266 Know these 3 things BEFORE starting an Online Business
Starting a business can be intimidating
but if equipped with the right knowledge and information, you can achieve success.
Are you ready to take your dreams and make them come true by launching a new online business?
It's no secret that starting a business can be an intimidating process, but if you're equipped with the right knowledge and information, you'll be well on your way to success!
In this episode, we chat about:
What you need to know before starting your online business
The reality of owning a business
How to make the process of owning a business a bit easier
Following your energy and curiosity
Access the transcript for this episode:
-
Hey visionaries, welcome back to a little episode today where I want to share three things you should know, before starting your own business.
So if you're somebody that's like, oh my gosh, I am so excited to start my business and 2023. I'm excited for you to listen to this episode, because these are some little known truths that I kind of learned the hard way that if I could mentor the next generation of online business owners, I'd be like, make sure you're okay with these three things first.
But if you're already in business, maybe you've started your nutrition coaching practice, or you are building your birth consulting or birth coaching business, you're probably going through a few of these right now and wondering, is this normal? Am I the only one this field that feels this way? Is it always going to be this hard, and I mean, truthfully, if you're gonna take a leap, and dive into your dreams, and launch an online business, it can be pretty intimidating, especially if you've never done this before, if you've never been an entrepreneur, if you've never gone out on your own, and if you are like me, who came from the corporate world, and so this would be like a entrepreneurship prep class, I'm going to share these three secrets, because I feel like starting a business is glamorized.
And for good reason. It's the best thing ever, especially if you really crave and desire freedom. And you're if you're okay with risk, and if you are the type who's just determined, and you put your head down, and you don't need somebody looking over your shoulder to get things done. But there are still some things that we need to talk about that you're going to face on your entrepreneurial journey that a lot of people breeze over because rightfully so we want to focus on positive things in life. And we want to be optimistic and explore what could go right versus always versus always thinking about what could go wrong, or why shouldn't I do this.
But I think in a world where we are inundated with success stories and people saying how easy and glamorous it is, we also need to take that spotlight in our hand, take that flashlight in our hand and shine a light on the fact that business isn't always easy, no matter how much hype surrounds it. And starting an online business takes hard work. It takes sacrifice, even though people tell you just do it your own way work two hours a day, I still believe there's a level of sacrifice that will be required of you, especially in the first few years. And for those of you listening who are prepared to deal with any challenges that come your way, you're going to make it out successful on the other end, ie you're going to stay in the game long enough to see the results fly through, you're going to be ready to face the roadblocks and to stay consistent through the rocky periods.
And to keep your vision on the end game. Because starting an online business means infinite potential. And what I mean by that is that you can make unlimited money, you can reach unlimited people, you can create an impact that if you want to change the world, you can, especially if your vision is really really big. And so I want to keep you on this path and keep you the course.
And that's why today I want to share these three things that you need to know before starting your business or three things that you need to know to stay the course even when it gets tough. So let's dive in.
Truth Number one is that it's going to be really freaking hard. There I said it. The reality is it may not be as easy as Instagram influencer number 56 makes it look I know that they're on a beach. They are just, you know, strolling with their feet in the water, sand and their toes, making six figure months making seven figure months signing clients left and right. But there is definitely an element of embellishment when you see stories like that, like it's not that easy, unless you're coercing people into working with you.
But that's not an ethical business strategy. So starting a business, it's going to be hard, it's going to stretch you in ways you never imagined. It will challenge you to lean into every skill set you've ever built. So if you look back on your career, and you're like, I don't know why I ever spent five years working at a veterinarian clinic or B Getting a bartender or server was such a waste of time.
No, I guarantee you those skill sets have served you so much more than you even know, in growing this business, I can look back on my entire career as a camp counselor, as a server at a golf course, I can look back on my career as a babysitter as a fitness instructor and spin class instructor. And every single one of those little micro jobs, even my paper route as a kid, they taught me skill sets that have helped me to make this journey less hard. So before you go discount your previous experience, look at what you've gathered through every single job every month or year spent in the corporate world, every failed business attempt.
