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Beginning as a Beginner Entrepreneur
In this episode, I discuss how to get past the hard points in your business, even as a beginner entrepreneur.
By listening to this episode you will learn an effective model to develop for your business, even in the hard times. This will help you to scale and grow your business effectively.
Hey there! We are going to talk today about what was it like in the beginning of my coaching business. How did I get through those hard times, that rejection, that learning curve. All the different things that you guys might be going through on your coaching journey as you are new. As you are overwhelmed and feeling like there’s so much you have to learn. There’s so many things that you feel like you need to be doing based on the gurus and whatnot, right?
Methods to Stay the Course
So we’re going to talk about this because I had a client recently ask what was it like at the beginning and what did you do to stay the course and stick with it. Because let’s face it starting a business is definitely a commitment. It’s definitely scary. There’s risk involved. You have to learn how to become a better leader. And, a lot of different skill sets that you’re going to have too, There’s a lot of skills you’ll have to learn and so I was like, you know, that’s a really good question.
Keeping Focused
I need to think about that because part of me doesn’t remember because I’m so focused on the next moment. The next moment and obviously thinking positive. So I block out things that were hard in my life but the other part of me was like no I’m gonna brainstorm on this and really think back to what was I doing. And, look back at some of my records and stuff and I did and I came up with some ideas I wanted to to share with you today. Things like just kind of philosophies I had at that time that I think carried me through.
And it was a really good reminder for me too because it just reminded me that I still have these things, but sometimes they get put on the back burner. Or, you get a little lazy or complacent and it reminded me of that drive I had at the very beginning. So we’re going to talk about those. So the first thing is. I did at the very beginning of my business, I was relentless about doing two hours of outreach per day. Minimum. Okay, and this was while I had other side jobs. This was while I was kind of learning what I still even wanted to offer. Things like that. But, I was building relationships with potential clients for two hours a day.
The Value of Training for Beginners
Whether that means sending valuable trainings to somebody who shared a struggle with me. That in a training that was about that struggle they had and saying check this out. Let me know what you think. Let me know if it’s helpful and we can talk more if you find it helpful. Whether that was sending a welcome message to a new Instagram follower and saying thank you for the follow. I’d love to hear more about you. Stuff like that I spent two hours on and I timed myself. And, I made sure that there were no, there’s no social media scrolling. And, counted into that time but I did that pretty much every single day. The other thing that I did and had to do was see every rejection, no, etc. but like I guess, obstacle as a blessing.
The Win-Win Method
And, how could I turn it into a win in some way, shape, or form. So a win to me could mean a lesson. Like, oh, I need to get better at something. It could mean that I, that maybe the no I got for coaching could still turn into a referral. Or a podcast review. Or hey let’s stay connected in my free Facebook group. I sometimes would turn into a down-sell so if I didn’t sell my big package maybe I can offer my course or whatever. So I think sometimes people get blinded by the outcome they want and then they don’t see other opportunities to turn something into a win.
And, there’s always, almost always a way to turn everything into a win or a really, really good lesson that you can use for the future. Or, a really good piece of content based on what happened that you know now you can share this lesson. So I always was trying to pay attention to those thing. And not just knock off something as ugh that sucked. And that’s that I would try to turn it into a win and I still do that.
Results from Resourcefulness
But the next thing is resourcefulness. So if you are stuck in this stage of thinking I don’t have the time. I don’t have the money, I don’t have a coach. It’s really important to be resourceful. Okay so what I mean by that is, how can you look at templates that somebody in your field, like, let’s say there’s somebody you really admire in your field. And, you get their newsletters and you’re like what about this gets them these results. Dissect it and you maybe say oh the template is generally she starts with a statement about blank. Then she goes into the body then she goes into a call to action.
I’m going to take this and I’m going to try it on my social media. And, you’re not copying the content but you’re looking at structure. You’re looking at what’s working for other people. And, you’re not comparing yourself you’re looking at this from a business owner mindset.
