Energize Your Dream With Business Forgiveness

By Lisa Cherney

 

Who has ever heard of business forgiveness?  Well, I hadn’t until I met a guy who was being held back because of regrets from his past businesses.  This guy is like many of my clients who are insecure or fearful about failure because they can point to a time in the past where they set out to do something and it didn’t happen.  Isn’t it interesting how we view that as failure?  Our whole life is set up with us trying things and being “successful” or not.   Therefore, it makes us evaluate our business-life and give ourselves a score.

 

What is your business-life score?  How would you rate yourself as a business owner?  This can be very revealing.  If you find that you are rating yourself low, then it may be time for a bit of forgiveness.  A bit of exploring the past, where you feel you failed, defining or exploring the lessons and letting it go.  It’s the letting it go part that sometimes hangs me up.  I had to become willing to not identify myself by the event anymore.  I had to stop living that story…you know the one.

 

Here are some clues as to where you might find those areas of forgiveness.  Do you find yourself saying things like: 

I’m not good at…

I’ve always…

My weakness is…

In the past I’ve…

It’s funny how when something is not our passion we define it as something “we are not good at.”  In business I can say that I am not good at balancing my checkbook.  Instead I choose to say, “Balancing my checkbook is not my passion.”  Doesn’t that sound nicer?  It allows me to choose not to do this task rather then feel like it’s something I should do.   And, if it’s something that I’ve failed to do well in the past (like I have) I could let it affect my business-life score.  A word of caution, sometimes these things fester and grow.  It changes from balancing your checkbook to “I’m not good at managing my business finances.” 

 

What do you let affect your business-life score?  When you think about why you rate yourself as less then a perfect 10, what are the things that you are counting in the demerits?  Really look at them.  I found when I really looked at all the areas that I felt I didn’t do well or failed at in the past it allowed me to release them and then hire someone whose passion it is to balance the checkbook (or update my website).  It freed up enormous energy and allowed me to focus on the parts of my business I really love.  It allowed me to feel good about my business, knowing I had the smarts to hire people to do things I didn’t have a passion for. 

 

How can you add energy to your business?  How can you raise your business-life score?  Where can you forgive yourself so you can you begin to think of yourself as a success?  And the last, but most important question, is how do you measure your success?  Or, should I say, “What do you use besides money, to measure your success?”  Money may be a key factor, I know it is for me because

 

 

 I am in business to help people AND make money (so I can continue to help people).  But, when I spent lots of money last year creating my audio programs and workbook, I had less income.  Sometimes I let myself feel less then successful.  However, this year I have these wonderfully powerful products to share with people all over the world.  A woman in New Zealand drives around listening to my Creating a Marketing Message with Juice CD in her car!  A business owner in Buffalo, NY trained her entire sales force using my Conscious Marketing Audio Workshop & Workbook!  If I allowed myself to feel like a failure because of all money I spent last year, I may have closed my doors.  And it would have been a moment too soon.  It would have been right before the miracles started.

 

There’s a saying, “Don’t quit before the miracles start.”  That’s how I feel when one of my coaching clients stays in business because of our work together. They have a renewed passion for making their business a success because they forgave themselves and hired a professional organizer to tackle their out-of-control filing or a computer guru to teach them the new software that sat on their desk for a year.  That’s how I define my success.

 

What three areas of your business are not your passions?  Who can you get to support you?  Decide what support you’d want (i.e. inexpensive, but skilled, bookkeeper with patience) and it will come forward.  The Universe will help and you’ll be better able to communicate your needs to friends and family.  You will know this person when you meet them.

 

It’s time to raise your business-life score.  It’s time to employ business forgiveness.  This could be just the thing you need to energize your dream.  This could be just the thing to ensure you continue to help the people that need you.  If not for yourself, for them.  They are waiting for you.