It has gotten you to where you are today, and you've learned so many valuable lessons. So even though Truth Number one is that it's going to be really fucking hard. Sorry to swear, the skills you have acquired over the entirety of your lifetime have equipped you to be here and now. So maybe you've gathered marketing skills, sales skills, admin skills, creativity skills, writing skills, design skills, public speaking skills, financial or accounting skills, all of these are going to make it less hard.
So really try to put pen to paper and say, What am I good at? What can I focus on because what we focus on is generally where we see great results, right? What we focus on expands. And it's yes, going to be hard. But there are things we can do to make it easier.
There are tasks we can prioritize, to see results quicker. And if we normalize the fact that it's going to be hard, things are gonna fail, things are gonna flop in our face. And that's okay. It's this mindset of not everything is gonna be glamorous, then I think it gets easier because we go in with the expectation that unlike some corporate jobs, where you can just coast right, you just like go into work.
And if your boss isn't there, you just hang out and you're watching YouTube all day, or you're like hanging at the watercooler gossiping about Julia, who you just don't like. But that's not the case. When you run a business. Every day, there is pressure to output or to strategize, or to show up with high energy or to deliver the product. It's going to be hard.
There's no coasting in business, at least I don't believe so. And I heard a quote on a podcast recently said the only way to coast is downhill. And I don't feel like coasting downhill. So expect that it's going to be hard be okay, with hard days, hard weeks, hard months be okay, with hard launches, be okay with hard conversations with clients or with people that you know, aren't serving your business anymore. It's going to be hard. Okay, let's get into truth.
Number two. Truth Number two is that if you're not in it for the long game, you shouldn't be in it at all. Because business is a long game. Now, most businesses, they actually don't make a lot of money or turn a lot of profit in their first 12 to 24 months. In fact, it takes most businesses 24 months to become profitable. That is two years, you guys two years. So when you take a course or a program, and the program is only 45 days long, and it's like turn on Google ads, and you will be rich.
That's not normal. If you're achieving success with that, and you're turning a profit in the first 45 days of your business that's abnormal.
Hey, visionaries. I wanted to interrupt this podcast to actually let you know about an upcoming offering that I am launching in collaboration with professional mindset and success coach Emily Elliot, you've probably heard me talk about your 2023 lead cohort number one has been so successful.
And this is the highly anticipated program because there was so much demand for it in 2022, that myself a marketing consultant and top rated marketing coach and Emily Eliot. Again, professional success and mindset coach, we've teamed up to actually launch another cohort of your 2023 leap. Our first cohort, they're having smashing successes and the momentum is huge.
So we've decided to launch it again in May of 2023. Between Emily and I, we have helped 1000s of individuals to grow their mindset and grow their success and we're going to teach you the MVP model. mindset plus visibility equals more profitability. And if you're a for profit business, this is something that is so important that you dial in both of these pillars. But don't sign up yet.
First, I want to run you through a few little things to see if you're ready for your 2023 lease. So if you want to learn from Emily how to embody the physiology of success, it's been a game changer for me personally, people have literally messaged me on Instagram, I got a voice note from my friend Mark last night. And he said, Kelsey, I don't know what's going on.
But something's different about you.
And I attribute this to embodying the physiology of success, which Emily is teaching me. And he's also going to teach us how to step into an entrepreneurial mindset.
There are so many blocks that you might carry through from your previous corporate job that are actually keeping you stagnant.
And I've recorded an entire podcast episode about this, called the three mindset blocks that were keeping me stuck. And then I step in each week over the 90 days to teach you a foolproof marketing strategy so that you can connect with unlimited clients. That's pretty awesome, right?
So I'm going to teach you how to use social media to convert followers into paid clients, I'm going to teach you how to build a simple sales and marketing funnel. I'm also going to show you how to leverage Google and SEO to get more leads to your business, this is so important, and 99% of businesses are not taking advantage of it.
And you're also just going to be surrounded by the most insane entrepreneurs, we have 15 people in this cohort, and my gosh, like there are tears there, there's laughter, a lot of the comments that have come through our private Slack channel, say, this is the program I didn't know I needed, I was so lonely. I was doing this with blinders on before your 2023 leap.
And it's incredible to see how these individuals are collaborating both on the calls and off. And I must say Emily, and I are pretty awesome leaders of these hour and a half calls that we have each week.
