How to re-spark creativity in your business.

Welcome to the empowered entrepreneur podcast. My name is Michelle Smit, and I am an ex-teacher turned online business coach for Edupreneurs, the owner of Digiteach and a six-figure entrepreneur. I am in love with empowering educators, just like you to create freedom filled online businesses and lives they love.

If you are looking to uplevel your skills, your finances, your mindset, and change the trajectory of your life as an educator in business. Then you are in the right place. Think of this podcast as your weekly dose of business and mindset development to help unlock the infinite potential within you to play bigger with your life and go after your dreams. 

We are going to have so much fun together. So thank you so much for pushing play today. Now let's dive in. 

Hello. Hello. Welcome back to my podcast. I am so excited to be chatting to you again today. It has been a minute. I have been MIA for a while on Instagram. I've been sending podcasts every week, so you've still been listening to me every week. But I think if you have been following me or you're in my world, you would know that I have had my wedding. And I went to South Africa and we got married, me and Mike, and it was a month of international family coming through, us showing them South Africa, Cape Town specifically. And the bush, like safari vibes, and it was a real whirlwind of a time.

A rollercoaster of emotions, a lot of chaos, but a lot of beauty, a lot of magic. It was incredible. Something we will never forget, but also, it had its challenges. So over that time I made the conscious decision to take a bit of a break, not a break from my business, but to just take the gas off and systemize things and get my team to do things while I was away.

And I just focused on client delivery staff and coaching and serving my clients and students and stuff. But other than that, I just took a bit of a break. And I'm so grateful I did because I would not have coped. I had so much stuff going on in my personal life that. There were many, many, many, many days, I mean, if not weeks where I did not even open my laptop.

And I didn't even go on Instagram, that's how busy it was. So yeah, I've just come out of that. I've come out of the vortex. I'm back in the Netherlands, feeling very heart full. Very grateful for having a business that can support me in this way and allow me to take a month off basically and it still functions, it's still runs. 

And yeah, just really grateful to be in my position. It took me a long time to get here and I'm really grateful to be here. And I'm happy to be back. I must say. And this is what sparked this topic for today, even though everyone voted for it. I posted on my Instagram stories, what everyone wanted to hear just to help me get back into the groove of podcasting and everyone basically voted for this topic.

So I thought that was interesting. And so today I'm talking about how to re-spark creativity in your business. And I thought of this topic because it's been about two weeks since the wedding maybe three weeks actually. And I've been really struggling with figuring out how to get back into my business routine. Because I've been so out of it.

I had such a great routine going and then I went to South Africa and I got married and everything went out the window routine wise. And I've suddenly come back to the Netherlands and I have to pick it up. And I felt this lack of creativity, but it's also just inspiration and just feeling a bit like, Oh, what now? 

And then I thought I'm going through this process myself, and I'm sure lots of business owners go through this all the time, because this has happened to me so many times where I just lack creativity. And I've had to work through that on my own and get myself back into gear of creating, like right now I'm creating this podcast.

And so I thought, let me chat about it. Let me chat about the things that I find to be really helpful. That have allowed me to move through that resistance. And ultimately just get back into creating because as a business owner, especially an online business owner, we are creators. That is ultimately our most fundamental job, is to create content, create opportunities for people to know us, see us online, create emails. We are creators ultimately. 

And so what happens when that creativity plummets and you just can't bring yourself to do the things or you just don't even know what to do. And so that's what I'm chatting about today. I've managed to slowly ease myself into a little bit of a routine. But some of the things that I think are really valuable to help you re-spark that creativity in your business. 

So the first thing is actually often the culprit. And it's when you're overworking ultimately it's when you're in that hustle, season of life. And you are just grinding out the hours sitting behind that laptop. And I have a lot of clients that have been in these kinds of seasons of life and situations.

And I often just say, when they're hitting the wall creativity wise, and they're just not able to create. I just say, go rest. So the first thing I would say is, are you overworking yourself to the bone? Are you resting enough? And rest is actually one of the most productive things you can do.

I know your mind is telling you that it's lazy and it's something you shouldn't do, but it's absolutely not. And you need to rest in order to regenerate your batteries in order to create you have to rest. So it has to be part of your routine. You have to build it into your day. I don't know what ways you need to do it.

But you need to build in some rest where you can completely unplug from your business. Meaning switch your brain off, not think about it. Take like a brain break from your business and just go live your life. That is often the thing that I go to. So if I'm like really not in a creative space, I go and rest.

