Redesigning your business for financial freedom and fulfilment

This talk by Isabella Venour falls somewhere between strategy, marketing and mindset.

She discusses ways to earn more without giving up more time, how to grow your business for more impact without losing yourself, and how to seek personal fulfilment without a mindset that holds yourself back.

This session is for established micro and small business owners who are ready to let go of the start-up hustle and step into the business they always hoped was possible. More revenue, more meaning, more freedom.

Topics covered in this session

• The importance of aligning your business with your personal goals and values, rather than just chasing generic "success"

• The two things standing in your way to achieving greater growth for your business: the knowledge gap and the belief gap

• Examples of clients who've moved from generic ambition-led growth to aligned growth

About the speaker

Isabella is a business growth adviser who works with established founder-led, values driven, small business owners.

Through her trademarked The Business Alignment Method®, her consulting firm unlocks growth for the business and founder by drawing on a unique blend of commercial strategy, brand communications and mindset coaching, helping organisations scale without compromising wellbeing, performance or creativity.

Whether that's increasing revenue, attracting ideal customers, simplifying your to-do list or becoming more fulfilled, together they make business success personal.

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Transcript

Lightly edited for clarity.

Ryan: Hello, everyone and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Ryan and I'll be your host today.

For those of you attending a Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses. I'm pleased to introduce Isabella Venour, who is a business growth adviser.

In this session, Isabella will discuss the importance of aligning your business with your personal goals and values rather than just chasing generic success.

As always, if you have questions, please post them in the chat and we'll do our best to answer them at the end. The webinar is recorded, so a follow-up email will go out today with the recording and any further resources.

So I'll hand over to you, Isabella.

Isabella: Good afternoon, everyone. Please do interact. It's always a bit strange doing this online rather than in person because I can't gauge the room, so I want to make it as relevant and tailored to you as possible.

Let's get started. I'm not going to introduce myself again until a bit later because you don't know yet whether you want to know me.

I want to start with something positive. You are all here because you already have some level of success in your business. We may all have more to learn and more to grow, but there is already success here.

Maybe you've left your nine-to-five. Maybe you've made the most money you've ever made this month or this year. Maybe you've had another happy client review. Maybe your dad finally understands what you do.

So let's start there. What are the successes you already have in your business, big or small? One useful question is: what's something you really wanted in your business that you already have?

I can see people sharing things like happy client reviews, more confidence, improving mental wellbeing, a first big grant, getting into a local school and needing more staff. Brilliant. Keep celebrating those.

Now here's where the truth sometimes hits. Success doesn't always feel successful.

You might not yet have the team, support, income or impact you want. Maybe it's more of a mindset issue. Perhaps every time you go online or try to talk about your business, impostor syndrome, perfectionism or self-consciousness kick in. Maybe you replay conversations in your head or hold back from saying what you really mean.

In other cases, it might be about creating more impact. You feel like you're moving through quicksand, doing the work but not getting the reach or results you hoped for. Or maybe you're trying to juggle work-life balance.

That is why this matters. A lot of small business owners are growing their business through ambition-led growth rather than aligned growth.

Ambition-led growth is not sustainable long term. It is pushy. It's saying yes to everything because you're scared of where the next sale will come from. It's being distracted by shiny objects, chasing profit or likes and compromising your sleep, wellbeing and health while pushing the business forward.

Aligned growth is different. It works with who you are, how you like to operate, your values, the season of life you are in and what kind of business you actually want to build. It brings more joy into the way you work and the happier and more grounded you are, the more people will want to engage with you and your business.

It also means looking after your body and energy. If you get the extra hour of sleep instead of burning the candle at both ends, you'll probably do better work the next day.

Aligned growth is not a destination. It's constant course correction. It's listening to what you and your business need and bringing those things together in a way that is sustainable.

So ask yourself: have you been operating more from ambition-led growth or aligned growth?

Another way to look at it is this. Are you trying not to fail or are you working to succeed? There is a difference in energy there.

I can see some of you saying you feel more aligned, some saying more ambition-led and some saying a bit of both. That's normal. As we grow, it is not about doing everything perfectly. It is about adjusting as you go.

Now let's talk about what happens when we don't do that. I call it the passion plummet spiral.

