{This is a Feel Good Post}

It was last year, 2014. I was torn: my family or my clients.

(You know, the age old Work Life Balance thing again.)
I almost sent the email to every single one of my clients. I’m impulsive, and most days, the email would have been sent right away, but a little voice in my head said, sleep on it.
The email read: I am sorry, but for family reasons I am going to need to cancel our coaching session for the month of August.
That’s how dire it was. I didn’t even have enough time or band width to call every one of my clients and tell them what was going on, and how our coaching would resume in September. My little girl needed me. She is the barometer in our family, and she was saying Something is off.
And so, as the momma that I am, I had to change that.
But, I slept on it.
We decided to have a family meeting. At dinner, we talked about how something seemed to be off in our family, and that this is OK, but that we needed to do something about it. I told my husband and my two daughters that I was going to take the month of August off to be with them, to ground myself & them.
Now, it is perfectly fine to take a month off from my business, but my clients had not been prepared for this, so that is the part that was feeling unsettling.
I was going to let them down.
I knew most would understand, be disappointed and either wait until September or not come back to working with me. And my daughter needed me.
The response my kids gave brought tears to my eyes.
The one who was having a tough time said, I don’t think you should do that. You love what you do and your clients need you. The younger one echoed the sentiment.
And just like that, we came up with ideas of how we could make things better. More than the ideas, it was the being honest, the conversation, and most importantly the AWARENESS of what was going on for each of us. It was as if that conversation gave everyone an opportunity to take accountability, to work as a team, and to support each other through this tough time.
I will never ever forget that dinner conversation.

And hence, why dinner time is precious to me.

I want it to be a sacred place we get to enjoy one another, where we get to be compassionate (even if some don’t always want to eat their greens), and where we are each heard.
As an Entrepreneur, so many of us have pieces that pull us away and make us question what we do, what we don’t do, and how we do it. I will tell you, after this, I recognize that no matter how young, our kids want our honesty, want authenticity, and if the kiddos want that, I would bet that so does everyone else in our lives.
May you find a way to be honest, and may you find a way to speak the truth in a way that brings those you care closer together, rather an apart. For you, for your soul, for your family, and for the soul of your business.
Love,
Asha

p.s. and let me just say that it was this moment last year, that inspired me to change my business entirely. I upgraded big time, raised my rates, and created both one on one model of clients but also group based programs. I am grateful for my girlies bring me, including the toughie moments.