“Showing Up, Showing Out…”

Today’s post is something I shared earlier today on Instagram. I’d shared this on my “personal” account and not my business page @13 Rhythms  It seemed like a very personal reflection to share, but I realised just because I’m a business owner, I’m still very much human, and so I decided to share here, too.

So the person in the header isn’t the person writing this blog post, just for full disclosure!

So the quote from Insta was:

“This one isn’t really about the picture. On Insta lol…On a recent trip away I was busy working on my business most days, spending days indoors, laptop seemingly stuck to my lap. On occasion days, I spent some time at the beach. My two favourite things in the world are the ocean and the sunset. If you didn’t know, now you do. Well those two things plus food, music, partner dancing and Zimbabwe…anyway!

I digress.

Every time I arrived at the sea I swiftly whipped my clothes off, ready to get into the sea – my swimwear strategically under my outfit – I’m from the old school! I splashed about,  walking confidently up and down the beach in a bikini, rather than a swimming costume for maximum sun exposure. I took several really cute pics and videos on the beach, alone and with friends. Yet I look at them and wouldn’t dream of sharing them online. I won’t now either, but it did make me think about visibility and “showing up”.

I have a body that works, it functions well. It holds me upright, and allows me to do the things I want, including travel to see different seas and sunsets, with ease. I have lumps in the wrong places and a lack of bumps where I would love to have them! That’s life right. I realised there, in that context, on the beach in a foreign country, I wasn’t shy about my body. Online I am, I suppose. What is that about? I wasn’t immodestly parading around, just walking around in a bikini tanning #LikeABoss

So I reflect on this question of being seen, whilst simultaneously hiding, and find myself thinking about how it affects me, and my business and life in general. Always reflecting…
.
The moral of the story is wear strapless bikinis to avoid tan lines and stop hiding Nats…just stop it…”

So that’ the post from Insta. It’s had engagement and some have agreed with the sentiment I’ve expressed. It seems that many of us have challenges around visibility, not in the context of walking around in bikini, as that’s not a requirement of running a business! – but in the sense of “showing out” in relation to our expertise, skills, knowledge and experience, and the way that we can “show up” to bring these to forefront when we’re telling the world how excellent, dynamic and effective we are when working with our clients.

When we know we deliver an excellent service, but we don’t tell people about it in a strategic way, it’s like wearing straps – we’ve gone a little of the way, but still holding back, and we’re avoiding showing all of ourselves to the Sun. Let me add – I don’t mean going topless! I mean if you want to tan, get a nice even one including all of your shoulders. I don’t want to overstate this bikini metaphor, but I hope you get my drift!

We post on social media, but we don’t push, promote or share our posts in a strategic way. We know that we can advise and give great service to our clients, but our activities in our own business aren’t quite organised in the way that we are advising our clients to be. It’s like stripping off on the beach there, but hiding undercover over here…

Today’s post is more a message to myself, that I hope others can relate to. It’s about taking some time to reflect on where we are with the visibility of our businesses, and then making an assessment of whether you need to address our own “visibility” challenges. I’ll follow this one up with some tips on how we can increase visibility, but first we start with acknowledgment.

Oh, and this is the picture I shared with this post on Instagram, not a professional picture as you can see! Taken with my ancient iPhone on my recent trip away.

Until next time.

Natalie

Natalie Freeman

13 Rhythms “Developing your story creating chapters you deserve”

Welcome October!

Welcome to October 1st.

This date marks the start of the final quarter of 2018. For many of us this date signals a slight panic, a bit of worry and comments about how “Time is running away!” or “Where has the year gone?” and of course, “It’s nearly Christmas!”

Not everyone works to the calendar year in their business or career planning, preferring to focus on the financial year, or the date of their incorporation, or the date their accountant tells them to; still others use the academic year based on the nature of their business or job. A “year” can start and end whenever works for you.

However, the final quarter of the calendar year can be a fantastic motivating factor which encourages planning, which in turn helps to ensure we end the year on a high, focusing on the specific goals that we would like to achieve before the end of 2018, and moving into 2019 with a clarity of focus and purpose. 

