Podcast #25 - End the Overwhelm: Create a Business You Love to Run

Podcast #25 - End the Overwhelm: Create a Business You Love to Run

In this special episode of the Joy-Led Business Podcast, Tina Joy Cochran shares a sneak peek into the transformative lessons of the Joy-Led Business Workshop. Discover what it means to be a joy-led business owner and how aligning your business with clarity, confidence, and commitment can lead to a life you love. Tina opens up about her personal journey from struggle to joy, the characteristics of a joy-led business owner, and the powerful steps to creating a business that honors your faith and lifestyle.

Whether you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or simply looking for a fresh perspective, this episode will inspire you to embrace joy, take action, and grow your business in partnership with God. Don’t miss the practical tips, heartfelt encouragement, and actionable homework that will set you on the path to a joy-led life.

🎧 Tune in now and take your first step toward a business and life filled with joy!

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Transcript

Tina Joy 0:01

Hey there, welcome to the Joy Ladd business podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. I am thrilled that you're here. Sometimes growing a business can ruin your work life balance and make you feel like you have to be someone you're not, but it doesn't have to be that way. Business should incorporate your faith and honor the creative rural lifestyle you cherish. That's why I created this podcast to be your personal business coach in your pocket. Here you'll find Practical tips, insightful interviews, and easy to follow training all crafted to fit seamlessly into your busy life. Whether you're driving, creating, or taking a walk, I'll be right there with you. Now let's dive into this episode and start turning your dreams into reality. I can't wait to share this journey with you. You are listening to a very special episode of the Joy Led Business Podcast. This episode is a preview of one of the course lessons in the Joy Led Business Workshop. Listen in now as we talk about where can joy take your business? In this lesson. We are going to talk about the core of what we do and the joy led business. What does it mean to be joy led? What does the joy led journey look like? What does it look like to go from maybe not having joy leading the way to being a joy led business owner? What does the joy led business owner even look like? And then we're going to talk a little bit about the practicality of how that shows up in the business and what. kind of things that you are going to end up having by the end of this course. And I just am thrilled to get started and dive into this with you. But as always, we better start with prayer. This isn't my course. This is his course, and we want to make sure that we're lined up with him. Father, you are amazing, and you are good, and you are kind, and you really are. Joy is what you created us for. Help us to just see that. Help us to partner with you in this journey so that joy is leading the way and that we are partnered so closely with you that we walk into the world with confidence and clarity and we have a commitment to keep on going and that we can represent you as joy led business owners. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Okay. So let me tell you a story first. So for decades, I struggled. I mean, decades. I struggled. I fought with things like depression, divorce, moving. Yeah, 23 times in 20 years. I mean, not ever staying in the same place. Job changes, not being able to stick with a job for very long. Weight gains. My weight has gone up and down a hundred pounds or more. And then some. Life really kicked me in the mind for a long time. And to be honest, life was something that was to be endured. I never thought I would be a business owner. I never thought business was what I would do primarily. Why? Cause I don't do sales and marketing and I don't like the sales part. And I just didn't think I had it in me to be a business owner I just thought. I would just hang in there until God would take me home. And the sooner the better. So I do get it that life can be really, really tough. And yet my middle name is joy. God designed me for joy. He designed joy to be at the center of what I am. And in all that struggle, I learned that it came from mainly from trying to be A square peg in a round hole from trying to be someone that I was never designed to be. And as I looked to God to fix the business, honestly, to fix the business, maybe if I pray for my clients, I will get more. That was the process, the thinking. What I found was that what he really wanted was to use the vehicle of business to release me to joy and let joy lead the business. Now, this is not a lesson where I'm going to walk through my entire life story. I published two books, Coming Home to Joy and 30 Days to Joy. Both of those speak to the journey that I went on personally and the transformation and the encounters with the Lord that healed me from depression, healed me from that struggle and moved me into this place where I am now. It has not been easy and it has not been quick. It has taken me 10 years to get to a place where all the things that I've been experiencing, all the things that my clients have been experiencing, that we have a structure and a path that I can share with you. And I'll tell you what, I am so excited to be able to finally. I want to have some clarity around how to share this in a way that you can take it and run with it. We're calling it the Joy Led Journey. So what does it mean to be Joy Led? Particularly in business. Joy Led. Is when you allow your business to grow in partnership with God. That means he leads the way and we partner with him to use the gifts and talents that he has given us to grow a business that makes money. The result is we not only discover that we can do it, but that we learn to design a business that fits the lifestyle we were destined to live. You see, I believe that if we were given something of value to bring to the world, then God already has set up people on the other side, looking for the bridge that connects the two. What we bring to the world and the people looking for it is a business and the way we transfer that value is money. So when we partner with God in this process, we find the strength to walk through the tough stuff and the courage to boldly celebrate the wins. Sometimes you need. Both believe it or not. So let's dive in and talk about this joy led journey. What does it look like? Here's what it looks like. There are basically three steps in the joy led journey. Step number one is clarity. What does that mean? Clarity decide what