Supporting Yourself

Supporting yourself offers you the most freedom, the most security and the best way for a fulfilling life. This has a HUGE and positive impact on your health.
It's probably never been easier to accomplish. And I believe that everyone has something in them that they are good at, that they enjoy and that others need. 

Transcript

Supporting Yourself

We’ve seen a lot of hardship in the last 3 years. People have lost friends, lost jobs, lost their family. It’s been tough for many.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Crisis always has a purpose. We tend to look at a crisis as negative because it disrupts our lives, our routine or our thinking. But we sometimes need a good shake up. We can so easily get stuck in a rut and if that rut is taking us in the wrong direction, then sometimes it needs a crisis to make us turn around.

People can be quite stubborn!

One thing to keep in mind is that nothing is impossible. Or as my dad used to say, the impossible takes a little longer. Pearls only grow when there is an irritation. It seems humans only change when there is an irritant, one big enough to disrupt their lives.

Instead of relying on a job or the goverement to rescue you and support you, I’m suggesting that you take control and help yourself.

Helping yourself is not only one of the best ways to enrich your life, it has a knock on effect. Others want to know what you’re doing. They want some of that! That is one of the greatest compliments you can have.

You can help them by helping yourself. Showing them what you do. That can happen in health, in work, in anything. When you’re thriving, whatever that means for you, you’re happy and fulfilled. That’s what everyone wants.

Don’t try to help others until you’ve helped yourself.

We all know of people who will drop everything to help others except their loved ones.

That absolutely does not work.

We need to put our own lives in order first.

And we’re not authentic unless we do that

To change the world, we have to change the way we function in the world.

From an early age, I always wanted to be independent. As a teenager and young woman, I kept searching for ideas on how that could be.

My training and first career didn’t satisfy me, but it did teach me quite a few lessons.

Working for someone else, just following instructions, without any overall concept of the end goals was frustrating.

Then I met someone who had some good ideas and we flourished as a team - he with the ideas and practical skills to create a much needed product, me with the drive and desire to make a successful business.

Eventually we fell out and parted ways.

But out of that partnership I developed some strong views which I still have.

One of them is that small is beautiful. A small business means the owners are in touch with all the staff and all the customers. It’s a very HUMAN business. And I still feel that a good business shouldn’t have more than about 10 people all up. You can lose touch when there are too many.

You get to know what problems people face and how to help them.

Being a business owner is definitely hard work. You tend to live and breathe it. If you’re not careful, partners and children can suffer. So you have to learn to walk a tight rope at times.

One thing stood out very clearly. We were providing much needed products and not only survived a recession, but thrived.

I now belong to an entrepreneurs group. And what the creator of that group shows is that entrepreneurs are thriving in today’s political climate. And have done the past three years, when so many were losing their jobs because they refused to relinquish their core values, and rightly so.

When you lose your job it can also mean you lose your home and your family.

So this podcast is about freedom. Do you want freedom? Do you want to be financially secure? Do you want to be in control of your working life? Are you tired of the hurdles you have to jump through to get a job, that may not be fulfilling or financially rewarding? Are you ready to LIVE!

I want to start with a quote from Veronica, a channel. I have adapted it a little to be more readable for those who are not familiar with the way it is presented.

"In the ever chaotic physical reality it is so easy to become one with the chaos.

There comes a time in every life where one realizes that no one can tell them how or what to think. In a culture that wishes to dominate all thought processes it is important to remain independent of other influences while embracing the boundless possibilities.

Decide to identify as a spirit instead of your biology, your body. One is limitless while the other is the ultimate dead end confinement.

We know it is difficult to be limitless in a dense, physical reality. Dramatics build up into a seemingly impossible level. This causes disruption.

By remembering who you really are, (ie a spiritual being having a physical experience) the opportunity to evolve increases. Your thoughts are your own. Allow them to manifest without influence.

Free will means free will.

Treasure and nurture your own thoughts. They are the true gift of physical life. They are to be honored not discarded.

Use them to become more…..”

I believe everyone has something in them, something that may have been stifled from an early age in the name of being ‘normal’ whatever that it, that they do well. The trouble with us funny human creatures is that when we do something well, we just accept it. But others may do something else well and what you do, really badly.

The product or service, what you do well and may just take for granted, doesn’t have to be a physical ‘thing’. It could be an idea. Or a way to support someone’s inability to manage their life.

It’s amazing what is out there.

And with the internet and the ability to learn how to use it getting easier, it doesn’t take a lot of either hard cash or business knowhow to start. It’s probably never been easier to get started and to flourish.

You don’t have to throw in your paid job immediately. You can start small and grow the business in your spare time. Then there comes a time when you just know it’s the right time to take the plunge.

Some great person once said, "Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it.”

It’s often advised to pass your ideas around family and friends. While that can be a good start, they may also knock you for various reasons. One may be because they also take your skill for granted. Another could be because your venture, your growth threatens them. I know. That sounds weird. It’s known as the tall poppy syndrome. You’re standing out. So be cautious. Don’t be knocked off balance easily.

It might be better to look online to see if others are doing what you do well. If there are, you know it works. And don’t fall for that hairy old chestnut that the market is saturated. If others are doing it, there’s room for you.

There are a lot of self employed house cleaners, but that doesn’t stop new people starting that. In fact, that was a way for many to support themselves, when they lost their job.

