324 From DAYDREAM to DOING: 5 Reasons to START Your Business!
Why You Should Not Wait to START Your Business!
sharing5 reasons
Today's podcast is all about uncovering and embracing your potential to launch the business of your dreams.
Kelsey is here to light a fire under all the aspiring entrepreneurs, sharing wisdom that'll have you moving from daydreaming to doing.
We'll start by addressing the all-too-common entrepreneur's roadblock: imposter syndrome, and, spoiler alert—it doesn't go away, but that's no reason to back down.
Then, let's talk about why starting SMALL is the way to go and why NOW more than EVER, your business is needed!
Episode Time Stamps:
[05:58] Kelsey's encouraging words to follow your dreams
[10:37] Overcoming imposter syndrome takes confidence and decision.
[14:44 ] How would you feel if someone else started your dream business?
[19:18] Getting OLDER doesn't have to derail
[21:00] Don't delay, entrepreneurship is possible at any age.
[25:05] How to embrace failure as a learning experience, rather than avoid failure!
To connect with Kelsey:
Access the transcript for this episode:
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You are listening to the Visionary Life podcast. I'm your host, Kelsey Rydell. Each week, I'll bring you conversations with.
The most visionary humans on this earth.
In hopes that you'll be able to absorb their wisdom, avoid their failures, and feel less alone on the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship.
This season, I'll be chatting with creative.
Thinkers, masterful marketers, brick and mortar shop.
Owners, brand builders, and people just like.
You who have a story to share or a vision that inspires. If I can share one quick secret.
With you before we get into the episode, it's that we all have a.
Little bit of visionary inside of us. You know, that spark that nudges us to pursue our full potential in this lifetime. But perhaps somewhere along the line, it got covered up.
I'm here to tell you that it's.
Never too late to explore that inner voice and access the brilliance deep down inside of you. It's in you. It's in all of us.
Let's dive in.
The wave mastermind is finally here. We've been running a super epic group for female entrepreneurs every single Wednesday for the last year. And you may have seen on Instagram that we recently rebranded to wave, the mastermind. That stands for wealthy, ambitious, visionary, and energized. And these are the core values of the women inside of the wave mastermind. So if you are a passionate female entrepreneur looking to catapult your business and you really want to be part of a group that's going to help you get there, then wave, the mastermind is definitely for you. You can head to kelseyridel.com mastermind to apply. Spots are super limited, and we have so many badass women in this group who are ready to support you.
We have lawyers.
We have naturopathic doctors. We have health coaches. We have Reiki practitioners. We have consultants and coaches and people who are on the same wavelength as you. They are driven. They are ambitious. They are high performing, and they know that without connection and without having people in your corner who are equally as driven and motivated as you, that you might end up not growing your business as much as you want to in 2024. So if this sounds like something you might want to be part of again, we have a few spots open.
Head to Kelsey Rydell.com mastermind. We would love to gift you a free wave method session, which is a four part process, plus weekly business coaching tailored to driven women like you. So again, when you join the wave mastermind, we are gifting you a wave method session. This is going to help you to ten x your business with a plan, with a strategy. And we cannot wait to be part of this growth journey that you're on. So again, Kelsey Rydell.com mastermind. If you are a driven female entrepreneur, and we would love to speak with you. So again, kelsey Rydell.com mastermind.
Hey, visionaries. Welcome back to the show. This is the episode for any of you who have been sitting on a business idea. You want to start a bike shop, you want to start a restaurant. You want to become a health coach, you name it. This is the show for you. And I want you to listen to this episode and hopefully feel confident enough to start walking towards your big goals and dreams of working for yourself or earning some extra income or just inching one step closer to that dream that you've had of starting a business for weeks or for months. Maybe you've had it for years, and some of you listening, you've had this dream for decades.
