Kevin Monroe is a leadership consultant and executive coach who helps high achievers find and connect with their purpose in life. Finding a purpose goes beyond just making money for yourself, and it goes well beyond success too. It’s time to stop going through the motions and start working with some intention.

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Kevin shares with us:

Being a freelancer is harder than you think it is. We still dread going to work sometimes, even when we work at home. And there’s still that looming threat of “is this all there is?” If you’re looking for something more in your business, then today’s episode is for you. On this episode, Kevin Monroe talks about how we can all find a purpose for our freelance business.

Finding Your Purpose
When you describe “being driven”, what does that mean for you? Kevin asks that question today because he believes that a purpose does not always have to be internally driven. Your purpose can reside in whatever form you like. You may be inspired from within, or you may be called upon by someone or something else to fulfill your purpose. The trick is to identify your purpose and start pursuing it in your own way.

If they are doing what they’re doing because of a desire to find and fulfill and express purpose, then I want to help them on that journey.

Finding your purpose isn’t always easy. We discuss some of the darker sides of freelancing and how to break free from the monotonous cycles of success. If you’re just going through the motions to earn a paycheck, then you’re probably lacking a real purpose in your life and in your business. The term “purpose powered business” is what Kevin talks about, and he shares some of his techniques for helping leaders and business owners hone in on their own unique purpose.

To start the search for your purpose, stop saying yes to every job that comes your way. When you’re a freelancer, it’s almost too easy to take the first job that falls into your lap. But you work for yourself because you want to do what you love, so start picking the clients and the jobs that inspire you. Take on work that makes you happy. Don’t work just to fill what Kevin calls a “hole in the pay cycle”.

Make sure you save time in your work schedule for projects that really are exciting you and helping you move forward toward your life vision, not just pay the bills this week.

You want to put yourself in a position that brings out the best in you. Don’t take on a job that’s going to stop you from doing your best work. Kevin recommends using your skills to help others. You can earn money and build a stellar reputation by helping others with the tasks that come naturally to you. Whether you’re an ace web designer or an amazing writer with a knack for content creation, you can use your skills to build up others and boost their confidence.

Discover Your Life Lessons
Your life lessons – or what you’ve learned about yourself through your experiences – will help you pinpoint your purpose. Kevin uses a process called DECAL to help others discover, explore, connect, activate, and live with purpose. He wants you to look at your timeline as if it were a picture (it can help to draw it out) and walks us through this process with examples for each, including:
1. Discovery: Which of your life experiences inspires you to teach others?
2. Explore: Take a step back and look for patterns in your story.
3. Connect: Reach out to people with similar experiences.
4. Activate: Take action with your purpose. Either integrate it into your business or let your business give you the time and energy to work on your purpose.
5. Live: Use your purpose to live your legacy. Your actions will inspire others to do the same.

If you take the time to go through Kevin’s DECAL process, you’ll start to recognize patterns and themes in your life story. This theme will point you in the direction of your purpose. Whatever skill you’ve developed or experiences you had will all influence what purpose your life and your business will take.

I believe that everything in your life has prepared you for your purpose before you even knew you had a purpose.

Kevin shares his own experiences with this process. The greatest question he answers today is how he found his own purpose. He talks about the hardest part of his life and how blogging helped him connect with others. He was able to build a community based on his experiences, and this personal connection is what ultimately led to his successful consulting business.

Purpose Powered Business
Finding a purpose for your business goes hand-in-hand with finding a purpose for yourself. Once you have an idea of what this purpose is, you’ll start to notice how differently you start attracting clients. Kevin shares his own technique for finding clients. But he doesn’t call them clients. Kevin’s ideal clients are real people with names and experiences that he has gotten to know and grown to understand. These relationships fulfill him and give his business a purpose.

There is a higher purpose for business, life, and leadership. Those people that find and fulfill their purpose…have more fun, have greater fulfillment, and make the world a better place for everybody else.

Building a purpose powered business is all about connecting with people who share similar experiences or frustrations. You aren’t the first person to feel a certain way, but you could be the first who’s brave enough to talk about it. Because blogging worked so well for Kevin, it’s one of the major marketing techniques he talks about today. But there are many different ways to build a community around your purpose. Facebook groups, LinkedIn, and other social media outlets are a great place to start. Anywhere that helps you find your voice and lend inspiration to your purpose is the first step in running a purpose powered business.

Resources mentioned:

• Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren
• Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
• The One Thing with Jay Papasan
• The Imposter Syndrome
  

Find Kevin Monroe online:

• Website: Kevindmonroe.com
• Higher Purpose Community
• Higher Purpose Podcast