Your Business Is Not Your Hobby!

There are many people out there who are working full time or part time jobs while starting or building their fledgling business. However, many people never make the leap into full time entrepreneurship for a variety of reasons. Many of these reasons revolve around fear – fear of failure, fear of success, fear of being judged by others, fear of being visible for all the world to see. The road is long in business, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, so it’s important to focus on the areas that will help you the most to make that transition and ensure your success.

Here are a few tips to help!

1.       Call yourself a business owner

If you continue to say ‘I’m starting a business while working full time/part time’, you’ll embed that in your mind and never see yourself as a fully-fledged business owner. What we say to ourselves is key, and I did this myself for years when someone asked me what I did – I’d say ‘I’m working full time while building my coaching business’. It wasn’t until I took my business seriously and said ‘I am a business coach’ that I started to believe it was possible to make this work as my career. Take your business seriously from the start – embody it!

2.       Separate your finances into business and personal

As a new business owner, your personal finances can often be lumped in with your business finances and expenses. It may seem like too much work in the beginning to get the financial ducks in a row, but it’s best to keep the finances separate to keep track of in-comings and outgoings. I’d recommend using the same bank to open your business account with to easily move money around if needed. Keep any expenses on a business credit card with a good interest rate and pay it off monthly.

3.       Invest in your business

Business owners have to think like business owners, and business owners invest in themselves. Lots of entrepreneurs don’t approach their time and money as mindfully or strategically as they could. Figure out the best way to leverage any investment you make to reap a good return on it. This is a perspective shift – start thinking about your time and the money invested into your business.

Every penny has to count – 3X or 4X Euros return on investment is a decent return to start with. Remember money is energy, invest with intent on building your business, rather than the ‘nice to have’ online courses for €97. If you plan to invest in a coach/mentor/programme that will build your business, be sure that you will (a) do the work required to reap the benefits and (b) that you will learn ways to generate revenue and leads for your business.

4.       Find a group of like-minded entrepreneurs

Coming back to mindset, it’s important to have a group of like-minded people in your corner to help out when you need advice or support. Having a network of entrepreneurs to talk to will help you embody the CEO mantle and you’ll feel more confident in your abilities and decision making.

Jim Rohn’s famous quote ‘You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with’ is not wrong – you will embrace the energy and characteristics of the people closest to you, so make sure they’re positive action-takers rather than pessimistic, small-minded people. This will greatly boost your plans for building your empire!

5.       Boost your inner game

Mindset is everything. Your outside is a reflection of your inside – if you’re coming from a place of lack or scarcity, your business will only attract lack or scarcity which won’t be good for your finances! There’s an abundance of your ideal clients out there, but you have to raise your energy and your vibration to find them. A mindset overhaul may be required to help you manage any self-limiting beliefs around money and success in business.

Be sure to journal your experiences, visualise the future as you want it, and embody that future version of you right now. Start doing the things that you want the successful version of you to do in business. This is not ‘woo’ or ‘airy fairy’ stuff, visualising and manifesting your future self is essential for your subconscious mind to believe, and for you to have a focused and concrete goal to aim for.

What does the You in one year’s time who’s living your business dream want to achieve? What is she excited about? What is she doing differently to you right now? What decisions or choices is she making that’s different to you today? Who is she being that you’re not right now? This is not a ‘beat yourself up’ exercise, but this is where your energy needs to be - you need to start making different decisions right now! It’s all uncomfortable and messy, but if you want to change your business reality, this is the deep inner work you need to do.

6.       Get an accountant and pay yourself a salary

Part of taking yourself seriously as a business owner is to work on the business admin! Ensure you have your business account set up and hire an accountant who will balance your finances at the end of the financial year.

Many women hide from this aspect of running a business because they think they’re ‘not good with numbers and money’ – a self -limiting belief I held myself for many years until I realised that taking responsibility for the numbers meant getting an expert who could help with the financials - and that didn’t have to be me!

Another aspect of running a business is taking a salary from it – at the beginning that may only be €50 a week/month, but it’s important to pay yourself. There’s blood, sweat and tears in every Euro, pound and dollar earned, so you need to pay yourself as a legitimate business owner. Your salary will grow as you get more established (make sure it does!).

7.       Focus on the numbers!

While the financials are essential in business, there are other numbers that you need to focus on too. The revenue generating numbers like number of leads, the conversion rate of sales calls to clients, the number of reach outs to potential clients, the number of sales calls you need to make every month, and the number of clients you need to make your business viable. By taking these numbers seriously and acting on them every day consistently, you’re increasing your chances of a successful and profitable business and no more treating it like a hobby!

8.       Start fast!

Find the fastest, smartest way to bring money into your business straight way. It may be a minimum viable product - a product or service you provide with just enough features to satisfy your early customers and provide feedback for future product or service development. Start imperfectly and learn on the job – get feedback and revise and adapt your offers from there. Done is better than perfect, don’t worry about brand colours, logo, or how your website looks because that stuff doesn’t bring in the money! The initial offer you have may not be your most aligned offer or your dream offer, but you have to start somewhere.

9.       You are not your job (or your business!)

If you are still working full or part time while developing your business, remember that you are not your job! Your Identity is not tied into your monthly pay cheque. Stand into who you are and what you stand for in your life. If you can separate your identity away from the soul sucking  job, it becomes less soul sucking! Start to create that distinction. Differentiate yourself from your work identity and say ‘I am who I am regardless of my work’.

If you’re able to start listening to yourself outside of your work, you’ll hear what’s making you unhappy, how long you’re going to stay in the job and if you’re willing to make the sacrifices needed until you can go full time in your business. That same practice will also help you in your business long term.

To be honest, the same thing goes for your business, if you focus on creating your identity solely around your business and it doesn’t go according to plan, you’ll feel like you’ve lost that identity or that you’ve failed somehow. Be happy as a person first and foremost, look after yourself, create lifestyle and personal choices that are aligned to you, then create the professional ones.

Separating your occupation from your identity or your self-worth will mean that whether your job or business is succeeding or not, it’s not going to rob you of your self-worth, your value or who you truly are.

You started this business for a reason, to make a difference, to serve your ideal clients and to live life on your own terms. Don’t treat it like a hobby, don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in and take that step into your full time business. Some things are too important to be playing small. Think about future you - the woman who has her dream business, and start making your decisions based on what you want her to be and do. The go and make that difference to others.

I love helping women become more successful and develop their vision and mission in business, so get in touch

I have 5 free Business Breakthrough Calls available for July - click on the link to book a free 30 minute call and let’s discuss ways to becoming your very own Future You through tailored strategy, laser focus and a positive mindset.