So I'm calling all aspiring entrepreneurs. Let's get into it. So, of course, there is so much hesitation when you're thinking about embarking on any new project. The timing might not be right or you don't have the right skill set quite yet, or you're lacking the money to get started. Well, there is a lot that can get up in our head that is gonna make us not want to start the business. So in this episode, I'm actually gonna share five reasons why you should launch your business today. And, of course, if there are pressing things that really, truly need your attention more than this, maybe this just isn't the episode for you right now. But if you've been that person who's kind of, like, swaying back and forth in the wind, right? You're, like, leaning and swaying towards, oh, my God, I can totally do this.
I know. I want to be an entrepreneur. I got this. And then the next day, you wake up and you're, like, swaying the other way, and you're like, I could never do this. I'm going to be such a failure. And the dreaded imposter syndrome of, like, who am I to do this? So we're gonna go into five reasons why you should. I'm gonna try to motivate you. I'm gonna try to be your business and marketing BFF today.
And I don't want this to be, like, toxic positivity or, like, I'm just acting as a hype person. Because much as I do think it's important to rally people who are gonna lift you up, I'm also such a realist and I know when I started my business, I was super, super conservative. I was not the person who just jumped off the ledge and was like, all right, I quit my job. Now what? I worked, like six other jobs. I had tons of savings. I lived very minimally. I also was in a chapter of my life where I was able to get by with less. But I don't want this to just be a pep talk and a rally to get you to do something that you truly shouldn't do.
But I also want to be that friend that can nudge you to keep dreaming and to not stop yourself before you even start and to give yourself a minute today to close your eyes and just imagine, just vision, what the future could look like. And the reason I'm so passionate about this episode is because I'm having these conversations with you guys every single day. I love that I get to be that person that people come to and say, Kels, I haven't told a single soul, but I kind of have this idea. Do you mind if we grab coffee? I have some of you reaching out on Instagram who I have never met who live across the country from me or in a different country, and you're like, I listened to that podcast, and I think I can start my soy wax candle business now. And I truly feel honored, whether it's because I've walked out this path, because I am maybe the only person, you know, who's so passionate about business, who's creating content around it. But whatever the reason you're tuning into this episode, just know that I'm excited for you, and I truly, truly believe in you. And if nobody else believes in you, if nobody else thinks you can do this business, I probably do. Yes, there are ideas that likely won't succeed, but crazier things have been done, right, and you have to be a little bit crazy to start a business.
Put yourself out there and do something you've never done before. So I'm really excited to dive in and to just give you that little dose of encouragement that I feel like I needed ten years ago. And I remember looking around when I first quit my corporate marketing job and went freelance and thinking, oh, my God, I really don't know a lot of pieces who have taken a different path. And granted, I was in my mid twenties at the time, so the people I was hanging around were like my colleagues from my corporate jobs and then friends that I had known forever who had mostly followed traditional paths. So I don't really feel like I had that person in my corner. So again today, why don't we talk about five reasons that you should launch your business? All right, let's get into it. Reason number one that you should just go for it is that imposter syndrome never goes away. You know, that little voice, that little feeling that's like, I don't think I can actually do this.
I'll never be the right person. I'll never be qualified enough. You start looking at everybody else around you, comparing yourself. Honestly, you guys, everybody faces this just to different levels. And you have to be, like I said earlier, slightly crazy, slightly naive, as my husband says, slightly idiotic to start a business because you can't predict the future. You don't have a guarantee that this is going to work. And I know that makes some of you wildly uncomfortable, that there's no guarantee. There's not necessarily that safe and secure future.
And I have to say, when people say they stay in their corporate jobs for safety and security, I also want to remind them that companies get restructured all the time. Companies needs change, the economy shifts, and your position can get eliminated. That happened to me twice, which made me realize that entrepreneurship is probably just as risky as my corporate job. So when I worked for Vega, my entire team got restructured when we were purchased by another company. And then when I worked for Loblaws, one of Canada's biggest grocery stores, or the biggest, they decided to cancel our entire project, and therefore our positions became redundant. So if the reason you're staying at your job is for the safety and security, just know that there is a level of risk just being an employee as well, and you're risking your entire life and your future. So, anyways, back to the first point of a reason why you should start a business is that imposter syndrome never goes away. There will always be a risk.
