So what should we be focusing on as leaders in 2024? What’s going to set us apart? What’s going to allow us to grow and step into that next level?

In this episode I’m setting out the aspects I’m focusing on in the year ahead to set myself up for a year of growth and expansion.

We chat about:

• The importance of authenticity and vulnerability rather than hiding behind a facade of perfection
• The focus on personal branding and deeper connection on the individual level
• The rise of creativity and thought leadership in order to stand out from the crowd
• Embracing feminine energies, honouring our cyclical rhythm and the way this shows up in business
• How to take risks to expand your business in a ‘non-scary’ way

Get ready to uplevel your leadership and make 2024 your best year yet!

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3. Whitespace – A six week experiential group journey to cleanse the energetics blocks, boost your creativity, invoke your authentic voice.

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Big love,

Amanda xo

P.S. If you loved this episode, please review and share with another feminine luminary who needs to hear this!

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Transcript

[00:00:00] I’ve seen so many business owners just playing safe. Sitting in that comfort zone and refusing to move. Trendsetters. Thought leaders, and the true leaders. They’re the ones who are actually taking those steps. They’re the ones who are doing all that inner work, that support work that is required to feel safe. To be able to stretch themselves, to stretch their business and to evolve.

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Hello, my love and welcome to the very first episode of 2024. Gosh, when did that happen?

I don’t know if I do, but I’m really excited as to what lies ahead for this year. I’ve talked to my previous episodes around how 20, 23 for so many of us. Really was this year of buildup. It was this year of putting all the pieces into place, laying the foundations for a really incredible. Yeah ahead.

And so I’m really excited for what lies ahead for you.

What lies ahead for me? I just feel like this is going to be such a powerful year. And what I’m wanting to talk about is actually some of the trends that I predict as coming through for us as leaders. So not necessarily the business trends or the tech trends or [00:02:00] anything like that. Because what I’m wanting to focus on is more those soft skills, those more, more of those intangible aspects that are really there in our business.

And yeah, I think what is going to make for a really exciting year ahead. AnD so as you listen to this, what I’d love for you to do is to take what it is that you feel resonates with. You. If it’s something that doesn’t feel right. Use your discernment. And leave it where it is, or maybe it’s something to simply ruminate on. Who knows when the time is going to be right. But as I said, these are more around soft skills.

These are more around the intangible aspects. And things that I feel I really going to be beneficial for female leaders and female entrepreneurs in 20, 24, as they start to come through more.

THe first thing is authenticity and vulnerability. We’ve seen so many of the same businesses coming along where it just feels so robotic. It doesn’t feel genuine. It doesn’t feel natural at deals like the person in the business is hiding behind a mask. And we’ve seen so much of that in previous years that was sick and tired of it. We are ready for the real person.

We want that connection. We want to understand what is going on in their lives. They are not simply just a storefront for a business, but they are a human being. And so when we talk about this authenticity, I know it’s a word that is showing thrown around so much these days. Authenticity. It’s a bit of a buzzword. But it’s about getting to know the real you.

So not necessarily saying the things that people want to hear. But about being you.

About owning all parts of you. And really being transparent in what’s going on.

And so in order to do this, that requires a high level of emotional intelligence as well. And so these are all those skills that we get to learn as we go through the [00:04:00] process of our personal development and do that in a work. When we get to connect with ourselves, we get to learn who we really are. So we can then bring that part of us online for others to see.

And then there’s also this aspect of vulnerability. And I’m not talking about the fake vulnerability that we quite often see. It’s simply just there for likes. It’s there for a dear diary entry. But no, this is about. Really being comfortable in sharing authentically. What is going on for you?

Not hiding behind everything is perfect. Because there were same to many of the highlight reels. We know that that’s not happening in everyone’s life. I’m 24 7. Not everything is perfect. There are ups and downs. And of course he wanted to set around what it is that we want to show online. I’m not saying that you need to show every single aspect of your life. There are some parts of your life at a sacred. And I completely respect that and honor that. We’re not saying that at all. It’s more about dropping that mask and that pretense and that pretending. That everything is perfect.

