Ask Ebonie: Insights on Authentic Entrepreneurship
Embracing Your True Self: Ebonie Alchemy's Insights on Authentic Entrepreneurship
Q: If you could go back in time and know everything that you now know about yourself and life and business, what would you do differently in your business?
Vikki
A: I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 14 and made watercolour and applique greetings cards and sold them wholesale to a gift shop. I’ve been self-employed pretty much my whole adult life because being employed has never suited me. I’ve done all sorts of jobs from working as a petty cash buyer in TV and on commercials to temping at the coroner's office.
I’ve been a coach, facilitator, artist, and mystic in some guise or other for the last 10 years but it was only last year when I got an official ADHD and level one ASD diagnosis at 42 years old that many things finally fell into place for me.
Although I have long accepted and fallen deeply in love with my quirks and eccentricities, having someone officially give me this particular label has reframed some things that years of coaching and mentoring did not and I think probably could not. Recognising that I am a hunter rather than a farmer in terms of operating systems and energy has been one of many personal revelations that have actively informed how I now run my business.
If I were to have my time over, making it my mission to deeply, truly, and courageously know myself would be my first priority.
I would become acquainted with and then decide to work with my cycle.
I would get to know and embody my Human Design.
I would value the personal growth work just as highly as the business development and recognise that one without the other doesn’t lead to anything that is sustainable long term.
I would learn to identify and embrace my shadows and be present for my own learning and healing and resist the feeling that I need to productise everything I’m learning ASAP before fully integrating it and making it my own.
I would join communities and masterminds with the view to making business buddies, not just peers but actual friends. I would let go of the idea that any coach or mentor has a secret sauce that once I ‘get’ will change everything for me and choose to acknowledge that there is no way to buy a shortcut to my own experience or self-trust.
Give less fucks about how it looks, and focus more on how it feels and who you're becoming.
I would spend some time getting really clear on my values. I would make them my compass and get specific about how and what is an expression of those values to both share and receive. (If you want to do this and haven’t yet, check out ‘Your Compass - The Value Filter’ class that is one of my core offers.
I would choose to understand sooner that a purpose-led business is different from a capitalist business. Not everything is about the money. Of course my business must make a profit in order to pay me and allow me to expand but that's not its sole aim.
Nor is it the sole marker of success. How I feel is.
As a purpose-led business my dual focus is to honour my soul blueprint and what I am here to embody and express, just as highly as the resource my business provides as a vehicle for expansion.
I would spend some time each year, or even each season deciding exactly what I want from my business and my life. What do I want the business to be a vehicle for? I would acknowledge that some years are more of an inhalation - where information and work is all inwardly focused, and some years are more of an exhalation - where information and work is flowing from me as the source out to others.
I would come to understand that nothing soulful yields fruit all year round and if I want to be harvesting every month I may need several different crops. I would honour the harvest, but equally the seeding and germination times as every season is beautiful and bountiful in its own way.
I would lean into learning to trust the timing of my life and know that there is a season for everything, and rather than wishing I was somewhere other than I am, I would be present with what is and choose to find the gift in every experience, even the tough and unfair ones.
I would choose to see my time on earth as a creative business owner and legacy-maker as a time to experiment, and experience… and give less fucks about how it looks, or is perceived by others and focus more on how it feels and who / what I am getting to be, do, and have as a result of the courageous choices I am making everyday.
I would honour, celebrate, and acknowledge each milestone as helping me know, trust, and express myself more potently and more powerfully and choose to be proud of what I am creating and who I am becoming.
I hope that helps you to know that wherever you are on your journey, it’s all perfect.
Ebonie x
TLDR: Ebonie Alchemy shares her journey as an entrepreneur and how her ADHD and ASD diagnosis reshaped her approach to business. She emphasizes the importance of self-discovery, embracing one's cycle and shadows, building genuine connections, and aligning business with personal values and purpose for a fulfilling and sustainable entrepreneurial journey.
Ebonie Alchemy is a modern Mystic, a Misfit turned Maven, an Artist, an Author and The Priestess of Alchemy®️ She shares her knowledge through podcasts, books, courses, intimate retreat experiences and 1:1 sessions. You can find out more about her current offers at www.ebonieallard.com/welcome
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