I pulled a page from my journal... {God, Stories & Business}
This might as well be a page out of my journal. But I felt called to share it. I hope someone needed this today…
That's my actual journal FYI!
I’ve always been one to go against the grain.
But making a decision to trust and follow God 10 years ago meant that my life choices began to follow suit.
Like opting out of getting a job as a qualified graduate right out of university and instead, living above a church and taking a gap year to learn more about God and His word during what would be one of the most formative years of my life.
Like moving to the other side of London away from ALL of my friends and family as a single woman to serve alongside a team of like-minded men and women who felt called to help our community by becoming a part of it.
Like being a High School Teacher who was more bothered about the incredible individuals I taught than the grades they received – which inevitably meant they got the grades anyway (because – duh.) This always made me unpopular with my bosses and made my time as a teacher really hard.
Like working part-time for a church for two years and taking a pay cut of over 50% instead of looking for another teaching job when I got laid off/made redundant after seven years in the profession.
Like developing my part-time blogging/vlogging hobby I’d had for 6 years and writing devotional e-books and an e-course for Christian women because I was desperate for them to know who and Whose they are so that they’d stop selling themselves short of the life they were called to live.
Like becoming a Business Coach for Christian women because once I was mobilised to share my life’s work (in the form of my e-books and e-course) I wondered how many other women had God-given goals, hopes and dreams they weren’t chasing because they’d been taught to stay in their boxes. Boxes like ‘employee’, ‘wife’ ‘mother’.
… It’s that last paragraph that people stumble over.
Up until that point, it’s ‘good for you’ and ‘congratulations’. But a Christian in business? Eyebrows get raised and conversations are had behind closed doors about ‘drifting away’ and the like.
Like the God who lovingly led me through every other step (and the ones in between) couldn’t possibly be in what I’m doing now.
So if you’re one of the eyebrow raisers and conversation starters, I want to say that I love you and I understand. The Christian world is often better at staying safe than it is at making leaps of faith which don’t look like worship in the church building or Bible study in our living rooms. I, for one have been guilty of eyebrow raising and conversations behind closed doors in the past too. And for that, I’m sorry. I’m trying not to judge anymore. I’m trying to do better.
If you want to ask me how a laid off High School Teacher suddenly has the audacity to call herself a Business Coach for Christian female Entrepreneurs, I’d love to tell you. I mean, I’d love to tell you face to face but you’re busy and so am I, so maybe this will suffice…
Anyone who knows me well will know I’ve always been passionate about living my faith ‘out loud’. So that means I’ll talk about God in normal and regular conversation sometimes. Just like you might talk about something you love in normal and regular conversations sometimes. I don’t make apologies for that. I also don’t expect you to make apologies for talking about stuff you love whilst we’re in conversation with each other either; even if it’s stuff I don’t love or agree with. That’s how life works.
I have taught, mentored and, let’s just say it, COACHED people in a variety of spheres for the past 10 years. As a teacher, a preacher, a women’s ministry leader, a youth leader, a mentor, a friend.
Ever since I was taught how to read the Bible and I fell in love with it all those years ago, I’ve had a fire in me to see Christians LIVE OUT the truth of the word as opposed to just reading about it.
I have always been ‘tech savvy’. I had my own website before it was fashionable to have your own website and I built it myself. I had a blog before that. I started Youtube Channel years ago. I built the website for my Church and was responsible for designing and sending their e-newsletters for a while too.
These things combined almost seem like it’d be a natural fit for me to coach someone in how to build an online business, whilst supporting them spiritually at the same time (I pray with and for my clients and share scripture with them too.) right?
Right. Also and way more importantly – I felt called to this work. A call from God (who I still speak to every day, by the way). A call to mobilise women in recognising that the dissatisfaction they feel, even when they’ve got everything to be grateful for doesn’t need to be suppressed. In fact, I’d say it MUST be addressed.
You see, I felt that back in 2015. I’d felt it before but I could put a ‘why’ on it all back then, I guess. This time, I was working part-time for my church - a job I loved. Working part-time also meant I had more time to work on my blogging and vlogging hobby, which was great. I was (still am by the way) married to the man of my dreams and I had (still do by the way) incredible friends and family.
So why did I feel SO miserable? Ungrateful? Maybe. ‘First world problems’? Quite possibly. Not living out my full truth? 100%.
There was SO much I wanted to say and do in the world. Like use my words and my voice to encourage others to use theirs.
So I started finding ways to do that. I got myself a coach, I started showing up for myself instead of for everyone else’s expectations of me, and God started shifting things. Like He always does when I do something which requires faith and not just my own natural abilities.
Before I even had everything together, my first ever e-course was filled with 30+ women and I had people approaching me from all over the world to coach them.
So I registered as self-employed and got to work.
And work kept coming.
My clients were getting results because they’re incredible.
I started to realise I was good at this. More than that. I was called to this. That dissatisfaction started to disappear. The confidence I’d not noticed in myself for a very long time started coming back.
It felt like coming into land.
I left my part-time job at the church (where I’m still an active volunteer) so that I could give more time to my business – my life’s work.
I started to drop the shame around calling myself a business owner. I’m a business owner, guys.
And now this is what I do every day and I am literally in love with my work.
It’s still hard sometimes. Everything is hard sometimes. But it was a lot harder to suppress my sadness and lose part of me because I was too busy trying to please everybody but myself.
So here I am. Naomi Aidoo - Christian Business Coach for Purpose-Driven Female Entrepreneurs. Nice to meet you.
If you’ve got questions about faith or business or faith and business, drop me a comment or a direct message. I’d love to hear from you.
If you’d like support in stopping the suppression and finally going after the dreams God has placed in your heart, I’d love to invite you to join version 2.0 of my 90-day group coaching program ‘Clarity Class’. This 3-month program, which starts in September, will take you through every step in building and scaling a purpose-driven business and you’ll be supported by a group of like-minded women who are doing the same thing. Over the coming weeks, if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you’ll hear from all of the women who went through the first round of the program and the results they’ve seen in their own lives and businesses. Doors open to the wait list only on Monday, August 14th and there are time sensitive bonuses available. Doors open to the rest of the world shortly afterwards, but some of the bonuses will have vanished.
Here’s the wait list link: http://1authenticheart.com/clarityclasswaitlist
Whether it’s with Clarity Class 2.0 or something totally different, I urge and plead with you – don’t suppress that dissatisfaction you feel, even if you’ve got everything to be grateful for. It’s there for a reason.
Love and blessings,
