Why I decided to downscale my business

Let’s address the taboo around taking a step backward in order to take two steps forward.

This has been popping up a lot in my field lately, as I witness more and more business owners waking up to the ways that HOW they are operating is out of alignment with their deeper soul’s purpose.

I can't tell you how many clients and students I've had who, behind closed doors, secretly express that they hate the way they've been doing business. That it's too stressful, too draining, or feeling like they're disconnected from the mission. There are a lot of successful people out there who have built up a pretty great business but had to put their own happiness and desires in the backseat along the way.

This was an awakening I had myself back in January — I looked at my life and realized that I’d gotten complacent. Even though I was making great income, working with dream clients, living in a beautiful home, and had free time on my hands... I realized that I wasn't maximizing how I was spending my time.

One night, I was reading a Carlos Castaneda book, where he talks about how there are many paths that you can take in your lifetime, but only one path is the path with heart. I remember reading that line, stunned, and thinking to myself: am I on the path with heart right now?

My mind tried to over-rationalize why everything was fine, but my body was like nope: the truth was that my relationship was ending, I was working on several projects I wasn't passionate about, and I was feeling emotionally drained by certain people who were acting out of integrity.

I told myself it was fine... for months... until I realized that somewhere along the way, I'd lost myself in all the “doing” and keeping busy “growing my empire” but forgot to ask myself…

Is this HOW I want to grow my business?

That is... spending at least half of my time managing my team, juggling a bunch of projects at once, and barely having time to create content (which is what I love doing)?

Don't get me wrong NAME, this was an ok path... but it wasn’t the path with heart.

It wasn’t the path that juiced me up, that excited me, and had me jumping out of bed every morning.

I was too busy. There was too much "stuff" filling my day that wasn't contributing to the bigger vision of being in flow, enjoying my life, having time to spend with loved ones, and having powerful conversations with interesting people every day.

That’s when I realized that, after almost 2 years of incessantly growing my team, creating products, “doing” tons of things for my business, I had to take a step back to pause and re-evaluate. You bet that my ego didn’t like that.

Instead, she was like...

Ummm, what do you think you're doing, Celinne? Things are going well, keep working, you can't stop now!

How are you going to pay your team and your other commitments if you take a step back, hm?

What about the big launch that was supposed to bring you 6-figures, why would you even consider pushing that back?

... and more.

So I made the decision /my first big decision

I had to really work with my triggers to make some hard but necessary decisions like cutting down on team members, postponing a big launch, saying no to new projects… so that I could come back into my center, re-evaluate my business model, and consciously make decisions that would serve the next level of my vision.

The first thing I did was go back to the very process that I teach my private clients and mastermind students: I got clear on what it was that I actually wanted (versus what I thought I wanted, two different things), what were the disempowering stories I was telling myself to keep me from having my desired reality, and what were the key action steps I needed to take to get back into alignment.

Every day, I've been asking myself the question: “Where can I do less, that as a result will make me more?”

I've made a few strategic power moves since then that have felt super nourishing and aligned, including:

?? Landing a Fortune 200 consulting gig supporting the leadership team with releasing old conditioning and showing up as their highest selves in the workplace, which is *exactly* my soul’s work

?? Automated my client workflows to elevate the client backend experience and save me & my team tens of hours of manual work x month

?? Raised my rates & restructured my programs to have a full week off per month and 3 months off a year

?? Mornings before 10am fully to myself, fun social events at least 2 evenings a week

?? Cutting down on unnecessary and "extra" expenses, which increased our profit margin

And by the way... downscaling my business does not mean receiving less income ??

I had my highest income month in the past 6 months, doing way less.

I’m experiencing more and more how SIMPLICITY and building a rock solid foundation is key to long-term growth ?? .

The same concept applies to your brand… one of the things I teach is to build it steady and build it strong. The conscious, step-by-step building is what I attribute to having created a personal brand that’s been recognized by some of the biggest names and media outlets in the industry, including Forbes, TEDx, Tony Robbins, and more.

To me, it’s not a race. It’s a steady becoming and deepening into the most beautiful, joyful, and fulfilling existence I can create.

What about you - what do you need to let go of, re-evaluate, and bring back into alignment in your life?