After 6+ years of being a business owner one thing I know for sure is to be successful you need to be completely dedicated to your vision, your goals, your mission- and also totally flexible in how you execute and how you receive what you want. Tricky, no?
For the last 2 (and a bit) years I've been dedicated to coaching and speaking to artists and helping them set up businesses and feel confident running them. I built free communities online and offline for artists, I held events, I spoke at art schools and art organizations. I was 100% dedicated to artists. I literally turned down people that came to me and said "Can I work with you?" if they weren't specifically artists, and preferably visual artists.
But my mission is bigger than serving just artists, because it's become clear to me that limiting myself to only that audience, limits the impact I can have, and limits the amount of people who can work with me to receive EXACTLY what it is they really need. And that's the thing, we start businesses and we can get stuck too much on us, rather than what our (potential) clients and customers need. So after deciding to open up my coaching services to other kinds of entrepreneurs, I'm still 100% dedicated to helping thoughtful, creative people achieve their ideal life by doing what they love.(You can check out my revamped offers of support here.) And I'm practicing being flexible around how it happens moving forward!
If you look at your own business, can you see some ways you may be blocking yourself from doing what you want or limiting the kind of impact you can have? Maybe dedication is looking more like stubbornness. (Aries here so I know about that!) Going into this new year how can you expand your vision of your business to allow more in- whether it's more clients, more sales, more money, more fun- what can you become more flexible with to see the changes happen?
And if you're not feeling 100% dedicated to what you do, examine the root of that feeling. Is it coming from fear of it not working out? Are you doing more "shoulds" than you need to and working for someone else's dream? What would you need to feel completely dedicated to your work? Maybe it's a sense of security, maybe it's more support. Let yourself create and curate what it is you truly need in your life.