Read part 1 here and part 3 here.

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint hearted. It’s like a Phd in patience and positivity combined. But it’s a journey with unique rewards.

I am a social entrepreneur. I’m living with chronic health challenges. I’m working hard on healing and living the best life I can.

We try to balance our challenges and still be successful. I’ve found that to be able do this, or rather to keep doing this, I have to be resilient.

It’s a requirement.

Factors which make up resilience include: a positive attitude, optimism, the ability to regulate one’s emotions, and the ability to see failure as a form of helpful feedback.

According to the psychologist, Susan Kobasa, there are three main elements that resilient people possess:
Challenge. Commitment. Control.

She further explains:

You can develop resilience in several ways. First, take care to exercise regularly and get enough sleep, so that you can control stress more easily. The stronger you feel physically and emotionally, the easier it is for you to overcome challenges.

Focus on thinking positively, and try to learn from the mistakes you make. Build strong relationships with colleagues and friends, so that you have a support network to fall back on. Also, set specific and achievable personal goals, and work on building your self-confidence.

I had to transform. I couldn’t afford not to be resilient.

I had limited energy and I had to learn to use it wisely. When you can only work an hour or a day a week you need to use it effectively.

Click to tweet: Starting up with a health challenge, I knew from the beginning my business had to go beyond just me.

But this can benefit all of us as entrepreneurs. Learning to be resilient now can make our businesses more effective and avoid future problems from stopping us in our tracks.

How to develop resilience in your life and business? I have 5 key teachings to share with you today to help strengthen your resilience:

1. Crises are powerful windows of opportunity.

A crisis cuts out everything unnecessary and you make decisions you have to make. Crises can be an acceleration moment.

When everything falls apart is when you notice what’s important.

Your business is stripped down to the essentials, which is great because you’ve got rid of all the clutter and you are doing just what you need to do.

Taking care of yourself becomes a priority because if you don’t, there aren’t any reserves to fall back on.

There is such a thing as ‘post traumatic growth’, a breakdown can lead to a breakthrough – if we handle it correctly.

You don’t have to wait for a crisis to happen to take action. Image you are stripping your business back to the basics. What’s essential for maintenance, service and growth? Where do you need to put your energy?

You don’t have to wait for the right time to create change. Now is the perfect time because, truthfully, there will never be a perfect time. Now, when you are too busy, when you don’t have enough money, when the children are too young – now. Because now is when it’s needed and today has power and magic in it.

2. Scalable businesses are more resilient.

When I began my business I could work ½ a day per week. That was it. And so from the beginning I couldn’t waste time on social media, ‘networking’, ‘research’ or other worthy sounding time drains. From the beginning I was aware that, as well as being the greatest asset in my enterprise, I was also the greatest liability.

So we created a business that is scalable and systemised.

What does that mean practically?

Scalable – it means that the business can grow bigger, serve more people and earn more money without me having to do more work. I focus on ways of sharing my words that can reach many people at one time – like speaking here, or The Phoenix Fire Academy.

Think as you build, how can I scale this? How can I make it easier for me? Where am I spending my energy needlessly.

We built our businesses on more than just me, we’ve built them on a message.

If I coach women to escape their limits one on one primarily, if I build the Healing Boxes myself, if my work is based on relationships rather than belief then it can only grow as big as I can.

People believe in the ideas behind the businesses we run – they feel ‘other’ and want to Turn Trailblazer or they believe in offering comfort and support and help. It’s not about me, my story was just the catalyst. This is so much bigger than me now, it’s all of us. Your business is bigger than just you, let people believe in your WHY.

Our business is systemised, what does that look like?

What tasks do you do over and over? What are you doing that you rely on memory for? If you died tomorrow, what would happen to your business, to your enterprise and those you serve?

Put systems into place – take 2 weeks, and during that time write down everything you do as you do it. How do you email suppliers (who are the suppliers, where are their addresses stored, who has access) and what do you say? What do you do next? Write it all down. Create a How-To guide for your business. Hand over tasks that someone else can do. Make space for your own life.

3. Start now, don’t wait for the heart attack.

Take care of you. Balance work time with you time and stick to it. Build your emotional tool kit.

I’d like you to take action on this today.

Pick up a notebook and start noticing your thoughts, make a date in your diary to implement systems, ask someone for help and book a weekend (yes, a whole one) off. Taking care can easily become another thing you want to get to one day. But one day might be too late.

Your energy is capital, not an unlimited resource. It’s fuel that needs preserving. You are a powerful precious limited resource. There will only ever be one you and the change you will make is unique and valuable.

We can’t risk losing you. If we are going to make it we need all of us – so begin to build a resilient life today.

By learning resilience now, I am building stronger businesses, a happier life and changing the world from the inside out. I hope you join me.

Read part 1 here and part 3 here.