While I was in Paris for my 35th birthday, I recorded an interview with founder of Business Heroine Magazine, Anne Perry.
In the interview, we talked about everything from sisterhood to creating spacious and sustainable business models. The interview is short and sweet, and I hope it serves up some clarity and inspiration on how you might create more of what you want in your business & life.
You can find the interview here:
http://businessheroinemagazine.com/nishamoodley/
––> In the comments below, let me be your coach for the day! Shoot over any questions you have about creating more spaciousness or sustainability in your life and work. I can’t wait to support you, sister.
I’ve got a question for you! This fall I’m headed back to school to start PhD work (which has been my dream and I am SO excited to finally be taking the leap and doing it!!). I’ll also be working full time to pay for the school. My work has agreed to allow me flexible hours to be able to take classes and all, but I will still need to work 40 hours a week at that, plus my classes. I would quit, but not only do I need the money, but also my coworkers are a huge support system for me and actually are helping me get through the program. So, when life is this busy, how do I create spaciousness? I can’t really cut anything, but I don’t want to slip back into the mode of rushing and not having time for me because of busyness. How do I maintain spaciousness and flow when I know I’m going to be very busy for the next few years?
Such a great question, Rachel.
First off, congrats on diving into your PhD work!
I love that you’re fulfilling this dream. Amazing.
Here are a few things that may help:
1. Have a really simple yet beautiful morning and
evening ritual, that don’t involve technology. This
could include meditation, dance, stretching, singing,
journaling, reading…you name it!
2. Take little breaks throughout the day if you can
– even 5 minutes – to walk barefoot in the grass,
listen to a favorite song, go for a walk while breathing
deeply. Find little moments throughout the day to give
yourself space.
3. Do something you LOVE on your commute (depending on
your mode of transportation). Listen to a fiction audio
book, take up knitting, etc.
4. Have a really solid schedule for each week that includes
both the things you need to do AND the things you love to do.
Consider the things you love as needs, too 🙂 Do your best
with it, and make sure to schedule at least one dinner with
girlfriends each month – they’ll help keep you sane.
Much love, Rachel, and let me know if any of this helps!
Big hugs,
Nisha
Nisha,
Those are all wonderful suggestions. As I was reading, I was once again reminded of how much I need to protect my time so that I use it how I want to – not how facebook, tv or email wants me to. Especially as I’m headed into a busy season of life, I need to be really protective of that time. Thanks!!
You rock.
Much love,
Rachel
Yes, now more than ever, Rachel.
That’s a beautiful frame: Your time is yours!
Much love,
Nisha
Solid, solid advice 🙂
Thanks, Patricia 😉
I have a question, too. How can I approach my business with spaciousness and positive energy when all I can think about is the ticking clock on my bank account and the incredible pressure I feel to start making MORE money in my business? I feel like I’m constantly torn between wanting to focus 100% on moving ahead in business and feeling guilty for not making more and worrying about money. Help!
Hi Catharine,
Thank you for asking this question –
I’m sure so many people can relate!
So, to answer this question fully, I’d
need a bit more background info, as it
depends on what the full financial picture
looks like. Let me look at it from a few
angles:
* If you have support at home, whether it’s
a partner who’s agreed to support the household
while you pursue your passion, or a savings
cushion, it may be time to give yourself a clear
yet more spacious plan for bringing in revenue.
* If you’re relying on yourself for income,
perhaps a bridge job is in order! Something
that will float you, so you can built without
so much stress.
Regardless, there are 2 things you need:
1. A solid plan of how much money you need to
make, by when, and a plan for how to do that.
2. To treat your rest and relaxation time as
a critical part of your business sustainability.
Make sure you’re creating good habits now, so you
build your business on a solid foundation.
Hope this helps!
Much love,
Nisha
I have a knowing to coach and lead the most paradigm breaking, powerful visionary leaders to their next level of expression in their life. I have a gift to listen to their deepest and most expansive desire and create the energetic space for it to effortlessly come into form…it’s magic and the highest honor. Things around me just work and are more delicious.
My question is, I do not yet have the expansive container to both create this business, give it my time and energy, and contribute to my current work which is Marketing Manager for a new line of all-natural transformational products. I have not committed 100% to either and thus, sitting in limbo. I’m wanting to forward the vision and mission of my current company but I’m afraid to go all in because I don’t know how to simultaneously build a business model that includes 9 month-2year programs with travel and group coaching. I deeply respect who you are and how you got there, and thank you for the opportunity to share.
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for your trust, sister.
Your calling sounds beautiful and clear.
Have you done any mapping around this,
in terms of setting dates and whatnot?
Perhaps the first step.
Then, there are a few options that come to mind:
1. It might make sense to go all-in with the
work you do as a Marketing Mgr., save money,
then make the leap and go all-in with your
personal work.
2. You go all-in with your Marketing Mgr.
work and build your personal work on the
side, slowly, with a plan and over time.
What feels aligned?
You may also want to consider that your
business model will evolve over time. I
started with 1-on-1 coaching only, then added
groups, then retreats, then a longer-term
mastermind program. Scale up, steadily.
