This is part four of a cross-blog conversation with my friend and mentor, Kelly McCausey, all about mindset and how it impacts your business.
You can read part one on Kelly’s blog here, part two (my response) here, and part three here.
In part three, Kelly has asked me for some tangible results. What has mindset work actually produced in my life?
More Income
This is the most obvious one to me. I’ve always had what most would call a successful business. My first full year as a VA I earned just over six figures, nearly tripling my previous day job salary. As a course creator, I’ve quadrupled that, and I can easily see my way to $1M plus in revenue in the near future.
Could you attribute all of that to simply being a hard worker? Sure.
But here’s where that mindset work really makes a difference. My business has evolved in the 11 years since I quit my day job. All businesses do. I’ve shifted from that long-ago day job to freelancing, from freelancing to course creation and coaching, and from course creation and coaching to membership site owner.
Every single shift required a new level of confidence in myself that I didn’t have before. Without it, I never would have quit my job or fired all my clients or launched a membership site. I could have easily convinced myself that all of that would be too hard, or that it would take too long, or maybe even that I don’t really want or need more money, anyway.
Bigger Opportunities
A negative mindset has a way of closing doors even before we have a chance to peak inside. I didn’t apply to speak at conferences because I was too afraid of rejection. I didn’t join networking groups because I worried about being a wallflower. I didn’t ever have the nerve to ask for what I wanted, whether it was a spot on a speaker panel or an increase in pay or just a better table at a restaurant.
Mindset work changed all of that for me. I’m no longer too shy or timid to apply for even big opportunities, like the chance to be interviewed on a popular podcast or to participate in a giveaway or to speak on stage at a conference. And you know what? Sometimes they say yes.
Reduced Depression and Anxiety
You might not know this, but I live in Michigan, where the winters are long and overcast. I also suffer from depression and anxiety, and have been on and off meds and in and out of therapy for decades.
In the past, those two things have often meant that from January through March every year, I’m pretty non-functional. I power through October, November, and December largely due to holiday activities, but once January hits, I just want to crawl under a blanket and not come out until spring. Sometimes, that’s what I have done.
I stopped creating content.
I stopped emailing my list.
I basically checked out for weeks at a time, miserable in my own negative thought loops.
It’s not a healthy way to live, and it’s definitely not a good way to run a business. It was hard on my income, hard on my customers, and hard on my husband, too.
Understanding what causes that downward spiral and learning strategies to deal with it has made a huge difference in my life. I only wish I’d known sooner that I was the one in control of my thoughts, that they could be changed, and what a difference it would make in my life to change them.
Now I’m going to toss the conversational ball back to Kelly. One thing I’ve heard you talk about is knowing what you want, and that’s something I still struggle with. Can you talk about how that plays into mindset work and how we can get more comfortable with our wants?
