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It’s the 4 year anniversary of this business, Empathpreneurs®, today. Or at least the idea, which (as I’ve shared a few times before) came suddenly as I was packing up my room to leave London to go back to my childhood home in Kenya, for what I thought would be two and a half months.

This business idea came after a six month void, in which I began to let go of my first business, and really didn’t know what was next. But it’s amazing what comes when you really start to follow the aligned guidance and creating with the seasons and cycles.

Last year, 2023, was mostly a void for me again. I had a few ongoing things but for the most part I didn’t take any new action, I was off social media for the majority of the year and at times it felt like this business was coming to an end, as there was no inspiration to act and there was a deep sense of it transforming and shifting beneath the surface – almost like it was dying away! It’s an interesting feeling navigating the desire to shake things up, which we are so conditioned to do, but knowing that if you wait things might just sort themselves out, even better than you could imagine.

Spending time in the void, the space-in-between, is something that we are literally conditioned against, as an entrepreneur. If you aren’t do-ing something you aren’t being productive. You are missing opportunities. You are missing out on clients. You are missing out on something. People will forget who you are. And. And. And.

Absolutely some of these things might be true, and actually happen, especially if you are in the earlier (less established) days of your entrepreneurial journey. But, there is so much power in the void. The letting go of the shoulds, the have-tos, the musts, the expectations. Letting it all fall away, and letting yourself BE in the space before what’s coming has arrived.

So, I wanted to share the four things, that I was reminded of and that supported me until my business evolved yet again into what it is now becoming, from my void, my space in-between last year.

There will be some ups and downs

If you are anything like me you might want to sack it all in and think this is it. I’m done. I have quite a fiery nature underneath my quite yin exterior, which, does like to be do-ing, taking action and making things happen. When things aren’t aligning and you don’t feel like anything you do is having any impact, remind yourself that you are actually taking some time to rest, and letting things incubate in their own time. Sure, it might be longer than we have been conditioned to give ourselves (2 weeks – seriously WTAF), and there may very well be other immediate needs, like money to put food on the table etc., which will affect how you are feeling, but if you can keep reminding yourself that there will be ups and downs, you will support yourself through it.

BE present

When things in your business go into a winter, or more inward period, there is such an opportunity to be present in and with your life, in general. Maybe that’s with your partner, children, friends, family. Maybe it’s in nature and with your creativity. Maybe it’s just with yourself, what is rising within, how your body feels etc., the emotions that come up with the ups and downs, each and every day.

I’ve shared that last year felt like about three years to me, which looking back, I adore (isn’t life ‘supposed’ to speed up and go way too fast) and I attribute that to being more present than I have ever been before.

Get support / holding

I had a coach holding me for the whole of last year. I started working with her initially to help me with my business, which I could feel shifting and changing (in September 2022) – but of course it was going into its long winter. Rather than cancelling or quitting the coaching, I kept it going for the whole of 2023. My coach held me in my void. She also works in the same way as me so could appreciate the power of waiting, and not pushing. We did energy work, we held space for what the business was becoming, who I WAS BECOMING, alongside this, as that is integral. Having that support alongside really helped me to trust where I was at, and lean into it, rather than resist it.

Keep holding the faith

Know that the winter/void/space in-between (whatever it feels like to you) WILL end. Things will realign and turn into what they are going to be, if you surrender into this knowing. The aligned guidance will come. In my experience, when you deeply let yourself be with what is, what is becoming will be even more delightful, magnificent, extraordinary, magical (whatever word excites you) than you could ever think up.

I’d love to know if this resonates and what you have received or learned from the time you may have spent in business voids? Do you let yourself be there, or do you find it hard? Please share below.

Photo by Akin Cakiner on Unsplash