Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Olivia Heine, Founder of Decluttered Intentions, located in Munich, Germany.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I am an NLP Life & Success coach, focusing on healing burnout & overworking, and I use energetics as the key to creating sustainable balance, success, time, and ease. My business, Decluttered Intentions, offers an array of options for doing the work of healing the hustle narrative we have been conditioned to work and succeed within, from monthly community workshops, private coaching, and on-demand courses. I work with ambitious and high-achieving women - a mix of entrepreneurs, high-level professionals, as well as stay at home parents - who are done with the overly masculine energy-based approach to working and reaching goals and are ready for a flow-based approach that is much more aligned with them and their desired way of working and succeeding. Ultimately, they want a work style that also supports their desired lifestyle, and that is exactly what we do by working together with the masculine/feminine energies and creating their own energetic success code.
Healing overworking and deeply ingrained hustle culture (which is an expression of "unhealthy masculine energy") starts with reclaiming the powerful inner feminine energy within you to reinstate balance in your life as a whole. This means reclaiming the feminine approaches to succeeding that have been rejected by society. I mean, just ask yourself what you believe you need to do to be successful. I'm willing to bet that generally doesn't include being tuned into your intuition, letting your body guide you, and making time for mindset and energy management.
This is where the signature feminine embodiment course, Rest for Success, is the first step for really deeply healing all the ways you have been rejecting your inner feminine power and how to reclaim it (in an unconventional way). From there, you are then able to show up in your "healthy" masculine energy, executing and taking clear aligned action towards your goals without burning out. These energetics are the key to your success and expansion.
I always suggest new clients and community members start with understanding why these energies are important with our ultimate "need-to-know" eBook, Unleash Your Superpower. (declutteredintentions.com/unleash-your-superpower).
Tell us about yourself
My work is an expression and the result of my own journey. I come from heavy masculine conditionings (like most of us), valuing perfectionism, disregarding my deep desires, being people pleasing, and being the "good girl," all in order to work hard enough to prove my worth. Many of us are in this same cycle, and ultimately, it's what led me to my own burnout. I wasn't living in my power, didn't know what I wanted, and didn't know how to ask for it. When I first started my business, I was doing "declutter consulting." After continuing to burn out, I realized this wasn't the thing for me. Through healing this misalignment of the masculine and feminine energies, I then pivoted into the coaching world. I began doing the work I teach today.
Reclaiming my inner feminine energy to rebalance the masculine-feminine balance (which exists within each and every one of us) has been the most incredible life-transforming journey. It motivates me to get up every day because I live my life with the main priority around play and pleasure. It has expanded my business in ways I couldn't have "forced" into place with the old way of just "hard work," and knowing that I and my team and community are part of the revolution of the "rise of the feminine" is incredibly rewarding. Not to mention watching all the women in our community rise in and for themselves through this work as well.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is the impact I have been able to have as a coach in the work that I do with my clients. Of course, I am insanely proud of the courses I have created and the way I have built my life and success with a feminine energetic approach, but ultimately, my mission is to spread this message and get this work out into the world. And so when I am able to do that and see firsthand how that has deeply transformed the lives of so many women and how they are living in their feminine power and balancing out with a healthy action taking masculine which is allowing them to show up in their own purpose without burning out... well you just can't put a price on that. The gratitude and love I feel for the women - the students, the members, and the clients - in our community... that feels like the biggest accomplishment of all.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things that come with being a business owner is setting boundaries around knowing when you have done "enough." Having gone through burnout and come from a lifestyle where I overworked to prove my worth, I have to consciously practice removing the immense pressure. The pressure I put on myself to achieve and succeed in a certain way as well as that of society. Especially at the beginning or even in some in-between phases when you're trying something new and not always seeing the results you want, it's so important to NOT make that mean anything about you... which can be hard to do when you've poured your blood, sweat, and tears into your business. It's so important to be able to separate yourself from your business and know your benchmark enough, which of course, isn't always easy. Otherwise, you can fall quickly into burning yourself out and doing things that aren't actually necessary, simply for the "false sense" of productivity, which is really just "busyness."
I'll be the first to say it is a constant practice, but knowing when to stop/rest/pause and know that you have done enough is one of the hardest things and one of the most crucial. Again, this is where I love the feminine energetic approaches and frameworks because they give you benchmarks to work with (which my Type-A overachiever self definitely craves and loves!).
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
The first tip - your inner world reflects your outer world. So "how" you feel and how you are tending to yourself is so crucial to your success. Doing the mindset and energy work is everything. Starting, running, and growing a business is one of the biggest personal growth journeys you can take. So please make sure you are prioritizing and have a clear system & routine for tending to your inner world. Remember, if you aren't running properly (your body/your emotional well-being/etc.), neither can your business.
Second, call in your support system. Enroll in a course, join a mastermind, find a coach who resonates with you, and establish your support community. Building and running a business isn't a solo journey, and you don't get a bigger reward for having "done it on your own." Get clear on who your people are, who you can go to and who will support you no matter what. I can simply not emphasize enough how invaluable it is to get a coach or some form of support from someone who is truly knowledgeable and invested in the success of your business. The amount of times I have cried and vented throughout this journey is too many to count. Mind you, the emotional release was important, but I am deeply grateful for the people I choose to have around me to support me through it. You need that accountability and grounding in your corner when things get bumpy and the mindset wavers.
The third and final tip... start creating routines and approaches that work for YOU. Sure, you can google the habits of highly effective and successful people or join the 5 am club, but if those routines and habits don't feel aligned for you, then stop forcing yourself to do them and choose what works for you. This is one of the incredible things that "feminine flow frameworks" (strategies based on the feminine approaches) support you with (Cyclical living and cycle syncing as strategic frameworks are great examples of this). Of course, if you currently don't have any healthy habits, then yes, there's a learning curve to installing new ones. However, at the baseline, it doesn't matter what the healthy habits are. It doesn't matter if you meditate, journal, read, spend time in nature, or if you pick just one of those things. The important thing is how your system and structure will make you feel because that will affect how you show up in your business and, in turn, the results you're creating.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.declutteredintentions.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decluttered.intentions
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decluttered.intentions/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviaheine/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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