And your life in your business. Because it’s not always.

And what that allows us to do is then to build that deeper connection. And build that deeper level of trust with our clients and with our community. To then have that stronger business.

The next thing that I’m saying is these real shift into personal branding? And the importance of you as your personal brand. So, again, this slightly follows on from the previous point where it’s not just a business, it’s not just a storefront, but there is so much more, you are sitting there behind it.

One of the things that Springs to mind throughout the previous year other tonic templates. And they were absolutely beautiful. They were incredible. And they had so much success. Everyone loved them. That [00:06:00] ever used them. And everyone’s brand looked exactly the same as everyone else. And so it became this real thing of everyone around you has exactly the same branding. Everyone looks the same and yes, I’m going to put my hand up and say, I’ve used them for a while, but I’ve actually shifted away from that now.

And starting to really focus on my own brand. Who am I? Who do I want to be seen as who do I want to be felt as. Because when everyone is exactly the same. How do you stand out in that sea of sameness? It’s pretty hard.

So I feel that this year there’s this big emphasis on getting to know who we are. Who are we. What is that brand? How does that look like on the outside? How does that feel externally to all of our community and to those who come across us? But again, without knowing who you are on the inside. How can you do that? How can you authentically embody that?

And this brings me to my next point, which is around creativity. There’s a real shift towards thought leadership. We are sitting in the era of chat GBT. Anyone can type anything into AI and have a computer response sped out to them.

And when you start to read the same thing over and over. You can start to pick. What has been spread out by AI? What has been computer generated because it all sounds exactly the same. And so what we’re seeing online is that there is just so much of the same that we are craving. Something different recreating creativity. And this is where you as that leader of your business. You want to be different? You want to be standing out from the crowd?

But how can you do that? If you don’t feel confident in yourself. If you don’t [00:08:00] feel confident in your ideas. If you don’t feel that you’re a thought leader. How can you stand out from the crowd if you’re just following along? And this is really what leadership is all about is about going first. Isn’t it?

It’s about being different. It’s about being bold.

And why did we get to do all of that? That’s again, how he does rise above.

So it could be in terms of innovative products, it could be in terms of innovative strategies, maybe it’s a completely different way of holding a coaching container. It’s bold. It’s new. It’s different. And it can feel a little bit scary.

But Hey. It’s creative. You’re going to stand out.

And you never know. YOu might’ve started something completely different. A brand new way of doing things that all of a sudden, everyone tries to follow.

Now I touched on this one before. It’s about this genuine connection and relationships. I can wait a growing board. We are craving so much more. This whole rise of the chatbots, which are in our DMS, which are responding to our messages, which are liking our polls. It’s. Boring. It’s feels really surface level. And what we’re craving as these genuine connections and these deep relationships. In our online community. In our business world.

And so when we start to actually really focus on the importance of fostering this deeper connection, Seeing and connecting with people on that human level.

They’re going to become your ride or die. Clients you’re right. A dye community. It doesn’t matter if you say something’s a bit off one day. That’s fine. They’re going to come along with you. Whereas, if you haven’t built that deep connection with them. All of a sudden, you say something that’s a little bit polarizing. And you turn them [00:10:00] off. They gone unfollowed. I know that I’ve done that with quite a few people on my Instagram lately. Is that because I don’t have that deep connection with them. If something that they’ve said doesn’t feel right. Doesn’t align with my values, doesn’t feel good anymore.

The content may be great. The information that they’re providing may be really helpful. But it’s quite easy. To be turned off. If it’s only surface level relationships that you have with someone. So, what do you really want to be focusing on is developing those authentic connections. With your clients with your community. And even with all the entrepreneurs as well, this can be such a lonely journey. If you haven’t got your entrepreneurial, your business besties.

I was actually having this conversation with my husband in December around the big difference that I’m saying compared to working in the corporate world, where it was just Christmas parties, nonstop functions, things like that. And then being in the entrepreneurial world during Christmas. It’s very quiet. Unless you’ve been active in creating those connections with those business besties who also go through exactly the same thing as you. It can be a very quiet time of year.

