Has building your business turned into a healing process you never planned?
Many women start a coaching or healing business to help other people, and then find that the business keeps pointing at their own unfinished places. You sit down to write a price and feel a wave of doubt that has nothing to do with the number. You prepare to be visible and remember every time you were told to be smaller. You hear a no from a prospect and feel it for days. If this sounds familiar, you are meeting something your business was always going to show you, and you can learn to work with it.
The accidental healing journey of business is personal growth that arrives through the work
The accidental healing journey of running a business is the personal growth that happens when the work of building a business brings your old fears, beliefs and patterns to the surface. It is accidental because you did not set out to heal when you opened your business. You set out to serve clients and earn a living. The healing shows up because a business asks you to do things that your old patterns have opinions about: to be seen, to ask for money, to hear no, to set limits and to keep promises to yourself on days when no one is watching.
Why a business brings old patterns to the surface
A business places you in the same situations again and again. Each one tests a belief.
- Setting a price tests what you believe you are worth.
- Being visible tests what you believe about safety, attention and being too much.
- Hearing no tests what you believe about rejection and belonging.
- Setting boundaries with clients tests what you believe about other people's needs and your own.
- Following through on your own plans tests what you believe about whether you can trust yourself.
Because these situations repeat, the patterns that respond to them repeat too, and that gives you a steady supply of material to see clearly. Seeing a pattern fifty times is very different from reading about it once.
What the research says about entrepreneurs and well-being
Researcher Ute Stephan's 2018 review, Entrepreneurs' mental health and well-being: A review and research agenda, examined 144 empirical studies. In the abstract, Stephan argues that entrepreneurs' work is central to their identity, and that the field needs a dedicated theory of entrepreneurs' well-being. I have read the abstract and I am describing only what it says. It does not claim that building a business heals anyone, and I am not claiming that either. I include it because it supports a point that matches what many of us feel: when your work is bound up with who you are, the work and your inner life affect each other.
What to do with the patterns you see
A business can bring your patterns into view, and your own practices, your mentors and the people who support you help you work with what you see. The business shows you the pattern, and you choose what to do with it.
Some women use their business as the place to prove they are worthy, and each launch becomes a verdict on their value. When revenue becomes a measure of your worth, every slow month hurts more than it should. A useful question is whether your business is helping you see a pattern or helping you avoid one.
When revenue becomes a measure of your worth, every slow month hurts more than it should. The business shows you the pattern, and you choose what to do with it.
A simple way to work with what surfaces
When a pattern appears, you can use these four steps:
- Name the moment. Write down what happened in plain terms. For example, "I lowered my price in the middle of a sales call."
- Name the belief underneath it. Ask what you were telling yourself in that moment. It might be "If I charge this, she will leave."
- Ask where the belief came from. You may recognize a voice, a family message or an old experience. Naming the source takes some of the charge out of it.
- Choose one small action that tests a new belief. If you want to trust that your work has value, you might state your full price on the next call and notice what happens.
Each small action gives you evidence. Over time that evidence changes what feels true, and your business benefits from the same change.
Let the business show you the next layer
Growth does not move in a straight line. A pattern you worked through at one income level can return when you raise your prices, launch a bigger program or become more visible. The business has brought you to a new layer of the same belief, and you now have more tools than you had the first time. Many women find this encouraging once they see it as a sign of progress.
A two week experiment
For the next two weeks, keep a short note each time your business triggers a strong feeling. Write the moment, the belief and the action you chose. At the end of two weeks, read your notes and look for repeats. The repeats show you the pattern that is most ready for your attention, and you can choose one small, concrete step to test a new belief.
I take this up live on Friday, November 13 at 2:00 PM PT, and you can watch the live or replay here. An earlier live you may find useful is called Authentic Marketing for Coaches: Why Polished Content Fails to Get Clients. You can find more about my work at Badass Butterfly Alchemy.
Which part of your business keeps showing you an old pattern?
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References
- Stephan, U. (2018). Entrepreneurs' mental health and well-being: A review and research agenda. Academy of Management Perspectives, 32(3), 290 to 322. https://publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/31987
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Crystal Lynn Bell
Founder of Badass Butterfly Alchemy
Visit www.badassbutterflyalchemy.com →Crystal Lynn Bell is a Spiritual Business Mentor, visibility coach, and founder of Badass Butterfly Alchemy Coaching. Her work sits at the intersection of deep inner transformation and serious business architecture. Since 2011, she has guided more than 800 women through the process of building coaching businesses grounded in their genuine experience and designed to produce real, sustainable income.