And the next thing I'll talk about, all of these can fall into rest, but ultimately the next thing I want to talk about is play. So this is something that as adults, I feel like we just don't do enough and. We're so serious. Life is so serious. Being in business is so serious.

Like such adulting is so intense. I don't know if you can remember being a child and just playing and having fun and finding joy in silly things and just being playful in your nature and how wonderful that was and how freeing that was. But that is something that I find we lack as adults, and I think it's still so important as adults because we still have that part of us that wants to play and have fun and feel light. 

And I think it's really important to try to tap into that, especially if you're lacking on creativity. I think play is one of the most amazing things you can do. That can look like different things. For me, I like to do art. I haven't done it for a while, but I really love art and I like just painting watercolour painting, just making stuff and that would be an example of play. I actually hula hooped for a while.

So hula hooping is such a fun thing for me. I love it. I did like hula hooping classes and I thought it was just such a great way to play and just have fun. And so that's another example of play. I also got a little mini trampoline like to rebound and stuff and just jumping on the trampoline literally makes me feel like a kid. 

And those are like little pockets of playing that I find to be really activating and sometimes you just need to change your states and get into a bit of that childlike spirit to help re spark the creativity. It's really worked for me. You just got to find the thing that works for you ultimately. But go play, go have some fun, go take a break from life's intensities and do something that sparks joy. Just lean into whatever's going to bring you joy. 

And go do that thing so that it can be part of your rest thing. So maybe for the weekend you decide, okay, I need to rest. Let me go do something that sparks joy. Let me go play around. Let me go mountain biking whatever it may be. Like do something fun for yourself.

The third thing is movement. This is one of the big ones. You need to have movement to move your energy ultimately. So if you're trying to create motion and movement and creativity in your business, then you need to go actually create motion and movement in your physical body. So I had a great routine of going to gym for a few months before the wedding.

And then I went and had my wedding and for six weeks, did nothing. I did walks and hikes, but that was about it. And since coming back I've been so like stagnant and feeling that like creative block. And I just said, you know what? 30 minutes a day, I'm going to go to the gym 30 minutes a day.

That's my only thing and it's first thing in the morning. And I've done it for most of the week. Now, first things I do is 30 minutes of gym and it's completely changed the game. I feel a shift in my energy because going and doing something that includes movement, whatever it may be, actually generates you more energy.

It creates momentum and that momentum sparks the creativity. And then I feel like energized to create. And so that is actually essential. If you're not moving your body and you're feeling a block and creativity, go and move your body. It is so epic. It will help your ideas move. It will literally stimulate your ideas.

It will help your creativity bubble up in you, it will build up momentum, it will create energy for you. Energy that you can then funnel into your business. So that's becoming one of my absolute musts. If I want to be the business owner that I want to be, and I want to be a creator and I want to, do things that support that way of being, then it's my job to get my butt in the gym for 30 minutes a day.

And it's becoming like a non negotiable almost. Now, of course, if gym really just isn't your thing, which isn't actually mine, I've actually just got an app that I follow do something that brings you joy and movement. So trampolining for me is the thing that makes me feel like a kid. And It's great exercise as well.

Hula hooping as well is something that makes me feel very happy and sparks joy and playful, and it brings exercise as well. And I can take my hula hoop and I can go out into the forest and just have a picnic. And like hula hoop for a bit. It sounds super hippie ish, but let's be honest. I am a little bit of a hippie.

So yeah, go do that. Go do some movement. Don't let your brain tell you that it's a waste of time and that you should spend it on work because that's what my brain does. It's actually a prerequisite for you to be a creator in your business. So you need to do movements and you need to rest for you to be able to show up and create a business that you actually want where you aren't creatively blocked the entire time.

So the fourth thing is get away from technology, get into nature. This is just a must. If you are building an online business, you know that you are staring at a screen a lot. You're surrounded by tech, whether it's your phone for Instagram or TikTok or whatever, or your computer. It takes hours to get your business going. 

And that's ours in front of a screen. So if you are sitting at your screen and you're like unable to create, because you're just feeling like a massive block and it's just like impossible for you to create. Get away from your screen and go into nature. So that can be part of your rest, but your rest needs to be unplugging from tech.

So that doesn't mean like necessarily sitting and binging. This is me speaking to myself. There's a time and a place for it. I will binge some reality TV, Love Island, and that is my brain resting in different ways. But there's a lot of rest that I need that is involved in getting into nature being in the company of people that bring me energy, but nature is one of the most replenishing things I'm sure you would agree.