Not a oh you know she’s doing so well with this I’m gonna I’m a loser because I don’t know how to do that. It’s more of an objective, you know, overview of how I can take this structure, take something that’s working for somebody else and come up with my template, my structure.
Role Model Resources
What do I like from that that I want to use so that’s another thing. Another thing you can do with resourcefulness is like looking at again who you admire. And who’s your people to watch list. Seeing what are their comments on their on their posts. And gathering your own understanding of what the market needs from those so comments. On posts where maybe people say what they’re struggling with and you guys you know share a common market and you’re like oh people really struggle with blank. Interesting. Interesting.
The Standards of Structure
So you’re gathering this research right so you’re being resourceful by looking at structure. Looking at what’s working for other people. Looking what the market, what the market wants and from there you’re taking action. You don’t need it. You don’t even need a coach. However in the beginning of my business I did get a coach. I’ve worked with a couple coaches actually. And, my first big investment was a group program and during that, that group program I learned so much.
Consider Your Investments
And, I was so overwhelmed but at the same time within that program I started making my investment back. My confidence grew I felt like I wasn’t the only one or I felt like people understood me. And, then within about I would say four to eight months after that group program was over most people would say well within the program I didn’t hit my 15k months or whatever the goal was. But, what you need to look at is after the program it continues to have an, so even after I graduated the program that was when actually everything I learned in the program really started to compound and take off. And I made back much more than my investment in that group program.
And, I continued to look at the modules and fine-tune my skills. It, and you know I built relationships in that program and it was like the best thing as a starting point for me as a beginner to learn from somebody, to grow and have that resource. You know, that resource available.
Mindset Matters
Even if you knock yourself for well I’m not doing enough when I’m in the program. Just know that that stuff over time you have it for life. You develop new skills for life. You learn about yourself and it really does pay off in more than one way. More than just an, but also the skills you learn the people you meet things like that. If you are struggling, my suggestion, the best way to stay the course is to have that group. Is to have a coach or a mentor.
Zero to Hero Coach Program
So if you you know just, side note the wait list for the Zero to Hero coach program is open right now. And, we are kicking off in January to help you book more clients you love to help. You get clear on how you can increase your online visibility to convert more sales. Things like that.
So anyways. Being resourceful is really, really important. The next thing that I had to do was measure. It’s just a detach my personal identity. And treat myself like an actual business owner who was an affiliate for my company. Who was the representative for my company. So not taking things personally and instead measuring my metrics and also measuring my input more than my output is really important.
Input and Output
So in other words here’s a common problem I see coaches get into. They want x output and they’re so focused on that output but they’re not ever paying attention to okay well what would that require. What’s the daily process or the daily steps I would need to take to do that and measuring their progress and moment based on that input and feeling whole and good and in moment about their progress by doing the input rather than getting beaten down on themselves for not having the output yet.
So it’s really important to choose what are your client building activities what’s the next step and measure your metrics. To measure your progress much more important than measuring the output. That’s not there yet because the input is what gets you to that output. The other thing you have to keep in mind is measuring your progress by how you choose to measure your progress.
Creating Confidence for Beginners
So in other words. I in the beginning when I had a small amount of people seeing my posts and the people watching my lives you know I’d get really nervous and I’d have one or two people on there from high school or whatever. One thing that helped me stay the course and feel like not getting the mindset of why bother right was measuring my progress by how if I got a message or a comment from somebody saying hey this was helpful or thanks or I really liked this or you know asking me a question that you know was going to help them further.
Progress Measurement
I measured my progress based on if I got one tiny per message comment thing of somebody saying this was valuable. This was helpful. And, if I didn’t get that response now obviously you shouldn’t need other people to validate you but to me it drove me to create really good content. It drove me to think about what does my audience need to hear today. It drove, it motivated me to put out what I thought people would find valuable and what would change their life. What would help them in some way. And that my input was better because I was trying to you know make sure I was helping somebody each day. And that’s really why we’re doing this in the first place if you’re a coach. So to me that was a really good way to measure if I’m, am I doing something right here, right.
