Every July, my husband and I like to tune into the Crossfit Games while camping.

(Yes, while camping, don’t come at me for having a little TV time in the great outdoors).

If you’re unfamiliar with Crossfit, it’s a sport that centers on functional fitness. There’s a lot of body weight stuff, a lot of endurance stuff, and a lot of heavyweights getting thrown around Olympic weightlifter style.

We’ll usually bring the TV outside and keep the volume just loud enough to know when a competition begins. Then, as the athletes start, we can tune in to the relatively short sprint to see who wins. These aren’t your 4-hour-long football games. Some competitions end in 7 minutes.

One competition threw everyone for a loop, both the athletes and the viewers. The athletes were on the endurance portion of the Games and had a 5k run in front of them. As soon as they crossed the finish line, the director of the games stood cackling at the end, screaming, “Now, go back!”

He thought it was a big joke and a big, fun twist. The athletes? Not so much. They’d paced themselves for the 5K distance. Doubling that at the spur of the moment meant running a very different race than they set out to run.

As we near the end of 2022, it looks like many business owners feel the same thing those athletes felt. Just as we reach the end of the year, the news is hitting that big-time shifts are coming to the world of marketing in 2023. Good thing we love what we do, right?

Yesterday, I felt so inspired by the changes ahead that I jumped in front of the microphone and recorded a podcast about it. That will air in a few weeks. For now, here’s the big takeaway: the coming changes will be all about human connection.

If you’ve attended any of my workshops, coaching sessions, or courses than you’ve likely heard me shout the word EMPATHY from the other side of the screen. Now, more than ever is the time to get really empathetic.

Empathy isn’t just feel-good stuff, though. It’s what shapes your business model, your marketing messaging, and the experience your customer has with your brand. Without knowing what’s happening with your customer from a human perspective, it’s really hard to pull away from the pack and be okay with changing course mid-race.

I just did that this week for Roadpreneur. After surveying my students and members, looking at the data and analytics inside these core products, and creating my word cloud around their needs, I shifted things slightly.

• For entrepreneurs who just want someone to tell them what to do and lay out the roadmap for them, the Roadpreneur School is now open year-round. It’s also now a 12-month container rather than a 3-month intensive with a group coaching call that happens each month.
• For entrepreneurs who are sick of working in a silo and want someone to help them get more done, there’s the Roadpreneur Community. This is less about bombarding you with new content and more about helping you stay in motion — even when the course does a complete 180 turn and requires you to go further than you’d expected.

Had I kept my head down and not listened, I would’ve never heard those needs.

Had I seen the finish line and felt like stopping, I never would’ve turned around and added more length to my race.

But here’s the thing — I love this race. I don’t mind the added miles to making these adjustments. I’m in it for the long haul, not the sprint. Unlike those Crossfit athletes, I haven’t exhausted my energy reserves. Instead, I’m finding a new rhythm that works well for myself (because empathy for yourself as an entrepreneur is equally important) and for the people, I want to serve.

This weekend, look at what feels hard, heavy, or hurting in your business. Is there something you can shift for you? For your customers?

In that shift, you’ll be able to create products, services, and courses rooted in human connection rather than something being done one way because that’s the race you’ve been told to run. It’ll be rooted in authenticity for yourself rather than a race run sideways, constantly trying to stay on other people’s paths.

This business is about connecting to your SELF and those you want to SERVE. Nothing else. No one else.

Going into 2023, that’s the biggest change I see coming. Successful entrepreneurs will be those who get more grounded, more experiential, and more rooted in what matters through every experience they deliver. Will that be you too?