It takes a Village–Expand your Support Network

As a woman of faith, I always pay attention to coincidences. I once heard from a fellow coach “coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous” and in my experience, I’ve found this to be so very true.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my daughter’s pediatrician told me it would take a village to raise a child with acid reflux. A couple of days later, I read this exact same statement on the back of a bookmark I’m reading called “Breakfast at Sally’s.” The quote reads, “You have heard that it takes a village to raise a child; well in this case it took a village to raise a book.”

Hmmm, that’s the exact same thought twice in less than a week. I wonder what God is trying to tell me? My sense is that it’s time to expand my support network to take my life and business to the next level.

What exactly does this mean for you? If you have an entrepreneurial vision that you want to launch or take to the next level, you can’t do it alone. If you are in business as a Mompreneur or Entrepreneur you might be living in the “Lone Range Syndrome” and trying to do it all on your own. It’s highly likely you are attempting to run a life and a business by taking on too many roles, many of which drain and overwhelm you. The end result is that you dilute your impact and end up sabotaging your efforts, leaving you feeling frustrated and unfulfilled.

So what’s the answer? Hire others to help!

As a single mom, I got tired of sacrificing time with my daughter to clean my house. So I hired a housecleaner. I have no desire to learn how to set up a blog so I hired a web designer. And even though I’m a former CPA, bookkeeping drains the life from me so I hired a bookkeeper, but only after my computer crashed and I lost 8-months worth of records. I admit it, I’m still learning myself!

I know exactly what you’re thinking right now. You’re saying, “I can’t afford to hire others to help. I don’t have the money.”

OK, in service to your heart and the big dream that lives inside of you, let me tell you how sabotaging this belief actually is! In my personal experience and in serving clients, it’s this very belief that is holding you back from experiencing the thriving life and profitable business you long for! Why? Because if you are spending the majority of time doing things that drain you, you don’t have enough energy to give to what really matters.

As you contemplate this new perspective of “Hiring others to Help” over the “Lone Ranger” perspective, here are some additional places for you to look:

1. For seven days, commit to creating a list of the activities that energize you and the activities that drain you. Redirect your time to spending 80% of your time on those things that energize you, which will give you fuel for the 20% of the activities that take from you.

2. Identify one or two of the draining activities you could delegate to someone else. Call several service providers to find out how much their services cost, with the intention to hire this person for one month so you can see the impact this has on your life and business.

3. For one month, redirect the time in your schedule that you spend on this draining activity to spend productive time on money making activities that will support you in growing your business. You could call a customer, develop a strategic partnership, or attend a networking event for some examples.

What’s amazing is that when you focus your attention to the things you love, you have more energy and are living from a naturally attractive place. This draws others to you which will give you the opportunity to serve them from a place of life and abundance. You’ll be a much better woman, wife, mom and business owner and you’ll get much better results.

So what do you think? What does “Hiring Others to Help” as a new perspective mean to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts and what your next steps are.

Here’s to your success!