But some. Some people just muster up this crazy sense of confidence or that fuck it kind of energy, that unbothered energy, and they just decide to stop questioning themselves. Do you know what I mean? It's like I was talking to a friend recently, and she was going through a really hard time, and it was about twelve months where she was feeling very depressed, was extremely unstable. And I asked her, what changed? How did you go from being at the darkest point of your life to all of a sudden getting back to the gym, repairing the relationships you lost, getting back into work after taking time off? And she said, I just had to decide. I had to make a decision, and it was as simple as that. And of course, the journey after that was not simple. But that was the turning point for her. And so for those of you who are experiencing imposter syndrome, it is crucial that you wake up every day.
And when those thoughts come, say, am I ready to just put a stop to these? And maybe the answer is yes. And maybe that today is the day that you say, I'm done. I'm done with feeling less than. I'm done with feeling unworthy of starting this business. I'm done with comparing myself to every other person who does what I do because I'm not like them, and I don't want to be like them, and I don't want to be met with these thoughts that I'm never good enough or that I'll never be the person who can start the business. And so imposter syndrome doesn't go away. There are people who are less qualified than you doing the thing that you want to do. And it's okay to just decide to squash that imposter syndrome and kind of get this level of confidence that maybe you don't think you should have, but those who are crazy enough are the ones that do.
I'm pretty sure that's a Steve Jobs quote, but you just have to be a little delusional. So that is reason number one why you should launch your business. Let's get into reason number two. Reason number two is really inspired by the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. And if you haven't read that, it is such a wonderful book, just about the creative process, and so much of it relates to the entrepreneurial journey. And Elizabeth Gilbert, in that story, talks about the fact that sometimes ideas visit us and they stay with us maybe for a few minutes or for a few hours, and they're kind of asking, like, do you want me. Do you want to take action? Like, I'm visiting you, I'm sitting with you. You have to decide, do you want to keep this idea? So literally, like, open the palm of your hand, take the idea, squeeze it tight, bring it close to your heart, and say, I will protect this idea.
I will keep it, because somebody has to bring this to life. Or when the idea visits, do you kind of, like, open the palm of your hand, and you're like, okay, so the idea to open a furniture store is with me, and I've always wanted to open a furniture store, but maybe it truly just isn't the right time. So you say, idea. Thank you for visiting me. I am 100% confident that now is not my time, but I would love for you to go find someone to bring you to life right now, and you send the idea off into the universe. And I know this might sound totally woo woo, but that's what we do when we get ideas. We either decide to bring it close, keep it tight, pull it towards your heart, or you say, no, I'm not the right person. I'm gonna let the imposter syndrome move through me, still release the idea, knowing that it's going to keep floating and looking for somebody to bring it to life.
And my question to you in thinking about this concept is, if you woke up tomorrow and somebody else started the business that you've been dreaming about for the last few months, how would you feel? How would you feel? And I feel like that's a deep question because, say it was your friend who, who took that exact business idea. They're so passionate about it, and they're like, hey, if you're not going to do it, I will. If you woke up tomorrow and they just did it and they had everything ready to go and they were doing well, they were generating customers, clients. They were able to quit their job within two years, would you feel like, oh my gosh, I should have done that? Or would you say, I'm so happy that my friend did it and not me? Because I don't think this was the idea for me, or how would that feel in your body? And that's definitely a question to journal on and to really think about. And I actually want to read you a little caption. This is from the irishtimes.com. It's an article written by Elizabeth Gilbert, who came up with this concept. And she says when an idea thinks it has found somebody, say you, who might be able to bring it into the world, the idea will pay you a visit.
It will try to get your attention. Mostly, you will not notice. This is likely because you're so consumed by your own dramas, your own anxieties, distractions, insecurities, and duties that you aren't receptive to inspiration. And side note, this is all of us. Like, we're so busy, we don't even allow our brains to dream. Back to the quote, you might miss the signal because you're watching tv or shopping or brooding over how angry you are at somebody or pondering your failures and mistakes are just generally really busy. The idea will try to wave you down, but when it finally realizes that you're oblivious to its message, it will move on to someone else. But sometimes, but magnificently, there comes a day when you're open and relaxed enough to actually receive something.
