Your biggest strength is also your biggest weakness. And that’s not only true of people, but also of things created by people.
Like the traditional business model, which is very masculine. And while that’s most definitely a strength — it’s also a weakness. (Especially for women living too much in their masculine energy, but even for men who may run the risk of losing touch altogether with their feminine side.) With more women joining the ranks of entrepreneurship than ever before in the history of humankind, we now have an opportunity to infuse traditional business models with feminine energy.
Now while that may sound good in theory, in practice this becomes “How the heck do you do that?” So if you’d like a few tips on how to get started infusing your biz with some feminine energy so you can more effortlessly build your biz, then read on.
1. STOP and breathe. Masculine energy is about moving forward toward a goal, preferably as quickly as possible. While there’s no question that’s what you want to be doing when you’re growing a business, if you spend all your time in that energy, you’ll burn out. (Hence the biggest strength/biggest weakness.) This is where the feminine energy of stopping, breathing and taking time for YOU comes in.
Not only will you give yourself a much-needed break, but you’ll also allow yourself some time to catch your breath to see if the direction you’re going in is really the direction you WANT to be going in. Which leads me to the next tip.
2. Listen to your intuition. Many successful entrepreneurs, men and women both, know that trusting their gut is one of their most important strengths. And you can thank your feminine side for your intuition!
The problem is most of the time, we either don’t hear it or don’t trust it. Taking time to stop, breathe and listen allows our intuition to talk to us. And over time, as we listen and follow (or not follow) what our intuition tells us (and see how right it was) we can learn to trust it.
3. Learn to receive. Feminine energy is about receiving. And for many of us, receiving is not at all comfortable. (We’re much more comfortable in the giving energy.) But if we can’t receive, how can we receive money into our business, or clients or sales or opportunities?
That’s why we need to learn how to receive.
For me, this was also a struggle, and how I started the process of learning to receive was by accepting compliments. I was someone who would always brush a compliment aside — oh it wasn’t a big deal, oh anyone could have done that. (Part of my Midwestern Wisconsin roots as well, I suspect.) But instead I started saying simply “Thank you,” really meaning it, and just staying quiet. I stopped turning it around and/or brushing it aside, and allowed myself to just receive the compliment, instead.
It wasn’t easy — in fact, to this day it’s still not easy, but it’s easier. And it’s made a huge difference in my biz and my life.
In fact, all these tips have helped me slow down and welcome the feminine into my biz, which has in turn helped make me feel less stress and less overwhelm. My hope is they will do the same for you.