“How do I feel confident in starting a business?”

What does confidence have to do with starting up your business?! Having confidence is the number one tool in your tool belt that you can use to starting anything. You have to believe, even without proof, that your idea WILL WORK.

One of the best parts of my job as a business coach is that I get to help women entrepreneurs figure out what they want to do. I get to help them step out of confusion and into confidence. “How do I feel confident in starting a business (or pivoting in my current business)?” is one of the most frequently asked questions that clients come to me with. 

These are some of the questions that others ask me, “How did YOU do it?! You started a business, purchased a business AND now started ANOTHER business?? Plus you have kids!!! How do you KNOW that’s what you’re supposed to do??? WHAT IF I WANT TO CHANGE BUT I’M SCARED TO DO IT?”

Let me tell you, as you probably already know, CHANGE IS HARD. It’s uncomfortable. It’s scary. It’s new. It’s unknown. It’s not for the faint at heart. But it’s also exciting. It’s also engaging. It’s things you’ve never done before. It’s leveling your skills up. It’s beating the fire levels in Super Mario Bros kind of excitement (where are all my 90’s kids?!?! 🤣 😉 ). Anyway, change is the only constant thing in life. 

If you let it be fun, it will be fun.
If you let it be a pain in the ass, it will be a pain in the ass. 

One thing I’ve learned in 15+ years of business is that it’s ok to change - necessary even. It’s ok to shift and grow. About 10 years ago I thought change was only for those going through mid-life crisis. That it wasn’t FOR me because change meant that things would get uncomfortable. Well little did I know that the universe had plans for me and rocked my world in a way that forced me to step into that discomfort. About 10 years ago I walked into my first yoga class. For the record I thought yoga was “just stretching” and boyyyyyy was I wrong. Don’t be deceived, it can be “just stretching”. But this class was not. And it was the best, scariest, craziest new thing that, up until that point, I had ever tried. I was up, down and all around. By the time the class ended I was a sweaty mess wondering WTF just happened?! I knew I HAD to come back. There was magic in that class and I had to figure out what it was. I still feel that magic when I take and teach yoga. I also feel that magic when I get to take photos of families. And that magic is there when I get to help women entrepreneurs grow their dreams. A little bit of confidence mixed in with belief and a dash of “just do it” goes a long way my friend.

How does taking a yoga class equate to starting or pivoting your business with NO MONEY? And how does this all tie into confidence?? Reframing your thinking is how all of this ties together. Yoga, for me, introduced chaos that helped me reframe my thinking. It was a catalyst for change. I also felt a similar shift when I had each of my kids and when I left the corporate world. And maybe you’ve recently had something similar happen. Some sort of event that made you look at the world just a bit differently and think, “yea, maybe this doesn’t have to be ‘just a dream’ anymore”

When I was able to reframe my thinking to see how much more opened up when I allowed myself to be flexible, I couldn’t believe the things that showed up for me. 

So, How did I start up 3 businesses?!

Some of it I’d consider dumb luck - I didn’t know what I was doing so taking some of those “risks” didn’t feel quite as scary because I didn’t know any better. I asked questions when I had them. And I allowed myself the space for change and growth. With each business that I’ve grown there were 3 things that I did and do over and over again in the businesses to keep it growing. 

Here are my top 3 tips for taking your idea from hobby to business
(without spending money):

1. Specify what you want to do - and be REALLY specific.

2. Define your target audience. 

3. Ask for help. 

When you write down what you want to do - be specific. The more specific the better. Let me give you an example - when I started my photography business I wanted to take any and everyone's photos. Which is great. But it left me running in every direction possible and not really honing in on my ideal client. I love a good wedding, but I now know that family and kids photography is where my true passion lies. When I bought the yoga studio I wanted to have classes for everyone and that led to burnout because I was quite literally teaching 20+ yoga classes per week with 1-2 people coming just because someone said they wanted a class at a specific time. It was not sustainable. It wasn’t until I took a close look at the class schedule and realized that our ideal customers were coming in between 4-7pm and loved a 45-60 minute class that varied from intro to moderate intensity. 

Defining your target audience might be the toughest of this bunch. Why?! Because there’s 100 different ways to figure out who your “ideal client avatar” is and none are “better” or worse than the other. But having a target audience is necessary. I didn’t think it was at first. But, after this many years in business I know that I can work with ANYONE but I’m not FOR everyone. I know I will take just about anyone’s photos but I can’t take everyone’s photos. Just like in business coaching - I can be a coach for anyone but I am able to offer the most to mom’s who are starting or pivoting in their entrepreneurial journey. 

When you aren’t talking to your target market your voice just isn’t hitting home because its too broad. It leaves space for the “what if’s?!” to creep in and wreak havoc on your mindset. While being broad offers you a TON of options, sometimes that TON of options is actually what holds you back from leaping forward. So by defining your target market you allow yourself to grow in that space and learn as much as possible before taking on another.

Lastly, ask for help. Asking for help was one of the hardest things for me. I didn’t want anyone to know I was “suffering” or not doing exactly what I wanted to do. I also worried about what others would think of me.

And here’s the hard truth: It’s none of your business what others think of you. It’s not yours to worry about. You get to do what YOU want to do. Now, obviously if you have a partner talk things through with them but as for others outside of your sphere - girl don’t you even waste your precious time thinking about them and what they “might” be thinking. Quite honestly if they’re grumping about you going out and doing your thing, they’re probably jealous and wish they had the guts and determination to dig into their dreams like you have. 

Ask questions of others who you look up to. Try things on, make it your own and know that you can find success in anything (even things that might have “failed” there’s always something to be learned!). 

Now this last step can come with a price tag if you hire a business coach like me. But the cost of the coaching can literally save you millions. I know a couple who had been thinking of taking over an existing small business - which sounded great on the outside! They chose to hire a business startup coach like me and made sure that they had their ground work laid out before even thinking of spending the $$$ to purchase that business. They put systems in place (accountant, business plan, who’s running what, hiring/firing/HR duties, purchasing, etc) and laid the ground work so that when they took ownership they weren’t stepping into a $3 million mistake. Yes, I said $3 million. By spending some up-front money they knew exactly what questions to ask of the previous owners before diving into uncertainty.

Chances are, if you’re here you’ve been following my evolution for a while and you might even have some business ideas that have been floating around in your head for a bit. Maybe you’ve even dabbled in those thoughts and ideas. Dreamed about “what could this do for me?”. And I really want to encourage you to take that leap. Step into your greatness and give those ideas a try. 

There’s no such thing as failure. You’re going to learn and evolve and morph into exactly what you need to be. And I’m here to help you. I want to know about your dreams and desires for business! Let’s chat through those ideas!

I’ve got a few openings in my schedule to take on coaching clients - and I want to connect with ladies who are ready to go from hobby to entrepreneur! 

If that’s you, click the button and schedule your free discovery call with me! We’ll talk about your ideas, what you want to do, what’s holding you back and how I can help you navigate starting up your business. 

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