I talk a LOT about finding ‘freedom & fulfilment’. If you’ve ever watched one of my webinars, seen me speak at an event, or are a part of my membership group for petpreneurs… this will not be news to you.
But whether you’re a familiar friend, or you’re exploring my world for the first time, I imagine this vague concept of ‘freedom & fulfilment’ could easily slip past you without leaving much of an impression.
Words, after all, are easy to brush past… easy to ignore.
So, how about a few photos instead? Later in this post you can see a bit of what freedom & fulfilment looks like to me.
But before we dig into all the pretty things, let’s have a quick chat…
I have spent over 13 years mucking around in the pet industry, in my own brands, building brands for other petpreneurs, consulting with billion dollar pet businesses and working in and around pet media. I would say, the only thing that has shaped me more than my own personal journey, is being a part of other peoples’ entrepreneurial stories. And if there’s one thing that I know all too well from all of our stories, it’s that:
self-employment too often leads to utter and total misery.
When you give absolutely everything you have to support, nurture and grow your business, there’s nothing left for you and your personal life. I have known too many devoted, fantastically talented, intelligent, ambitious entrepreneurs who simply worked themselves into exhaustion. When you’ve pushed yourself to the brink, the chances are good that you ultimately have to give up on your beautiful dreams.
My goal is to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you.
Building a Brand instead of just a business
The primary reason I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs build brands instead of just businesses – is that a brand (in the way I define and teach it) helps create alignment between what you ENJOY and what you SELL. This has many, many perky little side effects including making marketing easier and more fun – but the bit that really interests me, is:
When you’re building a brand that’s rooted in your purpose as a human being, as you grow, you’re not just hitting entrepreneurial milestones like the 12 major shifts – you are also working towards freedom and fulfilment, and the life of your dreams
Of course the alternative, building just a business (where you’re solely focused on revenue or productivity or other people’s demands), is likely to lead you to misery… and your life is likely to end up looking like roadkill along the road to someone else’s definition of success.
No ma’am. No thanks. Not you. Not me.
So if we all agree that’s not what we want, let’s explore what we DO want, the results (bigger and better than just cash) that we’d like to work towards. Let’s define success. I call this ‘freedom & fulfilment’. What do ‘freedom’ and ‘fulfilment’ actually mean? Here are my definitions:
Freedom.
Ability to freely invest as much of your time as you’d like, in any way you please. Although interestingly more structure actually seems to leads to more feelings of freedom
Mental & Emotional Freedom:
- Clarity
- Enoughness or as Brené Brown would call it, ‘wholeheartedness’ (freedom from the scarcity monster)
- Operating more often in the ‘MAGIC’ zone between ‘method’ and ‘madness’
- Growth: ditching limiting beliefs by creating experiences that defy your fear
Financial Freedom:
- Zero Debt
- Separation between your time and your income = Passive / Recurring revenue
- Investments & Savings to fuel your future
Physical Freedom:
- Feeling free in your body, comfortable in your skin
- Enjoying the spaces you occupy (home, community)
- Location Independence (if you dream of travelling the world or living in multiple places)
Fulfilment
Feeling good, aligned and ‘on the right path’ – leading to a tremendous sense of contentment and control (even though it’s really about being comfortable what you can’t control)
Clarity of Purpose
- Finding your Magic / Knowing your ‘Why
- Being focused on / connected to something bigger than ourselves
- Feeling like we’re ‘on the right path’
Happiness
- Joy & Pleasure (active)
- Ease (passive)
Love
- Self-Compassion
- Connection
- Relationships
- Belonging
Service
- Feeling like we’re making a difference
- Participating in generous service of others
Growth
- Learning and expanding
- Evolving as humans
- Creating new stories
- Facing our Fears
Freedom + Fulfilment = Success
So, obviously, the lists above are a bit epic. It’s not like you’re going to just wake up one day and have all these boxes ticked. It’s a slow, incremental process that happens bit by bit… but the only way it HAPPENS is if you’re working on MAKING it happen.
The most essential message here, is that I invite you to allow Freedom & Fulfilment (and all their little pieces) to become your new definition of success.
Money, prestige and skill at your craft are just pieces of your success, and won’t individually lead you to the future you desire – or feelings of happiness and contentment. So your ability to keep ‘Freedom & Fulfilment’ at the top of your ‘what does success look like’ list – is my greatest hope for you.
Getting Started
I believe that anyone embarking on a journey towards success defined as ‘freedom and fulfilment’ needs three things… which you can read about over here… but the very first step of all, is to get clear on what you want.
Getting Clear
One of the best methods for keeping your freedom and fulfilment clear in your mind, at at the top of your list, is to get some visuals together that depict your version of it. For me, that has historically been a few delicious Pinterest boards – but this year for the first time I created an actual dream board. It sits in my bedroom and it is the first thing I see when I wake up each day.
This has been immeasurably powerful for keeping me focused on where I want to end up. Somehow it makes the little ups and downs a little easier to cope with, and gives me a little pick-me-up no matter my mood.
Allowing yourself the time to do this, is a WONDERFUL act of self-love that also acts as the PERFECT first step to having it all: Your own personal freedom and fulfilment, PLUS a positive impact on the world.
What would be on your dream board?
These images feature in my dream board – and I’m so glad this year I FINALLY took the time to create one. If you’d fancy one of your own, but need a little push to ACTUALLY go do it, join our:
FREE Facebook Group – Magic Makers HQ
Inside we’ve got some helpful getting started resources, and a tremendous community to help support you along the way. If you already HAVE a dreamboard, we’d love to see it!
Share a photo in the Facebook Group and tell us about it!
Also, check out the Magic Maker podcast, for weekly brand-building inspiration.
