Today, at a virtual conference for the national organization of Asian Corporate & Entrepreneur Leaders (ACEL), someone from the audience asked me.
What would you do if you lost everything?
I said I would first say Thank you.
I believe you can only harness the creative wisdom that allows you to flourish from the seat of thanks.
I would bow down in thanks for my family, my health. I’d write down all the things that I was thankful for — all the things we take for granted daily like clean water, working toilet, electricity, the internet.
Then, I’d get to work.
Here are my three lessons to myself if I had to start from zero.
Lesson # 1 – Build an Empire Not a Job
Most entrepreneurs build a job rather a business.
Your business as it is now, probably relies on you to run it day in and day out. There’s lots of long hours and virtually no freedom.
The more your business relies on you — the more your business will run you.
You won’t be able to escape.
Most successful entrepreneurs are so busy doing the day to day job that they don’t have time or energy to grow and develop the systems and processes necessary to build their empire.
An empire that’s reliant on you doing the hard work alone isn’t going to scale.
You working hard isn’t the answer, it’s often the problem.
You may think that immersing yourself in your company with you personally producing more is your golden ticket out
when the reality is, it’s a path that leads to an endless cycle of your burning your proverbial candle at both ends.
Take some of your energy and invest in the team and internal controls that will allow you to scale your business beyond you.
You’ve got to work less and get your business to produce more.
Lesson #2: Do Everything with Love.
When I was growing up, I was a high achiever, getting straight A’s always pushing and, and, and doing a million things and making everyone around me crazy. I would be renovating a bedroom one day, baking up a storm the next. I was always doing things with a sense of urgency like time was running out. I was accomplished and impatient.
My dad pulled me aside one day and said, it doesn’t matter, matter how much you accomplish, make sure you do it with love.
That is a huge lesson that I take to my business today because while I love to achieve, while I love to accomplish things, if I don’t do it with a sense of love and all I want to do is just tick off the boxes, the journey is completely different.
Always start with love.
Love is intelligent.
Love is the foundation and the core of how this universe works. When you start with a feeling of love for yourself, your team, your clients you’ll make the right decisions that will help your business flourish.
Lesson #3 Give & Grow.
Take a deep breath.
Take another deep breath.
Take yet another deep breath.
At some point you won’t be able to take another deep breath.
You’re going to need to exhale.
The universe is built on the law of giving and taking, cause & effect.
This metaphor, this simple exercise shows the one-sidedness of taking all the time.
If you’re always taking and not giving, you defy universal laws.
This feeling of generosity will help you call in more abundance in your life. As you give generously to your team, your clients, and your family — your company will also receive & grow. It’s the law.
Also it’s important not to merely “think” you need to be generous just to be successful.
You need to generate this feeling of generosity in your body.
This intention sparks a domino effect and guess what?
The domino effect is triggered from the moment you feel it. Why? Because only when you feel — will you move into action.
Hope you enjoyed these three lessons!
What would you do if you lost everything and had to start from scratch? Do share!
Have an awesome day!
Xoxo
Kalika