Some ideas include:

You can do it better than others.
You can be sympathetic to any animals in the house, so they don’t dread your visits.
You can use environmentally clean products.
You could employ others and grow into a reputable business.

Now I appreciate that not everyone wants to become an entrpreneur, but entrapreneurs also need staff.

In the last three years, when many small businesses went under, many survived by thinking outside the square. For example many small restaurants didn’t survive, but those that did started an off shoot of delivering ready made meals.

While there are people in the world, there is an opportunity to provide them with something they need and are willing to pay for. Or to barter for. Bartering doesn’t have to involve cash. It’s an exchange so both parties benefit.

So this idea of herding people into working for mega corporations can be discarded for the fanciful idea it is. You’re just a number in a corporation. No one really cares about you, despite lip service. All they want is to take everything you can give them and then they spit you out at the end.

And the product, be it a service or physical thing, is not energetically valuable, as it wasn’t made with love. It was more likely made by frustrated, bored and lifeless people.

A soulless job leads people to do things they would never normally do. How many atrocities are people doing, and have done in the past, in the name of ‘just doing my job’. People become automatons, soulless beings. No empathy. No feelings.

That is unacceptable at every level, but particularly for the person. They have cut themselves off from their source. Their health WILL deteriorate. It can’t not.

When I go out into the world, I smile at people and engage in spontaneous trivial passing chit chat. The number of people who can’t do that, who just dumbly glance at me, is amazing. Is anyone there? The lights are on but is anyone at home?

I hear endless stories of ridiculous working hours in corporations, disturbance in free time and then dismissal when the market slows. No hint of appreciation or loyalty outside what they have to do legally.

I think the best entrepreneurs are those who have faced adversity, but have not surrendered their core convictions. They know what’s right for them and that’s not negotiable. And they’re responsible.

Or maybe they did surrender and now feel that wasn’t a good move.

Honesty and responsibility almost guarantees success in business because these are values others appreciate - it meas you’re reliable.

Of course, you also need to have your wits about you.

Many, many small businesses fail in the first year or two. I have a feeling this is because people go in it for the wrong reasons. They think they’re going to get rich quick and be the idol of the local community.

An old friend fell out with me years ago, because I wouldn’t, I actually couldn’t, help him with the funeral expenses of a homeless, sick friend who had died while staying with him.

He thought that as I was in business, I was just starting out, I must be earning piles. I wish! In fact, he would not have been prepared to swap bank balances.

Thinking of going into your own business can be scary. But when you just take one step at a time, and that when it feels right, you can achieve it. You just have to keep going.

Don’t expect to be an expert in either your field or in business when you start out. Life is a journey. You keep learning as you need to. Just make sure you are humble enough to do that. No-one is an expert when they start out. As a student homeopath, I used to offer free consultations in my last year. Then as a newly qualified homeopath, I undercut the market norm until I felt I was actually doing some good.

When you look back over the last 10 or 20 years of your life, you can appreciate that knowing what you know now would have been overwhelming for you then. And inappropriate as it’s the life lessons that take you forward.

How often have you heard someone who changed their life for the better after a serious incident? Many people diagnosed with cancer have said just that. The diagnosis took them on a fabulous, nurturing, healing journey where new friends were made and old, destructive habits released. They created a new life they would never have dreamed of before the diagnosis.

They directed their attention away from the problem, towards the solution.

There’s a book called Two Weeks Notice by Amy Porterfield. It’s about what I’ve been discussing here.

Here are some of her questions to ask yourself

do you want freedom

why
your why is crucial to understand on your down days
what do you need to do to achieve that why
what are you good at
who do you want to serve
you only need to be 10% ahead of those you serve, initially
where are people spending money
what do you enjoy doing
don’t try to be perfect to start, just get started
be open to growth as things are likely to change
everyone has a business in them
believe that you can

You’ll have down days when you think you can’t. Just remember to follow every negative thought with a positive one. For example:

after a thought such as
who do I think I am? I can’t do this. It’s beyond my abilities

follow it with a thought such as
What a beautiful blue sky. I always feel better when the sun is shining.

or
I’m learning a lot about people where I’m living/working.

or
Plants and animals are so amazing. Whatever life throws at them, they flouish. Just look at the variety of life that now flourishes at the site of the Chenobyl nuclear wasteland. I can learn from them.

You could ask why am I talking about this when I’m a health practitioner?

I believe that when we are in a job that does not satify us, our health deteriorates. Because of the time we spend in our working life, if much of that is not in keeping with our core values, it’s destructive.

We need joy, love and appreciation in our lives. We need to feel we are contributing to a better world. And we could be achieving all that as a stay-at-home parent. That’s an amazing job with multiple roles all in one. Bringing up balanced children with open minds, an ability to discern and the confidence to do what they are drawn to, may be one of THE most important jobs anyone can have.

I want to end with an example

Thomas Paine was born in England in 1737. He had little education. But he could write. And he had a strong sense of fair play. He was unsuccessful and unhappy in every job. His had two brief marriages. Then he met Benjamin Franklin who suggested he go to America.

Paine argued that the cause of America shouldn’t just be about the unjust taxation, but should be for independence. He wrote about his ideas in Common Sense, published in 1776. It was widely read and paved the way for the Declaration of Independence.

His ideas are as relevant today as they were then.

"Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our POSITIVELY by united our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions The first a patron, the last a punisher.

"These are the times that try man's souls."