People find this valuable am I helping somebody today and that one person can have a ripple effect over time. And as Keith I can’t remember his name. Oh man. I don’t remember his name but he always says, “the concept of having 1,000 true fans and that being all you really need to succeed in your business.” I think that’s really true but we’re not going to go into that today.
The Measurement of Wins
So anyways the other things. Number one saw oh I had to remember you had to measure your wins. So literally I would track my gratitude for the post I put out that got some likes. I would write down a win if somebody responded to my message today. I would write down the win if I nailed my morning routine today. Like you have to be sure that the way that you progress is not by bullying yourself into action.
It’s by acknowledging the wins that you’re building and staying in that state of gratitude, appreciation. I’m learning. I’m growing, and at that moment that was really important on my journey as well.
Opportunities for Collaboration
The other thing is I saw everything and everyone as an opportunity. An opportunity for a new relationship. An opportunity for a collaboration or a partnership. Or if for example if I was going like, I’ll give you an example, there was a local shopping party and I would put in the goodie bags a flyer and you know that to me was an opportunity.
Open to Opportunities
So pretty much opening your eyes and ears to what and where are the opportunities. Rather than focusing on all the things I’m like I have no followers. I have no people who are interested in reaching out to me. That kind of thing you have to look at well what are where can I show up, where can I be present. Where can I pitch in and that turns something into an opportunity today.
And the other thing to think about and if you’re watching this comment a one below if this is helping. But, the other thing you have to remember is I said no to you have to say no to things on your, on your business journey.
Comparing and Changing
So in other words you cannot continue to show up as the same person you were yesterday to change your today, right. So I had to start saying no to free coaching. I just start saying no to social media distractions. I just say no to tv for a little while while I was building this business. While I was ultra focused, right.
So find out what are the things you need to start saying no to, to give more room to your coaching business. And there were times when I did make some sacrifices, right. And still to this day I do I think every entrepreneur does, right.
Worklife for Beginners
So sometimes, a lot of times, actually. In the beginning I worked on weekends or I would work a side job to support what I wanted to do right. So you have to understand that you are going to, it’s going to be a lot and that’s okay.
But what are you willing to do. What are you willing to feel on this journey to start putting in the input that you need to have to get the output that you want.
And the other thing that was really important is creating win-win ideas. So often I see new coaches who are beginners expect people to come to them. Expect that they can’t make anything and they can’t be on a podcast. Or they can’t have a certain guest on their podcast or anything like that. But the truth is if you come up with a creative way to make something a win-win for both parties then you can skyrocket your business. Think about if you have a big aspiration to be on somebody’s podcast and they might have a bigger audience than you or something like that.
Creative Thinking
Think about creatively how can I make this a win-win for them and if you’ve ever heard Gary V. He always talks about how you know if you sent somebody who you admire a DM on Instagram and said like I’m gonna use a video. Let’s say you’re a video producer and you say I’ll make three videos for you for free if you just share my logo on the video. Or something like that. That’s creating a win-win. And you’re putting up some upfront work, but you’re making it a win-win and you’re getting a big opportunity in front of a big audience.
The Importance of Scheduling Wisely
And you have to be that kind of person who can be resourceful to come up with those kinds of things if you want to grow your business. The other thing that really helped me was I only, I didn’t, I didn’t what’s the word I wasn’t delusional. So I didn’t count meaningless activities.
So in other words if I was scrolling social media or posting a post I didn’t really count that as like a money generating activity. And I think we have to get in the understanding of when we’re prioritizing our day. We got to put the money generating, client generating, impact generating activities before the activities, like I’m just gonna you know, post a cool picture today. And, something like that. So, I and at first I would say I didn’t know what those activities were.
