I was out running a 10k this morning. Reflecting.
With so much strife in the world at the moment, you might be wondering why bother?
Charlie Kirk killed in the United States. Russian drones overflying Poland. Thousands being killed needlessly in Gaza. Demonstrators clashing with police in central London.
Look, there’s no point me worrying about things that are outside my control. That’s why the smart money is on ignoring the news. Tune it out.
Instead, look at what IS in my control. My ability to show up and fulfil my purpose in life.
And yet, it’s pretty fricking hard to know what that purpose is.
Having left the corporate world after 28 years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the summer coming to terms with the fact that somebody has always told me what I am supposed to be doing.
Yet for over 10 years, I’ve had an itch.
Not the kind you need to see the doctor about :-)
No, this is the itch to be an entrepreneur. The itch to do my own thing.
My wife is Australian and so we spend usually two or three weeks a year out there visiting her family.
For as long as I can remember, those trips used to give me the time to reflect and go within.
The universe has given me several very interesting signs this week that I choose to share with you today:
- At the start of the week, a former sales colleague of mine reached out asking whether I was offering sales relationship coaching because she felt she had learned a lot from me whilst we work together and she would buy that from me
- Then a VA I was talking with about potentially helping me grow my business, told me she found me entertaining to listen to and very motivational
- Late in the week I caught up with another former colleague who did not even realise I had left the corporate world. Not only was he super-supportive, he was keen to talk again to share some of his experience with me to help me on my journey
- Finally, this YouTube video called me. It featured Chis Do talking about how best to build a profitable personal brand, which is the journey I started earlier this year.
Platforms come and go. What doesn’t is the way we make our contribution to the discussion.
He encouraged people like me to focus on the strength of the relationships we build with others. The rest, including money, will follow.
Pat Flynn, another of my mentors, encourages you to ‘serve first’.
It took me most of my life to realise this, that the best place to operate from is an abundance mindset.
And so there I was running through the lanes of North Hampshire reflecting on the areas of my life where I have the deepest experience to draw upon.
Certainly in the corporate world, I have a wealth of experience in all things customer experience.
But as we all know we are not defined by the job that we do but rather buy the sum of our life’s experiences.
The word that keeps coming up for me this week, is relationships.
Whilst this is not about me, sharing my story will help you and me to bond.
And so if you join me on this journey, I will share with you the deep personal lessons that I have learned throughout my life to this point that all stem from that one word.
Relationships.
Specifically, drawing upon personal experiences in life and business to help you:
- assess and priorities relationships that matter
- do the work internally and externally that helps you mend broken or damaged relationships
- The value of thinking about the other person first.
And more besides.
Join me and let me help you with this area of your life and business… because I am on a mission to make a difference in this world, whilst I still have time.