When I first started my business, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, what would work, what wouldn’t, and whether I’d end up having to go back to getting a J.O.B. (just over broke). At the same time, I had nothing to lose by exploring a multitude of entrepreneurship strategies to see what would work. I quickly learned how easy it was to fall into the trap of building my life around my business, which burnt me out, and had me taking client calls in the middle of the night! I soon learnt that doing things 24/7 the masculine way wasn’t sustainable or aligned with my business values. Which forced me to look at an easier and more feminine way of doing what I loved and ensuring that I could build my business around my life instead.
Here comes the exploration and creation of a more feminine way to do business…
First off, I made the transition from 16-hour days to a more reasonable workflow and I learned very quickly that there were a few things that allowed me to be more in my feminine flow. This allowed me to spend far less time in the hustle, grind and crushing vibe that we often associate with a more masculine way of doing business. Here’s my top 3 strategies that took me from masculine to more feminine flow:
USE EXPERT PLATFORMS.
I positioned myself as an expert very quickly by ‘borrowing’ other people’s stages. It can take a lot of effort to build a community, create a platform, and spread the word. So I found that there are a lot of platforms that are looking for experts to add value to their communities, especially if it’s fresh or innovative content. So I soon learned how quickly know-like-trust is created when people perceive you as an expert, and since people like to buy and/or refer to those they feel connected to, the ripple effect of this was exponential. I learned that as long as I treated the audience as my own, and ensured that they would feel seen, nurtured and had their time (and intelligence) respected, that I would not only attract the right clients, but I would also attract an abundance of invitations to speak on other stages. These stages included both in-person and virtual conferences, and also high profile radio shows and podcasts.
This is part of my overarching lightning rod strategy; remember to always ask – what laser focused actions can I take to ensure the greatest compound effect?
COLLABORATE WITH COMMUNITY.
Early on, I also learned that collaboration is where it’s at, and since community and collaboration are innate in the path of the feminine way, they worked like a charm for me. I remember interviewing the CEO of a $100M company years ago who told me that any successful CEO spends 50% of their time creating the vision and the other 50% building relationships, and attributes that to be the key to her continued success.
My early collaborations included being a part of exclusive networking groups where we cross promoted and referred. Later, I joined what I call “social media pods” which essentially served in the same way where a small group of us, who were committed to growing our influence and communities, would share each other’s ‘wares’ on social media. This could include upcoming free events, podcasts, social media handles, and free opt-ins. The intention was to create content that was easy to share (and free stuff usually is) and compelling for their respective audiences to receive value from. I find that these groups work best when everyone involved is complementary to each other. Not because competition is a ‘bad’ thing, and many who operate business in a feminine way will say that there is no such thing as competition, but because it ‘keeps the energy clean and focused on the intention in which the group was formed’.
Again, this is a lightning rod strategy as the effort is minimal while the ripple effect is exponential.
USE YOUR INTUITION.
Intuition is my 3rd tool in my feminine treasure chest. It’s also an inherent feminine quality, and one that is used by many successful CEO’s whether they admit it openly or not. This is the tool that has made me the most money by far either because I’ve received an amazing ‘intuitive hit’ to create a program that ended up being bigger than I expected or because of what invitations my gut told me to say yes to. Alternately, it has saved me a lot of time and money for relatively the same reasons. The potential hires for my business that wouldn’t have worked out, the speaking gigs that weren’t what the host claimed, the latest and greatest trends that everyone seemed to be following but my intuition showed me another way that was more aligned with my brand, and so much more. There, however, many ways to connect with our intuition. For me, I do a few things daily to connect with my intuition:
a) I sit with any invitation or decision that can truly wait for at least 24hrs before responding. At this stage in my business, I only have room to say yes to a few things so I want to make sure that I’m aligning with the yes’s that make the most sense for the direction of the business.
b) I write a letter to my business every day and talk to it like a person. It may sound hokey but it’s made me a lot of money. I have conversations with it so that I can see where I might be creating microleaks that need to be plugged (ie. where I’m spending my time or when a program isn’t performing as well as it could be). I also chat with it about new offers that wish to come through, the most aligned way to market it, along with any other fun projects that wish to come through.
c) I use an easy measuring system. As an intuitive person, there is no shortage of intuitive hits, but there is a shortage of time and energy, which means that not all of them can be acted upon. So, I score them based on a gut feeling and if it doesn’t score at least a 9 out of 10 then it’s not lighting me up to pursue it. At this time I’ll store the idea in my creative journal and return to it a few months later to see if the number has shifted. This saves me tons of time only focusing on things that feel totally aligned and exciting (just as it should when we do business the feminine way!).
Follow these 3 strategies to start running your business the feminine way and let me know how you get on in The Purpose Posse®: https://www.souljourneys.ca/free-resources
Jennifer Longmore, based in Toronto in Canada, is CEO of the multiple 7-figure spiritual entrepreneur training school Soul Journeys. She’s also a 10-time best-selling author and creator of the #1 Training School for Akashic Records in the world. Through Soul Journeys Jennifer can boast having helped 1,000,000 souls in 100 countries.
Jennifer Longmore
Jennifer Longmore, based in Toronto in Canada, is CEO of the multiple 7-figure spiritual entrepreneur training school Soul Journeys. She’s also a 10-time best-selling author and creator of the #1 Training School for Akashic Records in the world. Through Soul Journeys Jennifer can boast having helped 1,000,000 souls in 100 countries.