We start with excited optimism. We get the first client, the first sales, the first momentum. We say yes to lots of opportunities. We take on more and more. We juggle. We burn the candle at both ends.

Then, after a while, doubts creep in. How long can this go on? I thought I'd be further along. I thought I'd be earning more. I wanted to create more impact. This is affecting my home life.

If that isn't checked, it can lead to burnout and disconnection from the business altogether.

I see that with clients sometimes. One client I'm working with has been operating for 10 years. In the past, they made over a million, but this year they've only turned over a few thousand. Their business has plateaued. They feel burnt out and unsure what to focus on.

So who am I? My background is in marketing agencies in London, working with big teams, big budgets and everyone from start-ups to global businesses. I loved that world, but I'm a big believer that any good idea should be able to start from its simplest form.

I also believe success should not be reserved for the businesses with the biggest budgets or the loudest voices. The businesses that really succeed and make an impact are the ones that know who they are, understand the market they are in and know who their customers are.

That is what I help my clients do, because so often the gems are already there in the business. It's about bringing them all together so the business becomes more visible, more sustainable and more aligned.

Clients usually come to me because they want to propel the business forward, scale it, create more impact, pivot to do more of what they love or pause and ask how they can build a business they can eventually sell or step away from without risking the revenue.

That led me to develop the business alignment method, which combines strategy, marketing and mindset. We always start with who you are, because although you are not your business, as a founder-led business you are one of its greatest assets.

So we begin with who you are, what resources you have, what kind of business you want to build and what you need next. Then we build strategy and marketing around that.

Now I want to ask you something practical. If you could change one thing in your business, what would that be?

I can see answers like more clarity, a bigger team, better work-life balance, stepping away from day-to-day client work, improving focus, needing to speak to more people, changing client strategy and creating a new product offer. These are all great examples.

So the next question is: what is stopping you? Usually, it comes down to one of two things or both. A knowledge gap or a belief gap.

A knowledge gap means you don't yet know something. A belief gap means there is an inner voice holding you back.

Let's look at the knowledge gap first. If you have a knowledge gap, what question do you need the answer to? It might not solve everything, but what is the next question that would move you one step forward?

Sometimes, just asking the right question creates momentum. It might lead to the right conversation, the right connection or the right piece of information.

Now let's look at the belief gap.

When we step outside our comfort zone, our unconscious mind kicks in to protect us. It wants to keep us safe, which often means keeping us the same. So when you face a challenge in your business, what belief is holding you back?

It could be "I'm an impostor." "I don't have enough confidence." "What if it doesn't work?" "What if I fail?" "I'm not enough."

I can see these things coming through in the chat and I promise you, you are not the only one who thinks them.

Now here's the next question. If your friend or someone you loved came to you with those thoughts, what advice would you give them?

You'd probably say: just give it a go. Of course you can do this. Look at what you've already done. At least you've tried. Focus on why you started.

You already know the advice. So the next question is, what is stopping you from taking your own advice?

That can be a personal question and it often lands deeply. Because we can know exactly what we need to hear and still not let it in.

So let's go one step further. Take the belief that is holding you back and ask yourself: what is the opposite, more useful, more powerful belief that I could choose instead?

It doesn't matter if you fully believe it yet. What would the stronger belief be?

Some of you have already said things like: I can do it. I am the solution to someone's problem. I am the expert in my field. I am worth the big bucks.

These are powerful. And although your unconscious mind may not fully believe them yet, it doesn't know what is fact and what is fiction. So we need to start thinking better thoughts and then act in ways that support them.

So the next question is: if that new belief were completely true right now, what would you do?

How would you behave differently? What decisions would you make? What would feel like the next logical action? This is where abstract beliefs turn into tangible actions.

One of you said, invest in quality service providers. Another said organise my calendar better and work on my follow-up techniques. Another said, make that phone call to someone who can help. Those are great examples.

When you act as if the stronger belief is true, bit by bit, your unconscious mind starts to accept that it is safe to believe it.

Now I want to share a few client examples.

One client had just had her first baby. She wanted to leave her nine-to-five and start a new career. She wanted to create a café, but not quite a café. More of a community space.

She had been stuck in loops of overthinking for months. She was worried about starting a business while managing motherhood. She had lots of passion, but not much business experience, so there was both a knowledge gap and a belief gap.

