Don’t discount the inner work when it comes to growing your business.

When you’re in the business of supporting others, it’s important to continue to do the work on yourself, as when you grow, your business will also.

New coaches often focus on the outer work when the inner work is even more important

Many people start a business thinking they need to nail all the specifics of the outer work. They want a website, a logo, and a social media following. 

They’re focused on the “how to” information and all the steps to start their business.

Then, they get into it and the inner stuff starts coming up:

• They created a website, but now they feel scared to hit publish.
• They have an Instagram account, but they are afraid to share.
• They know their ideal clients, but they expect to attract them through pure osmosis.

This is so common and happens to the best of us!

How doing the inner work changed my business

I know, because I was there. In fact, I had quite a bit of business and marketing knowledge before starting my business (15 years and an MBA, to be exact). 

As a certified coach, I also had done a ton of inner work — both through the year in coach training as well as my previous experiences working with coaches. 

But even I got tripped up.

Although I had years of marketing expertise in my corporate job, I could not bring myself to send out my first email newsletter. I couldn’t bring myself to share about my business on social media, either.

At the time, I was enrolled in Marie Forleo’s B-School. I attended one of her live coaching calls and submitted my issue: that I simply felt paralyzed to announce my business.

Well, she answered that question, live on the call. She told me, “Just do it! You are never going to have an audience as small as you do now, so take the opportunity to get used to putting yourself out there and experimenting with it.”

And so, I did it. And I lived. And I went on to send hundreds of emails and share tons of social media posts since — with much less angst!

Doing the inner work means examining what’s underneath

Underneath the fear of sending my email was a fear of being seen, judged, rejected, and even failing.

And how could I possibly handle being rejected from what I considered a calling! I couldn’t fathom it.

If you’ve experienced something similar, you know the feeling. It’s totally common and it happens to the best of us.

In the words of Stephen Pressfield in The War of Art: “The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”

When we can normalize — and even expect — the resistance, it can make it much less threatening.

The importance of inner work in your business

The way you get better at building a business is by getting braver. 

Braver to try new things, to put yourself out there, to share something… even if it flops.

This is where the real inner work comes into play:

• Knowing you can handle whatever results come your way
• Being willing to take the risk to try something new, knowing you can always pivot 
• Being willing to hit publish, send, or “go live,” while detaching from the outcome
  

When you’ve done the inner work, the outer work becomes so much easier.

The key — and the often tricky part — is doing both at once.  

How to do the inner work in your business

Yes, you need to take specific steps and do the external work to grow your business.

And when you can address the inner thoughts, beliefs, and feelings behind it, you can grow much faster.

This is exactly what I do with my clients. As a certified professional coach, I support my clients in developing the mindset, strategies, and habits for success, so you can follow your path and manage anything that comes up along the way.

If you want to hear more about how we could work together, sign up for a free consultation here.