Introduction
Welcome back to the Coaching Hive Podcast!
Today, we are going to take a bit of a step back and do some reflection because as an entrepreneur, it is easy to go into business, go full out, play full out, and then take a step back and realize that you might not be exactly where you want to be. You know that you want to own a business, but you don’t know if what you have created is really what you want.
Today we are going to take that step back and think about what type of business is right for you.
With our theme of simplicity, clarity, and vision for 2022 in mind, let’s jump in!
Build the Right Business
I don’t know about you, but when I decided to become an entrepreneur, I didn’t actually say, “I want to become an entrepreneur.” I actually said, “I want to start this business”.
And I had an idea for it. I didn’t stop necessarily and think about what that would look like six months from now, 12 months from now, or even three years from now. I thought about my idea and just wanted to get started.
You don’t necessarily stop, take a step back and think about what you actually want from your business.
I will never forget the conversation where I introduced our Coaching Hive Blueprint and reminded coaches that everyone’s business is going to look different. Each coach identified a different type of business that resonated with them. In speaking out loud what they wanted even before starting, they were clearer on what the business would look like and not look like.
Today let’s think about what you can actually do to prevent building a business that leaves you feeling unfulfilled, unhappy, unsatisfied, or just plain burned out because that’s not the goal of entrepreneurship.
We’ve all heard it. Entrepreneurship gives you flexibility. It gives you freedom. The last thing you want to do is build a business that does none of that.
Idea 1:
The first step to thinking about what type of business is truly right for you is to recognize that full-time entrepreneurship is not right for everyone. And that’s okay. I have been working with a coach who told me that she just wants one or two clients a month because she’s ready to slow down with her work life and have a little bit more personal life in semi-retirement.
I have other coaches that I’m working with who want that full time income, that full-time commitment. And they want to work each day on their business. The point here is that full-time entrepreneurship is not the only way to pursue entrepreneurship. It might be that you work a few hours a week. It might be that you work 40 hours a week or more depending on what it is you want.
So as you start to think about your business, whether it is a hypothetical business, a business in its actual infancy or a business that is booming and moving right along, and you’re ready to make a few shifts because you’ve realized that maybe what you’ve built, isn’t quite right, no matter where you are in that process, recognize that there is no right or wrong here.
You can choose to work as little or as much as you want in your business. And that’s okay for your business. Now there are, of course, some, some downsides to working just a few hours a week. You may not get as much income. You may not build as quickly or as smoothly if those are your goals.
You do have to recognize that if you want to get something out of your business, you do have to put work into it. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. What I’m talking about here is making sure that you are building your business according to your life and your needs and your goals, not someone else’s idea of what entrepreneurship is. Okay?
As a reminder, idea 1 is to recognize that full-time entrepreneurship is not right for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s okay.
Idea 2:
The second thing to keep in mind is to explore the right options for you. Don’t be afraid to combine approaches to being an entrepreneur. Maybe this means that, like I mentioned, the coach earlier wanted to work for herself and for someone else. She was a part-time entrepreneur.
Maybe it means that you sell someone else’s product and you sell some of your own products or services. Maybe you’re acting as an affiliate and you have some services or products of your own that you’d like to sell. There is not a single right answer. Maybe you decide that you want to make a certain percentage of your income from speaking on stage and maybe another percentage of your income from one-on-one services and then another percentage from group services. So the second thing to remember is that you need to explore the options.
Don’t be afraid to make entrepreneurship yours, just like no two fingerprints are the same. No two entrepreneurs are the same. No two businesses are the same, even businesses in the exact same industry, serving the exact same people. They’re not the same. You can look at insurance companies, Insurance Company A and Insurance Company B, they are not going to be the same.
Even if they sell the exact same car insurance or house insurance, they will operate slightly differently. They will have different values or different processes or different approaches to selling insurance. And then maintaining those client relationships. Your business gets to be yours. You can explore the right options for you.
Idea 3:
The third thing I want you to remember today is to think about what your vision is for your work life.
In a time when we are online and connected each moment of the day, we have to be careful. Work-life tends to bleed into our home life. Especially if you work from home, it’s easy to say, oh, let me go change the laundry. Let me go start dinner. Let me make that cake for my child’s birthday. And then come back and you’re working on your business again.