Much love,
Nisha
Nisha, I loved this interview. I am also a recovered emotional eater, and I am totally in the process of building my business and becoming a workaholic. Somewhere in my head I’ve known I need to start acting like I want my future self to be and hearing you say it really drew it out and made me realize how true it is. And to realize how lucky I am as an entrepreneur to be able to structure my offerings around what excites me and lights me up. There are so many good nuggets in here, I just really appreciate you sharing your story and what you’ve learned. Thank you!
Oh, Rachel, you’re a sister after my own heart. I so get it.
Thank you for reading, and for sharing your story, sister.
Cheering for you, and trusting that alignment now = alignment later.
Much love,
Nisha
Happy Birthday Nisha! Great interview & you looked gorgeous! 🙂 Here’s my question: how do you choose and create sustainability in the first three years of business? Those first few years require hustle to stay afloat but at the same time life needs to be lived now. How do you incorporate the two? & what are the greatest indicators of a lack of sustainability and sisterhood in life? How can you see it showing up? Is sustainability the same as self love? Thanks so much! Love to you! xo
Hi Awo,
Thank you for reading, sister 🙂
How do you choose and create sustainability in the
first three years of business? Those first few years
require hustle to stay afloat but at the same time life
needs to be lived now. How do you incorporate the two?
There are a lot of components here, but a few pieces:
– Prioritize play and rest at the same level as work.
– Have a solid plan and be devoted to seeing it through.
– Sharpen your message so it’s super clear.
What are the greatest indicators of a lack of
sustainability and sisterhood in life?
When we’re sustainable, the bases are covered
and there is satisfaction, both from our perspective
and from our clients’/customers’. Is that’s not the
case, the good news is that it can be built in any
moment.
In terms of sisterhood, it’s often not that sisterhood
is lacking, but that we’re not showing up in it. I think
of sisterhood as a ‘web’ – may we all feel that we have
a web of safe, loving and supportive sisterhood to lean on.
Is sustainability the same as self love?
I’ve never thought of it that way, but sure! I think that
the choice to nurture sustainability is an act of self-love.
Much love!
Nisha
Hi Nisha, I loved what you had to say about creating a supportive sisterhood. Right now, I am rebuilding my life. I am starting my Health Coach practice. But, as far as having girlfriends for support, I honestly don’t and I am not ashamed to admit this. I had to let go of a lot of “so-called friends”. I feel an emptiness, a sadness, I always wanted to have a circle of girlfriends. I do spend a lot of time alone, and I truly am quite outgoing. Yes, I am stuck.
Regina, sister, I so adore and appreciate you for sharing this.
Thank you.
Congrats on building your Health Coaching practice, and
I trust that sisterhood is something you can build, too.
You may want to reach out to the community of fellow
Health Coaches, take some classes in your community,
or reach out to old friends who you’d like to connect
with. Do any of these ideas spark interest to you?
Sending you love, sister. Don’t stop looking for sisterhood!
Much love,
Nisha
Hi Nisha!
Great interview! I wanted to ask what your best “advice” is (or really, perhaps your perspective/perception) on being paid for being you. What does that look like? All I’ve been rewarded for in life is for what I do, and I want to shift that to what I be (then hence perhaps what I do), but don’t know what that looks like! I know it takes knowing the whys and getting clear on that like you’ve said in your interviews, but what consciousness is it like, what perception of the world is it from? What reality do you embody?
Does that make sense?
Thank you and Happy Birthday!
-Catt xxx
Great question, Catt!
So, I think the primary way to think of this is…
We’re getting paid to help people create a result
AND
The way to create alignment within yourself, in your
work, and between you and your clients/customers, is
to fully and completely be yourself.
If we’re not fully self-expressed, then there’s an
inherent misalignment being baked into the business.
That’s how I look at it. Does that answer your question?
Much love,
Nisha
Thanks so much for responding Nisha!
It makes sense in terms of what it looks like, but my question was getting to more of what it feels like in the sense of if there were a description for what business and flow of money looks like coming from that space.
I feel like in these topics I often see a lot of this is what to do but not this is what it be.
Thank you Nisha!
xx
Catt
Nisha! I sooooo loved interviewing you for Business Heroine Magazine. So glad you decided you were going to “be the change.” Just by being you and living into your greatness, you awaken & activate what’s possible for so many women. xoxoxoxo!
Thank you, Anne! You’re amazing, sister. I love you!
Hi Nisha!
I loved reading your interview. I am not sure if I am a member of your precise target audience, although I do consider myself an entrepreneur, since my blog is a (very small) business. I’m also writing a cookbook and going to graduate school full time. The tips you gave Rachel above really resonated with me, and I have a related, but more specific question. Do you have some tips for making days working from home spacious and sustainable? The myriad of distractions and possible to-dos in my home make it hard for me to focus on my main goals each day, and make both my work time and my rest time less effective. I can get out of the apartment to do my schoolwork and some writing for my book, but all of the recipe development & photography has to happen here…
Thank you so much in advance, and happy birthday~