woman having a coffee at her desk smiling

After working with hundreds of heart-centered entrepreneurs… I’ve seen a pattern that many of us buy into {that’s actually setting us up for insane amounts of stress and anxiety in our businesses}.

While we all want to create a business and life we love, I see many of us DELAYING the life we love because we believe that FIRST we’ve gotta work our fingers to the bone to create a successful business.

The result?

Burnout.

Resentment.

And a nagging feeling that we aren’t ENOUGH.

Even if you absolutely love the work that you’re doing and adore your clients… if you’re life is all work and no play, it’s only a matter of time before you hit a limit to how much success, happiness, and freedom you’ll really be able to experience in your biz.

As a recovering workaholic, this is a pattern I know all too well.

After leaving the traditional corporate path in 2008 to start The Yogipreneur, even though I knew I was finally creating a business that truly reflected me and allowed me to share my greatest gifts with the world… I found myself falling into many of the same old habits that  landed me in an ER at 25 thinking I was having a heart attack {it wasn’t – just the first of many stress + anxiety induced panic attacks}.

I was using building my business as an excuse for NOT living a life that I really loved.

I spent every available moment I could working on my business. I spent every available dollar on my business. And I never felt like I was enough.

Honestly – if I didn’t get pregnant with my twins in 2009, I would have burned out. I probably would have thrown in the towel long ago! But having kids forced me to dramatically re-evaluate how I was living my life and running my business.

Once I became a mama, I realized I had to put an end to the madness. I didn’t want to wait to live a life I loved. I wanted that live – right now.

But for some reason, I had always bought into the story that the life you love is 100% dependent on achieving certain things first. Getting the MBA. Marrying the handsome college sweetheart. Having a six figure business.

And as I checked things off my list… I was starting to really feel confused and frustrated. I was achieving all these things, but it NEVER felt like enough. The satisfaction of checking something off the list was quickly replaced by the need to achieve more.

I mean… isn’t that the first step that every lifestyle design guru tells you to focus on? Decide what you life you want, figure out how much it costs, and work to build the income you need {and then, finally, you’ll have that freedom to live the lifestyle you deserve}?

Turns out – you can live a life you love. RIGHT NOW.

And the best part? 

When you start living a life that you LOVE – you’re business will instantly up-level to support it!

When I became a mama, I realized that my over-achiever personality was actually my inner mean girl running the show. My inner mean girl {you might call it your inner critic or monkey mind} is a real b*tch whose entire job was to convince me that I wasn’t enough. That I wasn’t good enough. Talented enough. Yogi enough.

And when you’re feeling like you’re not enough… you feel like you’re not worthy. Of love. Of joy. Of play. Of anything good.

So it becomes this crazy cycle of trying to prove you’re enough and then punishing yourself when you’re not enough {according to your crazy inner mean girl}.

This almost always resulted in serious self-neglect.

When a coach recommended that I dramatically increase my own self-care {as in, regular time for rest and relaxation, yoga practice, better nutrition, time for meditation or mindfulness practice, and even an occasional pedicure}, I brushed it off. Seriously… that was the answer?

Actually – yes. Turns out it is.

When you don’t feel that you are enough… when you don’t feel you are WORTHY of love, joy, play, rest, pleasure, adventure… your business suffers.

You’ll never attract the abundance and freedom you want if you’re not feeling that abundance and freedom. Energetically – you’ve got to be in alignment.

That’s why so many people get hung up on the idea of “Charging what you’re worth”. It’s damn near impossible to feel confident charging the fees you’d like to when you don’t feel like you’re enough.

If you wanna charge what you’re worth – you’ve gotta feel WORTHY!

And feeling like ENOUGH… feeling WORTHY? It starts with living a life you love, right now.

When I took stock of what was really important to me, I quickly realized that I had been spending a lot of time and energy on a life that I would love someday in the future and not enjoying much of my life in the present.

So I turned that around, pronto!

How to start living a life you love right now!

1) Upgrade your self-care!

First, I realized that I was not showing up as the best version of me when I was neglecting myself! I couldn’t be the entrepreneur or mama or wife or person I didn’t treat myself like I deserved to be taken care of.

I had to ease into self-care… it’s not like I suddenly was getting weekly massages or hitting up the day spa. But these simple practices helped me nurture myself and let go of the guilt I felt when I was tending to myself and not my kids::

Even though so many healing + helping entrepreneurs KNOW the importance of self-care {including rest, nutrition, and movement}, this is one of the FIRST areas we tend to let go of when we are stressed and focused solely on our businesses.

The truth is – if you’re not willing to invest in YOUR SELF-CARE – you will struggle to find clients willing to invest in YOU! From an experience perspective, there is a HUGE difference working with a yoga teacher who walks her talk, has a regular practice, and invests in her own teachers, retreats, and continuing education from a teacher who has stopped filling her own inspiration tank.

Personally, I realized I felt out of alignment when I was teaching business and marketing to healing + helping entrepreneurs but not investing in those exact services for myself! So in the past couple of years, I’ve worked with private yoga teachers, massage therapists, and health coaches. HUGE shift for me! Now that I’ve invested in those services, I feel 100% more confident as a mentor.

If you’re not walking your talk, how could you possibly expect a client to invest in working with you when you’re not even willing to invest in yourself?

2) Upgrade your environment!

Am I the only one who thought “When my business is successful and I have enough money… I’ll finally be able to have a home that I really love?”

Well – I did. And when you live and work at home {plus have 3 little ones}, you can quickly start to feel like a complete fraud when you have a version of “Successful You” in your head –  and her home and office is gorgeous. Totally reflective of a CEO running a multiple six-figure biz.

I realized that just because we’re not living in our DREAM house doesn’t mean we can’t love the house we’re in!

These may seem so insignificant! But honestly, the moment I started asking myself what I really needed to surround myself with to feel like successful CEO Racheal – the confidence skyrocketed. I’m enough. And I treat myself like I’m worthy of the lifestyle of a successful CEO!

3) Upgrade your FUN!

Some people naturally seek out fun {my husband, Jameson, all the way}. They find time for games and play and adventure.

Some of us {ahem – moi} are naturally a little more serious. But the truth is – when you really love what you do, you can forget to allow yourself to have non-work fun.

Turns out, fun and play contribute to feeling like you are ENOUGH. The more you allow yourself to let your hair down, laugh, and enjoy the company of friends and family, the more you feel like you deserve a life you love.

These ideas are simple, but POWERFUL.

When you commit to living a life you love right now – you’re telling the world that you are enough. That you deserve a beautiful, amazing life {and a business to match}. ALL the tools and secrets I used to make it really happen for my biz and my life are wrapped up with a bow for you inside Conscious Business Design!

That quickly translates into feeling more confidence declaring your worth in your business.

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