The Power of Oxygen 1st
When my son was little, I was a single mom who was doing it all alone. I was putting everyone else first and my own needs last. To everyone around me, I was successful but little did they know that my success was tied to pushing, stressing, sleepless nights and early morning workouts pushing my body and my limits to the extreme. Until one day I was flying alone and nearly crashed an airplane and I realized that I needed to take care of my own needs first before anyone else. You see, when you’re a pilot, if you have any issues in the plane, you put on your oxygen mask 1st, not your passengers. They need you to land the plane.
This podcast is all about this journey to healing, to getting clear on the desires of your heart… and stepping into them with courage while leaning into, asking for and receiving support. I hope you feel inspired to do less, to follow your passions and infuse them into your daily life and truly claim the life you were meant to live: a life filled to the brim with epic ADVENTURE.
The Power of Oxygen 1st
EP 70: The Most Underrated Business Strategy
What happens when we bring love into the boardroom? In today's episode, I explore the transformative power of leading from love rather than fear in business environments.
As entrepreneurs, we constantly face high-stakes decisions where money, team dynamics, and reputation seem to hang in the balance. These pressures often trigger fear responses – scarcity thinking, urgency, comparison, and self-doubt. When I lead from this place, everything feels heavy and hard. I micromanage, second-guess myself and my team, spiral with anxiety, and lose touch with my purpose. Decision-making becomes painfully slow, and that misalignment radiates throughout my business.
But there's another way. When I lead from love – rooted in self-trust and inner knowing – my business becomes an extension of my soul. I delegate with clarity, market authentically, and serve from overflow rather than depletion. This episode offers a powerful reframe: what if leading with love for yourself, your mission, and your team is actually the smartest business strategy? What if pausing to check in with your heart represents your most powerful move as a CEO?
Fear says "work harder," while love says "work smarter and softer." Fear tells you that you can't afford to slow down, while love reminds you that you can't afford to ignore your body's signals. I challenge you to examine where you're currently making fear-based decisions – in your pricing, hiring, marketing, or client selection – and consider what shifting toward self-honoring choices might look like. Your business can absolutely grow without grinding yourself into burnout, but only when you put your own oxygen mask on first and lead from love.
Download my free Hiring ROI Calculator at dotrockconsulting.com to see how proper support can transform your business while preserving what matters most – your time, energy, and joy.
Want that FREE Hiring Return On Investment Calculator?!
Subscribe to the Power of Oxygen First podcast on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode!
- Book a Coffee & Connection Call
- Free Gift: Learn How to Hire a VA
- Connecting the Dots - 1 Hour Strategy Session with Dot Rock
Connect with Dot
Instagram - www.instagram.com/dot_rock_
Hey guys, this is the Power of Oxygen First podcast and I'm your host, dot Rock. I am an entrepreneur, a mom, a stepmom and a scaling consultant who is obsessed with the art of hiring, support and that dirty word we call delegation. I'm a recovering perfectionist who pushed my body and my limits to the extreme until one fateful day I learned that, just like pilots, I needed to take care of myself first. This podcast is all about the journey to healing, to getting clear on the desires of your heart, stepping into them with courage and leaning into and asking for support. I hope you feel inspired to do less, to follow your passions and infuse them into your daily life and truly claim the life you were meant to live. Well, hello, welcome back to the Power of Oxygen. First, of course, my friends, I am your host, dot Rock.
Speaker 1:Today we're doing another business episode and this is what happens. It's all about what happens when we bring love into the boardroom, when we let love lead our businesses. So we're talking about leading your business, your team, your clients, your vision from this space of love and not fear. My last episode on Tuesday was about this in our personal lives, so please go check that one out. But let's talk about how we would do this in our businesses, in the workplace, and let me just be real with you.
