As entrepreneurs – we are not alone as may so often feel. It’s so nice to know that what we are experiencing as entrepreneurs is normal – the ups and the downs, the loneliness and the mistakes – it’s all part of the journey!
When I came on board as a vendor for the I Am the Boss Event 2015, I really had no expectations. I had spoken with event organizers Carolyn Dickinson and Jackie Ranahan and I was super impressed by their enthusiasm, their professionalism and their energy! I went with my gut and not only decided I wanted to come to their event, I wanted to be a vendor!
I’ve taken to journalling a lot lately, so after the event, I started writing…and writing and writing. Every morning with a cup of coffee at my side I wrote…
My top 10 AHA Moments & Takeaways
1. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU MAY MEET!
You are not alone!
I met so many amazing entrepreneurs, connected with people I had only known virtually and was excited that we shared common traits and experiences. It also reminded me that people NEED me! Sometimes when we work away in our home office, we forget how much we can help people, how much people can USE our services and that they just need to know about what you have to offer.
2. UPS AND DOWNS IN BUSINESS ARE NORMAL
Just like life – business has its up and downs.
Every speaker that got up and shared their story or advice revealed that it was not all peaches and cream! Not only that, but some battled cancer, lost family members or found themselves 1.5 million dollars in the hole AND even made mistakes on their way to the top – but they never gave up, they stayed focused and determined! They overcame these adversities and went on to do some amazing things. Business has its up and downs, just like life. What kept them focused and in business was their passion and love for their business itself, having systems and processes in place and asking for help when they needed it.
3. MISTAKES ARE THE STEPPING STONES TO OUR SUCCESS
“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
This next AHA is super short but clear. Sometimes we can be so darn hard on ourselves when we make mistakes or something we do doesn’t work out the way we intended it to. The key lesson here was summed up perfectly during the panel discussion: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” We learn from our mistakes, we grow from our mistakes.
4. POST, SHARE + MINGLE
It’s not ALL about you!
So often we go on autopilot in the day to day of marketing and building our businesses. The lovely and energetic eMarketing Maven (herself), Sarah Zeldman reminded us that we need to engage with our audiences. (I love this!) Her 3-Step approach is to Post, Share and Mingle. It’s not just about shouting “come to my site, look at me, check this out” – it’s about guiding people to information that can help them, sharing other people’s content and “mingling” and interacting with your audience, answering their questions, commenting on their posts and “liking” their updates too! I resonated with Sarah’s values around social media marketing and can’t wait to connect with her soon!
5. APPROACH CONVERSATIONS WITH PURPOSE
Develop systems that work for you.
Claudia Harvey approaches every pitch and networking conversation in business with four words in mind: YOU, ME, FIT, NEXT. It’s a simple strategy to what can be a very stressful situation for some of us. Basically, always ask about the other person first. Then, introduce “yourself” and share how you help people. Then, figure out if you are a good “fit” for one another. And finally, sort out “next” steps!
6. YOUR 30-SECOND INTRO IS SO IMPORTANT
Clarity is everything.
Pamela Labelle, President and Founder of The Business Exchange, reminded us of how important YOUR 30-second intro is when you’re building your business. She shared that systems are what helped her get through the challenging times. She had manuals for everything. You need to know your business inside and out and be able to explain that to other people simply and quickly. She shared that she met new customers everywhere – in the grocery line even – and it was her 30-second intro that connected her to her ideal client every time!
One of my business coaches shared this great article on Forbes about how to frame up your 15-second pitch. It’s a short 3-minute video, but did it ever save me time when I finally worked on my “this is what I do” introduction. You can check it out here at the link below…it’s worth the watch!
Check out this video now: How to Pitch Anything in 15 Seconds
7. “YOU’RE NOT CRAZY!”
Don’t get stuck in your head.
Okay, maybe this should have been my number one “AHA”. By the end of the day, I realized that all the thoughts going around in my head are normal. Whether I feel ready or not, whether I feel successful or not, guilty, obsessed, lost – whatever it is. It is natural and normal!