So do what you can, if you can go for a walk in the forest, if you can go, to the beach. If you can go swim in the ocean, that absolutely can change your state of being. Do things that change your state of being and nature is definitely one of those things. So if you can identify that you're having a block, go do something in nature, go play in nature, go do exercise in nature go have a picnic and just lie under the trees, how wonderful.

 So the fifth thing that I would say, if you're really hitting a bit of a creative wall is actually just ask your audience what they want to hear and what they want from you and let them just inspire you on what to create. And I find this is such a simple thing, but so many people don't even think about it.

If you are really stuck on what content should I create now? Or what podcast topic should I do? Or, what offer should I create next? That's like the most common question that you would ask, right? Instead of you sitting at a wall or sitting in isolation, thinking about this and not being able to move through, go and ask your people. What do they want?

 Such a simple question, but ask and you shall receive. They're going to point you in the direction that you should go. And that in itself is going to help you create, because if you're going to go and create a whole new offer, you don't want to create it in isolation and not know that people actually want it.

That's like a sin in the online business world. You want to ask your people, your audience, your tribe, your email list, your social media following all of the peeps. What do they want to learn from you? What do they want to hear from you? All these things, and then let them tell you. And then they're going to give you a gold mine of information. And then you take that information and you go and create with it. Such a simple thing, but so powerful. 

The sixth thing is, can you find out, if you don't know this already. I recommend finding out what your zone of genius and your zone of joy is in your business.

And then also find out what depletes you. And then start to look at what you're doing daily and look at, are you spending all your time doing work that depletes you? Because that's going to block your creative flow. If you're spending a million hours doing your taxes, Or I don't know what, some admin in your business, you're not exactly going to feel the most inspired to go and create from that space because you're spending all your energy doing stuff that you hate.

And I get it like in the beginning of business, you got to wear all the hats. I wore all the hats. I did all the things I did, things that I really didn't enjoy. But I had grit and hunger and drive. And I was committed to just pushing through that phase of life and that season of life to get where I needed to be.

But there comes a point where you're making money and you're spending a lot of time doing things that really deplete you, and you're struggling to grow your business. And that's the point where you need to outsource. So you need to outsource the things that deplete you, and you need to try and stay in your zone of genius and your zone of joy.

Because when you are bogged down by doing business tasks that feel like nails to the soul, that totally take energy from you, it's very hard to have energy to create. So for me, I'm not a fan of tech. Tech feels very heavy to me. I find like just a pain in the ass really, but I have an online business. It requires tech.

So I have a tech virtual assistant and Mike, who is my husband, he does the tech, but also my virtual tech assistant does my tech and that includes, all types of techie things. I can do them myself. Do I want to do them myself? No. So I outsource that. Another thing is Facebook advertising.

I did Facebook ads myself for the first two years of my business. And then I was like, cool, I'm over it. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm going to pay someone else to do this for me. And yeah, I just think that that is, a game changer, because then I stopped doing things that I hate and I can actually create, I can be here creating a podcast.

I can go on Instagram and create content on Instagram. I can create offers. I can sell, I can launch. I have energy to do the things that actually make money in my business, which is ultimately selling. Selling, launching, making offers creating content, creating an email list, creating an audience. If I can't focus on those things, then I don't really have a business.

So as the business owner, you need to start really looking at what are the tasks you're doing in your business. Are you spending a gazillion hours doing things that you hate? That's not going to help you with creativity. Can you find a way to outsource? And firstly, outsourcing doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

My first virtual assistant, it was like probably 10 bucks an hour. And I just needed her like two hours a week in the beginning to do customer service. And that was, two hours a week. That's about eight hours at 10 an hour, which was her rate. 

She had just started and ultimately all she was doing was sending out emails. Yeah, it was totally manageable for me to spend that. And obviously if you want to think about your time. Your time is worth more than $10 an hour, obviously in your business that's the case.

So can you spend your time doing something else that earns you more than 10 bucks an hour? And you absolutely can. It doesn't have to be a super expensive virtual assistant, it helps to hire people in different countries. So the Philippines, South Africa, those are countries that typically have a lower cost of living.

And so people's rates are a bit lower and there's some amazing qualified people in these places that are just, dreamy and amazing to have. Not necessarily part of your team, but as contractors. And you can go through launches and maybe pay them more during the launch to help you.

