I reject hustle.

I hate the idea that to be a successful entrepreneur we have to work all hours, push ourselves to the limits and forgo having a life. The man who probably epitomizes this concept most is  Gary Vaynerchuck.

The man who probably epitomizes this concept most is  Gary Vaynerchuck.

Hustling is putting every minute and all your effort into achieving the goal at hand. Every minute needs to count. There is so much hustle in my day I don’t even have a second to spare to “hang out” and catch up with the people around me. It may not be ideal for most, but it’s what I’ve signed up for, it’s what I love, and it’s what allows me to get the things done that I seek to accomplish….So the question remains — are you willing to hustle to make it happen? Are you willing to work 15+ hours a day to get it done?” Gary Vaynerchuck

I’ve got some major feelings about the whole ‘hustle for 15+ hours’ to make your business work message.

Firstly – most of us don’t have 15+ hours available to ourselves, let alone our businesses. It’s the preserve or white men with income and/or wives who can do this. And it drives me nuts because it makes entrepreneurship seem very exclusive – and naturally excludes a whole host of folks who either can’t or don’t want to spend every waking moment ‘hustling’ to make their businesses work.

Hustle = burnout

Hustle = impossible if you have – kids, caring responsibilities, a life, a relationship, a disability, are ill, limited energy, a job

Hustle = tightness, white knuckle it stress,  and exhaustion

As my friend and coach Kelly Diels says:

‘Most women in our society – especially women who are mothers of very young children – are wildly overworked and overwhelmed. This is not an individual problem. This is a predictable outcome of a system that requires the emotional, domestic, and care-taking labour of women in order to function.” Kelly Diels

Hustle to me sums up a lot of the macho culture of the online world. And I reject it. Totally.

Many of us start down the entrepreneurial path because we want something different to what the traditional corporate world has to offer us.

Yet the Hustle myth of entrepreneurship tells us that the only alternative is to work even longer hours with even less support.

That’s frankly, bollocks

Yes, work hard. Yes, work smart. But as 15+ hours a day hustling isn’t an option for most humans, we NEED an alternative.

When it comes to building a sustainable business we need to reject hustle and redefine the terms of this game. 

Clarity, Insight, Strategy, Balance and Trust are the real alternatives. 

So many of us try and build our businesses like we’re pushing some enormous rock up a steep hill. We’re ready to put in the work – but we don’t know what actions to take – so we spend countless hours, weeks and months frantically blogging and Facebooking, ‘marketing’, putting together offers, websites, writing e-books and opt-ins and running ourselves ragged in the process.

Hustle = busy without a plan

Smart = tapping into the joy and maximizing what comes naturally.

• Building on your strengths.
• Leading from your zone of genius – even if you can’t yet hire out for the other stuff yet – you can minimize it by thinking strategically about what NEEDS to be done because it will take you closer to your goal, rather than doing ALL THE THINGS because that’s what the internet tells you to do.
• Stepping into the space of co-creation with the right clients.
• Having a solid foundation on which to build.
• Letting go of the idea that anyone not making six figures right out of the gate is a lazy failure and instead focusing on building a body of work.
• Creating a plan with space to craft, evolve and play.
• Having the confidence to enjoy to ride.

Smart is the dog’s cajones 

Smart is:

When you have the foundations in place – knowing who you are, where your strengths lie, who you do your best work with, where your place of genius is.

• Having a clear message that your ideal clients not only understand but that speaks to them on a deep, intuitive level.
• Practicing courage and grace by sharing your wisdom and taking a stand for what’s important to you (whether that be politics, feminism, activism or even miniature dachshunds – you have opinions and people respond when you start to share them.
• Creating packages that your potential clients want to buy because they understand what they’re getting from working with you.
• Knowing how much to charge and confidently being able to sell your wondrous box of transformational skills
• Getting off the content conveyer belt by creating core content you can repurpose for greater impact.
• Feeling confident with a way of communicating, connecting and creating relationships over time that feel good, solid and right to you (and allow you to build relationships with the right people)

And when you do it in community you get you let your brilliance shine out like a motherfucking Supernova.

People can’t help but take notice of you.

You learn to lean into ease and grow your confidence and visibility.

That’s why I’ve created The Supernova Collective

I not only walk you through the six core foundational pieces you need to build a sustainable coaching business, but I help you do it in within a supportive, nurturing community.

We do it with support so that you can reject hustle.

You don’t have to treat yourself like a  resource to be exhausted.

You get to set the terms AND build a coaching business that’s successful and sustainable – economically, energetically and spiritually.
Find out more about The Supernova Collective here and reject hustle once and for all.