e174 The Energy Audit, What Stays, What Goes
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to Rewild Your Business. I'm your host, Gill Moakes, and this is episode 1 74. Can you believe as we move into September with the beautiful light shifting here in the uk? I bloody love autumn. There are so many things I love about Autumn. I love the air getting cooler. I love the colors in the trees, and I love the whole ethos of autumn.
There's so much that we, I think as entrepreneurs could learn about running our businesses from nature, you know that, you know that I think that, you know, what I think about working seasonally and Autumn, I think probably has within it the biggest lesson for us as.
And that is the lesson that you can't carry everything forward all the time. There are times [00:01:00] when it is right to put things down, to release things just like the trees release their leaves every year. They make room for new growth and we need to get better at doing that. As entrepreneurs, sometimes we clinging to things for far too long.
Things that are no longer working for us, things that we don't enjoy anymore. So today I wanna talk to you about doing an energy audit on your business. That's where we really look at various categories and we decide on what is gonna stay and what's gonna go, what's feeding you, what's bleeding you dry, right?
Because honestly, I think a lot of us hold on to things in our businesses out of habit. Lots of it is about habit. We've just got so used to doing things a certain way. We've got so used to certain offers that we just [00:02:00] sell that we don't question anymore whether they are right or whether we've outgrown them or whether they actually really work for us anymore.
And honestly, I think if you don't get ruthless about releasing things. When time is right, then you end up with a business that just feels like it's draining you all the time, and it's insidious. It's not like a sudden realization, it's just something that creeps up on you and suddenly it's like, where's the joy gone from this?
Where's the excitement gone from building this business that was there at the beginning, but now everything's feeling heavy and a little bit misaligned, and you've evolved, but your business hasn't. Right, and it's unnecessary. It doesn't have to be like that. So let's dive [00:03:00] into today's episode and talk about energy audits.
Let's go. Welcome to rewild Your Business, the podcast for women doing the work, their soul intended. I'm Gill Moakes. I'm an international business coach, and I'm a guide for women doing the work that matters. Rewilding your business means cutting away what doesn't belong. To allow what does to thrive, finding simplicity in your work, and it's about bringing the whole of who you are to the table.
Whether you are building something new or finding your way back to what really matters to you. I'm so glad you're here. So, you know, I think that the energy inside of our, our business, and when I talk about energy, I don't mean how much energy you've got. I mean, the kind of energy you have for what you're doing.
The most underrated business strategy because you could have a perfect [00:04:00] funnel, right? You know, you may have put all of that work in, in creating this really well thought out funnel that converts. You can have an absolutely gorgeous website. Maybe you've got copy that is just so clever. Bounces off the page, right?
But if your energy is leaking, if you are secretly resenting half the things you are doing, then people are gonna feel that people will pick up on that. And I guarantee you are feeling it. You will be feeling it every single bloody day when you sit down at your desk in the morning. And that is a just awful feeling to have this on the face of it.
A business that looks okay, but under the surface is simply bringing you no joy and is feeling heavy. It's one of the worst [00:05:00] feelings so when I see clients who are just wading through treacle, trying to keep a business going, that no longer really aligns with what they wanna do, it just breaks my heart because it isn't necessary.
Yes, it takes courage. Yes, it takes some confidence to make big changes, to release things, but releasing things is what it's gonna take to get your business feeling good again. So if you haven't already, hit pause, grab a piece of paper and do a line down the middle. Split the paper in half. Do a line right down the middle on one side, write at the top.
Life giving and on the other side, write Life draining. So we are just literally gonna split some of the things in your business. Between those two things, I want you to be able to see really clearly where your energy wants to be. So the first category I want us to look at is your [00:06:00] offers. So thinking about the offers that you have in your business, so this is any revenue stream that you have that makes you money.
Maybe you do a one-on-one service, maybe you have a group program, maybe you do retreats, maybe you do workshops, maybe you do events, maybe you sell products. Maybe you, you know, whatever your offers are, think about them and think which ones make you feel. Lit up, which ones are like, oh my goodness, I cannot even believe I get paid to do this.
So for me, one-on-one coaching, when I'm coaching one-on-one in depth with a client and I'm feeling super immersed in their business and we're talking through their business like we're partners in it, that for me just makes me feel so lit up. And then on the other side, under life draining, which of the offers that you have, if any, [00:07:00] make your stomach sink When you think about them, what is it?
