The Hero's Journey In Business
We’re all on a hero’s journey in life and business. It takes a particular kind of person to become a hero in business. Someone tenacious, brave, innovative and willing to take a risk if required. We have our highs and lows, wins and losses, but the Hero will always get back up, dust themselves off and start all over again.
Arianna Huffington and Oprah Winfrey - photo courtesy of www.oprah.com
Arianna Huffington and Oprah Winfrey - photo courtesy of www.oprah.com
Some of the most famous business men and women in the world have had businesses fail, launched products or platforms at the wrong time, or were refused that book deal/big job/ funding etc – people like Vera Wang, Evan Williams (Twitter co-creator), J K Rowling, Arianna Huffington, James Dyson, and Oprah Winfrey.
As heroes in business and life, we all travel through a similar adventure, the ‘hero’s journey’ as described by novelist Joseph Campbell in his 1949 book ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’. This book describes the structure of the journey the hero undertakes as s/he traverses from the ordinary world they live in into the special world of transformation and the call to adventure.
One of the reasons we get so absorbed in books and films is because we have the same fears, hopes and dreams as the characters on the screen or in the pages.
Harry Potter. Photo courtesy of The Irish Times www.irishtimes.com
Harry Potter. Photo courtesy of The Irish Times www.irishtimes.com
Because we’re all Harry Potter, or Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, or Rocky Balboa. We all experience the same fears, hope, courage and compassion in different measures every day.
We root for them because they represent aspects of our own personalities that we have or want to explore further. And because we love an underdog!
There are many iterations of Campbell’s journey, so let’s relate this story to the roller coaster ride from the ‘ordinary world’ of traditional jobs and careers to the ‘special world’ of business and entrepreneurship.
We start with the Status Quo.
In stage one of your Hero’s Journey, you (before you become the amazing entrepreneur you are now!) are living in the Ordinary World. This is your comfort zone, the safe job/career may have served you up to a point, but you’re starting to get restless. You’re good at what you do in the Ordinary World, but there’s something else emerging that’s going to change things for you very soon and that’s the…...
Call to Adventure…. You realise you need to change your circumstances. But you don’t know how, you don’t know what’s calling to you, but something is niggling in the back of your brain. A voice that’s getting louder and pushier, asking you to move out of the status quo. There had to be something better than this.
The shackles and rigorous rules of the 9 to 5 are starting to wear thin. You start to dabble in the possibilities outside the ‘ordinary world’, what could you do with those talents and abilities if you worked for yourself? What hobby could be turned into a business? What are you always thinking about in your ‘dream life’, what could be different in your life if you took a chance, or made a plan? The ‘side business’ is calling you right now, this is your invitation to new possibilities and opportunities.
Initially you’ll likely decide to Refuse the call. You’ve had ideas and dreams of doing something amazing, but you refuse to make them a reality, this is mostly due to fear of the unknown and the worry of what others might think of you if you go your own way and do something different to the traditional job.
This refusal of the call can last years, decades even until one day you realise you’ve had enough of the old ways, enough of the slog in the traditional job world, you want something else, then you’ll find……
The Ultimate Mentor! (Photo courtesy of REX/ Shutterstock)
Assistance - on the journey to entrepreneurship you’ll find a mentor, or many different mentors to guide you along the way. They help you with various aspects of business because they are wise and knowledgeable and have been through it all before you. They want you to be successful and not make the many mistakes they did starting out. I’ve had many of these mentors, they’ve all provided many valuable lessons for me, and they’ll do the same for you too. Assistance will turn up for you when you need it, but you need to be open to it!
Mentors and advisors will give you the courage and help you need to take the plunge and dispel your fears as you plan the next stage of your journey which is…
Departure and Crossing the Threshold – It’s time to take the leap into the Special World! You may not jump into full time entrepreneurship straight away (we all have bills to pay and other responsibilities, right?), but you are entering a new world, a different way of life, a different way of thinking. Things will never be the same again once you start on this path, but the call is so strong right now that you have no option but to give it your best shot. It’s an unknown and exciting world, and it’s only the beginning.
Next is the Trials stage - there’ll be ups and downs, especially as you find your feet in this new and unknown world of entrepreneurship. You’ll be rocking your business one day and hiding under the duvet the next (I know, I’ve been there!). All part of the process as you endure the business roller coaster ride. Your skills, confidence and mindset will be tested as you get to grips with this new way of living and of being until you reach the….