I believe in what I am doing. There are going to be times when it feels like it’s not worth it. When you haven’t seen your friends for ages or been able to spend quality time with your family, you will wonder if it is all worth it. There are going to be times when you’re scared or afraid of what will happen. There will be times when money is not guaranteed and you’re going to be freaking out. These are the exact times when we have to remind ourselves of WHY we are doing this and WHO we are doing this for, take a breath and move on!
8. WRITE THE MANUAL!
Be responsible. You are the boss – each success and every failure can be linked back to YOU.
Manuals, systems and processes were what saved a lot of the speakers during their “down” times and helped them get through some challenging periods in their business. When you need to ask for help, share the manual. When you need to outsource, do your research and create the process that will determine success. Claudia Harvey shared an experience where she learned that where possible, create your own processes as much as possible – don’t rely on others to create the internal workings of your business – you’re the owner of the company. For example, when things go wrong, it’s not the distributor’s fault it’s the owner’s fault.
9. SUCCESS IS A CHOICE.
Choose your destiny.
I’m not sure if this came from anyone in particular or if it was a sense of empowerment that came about after being present for the day. Well, in fact, it was probably from a little bit of what everybody said and even the pre-event Twitter Party – where a bunch of us defined success and what it really means to an entrepreneur.
We all make decisions in our lives. It’s a decision to be an entrepreneur – we choose this. We also have a choice – to choose success. After a day chalk full of empowering messages (including Tonia Jahshan’s keynote!), I really felt empowered to take success into my own hands after last Monday’s event. Success is a choice. Success is a mindset. Failure can even be a success because it gets you closer to success! We choose what we focus on, we choose how we spend our time, we choose who we talk to, what we say and how we say it. It’s all a choice. There’s nothing more empowering that making success a choice!
10. START L.I.E.’ING!
Take care of you. Without your health – mental & physical – there is no business.
Jenny Munford couldn’t have said it better when she closed down the day with the parting keynote: Start “L.I.E.’ing!” – She explained that it stood for LOVE your business, Intelligence is key (schedule ALONE time) and Energy (self-care, sleep, time-out) is fuel behind a healthy business. All three combined = Success. Seriously though, if you don’t LOVE your business, it’s pretty hard to build it and recover from the ups and downs of business. Remember why you started and what your dream was. Never forget it!
Jenny also encouraged us to Think, Visualize and Strategize. She reminded us that most us come out of the shower with such great ideas – and pointed out that we were alone when that happened. We were alone with our thoughts. If we don’t schedule ALONE time to think, we’ll never get past the nonstop of the digital pings, beeps and rings that STOP us from thinking. She shared how healthy and important it was to acknowledge both negative and positive thoughts, but to choose when to turn the negative thoughts off and focus on the positive.
SHARE YOUR AHA MOMENTS
I wrote this article mostly because I was inspired, but also because I think there is still more to learn from each other and to encourage all of us to continue to share our life lessons. What were some of yours? What is still in your mind? What inspired change in you or your business? Please share in the comments below and tweet this out to your followers – we could all learn a little bit from each other along our journey of entrepreneurship.
In the end, I had an great day, met a ton of people, learned a lot (about myself, business building and mindset), my booth was busy and I was able to give away a door prize at the end of the day – a SCHOLARSHIP to my brand new content marketing course for entrepreneurs, the Confident Content Creator Clinic.
This was probably one of the highlights of my day, to be able to gift somebody with this course! All day we spoke about success, empowering others and tools for success – I really celebrated in the fact that this scholarship would empower a lucky winner with the opportunity to build a solid foundation online with marketing basics 101, systems for success, website must-haves and an editorial calendar to market their business online! The lucky winner was Nikki-Monique Kurnath and I can’t wait to start working with her in June! I also awarded a few more scholarships over the weekend and will be announcing them shortly!
Leigh, what a great article ~ and you summed up ‘I Am The Boss’ amazingly well! I really resonated with your points specifically on: Success is a choice; You’re not crazy; and Mistakes are Milestones on the road to success. My biggest takeaway? Get clear on where you want to go, and somehow you’ll figure out the how. You need more than passion and drive – you need inspiration from a higher source, a dedication to a cause bigger than yourself, and the commitment that will allow you to ignore the naysayers and bust through the obstacles that come on your path… because they will! Thanks again… continue sharing your gifts with the world!