And the other thing on this is if you are in the entrepreneurial space, It’s a very different way of doing business to traditional business. There’s going to be things that you’re going through that. Other people in corporate roles just don’t get tired. Don’t understand. And your partner isn’t necessarily the person to lay everything on there.

Not your therapist. They’re not going to understand they don’t get it because they’re in a completely different world. And so you want to be having those connections. As business friends. And developing those relationships as well, because that’s going to go a long, long way.

This also then leads into an idea of collaboration.

And I feel like this is [00:12:00] something that has been happening over years. But there’s definitely going to be a huge focus on collaboration in 2024. From not only podcast collaborations to affiliate collaborations and things like that, where. It’s not about competition. It’s not about seeing people in your sphere as your competitors. But as being there to support each other. To give more to each other’s community. And doing so in a way that just feels really genuine. Really authentic and really fun. Because this can be very isolating as an entrepreneur. If you don’t have those connections.

Now this next point is a little bit business, but also a little bit around life in general. And I’m saying this as a lot more of leaning into the feminine energies. So less about I’m a woman. I can do everything on my own. Or. Taking a hyper masculine approach to everything that I do. Like, you know, I’m independent.

I can do it. Don’t need any help. But learning to be in the feminine energy. Learning to just lean into that and allow others to step in and support you. Allow the masculine energy to come along and be there to lean into to support you, to be able to allay, to reside more on your feminine. And this is something that I’ve noticed personally, as well as that, when I do that, it creates that room for my husband to move into the masculine.

As a firefighter family. So one where my husband works away a lot and then is home for any short periods of time. It means that I am having to step quite into my masculine. I’m there, the protector of the household. I am doing all of that kind of thing. That would be traditionally the male role. And so I certainly notice it.

I find it more difficult to sleep when he’s not home. I find it a lot more draining. I find that I’m less in [00:14:00] my joy, my play. My creativity. Because I am having to focus more on that masculine role. I’m having to be more of my masculine energy. And so when he’s home again, I get to be in my feminine, my fun, my play, my soft, my sensuality, all of that good stuff that I want to be in. And then this comes into my work. I find that I’m a lot more creative in my work when I get to be in my feminine energy.

So even though we live in this world of where women are able to do a lot. I feel that being in our feminine energy and really embracing this and even being in more of a traditional role in some aspects, Allows us to really bring forward this really authentic expression of ourselves.

Which brings me on to my next point. Honoring as cyclical energy.

So we’re moving away from the hustle. We’re moving away from the grind. It’s really is not there to support us as female beings. Our bodies are not made for that. We operate on a approximate 28 day cycle. It can be shorter. It can be more and every single day of the month. We have different levels of hormones have going throughout our bodies. wHich means that how you’re feeling today will be different from how you feeling tomorrow. Just my noodly, but it is definitely there. But if you look at it on a slightly grander scale, how you’re feeling in the middle of your cycle is completely different to how you’re feeling at the end of your cycle. You’ve got to be feeling much more creative in some phases than you are and others, when you’re sitting in your own internal winter. You’re not going to be feeling like doing much, maybe going into introspection. But that’s about it.

And so if we are trying to build our businesses where we are operating the same every single day, Some days it’s going to feel really hard.

If we are sitting in the ministration phase, we’re not going to be wanting to get on camera. We’re not going to be [00:16:00] wanting to deal with people to be thinking too much and just being creative, because it is really hard in that stage of our cycle.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s always going to be the case. But when we get to recognize. How we have been and we get to honor the cyclical energy. We’re going to end up having that increased productivity. We’re going to be feeling better. And our output. It’s going to be so much more potent as well.

And tied into this as this focus on more sustainable business. So I touched about this in my previous podcast episode around holistic wealth. And creating a business that moves away from hostile culture moves away from striving for the huge income months and pouring all of our focus into financial success only. It’s about building a business. That may be slower. That much more sustainable. It’s going to have those solid foundations.

