FORBESWOMEN
Incorporating Spirituality Into Your Business May Be The Key To Success
Annie Ridout
Former Contributor
Journalist, author of Shy, founder of The Robora and business coach
Jun 20, 2019,08:09am EDT
Fairy oracle cards ANNIE RIDOUT
Oprah Winfrey speaks publicly about her daily spiritual practice—including starting the day with thoughts of gratitude. Arianna Huffington sets intentions for the day and meditates for 30 minutes. And Headspace founder Andy Puddicombe has built a multimillion-dollar app based on his Buddhist meditation.
So, should all entrepreneurs embrace spirituality and rely on it to help with growth?
Spirituality broadly means relinquishing a certain amount of responsibility for your own life and believing that there is something bigger at play. It is the belief that you are guided at least in part by a higher power. But it doesn’t require you to follow a specific religion, just to be open-minded about life beyond earth.
Sometimes, we don’t even realize we’re following a spiritual path because it’s so engrained in our culture. For instance, the horoscopes we might read in the newspaper on our commute to work and take comfort in, because we’ve been told we’re going to have a great day or that good fortune is coming our way.
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I’ve found myself following a handful of spiritual practices within my own business: setting positive affirmations as reminders in my phone that appear and remind me I’m on track—eg. "money is coming your way." Also, listing everything I’m grateful for. And more recently, I found a box of fairy oracle cards, which—like tarot cards—some people believe can be used to predict the future.
I’m not sure I believe in a higher power but pulling out a fairy card with the title "financial flow" that says money is coming my way gives me hope. It makes me feel positive. And that, in turn, affects how I operate in business. I might be more open to offers, risks and feel deserving of my success.
Curious as to how other entrepreneurs incorporate spirituality into their business practice—and what results they believe this has yielded—I asked four women to share their experiences.
Suzy Ashworth: mindset and business coach, author, TEDx speaker
Suzy Ashworth SUZY ASHWORTH
Suzy meditates most day. She feels it enables her to create space and calm in what might otherwise be considered a chaotic and overwhelming life. “I also feel that meditation creates the space for inspiration that comes from beyond my logical thinking mind,” she says.
Another part of her daily routine is journalling and future visioning, which she uses to create the life she wants to lead. “As I write down the vision I have for me in the future, I tend to write that future in the present tense. As I write, I allow myself to get into the feeling of what it is I desire, as though it is already done.”
Some people might simply call this goal-setting, says Ashworth, but she includes it as part of her spiritual practice. She also uses angel cards almost daily to strengthen her intuition.
"A friend of mine once said that we need to give the intellect of the brain a rest in favor of tuning into the wisdom of the heart and strengthening our intuition. Going with your gut feeling is an important skill and is absolutely necessary for me, when I'm looking to take risks in both business and life. The cards also provide inspiration for how and what to communicate to my community.”
And these practices have paid off.
“I absolutely credit the speed at which my business has grown, revenue-wise, to just under £500,000 in sales in last year to the combination of work ethic and my spiritual and mindset practice. This has allowed me to make quantum leaps in growth,” she says.
“And the best example of this to date is that in June 2019, my business received just under £30,000 in sales in 15 days—in the most easeful, graceful way. This was off the back of facilitating a retreat in Barcelona that took my own spiritual practice and alignment with receiving to an even deeper level.”
Before opening her mind to looking beyond the physical world, in terms of business, Ashworth was working 10-12 hour days and not seeing the financial results she desired. So she took practical steps like employing support and adjusting the business model, but also started to change her mindset.
“Whilst I do not believe that you can sit on your backside and meditate your way to a million,” says Ashworth, “I know that when you have a strong spiritual and mindset practice, you can bypass what the brain says is logical and acceptable and create extraordinary impact and income in far smaller amounts of time."
Sarah Akwisombe: creative entrepreneur and business strategist
Sarah Akwisombe AMANDA CLARKE
“When I was in the early days of my business,” says Sarah Akwisombe, "I got myself a money and manifesting coach called Jennifer Macfarlane—aka The Money Medium—who has helped me to think bigger along every step of the way.”
After realizing how much manifesting and breaking down money blocks did for her ability to make money, Akwisombe decided to create a course on Money and Manifesting that is now run through No Bull Business School.
“I also often consult tarot cards myself if I need a little bit of guidance on business decisions or 'what to do next' type scenarios and I set intentions around the new and full moons to do with the business and my goals. I just did this the other night and it was spookily accurate,” she says.
