Business plans: they’re a little bit necessary to sustain many functions of running a modern-day business, yet they are steeped in old-school concepts and perspectives that can give the average heart-centred entrepreneur the willies.
How are you supposed to have an abundance mindset when you’re listing your competitors and describing how you’re different or better than they are?
When you’re a heart-centred entrepreneur, your business represents so much more than just a way to make money. It is usually a carefully considered offering to the world which truly represents who you are and how you want to be of service in your lifetime. It is the result of your search for meaning in both your career and your life.
The truth is, business planning is a very masculine process – ordered, black and white, and not entirely functional in the ever-evolving, fluid, and shapeshifting world of entrepreneurship. It may not really be the kind of thing that makes your heart go pitter pat, but there is something to be said for balance between these approaches.
Over a year ago, I created a Heart and Soul Business Development Workbook. At the time I was coaching a few women who were starting businesses, and it seemed like I was asking them to explore a lot of the same questions – questions that were simultaneously pragmatic and soul-stirring.
I worked with women who were exploring everything from the “why” of what they were doing right down to the “how exactly precisely are you going to make money and how much and when.”
I never did share the Heart and Soul Business Development workbook widely, but I feel the time has come. So many of the women that I work with now who are going through their Third-Life Alignment are feeling the need for more alignment specifically in their careers. Many of these women are finding this by exploring entrepreneurship, and so business development often becomes part and parcel of how I end up supporting women through the Alignment process.
The Heart and Soul Business Development workbook touches on a pragmatic but soulful plethora of business-related questions, including taking you through the process of clearly identifying exactly what the focus of your business is, precisely who your target market is, and how you can grow a supportive community of other entrepreneurs, friends, and potential clients to see you through your business journey.
I hope you find it helpful. Please don’t hesitate to contact me as you’re working through it if you haven any questions or want to share an “aha” moment.