It’s not just a shine, bright, disappear business. It’s going to allow you to really have one that supports all of the things that you hold dear in your life. Where you understand your values? And the idea of wealth. Is one that supports those values as well as your business goals. WHich means it’s going to be this positive impact on your overall wellbeing.

It sounds pretty juicy.

And that means what you’re bringing to your business. Is this richer, more meaningful approach?

And the last point that I see as being a trend for 2024. In terms of leadership. Is around this idea of entrepreneurial courage. Embracing the idea of risk-taking. Because with our risks. Come at failures. But they also come our lessons. And so when we actually see [00:18:00] any of our failures as lessons on the way to something better,

It removes that fear around the risk. Now, obviously the needs to be consideration around each of the risks before we dive head first into something.

This is not for everything. But still the quick we fail, the quicker we learn and the quick week RO.

And so where I’ve seen so many business owners just playing safe. Not wanting to push beyond their comfort zone. Feeling comfortable where they are. The problem with that is that they’re not actually growing. And so with this, with this idea of entrepreneurial courage, there needs to be the work that supports this. That allows our nervous system to feel safe, to be able to take those bigger steps. Because if we aren’t regulating our nervous system, If we aren’t doing that inner work. What we’re going to find is that we push ourselves a little bit further than we are comfortable with. Then that we are ready for.

And then all of a sudden we’re going to retreat. We’re going to go Nope. Too hard. See. I failed. I’m not going to even consider the learning for that. I’m just going to say I failed and leave it. But if we keep just sitting in that comfort zone and refusing to move. Everyone else around us is going to move. Those who are. Trendsetters. Those who are thought leaders, those who are going to expand their businesses. And the true leaders. They’re the ones who are actually taking those steps. They’re the ones who are doing all that inner work, that support work that is required to feel safe. To be able to stretch themselves, to stretch their business and to evolve.

It’s kind of like an elastic band. If you just grab an elastic band and stretch it to this it’s forest extremes and let back it’ll snap. I’ll snap against your fingers in. We’re not going to do that again. But it’ll come back quickly. You have stretched it too hard, too [00:20:00] fast.

And without actually giving it a little bit of a warmup. But if you take that same elastic band and you stretch a little. And then allow it to just warm up in your hands and stretch a little and allow it to warm up a bit further and stretch a little and keep doing this little by little by little by little. What you’re doing. Is your alignment to become accustomed to that next level.

And what you’ll actually find is that when you finally do slowly, let go of that elastic band, it will have actually stretched a bit. It will have that memory in it. It won’t simply stack back to the original shape. It’ll have that stretch that you’ve created through warming it up and allowing it to feel comfortable and safe.

To stretch that a little bit further. And that’s exactly like you. And your business. If you were doing the inner work to support yourself as you are pushing a little bit further and a little bit further and a little bit further. You’re going to be comfortable in taking those risks. Even if it means failure. But you’ve got to learn from that. And then you’re going to stretch a little bit more, take another risk, learn from it and then grow and grow and grow.

And this goes a long way to build in that grit and resilience that you’re going to need to be a successful leader.

So my love, these are the main things that I see as really being a priority in leadership. For female business owners in 2024. As I said, they’re not necessarily. Technology related. They’re not going to be. What I see is the latest business model. But more about how you as a leader can embody these things. To be a better business owner to grow your business. To really up level and evolve. Into the next version of yourself.

That focusing on authenticity. The focusing on user personal brand. [00:22:00] Allowing your creativity to come through, building those connections and relationships with your clients, your community, your business friends. Allowing yourself to really reside in your feminine energy and honoring your cyclical rhythms as well. Focusing on building a sustainable business that provides that hellistic wealth. Rather than just burning fast and, and disappearing again. And having the courage. To be Boulder. To be louder. To really step into the limelight more and ensuring that you’re doing that in a work that’s going to support yourself. These are the things that I see as really allowing you to be that bigger leader. In the year ahead. So am I love, these are the things that I’m going to be focusing on in my own business. And I’d love to hear what is it that you’re going to be doing in 2024. Share it with me on Instagram. Until next time have an incredible week and I will see you then.

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