Your defenses might slacken, and your anxieties might ease. And then magic can slip through. The idea, sensing your openness, will start to do its work on you. Isn't that so beautiful? To think about? It will send the universe physical and emotional signals of inspiration. Things like chills up your arms, hair standing up on the back of your neck, the nervous stomach, the buzzy thoughts, that feeling of falling into love or obsession. It's like you lay in bed at night being like, could I do this? Oh, my gosh. And the idea will organize coincidences and importance to tumble across your path. This is when you start to see signs.
It's like, you got the idea, and then you go for a walk, and you're like, oh, my gosh. This company is looking for an interior designer, and I just decided I want to go back to school for interior design. Sign from the universe? I think so everything you see and touch and do will remind you of that idea. The idea will wake you up in the middle of the night and distract you from your everyday routine. The idea will not leave you alone until. Until it has your fullest attention. And then in a quiet moment, it will ask, do you want to work with me? And at this point, you have two options. And of course, those two options are, yes, I do, or no, I don't.
Isn't that so cool? And I'll just refer you guys to read big magic if you are interested in more on that concept. It's so cool. I love reading books about creativity. So the artist's way, the war of art, big magic, the creative act by Rick Rubin. All four of those books are incredible. All right, let's get into reason number three. Why you should launch your business is because the older we get, the harder it is. And I don't mean that.
Cause I am not the person that's like, oh, aging is bad, or getting older is tough, because I really do believe that we have the ability to feel younger as we get older. And when we take care of our health and we treat ourselves as a top priority, nothing can stop you in your thirties, your forties, your fifties, your sixties, your seventies. When Dave and I used to live in Switzerland, we saw 65 year olds literally running up mountains. They would do eight hour hikes at altitude to get to a hut. They would stay over. They would cook their own food. I mean, think about a 60 or 70 year old doing an all day hike at altitude. Most people in North America, they'd be like, oh, I need my knee replacement.
Or they're so inflamed. From drinking so much alcohol or eating so many Twinkies, whatever the case is. But there is a way that we can get older and still do what we want to do. And when I say that the older we get, the harder it is, I just mean that we don't need to let too many more days go by, because each passing day kind of gets us fixated that life is just always going to be this way. If you've worked in the corporate world for ten years, or 20 years or 30 years, that might be all you know or all you remember. And then you're closer to retirement, you're closer to pension, and you keep telling yourself the reasons why you can't, why you shouldn't. Everybody's favorite word should. We need to stop shoulding on ourselves.
So many people I know are like, well, the pension is so good, I should stay. Or, well, I'm twelve years away from retirement, so I should stay, what? Twelve years? You're gonna be miserable for the healthy years of your life so that you can have a pension. And I'm all for financial security, I get it. But I also know, and I talk about this all the time, that you could die tomorrow. How many stories have you heard where a couple is together, they work their butts off, and then they retire at age 61 of the partners dies at age 60. They wait until retirement. They have all the beautiful travel plans to go on a cruise, to vacation their winters in Florida, and then one of them gets sick. And it's really sad.
It really is. And so I want to encourage you to not wait too much longer, because the more you stay on this path, the further along you are and the harder it is to start walking backwards and take a new path. And the longer you stay in the non entrepreneurial mindset, or if you've never been in it before, the easier it is to convince yourself that you're just not cut out for entrepreneurship, or you could never become an entrepreneur, or that it's simply too challenging to make the leap. But you guys, I think we need some kind of silly inspirational stories here. But they serve a purpose. So Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, would you believe that he was 52 when he bought the McDonald's franchise and when it started turning into the most successful fast food corporation? 52. If you guys know Reid Hoffman, he co founded LinkedIn. Like major, major social media platform.
He's probably a billionaire. He co founded LinkedIn at age 35. There are so many other stories. The co founder of Red Bull was in his mid sixties when he saw the opportunity to start distributing it worldwide. So you can't really use your age as an excuse. And if anything, channel that anger or that passion that, like, I have spent 30 or 40 years building somebody else's goddamn dream. Now it's time I spend the final couple decades of my life building my own. The idea that entrepreneurship is reserved for young people is silly.
