It’s becoming increasingly easy to create a business. To use it to start a movement and stand up for what you believe in on a grand scale.
So why aren’t more people doing it?
People are talking about it. Starting blogs about it. Writing books and holding conferences about it.
It’s become the thing to do. That’s wonderful. It’s exactly what the world needs. More passionate steadfast business that wants to serve and better the world.
So why aren’t more doing it? Why are so many all talk and no action?
Your mission is clear
When you read a post or book or meet someone inspirational or experience outstanding customer service, you feel their excitement. The energy pouring out from them is magnetic and beautiful. You want it. You want your business to have that effect on others.
From that moment you know what your business, you, stand for. Your core beliefs have finally been targeted and you know how YOU can add to this world in a way that truly matters.
You plot actions. Ideas flow by the hour. You see something while driving that inspires a new post. A new product. You outline it in your head. More people and experiences suddenly start to come into your life. It’s like you’re attracting everything you need.
Your mission is clear.
And then…
You see the consequences of what must be done. You must give yourself fully or not at all. You must risk losing friends, followers, and customers.
The fear settles in. It’s starts to break your heart. It was supposed to be easier than this, at least at the beginning.
You decide to carry on anyway. You’ve been so inspired. You’ve never felt more alive in anything you’ve worked on in your life. Nothing has ever felt this right. Your mission has never been more clear.
But the fear of the consequences is still there.
You continue to create, but it looks nothing like a movement. No one sees you or your business standing up for anything. You are just noise. Your business is just… there.
You carry on. You do the work because, above all else, you know you must show up. You must do the work.
With every piece you create and every post you write, you’re filled with a sense of accomplishment because you stuck to it. You did the work.
But the joy is short lived because you know you’ve only created more noise. No one cares about more noise. No one cares about your work because you haven’t done YOUR work.
You ran from YOUR work when you discovered the truth in it. When you realized the sacrifice involved. When you saw how hard it was. When it began to break your heart.
The heartbreak
No one wakes up realizing they’re meant to make a stand for something without also realizing they have a lot to change about themselves.
No one is going to start a movement without first LIVING that movement. This requires change.
Change is always necessary. Always.
That realization is heartbreaking. There is no halfway. There are no office hours in a movement. There is no standing up only until your feet hurt. There is no easy button. There is no part time.
As artists, entrepreneurs, Christians, leaders, business owners, and everyday people of the world, none of us want to be considered as noise. No matter what you do, you want it to matter. You want to know that it/you matters.
We want to stand out from the noise so badly, but we’re terrified of what that really means. We’re terrified because we’re comfortable. We’ve lived for 25, 32, 57, or whatever years, and we have a set way of living our life. Even if it has left us thirsting for something greater. It’s how we do things. It’s comfortable.
Change is not comfortable.
Standing up for what you believe in, either in your personal life or in your business, requires change (Let’s be honest. There is no separation for entrepreneurs. Your personal life is your business life). Movements require tremendous change. God requires change. Changing the lives of others means first changing your life. Changing out in the open for the whole world to see. Change that doesn’t take the weekends off.
Change means there’s no going back to how it was before.
Change is not comfortable. Change is heartbreaking.
Where to find your endless joy
Your endless joy is in YOUR work. The work that excites you. The work that lights up every fiber of your being. That forces you to question yourself. Your business. That terrifies you. That breaks your heart.
Stop fighting what you KNOW you’re meant to do and what that voice, that won’t shut up, is telling you you’ve been put here to do, and you’ll find endless joy. YOUR endless joy.
The Point
None of this is meant to depress you, although it might. After all, you’re only human. You’ve been trained since birth to see the negatives much clearer than the positives.
This is meant to show you the truth of what you’re doing. What your business is doing. So you’ll no longer waste more of your time and the others’ time. So you will choose what your business is: part of the movement or the debris.
It’s meant to open your eyes to the beauty, glory, profit, and endless joy waiting for you behind your heartbreak.
Giving your whole self to what you believe is the hardest thing in life you can do. The process is never ending. So are the rewards.
Are you seeking your rewards?
So what’s it going to be: Is your business part of The Movement or The Debris?
