10 Things You'll Need to Accept to Have a Successful Biz
This is suuuuuuuuuper long post, so let’s bypass the intro and get right to it, shall we? We shall!
HERE ARE 10 THINGS YOU’LL NEED TO ACCEPT TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL BIZ.
1. You’ll have to want to trade one type of stress for another. When it comes down to my clients deciding whether they wanna be entrepreneurs, there’s usually never a clear-cut answer. On one hand, they have to deal with someone else’s rules and do work that’s not aligned with what’s meaningful for them, and remain feeling inauthentic for 40+ hours a week…but then there’s the steady paycheck and the benefits package and a simple answer to The Dreaded Question (aka, “What do you do?”). On the other hand, there’s creating a business that’s based around the type of work that’s important to them and the people they wanna work with…that is also totally dependent on them bringing in the money and bearing the weight of insurance, retirement plans, etc. It usually boils down to which type of stress they prefer (or know they can manage more easily!).
2. You’ll have to let go of The Sprint and really trust The Marathon. I left my day job in March of 2010, and while I’ve been getting paid for coaching since 2008, it was so nominal I didn’t track it in a formal way (but I did save it all in its own account!). But, I’ve been keeping the same spreadsheet since 2010, and I can tell you that in that entire year I brought in about three quarters of my annual pay check from the day job. I cracked the six-figure ceiling in 2015, made multi-six-figures in 2018, and each year bypasses the last. Now, it’s not to say that my numbers would be your numbers, and I love seeing the continuous growth…but this is a marathon through and through. At least it is when you know you’re in it for the long-ish haul. Which brings me to…
3. You’ll have to come to terms with the fact that you won’t make the same money you do at your side hustle that you do at your day job while you’re at your day job. I remember the moment I spoke to my husband about what it would take to make him comfortable for me to give my notice. Always so sweet and supportive, he said, “Well, you’ll just have to make the same amount of money you do as an Executive Assistant. Then we’ll know it’s OK to quit.” I froze up then and there, because I knew how impossible that was to do when I only had nights, lunch hours and weekends to work on my biz. Thankfully, when I articulated to him what it would take to have me feel comfortable with giving notice and being confident that I can give this Woman of the World (aka full-time entrepreneur) thing a shot – along with what my Plan B would be should it not work out – he agreed. If you expect to make $40K or $60K or $150K while working on your passionate career on the side, you’ll be very let down and waiting a very long time. But some encouragement: I made about $2250 from my coaching in the first 3 months of 2010, right before I quit. My first full month as a Woman of the World brought me $1350, and the next month I made $2597. It goes to show that if you set yourself up with a strong foundation and then give yourself the time to work full-time on your passionate career, that you can make it happen.
4. You’ll have to be on top of your finances. I don’t know a single successful business owner that doesn’t know their numbers. And although I’ve been working with a fab bookkeeper for years now (hi Stephanie!), you can bet I’m on top of her monthly reports, plugging numbers into my own spreadsheet and seeing what’s been coming in and out. If you’re scared of your finances or are used to ignoring them, you’re gonna have to get over that – there’s really no way around it.
5. You’ll have to let go of your shoulds and musts in order to get to your needs and wants. So what that you’ve been taking classes on how to be an Instagram rockstar? If you get anxiety every time you open up the app, then let that go (or at least say, “Thanks for giving me so much knowledge about Instagram. But, I’m ready to believe that I don’t need 10k followers to have a successful business. I’ll apply what I learned in a way that feels good and maybe I’ll catch ya later!”). Stop getting hung up on what the successful peeps in your sphere have done – and/or what they tell you that you should be doing to be successful! – and listen to what’s inside you instead.
6. You’ll have to constantly pivot and experiment in order to build on what’s working and let go of what isn’t. If not, your whole business can shut down when one offering doesn’t take off. It’s easy to get attached to something you’ve poured your heart and soul into, but it’s also saying something (pretty loudly) when you’re only gotten a few bites of interest. At that point, you either change those sails, jump ship, or diversify your products/offerings enough that the ship won’t sink.
7. You’ll have to learn how to not take things personally. It’s easy to feel like someone not picking up what you’re putting down really means that they don’t like you. It’s especially easy when you’re a solopreneur and you’re doing it all. It’s even easier when your brand is, essentially, you – your experience, your personality, your values. In order to detach your emotions from your sales, I find it helpful to keep the Nancy Drew hat on and view what’s happened with a detective’s eye. Then, it’s not about you but the overall issue. This is honestly something that just gets easier with time, too. #hardtruth
8. You’ll have to tell people what you’re doing. Do not expect to build it and have them come. This is not Field of Dreams. The Internet is too saturated. It took years for me to have enough content and web hits to actually have clients tell me that they found me through Google. Instead, my early clients (and most of my current clients!) come from referrals (former clients, friends, their mothers(!)) and social media.
9. You’ll have to get comfortable with “NO”, boundaries, and prioritization. I was reminded recently that you can do anything, but not everything – and also that if everything is a priority that nothing is a priority. Within a successful business, you can not be everything to everyone. And while I absolutely know I built my business on YES, I had a breaking point where one more YES would, well, break me. I’ve had to make NO my friend ever since.
10. You’ll have to trust that you are a unique flower, no matter how many other people are out there doing what you do. Go do a Google search for the industry you're thinking of breaking into, and open up every business that shows up on the first page. Now take note of the differences in tone, offerings, backstories, branding, marketing, audiences and pricing. Everyone who shares a title is not the same, and there is room for us all.
That’s it! That’s the end of the list! {And for serious – if you accept this stuff sooner rather than later, you’ll become successful sooner rather than later. So get on it!}