I hope none of you are sitting here believing that. And honestly, I think it's been debunked all over the place. Like, try and think, do you know anyone who made a career pivot or who quit their job or started a passion project at the age that you are? And my guess is that, yes, there has been someone. All right, reason number four why you should start a business is because you're going to fail forward. You're going to fail. Failing is inevitable. So if, if you're going to fail anyways, like in some way, shape or form, I'm not saying it's going to be a whole colossal failure of the business, but you're going to misstep. You're going to spend money and it'll be in the wrong spot.
You're going to try some marketing stuff when you open your business and it's not going to work, you are going to create some product or start to share some services that don't sell, and then you have to throw them out or you have to can them. That's okay, because you're going to fail forward. I have had so many failures in my short ten year journey as an entrepreneur, just to name a couple. First, I almost bought a co working space. Now, I didn't actually fork over any money, but I spent a lot of time writing out business plans and going through the numbers and chatting with the current owner of the co working space in Toronto. And I really thought that that was my future. Only to realize when I started crunching numbers that the break even just didn't pan out. And so that was, you know, a micro failure per se.
I started an entirely separate business in a completely different industry. And after three years of pouring my blood, sweat and tears into it, I stopped. I just had this epiphany that this was not my path, but I failed forward. And it's very normal for humans to fail. Failure is common, it's inevitable. It doesn't mean that everything is just canned after that. Right? You simply have to look at every failure as, oh, no, I made a misstep. I didn't know any better.
How can I use this to propel myself forward, because not all failures, I know we all get stuck in our head that, like, well, what if? What if? What if? But not all failures are rock bottoms. A lot of failures are these moments when you go, holy crap, I've learned so much about myself in trying, and succeeding isn't always on the other side. And that's okay, because I became a better, smarter person out of it. And next time this situation rolls around, I'm going to make a more qualified decision, and I'll probably make a big leap. So if you're afraid of failure, just know that it's inevitable. And there's a quote that says, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? That's not realistic, so dream about that. But also, if you do fail, activating your dream, is it still worth it? If you have a couple small failures, maybe a big failure, you can actually kind of talk about these failures or write them down. Like, what is my biggest fear of failure? And is it truly the end of the world? I mean, it might be the end of the world if you lose your family's life savings or you lose your son in law or daughter's college savings.
Yes, that might be a bit of a failure that you want to avoid. But if it's like, oh, I'd be embarrassed because I poured my heart and soul into something. And my aunt, who lives in Singapore said, that's a silly idea. Like, that's not a failure. We got to move forward and not let that hold us back. So that's number four. Now let's move on to the fifth reason why you should start a business. And that's because you can go slow.
You can do the minimum viable thing, like the tiniest little thing to test this idea. Maybe it's that you just start sharing it verbally. That's such a great way to test your idea, to rally some friends and say, hey, I have this crazy idea. Do you mind if I run it by you? Because when you start to speak something into existence, it actually starts to plant seeds, success. Or you might get into conversations that make you realize, oh, you know what? I don't want to start this business. Hey, visionary.
I want to interrupt this episode to share a little bit more about one on one coaching. I work with clients who want to stay on top of the latest marketing trends, who want to bring more ease into their marketing funnel or just build a marketing funnel in the first place.
Because maybe you don't have one yet.
And ultimately take the effort and overwhelm out of your marketing plan. I know your energy is limited and.
You just want someone to tell you what to do.
Should you be on threads? Should you be creating on TikTok?
How do you grow an email list?
What does SEO mean? Anyways, this is why I offer private.
One on one business and marketing coaching for business owners like you who need.
Help with with their marketing strategy. You can head to kelseyridel.com privatecoaching to learn exactly what it's going to look like if we decide to work together. And I'm excited because I can give you the precise strategies that will take your business to the next level this year. So if you want to learn more kelseyridel.com privatecoaching of course, it is a bit more of an investment than any of my other courses or offerings, but my private clients are seeing crazy results. Christina landed a six figure consulting contract. Emily signed six clients in one day. Barb had a Black Friday sale that generated a lot of money. And these are all based on the strategies that we've implemented.
