The Fierce Business Babe Podcast Ep 296: How to Show Up When Life Happens

Today, I am diving into how to keep showing up for your business when things don’t go as planned. We are going to talk about how to keep showing up in business, in life, and on social media even when you don’t feel like it. We’re also going to touch on shifting your mindset and the realities of running your own business.

HOW TO SHOW UP WHEN LIFE HAPPENS

BY: MELISSA LIN

Welcome back to another episode of The Fierce Business Babe Podcast. We are going to be talking all about how to show up when life happens; how to show up in your business; how to show up on social media; how to show up in all areas when things happen and maybe blow up a little bit more than you would have expected them to. There's a story that we all tell ourselves at some point in our journey, whether it’s at the very beginning, or a year in, or two years in. That story is that as a business owner we must show up every single day at one hundred and fifty percent if we want to be successful. Sometimes we tell ourselves that we must show up and hustle if we want to sign more clients. Sometimes we tell ourselves that we need to post every day or that If you don't post consistently then everything is going to go down the hole and you have to start over from scratch; If you don't post everyday your audience is going to go work with somebody else. It's almost like we don't feel like we have the permission slip to take time away or to take a few days off or take a break. I can definitely tell you that I have had many of these moments in my earlier days when I first started my business. It’s nowhere near how I run my business now. Now I take at least one entire week off every single month, if not more. I take weekends off. I have very strong boundaries and hold to them, my clients also respect them. It also supports them and shows them that they can also create boundaries.

I wanted to share with you that none of this negatively affects my business. It actually helps my business. It also helps me by not having to hustle 24/7 and to be able to support more of my clients and hold more space for my clients. I am giving myself that permission slip to rest and fill my own cup as well. If you've ever worked with me in the past, you know this is what I always preach to my clients, rest, rest, rest. I’ll share some examples in today’s podcast episode. We're going to be getting all into how to show up in life, in your business, and on social media when life happens. Now, let’s dive on in. We’re going to get into the realities of running your own business, shifting your mindset, different seasons of business, how to show up when you don’t feel like it, and so much more.

THE REALITIES OF RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

The first thing I really want to get into today is the realities of running your own business. I talked about this a few podcast episodes ago, some of the things that come up and the challenges that you face as a CEO. It’s also true to share that life happens and sometimes things don't go exactly as you had planned. It's a big part of entrepreneurship. We need to be able to pivot and adapt when needed. We cannot predict what is going to happen in our lives. We’re human and there are definitely days where you may not want to show up on social media or show up in your business whatsoever. Maybe you don’t feel like recording that podcast episode like you wanted to, or record that webinar, or prep your email sequence, whatever it is. We're human. There are going to be days where you don't want to do that, and that's okay. You’re human. You get to take the break if you are starting to feel burnt out. Maybe you have personal things going on behind the scenes in your business and you don’t feel like showing up. Maybe you just need to lean away from your business for a little bit. That's okay. Give yourself the permission to do so, as long as it’s not something you’re doing every single day and just avoiding your business completely and self sabotaging. Take breaks when you need to, your business will always be there. I want to share that again with you: your business will always be there.

Something that I actually do with my clients every single week when we hop on our group calls together is to get a pulse on how everyone's doing. We go through something called red, yellow, green. It’s to really get a pulse on how they're feeling, what's happening in their business, and what they need to work on. Red means everything’s on fire, my business is burning down, I want to shut it down, and things are feeling really hard. Anytime I hear our client say they’re feeling red we work to get them out of there as soon as possible and I always take into consideration the things going on in their personal life and if they’re getting close to burnout. If so, take two days off, shut your phone down, delete social media from your phone, take a break. I have given homework assignments to rest to clients in the past before. Anytime they do that, the minute they’re reenergized, the minute they hop back into business after taking those days off, they start attracting brand new clients. They start seeing course sales coming in, Stripe notifications coming in because they finally gave themselves that rest. Yes, there are other things that also supported those wins, and those are some longer-term things you can set up in your business, systems and funnels, so that regardless of if you show up in your business or not, the business keeps going. Sales keep coming in.

For example, this past week has been very busy for myself. I've been doing a lot of things behind the scenes and I haven't been able to be in my business as much as I normally am able to because of personal things going on. However, sales were still coming in. We were still onboarding new clients all throughout the week. That's because of some of the things that I’ve created on the backend to really support my business. However, it wasn't like that five or six years ago. I didn’t have all of those things set up, however, I was still able to and I knew, even back then, nothing is going to burn down if I step away for a week. Your business will not burn down if you step away for a week. As you continue to grow your business, start to add some of those processes and systems into your business so that things are still moving, regardless of how you're feeling that day. If I wake up and I'm sick and I'm not feeling good, I'm most likely not going to be showing up on social media all day long for a mini training or a workshop. I want to make sure that I'm rested and that I take care of my body. It’s one of my big non-negotiables, always making sure I’m feeling good and taking care of myself because that's when everything works, when I feel good, when I feel the best. Again, nothing can burn your business down. You get to take time away if that’s needed.

