How Taking Care of Yourself Impacts Your Business
Nov 22, 2023
Today on the blog I thought I would share a personal story. If you're new here, I actually started my entrepreneurial journey in network marketing when my girls were about 18 months old. It was a health and fitness company now called BODi (insert I am not sure why people say they started in network marketing but don't share the name). If you go way back to my old IG account you can see all this play out in real life.
I loved it for two reasons:
- It introduced me to some amazing women and a community I didn't know existed which I truly needed after having twins.
- It exposed me to the world of entrepreneurship and professional development.
Long story short, I made it decently far, even traveling to leadership conferences, etc. The problem was that while I do love a good workout and nutrition (I still use the tools today), I didn't want to teach it or talk about it for the rest of my life (or insert however long you build a business). And I didn't want to build a team.
I actually got really burnt out on working out. It started to become like a chore. I felt like if I wasn't doing the newest program or getting the best results I was failing. At the time I was in networking marketing (about 8 years ago), Instagram was fresh and new and the tactics being taught to sell were not something I was aligned with. So I pivoted. Which is how we got here.
I share that because the key piece to this story that I am focusing on today as a business strategist for female entrepreneurs is burnout. I didn't want to work. I didn't want to follow a meal plan with 8,000 steps and color coding. I just wanted to be. And not share it. So for a long time that is what I did. Until I realized that I needed to feel good to perform better.
I had a coach tell me once that running a business is like the Olympics, and fueling your body and taking care of yourself is non-negotiable.
The Personal Habit that Changed Our Entire Business
So here we are, 9 years later and I am like I have to do something to put myself first. I have the time after leaving corporate America. But I don't want it to feel overwhelming. I am 44, my metabolism is not great, I needed to do something.
So we walked. We decided this summer to walk 30 minutes a day, which turned into 60, which then turned into the month of October we walked 5 miles a day.
Here's What Changed:
Personal Wins
1) At first I felt like crap. My whole body hurt because there were no rest days. But no joke around the third week it shifted. My legs are crazy strong and I have way more energy. I look forward to the walks.
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2) I had to prioritize my schedule even more. Fitting in 90 minutes of walking is no joke. I am pretty good at time-blocking, but this took it to another level. No one wants to walk 90 minutes in the dark at 7 pm so I had to think about when it would work for my schedule. As a bonus, my husband and I's communication improved 10x.
3) Communication. We had to be on the same page about our schedules which has lots of benefits, but imagine walking 90 minutes every day with your best friend. Sometimes we chat business, sometimes personal, sometimes nothing. It really helped our relationship and still is.
4) Side effects. This is actually my favorite part. Because we are walking so much, I sleep better. I am actually eating better, but it takes some effort to map out the time to walk so why derail it with eating like crap? I've lost weight, built muscle, and even changed my schedule to life weights 3x/week.
Business Wins
From a business standpoint, we also saw some wins, which is what I didn't expect.
1) Going back to the philosophy of feel better, do better, we had one of our best months ever in business and I worked 90 minutes less a day. That's a savings of 30 hours!!!!! That stat alone is enough to keep going.
2) As a business owner I suffer from anxiety a decent amount when we have big deadlines. It completely went away. Chalk it up to being outside, having whitespace to think, or going back to #3, extra communication.
3) The best part from a business standpoint: my creativity has soared. Maybe it is because I am sleeping more or working less, but we launched a brand new program, created new materials for our mastermind members, hired a new team member, and more. All in 30 days, working 30 hours less. The brain fog is significantly less.
I know if you are like me, you hear all the time how great walking is for you. But I never thought this little challenge would benefit our family and our business so much.
I kind of feel like Forrest Gump, but the goal for the rest of the year is to keep it up.
It will get interesting as the weather is about to change in Ohio, but with these results, how could you not?
I am curious, have you thought about how taking care of yourself can benefit your business?
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Resources
- Wondering how to quit a corporate job? Read this post.
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A Step-by-Step Guide to Transitioning to Full-Time Entrepreneurship with Amy Porterfield- listen here.
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A Day in the Life: Beyond Corporate Habits for Personal Growth and Success- listen here.