Approach to the Inmost Cave. The belly of the Beast….
It’s time to face your fears in the world of business, that might be public speaking for the first time, applying for funding, pitching your business, or the vulnerability of telling friends and family your business plans and dreams. The approach will test your resolve and make you think twice about continuing on your business journey. It’s the Ultimate Test for you as an entrepreneur.
After that comes the Crisis Point.
This is the darkest hour in your business; a deep inner crisis that you, the Hero, must face to survive in the entrepreneurial world – should you continue on your journey or go back to the ordinary world of safe and stable work? You’ll need to draw on all your skills and experiences as an entrepreneur to overcome this challenge.
You’ll put everything on the line to make this business a success - remember that many have chosen this path before you too and succeeded! Crisis can mean a lot of things in business, but only you can decide if you want to continue on the windy path to entrepreneurship or not. If you decide to continue, you’ll eventually find your Reward.
The Reward for sticking to your plan might be having enough clients to go full time in business, completing a course to further your business goals, receiving funding for a project, winning an award, finding the ideal location for your business, finalising and optimising your website to find clients online, holding regular sold out events etc. This is where you finally find your groove in business and can see the long-term possibilities and opportunities ahead.
When you get to the Result stage, you’ve achieved what you initially set out to achieve in business, you’ve identified the goals and slayed the dragons in your way (some of them anyway!). You’ve risen to the challenge and smashed the initial goal you wanted in business and are moving on to the next goal or plan. You are content to have won this challenge but know there are many more to come!
On your Return from ups and downs of the Special World, being your own boss becomes a new norm for you as you return to your new ‘ordinary world’, which is now living as a fully-fledged entrepreneur. Things will never be the same again, and neither will you. You have developed a new resilience, you’re on a mission to improve, evolve and succeed. The sky’s the limit for you now, you’ve proven to yourself and to the world that you can do it!
This new life will continue to be defined and evolve as you grow in business. Your new life took determination, drive and sacrifice. Many crises were handled on the journey, and you came out the other side victorious. Your business quest has changed you; you’ve outgrown the societal norms to be compliant with a traditional job or career - you’ve forged your own path. You’re living your truest life and being of service to others through your business.
In the Resolution stage of business, you tidy up all the unfinished aspects of your new life, you learn more about your craft, and continue on the path to a new, improved Business You. You can see the pieces of the puzzle coming together as you establish your business and expertise in your field, more and more people want to work with you and learn from you.
Now you come full circle to a new Status Quo – you’ve upgraded to a new level, and nothing will ever be the same again. You’re a different, improved version of yourself now, you’ve faced challenges, slayed the dragons, and emerged victorious. There will be other challenges as your business continues to grow and evolve, but you’ll be ready for them, you’ll use your resilience, your tenacity and your new found business acumen to rise to the challenge again, and live to fight another day.
The Hero’s Journey has many stages, many twists and turns. This journey can be applied to many aspects of life – business, health, battling illness, facing challenges in family life, having courage to transform or change the status quo.
When Joseph Campbell made the correlation between the hero’s journey and the day to day living of your life, he gave this advice ‘Follow Your Bliss’ – do the thing that fills you with the most joy and happiness, and do it no matter what people say or think. Do it anyway. That is your starting point on your hero’s journey.
If you want to build a business to help others, find a way to do it. You’ll be scared and there’ll be challenges but living your life as best you can is the only way to find your own Holy Grail and share it with the world. We can also be heroes in the everyday – raising a family, looking after elderly parents, starting a business, saving the world from a killer virus (sound familiar?) – the journey is the same.
The Hero’s Journey is a road map to your true path, the one that fills you with joy, that excites you, that honours who you truly are. It’s not an easy road, but it wasn’t meant to be, because we have lessons to learn along the way. And nothing worth living for is ever easy, otherwise we’d all be doing it without stress or fear or learning anything new.
The Hero’s Journey is the journey of your life – are you answering the call and following your bliss? Are you doing the thing that fills you with joy? If not, why not? You can be your own hero too.
I love helping people become their own Business Hero, and develop their vision and mission in business, so get in touch!
I have 10 free Business Breakthrough Calls available for May - click on the link to book a free 30 minute call and let’s discuss ways to becoming your very own Business Hero through tailored strategy, laser focus and a positive mindset.