And then this is what I do, pay for more hours during launch seasons or busy seasons, and then reduce the hours over the very chilled seasons. And that just works for me. And it's something that I would really recommend if you're at that point in your business and you're doing work, that's just really taking time.

And it's not feeding you and it's not boosting your creativity. It's actually taking away from your business. You're not going to be able to grow. So definitely start to outsource and often you need to outsource before you feel like you're ready to outsource. So even though you may feel like you're not making enough money, often you need to outsource before you're really making enough money, because in order to make more money you need to free up your time so you can spend your time doing things that actually make you money.

Instead of doing things like your taxes for many, many, many days or whatever it may be. Get an accountant, get someone to do that for you. 

And the seventh thing, this is the last thing that I'm going to mention. When you are at a loss and you're hitting a wall creatively in your business. The last thing after you've done all of these things, if you're just not seeing it's just not happening, then I'm going to ask you just to sit down and create, and then as a result of sitting down and starting to create, you're going to find that the momentum comes and the inspiration follows as a result of it.

So it's a reverse approach. A lot of people think that in order to take action. And create movement in your business and momentum in your business. You need to have inspiration to go and do that thing, but I'm going to flip it around in order to have inspiration, you actually need to take action. So you sitting and doing all these other things instead of the thing you should be doing, say, creating the podcast, creating the emails, whatever it may be. 

You're waiting for that inspiration to kick in. So then you can take action. Now you can't do that in business because the inspiration isn't just going to come and fall out of the sky. You actually need to sit down and start taking action for the momentum to build for the inspiration to come. And that means forcing yourself to sit down, put music in your ears and just open up a word document and just start writing.

And once you start writing, you're going to find that you're going to keep writing and you're going to keep writing. And suddenly you're going to have written five emails. In two hours or one hour. And that is because by just starting and creating momentum in the thing, momentum breeds more momentum.

Taking action breeds inspiration. So it's not the other way around. You don't want to wait for motivation and inspiration to hit for you to take action. You just need to start taking action. So I often find just getting back into podcasting. I can't just think I'm going to feel super inspired to come back and podcast.

I actually need to come and sit in front of my computer, open up my audacity and start talking into the microphone. And then I'm going to feel the energy from that. And I'm going to be like, cool, this is why I really like this. And I'm going to continue. And it's just by starting.

So instead of waiting for this moment of massive inspiration, which pretty much never comes, or sometimes it comes like these massive downloads, they do come. Just know that your business is built by doing mundane things repeatedly, things that are not super exciting, like sending out a newsletter every week for weeks, for months, for years.

That's not going to bring you massive excitement, but it's what builds your trust and loyalty and audience and relationships. So you do the thing. And podcasting. When you first launch a podcast, super exciting years down the line, it's not necessarily going to feel as exciting. You can't wait for inspiration before you create, you just have to create. 

And by sitting down and just starting, you'll find that the momentum comes. And so that is the last thing that I'll say. If you're really struggling, honestly just go and start. Start small. Just say, I'm going to write one email today, or I'm going to write one social media posts. So I'm going to do one thing and just sit at your computer, optimize your environment so you can get into that space, that flow space. For me, it's music. Put on music in my ears and just get into that zone. And you'll find that you are going to create. And that is the magic. 

So that's it for today. I hope this was helpful. I hope that you can take some of these as reminders if you know them already, or new things to help you get out of stagnant energy and into creation energy, because really that's what we need to do.

And we need to keep doing it over and over again, because I will tell you now your spark to be reignited many, many, many times. It's a labour of love. It's not always going to feel exciting and inspiring. And so you just need to be able to work through that.

And you have to know that your business isn't meant to feel like super exciting and amazing all the time. It's okay if your business just feels like it's a business and you can do things to help spark that creativity. But you need to find the things that work for you.

So I hope you can use this to your advantage and I hope you have an amazing rest of your week and I will chat to you again next week. 

Bye.

 Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you are a teaching business owner, freelance teacher, or online teacher, and you are interested in creating a digital course or group program to scale your income and impact without teaching more hours, then I have just the thing for you.

Grab my free Scalable Digital Course Roadmap and it will walk you through the six steps to turning your one-on-one classes into a scalable offer that frees you from the teacher burnout trap. Creating scalable courses and programs have allowed me to 10X my hourly rates, hit six figures in my business and impact hundreds and hundreds of people around the world without having to be actively teaching all day. If this is what you desire, grab my guide in the show notes and let me help you. 

I appreciate you so much. I can't wait to connect with you in the next episode. In the meantime, go create a business and life you love.