The person you are now is not the person who will grow your business. While it’s hard to imagine you being completely different than who you are right now.

this is me in 2020 at my first business retreat

three years after buying a fresh copy for 4 hour work week, I built my business. But I had owned the book before, while graduation looming like a TERRIBLE hang over, I knew in my core that corporate wasn’t for me. When I thought of my future, I BROKE OUT IN FULL ON HIVES Not like a cute one, like red angry bumps up and down my arms. 

I heard the voice inside of me that said “this isn’t your future”. I had already traded frat parties for morning meetings, shuffling my backpack from job to job and fitting school in

There was no four years to grow up, I was a grown up.

After TRYING to read it, it promptly went into the donate pile after graduation with my text books. So how did I go from DREAMING of building a business to building a $220k business in my first calendar year?

I didn’t just read one book, I was checking out a pile of books from the library, watching every course I could get my hands on. Doing the dang thing looked a whole lot different now because I was focusing on personal development. 

As a CEO, it seems to be 100X more complicated than it needs to be because your stuck with the idea of what personal development is. So, this is how I break it down (feel free to steal it) 

Continued Education on my technical skills—As an online business owner, my technical skills are essential for running an online business. This is where hiring a coach, reading business books, and taking courses comes in. 

Continued education on my non-technical skills – This can also be called your soft skills. For me, this is leadership, communication, teamwork, and emotional intelligence. The skills that allow your technical or hard skills to be that much better. These are your CEO skills are you keep growing your company, spreading your mission and bringing on a team 

Health/Fitness –  let’s face it, owning an online business comes with more stress than the average job. When it comes to stress management, you actually have to manage it. As an adult, that is finding something that you like to do that keeps you active. When it comes to your health, it’s understanding that how you feel on the inside will be how you feel on the outside. 

You can’t grow a business if you die from burnout. The same way you take time to do content or other things, working out (in whatever way you like) and fueling your body is one of your need to do tasks . 

In my first year of business, I got so lost in owning a business that I forgot who I was. In the middle of all that, I was going through life coaching and therapy. In growing up and being in school, I realized that I didn’t have a hobby that didn’t make me money or was better for myself. Which meant that I forgot to have fun in a way that is needed as a business owner. 

Not everything needs to be monetized or a money-making activity in your life. You can spend time outside in the garden, playing with animals, or just binging Netflix. Your value is not in your ability to make money; your value is and always will be through you. 

Taking time off is scary and so needed. You can be an average person with hobbies and not ALWAYS trying to improve yourself. 

You are the CEO of your life & your business, always make sure you are improving both.