Shann Nix Jones - How to Start a Business on Your Kitchen Table

Published in the United Kingdom by:

Hay House UK Ltd, The Sixth Floor, Watson House,
54 Baker Street, London W1U 7BU

Tel: +44 (0)20 3927 7290; Fax: +44 (0)20 3927 7291

www.hayhouse.co.uk

Published in the United States of America by:

Hay House Inc., PO Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100

Tel: (1) 760 431 7695 or (800) 654 5126

Fax: (1) 760 431 6948 or (800) 650 5115; www.hayhouse.com

Published in Australia by:

Hay House Australia Pty Ltd, 18/36 Ralph St, Alexandria NSW 2015

Tel: (61) 2 9669 4299; Fax: (61) 2 9669 4144; www.hayhouse.com.au

Published in India by:

Hay House Publishers India, Muskaan Complex,
Plot No.3, B-2, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110 070

Tel: (91) 11 4176 1620; Fax: (91) 11 4176 1630; www.hayhouse.co.in

Text Shann Nix Jones, 2020

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without prior written permission of the publisher.

The information given in this book should not be treated as a substitute for professional medical advice; always consult a medical practitioner. Any use of information in this book is at the readers discretion and risk. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss, claim or damage arising out of the use, or misuse, of the suggestions made, the failure to take medical advice or for any material on third-party websites.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Tradepaper ISBN: 978-1-78817-378-0
E-book ISBN: 978-1-78817-409-1
Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-78817-439-8

Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.
Because what the world needs is
people who have come alive.

Howard W. Thurman, philosopher and civil rights leader

We rise by lifting others.

Robert Ingersoll, writer

Juicily pro-living a life FULL of adventures.
YES MAAATE!!!

Belinda Knott, WATT sister

As we were waiting for this book to be published, coronavirus happened.

In the space of 12 weeks, life as we knew it came screeching to a halt. As I write this, countries that represent over 50 per cent of the worlds global GDP are closed for business. Experts say that our economy is currently teetering on the brink of collapse, heading towards the deepest recession in living memory.

I first conceived this book in the wake of the Amazon asteroid, which changed the entire business environment. Now coronavirus has changed the entire landscape again. When the world fully emerges from lockdown, the environment will look completely different. Its hard to say what the new requirements for success will be.

So, whats the only thing that can save you, when the environment is constantly shifting under your feet?

Resilience.

Imagine the dinosaurs landscape after the original asteroid hit. Everything breaking, cracking, shifting... lava crevasses opening abruptly, a completely altered environment that continued to change as you watched. Any organism that was unable to adapt, perished.

Its the same today. If youve lost your job, the parameters of your life have changed or you simply feel called to do something new in the post-coronavirus world, this book is for you. It provides a value-based toolkit to help you create a new way of being in the new reality, whatever that may be.

Its time to start again, and this time to do it your way.

The only safe orientation is an internal one. You must readjust to your internal compass. Align yourself to your heart, and align your heart to the heart of the world. This will make sure that you have integrity with whats required, even as those requirements change.

Dont be afraid to reinvent yourself. Reinvention in the face of change is the way forward. Were being called into something new, something creative, something that the world has never seen before.

This is a mantra I relied on, during the period of crazy shifts, to keep me aligned and agile, responsive to change:

I connect.

I engage.

I surrender.

I respond.

Coronavirus, and the economic chaos that ensued after global lockdown, was horrible, unspeakable. No one would have wished for it. But it also did something amazing it wiped the slate clean. It forced us to begin again, because everything that existed before was gone.

So, what are you going to do about it? How will you connect, engage, surrender, respond?

This challenge is an incalculable gift.

The world is calling you forward, as never before. If you were afraid afraid of quitting your job, afraid of taking a risk, afraid of upsetting the status quo dont be. Because there is no status quo. Not any more.

This is your time. Because now you have a guidance tool thats guaranteed to work in this new and unfamiliar landscape its the I introduce in Step 4. The intersection of what you love, what youre good at, what the world needs, what you can make money doing and what the Universe is pushing you towards this is where you need to head. This internal magnetic North is unaffected by disease, disaster or economic crisis.

The advice here works. Its stress-tested. It worked to take our business through coronavirus in a halo of safety. During lockdown we continued to trade, by special permission of the Welsh Assembly Government. In fact, our business increased by 50 per cent. Despite our small size, we were even able to donate more than 100,000 worth of our healing products to brave NHS frontline doctors and nurses. To achieve this, we had to increase our skincare production by 200 per cent, but we managed it. Someone called us The Little Company That Gives. I couldnt be more proud of any title.

So, what worked? For us, it was all about using value-based principles for guidance. Chuckling Goat is the exact intersection of what we love, what were good at, what the world needs, and products and services for which we can be paid. Its also aligned with the direction in which the Universe was pushing us.

Because we use the Five Direction compass, we kept asking the question: What does the world need right now? and we kept pivoting towards the answer. This is the basis of our business model not cash flow or return on investment. As a result, we continued to function at a high performance level during the crisis. Were living proof that you can do well by doing good. Heres how we did it:

• Offer real value. Our business improves peoples health. When lockdown hit, the Welsh Assembly Government gave us permission to continue trading, because our products were helpful.
• Expect change. Everything changes. This is the one thing I know for sure whatever is happening now is about to change. Be prepared to shift, move, adjust. The advantage of a small business is that it can be lighter than air, and agile when it comes to change.
• Ask, How is this an opportunity? Because the NHS was busy taking care of those who were critically ill, lots of other people started improving their own gut health in order to proactively boost their immune system. We were there to help.
• Always communicate. Because we dont sell through outside retailers, we were able to stay in intimate contact with our own customers. I started writing two content-based newsletters every week to stay in touch people loved it, and it strengthened our relationships.