I had a client recently who for the longest time could not remember the last time she didn't spend time on social media. My challenge to her was to take the entire weekend off from social media. No hopping on Instagram, completely delete the app from your phone, turn your phone off if needed, make sure that emergency contacts know that you’re shutting your phone off, that family and friends know that. Take some time to really unplug. Since then I don't think she has taken a weekend back onto social media. Since then she has taken every weekend off of social media. You're allowed to take those days off. You do not need to be on social media seven days a week, 24/7. Take the time away. Make sure that you're filling your cup and resting, you're allowed to.

CREATING SEASONS IN YOUR BUSINESS

You're also allowed to have seasons in your business too. We have lots of seasons in our business. We’ll have bigger pushes and bigger launches, and then we'll also have some slower times where it's feeling or looking slow in the front end, but things are still happening behind the scenes because of all of our systems and funnels that we have. We still have sales coming in and even though I may have taken two entire weeks off. Maybe I'm traveling. Maybe I took the last two weeks off as I normally do during the holidays. Towards Christmas I’ll typically take the last two or three weeks off the year because it's lots of family time and vacations and other things. We’ll typically go on a ski trip, so there’s lots of things happening. It’s a season where I know I’m going to step away, so I’ll prep my team. My team is prepped, things are still happening, however, I don't need to show up on social media seven days a week all day long if I don't want to.

Take the time away. I definitely did not feel this way years and years ago. When I first started, I had some of those same stories. I need to hustle. I need to be there every single day. I need to get back to people’s DMs within 30 minutes or they’re going to hire somebody else. I had all of those stories that I know now are not true. I’ve reframed them so much since then, and that's what I want to talk about next, how to start your shift your mindset in some of those different seasons of business. I really want you to give yourself the permission to just be. Give yourself permission to take days off and not be on social media 24/7. You do not need to feel guilty about rest or not showing up every single day.

I want to share some of the big mantras and new stories and reframes that have really served me well over the years. The first is, “everything is happening for me.” If something is going on in my personal life, or maybe even a challenge has come up in my business, it's all happening for me. I know that I'm going to learn something from it. Something better is to come of this, because of this, this is all happening for me. The second big story that I always remind myself of is, “I am always doing the right thing at the right time.” I'm always doing the right thing at the right time. That way I'm not second-guessing, but I also do believe I am doing what’s meant to be in this moment. I'm always where I am meant to be in this moment. If you are a client of mine, you've heard me say this as well. You're exactly where you're meant to be. If you feel like you're starting to fall behind on something or maybe you're not where you wanted to be in business yet, everything is happening for a reason. Everything's happening for you. You may not be where you want to be in business right now. Maybe you had to take two weeks off because family came to visit. You were able to really lean into your personal life and your business didn't go anywhere. You can lean right back into your business. You're allowed to have seasons if that's really going to serve you. The next is, “I cannot screw up where I’m meant to go.” I deeply believe that. You are going to be exactly where you're meant to be exactly when it’s supposed to happen. It's all working out perfectly for you. New clients are coming your way. Everything is happening for you. Everything is going to work out perfectly. You can also handle anything that comes your way. So those are some of my biggest mantras and biggest shifts over the years to really support me, especially on those days where I just don't feel like showing up on social media.

HOW TO SHOW UP EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT

I want to help you and also give you some ideas for how to show up when you don't feel like it. Maybe you woke up with a huge migraine and you just don't feel like showing up on social media. Maybe you decided to extend your vacation an extra few days and just don't want to show up on social media for that mini training that you typically do on Tuesday's. You don't have to. Let's say that you've done a mini training or a live every week for the past year. Your audience is not going to overnight disappear if you don't show up one week. You're allowed to take breaks. You’re allowed to step away for a little bit and go and live. It's a big reason why you also started your business if you're a business owner. So that you could create that freedom. Whether that’s freedom of time, freedom of money, whatever it may be. It’s so you can go and experience, so you don't need to wait until you're a 7-figure business owner to enjoy those things. You get to enjoy them now as well. You get to have it all. You get to enjoy those perks of running your own business and also take breaks whenever you need to take breaks and also be in your business. You get to truly have it all.

