It was October 2017, I was

looking down the barrel of a

new job that I didn't want.

I was about to turn 40.

I had a small child who was about

to start school hours, and I had

that sinking feeling in my stomach.

How would we handle school hours?

My hubby's a school teacher,

so he works school hours.

How would we handle a call

from the school with a pickup

request for a sick child?

It was at that point, I

knew I needed to jump ship.

I needed to create my own reality.

I already had a side hustle as a

faculty member of Women in Leadership

Australia and I was already coaching

many women, but I wanted more.

I wanted financial freedom.

I wanted to do something that

lit me up every single day.

I wanted to have fun, achieve results,

and take life a little less seriously.

and I wanted to wear jeans.

Every day!

After working with so many inspiring

women, this is what they tell me they

went into business for themselves for.

Flexibility.

To be their own boss, to work fewer

hours, to feel like they can have more

impact, and they want financial freedom.

So important.

In reality, they may have flexibility,

appear to be working more hours,

feeling more stressed, and more

frustrated because they are not

getting any closer to their goals.

I get it.

It's been a tough few years.

Businesses have struggled.

Some have closed.

What we thought would

make us happy, does not.

However, I truly believe there is a

way for women to have these things.

And feel fulfilled at work and at home.

Here's the kicker.

The Bureau of Statistics says that

unless your turnover is more than 200,000

per year your business will struggle.

I'd love you to take a minute

just to think about, do you know

where your actual revenue is?

A lot of women I speak to have not

looked at the numbers in a really

long time, because it can be scary.

I also know this number, to be true.

When revenue reaches this point, it means

it can free us up to hire some help, to

invest in marketing and focus on growth

or scale, depending on what you want.

And there are a variety of reasons

why businesses don't succeed

or why their owners shut shop.

Here are a few.

It's hard.

It's harder than they thought.

Revenue is inconsistent,

therefore cash flow is lumpy.

Which leads to feast or famine.

There's not enough

profit in the business.

Or they just don't love their business or

their products or their services anymore.

So what's the answer?

Well, it depends.

And I hate it when

someone says that to me.

But it depends on what's happening

for you in your own business.

There's always a choice to be made about

whether you want to keep going, running

your own business, or whether you want

to go back to an employee type role.

Here are a couple of

things that helped me.

showing up.

When you run a business, you need to

continue to make the choice every day

to show up, even when things are hard.

Is that you?

Are you showing up?

We need to constantly work

on our mindset, whatever

that looks like for you.

It could be meditation.

It could be journaling.

It could be listening to podcasts or

reading books because every business

is different but it's important for

you to be clear on what you need to

achieve, what success looks like for

you, and how you want to show up.

As I said before, numbers, well,

they're not scary once you get to know

them and once you understand them.

Yes, you can outsmart them.

Source, but only after you

understand your numbers.

You need to fall in

love with those things.

You need to fall in love with your

numbers You need to know your revenue.

You need to know your profit.

You need to be clear on the variable and

fixed costs, and you need to understand

the trade-offs that you need to make.

I had to work really

hard to know my numbers.

need to not only have a plan, but

also a way to execute the plan.

A plan does nothing if

it's not implemented.

Knowing what you do each day

to inch closer to the business

of your dreams is so important.

Focusing on why you went into business

in the first place You might have it

stuck on a computer as a reminder.

I use post it notes.

I also love a vision board to

constantly remind me why I do what I do.

Do you feel like this?

Are you wanting more?

You want more flexibility?

More growth?

More revenue?

More profit?

You can have more.

You can grow in a way that works

for you and for those around you.

I know it can happen

because it happened to me.

So here's where I'm at.

I've been in business

now for seven years.

I've worked with hundreds of women across

the globe, amazing women who light me up

and who are getting really good results.

I get to do school drop

off every day And why?

So I really wanted to wear jeans.

They're not actually that comfortable.

So I ditched those and now

we're into active wear.

Which no one can tell because

I do a lot of my work on Zoom.

So very, very happy.

I encourage you to sit down with a

cup of tea, because we all love a

cup of tea, and think about what

you want by the end of the year.

And then how do you make positive

steps toward achieving these things?