I’d like to share some ideas on how you can end 2018 on a high, create dynamic action plans that ensure you move into 2019 with confidence and enthusiasm, whilst focusing on achieving our sales, marketing, travel, lifestyle, career, earnings, promotion etc goals. 

Synchronicity

Last week I spent some time in the company of someone new to me.

As our time progressed a few things transpired that inspired this blog.

A third person joined us. They and I found we had a few things in common –  primarily some of my previous travelling experience,  and we spent a great amount of time laughing, sharing stories, reminiscing and in many ways forming a “connection” in the way that happens when you find someone that knows some of the same things you know, in a place where you wouldn’t expect to find that level of shared knowledge, and particularly not with someone so close to someone that is now in your orbit…Sync Level 1.

During the conversation they mentioned their interest in starting their own business and I gently sold my services. Sync Level 2 and this provided Lesson One – throughout our conversation and as we shared more and more information they said “I like you. Yes, I want to meet with you to discuss my business.” It’s this feeling of “likeability” that is so important in our businesses as we serve the aspirations of others. People share with us one of their most precious desires – their business idea, details about what motivates them to start or continue to pursue a goal, and who wants to do that with someone they don’t  “take to”? My likeability is of course subjective, and it isn’t an indication of the quality of my advice or the effectiveness of my work in developing the businesses of others, but it certainly forms part of our decision making when deciding who we wish to work with, or not.

Our three-way conversation continued and I mentioned some work I had done previously. We realised that we all shared similar frustrations in working on funded projects that ended, often abruptly, when the organisations we were engaged with decided to end financially supporting the innovative and entrepreneurial work we had delivered. Sync Level 3.

Then it happened.

We all realised that we had worked in the exact same field, in different capacities, different countries and for different periods of time, but there it was – our shared interest, shared expertise and most importantly our shared desire to continue the work – in front of us all in a way that was completely unexpected. Consider that the background to our conversation was completely unrelated; that person A and I had never spoken of this aspect of our careers before and this was the first time meeting the person B.

Excitement overcame me as I looked at the potential of the opportunities in front of me -and now I saw in these two new allies, collaborators, business partners, supporters – all of these roles and everything in-between.

To labour the point, because at this stage you might think it’s as momentous as I might be making it out to be: I don’t mean that we just worked in project management at some stage in our careers; the link is that we’ve worked on the same types of projects, same target audience, exact same subject area, with a shared geographical interest in the UK and internationally – of all the countries in the world, our link was to one that I definitely see in my future. I mean that level of synchronicity, Sync Level Bonus 1,215,332!

As always in our business lives, its not the incident that is relevant, but the action that is taken afterwards. Emails have already been sent, and I’m sincerely looking forward to the follow-up meetings and planning that will happen to take our individual ideas forward, now as a collective. Often the world of self-employment can be quite isolated, so whilst I work in supporting other people all the time, I’m always excited about working with others on my own pursuits and projects.

I like these two, too.

So, what’s lesson two? Maybe it’s something about being an active listener. Maybe it’s something about asking the right type of investigative questions. Perhaps it’s something about openness and being interested in others. Maybe there’s no lesson here other than to recognise that sometimes the universe aligns and presents us with what we need, and that it’s up to us to materialise these gifts into what we want.

Maybe it’s all or none of these things.

Close-up of a peacock tail feather

 

“13 on the 13th”

Tuesday is 13 blog day and today is an extra-special Tuesday as it’s the 13th December. To mark the occasion I’m launching the new series “13 on the 13th”. This will be a hotlist of thirteen facts, tips or hacks related to an area of business or career development.  To kick off the series, today’s “13 on the 13th” will feature facts about me, Natalie, and 13 Rhythms, my service. Part of my increasing visibility about 13 Rhythms, will include people getting to know a little bit more about me. However, as I find talking about myself difficult, I asked for feedback from others – something that they associate with me. I’ve not censored their words, but did say it was for this blog so it’s all PG rated!  I’ve included some of my own comments too.

