Let’s talk about what it takes to run a successful business and dive into the two biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make. The first mistake is that they let fear get in the way of their vision, their execution, or both. The second one is that they spend time on the wrong things.
First, let’s talk about the fear factor, specifically fear around failure being exposed - which often manifests itself with perfectionism. Here’s the truth - when you’re starting out, you’re not going to be perfect. You’re going to be a beginner, and beginners have a learning curve.Don’t be afraid of this. People spend so much time researching and trying to get more educated. The reality is, you have the ability within you right now to be a beginner at something new in your business and watch yourself grow in the process.
When I started doing Facebook Lives a couple years ago, i was terrified because it was something new.. I would get super nervous and would compensate by planning out exactly what I was going to say. But the more I did it (and the more mistakes I made), the fear started to lessen and now, I have no problem hopping on a live, being interviewed for a podcast, or do any public speaking because I’m confident that I can speak to my audience normally.
Overcoming the fear began with just taking action and doing Facebook Lives over and over again. This shifted my mindset that overanalyzing how other’s would perceive a mistake to “I’m going to do it even if I’m bad at it. I’m going to do it even when it’s hard.”
The second mistake that I see entrepreneurs make over and over again is focusing on the wrong things; things like having a shiny, pretty website and perfectly curated freebies. They believe that before they can start making money, they need to be an expert at social media, marketing, branding - all of it. But here’s the truth. Your website doesn’t sell high ticket - YOU do. All you actually need is to connect with people. It’s as simple as that, and I’ll give you some concrete steps to implement on a daily and weekly basis so that connection piece comes more naturally.
The first step in authentic connection is to stop looking at what everyone else is doing. When we first start out, there’s a period of time we go through where we research what everyone else is doing. To a certain point this is beneficial because it gives us a really inside look into what people’s business, and it gives us some ideas for our own.
But this approach becomes a problem when you start comparing yourself to others. No matter how good your mindset is, you will be like, “Oh no, I’m not doing that,” or, “oh no, she’s doing it like this. I need to do that.” The reality is your business needs to be just you. You and your innovative ideas. You using your intuition. The reality is your business is about you. The key to making a difference online is to focus on being you and doing it your way, instead of trying to do what everyone else is doing or studying what everyone else is doing.
To connect with people, you have to make time for it, and time blocking is the key to successful time management. If you’re not doing it, print out a calendar and start doing it today. If you’re intimidated, don’t worry, we’ll take it step by step. Put your core value items on your calendar first. Then, everything else gets scheduled around those core values. Finally, leave white space in between activities so that you don’t feel like you’re always behind.
If you feel like time is running you, you’re doing things wrong. Many times, entrepreneurs resist time blocking because they don’t like structure. They value their freedom. But if you don’t control your time, and you aren’t your most productive self, and you let time control you, you’re going to feel really bad about it and you’re not going to experience freedom.
Next, make sure part of your core values are money producing activities. I challenge you to look at your calendar and ask, “Am I busy or am I productive? Am I spending the right amount of time on the right things?” You have to make sure that you’re actually producing income with the things that you are doing. If you spend 80% of your time on income producing activities, then your business will grow. Think about that. Ask yourself, “Okay, so how much time am I actually putting into this? And is it a money producing activity?”
To recap, don’t be afraid to be a beginner and make sure you’re focusing on the right things. Shift your focus away from everyone else and what they are doing. Instead, choose to be you and spread your message your way. Finally, carefully and thoughtfully structure your time around your core values and don’t forget to make one of those values making money. You can’t do all the things, right? But you can do these few things really well. Be consistent and your business will flourish.