5 Ways to Boost Your Fulfilment in Your Business.

Are you an entrepreneur who is busy, but somewhat (or a lot) unfulfilled?

Would you like to find ways to boost your fulfilment?

This came up in a client session the other day. We were talking about her services and it seemed like she was somewhat lacklustre about aspects of what she offers.

Not because it wasn’t working well in terms of client numbers and revenue.

But when I asked how fulfilled she felt with her job currently, she rated it 5/10. She is great at it; people adore it but it was not leaving her feeling fulfilled. In fact, quite the opposite.

Just so we know what we’re talking about here, the definition of fulfilment is:

“the act of doing or achieving what was hoped for or expected” or “the feeling of being happy and satisfied with what you are doing or have done”.

Oxford Learner’s Dictionary

You see, so often, I work with women who went into their business because they found the idea delightful!

But as time goes on, they have kept doing what was working, even though they’ve started to lose themselves to it.

What do I mean by that?

Well, they keep offering a particular service(s) they think they ‘should’ offer.

However, by continuing to do this, they feel even less like themselves. They lose their mission in terms of why they started the business. They lose the spark, the joy and their passion for what they do. And it becomes a chore (argh, I hate this!)

Why does this happen?

It can be a range of reasons, including:

• fearing that offering something new might not work out
• worrying that letting go of one income stream may result in not earning enough in a new one
• worrying about what others will think (clients; followers; family; friends)
• feeling pressured into an ‘all or nothing’ approach
• feeling like you may have wasted your time if you discontinue one particular service that you’ve been building over time

A lot of this comes down to black and white thinking; the beliefs you have about the way you can run your business; the way you choose to interpret the evidence available to you; and the fears that threaten your fulfilment.

The risks of continuing to offer what doesn’t fulfil you is:

• falling out of love with your business and start to resent it
• feeling depleted, energetically, because it takes so much out of you
• running the risk of leaving your business at some point, because it’s taking too much of a toll (heartbreaking!)
• not communicating what you offer in a way that comes across as exciting, amazing and sublime (which means you will attract the people who are drawn to the energy of unfulfilment (these may be clients who thrill on drama or being a victim; are quite needy or come across as flaky – they don’t follow through). Which means you are highly likely to resent what you’re doing even more)

I thought about my new Brene Brown book, Atlas of the Heart and her list of emotional states when considering fulfilment. It’s not listed there – the closest is ‘contentment’ which she defines as:

“the feeling of completeness, appreciation and ‘enoughness’ that we experience when our needs are satisfied”

Brene Brown – Atlas of the Heart

She goes on to describe contentment as a ‘low arousal positive emotion, along with peace, tranquility and satisfaction’.

This is undeniably close to what I’m talking about with fulfilment.

Would it give you a feeling of 10/10 fulfilment if your business provided feelings of:

• completeness
• appreciation
• enoughness
• peace
• tranquility
• satisfaction

Would that work for you?

If you find yourself feeling lacklustre (or worse) about your business, here’s 5 tips to consider:

1. Rate your own fulfilment in your business first, on a 0-10 scale, where 10 is completely fulfilled and 0 is absolutely no fulfilment
2. Work out what it would feel like to be a 10/10 – get really curious and give yourself full permission to just see what comes up. What would you be doing; how would you be feeling; what would you be telling yourself; what would you be offering (and what would you have stopped, if relevant).
3. Identify the beliefs, stories and self talk in your mind about what would happen if you were running your business in a way that enables you to feel 10/10 fulfilled right now – this will give you so much GOLD!
4. After validating yourself for having these (we all do!), ask yourself if you know 100% if these stories, beliefs and fears are true. Or if there is room for another delightful truth?
5. Consider what you’d like to change in your business, and how you’d like to change it if you’re going to decide to have 10/10 fulfilment in your business (this doesn’t mean everything is constantly perfect, but that you are fully fulfilled with your business overall). Maybe you make changes gradually; maybe straight away; add in a service; discontinue a service; change your work hours or location; add a team member, and so on. You get to decide!

Remember, if you are running your business because:

• you have an absolute desire to help others
• if you believe in your service deeply and
• if you know the incredible impact it can have on others

then making these changes will be helping you to run a sustainable business that lights you up and energises you, which then enables you to keep making an impact for good in this world.

And the world needs more of that badassery, my friend.

Always here if I can help.

Kylie x

If you enjoyed this one, you might be interested in my recent blogs: ‘Why Do You Want to be Happier?’ and The Big Reveal on Being an Imperfect Woman’.

If you’re starting up your business, you might like to join our next Not Networking event for mindset tips; connection and collaboration in a small online group – head here for all the details

If you’re an established business owner wanting to create some intense and powerful shifts in your mindset to turbo-charge both your business results and the life you desire, you can find out more here.