We worked together for six months. She opened her first bricks-and-mortar store. Because she got clear on what she wanted to create from the beginning, we were able to make sure it wasn't just a café. She built multiple income streams through collaborations and partnerships.

She once said to me, "I feel really safe throwing all of my crazy ideas at you because I know you'll protect what's really important." That was about the business, but also about protecting her energy, her family life and her vision.

The lessons there are these. What is your north star mission statement? What is the impact you want to create? Keep coming back to that.

Also, move away from saying "I don't have time" and start asking "What's important? What's next? How do I move this forward?" That mindset shift matters.

Another client had what felt like five businesses. She sold candles, essential oils, did womb healing, Reiki and was also a clinical psychologist. She was capping her income because every offer was a direct exchange of time for money.

We brought the whole business under one roof, both psychologically and in terms of messaging. We came up with the phrase "the science of kindness" to bring together the clinical side and the more spiritual side of what she did.

We focused on the transformation her services created, not just the transactions. Within days, she got her highest-paying package client and could finally see how the business could scale.

So what can we learn from that? What is your unique positioning? It's not just what you do. It's who you are, what market you serve, who your customers are and your method.

It is also about bridging the gap between your world and your customer's world. Many businesses focus too much on the product or service itself. But your customer is first thinking about their problem, their frustrations, their daily life.

You need to talk to that first, then create the bridge to your offer.

For example, a KitKat and a box of chocolates are both chocolate, but they are not really selling the same thing. One is selling a quick break. The other is selling care, appreciation and thoughtfulness. The product is not the point. The meaning is.

A third client had been in business for 10 years. It was a luxury product business, beautiful on the outside, sustainable, B Corp and at one point had turned over more than a million. But clients had plateaued and started dropping off.

It was a tiny, family-run business and they were struggling to stand out. They had too much on the to-do list and no clarity on what to focus on.

We looked at the business and realised they had focused so much on looking polished and professional that they had lost the human voice behind the brand. They had forgotten to say: we are a small business, we care and we value you.

We wove that human voice back into their marketing. They had a sale running that was getting almost no traction. From one emotion-led email, they made £15,000 in sales and got seven personal replies saying how much people valued the brand.

We then built a 12-month campaign plan that all tied back to one clear message.

The lessons here are about storytelling. Tell the story behind your decisions. If you have a sale, why are you doing it? If your business is built on sustainability or craft or local manufacturing, say so.

You can also create what I call sticky statements, short memorable phrases that help people remember your message.

And keep coming back to the question: if your business was working at its best, biggest, most aligned level, how would the world be different because of it?

That gives your business a sense of mission that helps you stand out and stay focused.

If you want to understand how aligned your business is, I have a self-assessment tool linked to my business alignment method. It helps you look at the areas that might need more support.

And finally, I want to ask you one more question. What one thing are you taking away from today? What one thing are you going to do, think or change as a result of this session?

Ryan: That was brilliant, Isabella. Thank you so much.

The chat has been so lively all the way through and there has been some great feedback. I think people really resonated with what you were saying.

I've got one question to finish on. When business owners feel stuck, how do they typically identify whether it's more of a strategy issue or more of a mindset issue?

Isabella: Such a good question. I think marketing often becomes the doorway problem. People say, "I don't have time for marketing," or "I don't like marketing," or "I need more clients," or "I want more revenue."

But I don't actually believe most people have a marketing problem. I think what they often lack is clarity in who they are, what they're doing and how they're communicating it.

Once you get clear on that, the marketing becomes a support system. It becomes much easier to know what to say, who to say it to and how to show up.

So yes, strategy matters and yes, mindset matters. But often the root is clarity. Once you have that, you can build the strategy and the marketing around it. And then, even if you still feel nervous or awkward, that becomes a side issue rather than the main thing blocking you.

We don't need to build a business and wait until the end to enjoy it. We want to enjoy it while we're building it too.

Ryan: That's so helpful. Thank you. And thank you to everyone who joined and took part today. We'll be sharing the recording and any further resources in a follow-up email this afternoon.

Please do connect with Isabella. I've popped her LinkedIn and Enterprise Nation profile in the chat. Thanks again, Isabella, for such a brilliant session.

Isabella: Thank you very much. And thank you, Ryan, for your help. Bye, everyone.

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