320. Curating Your Business: When Your Ambition Evolves

With host retail coach Wendy Batten https://wendybatten.com/podcast-intro/ Want to work with me to plan out your week so it's built with intention? Something that works easily for you and your business? I'm hosting a workshop on September 29th to help you do just that! Join me for Your CEO Time: From Spinning to Soaring. It's only $47 and will change the way you look at your time - I promise. Episode Overview It's story time. In this episode, I'm sharing something personal about how my business ambitions have changed and evolved over the years. Ten years ago, I realized that even though my husband's and my businesses were successful and our lives were busy, I was ready for a big change. I had to step back and dig deep on these questions: What do I want to do, be, have, and experience in my life? From there, we began designing our life first and reverse engineering our businesses around it. It was hard. But we did it. We started living differently. We stayed open to possibilities. We sold some of our businesses. We moved to our crooked cottage by the sea. I started my coaching business and my Inner Circle. And yet, here we are, an entire decade later, I'm asking those same questions again. I'm curating again and I'm feeling extremely ambitious and excited for what the next 10 years will look like in my business. So let's talk about it: what it means to stay curious, to listen to what is changing, and to continue refining both business and life as our priorities evolve. I also share what I'm building next, including the Collective, a new space that brings life and business planning together for entrepreneurs who want to build sustainable businesses around the lives they actually want. Let's do this. Our Key Topics Why I realized that a successful, busy business and a full life weren't necessarily the same thing How a moment of clarity changed the way my husband and I thought about our ambitions, our business, and our life. What it means to design your life first and then reverse engineer the business around it. Why staying curious and listening to yourself and your clients matters as your business evolves. How I'm bringing life and business coaching together in the next phase of my work with The Collective - you'll want to hear about this! Key Takeaways For Shop Owners Your definition of ambition can change. Ten years ago, my ambition looked very different from what it looks like today. I've learned that it's worth revisiting what I actually want instead of continuing toward goals simply because they were once important to me. Start with the life you want, then build the business around it. Rather than automatically allowing the business to dictate how life looks, I've found value in asking what I want for my life first and then figuring out what needs to be true for the business to support that vision. Curiosity creates room for change. I talk about continuing to listen, including listening to clients, pushing boundaries, and not being afraid to change. Staying fresh in business can mean being willing to reconsider how you're doing things. Fear can be part of making a meaningful change. I've had ideas and decisions that I knew I wanted to act on but delayed because I was afraid. I'm learning again that moving into something new can require working through that fear rather than waiting for it to disappear. Your business can be built around your needs and values. I'm thinking differently about business support now, with more attention on the wellbeing of the entrepreneur alongside the business itself. For me, that means creating something sustainable and customized rather than simply adding more information, strategies, or things to do. "We don't have any more time to mess around." - Wendy Batten INSERT IMAGE HERE Resources Mentioned and Related Podcasts Want to work with me to plan out your week so it's built with intention that works for you and your business? I'm hosting a workshop on September 29th to help you do just that! Join me for Your CEO Time: From Spinning to Soaring. LAST CHANCE! Need some help getting familiar with your numbers? Grab my Profit Planning Masterclass now for $47! LAST CHANCE! Be the retailer who walks into Q4 with a plan, not panic. Grab the Holiday Success Bootcamp now for $97 before it is gone at the end of September! Episode 319: The One Thing Retailers Need to Know Before October Let's hang out in a private coaching session! Follow along and chat with me on Instagram and join my love list. About your host, Wendy Batten In case we haven't met…I'm Wendy Batten. I've been a small business owner, coach, and mentor for over 25 years. I help thoughtful, established entrepreneurs step into their role as CEO and build businesses that are profitable, meaningful, and supportive of the lives they want to live. My work blends real-world strategy with a life-first philosophy, shaped by lived experience, not theory. I've been there! Through honest conversations and practical insight, I invite you into bigger thinking about leadership, possibility, and how to build both business and life on purpose. For more support from Wendy Hang out and connect with Wendy on IG All of Wendy's current programs and services for shop owners can be found HERE. Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the Creative Shop Talk Podcast and get the tools, inspiration, and strategies you need to thrive as an independent retailer.Click here to subscribe to iTunes! Loved the episode? Leave a quick review on iTunes- your reviews help other retailers find my podcast, and they're also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. So grateful for you! Thank you!