She feels the coaching from Macfarlane has helped her to stretch for bigger targets and push for more. “And that has a knock-on effect in terms of what we turnover financially,” she says. “Mostly because I'm now outside of my own limiting beliefs around what I can make.”
“As a kid I saw my dad earn over £100k a year salary. To exceed this seemed almost impossible but I've done it and I can only attribute that to doing the spiritual mindset work that has allowed me to realize it's possible,” adds Akwisombe.
“I've also totally manifested brand collaborations. One night I wrote down a list of 100 things I wanted, one of which was to collaborate with my favorite designer fashion brand Moschino. I woke up the next day to an email asking if I wanted to be part of a campaign for Farfetch wearing, you guessed it, Moschino. Could it be coincidence? Of course. But I don't know if I believe it is.”
Like Ashworth, Akwisombe believes that you can’t just read a book on manifesting, write a cheque to yourself for a million quid and then sit on your sofa and expect it to turn up. “I believe the universe works with intention,” she says. “You have to make the first step and it will then give you something back. Then you take another and the same thing happens.”
Interestingly, she avoids words like "graft," believing it trains us to believe that success “is only at the end of a really hard road. I prefer to think about applying myself. The more I apply myself to something, the more it's going to pay off. That's not measured in how many hours I've put in or how little sleep I've had. It's about the intention.”
Tamu Thomas: founder of lifestyle brand Three Sixty
Tamu Thomas EDMOND KAMARA
For Tamu Thomas, spiritual practice is a fundamental part of her business. “It provides me with the holistic support necessary to show up and do my work in a way that feels meaningful,” she says, “rather than fuelling productivity addiction and depletion.”
She uses practices such as meditation, affirmations, breathing techniques and journaling, and reads angel cards most days. “Each day starts with a guided meditation. I have a morning ritual and schedule spiritual practices throughout my day such as 10 minutes of specific visualisation twice a week.”
Thomas says that visualisation and somatic-style affirmation are her “go-to tools in terms of business planning”. And that this goes hand-in-hand with business analysis and strategy. “I struggle with the term manifesting, as it can suggest that there is no action required, which is not the case at all,” she says.
“When I'm really stuck I get a tarot reading from Leona Nichole Black," she says. “Leona’s readings provide me with clarity in relation to my mindset and this ultimately benefits my business, enabling me to conduct myself powerfully rather than play small.”
In terms of results, Thomas feels calmer in her approach to business. “I'm creating and planning from a place of calm,” she says. “When I decided to end the clothing element of my brand, my spiritual practice enabled me to do it without stress.” And she has continued to successfully grow other areas of the business.
I have developed a very grounding faith in myself, which gives me permission to be authentic and make connections based on who I actually am. This has led to me being booked to speak at events, deliver workshops and collaborate on projects sharing a more soulful way to approach life and business.”
She agrees that nothing is going to happen if you “lay in bed visualizing and reading angel cards.” But her spiritual practice puts her in the head and heart space necessary to trust that she is capable and can take appropriate action.
“Action is the binding ingredient creating a harmonious relationship between spirituality and strategy. Without the action, you oscillate between the smug high of what you know and the crippling self-judgement and criticism that comes from knowing but not doing.”
Aisha Carrington: Intuitive self-love guide and founder of The Get Lit Retreats
Aisha Carrington AISHA CARRINGTON
“I have always used manifestation in my business,” says Aisha Carrington. “It’s helped me to work with some amazing people and event spaces for my retreats that were out of my price range when I was starting out.”
She uses angel cards to help guide any new business ideas that she feels she may be overthinking or lacking patience with, and says that the cards always point her in the right direction.
Carrington also uses a tool called the "sway test," which relies on finding an answer via the way her body sways. “Recently, I was finding it hard to find a villa for the retreat I was planning in April,” she says. “When I said ‘the retreat is in May’, my body swayed forward meaning yes. When I said ‘The retreat is in April’ it moved backwards. When I looked for the same villas in May that weren’t free in April, they was available and the retreat was perfect.”
She believes that if you set intentions and are open to intuitive signs, you will then feel confident to take action. “My saying is intention plus action = magic,” she says. “It's not always meant for you and that's where determination or graft won't help you."
"I believe in divine timing; we’re all being intuitively guided daily and we all manifest things without realizing. Higher powers are always available to us. The most magical things happen every day when we are open to receiving.”
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Annie Ridout
Journalist, author of 'Shy: How being quiet can lead to success' and founder of The Robora. We help... Read More
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