Let it go: When everything you know about your business is changing

“Let it go, let it go…” My son is continually running around the house singing that song at the top of his lungs. It’s so annoying.

Not just because everyone has been running around singing it… but because it’s really striking a chord. My business is changing at a rapid pace right now, and something in me is screaming to make decisions the way I used to make them. I’m so tempted to:

• Take a client that’s no longer really a fit.
• Spend hours on something I know I’ll need to revise.
• Bend over backwards to get a client by giving discounts.
• Reduce the cost of my services.

I’ve managed to resist by continuing to refer people out who are not a fit. And you know what? It is totally bittersweet. And it feels downright lousy sometimes. So, I’m forced to let it go.

And there are other pieces to that, of course:

1. By letting go of the way you used to do
business – you are free to unleash powers you didn’t even realize you had.

The powers I speak of?

• Running your business the way you want, instead of having it dictated to you by your clients or gurus.
• Taking risks. They may pay off or they may not. I guarantee you’ll learn something either way.
• Being in full control of your schedule.
• Choosing who you work with.
• Freedom to do exactly what you want in your business.

2. By letting go of all the mistakes you’ve made – you’re free to grow from them.

There is a point in your business when you’ll realize you’ve made a ton of mistakes. Mistakes have this funny way of latching on and sucking the life out of you. Big mistakes can make you feel like you can’t breathe – for days, weeks, even months at a time. But, once you get past the shame, they are a gold mine of valuable information to start basing some major changes on.

3. By letting go of being perfect – you allow yourself to be real.

There is another point in your business when you’ll realize that you will make a ton more mistakes. Some of us (ahem, like me) want to do everything right the first time. If it’s not right the first time, failure seems like the only logical conclusion.

It took me years to realize how debilitating my perfectionism had been on my life. Once I loosened the reins, all the parts of me I had been holding back were free to be expressed and mistakes (which still stung) were accepted faster and used positively.

Relaxing and being less charged around “getting it right the first time” makes business easier, faster and WAY more effective and pleasurable for yourself and all your clients – trust me on this one.

4. By letting go of your assumptions and pride – you clear a path for really learning what people need from you.

When people start businesses, they assume people need this or that. And worse, they may think they always know what’s best for a client.

When you stop assuming and projecting, you can start listening. It is by listening and asking that you can truly assess what people need and then apply your experience to help them figure out what’s best for them.

5. By letting go of feeling comfortable – you start to feel truly remarkable.

There is something that happens after you’ve been your own boss for a while that’s difficult to explain. It’s like you begin to take solace in being uncomfortable. It becomes the norm.

I think it’s something about knowing that everything in our lives is extremely fragile. At any moment, everything in our lives could change. When you work for yourself, you have to grapple with that fact regularly – because the business is always changing.

That space, when you’ve acknowledged that everything could change in the blink of an eye, but you still choose to do it, love it, and fully live it – that is a remarkable space.

How about you? Anything you’ve been struggling to let go of?