you want. Not only for your business, but for your lifestyle, you see, your business is the vehicle that will support. Your lifestyle. So as well, you are thinking about what you want and what this business is. Clarity is the first step. Now, don't panic. I'm not asking you in this lesson to figure out all that clarity. We're going to move into a whole module on just clarity, and I'm going to break it down for you in bite sized chunks so that you can walk through questions and processes in order to be able to have some real clarity. on what you're trying to build. The next step in the process is confidence. Once we know where we're going, then we have to build what we need, not only for marketing, but for business operations and personal growth. Again, we will have an entire module in this, in this workshop on confidence. And this one is our biggest module where we're going to dive into each one of these three things. Marketing, business operations, and personal growth. And what are the things that you need to build? I'm going to give you some assessments to do to be able to see how far you've come, what you've already built, and then Also decide and prioritize what you need to build next. Next step. Once you've got clarity on what you're doing and built what you need, then you need to make a commitment to take action with accountability and support. As you already know, as a part of the golden heartland community, as part of this workshop, you've got accountability and support in this community. We'll dive deeper into that later on in that commitment module of this workshop. When you do that. You roll into this place of joy led business, where you grow into the highest and best business owner that you can be. And you enjoy running your business and running a business that you can love for a lifetime. This is where we're going. This is the journey. That we're going to go on together in this workshop, we'll go through each one of these steps. Each one of these steps has a module of its own, where we will dive deeply into the different components that make up those steps. So that by the time that you finish this course, you will have some clarity about what you're building. You will have some confidence that you can build what you, what you need to build to get you there. And you will be making some commitments and how to take action. I'm what you're doing. Sound good? I know I am thrilled to be able to concisely put this together because this is the exact journey that the Lord has taken me on. And it's been, like I said, a decade trying to figure out how to get to this point. So my hope is by putting this course together and putting this workshop together and walking beside you with it. It won't take a decade. You don't need to. We've got this. I've got you. Let's start next with what does a joy led business owner look like? See, here's the challenge in this. When it comes to the things we do, a lot of times what we really need to do is grow into the person that we need to be in order to do that. Does that make sense? Right. I mean, if any of you have had children, you become a mom or a parent and you really have no clue what you're doing. You've just got the title of parent and you have to grow into what it's like to be a mom to really be able to operate in it. Makes sense. Let's talk about to go on this joy led journey. What kind of characteristics does a joy led business owner have? So here's what a joy led business owner has. A joy led business owner has vision. They listen to God's plan. They know what success looks like. They can define success for their lifestyle and they are a follower of Jesus, no matter what the world says. God's plan comes first. They know what it is and they know what success means to them. They also are committed to growth. And by growth, I mean they are taking those negative thoughts captive. They are straightening out their priorities. This is an ongoing process. And you might look at this and go, wow, I don't have. Any of this, or yeah, I'm really great at some of this, but some of this I'm not, don't worry, we're going to work on this. The next characteristic of a joy led business owner is focus. Now, what do I mean by focus? They know what to do next through prayer. They're committed to prayer and a relationship and growth with Jesus that allows them to pray without ceasing so that they can stay focused. Next number four is gratitude. A joy led business owner appreciates and respects what is now. They are not focused on the past and they are not living for the future. They are focused on the present. Let go of the past. And they trust God for the future. Last characteristic of a joy led business owner is connection. They know that they are part of something bigger, that it's not just about them, that it's not just about other people, but it's a bigger picture. One of my mentors uses the phrase, it's never about the business. It's never about the money. It's never about me. It's always about Jesus. And that's part of this process as a joy led business owner, that. We move into this place where we are connected to a higher and bigger purpose and to other people for the vision that God has placed in front of us. And you can do this. I know, I know you can't, because I'll tell you what, if this girl who from the time she was 12 years old. Was begging God to let me come home and wanted to be dead. And life was just something that had to be endured and people were not safe. And people suck the life out of you. If God can take that girl and he can transform that into, I am. over the moon thrilled that I'm still here. I've gone from begging God to take me home to asking God to let me stay longer and thanking him that I'm here at all. And that people have gone from being dangerous and not safe to being some of the highlights of my day and the reason I get up in the morning. And business has been the vehicle that God has used to make that transformation. And I want that for you too, if you can do it for me, he can do it for you. Joy led journey, this joy led business owner characteristics, are the things that help you get there. So what does a joy led business look like? When you put it together and what we're going to do in this course is we are going to work to build three plans. We're going to work to build a business plan. Where we know the vision of what it is that we're building and what success looks like. We have short term and longterm goals around the business. Trust me. This is not. Your typical business plan that is going to be 50 pages and you're going to be looking for investors and it's going to have graphs and charts and SWOT analysis. This is the plan that gives you so much clarity around what it is That your purposes