If you had to pick just one thing that forms the core of your business and what you do as an herbalist, what would it be?
Today, I’d like to challenge you to build it on a base of joy before anything else.
Why?
Firstly, we produce our best work when we are in a state of contentment and able to serve others better when we have that joy.
No matter what kind of herbal business you run, the energy that you transmit to your clients will affect the herbal experience that you offer them.
That is why we really need to be conscious of how we are building our businesses and, in particular, build it with joy rather than stress and overwork.
When we start with joy, we can build a strong and sustainable business, that we actually like running. We can also give our customers and clients the highest quality products or experience that we possibly can.
So don’t listen to those who tell you to grind, hustle and work yourself to the bone. If you focus on joy first, you’ll end up having more fun and better results. In the long run, that means happier clients and a more sustainable business as an herbalist.
And that’s really why we’re here, right?
So how can you build your herbal business from a place of joy?
1. Give Yourself Permission To Do It For fun!
Right from the beginning, try to treat it as an experiment and give it space to grow in its own time, rather than viewing what you do as an obligation.
Of course, you need to believe that you can do it to make it happen but releasing yourself from expectations can help to bring joy back into the process.
For a lot of people, this might mean growing your herbal business as a side hustle so that you have the financial security to experiment. This a really good way to be able to approach your passion with joy and happiness, rather than stress that it must meet the bills.
This is really important to keep this vision alive so that you can keep making progress forward, even when sometimes it seems like an uphill feat.
2. Take A Break When You Need It
Taking a break to refresh your soul at times is incredibly important.
As human beings, we are not supposed to work all the time. Just look at the world around us - there are seasons of life. Winter, spring, summer, autumn, and then winter again. And it goes in this cycle because the world itself takes breaks.
Taking breaks when needed will help to bring more joy into your approach.
So if you are feeling like you're close to being burnt out, simply communicate it as you need to with your clients and customers and take that break.
You’ll find that when you do, you’ll come back with improved mental capacity to work and move forward. So give it a try and see how it works for you!
3. Pretend You Like It
We all know the age old advice for confidence but, in my experience, it works wonders to bring joy back into your work life too. Fake it ‘til you make it!
I have been doing this for a long time, right back to my school and uni days, studying biochemistry and pharmacology.
It’s essentially just mind games to “trick” yourself into liking the things that are a little drier but just need to get done.
For example, rather than thinking of studying as what it is, I pretend I’m a crazy scientist who's learning about it for the first time in history. (I mean, everything is much more fun when you’re a crazy scientist, right?)
It just makes it more fun. And as an added bonus, when you are enjoying something, you're more likely to retain the information and produce better work. I can attest to this in the results I’ve had doing this as a student and entrepreneur!
A typical place you could apply this as an herbalist is current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs). This can seem a little boring, especially for highly creative types like me, to the point that you procrastinate doing it for much longer than you should.
However, if you spend just five minutes before you start working on your processes to get yourself into the right frame of mind, you will likely notice a difference. Just enough to believe that it could be fun - or even imagine the satisfaction of the completed task - to get it done faster and to a higher standard.
It sounds crazy, but I can tell you from experience it does work. Pretend you like something, then do it and you’ll find it's more fun than usual. Try it and see.
4. Channel Negative Emotions
On the flip side, when you have negative emotions, you can channel them to bring back the joy as well.
From personal experience, I’ve found that when I’m angry, I’m extremely productive. This works particularly well for boring and repetitive tasks, and also where there is a low risk of error.
This worked for me when I was a medical content writer and since the articles were easy to write due to my background in Pharmacy. I capitalized on strong emotions and went to type it out and pump out 3-4 aritcles in a couple of hours.
By the end, I always the joy returns based on the accomplishment that you made.
For an herbalist, automatic and low-risk tasks such as cleaning bottles or labelling could be a good type of task to work out your anger or other negative emotion and channel the joy back in.
5. Create A Delayed Dream List
When you’re building a business based on your passion for herbs, you're motivated to make it happen.
But there WILL be some sacrifices along the way, things you want to do but you can't if you really want your dream to come alive.
Beating the FOMO, fear of missing out, is tricky but something that has worked for me to get around that is the Delayed Dream List.
The way it works is simple: Rather than doing what you want to do, simple write it down on a list to save it for when the timing is right.
This is great for two reasons:
- You experience pleasure by simply writing it down on the list. (Kind of like the happiness I get from browsing restaurant menus and holiday itineraries from imagining the experience, even if it hasn’t happened yet!)
- You feel at peace because even if it’s not happening right now, you know you won’t forget the idea and can make it happen in the future.
You can write ANYTHING down on your Delayed Dream List, from going camping to taking a weekend to visit your extended family.
I'm willing to bet if you give it a try, it's going to give you joy too. And that is the best place to build your herbal business from.
Final Thoughts
Each of these things don’t truly change what you DO in and on your herbal business. Instead, they refocus your viewpoint and shuffle your emotions so that you can channel your joy and get what needs to get done in the most fulfilling way possible.
The beauty of this is that it then flows down to your customer through the herbal products or services that you offer.
I can assure you, the results will be worth it.
All the best on your herbal business building journey - let's go on and do this together!