Here are some reminders of how to find you voice again and ways to use it to spread the magic of your business:
Write your story down (again if you have to) to reconnect with the heart of your business. It may have been some time since you did this or perhaps it's changed a lot in the last year or so. Perhaps there's a new chapter to add? This doesn't need to be an essay (although sometime writing is cathartic) but even if you just remind yourself of the key chapters. Where did you start out, what have been your life learnings, what was the burning in your belly that made you start your business and where are you headed?
Don't forget it's the big little things. This is something Kajal talked about last week. It's ok to have a voice about your little corner of the world, because it's really big to some. Too often (me included!) we can assume that our story can't be significant enough or powerful enough to be told or that why we're running out small enterprise can't possibly be significant to anyone else. This is not true. Your story and voice resonates for people out there. It is important that you share.
Micro business gives back. There's not a lot of formal research out there, but we know that small business is often the very best at weaving community and giving back into their businesses. We need to share that voice more. I work with FareShare UK to donate from Simply GB because I am passionate about reducing food waste but also about the injustice of food poverty in the UK. If you are committed to supporting or lending your voice to a cause, then don't mute that chapter in your story.
The world needs you! Oooh this isn't an easy one is it? How can the world possibly need your cakes, your makes or your magic? But actually your micro business is part of a collective that makes up 96% of all private business in Britain. You are a key piece of the jigsaw in moulding a world and a Britain you want to live in. Imagine a world without millions of you! All too often the narrative of British business is one about growth or striving to be bigger which might make us feel that our 'small' voice is therefore less important. It isn't.
Relationship and experience matters. In the world of business there are two separate things - the 'stuff' (what you sell) and the 'experience' (how it feels to buy from you). I would ague that in micro business this is also relationship (how you connect with your people). Big business struggles with this daily. Micro business doesn't. Your customers come to you because they want to hear your voice, be in relationship with your business and feel the experiences your business creates. Use your voice to share how you deliver experiences and what kind of relationships you love in your business.
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