So. Let’s begin.

1. 13 Rhythms was born on Friday, 13th September, 2013. The idea that something positive and life changing could manifest itself on a date associated with bad luck and unhappy events, led to the name and the mission behind what I do – delivering services that focus on changing perspectives and removing limiting beliefs – beliefs from unknown origins which don’t serve our goals and aspirations.

2. My favourite quote is “Think. Act. Be.” mainly because it was my colleague, now friend, Hanson and my intern Lazza who came up with it and then painted it on the wall in our office.

3. I love giving people nicknames. If you have one from me, you’ll know this to be true!

4. “I remember your love for avocado and Freeze-Its.” Ice poles by another name on another continent.

5. Zimbabwe changed my life.

6. “Mama Nat can’t do tech!” This always makes me laugh! Oh and that’s one of many nicknames I’ve been given. Apparently I’m not very good with computers. This is only partially true. Kinda…

Freeze Its

My Wandering Feet

Sunset in Lisbon

7. “Your love for wandering is what got us connected. Your wandering, dancing feet.” and “You like dancing Kizomba and crazy high heels.” I’m cheating here putting two together. I’m going to add that I have a wish/dream/aim to dance Salsa in Cuba. Serious cheating!

8.  My favourite colour is hot pink, time of day – sunset and season – summer.

9. “You have a great sense of humour and are the queen of one liners.”

10. “Freeman is direct and to the point after absorbing what’s going on.””You have a great grasp of a lot of topics and give great conversation.” “Natalie has acute attention to detail.” I grouped these together because they are so similar, even though they are from three different people who all know me but not each other.

11. I’ve never broken a bone.

12. I love cooking outdoors – meat, fish and vegetables on a BBQ makes me happy. Always.

13. “Everyone you come into contact with leaves in a better mood than before.” So this one made me cry – I am taken by sentiment (fact 13.5!) but it’s the meaning behind the words that gets me.

So that’s it. It is of course difficult to know what to share about ourselves, when and for what purpose. The lesson I’m learning more and more is the need for visibility of the business owner, in our people-centred services. No list is exhaustive but it can be useful to give others something personal about us that they can connect to.

So with the purpose of this blog being “visibility” the real breakthrough for me will be when I share these “13 on the 13th” lists via video…and I have a whole month to practice.

Wish me luck!

Acknowledgements: With huge, warm thanks and gratitude to WBPOWE, EK, KN, YA, DB, CH, CM and special thanks to LH for all the reasons you know in relation to 13. Thank you. All photographs taken by and owned  by me.

 

“Just Wait…”

Yesterday I was invited to join a podcast to speak about 13 and the events I have coming up later this month, in November and December. It was my first time being “interviewed” and speaking about not just my business, but a little bit about how I came to be developing 13 Rhythms. I think I underestimate the importance of my personal story and how others might relate to it…Maybe that’s a topic for a future blog…?

The producers of the podcast forwarded the list of questions in advance as well as asking me to pick a song that reflected my entrepreneurial journey so far. This was quite difficult, as it’s not something I’d thought of before, but I came up with a song. My choice was “Just Wait” by Incisive featuring Shakka.

Shakka (left and upside down, Incisive on the right)

As I listened to the song lyrics I was struck by how relevant they are to the process of starting-up and running your own business. The song speaks of Incisive’s continual push to be able to do music as his full time pursuit and achieve a certain level of success with it. Despite being well known on the live music scene and producing and releasing albums I suspect that many of our readers haven’t heard of either of them. I think is something they would like to change.

But listening to the song with a new perspective presented me with lots of food for thought and inspired today’s blog. Some of the stand-out lyrics for me were:

“You move ‘cos you tell your legs to move…” –

Being self-employed is about being self-propelling. Absolutely – your motivation has to come from you now that you’re taking this journey.

