7 business lessons the last 9 years taught us
Back in 2017, a new nine-year cycle began... can you remember what life looked like then?
Over the last nine years, your life and business followed a very specific arc. You moved through challenges, pivots, pressure, and growth. This WASN'T random. It was part of a larger cycle.
And after some honest conversations with my business clients... these were the biggest lessons learned:
1. Hustle isn’t sustainable. Period. We've been at this long enough that we know this, for sure, without a doubt. We need a sustainable system... we cannot muscle our way through it.
2. More visibility doesn’t automatically lead to more income. Randomly posting, emailing and marketing will feel like the HARDEST thing ever... if you don't have a proper sales system in place AND the right offer structures. This is where I swear by the 3 stage business model (reply if you are curious about this, and I will share details).
3. Your business can’t outgrow the identity of the person running it - namely YOU. This is why working on your energy MATTERS (tune into the forecast for details).
4. Complexity creates burnout, not scale. Your business needs a simple, repeatable structure so you can scale it. Simple is scalable.
5. Adaptability matters more than rigid plans. The market is constantly shifting... are you able to flow with changes or do they send you into a spiral?
6. Trying to do everything alone eventually becomes the bottleneck. We need others who have skills and gifts we don't... with that synergy, expansion is the by-product.
7. Stable, predictable revenue isn’t a “nice to have” - it’s freedom. Which is why effective structures are everything.
Those lessons weren’t mistakes... they are preparation.
The nine-year cycle is now coming to a close. And in 2026, a brand-new nine-year cycle begins - one that runs through 2034.
2026 is the entry point.
Which means how you enter this next cycle matters - especially as a business owner and leader.
This is a One Energy Year. A year of initiation, leadership, and intentional creation. It’s not about doing more. It’s about building from clarity, experience, and alignment.
Before the year turns, I want you to pause and reflect:
- What did the last nine years teach you about how you want to work, lead, and build?
- And what do you want the next nine years of your business to be about?
I’ll be breaking all of this down - including how to work with the energy of 2026 in a grounded, strategic way - inside my 2026 Year-Ahead Forecast.
