One of the things I love most about my work is that I get a front row seat to patterns. And lately, the pattern I keep coming back to is this: the business community you choose will either keep you exactly where you are or help you become the business owner you’re capable of being. Over the past few weeks I’ve run Ask-Me-Anythings, one-to-one coaching sessions and multiple small group coaching sessions. When you spend that much time listening, the same themes surface again and again.
Three patterns stood out. Each one has something to teach us about how we grow, and each one comes back to the people we surround ourselves with.
Pattern one: crowdsourcing your way into more confusion
When women are building towards their first $100,000 in business, they often lean heavily on crowdsourcing. They ask everyone what they think. They gather opinions from people at the same stage of business, then treat every opinion as fact.
The challenge is that when nobody in the room has solved the problem yet, all you’ve collected is more uncertainty. One person’s opinion sparks another opinion, which sparks another idea, until everyone leaves feeling busier but no clearer than when they arrived.
There’s a difference between support and direction. Your peers can cheer you on, but if none of them have walked the path you’re trying to walk, they can’t show you where it leads. That’s when you need someone who has already solved the problem, not fifteen people guessing alongside you.
Pattern two: abandoning the path that actually works
I also notice how tempting it is to walk away from the thing that’s working.
Consistency isn’t always exciting. Sometimes the next shiny strategy feels more appealing. Sometimes the deeper thinking feels uncomfortable. So we abandon the plan just as it’s about to pay off, and chase something new instead.
Yet the businesses that grow aren’t usually built on constant reinvention. Surprise surprise, they’re built on doing the fundamentals well, over and over again. The unglamorous work of showing up, following up and staying the course is what compounds. Reinvention feels like progress, but often it’s just movement.
Pattern three: energy is contagious
The third pattern is one we’ve all experienced. Energy is contagious.
Spend time with people who are committed, optimistic and taking responsibility for their business, and you’ll often find yourself lifting your game. Spend too long in conversations centred on complaining, blaming or why something can’t work, and that mindset spreads just as quickly.
You absorb the standards of the people around you, whether you mean to or not. If everyone in your circle is playing small, playing small starts to feel normal.
Choose your business community on purpose
This is exactly why choosing your business community matters.
Look for more than people who understand your struggles. Find people who challenge your thinking, hold you accountable and remind you what’s possible. Understanding is comforting, but challenge is what moves you forward.
The conversations you have every day will either keep you where you are or help you become the business owner you’re capable of being. So choose the rooms you sit in, and the people you listen to, with intention.
If you’re looking for a business community that challenges your thinking and reminds you what’s possible, that’s exactly what we create at Go-Getter Day. A room full of committed, generous women working on their businesses side by side.