with enough objectivity to not damage your belief in your ability to achieve your goals and any other future success you desire. 

That’s why I talk about the importance of building the business owner to build the business - focusing on developing the personal and leadership skills (yes, leadership even as a solopreneur) - to be able to manage the range of normal, human feelings that come up when building a business.

What you can do TODAY to make progress

Take some time to do an audit of where you are in your business:

• How do you feel about what you’re doing on a day to day basis? Do you feel confident, empowered?

• What’s the next milestone you want to achieve AND how do you feel about what you need to do to achieve that milestone?

• Do you feel energised? Do you feel that you’re in forward motion? That you know what you want to do? 

• Or do you feel uncomfortable, indecisive? Do you find yourself wondering what would be best? Are you feeling stuck because you don’t want to waste time or money in a direction that may or may not bear fruit?

This is not an exercise in being crappy to yourself. 

If you feel confident, empowered and in forward motion then great, but if not, taking the time to identify that and articulate it is also great

(And also something that a lot of people won’t do because it can be unsettling & uncomfortable, so pat yourself on the back for even countenancing this idea and being interested to explore it) 

It’s great because it shows you exactly what’s to work on to get from how you feel right now to how you want to feel as the owner of your business.

The crucial part is about recognising the relationship between your mindset, your energy, your identity, how you feel about yourself and your abilities and the ACTION you take on a daily basis in your business.

And then treating your own entrepreneurial development as a priority business activity, as important as any other action you would take for, or in, your business. 

If the idea of Building the Business Owner to Build the Business resonates with you, I hope you’ll consider joining me in my hybrid programme (called Build the Business Owner. I’m clearly a fan of keeping it obvious!) You can find out more about the programme here and book a (no obligation, no pressure) call so we can chat if you feel it might be the best next step for you and your business.

Elle xo

Are you part of our heart-led conversation?

Our Heart-Led Conversation is my VIP email community. Click here to find out why you want to be part of it! When you join, to welcome you, I'll send you a FREE guide '5 ways to stop procrastinating and take action TODAY so that you can achieve your business goals'

And join me on the Taking It Personally Podcast, a podcast for heart-led entrepreneurs who want to grow their impact driven business. We talk about all things entrepreneurial leadership development and mindset so that you can grow a business that enables you to live the life that resonates with you, that’s in harmony with you at a heart and soul level.

Are you ready to make decisive decisions and take assured action to grow your heart-led, impact driven business and achieve the success, fulfilment and impact you desire? I'd like to invite you to check out Build the Business Owner, my 5-week hybrid programme for solopreneurs and micro-business owners.

Build the Business Owner is a combination of an online training course and 1:1 support from me.

Develop or consolidate the skills and mindsets to:

✨Grow your business in line with what you want for your life & according to your non-negotiable personal values. This is the solid foundation that enables you to make decisions and take actions with more confidence, energy and ease.

✨Develop the skills to look at your business objectively, make decisions with confidence, stick to them and, crucially, keep the faith and embrace new challenges (because you’re in this for the long term, am I right?) and

✨Develop an entrepreneurial leadership development practice that integrates your success mindset into your life and business actions daily so that you grow along with your business as it evolves and always into the leader your business needs.

Find out more and book a (no obligation, no pressure) call so we can chat if you feel it might be the best next step for you and your business. I would love to chat with you. xo

If we don’t know each other very well yet, I’m Elle Turner from elleturner.me and I’m here because I want to help get influence and income into the hands of heart-led business owners like you who want to leverage the potential of business to do good in the world. The way I’m here to do that is to use my skills and experience in the areas of personal development, leadership development and mindset for entrepreneurs in the online business space.