Day 1: Your BIG Empire Vision

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“I got my start by giving myself a start” - Madam CJ Walker 

Welcome to Day 1 of the “Level Up Business Challenge”! I am so happy that you decided to embark on this journey for the next 7 days! 

While I’m sure you know that it takes more than 7 days to build your empire in full from what you’ve already built thus far,  it’s awesome that you are making a conscious decision to take this first step and give yourself a head start. 

The first part of any concrete small business structure is creating the Vision for what you want. 

The longer you’re in business that will definitely change, but let’s be present with where you are right now.

Today’s LEVEL UP Coaching  

When I started both my companies over 12 years ago, the culture of entrepreneurship looked very different and quite honestly, in some instances that culture still lives on today.

“Grind now, sleep later,” “If you don’t get up at 4am every morning, you don't really want this, Your struggles now will end with rewards later, hustle to the finish line.” 

As an entrepreneur entering a new landscape, I applied all this and honestly got far with my businesses revenue and exposure.

I was also burnt-out, unsure, and I wasn’t enjoying my life at all, neither was my team or the people depending on me to be a capable, competent, leader.  

I was working from 7am to 10pm, 6 days a week, barely eating or sleeping, and it just didn’t feel like the life I wanted to live. What was I doing all this for if it would end up like this? 

In the culture at the time, this behavior would have been praised. I was championed for being disciplined, and self-sacrificing, to go “BIG.” 

None of this rhetoric made space for creating or connecting to what you truly want and crafting your business path to reflect your intended lifestyle, goals, mission, or size of your business. 

This rhetoric is dangerous for people who sit at different margins. 

We already have so much on our plates dealing with the mental battles of navigating microaggressions, unsupportive families, violence, trauma porn, physical health challenges, and society’s limitations as a whole and that’s not even the tip of the iceberg.

So for today. I want you to sit all this aside and visualize with me for a minute. 

If you could create the ideal structure for your business. What would it look like? 

Are you someone who wants to lead a large team, have multiple physical locations, and grow a massive customer/audience base filled with millions of people?

Or would you prefer to run a virtual team of 5-10 people creating an impact with location independence? 

Or somewhere in between?

No one can decide this for you but it’s important for you to be clear because your desired outcome will determine every year how you build, structure, or grow your business. 

This is where I start with every client who works with me privately or has worked with me in my programs over the years. 

Your LEVEL UP Homework

So today I want you to map out 2 things: 1) your desired lifestyle, 2) Your desired organizational structure. 

• Write out your ideal lifestyle.  - Is it traveling all over the world and working with your team virtually and being able to take off on a whim because you have the income to while your team is effectively running the company? Is it having a really nice home, a family, and being able to take off for multiple vacations a year? How do you REALLY want to live in your ideal structure? 

IRL Example: When we first met one of my clients a few years ago and I asked this question, she said she wanted to be able to have her current physical store run by a great team (with a manager to run the daily operations) and she could just pop in here and there for meetings. 

She wanted to be able to travel to her home country anytime she felt the urge, attend creative writing retreats, indulge in her curiosity, and attend parties in NYC anytime she wanted - (flying first class of course). Eventually, she wanted to purchase a house and take one month off completely from work.

She didn’t see how any of this could happen considering when we met she was working long hours in her store, no stable ongoing staff (just non-committal college students who needed a summer gig for a few months), and her income was dwindling, not increasing.

I can safely tell you we reached all this in just 2 ½  years. 

It started with her knowing exactly the lifestyle she wanted and how she wanted her business structured. We worked to execute that vision and it came to fruition. 

So now it’s your turn. Use the worksheet attached to this email and fill it out. 

• Determine your ideal organizational structure - Now this can be really fun. So you wouldn’t have joined this challenge if you weren’t interested in growing your empire. So for you, the big ask is, “What do you want?” 

Do you want to have a full team with a CEO, Operations Manager, Creative Director, and other support team? 

Do you just want to have a small group of designers that you lead with some admin support? 

Do you want to build out multiple physical locations (locally or internationally) with a management team in each? 

I don’t know your business but I can tell you, it’s very important to have a strong vision so you can see what you’re working towards. 

Take the organizational chart attached to this email and fill it out. 

Now, what if you have no idea what you want? Then I want you to tap in. I want you to do one of three things: 

• Meditate on your business for a few minutes to see if you see any visions come about what you want it to look like. 
• Do a movement practice - take a walk, do some yoga, dance, whatever feels good in your body and when you’re in that heightened physical state of joy - journal on what type of business feels exciting to run when you think of the team, what you’re doing daily, your mission.. 
• Do a creative practice - Sit with the words “My business” and paint, draw, or digitally construct whatever comes to you after you sit with those words. 

Now, I know this sounds unorthodox…but I want you to sit aside what you know or what you’ve been told and just try this. Part of being an effective business owner is to stay curious. :-) 

IG CHALLENGE: To win the spot! 

• Post a portion of your homework to your Stories with caption “Day 1”  
• Tag me (@jwilliamsesq) in your homework story and use the hashtag: #levelupchallenge. 

If you complete the entire challenge you will be entered to win a spot in my brand NEW Business Program “Unbreakable.”

 Okay let’s get it going. You’re starting off strong and intentional. See you tomorrow for Day 2. 

 Cheers to your Empire, 

Jo-Ná

DAY 1 Worksheet #1

DAY 1 Worksheet #2