The traditional business world often pulls us into believing that if we can just find the right strategy, then we will be successful in our businesses. That there are certain tactics and formulas that we need to implement in order to create the right results.
Now, of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to create a certain amount of money in our businesses, and seeking out ways to help us do this more effectively.
Allowing our focus to be pulled too heavily this way can draw us into a way of approaching business that becomes extractive, rather than connective.
What this means, is that instead of being fueled by heart-based connection (to our service, to our creativity, to ourselves, to God), we subtly veer towards a mind focused on ‘I need to do this, so I can get that’ way of interacting with our business and audience.
Example: Giving away something free (an ebook, a video, a mini-course) with the intent that “I am going to convert such-and-such amount of people into paying customers through this free resource” is an extractive mindset.
Whereas giving away something for free with the mindset, ‘This will help my potential clients and customers get to know me better, and decide if my work is right for them, all while offering them something valuable to take away, even if they never become paying customers’ is a connective mindset.
The action is the same, but the energy and heart of it is completely different.
Extraction feels like tightness, clenching and control.
Extraction makes us feel very attached to outcomes and results and can leave us feeling disheartened (and sometimes even resentful) if we do not see the results that we were hoping for from a certain action or strategy. When we extract, we are closed off to possibility, and remain tethered to our results happening in a certain way.
Whereas when we connect, we are open to results occurring in our business in a multitude of different ways. Ways that we never could have strategized.
As women, we thrive when we base our business around connection, and we wither when we fall into extraction.
Basing our business around extraction feels deeply uninspiring and adds a heaviness to our business, which is often then reflected in a lack of results- regardless of how perfectly we have executed a particular strategy, or how much effort we have put into a particular action.
Basing our business around connection feels honest, meaningful and genuine to both yourself and your audience. It leads to authentic relationships, and business transactions backed by trust.
When we focus on connection, instead of extraction, we not only attract the right people to our business, but we feel inspired and energized to keep taking action. We do things in a way that feels enlivening and in alignment with who we are; naturally leading us to the audience and results we are seeking.
>> Comment below ways in which you like to connect with your people that feels natural, right and energizing to you!
xx Kelsey (owner of Wonderfully Made Gifting Company)
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