Turn Your Business into a Movement 

We all know that it is ‘Movements’ that change the world — not your average business or charity but those ‘Movement Leaders’ who have re-imagined themselves and their organisations through the challenging process of acquiring a new ‘movement’ mindset, skill-set and tool-set. Would you like your cause, product or service to become so much more than it already is – well read on as we explore ‘becoming a movement’…

The biggest shifts in human history have always been driven by people movements, whether that be social or political change or whether that be a business that ‘catches on’ or a cause that ‘gets in our veins’ or a product that ‘everybody is talking about’. My life’s mission has become a practical study of this exponential phenomenon – are movements just spontaneous happening or is there something we as leaders can do to ignite and sustain these viral events?

Firstly, there is a shift needed in the way we look at ourselves, our leadership and our organisations. Because we have mostly been nurtured in the ‘age of the institutional organisation’, we struggle to unlearn and to learn new ‘organic’ concepts. Yep, I’ll be talking later about the contrast between ‘organisation’ and ‘organic’ — in fact I wrote a Masters Thesis on this very question:)

Really want to come on this journey?

But to start with, lets get real about what’s at stake here! For some of us, I would say don’t bother starting this journey, stop reading now!… for most, the pain and effort of becoming a Movement Leader just isn’t worth it. This journey has cost me over one hundred thousand pounds, long days, mental health, extreme loneliness, health issues, friends, and at times ‘just feeling weird’ and not normal. But for a smaller number of us, we know we haven’t got any choice in the matter, we were born to start movements or to die trying 🙂

By the way, I’m not just an academic but have made that conscious choice to put these exponential learnings into action, I believe so much in learning by doing. So these last 20 years I’ve helped to kick-start and nurture 12 businesses, social enterprises and charities/non-profits – some have ceased to trade, most continue to grow, three of which are starting to gain the traits of movement – the abilities to replicate, generate, train others, multiply and become out of control (in the best possible way). People are gossiping these products, services or causes either online or face-to-face and nothing can stop them – movements are being formed!

Much could be said (and will be said) about the journey towards Movement Leadership, a shift towards creativity, generosity and goodness. 30 years of study including postgraduate research has taught me much about the complexities of people movements but the realities are actually quite simple and can broken down into 3 key areas…

Mindset, Skill-set and Tool-set

In my years of study and exploring the stories around Movements and Movement Leadership, 3 key areas of transformation are needed to enter this exciting space – significant mindset change, getting yourself equipped in a new skill-set and acquiring the cutting edge instruments of the age – a new tool-set.

1. The Mindset of Movement Leader

This is the biggest and most significant transformation the aspiring movement leader will need to make – what good is a new set of tools and skills if one can’t use them or have the habits and character established to sustain the transformation?

Yes this is about character, the way we think and about habit formation. The Movement Leader is fixated on their own personal growth and development and all that might entail – a unstoppable commitment to unlearning and learning; the commitment to the time needed and finances required to make this happen. Personal Development is holistic and includes taking on fitness habits, quality sleeping habits, keeping inner-circle relationships healthy or creating positive daily rhythms – yep, its about nurturing emotional, physical, mental, relational and spiritual health — literally becoming the Best You on a daily basis – day after day, month after month…

But the Movement Leader particularly needs to have that capacity to live paradoxically in the past, present and future. Yes, learning from historical Movements and Movement Leaders like Ghandhi, #MeToo, Luther-King or Steve Jobs – deeply understanding the lessons of the past (my current MPhil/PhD study is about a C16 underground movement leader and the lessons we can learn from him).

The Movement Leader’s mindset is also abiding in the future, filled with the hope of what could be (hope is a rare commodity in this generation) – the mindset that rejects despondency, negative thinking and despair.

But most important, the mindset of the Movement Leader is in the present… ‘I’m gonna turn dreams of the future into ‘next step actions’ (as GTD guru David Allen would say); I’m gonna take lessons of the past and learn from their mistakes and triumphs AND take some bold action today.’ I’m gonna be a do-er, not just a historian with some nice stories. I’m gonna take my dreams and hopes for the future AND use them to inspire ‘next step actions’ today! Not tomorrow but I’m gonna live ‘Best Me’ today, fully living in the present moment and take full responsibility for my life today. Maybe my background works against me, maybe I haven’t got the education, maybe I was told I’d never make anything of my life, maybe I haven’t got the money, maybe I’ve experienced rejection, abuse and loneliness but I WILL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE NEXT STEP – I will SELF-LEAD and blame no-one but myself for my inaction and procrastination… (… after that rant, take a breath Steve:)

That’s just a taste of the ‘breakthrough mindset’ you’re going to need to nurture; a flavour of that internal self-conversation that will need to be transformed.

Additionally, I could talk more of the need to embrace generosity, empowerment, abundance and goodness in the way we interact with each other and with our movements – I could explore the mechanisms we need to break addictions and nurture great habits – these are some of the key internal attitudes for aspiring Movement Leaders… I can’t over-emphasise the importance of deep and lasting internal Mindset transformation. More on these key issues in future articles and resources.