and what it is that this business exists for that you like to run it and you get excited about it and it's easy to talk about. The next thing we build is a marketing plan and that's where, you know, the strategies and tactics to use to reach new customers. Because can you imagine you've got this wonderful thing and then you don't tell anybody, right? Well, our marketing plan will help us find those people that God has already placed out into the future for us to connect to with what he's given us to give them. So think about it like this. God has given you gifts and talents. He's given you This unction in your heart to create and to bring that stuff to the market. And then he's giving you this thing called marketing that as you just lean into it, it takes you on a rollercoaster ride. Yeah, it's a bit of a rollercoaster, but it takes you on a rollercoaster ride till you meet some amazing people who are already looking for it. That's what your marketing plan is going to help you do, and it's going to help you figure out what tools that you need to build, what metrics you need to track so that you know what the results are. And the last plan is the action plan. Can you imagine you have a vision of a business, you got all set up to market to people, but you never take action. We're going to take some action. Look at how this matches. So in the business plan, that's our clarity piece. In the marketing plan, that's our confidence piece. And in the action plan, that is our commitment piece. So by the time you finish with this workshop, we are step by step, slowly going through each one of these areas, so that. You can build these plans so that you can take action and move forward. So what does it look like when we put it all together? When we put it all together, a joy led business owner has plans for the business. They know how to market it. They know what actions to take and they walk with the Lord at a high level of confidence Clarity and commitment. This, this is the journey we're going on together in this workshop. We're going to design the plans and as a result, grow with the Lord in clarity, confidence, and commitment and doing business with him. It is my honor to walk with you in this journey. I know that the Lord is with us in this, and here's what some of our goals look like when we talk about vision from a joy led business owner that helps us go from confused. To clarity when we talk about growing and being focused on growth, we go from fear to confidence. When we get focused as a joy led business owner, we go from distracted to committed. Gratitude helps us to go from that poverty mindedness to an abundance mindedness. Can you imagine what it would feel like to not be confused, afraid, distracted, scared you're going to lose money all the time? To actually be in a place where you have clarity, confidence, you're committed. And you come from a place of abundance, changes everything about how you do business. And lastly, we come from a place of isolation to community guys for years, years and years and years. I thought, Oh, I can run this business all on my own. I'm a solo preneur. That meant I wasn't dealing with anybody else. And it's just not worth it to stay in that place of isolation. community and being with peers, with coaches, with customers allows you to spread joy and allows you to receive joy in a way that I can't even describe. So are you ready for some homework? Here's our homework. We're going to pray journal and process the joy Lead journey and the characteristics of a joy led business owner. What I want you to do is thinking about where are you in this? Where do you struggle? Pray about it. Journal about it. Take some time to do it. All right. So you're going to answer these questions. Where are you most joy led when you're looking at the steps and the characteristics, where are you most Joy led where you're like, yeah, we've got this, this part. I've got a good handle on where do you need to make progress? Start looking at where are the places that you need to make progress. And when you're looking at those things, the next question is, what seems most urgent to change? Now notice the phrasing there, what seems most urgent to change? When you're looking at the characteristics and you're looking at these steps, go, where does it need to change most? Right. And last but not least, the question is what is having the biggest impact on your business and your life? What I have discovered and part of why this exists is because no matter what we're trying to accomplish and no matter how many clients I work with, as I walked back through and said, where do they get stuck? It's either I'm not clear about what I'm doing or I don't have the tools and I don't have confidence or I'm just not committed to taking some action. And so what I want you to do is spend some time assessing where you're at before I let you go. Here's what I want you to know. You're going to be doing a lot of work where you're going to be looking openly and honestly at yourself. And I want you to hear this loud and clear no matter what you discover in this. There is nothing, there is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing on this journey that puts you in a place of shame or less than or lack. What we're doing is shining light. On the things that have been keeping you stuck on the things that are keeping you from being that amazing person that God designed you to be running the amazing business that he has designed already for you and serving people who are already looking for what you have to offer. He designed abundance, joy, and he created you absolutely perfectly from the moment that you were created. It might not feel like it. But it's the truth. And what we're going to go through in this process is we were going to peel away all of the stuff that has buried that beautiful, amazing person and business that God has already designed. This is your journey and your process between you and the Lord. I am your guide on this. and you will get there and it will be less than a decade. Know I'll be praying for you. We'll see you in the next lesson. You've been listening to the joy led business podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. Thanks for sharing part of your day with me. You don't have to walk this business journey alone. Discover others just like you at goldenheartland. com. Business coaching community for creative rural women. Faith. Go there to learn more and get free gifts I designed just for you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this episode with someone who could use a bit more joy today. Remember, your business success matters to me and to God. Being joy led will get you there. Can't wait to meet you at Golden Heartland.