“Yeah I’m on my grind, even when I’m skygazing or playing Playstation or farting around on Facebook…”

I find that entrepreneurs and those who are self-employed are often thinking about the next thing they want to do in their business, or a new idea they have, even in their downtime. This is something I’m sure many can identify with.

 

“None of these things are ever set in stone.”

I find this line to be very relevant – our business idea and our overall vision for our lives with our businesses remains the solid foundation of what we do on a day to day basis, but there is a need to be adaptable about how we go about developing our business, as the needs of our customers and environments change.

“When I play my hand then I’m all in”

This one is self-explanatory, right? If we’re about this journey we have to fully commit to it, even it’s it’s not our full time business.

My favourite line of all?

“There’s only plan A, plan B is doing plan A.”

I LOVE this line. I interpret it as even if we change our initial actions towards achieving our business goals – plan A – we are simply taking a new approach to achieving our business goals – plan B – and not changing our plans altogether – Plan A. I hope I’ve made this comment make sense? It’s my favourite line and it makes complete sense to me! Ort it can be interpreted as being single minded and fixed completely on your goal – no deviating. Both work for me.

Do you have a song that relates to your entrepreneurial journey? Share your thoughts. You can listen to an shorter version of my song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAg1kWDYxW4.

The full song including Shakka’s verse is available on iTunes:

My podcast is being edited and will be available for next week’s blog. I’m a tiny bit excited…!

Have a great week!

 

 

 

Taking the Plunge…

Presenting our products or services to potential customers can feel pretty nerve-wracking. It’s essentially us displaying a part of ourselves to “the world” in the hope that they think we are as good as we think we are. We may have taken time to train and hone our skills, having observed Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 Hour Rule” resulting in us being very good at our “something”.

When we choose to take the opportunity to let others see our “something” this is where the understandable nervousness comes in. We worry about the quality, about the response we’ll receive, about whether people will think us authentic and believable as a product or service provider.

The good news is, these feelings are normal – how could we not feel apprehensive about this process? There’s even more good news though as we remember the following things:

• Taking your skills to the market is an essential part of the business start-up process. It will give you the opportunity to have controlled exposure to customers and to gather their feedback.
• Feedback is one of the most important factors in your business.  Positive comments help you to know what you should continue doing – this can help to shape your eventual product launch or let you know what services to start with. Feedback that provides you with “areas of development” is equally, if not more, important, as it is this information that forms the basis of the changes and adaptations to your original idea, keeping you in line with the needs of your target customer.
• Letting yourself feel the nerves and doing it anyway will be an activity that will be repeated over and over again in your business journey. You may as well do it now and start getting used to it!

Nerves aren’t a bad thing – it’s nerves that stop us from acting and making moves in our business that are damaging. So breathe deeply, wear a smile, believe in yourself and expose your skills to the world…!

Good luck.

 

 

The Comfort Zone

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

There are lots of motivational quotes and images that speak eloquently about the comfort zone and how growth happens “over there”. 13 Rhythms agree with this. However The 13 Way is about being realistic and practical in all our pursuits.

Let’s do this: think  about a time that you’ve attended a training course or a similar type of event. Chances are you found a seat in the morning, returned there after lunch and stayed there until the end of the day. We choose the seat that we like and stay there for the entire day, becoming strongly connected to the plastic and metal chair that we’ve only just been introduced to!  We place our coats and bags around the chair and settle in. We become very comfortable in that chair and don’t move from it.

The notion of escaping the comfort zone is often represented by skydiving, rock climbing or doing a bungee jump. We understand that this is out of reach for many of us, people who then feel frustrated that they aren’t stretching ourselves.

But we say this. Next time you’re at an event, move seats. Just sit in a different chair. After lunch, adjust yourself to a new seat, a new neighbour and a new perspective. After tea, swap again. This is “getting out of your comfort zone” too. It’s a small thing, but try it. You’ll have done something different, something that you wouldn’t ordinarily do – that’s getting out of your comfort zone too. Start here and who knows where you’ll end up – maybe throwing yourself out of a plane.

Or maybe just to a different chair…

Good luck!