Are You Playing The Game Of Business To Survive Or Thrive
A few weeks ago I found myself at a point where (at the time) I felt like I was in the middle of some kind of existential crisis. OK, so I was probably being a little dramatic but at the time I truly felt so confused by everything.
I asked myself;
Where am I going?
What do I want to achieve?
What does my life look like in the future?
Who am I?
And the answer was, I didn’t really know the answers and that absolutely scared the S**T out of me.
So How Did I End Up At This Point And What Caused It?
The answer to all the above really was...
SUCCESS
I had reached my long term goal, good things were happening and it was time to set new goals….simple right?
3 years ago when I first started working with Nicky I set the goal to be able to remove myself from the business. For it to continue to run but also to grow in my absence.
I am so fortunate to have (in my opinion) the best head coach in the universe working for my fitness business. Connor has huge amounts of motivation and endless energy; he wants to take my business to the next level and he cares about my business like it’s his own baby. Therefore, he is undoubtedly the best person to hand over the role of CEO to.
So, The Goals Were Set,
Increase revenue to £30k per month,
Give me and all my team a pay rise and then remove myself from the business to whatever degree I wanted to be removed.
It’s probably worth mentioning (if you don’t already know my story) that at the time I started working with Nicky I couldn’t pay myself, the company was running at a loss, my staff were miserable and I was a high functioning alcoholic who was on a fast track path to losing everything I had worked so hard for.
Just over one year later in February 2020, we had hit our goal, in fact, we smashed our goal.
Things felt good and I was just starting to gear myself up for a nice rest…I think you know where this story goes.
March 2020. Enter COVID-19 and we went into Lockdown. Like most of you over the next 18 months, the gym was closed for more than it was open.
We Survived Lockdown!
Revenues had dropped down to around £25k per month, our lowest being £21k in the month before we reopened.
This meant I could cover all my costs, pay my staff and even have some money left over to put aside. I had a strong enough business to last the lockdowns but if I hadn’t been working with FBDA in the year leading up to it then my business would cease to exist today.
We came out of lockdown (number three) in April 2021, realigned the goal to £34k per month recurring revenue and cracked on. We smashed the goal again by the end of September and then started to prepare Connor to take over as CEO in January.
And That’s Where My Almighty Wobble Started
I felt utterly redundant and petrified of what the future would look like for me and my business without me being there 100% of the time.
All my worries were coming from the uncertainty of not knowing what the answers to my questions were.
- Where am I going? I don’t know!
- What do I want to achieve? I don’t know!
- What does my life look like in the future? Haven’t the foggiest.
- Who am I? Don’t even get me started on this one.
For the first time in a long time, I couldn’t see the end of the path and that was pretty scary.
Hence (slightly dramatic) existential crisis.
If I didn’t have a purpose in life then there was no way I was going to start removing myself from the business.
What would I have left?
I felt the urge to start pulling the business back towards me and hugging it in tight, too scared to let it go. If I lose my business, then what would I have? My business has defined me for the last 10 years. I live, sleep and breathe it!
The Power Of Coaching
In my next coaching session with Nicky, I confided in him that I was really struggling. Once I said everything out loud I could make sense of it. In fact, it became pretty obvious.
I have lived my life in ‘Survival Mode'. My goals have all been survival-based and I have done just that...
Survived.
When I started the business I was a single parent on job seekers allowance and housing benefits. I needed to earn money to survive.
Then I needed to increase the profits in the business so it could survive.
Then I had to get sober so that I would survive.
Then we had to Survive COVID.
And finally, I had to get myself back to where we were Pre-Covid so that the business could continue to Survive.
But there’s no need for me to survive anymore.
It’s been an uphill slog for the last 10 years and now I am finally at a stage in my life where I have worked so hard to Survive that I don’t need to do that anymore.
Now Is The Time For Me To THRIVE.
Now is the time that I can explore what I want in my life. The possibilities are endless and there is zero pressure on me to achieve these goals.
The sky is the limit.
Right now I don’t know what my future looks like and that’s ok. I’m in a period of exploration, looking for some clarification on what I want to do next and that’s ok.
I’m not putting stress-inducing amounts of pressure on myself to survive and be the best. And that is a f**king fantastic feeling.
Some of you may relate with me on this. If you have spent the last X amount of years of your life fighting the fight then it is going to feel very strange at first when you ‘put down the gloves’.
Here Are Some Definitions Of Survive Vs Thrive That I Absolutely Love.
There's a huge difference between surviving and thriving.
- Survive means to “continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship.”
- Thrive means to “prosper, be fortunate or successful, to grow or develop vigorously; flourish.”
- Surviving is a grim struggle—you’re white-knuckling life, just barely getting by. Thriving is living and thinking abundantly.
- Surviving is a drag, a daily slog to stay alive. Thriving is joyful and infectious.
Once I had made this realisation my confusion and fear changed to excitement. When your mind opens to Thriving instead of Surviving then the possibilities truly are endless and that’s where the magic happens.
So my question for you is, are all of your long term goals Survival based or do you have some Thrive based goals also?
For many of you, the answers might not be clear immediately as to what a thrive based goal might look like. It might take a bit of exploration to find out what your next move is.
Here are some examples to get your brain working in the right direction.
Education/School/Courses/Adult Education – Have you ever wanted to study a new subject or learn a new skill? Doesn’t have to be fitness related. My goals are to complete my diploma in psychotherapy and to do some form of patisserie course.
Travel – This could be smaller weekend breaks, longer trips or even living somewhere else for 6 months of the year.
Volunteering/ Charity Work – Giving back is one of the best ways to give you purpose in life. Once you can take care of yourself it can be hugely rewarding to give something back
New Investments and Ventures – Maybe your fitness business can open doors to other sources of income? Can you make your money grow even more?
Don’t make the same mistakes as me and so many others. Life doesn’t always have to be a grind. After all, why are we running businesses in the first place? To provide us with the life we want. So make sure you are living the life you want and your goals are aligned with that.
There is no reason that you can’t set yourself some Thrive based goals NOW.
You’ve done the hard work, you’ve scaled the mountain. Now it’s time to take in the view for a little while and enjoy the environment you have created.
Maxine Hayes - Business Performance Coach @ The FBDA
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