Speaker 1:When I lead my own business from fear which includes scarcity, urgency, comparison or self-doubt everything just feels so hard, so heavy. I've been here a lot lately. It's felt out of sync. I began to micromanage, I second-guess myself, I second-guess my team and I spend with anxiety and honestly, I feel like I lack purpose. I spend with this anxiety and I take a lot longer to make decisions instead of taking aligned action. But when I lead from love, it's just different. It's rooted in alignment, it's rooted in self-trust and a deeper inner knowing this beautiful feminine superpower love and my business feels like an extension of my soul. Again, things flow. I delegate with clarity, I market from my heart, I serve from overflow and not from depletion, and I know my team feels that.
Speaker 1:So if you're a business owner, you know the stakes feel high. There's money on the line, there's team dynamics, there's visibility and reputation, and so often we default to fear without even realizing it. We're just programmed this way. Our brains are programmed to keep us safe. We think if I don't launch right now, I'll miss my chance. We think I cannot afford to hire support. We think I need to say yes to this client, even though something just feels wildly off, even though it feels draining. I have to do more to be taken seriously. But I want to offer a little reframe today. I want to offer that.
Speaker 1:What would it look like if, leading with love for yourself, your mission, your team, what would it look like if you thought that that was actually the smartest business strategy? What if pausing to check in with your heart is actually the most powerful move you can make? Here's what I've learned Fear leads to burnout, but love leads to sustainable success. Fear says work harder, and love says let's work smarter and softer, let's put some processes on autopilot. Fear says you cannot afford to slow down, you have too much on the line, and love says you cannot afford to ignore your body. Fear says you're behind and love says no, no, no, no. You are right on time and you can rest. So what I want to ask you is when in your business are you making fear-based decisions from right now? Is it your pricing? Is it your hiring process? Is it your marketing voice? Is it because somebody told you that's what it should look like and that doesn't feel right to you.
Speaker 1:And what would it look like if you pivoted towards love, towards self-honoring, what seems true for you, even if it's not the same rules that everybody else plays by? Maybe it means honoring that something isn't a full body yes, even if it makes sense on paper. You know, I just did that with a real estate deal for myself. Didn't make sense on paper to sell it, but it made sense in my heart. It was a full body. Well, mostly yes. Even the little parts of me were pulled back to saying no.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's about asking for support. What if honoring yourself is about delegating sooner and raising your rates and saying no to good things so that you can say yes to really great things? Here's what I know for sure. Your business can grow without you grinding all the time, without burning yourself out, but only if you lead with love first. You are the heartbeat of your business and your heart, when given the mic, has some seriously wise CEO energy. So let's practice it today. Let's breathe, let's check in, let's ask am I making this decision from fear or from love? And then honor what truly comes up for you. That's your oxygen first moment. That's where leadership becomes legacy becomes legacy. You just need to get quiet and listen. So thank you for listening today and if this podcast landed for you, I'd love it if you share it with someone with a business who you also think might be navigating some of these same challenges. And if you need any support building a business that breathes, not just survives, you know where to find me. Until next time, put on your oxygen mask first and lead with love with all of your heart.
Speaker 1:Hi, my podcast friends. Hey, have you heard about this new hiring return on investment freebie on my webpage dot rock consulting dot com freebie on my webpage dotrockconsultingcom? If you download it, you'll get some valuable insights that are simple and fast that can help you shift into understanding why hiring, or just plain asking for support, can help you save precious resources and increase your time, your energy and your freedom, and they can help you delegate in your business and personally. And it's backed up by data. So head on over to dotrockconsultingcom to access the very first Oxygen First Hiring Return on Investment Calculator. You'll be able to finally hire with confidence, make some data-driven decisions, but also really shift into the mindset of receiving this support and how it's going to add to the bottom line of fulfillment and joy in your life.
Speaker 1:I hope you enjoy it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to another episode of the Power of Oxygen First podcast. I hope you walk away feeling inspired to do less, to follow your passions and infuse them into your daily life and truly claim the life you were meant to live, and I hope that you start leaning into the art of receiving support. I'm here to support you on that journey. Find me at dot rock consultingcom or dot underscore rock underscore on Instagram. I'd love it if you'd go, follow me and shoot me a quick DM and let me know what takeaway from this episode hit you the hardest, sending you love and adventures on this beautiful day.