It’s easy for your business to kind of stumble out into the rest of the house instead of staying in your office or in your office space. If that’s not a specific room, think about what your vision is for your work life and build your business to fit that vision. If we build our business first and then try and shove a vision into it, it’s not going to work.
You are not going to end up with a business that’s right for you. It might be right for your neighbor or your friend or your colleague, but it’s not right for you. And that’s what we want to prevent building a business that you look at and say, I don’t like this. This doesn’t fit my needs. It doesn’t fit my life. So instead think about your vision for your work life.
What do you want that to be? How many hours are you working? When are you working? How are you working? What processes are you using? What tasks do you have to complete? Who do you need to hire? If you need a VA, a virtual assistant, what are they doing? What does your work life look like by taking the time to recognize that full-time entrepreneurship, isn’t right for everyone. And that’s okay by exploring the right options and realizing that every business is like a fingerprint. It’s unique and it’s different. And you have to find the right approach for you. Maybe that’s combining different things to make the right business for you and remembering to have your vision at the forefront of your work life and of your business. Because when you allow that vision to drive your business, you are building a business that is inherently the right business for you. And you will know sooner if it’s not, and you need to make an adjustment, because what happens is choosing an option that fits your needs, leads to better success. Isn’t that an interesting concept.
When we choose the option that fits our needs best. When we choose to build the right business for us personally, then it is going to help you have better success in your business with a great reminder.
Action Item And Conclusions
Your action item for this week, what are you going to do? Start exploring what you actually want for your business. Start exploring what that looks like. Do you want to be full-time or part-time? Do you want to sell your own services and products?
Someone else’s services and products, a combination. Do you want to be speaking? Do you want to be working? One-on-one do you want to have group options? Do you want to have a paid email newsletter? That’s weekly? What do you want in your business? What does that look like? Think about your calendar, your schedule. What does it look like to actually run your business?
This week start thinking about what you actually want for your business, recognizing that there are no hard and fast rules here that your business is much like a fingerprint. It is unique, and that’s a good thing. That’s something to be celebrated rather than worried over. How does that feel to think about the fact that your business can actually be what you want it to be?
What you need it to be versus following some outline or, or kit that someone has said. Here’s how you build a business, build it this way. And you’ll be fine. Only realizing that maybe that’s not actually what you want. This week, take some time to reflect and explore. If you already have a business, explore what’s working well, what you’d like to adjust or change moving forward.
If you are brand new to business, start with that vision. What do you want your business to look like? What do you want your work life to look like? Who are you serving? What are you doing? Is it full-time? Is it part-time? Is it in-between full-time and part-time? Are you going to take multiple months off a year? What does this look like for you?
What does it look like for you as you start to explore, notice where you can make changes, notice where you might want to plan for the future a little bit differently and remind yourself daily that this is a journey. Building your business. Being an entrepreneur is a journey and a journey suggests that we make shifts and adjustments over time so that we are constantly in congruence with ourselves as human beings, that our business is in congruence with what we want, what we need, who we serve, and that it aligns beautifully. That way we are going to be much more successful when everything is congruent and it aligns in our lives.
That is all I have for you today. I wanted to keep this short, give you an opportunity to take some time and really reflect on your business.
That’s all I have for you today. I look forward to seeing you back here next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive Podcast, where a focus on mentoring and community removes the overwhelm of building your successful and profitable business and adds in a dose of momentum.
Until next time, have a healthy, safe, and happy week!
P.S. I’m going to let you in on a secret. Coming up in our next series of the Coaching Hive Podcast, we are going to be digging into different tools and services and ideas that you can use inside your business. One of the biggest questions I get is what should I choose for my email for this service or that service? How do I create a good graphic for my posts? Well, I’m not great at social media. Are there any programs out there that can help me?
I’ve got your back. Starting next week on the Coaching Hive Podcast, we are going to dig in and start thinking about the different options, tools, and gadgets and gizmos that are out there for running your successful and profitable business so that you can be the Go-To Resource in your industry with confidence, with success, with kind of a lighthearted feeling toward business, knowing that you have the tools and the programs and everything aligned so that it makes your job easier. And you can get back to the important work of serving your clients and customers.
That’s my little preview for next week. I hope you’re excited. I know I am!
