For the month of April, we have been exploring decolonizing our growth and healing journey. Today, we’re exploring something I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last few years: how to decolonize your business.

How can you create a business that’s a reflection of your deepest values and beliefs?

How can you create a business where you make an impact in the world and also thrive alongside it?

How do you run a business with no more burnout, no more hustle?

How do you create a sustainable business?

And if you aren’t a business owner, how do you create a sustainable job and career?

Today, we’re going to talk about the four keys to slowly decolonize work and business.

Before we dive in…

I want to invite you to join me for a FREE LIVE week-long masterclass where we discuss the ins and outs of coaching from a decolonized lens.

It’s from May 5-12 and there will be 3 live masterclasses with me. If you can’t make it live, don’t worry, love! Each session will be recorded.

To learn more and to sign up, head to wholeheartedcertification.com/workshop

One of the things that caught me most off guard when I graduated from my coaching certification was that I was now a business owner.

I became a coach because I loved coaching. I wanted to work with people, to make an impact, to help others, and to be of service. So, I thought most of my days as a coach would involve connecting with clients and changing lives.

But in order to do that, I needed to network, market, create contracts, and have a bookkeeping system. Those things aren’t sexy, right? But, they’re really necessary.

I soon realized that a thriving coaching practice was also about the practice of running a business. And that I needed some help.

So, I took to social media looking for someone to help guide me. And that’s when I fell into the 6-figure scalable business model.

Now today, that’s turned into the seven-to-eight scalable model and there’s nothing wrong with wanting that and I’m not saying it isn’t possible. However, as a new business owner, I just needed to know what I believed in, how to start out, and how to start some systems that really worked for both me and my clients. But, I got caught up in the hype of this big, scalable, money-making business.

This led me to making some really unaligned decisions. In a lot of coaching spaces, the mantra was the more you spend, the more you’re going to get back.

So, I invested in a lot of people to come help me with my business and I didn’t make that money back. It wasn’t what I actually needed.

I realized that I was building a business based on someone else's definition of success.  A definition that was making me miserable.  A definition that didn't actually align with my values and beliefs.  

What I have come to understand is that as an entrepreneur, you need to create your own metrics of success.  

Because if you don't, you'll start believing that success means making 7-8 figures or working with 1000s of folks at a time. 

And listen, to some, this is success. 

But this isn’t the only way to be successful in business.

Truth is, so many successful business owners out there have never made 7 figures or worked with more than a 100 clients or so.   But they have created a sustainable business.

It is a business founded on ethics and integrity.  One in which their clients feel respected and find value in the work.  One in which they take care of themselves and their team.  

When it comes down to it, a successful business is one in which you can thrive.

It’s one in which you can do the work you love, work with people you love and do the things you love. 

And that doesn’t require you to make massive revenues or work with 1000s of clients each year.

Today, I am so incredibly proud of my business.  I work with amazing people.  I make enough money to travel the world, invest in myself and hire people I believe in.  I take time off.  I don't work to the point of exhaustion.  

My business truly allows me to thrive and that's because I am rooted in what is most important to me.

Journal Prompts:

One of my favorite ways of defining success for my business is imagining what my dream life looks like in the future. Try out this week's exercise and see what comes up, love:

Imagine you're 5 years in the future and you are living your dream life which includes running your own business.  Write down a day in your life and share what you are doing, who are doing it with and what it feels like to be doing it.  

Tune into the podcast to hear the full episode PLUS an interview with Cass Cruz of Nova Coaching, a graduate of the Wholehearted Coaching Life Certification — 194 | Decolonizing our Entrepreneurship

The Waitlist for the Wholehearted Life Coaching Certification is now open!

If you’ve ever dreamed of coaching others towards a life they truly love and doing so with so much care, skill, and ethics, this is the opportunity for you, love.

If you’d love to learn more, just head to wholeheartedcertification.com

Our next cohort begins Fall 2024 and applications will open in the Spring (and the waitlist gets early access!)

Did you know that each podcast episode comes with free guided journal prompts?

If you want to be in the know and get each Mindset Monday straight to your inbox complete with journal prompts to take you even further, get on my email list.

About your host, Shirin Eskandani