Gifts of Contraction and the Challenges of Expansion: Strategy of Change Roundtable

I’m so excited to debut our first-ever Roundtable conversation on The Gifts of Contraction and the Challenges of Expansion.

This conversation features:

Darla Powell: founder of Wingnut Social, social media management agency for interior designers

Vanessa Alzate: founder of Anchored Training, an instructional design agency

Ashley Manzi: partner of MELD family law and author of Balance is Bullshit — content creator on topics at the intersection of parenting and career (from a divorce lawyer)

Blair Thielemier: founder of Pharmapreneur academy which offers business training to independent pharmacist entrepreneurs

We answer the challenging questions with unprecedented transparency. Questions like:

What has it felt like when your business has experienced a contraction?
What are the STRATEGIES you’ve used when you’ve experienced a contraction?
What are the GIFTS you’ve received when you’ve experienced a contraction?
What have been some of the challenges of growth?

What has it felt like when MY business has experienced a contraction:

My business grew every year for 10 years… until it didn’t. Last year. It was the thing I’d feared the most — I’m a single parent. I have a team. I feel responsible for a lot. (let’s be clear, my business still generated multi-six figures, but it earned less than it had the year before)

And I was knocked sideways. I didn’t expect it. There was the pain of the contraction itself. And then there were all the stories I told myself about what the contraction MEANT.

That I missed something.

That I wasn’t good enough.

That I was a fraud.

But then I came to understand the wider context of a contraction… of this contraction. It was a message. Something new was meant to emerge. And it took this pain to wake me up to that fact. The contraction is not the issue, it’s what we make it mean. And when we realize that contraction has something to teach us — we can wrangle this moment as one of deep trust in the process.

Contraction is actually a normal phase of growth. And not to put too fine a point on it or make it all symbolic…but…a contraction is necessary for something to expand. Think about the tension that exists when pulling a bow and arrow. Pulling backward — literally going backward — and the bow contracting…it all needs to happen for that arrow to fly. In that contraction there is pure potential.

So what I’ve emerged with from the last year is this viewpoint and “lesson” on contraction: It’s layered and challenging and icky and personal…but there is meaning here…it just wasn’t the meaning I thought while it was happening…

This contraction had me take a good look at what I was doing. It was mirror for what was no longer working for ME in the business. So, in the last year my offers evolved… my team evolved… I brought in new support, and the way I talk about what I do evolved…

And as far as the inner work of reconciling this contraction…this has enabled me to trust. Trust the process. trust my gut that said i was ready for this new evolution. trust that my business had never failed me before and wasn’t failing me now. Deepen my core belief in what I do and in my expertise.

One of the biggest things about contraction — whether you’re in it now or if you’ve experienced it in the past is that it’s the gateway to something new…. And it’s a choice to see it that way…experience it that way.

But if you’re feeling like you’ve been flung out of a slingshot and you’re sort of hurdling through mid-air without a net…you might be over, what I call “the strategy gap” and you need a strategy jet stream to guide you through what you’re experiencing.

If you feel like:

Your business isn’t growing the way you want…

You are doing all the things but your business isn’t responding…

You feel frustrated because all your efforts aren’t resulting in the momentum you need…

You’re experiencing the strategy gap: the space between where you are now and where you know your business can go.

You’re not alone…

You and I can chat about how we’re getting you to the other side.

Offering you a free call to explore the gap:

We’ll talk about where you want to go
What obstacles you’re experiencing (they aren’t usually what you think they are)
And we’ll create a strategy roadmap to guide you toward the growth you’re seeking

Click here to book your call.