On Turning 50 and Business

This is 50. Do you like my glamour shot? :) On a morning walk in nearby Vermont.

A Personal Meets Business Note On Turning 50 

23 years of coaching and I've gleaned a few insights into navigating your business through different stages of life.

In celebration of turning 50 this month, here are a few things I learned that I can share with you:

1) Over 50 = It's about to get good. 

This summer, I met this woman who owned a great little shop in Vermont. 

She hosted an open house on her 50th birthday and we got to talking. 

We summed up what it's like to be entering your 50th decade as a woman in business like this:

Before 50 you're like: What the heck am I doing?!?

After 50 you're like: Whatever the hell I want. Let's go!

That's how I feel. 

I attribute this to 1) investing in my health as a business strategy, 2) having experience on my side and 3) not caring about things I used to care about, like social media likes or keeping up with my colleagues.  

In the Happy Little Practice Club, there are seven simple ways to gently up-level how you manage your energy in business so you can stay in the game for as long as you want too. 

2) Keep up with your evolution. 

Your business will evolve every few years. Every three to seven years, to be exact. 

If you don't keep up with this, you risk getting stuck in your head and not taking action. Been there!  

The solution: Stop looking for the perfect anything: The perfect version of your website, or service offering, or business name. 

It's all just busy work. 

Instead, borrow this mindset that has served me and my clients well: go for good enough and perfect as you go

"It" is pretty much anything in your business. 

And I mean EVERYTHING. 

So stop trying to get everything RIGHT and just get going. 

You'll find answers MUCH faster this way. 

In the Happy Little Practice Club, and in my private coaching, we practice simplifying everything in business to help us get going (and because no one I work with wants a complicated business).
 

3) Build your business around what's important to you.

Worried about making family life a priority? Block off your family time, work with what you have left and make that work. 

Hate early mornings? Work with people who can work with you when you work best.

Don't like internet marketing BS? Find a way to market and sell your services in a way that fits you. 

Hate social media? Skip it and focus on what you are willing to do and get busy getting good at that. 

You don't have to do what everyone else does, but you do have to have some structure and focus and a willingness to get to work. 

Here's how we do it in HLP:

1) One compelling message

2) One clear service offering 

3) One outreach marketing strategy

4) One keep in touch strategy

Go. 

You don't have to get any of this perfect, you just have to get going. 

4) Over 40? Pay attention to this...

Perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause deserve a special place in your energy management. 

It will get your attention one way or another. It's that powerful of an impact on your brain, body and professional performance. 

My advice: get informed about the many ways to soar through this on a physical, emotional and spiritual level, no matter where you are on this journey, and BEFORE you need it.  

If you do, you will be rewarded with a new level of fortitude and feistiness to fuel your creative endeavors. 

A few resources, just for fun: 

1) Hit Play Not Pause Podcast - all evidence based

2) Book: Hagitude by Sharon Blackie - a mythological and psychological perspective

3) Bioidentical HRT and MRT(Menopause Hormone Therapy) - Try quirky Menopause Taylor on Youtube for free education on HRT and, the many alternatives to HRT if that's not for you.

4) Love your skin! I am not one who tries to look young. I like the grey streaks in my hair and looking like a grown woman.  But I do like my skin to feel great. Angie Hot and Flashy, Dominique Sasche and hilarious Hyram on Youtube have helped me improve my skin care in very simple and affordable ways. My skin is starting to look and feel better than it did just a few years ago - and all did was change a few things. (Not that any of this matters, but hey, it feels good when your skin feels good.)

5) Use every discontent to clarify what you will do.  

There will be challenges in your business. 

Sometimes you will feel deeply discouraged and frustrated. 

This can come from comparing yourself to others, to what  clients do, to the marketplace, to personal stuff in your life throwing you off your game and more. 

Instead of getting stuck on what you don't like and what you wish were different, let that clarify what you will do.

This has happened many times in my business. 

Some challenges made me question everything. 

After a bit of whining, I'd get off my bum and figure out what this was pointing me towards and then go after that. 

That's exactly how I created Happy Little Practice. 

It's that simple. 

Not easy-peasy, but simple. 

6) Understand your brain to understand your business

One of the best things I've done is start understanding how the mind works, so that every stinking thought I have doesn't have to be taken seriously.

Most of my clients resist this - at first. 

When they finally start doing what I call the Golden Hour Primer practice (a simple 15-30 min daily practice to prime your brain to get ready to do your marketing), it changes things. 

I teach this in the club as well. 

Find a way to tend to your mindset and your emotional capacity on most days of your business. Make it a self-nourishing practice. So when a bigger challenge comes up, you're ready for it. 

7) You can do hard things (with a sense of humor) 

To borrow from Glennon Doyle, you can do hard things. 

The more you accept that your dream business will make you doubt yourself on the regular, then you will not need to turn back every time doubt visits. 

It's normal. 

A successful business is earned by doing the work. 

A woman stays in business with a healthy sense of humor (and a bit of tending to the brain and body). 

In the Happy Little Practice Club, and in private coaching, we laugh, learn and get it done. 

There's more, but that's seven and good enough for today. 

Okay, okay... one more. 

It's so worth it. 

Your freedom is worth it, working on your own terms is worth it, the challenge is worth it, and more. 

🤗

Thanks for reading!

Karin
 

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