Hi ,

As you may know, I'm Canadian. Most of the people reading this are American, so you may not have seen Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Form this week, but it was the most proud I've felt to be Canadian in a long time. Politics aside (is that possible?), one thing stood out to me as something I wanted to write about today, and that is not relying on one external source for your success, stability, and security. I have learned this lesson in business the hard way, and I think it's worth talking about.

About 8 years ago I was working for an agency as their head coach. In fact, for the only time in my coaching career, I was an employee. 100% of my income came from that agency, and I have to say, that was really nice. I was able to get a mortgage, I knew my hours, I knew my income, and it was pretty sweet. One day I had a meeting schedule with the owner and I was going to ask for a raise. I had prepared a presentation, I knew the value I brought to the team, and I was confident. Unfortunately, she had different plans. She had decided to close the agency.

As you can imagine, I was left scrambling. My partner had just started his own business and wasn't making an income yet, and I had let my business fall to the side and so I had no clients to fall back on. Thankfully my network was still good, I was able to find some more work, and things improved from there.

I have been tempted by this trap again and again over the years. I work for different large clients, I do a great job, they want even more of my time, they pay well...but I have never let myself say yes to expanding these opportunities. Time and time again I have seen businesses thrive, pivot, close, adjust, or just not have a clue what's coming next. The stability would be nice, but it's a false sense of security.

I think a lot about this in relationships, too. Your partner or your best friend or your child or your parent can't be your only source of support. Nor should you rely exclusively on yourself. We all need a web of connections to have a thriving life.

The same is true for our marketing. In Covid, many people either lost their jobs or quit and found real success becoming an artist and selling their work on Instagram. But by relying on one platform for their income, they made themselves vulnerable to the whims of the algorithm. When I started my business, you could reliably do Facebook ads, send people to a webinar, and make sales. Now it's not so easy. Heck, a few decades ago you could get a job and expect to stay with that company for your whole career. Things have changed. As Mark Carney said in his speech, "nostalgia is not a strategy".

As a related tangent, I believe the same to be true about our passions and where we find meaning in life. I can't recommend this interview with Erin A. Cech enough, and something she said is:

"By “diversify your meaning-making portfolio,” I mean finding places outside of school and work to center our self-reflexive projects. It can look like starting or reviving hobbies, engaging in community service, joining a civic theatre, taking language lessons, and otherwise nurturing senses of identity and fulfillment that exist fully outside the realm of one’s paid employment."

Oof. That hits the spot.

I am a woman with a rich life, a fabulous family, many interests, and great friends (not to brag). And still, none of them are weighted as heavily as the meaning I derive from my work. So when work shakes, my world shakes. When I'm not making the impact I want to be making with my work, it feels like I'm not making an impact in the world.

So I remind myself of the friend I made time to listen to. The neighbour I went out of my way to help. The lengthy list of volunteering I do with the school at all levels of governance. The local farm I support. The daughter I'm teaching to read. And I know it matters, like, for real.

I guess maybe what I'm ultimately hypothesizing is that resilience comes from diversification. I don't mean you shouldn't trust people, or get really excited about a project, or go all in for a short burst. I'm just suggesting you think about life as a whole and make note of what you're leaning on. If it shifted, will you topple?

On that note...I hope you're taking care of yourself. I've been having a lot of conversations lately of people (including myself) feeling an untethered or unwinding energy. They're questioning, feeling unstable, and most of all uncertain. And while I can't recommend you aim for certainty, you can take care of yourself (and each other) in the meantime. (I highly recommend the book Real Self-Care by Pooja Lakshmin for this)

Thinking of all of you.

You've got this,

Stephanie Wasylyk