When you see something on your calendar, your heart kind of drops a little bit. Right. And be really honest here. Don't get stuck in the, but I can't let that go because I need that revenue or I, um, if I do that, it'll be letting down X person, you know, try not to self-edit here. As you go through, I want you to really listen to your I this, so any offers that are just.
Make your heart or your stomach sink a little bit and you'll know where you feel this in your body. 'cause you will feel it in your body. I can guarantee it. Then put it in the draining column. Don't get stuck on what you're gonna do with this. Don't get stuck on the releasing at this point, but just get very clear what lights you up and what doesn't.
And then the next category we're gonna think [00:08:00] about is clients. Yes. Clients, because not every client is a perfect client. And if you have ever suffered from a scarcity mindset, you'll know the pain of saying yes to a client that isn't a good fit for you. Some clients massively expand you. I am now in a place in my business where I'll only work one-on-one with clients who expand me.
I can't do it anymore. I cannot say yes to a client if my gut tells me it's gonna be draining on my energy. I know that hasn't always been true for me. There have been times in the past when I have through feelings of scarcity said yes to absolutely everyone who was willing to take a chance on me and work [00:09:00] with me.
That's how I saw it. I would never have turned down a client in the beginning and. Thinking about energy and the way some clients do massively expand you and you leave the session with them feeling on top of the world, you're excited for them. You feel really fulfilled by the work you've just done in working with them.
And then you've got the other clients. It's a long time since I work with someone like this, but honestly, I have worked with clients before where I'm secretly hoping they're gonna cancel their session because they just exhaust me. If you have felt that. Me saying that out loud is gonna really resonate with you.
I know it is. If you have clients where you look on your calendar and it's like, oh gosh, no, I can't do another hour with that person. Right? Stop pretending that's not true. Write their name down in the life draining [00:10:00] column. Again, don't future cast. Don't worry about what you're gonna do with this information.
Get really honest with yourself. This is an energy audit. No one else needs to ever see this. This is for you. The third category is marketing. Which platforms or strategies or formats feel really alive to you? Feel like they really deserve a place in your marketing ecosystem, right? What is it? What do you actually enjoy doing?
Where do you enjoy showing up? And then conversely, what's the dead zone? What is that place that you only post in because you think you should, because someone else has told you it would be smart to use that platform or whatever. That goes in the draining column, and you're gonna get really honest here.
I don't necessarily want you to even think about what [00:11:00] works and what doesn't work. I want you to think really long and hard about your energy and how different strategies and platforms make you feel. Because remember, we are here to build sustainable businesses and any strategy in your business that is draining.
That is costing you from an energetic perspective more than you are getting from it. That is not a fit for your marketing ecosystem. The fourth category is processes, admin, right? What are the systems that you use in your business that make your life easier? What are those tools that you love? Like, so for me it might be Asana.
Anyone who's been in my world for more than a minute knows I'm obsessed with Asana. I bloody love Asana. I can't imagine not working. It's like my office first thing in the morning when I come into my office and turn on my [00:12:00] computer, the first thing I do is click on Asana and it tells me everything that is due for me to do today.
It's telling me what I've planned to focus on for that day. I just love Asana in it and, and I love the way I work with it. And then conversely, what. Is the repetitive like nonsense that is stealing your time and zapping your energy because that's going in your draining column. So if there is a tool, say for example someone said to you, oh, notion, notion is amazing.
And I have some clients who just rave about notion and every now and then I do get a little bit like tech envy. So I do sort of. Go into my, I have a notion account and I go in there and I'll be like, I wonder if, I wonder if I should move from Asana to Notion. And then I look at the [00:13:00] steep learning curve on it.
I look at all of the functionality of it that I will never use or need, and I realize that it's just one of those shiny objects that is actually gonna drain my energy. It's not gonna add anything to my life. So. Again, honesty, transparency. Get very clear about the processes and the admin tasks in your business that you're doing that either make your life feel easier and that you enjoy doing, or that feel unnecessary, or that you absolutely hate.