So Kelsey Rydell.com privatecoaching you can learn all about it. You can see all of the amazing visionary businesses that I've worked with and supported over the last decade, and I can't wait to see your application come through. Kelseyridel.com privatecoaching now back to the episode. Starting small is probably the best thing.
That you can do just to start building your confidence slowly. To not feel like you have to put everything on the line, you have to take this massive leap off a bridge and hope that the net will appear. That is not what I would recommend doing, especially if you do feel much more comfortable if you get little bits of validation along the way. So in my example of starting the visionary brand, I literally started a Facebook group to see will people join this group? Will they be resonating with the content? Will I be able to test my ideas and just see if there's proof of concept in a simple, free way? And I learned so much just from getting into conversation with the first 1020 and 30 people who joined that group. So there you have it. There are five reasons that you should start your business if it feels right. And ultimately, through this episode, I just wanted to nudge you and to show you that you can do it. And it is going to be scary and it's not going to be perfect.
But what do you think? Like, is now your time, or are you going to release the idea and be okay if somebody else takes it? You know, it is kind of crazy because I would say at least half or more than half of my friends would love to be self employed. And that may not be a representative statistic. It actually might be more than half of people at my age, at around 35, who would love to create something of their own. I can't be certain, but regardless, not that many people are self employed. And I think the imposter syndrome, the lack of belief, the making it seem like you have to be all in and risking everything and putting it all on the line versus finding a way to start that is more reasonable, that's smaller, and figuring out how to test the idea without risking it all. So, I guess, you know, in wrapping up this episode, I'll share a question. I think I heard it on an Amy Porterfield podcast. She was interviewing a psychologist, and he said, if you were to fast forward ten years and nothing had changed, would you be okay with that? And if the answer is no, maybe it's this business that's gonna make you okay with that, right? Like, it's gonna make you okay in ten years, when even if you failed, you'll say, I am so glad I tested that.
I am so glad that I took the leap, because even if you didn't succeed, you met people, you learned about yourself, you advanced skill sets, you dove into topics that you never otherwise would have. And if, when you think about that question, like, I would be so miserable if in five or ten years, nothing changed, and you think, I need to start this dang thing, number one, just know that I am here for you. I believe in you. Number two, the first sale is the hardest to make. The first dollar in business is the hardest to make. So really think if you can get that first sale, if you've already had that first sale, you've done the hardest part so far. And 2024, if you're listening to this in the year 2024, which probably most of you are, it's an exceptional year to start a business. And a few reasons for that are.
Number one, we have AI on our side, and it can help you to run your business smoothly. And it's actually incredible how you can have a lot of leverage using artificial intelligence. Number two, it's easier to find clients and network than ever before. You don't have to feel like there's nobody to sell to or nobody to talk to, because we have tools like Instagram, LinkedIn, networking group, webinars, masterclasses, community meetups. Networking is easy due to the rise of digital platforms. And if you're able to use it and leverage it and stay connected with customers. You're going to rock the show. And number three, I feel like the economic conditions that we have right now, we are rebounding post pandemic, and combined with the tech advancements that we have, there is this window of opportunity.
People are looking for refreshing services and products. They're looking to add the joy back into their life. They want to have a relationship and exceptional customer service, because during the pandemic, it felt like we were all isolated. And I still feel like there is this rebound effect happening, that we want to put our money with people who we feel connected to, who we feel care about our well being and our needs. And if you're willing to go the extra mile to serve your customer or your client, then this is the perfect time to start a business, because people will spend their money with you. All right, you guys, I hope this was helpful and encouraging in some way. As always, if you want to connect, I'm on Instagram elsireitel, and I really can't wait to hear from you and see which businesses you start. And if you need any support at all, I do have one on one coaching, and I would love to see your application come through.
You can find that at kelsey rydell.com. All right, we will wrap it up here.
I hope you guys have an amazing.
Day, and I will see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Visionary Life.
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