February has been a month of new construction. The house of my business is growing, and I’m adding rooms, creating spaces in which it can continue to flourish.
When my kids were young, their friends were small too. So a weekend sleepover would mean I’d stumble over a pile of eight or ten little boys in pajamas snoring happily on the floor of our family room on a Sunday morning.
Now, my boys are young men with wives and families of their own. When they come to visit, they require more than a floor in the family room. They need privacy, and room for suitcases, diaper bags and sippy cups. My house fills up with baby car-seats, stuffed toys, and cots that double as playpens.
The needs of my family have changed. And my home has changed to meet those needs. My new house is more spacious, differently configured than the one in which my boys grew up. Yet it serves and supports the qualities I have always cherished: Beauty, freedom, organic order. Inclusiveness, sovereignty, play. Belonging, hospitality, generosity. Humor, openness, curiosity, adventure.
Your business is a growing, evolving being. Its needs and its relationships change over time. And the house of your business will need renovation, expansion and renewal to support those changes.
The challenge is to shape a structure that is just the right size, shape and fit, so it meets the needs of your business now; is strong enough to hold those qualities that are essential to your business; and is flexible enough to grow with you.
If the house of your business is too big for your needs, you will stagger around burdened by the weight it. It will drain your energy and resources, instead of supporting the life that you want to live.
If the house of your business is too small, it won’t give you enough support and structure so you can flourish with ease. Without the right kind of support, you spend your time and energy on things that don’t serve you or the evolution of your business.
For me, finding the right fit has meant moving the administration of my business from an independent VA to a full-service agency. Reconfiguring my schedule so I have time to build infrastructure, nurture relationships and research, write and create new programs.
It has meant revisiting all aspects of my business to see if they continue to support those values that are essential to my work and my life – generosity, integrity, service, devotion, prosperity, beauty, and truth.
Each wing added to the house of my business also requires a stronger, deeper foundation to support it. And that foundation rests on daily practices of inner connection and attunement to wholeness.
To grow your business, you must also grow yourself — you must become the person whose life includes the evolving shape and form of your business.
Like all growth, this happens on both inner and outer levels: Through inner practices of meditation and reflection, energy alchemy, blessing, and communion with the Sacred. And in the crucible of those relationships, choices and actions that shape your daily life.
The work of growing a business takes place first in the realm of spirit, soul, and subtle energy. This inner work is then woven into the basket of relationships, energies and structures in the 3-dimensional world that support your business and make it a living reality.
Success in business is the result of skillfully weaving together soul and structure; inner and outer work; business and essence.
The technologies and skills of energy alchemy are ancient. The practice of business is newer, but also has a noble lineage. As a conscious, creative entrepreneur, mastering these skills can help you grow your business in alignment with your heart, your values and your vision — while bringing you the prosperity you need to support your life and that of your family and community.