And that is just literally a time suck for you. Get that in the drain column. So have a look. What you've captured on that page, the things that are feeding you, the things that light you up, the life feeding column, that's your harvest for this autumn. That is the stuff that you are gonna double down on.
That is where the [00:14:00] power sits inside your business for growth. And then the stuff that's in the draining column, the suck the life outta your column. That is where you need to find ways to release and releasing things. Doesn't always mean burning it all down tomorrow, right? Sometimes it means phasing something out by year end.
Or sometimes it means raising your prices so that the draining clients opt themselves out from working with you. Maybe it's hiring that VA at last so you can double down on the stuff in your business that actually is gonna lead to your growth. Autumn is the time to make decisions around what is not gonna be carried forward with you into the next season.
And does that mean that you're gonna have to make some difficult decisions? Maybe, [00:15:00] yeah. Maybe that's the invitation of this season release. What's no longer true for you? If it's not giving you life? If it's costing you much more energy, then you are willing to pay. It's costing you all of the joy you once had in your business.
That is too expensive. So this week. I wanna set your challenge. I want you to choose one thing from that draining column and either drop it. It could be something that you are literally gonna say, you know what? Yeah, the time is right Gill and I am gonna drop it and I'm gonna drop it straight away. But maybe not.
Maybe it's about what's the first step I could take towards phasing this out? What's one step I could take? Because I will guarantee you something if you can do that, if you can take that one step towards dropping something that is weighing you [00:16:00] down, you are gonna feel the energy shift immediately. This is really the whole concept of rewilding your business.
It's about cutting away what no longer belongs and leaving. Space for what does truly belong to really thrive. This is why I'm so passionate about this. Your business doesn't need to look fuller doesn't need more in it. It needs to feel lighter. That's how you create space for what's gonna come next for you if you are constantly operating your business from a place of fullness, from a place of complete capacity.
You are never gonna make space to introduce an evolving part of your business. You're never gonna have enough energy and space to allow [00:17:00] what needs to naturally evolve to evolve, right? So here are your three journaling prompts for this week. The first one is what in my business genuinely lights me up and gives me life?
So that's everything in that left hand side of the column of the piece of paper. So have a look what's in there and really journal around that. Until you can't write anymore. Keep journaling all of the things about your business that you love to do, the clients you love to serve, the strategies that feel right, the offers that are so good and they're good for the clients, but they're also good for you energetically.
Keep journaling around all of those things and do that one first. And then the second one is what's draining me. And why have I been holding onto it? This is really important. So [00:18:00] looking at the right hand piece of your paper, what is draining you and why have you, have you been holding onto it? See where that journaling prompt goes.
And the third one is, what is the one thing that I'm ready to release this autumn to create more space and energy? What's the one thing I'm ready to release? As always, if you feel called to do so, I would love, love, love for you to drop me an email. at [email protected]
That is it for today's episode. I hope this exercise has come a really good time for you. Like I say, I think Autumn is the perfect time for this. It's the perfect time for looking at what's working and what's gonna be carrying through with you into the next season, and what really needs to be let go.[00:19:00]
Something I before.
Workshop for September. I'm hosting a workshop at the end of the month. It's called All of You. It's about being unfiltered in your business and bringing all of who you are to the table. It's about showing up with radical authenticity and what doing that can do for your business. It's for me, one of the complete secrets to success is learning to be unapologetically and wholly yourself in business.
And it's gonna be a 90 minute workshop at the end of the month. And we'll also have a week long WhatsApp community group that will go with the workshop. So take a look at that. I'm gonna pop the link into the show notes. I would love you to take a look and have a think about signing up for that one.
It'll be a really special workshop [00:20:00] because it's gonna be quite a powerful mindset. Shift that you'll have throughout the workshop, and that's the reason I wanted to tack on this WhatsApp support because I wanted you to be able to have this seven days after the workshop to be able to keep asking questions and keep kind of bouncing ideas off of me.
I'm gonna be in that WhatsApp group group. It's gonna be an intimate container for a week after the workshop, because I really want this to be a bit of a game changing workshop for you. So. Have a look at that. I'll pop the link to it in the show notes, and if you would like to join me, do think about signing up for that one.
In the meantime, have a fabulous week. I'll see you back here, same time, same place next week. Enjoy all the autumn colors outside and yeah, have a good one. Bye.
