Regenerative Business Podcast Series Ep 6

Episode 6

Using cycles to grow your business

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EPISODE SUMMARY

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Beyond Business Summer Podcast Series! Today, we explore how to create and nurture a regenerative framework for your online business, taking inspiration from nature's cycles. We'll revisit the cyclical model, emphasizing the importance of placing purpose at the heart of your business activities.

In this episode, I focus on the winter phase: replenishment. Discover how strategic rest and seeking feedback can fuel the next cycle of growth, leading to new ideas and inspiration. Learn how to integrate downtime into your schedule and understand the value of stepping away from work to let creativity flourish.

Additionally, I have a special bonus episode for you coming up next week— a workshop-style session designed to help you apply the cyclical approach to your own business. This session will guide you to jot down your ideas and ensure you have a tangible takeaway to act as a springboard for your next stage of action. Join me then and take the first step towards creating a self-sustaining loop that continuously breathes new life into your business.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION

00:02 - Debbie (Host)

Hello and a very warm welcome to the Beyond Business Summer Podcast Series here. Over the course of six main episodes, we'll be challenging the mainstream approach to building a business online and instead creating a regenerative framework inspired by nature that takes your online business from sporadic action to sustainable results. If you would like to use the starter kit that goes along with the series, then head over to www.debbielee.co.uk/starter-kit and download your copy now. That way, you can work along with the episodes week by week and at the end, have a one-page framework that gives your business the springboard that you need to take action in a way that feels good and gets results. Welcome to episode six of six in this summer series, all about how to create and nurture a regenerative framework for your online business. So far on the series, we have talked about why we should even consider taking a regenerative approach to our business. We've talked about putting purpose at the heart of everything we do, purpose at the centre of a cyclical model of working, and in that cyclical framework, we've talked about starting with connecting, so building connection with the people that we want to help our peers, our colleagues within the industry and within the online, the sector of the online world, the little corner of the online world that we occupy, then moving on to creating an offering with ease, then inviting people into that offering, and then today we're going to close the loop on the circle and build that bridge that takes us from inviting people in and starting to work with them through to building a deeper and further connection with those same people.

02:16

I like to. When I think of working in cycles, I am reminded of the seasons that we experience here in the northern hemisphere and to me that this, the spring-like energy, represents that connection phase where things feel new and different. The summer phase is that action taking, of creating things. The autumn phase is the inviting people in and like really integrating and learning. And then this last phase is the winter stage of the cycle, and this can take a few different forms. It might be resting, so it might be actually strategically intentionally planning some rest time, some downtime, into your business and really stepping away from your work, or like getting away into nature, for example, like doing more walks or building in afternoons to read a book. It can be as simple as that and, ironically, for me, this can be the most effective time of letting things settle when I really take my mind off things. It's often then when the next idea strikes or the next dash of inspiration or creativity starts to come along. I feel that little seed planting itself somewhere inside of me once again.

03:46

So, yeah, it might be that it might look like downtime and rest time and some time out, or it might be slightly more active and more intentionally going out and seeking feedback on what you've done, and the idea is here that you you're fueling whatever approach you take, you're fueling yourself to like continue on that next loop of the cycle, and so if it is feedback, then I encourage you to be really intentional about that and do it in a way that feels good for you, where you are, I guess, setting some boundaries around what it is that you want to receive, so maybe being more specific in the questions that you ask people or how you ask them, and allowing yourself the environment that you need to be able to like fully receive that and take it in. So maybe for you, that is a short conversation with someone you've worked with, or maybe it is a feedback form, or maybe it is an online, like a poll on your Instagram survey, something that is a bit less personal, but, yeah, the idea of it is to fuel you up and like feed into the next stage, not to deplete you in any way. So the idea of closing the loop, like I said, it's to replenish yourself, to keep going and really remembering you. You're not a machine and we're not designed to always be on. We're designed to as human beings, we are part of nature and we are cyclical beings ourselves, and so it's really in our best interest that we have these down times built into our working schedule.

05:53

Downtime is built into your working schedule, but I also like to think of this from the perspective of your customer or your client, and supporting them in what they need in their next stage, and that might be working with you once again. So you've been through this, the first loop, and maybe they've had an introduction to your work, they've had a taster of it and now they're ready to come in a bit closer, and so the next cycle that you take them through will be really deepening that connection, so deepening the relationship with you, and probably going that layer deeper in the work that you do. But it might not be that the next stage of the cycle might look like you building a partnership with a colleague or someone else in your industry with a complementary service, and so your clients then move on to work with them. It can, yeah, it can take many different forms, but the idea is that you're you're supporting your client to like, continue on their own journey and get what, what they need from it as well. And then, lastly, it might be them referring someone to you, so them going out and telling someone about their experience with you and then then recommending your approach, and so, as you move into that next stage of connection, rather than deepening your connection with this with one particular person again, you're actually starting a new connection with somebody else and offering the same service over again to them.

07:32

So, yeah, hopefully, from this you can see that it becomes this self-sustaining loop that you plan in and take these cycles of activity that layer up and build upon each other time after time, and in this way you're then building out a body of work. So you're tweaking and refining and changing and adding on as you go along. You're breathing new life each time you go through this cycle. You're breathing new life into your business and you're using this co-creative energy, the connections that you're building all around you, and this feedback loop, unrest loop, to really sustain you and keep you going as well and doing things in this way, then ultimately it powers. I guess it powers the engine behind your business, where word spreads and the financial rewards slowly creep in as well as your client base builds up, as your offering suite, builds out or deepens in whatever way feels good for you. And so we're learning to work in an externally sustainable way, where the, the product or the service that we're creating is being used over and over again, potentially in different ways or by different groups of people. Also, I think, most crucially, this way of working feels sustainable on the inside because it's really feeding you and giving you what you need and giving you the sustenance and the fuel that you need to keep going in a way that feels good and nurturing and in keeping with your values. And, lastly, it's keeping your nervous system on board, so it's allowing you to slowly expand your nervous system rather than pushing yourself so far outside of it that it's a real struggle to to come back to this place of centeredness and groundness. So, with that, that concludes our cycle and concludes the six part series.

09:58

I would love to hear from you and gather your thoughts and understand how this has impacted you or your business and what you've taken from it.

10:10

Next week I have decided to offer up one bonus episode that sort of reiterates the journey that we've been on and goes through this one page regenerative framework part by part and allows you to get down on paper or in your notebook how you might start to use this cyclical approach in your own business. So, um, maybe like a workshop style episode where we can go through it together and you can jot down your ideas and use that as a springboard for your next stage of action. So if you haven't downloaded your starter kit yet, then please do head over to www.debbielee.co.uk/starter-kit and you can do that now. And, like I said, I'll be back in your ears next week where we can work through this together and make sure that you have a real tangible takeaway from which to start growing. Thank you so much for listening. It's been such a pleasure to be here with you. Bye for now, thank you.