Kathy Svetina
Building a Better Relationship With Yourself & Your Business
From: "Help! My Business is Growing" Podcast

The survival of every business - including yours - depends on your relationships. And not just the relationships with your customers, vendors, and employees - but also a relationship with yourself.
A good and healthy relationship with yourself will directly impact how you lead your growing business. It will show up in your confidence levels and leadership style when making connections, making decisions, and dealing with challenging issues.
So how do you start cultivating a good relationship with yourself to benefit your growing business?
In this episode of Help! My Business Is Growing, our guest Tomika Snodgrass gives us her insights on why cultivating a good relationship with yourself is beneficial to your growing business.
She shares how to get started and outlines helpful tips and techniques to ensure you stay on course and keep going.
Tomika is the Founder and CEO of Confident Heart Coach. She is a Certified Business Coach, Relationships Strategist, Elite True Colors Facilitator, and Motivation Speaker.
Her mission is to help every phenomenal woman to spark joy & happiness in her personal and professional life.
In this week's episode, we discuss:
03:09 Why is cultivating a good relationship with yourself essential to someone who is running a growing business?
04:19 What are some of the things happening in a growing business when the owner/founder realizes they need to cultivate a relationship with themselves?
06:23 What is the process of cultivating a good relationship with yourself? How does it develop self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence?
13:07 What other tools and techniques can you use to develop a better relationship with yourself?
21:26 What is the next tangible step to take this next week if you want to start having a better relationship with yourself?
Listen to the podcast here:
"It's so important to connect with yourself, to have that confidence, to know your worth, to know your energy levels, who you like to work with, who you don't like to work with, all of those things matter (when running a growing business)." - Tomika Snodgrass
Why is cultivating a good relationship with yourself essential to someone who is running a growing business?
Working on having a good relationship with yourself entails the following:
You connect with yourself
You gain confidence by discovering your self worth
You learn about your energy levels
You discover who you like and don't like to work with
Having a good relationship with yourself will directly benefit your leadership style as well.

What are some things happening in a growing business when the owner/founder realizes they need to cultivate a relationship with themselves?
What pushes many founders to work on relationships with themselves is when they have issues attracting clients and closing sales.
They are afraid to reach out to prospective clients and say, "Hey, here's what I do. I'd love to talk to you to understand your challenges so we can figure out if we're a good fit."
Some of the reasons why:
Having insecurities and a low sense of self-worth
No confidence and low self-esteem
Negative thoughts like "I'm not good enough, nobody's going to take me seriously."
Suffering from "impostor syndrome."
"You have to have the conversations. There's no other way to connect with people other than to reach out and connect with people." - Tomika Snodgrass
What is the process of cultivating a good relationship with yourself? How does it develop self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence?
The first step is to discover the source of your negative thoughts. Ask why you lack self-confidence; who said you're not enough and told you that you couldn't reach out to clients?
The next step is imagining what it would be like if you did reach out and set that meeting or make that phone call. What would happen, and how would it make you feel?
It's taking a mental journey and working your way through
"I can't do it."
"Why can't you do it?"
"Here's how we do it."
"Yes, you can do it!"
and finally: "You are doing it."
To support this process, commit to connecting with five potential clients or prospects in your target audience without being "sales-y" but to reach out and introduce yourself and say, Hey, I'd love to get on a phone call or zoom call and connect" and then build from there.

What other tools and techniques can you use to develop a better relationship with yourself?
Surround yourself with a diverse group of individuals (not just like-minded people) who are successful and can push, encourage and support you in every way.
Find your "tribe" that will hold you accountable: be it reaching out and connecting with clients or ensuring you take proper time off for yourself.
Learn how to prioritize yourself and take care of yourself first by performing a daily or weekly ritual just for you.
It could be quiet coffee time or a short walk but set that time aside to help you recharge and focus on yourself, and you can then go about your day full of energy to do what needs to be done.
When the demands of your everyday responsibilities get overwhelming, you might get drained mentally and emotionally.
You won't be able to give anything of yourself - your time and fully engaged self to your business. You can't pour from an empty cup, so you have to ensure your cup is full first, and you can do this by taking dedicated breaks or vacation time for yourself.
What is the next tangible step to take this next week if you want to start having a better relationship with yourself?
Meditate. It could take one minute to sit quietly with yourself, close your eyes, and disconnect for a moment.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth three or four times. Take that moment just for yourself and relax. It's a small thing but will make a big difference in taking care of yourself.
We go in-depth with this topic and more over at the podcast. Listen here:
To Recap:
1. By having a good relationship with yourself, you will value yourself and, in turn, value others, including your staff and customers, and they will benefit from the sincere care and concern you give them.
2. The inability of many entrepreneurs to have productive sales conversations and cultivate relationships with potential customers is one of the main reasons they decide to work on having a good relationship with themselves.
3. Working on a positive and open mindset is the first step to building a good relationship with yourself. Determine where your negative thoughts are coming from, imagine what it would be like if you did not have them, and build from there.
4. Finding a diverse support and accountability group, prioritizing time for yourself daily to recharge, and scheduling breaks for yourself can go a long way in building a relationship with yourself.
5. You can start building a better relationship with yourself today by taking even a minute to disconnect and meditate quietly. It's a very small step, but you can add to it in time and go from there.
About Tomika Snodgrass, CTACC
Tomika Snodgrass is the Founder and CEO of Confident Heart Coach.
She is a Certified Business Coach, Relationships Strategist, Elite True Colors Facilitator, and Motivation Speaker, known to set the stage on fire as she powerfully delivers on topics that include leadership, women's empowerment, and the power of positivity.
As a result of her relationship and business development programs, Tomika's clients push beyond their doubts and fears, walk boldly in their purpose with an abundance of joy and happiness, and show up in every aspect of their lives fully and unapologetically, with confidence and enthusiasm.
Tomika's mission is to help every phenomenal woman to spark joy & happiness in her personal and professional life.
Website - https://confidentheartcoach.com/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomikasnodgrass/
by Kathy Svetina
Kathy is a Fractional CFO and the founder and director of NewCastle Finance LLC. She is a financial puzzle solver, focusing on women-owned businesses, and providing financial insights needed for a healthy and sustainable business.