how to grow your business by tapping into your energy

What would it feel like to do more things in your business that give you energy? To know what those things are, and to follow them? 
To stop doing the things that have been niggling at you for a while? And to stop doing the things that you feel you should be doing, but that don’t really sit well with you or your business?

A few years ago, I created a simple but powerful template for myself to get clarity on precisely those things. Like me, you probably think that you have a pretty good sense of the things that give you energy and those that drain it. But there’s something about consciously keeping track of that for a few days–or even a few weeks–that is especially revealing.

By using an energy balance sheet, I discovered what I wanted to do more of in my business, and what I wanted to do less off. I started to lean into my strengths and joys, and stopped doing a couple of ‘shoulds’.

In need of more help growing and running your business from a place of energy?
I can help! 
In a one-off session or a package of four, we can work on discovering what gives you energy and how to lean into those strengths. And, together, we’ll work through the things that you feel you ‘should’ be doing, and craft a business that truly nourishes you.

What I learned from keeping an energy balance sheet

What I stopped doing

I always knew that there was one job that I kept doing primarily for the hours (and the money). I’d been doing it for a while, it required just a couple of hours a week. But I’d known for a while that I didn’t enjoy it–at all. At a certain moment, I’d complained about it so much that my partner suggested I’d quit. ‘But the hours! The money!,’ I said. ‘And, really, it’s not so bad. It’s just a couple of hours,’ I added.

When I started keeping the balance sheet I quickly realised that everything associated with this job ended up in the ‘no energy’-column. Seeing it right there, on the page, in black-and-white, shifted something in me. I did some maths, and quit the job. Yes, it’s less money–but doing the numbers, helped me see that I could do without.

What I started doing more of to grow my business by tapping into my energy

Another thing I learned from keeping the energy balance sheet is how much I love writing. I’ve always loved writing. I was that kid who scribbled notebooks full of stories even before I could actually write. But seeing the moments that I spent writing in my business pop up on the energy balance sheet again and again in the ‘energy’-column convinced me that I wanted to spend more time on it. It helped me gain the clarity and courage to stop doing a couple of things I felt I should be doing: like Instagram lives and stories of me talking to the screen. I don’t enjoy video much, neither watching or making it. But I thought I had to. Using the energy balance sheet, gave me the nudge to stop doing the ‘shoulds’ and lean into the things that give me energy instead.

Looking back over the past year, my experiences with keeping an energy balance sheet have led to my shift my business. My business is now much more aligned with my joys and strengths. I now run my business by tapping into my energy. For instance, I developed a marketing strategy that puts much of the emphasis away from Instagram (as I write this, I haven’t been on the app in three months). Instead, it focuses on writing: my newsletter and blog posts like these. I pin them to Pinterest, using a strategy I learned from Amy LeBlanc of Levee Road Studio. Even though it’s early days yet, I’m already seeing many more subscribers to my newsletter, and visits to my website using this new marketing strategy than I did when I was following the ‘shoulds’.

I developed the energy balance sheet at a time in my life when I was finally ready to ditch the overwork and the constant search for productivity. I often felt dissatisfied with my working days, like I was moving from one task to the next without getting a lot of joy or energy from it. Using the energy balance sheet radically changed what I do in my life + in my business, when I work and how I work.

It’s given me so much clarity, purpose and focus around how I spend my time and energy in my business. It’s enabled me to further grow my business by tapping into my energy and leaning into my strengths. I’d love for you to have that sense of clarity too.

Sign up for my newsletter to get your copy of the energy balance sheet in your inbox today. I’d love to hear how you get on growing your business by tapping into your energy. ✨

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