So if this all sounds good to you, I want you to head to Kelseyreidl.com/2023, Kelseyreidl.com/2023, and just pop your name and email in there. So you know about the upcoming launch. And we might even send you some special bonuses when the time comes to start enrolling.
So again, we cannot wait to see you inside of cohort number two and back to the episode. The reality is a quarter of businesses fail in the first year according to the Small Business Association. So that's a truth that we need to face. But the other truth is that even if you make it through year one, maybe you mitigate risk by having other jobs by having a savings account or by doing whatever you can to be frugal and scrappy. The truth is, even in year two, you still might not be profitable. Now, there are so many ways to make sure that you're not putting yourself in a tough place. Like if you need to pay the bills, you need to pay the bill.
So you have to go get another job you have to focus on where there's money coming through, even if that's going to work at a job that you don't think is great. Like if it's a junior job, doesn't matter, because you're in this for the long game. So you'll work the junior job, maybe you're a sales associate somewhere or doing something that maybe you feel like well, I'm to qualify for this. Fine. Make the money there, though, and play the long game, build your business in a sustainable, profitable way. And hopefully within a year, maybe two years, you will be turning profit and starting to grow and scale.
But there's definitely a lot of misinformation out there. And people will tell you that it's quick and that it's overnight success and that it's easy. But honestly, that is not the case for everybody, you will plant seeds today you will plant seeds in your first year or first few months of business that will only be ready to harvest two years down the line or three years down the line. And that's where the compound effect really comes in. So if you're in this for the long game, you will be wildly successful for me. I've been in business almost seven years, every year, I've almost been able to double my platform or my income. So just picture what you made in the last 12 months then double that that would be year two, then double that that will be year three, then double that number and then starts to compound right.
If you've ever read The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, one of my favorite introductory business books, you'll know that the long game adds up. The long game serves us over time, but most people aren't willing to play the long game. And so my advice to anyone listening is to balance the short game. So obviously, you need money in the short term, you're going to need to focus on strategies that are going to quickly connect you with customers and clients. So that's great, we all need to see results and a little bit of validation that this business idea is going to work. But also have those long game strategies in place while knowing that some things just take time, like search engine optimization, I can give you everything you need for SEO to work effectively. But it takes time Google needs to crawl your site, you need to have people linking to your site, you need to wait and do some keyword research to see what kind of content is picking up traction, etc, etc.
So it's interesting because as I reflect on this truth, that I want people to know of starting a business that you should play the long game. I also see a lot of contradictory advice, in the sense that instead of people telling you be patient, let it all play out and unfold as it should mitigate your risk by maybe having a part time job or keeping your full time job for at least a year or two so that you don't put yourself in a pressure cooker. I also feel like there is this mentality out there that tells you that you cannot have a plan B, this is an all or nothing. If you're going to start a business, put the pressure on yourself, quit the job, don't have any money coming in so that you show up with that insane drive.
Like I have to make $1 today, so you'll do whatever it takes. But that personally didn't work. For me. I think it does work for some people, like they need that pressure on themselves. But there is a whole other side to that philosophy, which is, yeah, you might love risk. And that's why you're starting a business but you don't love financial risk. Right, like I'm a risk taker, I will paddle down the river, when the current is strong, I will go mountain biking on the side of a canyon. You know, I'm very adventurous, but I don't love financial risk. Like I want to be able to go out for dinner tomorrow night and not worry about it. So for me, that meant working a lot of other jobs to mitigate the financial risk knowing that I was in this for the long game planting seeds. And you know, seven years into my journey, I can tell you, it's all worth it. But seven years, that's a long time how, how many years have you been in business? And do you feel like you need to be a little more patient before you see the results? All right. And Truth Number three is to follow your energy and curiosity. So as mentioned before, you're going to be wearing a lot of hats doing all the things in your business. And therefore it's so important to focus on the activities that give you energy rather than drain it and that provoke curiosity rather than provoke resentment towards your business. So what I mean by this is, say right now,
personally, you love listening to podcasts?