So, how do you show up when you don't feel like it? I also want to go into a quick exercise that I do with myself every single morning. I'll share this with you because I shared it with my clients and they absolutely loved it. What it is is when I wake up every single day I don't just ask myself, “okay, Melissa, what do you feel like doing for your business today?” I never ask myself that anymore because if I were to ask myself that everyday, maybe a week or two ago when I was really busy with house stuff I may have answered that with, “you know, I really don't feel like doing anything in my business today. I feel like going and binging some Netflix.” However, that was not really going to serve me or my business, so I actually separate that question into two different questions now. So instead of asking myself, “what does Melissa feel like doing in her business today?” I ask myself, “what does my business need from me today?” Typically it’s always my nonnegotiables, which I can share with you in this episode.

Then I also ask myself, “what does Melissa need today?” Completely different. So, what does Melissa need? What do I need personally? What do I need to make sure that I'm feeling good? That's typically some type of movement or exercise or a walk, water, nutrition, nutrient dense foods, making sure I'm getting eight hours of sleep, things that are really going to support me. I'm really picky about how much sleep I get. I need at least eight hours these days to really feel good the next day. So those are some of the things that Melissa needs to make sure she's feeling good.

Then I ask myself what are the things that my business needs from me today? Is it recording a podcast episode? Some of my negotiables, for example, every single day I make sure my clients are supported and that I check in with my team. I make sure that we're adding some type of value somewhere in the online space. Then I also make sure we have some type of sales activity, which a lot of it is automated at this point and all happening behind the scenes. However, those are the big non-negotiables for me. I am able to do those things even when I don't feel like it because most of it is hands off. The sales activities, even the value pieces, most of that is either pre-created or pre scheduled for us. Then, of course, the client support is live in action that day. We support clients every single day and make sure they're feeling supported.

So, how to show up everyday, even when you don't feel like it? The first is to have things prepped. Have some Instagram stories, some graphics that are pre done. You can repurpose old Instagram stories that you've used. If you've done old graphics or old mini trainings you’re allowed, this is your permission slip, to repurpose, recycle, reuse some of your older content. Those people that come to your page every single day, your new audience members, they've never seen it before. Even if they have seen it before, it's a great reminder for them. It tastes people multiple times, they need to see things multiple times before it clicks, before they take action, before any next step is taken. So yes, you are allowed to recycle, repurpose, reuse. We do a lot of it, especially on those days when I may not be able to show up. It’s not necessarily on days where I don't feel like showing up. I definitely do have those days, we all do, we’re human. However, there are days where I physically cannot show up on social media. Maybe I'm traveling, maybe I'm on a 14-hour flight. We will have things pre-scheduled so that things are still going out. A podcast episode will still go out or an email will still go out. We have things prepped so that we're still showing up and hitting those non-negotiables at the minimum.

So, have things prepped. Reuse older things, recycle past content, and then also make sure that you actually take the break. I promise you that people will not forget about you if you stop posting for a bit. Your business will not go anywhere if you stop posting it for a bit. Go enjoy your time with family. Go enjoy the sun, paradise, vacation. Your audience will be there when you get back. Make sure to give yourself these permission slips throughout the year, especially if you feel like you're getting closer and closer to burn out. The trend that I see a lot of entrepreneurs go down is they're posting, they’re posting, they’re posting, they're showing up on social media, but then they get so burnt out. They need to take a week or two weeks off and then they feel like they're so behind they just don't get back into it. That two weeks turns into four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks. I want to share with you that messy action is so much better than no action, so just get right back in. Take your time off, but then get right back into things. Reuse old things. You definitely do not need to be creating new content every single day. You can reuse old stuff. Again, the thing that has really supported me over the years is just having things prepped and ready for some of those days where I just can't show up or even don't feel like showing up. Whether I’m not feeling good, or maybe just didn't get a good night's sleep. I had a period of time when Pearl, in her younger days, would do zoomies all night long, and bless my boyfriend because this affected Ryan as well. She would just do zoomies randomly all night long when she was much younger, and we could not figure out what she was zooming about. We tried so many different things, honestly she felt like our child. We were just waking up every hour all night long for quite a few weeks. In those moments I did not feel like showing up on social media, however, we had things prepped and we had things ready for those times when I just couldn't show up. You can definitely have those things ready. You can just not show up. It's really up to you at the end of the day. You get to do what feels best and what feels most aligned. This is your permission slip. You do not need to show up 24/7. If you do want to, you have other things that you can use in place of showing up.

Today we have touched on so many things. We talked about the realities of running your own business, shifting your mindset, different seasons of business, examples of different seasons, how to show up when you don’t feel like it, and so much more. We are already getting excited for next week's episode and cannot wait to share it with you. I will see you on next week's episode of The Fierce Business Babe Podcast bright and early next Monday morning.

Topics we cover include:

Seasons of business
When to take a break
Meeting your non-negotiables

And so much more!

Times to check out:

(9:15) Pivot and adapting

(13:10) Taking care of yourself

(17:10) Where you are meant to be

(20:30) Personal and business non-negotiables

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