2. Skill-set of Movement Leaders

Work-place Researchers tell us that the average person now needs to significantly re-skill themselves 6 times during a work career. This number is going up all the time as new technologies and communication methodologies develop and change at an ever-increasing rate.

The Movement Leader needs to be on this and in a continuous state of developing new skills. Skills that particularly work from the Movements Philosophy of Generosity and Exponential Happenings include coaching skills always build a sense of movement and empowerment; training skillsgives away new knowledge that is then given away again as the trainee shares their new knowledge with others; automation skills where workflows are started and completed by great coding; outsourcing skills build that sense of exponential growth at the core of a business or movement. I could mention online marketing skills, social media skills, digital content production skills, productivity and workflow management skills, new types of leadership skills including a facilitative approach to people and groups or new learning approaches like online learning, teacher-bots, And the key skill of all, the ability to build and nurture trusting and warm relationships – I will do what I say and I genuinely care for you.

These new skills and particularly learning these new skills may seem overwhelming and many Movement Leaders are learning to outsource these tasks to others – the Movement Leader doesn’t actually need to learn these skills as long as they can find someone to pay to do the work. In feeling this frustration, my team and I are positioning ourselves to help the Movement Leader in two key ways…

1. You’ll know mindset change needs as much support and nurture as possible or it will fail — reading an inspiring article will keep us going at least until tomorrow morning:) I offer focused ‘movement coaching and training’ to get you the breakthrough, longevity and sustained change you’ll need in this crucial area – book in your free session today.
2. Or as your ‘Digital Roadsmith,’ I will actually build your business, your non-profit or your cause for you… My team and I will construct the digital infrastructure you will need to enable a highly automated movement so that you can focus on the things that bring you and your clients life – like coaching, training or speaking. My team will build the whole business for you (or individual parts if you wish) – online marketing funnels, automated sales and business processes like onboarding, chatbots, websites, evergreen webinar funnels, social media excellence and advertising, quoting/invoicing, online learning platforms, SEO and outsourcing. Our flagship service is a Complete Movement Building Packwhere we will literally do everything for you — an all-in-one package. Book in for a free road-mapping session where we can discuss what this would look like for you.

3. Tool-set of Movement Leaders

My carpenter friend’s love for his tools was obvious – each ‘top of the range’ tool given its space hanging on the wall – together with an oily rag that carefully wiped each instrument after use. My friend produced beautifully crafted wooden bowls, picture frames and objects nurtured from drift wood and other ancient findings. The Movement Leader is similarly familiar with the craft of her industry and the tools for her trade – the Movement Leader needs the best tools and will search out the best tool for the job and pay over average money (if needed) in order to access such treasures. I’ve spent hours searching review sites, trying hundreds of tools and asking professional colleagues for their recommendations and come up with this stack of tools .

A great tool needs to be one that will easily connect with other tools, they tend to be slightly more expensive than the other tools but last longer and do a better job; I’ve made suggestions regarding some of the better tools I’ve found and use on a daily basis. The Movement Leader will need tools in these areas…

• Social Media – Buffer, Pocket,
• Digital Marketing – Chatbots (ManyChat), SEOPressor
• Online Learning Platforms and Webinar – Skype, Zoom, LearnDash,
• Funnel and Website Building – WordPress, WPDev, WPX, ClickFunnels,
• Customer Management and Communications – Calendly, Pipedrive, Drip, Typeform,
• Business Automation – Process.St, Zapier
• Business Financial Management – Invoice Ninja, QuikBooks
• Content Creation and Production – Camtasia, Canva and Adobe Creative Suite
• Optimising with SEOPressor, Google Analyics
• Productivity – Trello, OneNote,

All the best on your road towards becoming a Movement Leader in Mindset, Skill-set and Tool-set.

Do ring for a chat – always happy to talk Movements –

For the journey,

Steve Jones, UK

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MY OFFERS, once again, ARE…

You might be slightly overwhelmed by the idea of acquiring new mindset, skill-set and tool-set so I’m here to help you on that journey and create ways to complete the process as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Firstly, As your ‘Digital Roadsmith,’ I will actually build your business, your non-profit or your cause for you… I will construct the digital infrastructure you will need to enable a highly automated movement so that can focus on the things that bring you and your clients life, like coaching, training or speaking. My team will build the whole business for you (or individual parts if you wish) – online marketing funnels, automated sales and business processes like onboarding, chatbots, websites, evergreen webinar funnels, social media excellence and advertising, quoting/invoicing, online learning platforms, SEO and outsourcing. Our flagship service is a complete Movement Building Pack where we will do everything for you — an all-in-one package. Book in for a free road-mapping session where we can discuss what this would look like for you.

Secondly, you’ll know mindset change needs as much support and nurture as possible or it will fail – reading an inspiring article will keep us going at least until tomorrow morning. I offer focused coaching and training to get you the breakthrough, longevity and sustained change you’ll need in this crucial area – book in your free session today. Plus, remember our complete Movement Building Package includes all the individual coaching and personalised training you will ever need.