I thought posting was what was going to get me clients but then over time you start to see you know what’s weird I had that one call with my dad’s friend and that led to a referral. That led to a client and so that conversation worked much better than me posting 10 posts on Instagram with zero followers, right.
So you have to ask yourself what are the meaningful activities. And, put those first. The other thing is think about oh here it is, this is the last one, your mindset, your number one job, is to manage your own mindset. Your number one job is to manage your own self. So I spent a lot of time in my business. It is time well spent listening to things that is helping me shape a new identity and get over my sales fears. And, give me a positive mindset and helped me visualize my future.
Power in Podcasts and Other resources
So I was a big fan of listening to things like Abraham Hicks the life coach school podcast at the time, at, the this, was like three or I don’t know maybe four years ago or 2017. I was a big fan of school greatness with Lewis Howes. And my content that I listened to has evolved over time.
As you continue to grow you kind of want new content but that was so important to start my day with. Something small in my morning ritual that would help my mindset and writing my goals every single day in the present tense, really important. Because it gets you thinking every single day about what can I do to start creating that, what inputs can I be doing and I was a big fan and I still am of the book that 10x Rule really good book. highly recommend it. Helped me on my journey, helped me not bs myself, and I highly recommend it.
Practical but Not Perfect
And, the last thing I would say too is you can’t, you have to get over this idea that you have to be perfect. And you have to just ask what’s the one tiniest small step. “Keeping up is easier than catching up,” as Elizabeth Benton says. And, there’s a book called called Tiny Habits and they were sharing the story in the book that there was a psychologist or something and a client together.
And the guy realized, the client realized he really wanted to start working out. So the client came up with the idea of hey what do you got what do you think of me going home and trying to start 30 minutes of strength training twice a week. I mean sorry four times a week or something like that. And, the psychologist was like okay cool go try that, I hope it helps your mood. I hope it helps and then he comes back a couple weeks later, the client, and his head’s between his you know he has bad posture and he’s feeling sad about himself and because he didn’t do it he didn’t stick with it and he hadn’t strength trained in a long time and he couldn’t fit it into schedule.
The Result in Steps
And, it was it was a big step for him and so then that psychologist says well what if you just start with this five minute body exercise workout that I’ll share with you and you do that twice a week. And, the guy’s like that’s not enough for me to make change twice a week. Easy. Okay. I’ll do this five minutes twice a week.
So he goes home. He could actually do the tiny habit. He starts to build his confidence up., he starts to overachieve that. Because it’s like, oh, it’s only five minutes and he comes back and he has more confidence. And, he’s presenting himself differently and whatever, right.
So the same thing applies in your business. There were days where only I did, I didn’t hit my two hours of outreach. I hit 20 minutes. There were days when I didn’t, you know, I felt like I spent all day on my website. But, I still made some form of progress in my business, and I think we have to not have this all or nothing mentality.
The Process in Actions
It doesn’t have to be like a linear chart. It can be like this. But, you’re still over time creating a chart that is going up and improving and that’s really important to stay the course and understand that, that small, the small actions add up every single day.
So if you have any questions let me know. And, let me know if you are interested in joining the waitlist for the Zero to Hero coach program inner circle. Which is my signature program to help you book more clients online without needing a ton of paid advertising. We can go that route if you want to, not, not bashing paid advertising.
Online Visibility
But, getting you started with building your online visibility, building your program that you are wanting to offer and the change you want to make in your niche and your messaging, and all that stuff. And, marketing it to the right people with sales skills without sales fears, things like that, let me know. If you are interested in that, start by setting up a free intro call. You’re not obligated, to sign up, if you book a call it’s just a call. But, we can talk a little bit more on the call, okay.
Have a great day everybody and I’ll talk to you guys soon.
Resources
- Complimentary Business Consult
- Health Coach Nation: Marketing, Business, & Mindset for Health Coaches
Find Hailey on Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