Well, that's something that maybe you're a bit curious about. And there's a seed planted of how can I maybe start a podcast to grow my brand or my business? To really go back to the concept of focusing on what energizes you, if you feel so good when you write content, or if you feel so good when you are working with clients try to find ways to do more of that, right? That should be where you spend a lot of your time because marketing is energy. And when you show up in this energized state, both physically and mentally and spiritually, the results are almost magnetic. And I don't mean to get all woowoo on us. But it is the truth. Like when you are energized, you show up to your business with this like full cup ready to pour into your clients, your marketing, whatever it is that you're focusing on. And when you are constantly curious, and you're like, oh, there's an opportunity over here. Let me explore it.
Oh, let me reach out to this person on Instagram because it looks like we have complementary products. Oh, this is really interesting. I see a theme or a trend developing in the world. And maybe my product can fit into this trend or this theme. That's when the results feel easy. So it can be tempting. When you're starting to follow other people's formulas. They tell you they have the process or the template and follow my sales script and read this exactly or write your captions this way or say this thing to land a client. But that might Rain, you have energy because you're constantly feeling like you can't even be yourself.
And this is why I'm just going to do a little self plug here. This is why I love my profession of being a business and marketing coach, because when I work with clients, and I go through their initial onboarding with them, I'm really looking at where have you succeeded in life? And what lights you up? And what skill sets do you have? And where is your curiosity, and then we crack those open and build a marketing plan around it. And yes, we do need to have some structure, we need to have the search engine optimization, we need to have the social media strategy or just being social in your community, we need to have the self expressed content and the storytelling working for us. But I can always find something that's going to feel good for you.
And that's going to help you to attract attention, because that's what marketing does. It gets you visible and it attracts the attention of your dream client in a way that still feels good to you in a way that doesn't make you put your head down on your pillow at night going, Oh my God, I feel so awful about the marketing that I'm doing. I hate I don't even want to wake up tomorrow because I have this to do list that feels dreadful. None No, no, we got to get away from that. There is not enough time in the day for you as a small business, to be doing things that deplete you of energy, just like there's not enough time in the day for you to be like eating sugar all day that depletes you to be hanging around people who are not adding a lot of value to your life that depletes you. So super important. And I want people to know, a truth that I want you to know is that you should follow your energy and follow your curiosity.
Rather than following what business guru number 75 tells you, you must do to be successful because there is no one size fits all formula, I can promise you that. All right, you guys. So I hope that you enjoyed these three things, these three truths that you need to know, before starting your own business. It is certainly the most wild ride of your entire life. And part of my goal is to help demystify what you might be seeing online. And to help bring clarity to the fact that not everybody's journey is super linear, or A to Z. In fact, most people's journey is the opposite of that it feels like this squiggly line all over the place. And eventually you get to a destination and you're like, Oh, my God, it was all worth it. Remember, starting a business gives you infinite potential, the world is very abundant. But it takes time to figure out how you can package up your offer, share your gift, and really get your offer out there in a way that resonates with your dream clients. So I hope this landed it would mean the world to me if you could either snap a screenshot of this episode and share it on your Instagram stories, or just open iTunes or open Spotify and hit that five star button.
And that follow button. So those are just simple things free ways to support the show. So I'll give you like five seconds here. Go do those things. No, I'm just getting let's keep moving. I know you're busy. I know you have a lot of options when it comes to where you put your listening time each week. And I'm so grateful that you tuned tuned into visionary life. So I will see you in the next episode. And until then have an amazing week. This episode is sponsored by the visionary method. The visionary method is a seven step system that's going to help you create and launch your business successfully. We've had 200 People go through it and it's going to help you to generate your first 50,000 in revenue even if you're starting at zero. You can learn more at www.kelseyreidl.com/tvm
Tune into the episode.
Tune into this episode with on your podcast app of choice:
If you’re searching for an Online Business & Marketing Coach for your Business, rest assured that you’re in the right place.
I've helped over 200+ people to launch their business, go full-time, get fully booked, and become #1 with The Visionary Method
Mentioned in our Episode:
The Visionary Method is a seven step system that’s going to help you create and launch your business successfully. If you are looking to generate the first 50,000 in revenue in your business. This is the program for you!
Join the next cohort of Your 2023 Leap starting in May. Kelsey and Emily are coming together to bring your mindset and marketing all in one program group. Learn more.