When I am ready to move then I move quick. I used to get frustrated when others didn’t move as quickly as me and now I realize that not everyone works the way I do. I make decisions quick. I execute quickly. I am decisive. I spent my entire life frustrated, held back, disappointed in my career. I was always striving for the next big thing. It seemed it never happened for me. Now lots of people would look at my career and think it was great. But I didn’t. I hated it and my last job I had almost completely did me in. My health was bad. My stress and anxiety level was through the roof and for the first time in my life I wanted everything to end. I knew I had to do something. I walked away. I burned it all down (metaphorically, of course). Everything I knew, done. I issued a burn notice on my life. Then like a phoenix rising from the ashes I contemplated what I was going to do next.
When I decided to start a business I just did it. I didn’t spend hours researching everything I just started. The first six months I was in business I networked like it was my full-time job. I didn’t know much about running a business but I knew that I wanted to be successful. I also knew that sitting around researching and planning wasn’t going to make that happen. There is a time and place for researching and planning but I knew that wasn’t it.
I quickly started getting clients. They were not the clients I ultimately wanted but it was business that paid. I had a lot to learn before I started attracting my ideal clients. Some of my clients from then are still my clients today. We have grown together and it is beautiful when that happens. Fast forward to today and I have a thriving business. One that I enjoy. But more than that I discovered a lot about me along the way. Here are the things I figured out in my first few years of business.
1) #Mindset is everything. If you have trash talk going on in your head it will defeat you. Do whatever you need to do to rid yourself of the negative chatter. I spend time meditating, listening to podcasts, journaling, praying, reading and spending time alone. All of these things rid my mind of the chatter.
2) Your #brand in your #business is you – own it. When I started out I thought I needed to be this “professional” in all that I did. Now granted, I am a professional with plenty of experience, education, certifications, etc. to back it up. What I mean is I just needed to be me. I’m loud. I’m bold. I’m bluntly honest. I’m a risk taker. All the things that I had hid about me in the workplace now needed to be paraded front and center in my biz. Because I am my biz and it is what makes me different from the rest.
3) Take action. #Imperfect trumps perfect any day if it means you are taking action. I don’t like to release courses, write my blog, or anything until it is perfect. But guess what? It will never be perfect and if I wait for that to happen then I screw my progress. Just be seen. Release the course, write the book, do the things.
4) #Profit trumps #revenue any day. I have always known this but it became really obvious to me when I started working with clients. Many were making revenue figures annually that would make people swoon. Problem is they were broke. They spent all the money they made. They were “investing” in the business to grow it but really they were just spending, spending, spending. Why be in business if you don’t make money? I’ve never understood this. Why people are ok working themselves to death thinking “it” will happen for them in the future. You can make money from day one. You don’t have to wait until you have been in business for a certain number of years. Want to find out how? Schedule an appointment with me today.