Last week I was chatting with a prospect who was going back and forth about the perfect time for when to get started. She mentioned that she has a lot going on and I had to be quite honest with her. There is always a lot going on! We have kids, we have a business, we have many different engagements and we are always juggling a lot.
There’s always going to be something!
Ultimately, many of those things are excuses that we’re telling ourselves about why we can’t move forward. That’s a self-limiting belief keeping yourself small and from moving forward. That’s what’s holding you back.
Coming up with excuses
I am the Queen Bee of coming up with reasons why not to move forward and coming up with excuses!
I spent the first 10 years of my business giving myself a reason, after reason, after reason why I didn’t have enough time, or money, or team members, or systems, etc, to move forward. Then my first son was born and things started to shift a little. I got into this mindset that once he’s in school, then I’ll have more time to do things. Sound familiar?
When it comes to actively growing your business and actively putting the foundational pieces in place
- to generate leads
- to build an email list
- to build a community
- to create a social media following
It requires you to go through a season in your business where you might have to make some time and financial sacrifices. You might have to make hard decisions between spending time with your family or spending time in getting some work done, so that you can put these foundational pieces in place to get to that next level. No one is going to create the time for you.
Perfect timing
I share this with you from experience, because I think so many people out there are waiting for the pandemic to be over to work on their business. “I will work on this when the pandemic is over. Then I will…”. This is just another excuse you’re telling yourself why you can’t move forward. You are literally selling yourself on why now is not the right time to move forward.
Guess what, there is never going to be the perfect time! The perfect time is now.
- You have to create the time and create the space to do the things that will move your business forward
- You have to do the things that will make a difference in your business financially
- You have to invest time to put those foundational pieces in place
Oftentimes, people really struggle to find that time. I am in a season of growth in my business and I have a lot of assets that I have to create so that I can take myself from where I am to where I want to be. To create those assets, I have to make some sacrifices.
Making Sacrifices
I have to make sacrifices around the amount of time that I am available to take on new clients. Currently, I start working at 4:30 AM. I have to make decisions and sacrifices and put in the time and effort, to make that extra effort so that I can create these assets to grow my business further.
Freedom
For me, freedom is the ability to work when and how I want to work. Freedom is
- Time freedom
- Money freedom
- Financial freedom
- Freedom to live life on my own terms
- Freedom to say yes!
- Freedom to say no!
- Freedom to live life and not to worry about meetings and what I will miss if I attend it, such as my son’s soccer game for example
- Freedom to create the exact life that I dream of
That is what I want for each and every single one of my clients. We all started our businesses because we wanted to break free from the nine-to-five job. All our goals were to create a business and a life that we didn’t need to escape from. My ultimate goal for each and every one of my clients is freedom!
Putting in the work
Everyone wants to have that, but only a few people are truly willing to put in the work during the season of the building and the foundation creation. Most will give up before they’ve even tried, or they won’t even start. They will sell themselves on an excuse why now isn’t the right time! I want to encourage you to really take a moment and look at yourself and be really honest with where you are at. See the resources that are available to you and the time that you have to do things.
I know that requires making some hard decisions between creating assets in your business and generating money. It sounds almost silly, but I have to make a decision between,
- Do I want to take on another client right now so that I can generate more income? or
- Do I want to save that time and create space so that I can create the assets in my business?
Often, many of us entrepreneurs who are in a service industry or coaching industry, wanting to transition out of that one-on-one work into a more hybrid approach / group coaching / coursework, have to make those decisions.
We have to go through a season where we decide to work on weekends or get up early and work at the crack of dawn for a while to get stuff done.
In my case, I am getting up at 4 AM and work from 4:30 to 6 AM. I’m getting 90 minutes of focus time each and every day to work on my business. I work on the things that are moving my business forward.
I’ve been committed to this new schedule for a full two weeks and it’s been a game-changer. The amount of stuff that I’ve been able to finish and get done, finalize, and move forward is amazing. I had a lot of stuff that was 90% finished and I am finally getting them done. Now I’m in the space of what are the things that I need to create to move all of these other things forward?
Be honest with yourself
I want you to really be honest with where you’re at and the excuses that you’re telling yourself. That honesty and transparency with yourself is of the utmost importance if you want to move forward and take action.
Be realistic with yourself. I have a million ideas that I want to implement in my business, and I cannot do them all. I have to make decisions around which ones I am going to do and when. Those aren’t always easy decisions, because you have to make a decision on what you believe is going to help move people forward and when. Ultimately, you have to determine what the right things are to work on.
- What is the one thing that is going to move all the other things forward?
- When can you start to look at your to-do list through that lens?
Soon it becomes really clear what you need to move forward so that it knocks down all of these other things.
You have to make decisions on which ideas to advance and which to wait and that’s not always the easiest thing to do as an entrepreneur.
All these things need to happen so that you can get clarity and really focus and follow one course successfully. Stay hyper-focused on the systems that you put in place.
I share this with a lot of love and a lot of experience in using lots of excuses to not move forward. I’ve worked a lot on my mindset, and so now, it’s rare for me to use an excuse around not moving forward. I am in the place where I need to create the time.
You have to become aware of the fact that you’re blocking yourself from moving forward and once realize that, it becomes a whole lot easier to get out of that perfect timing trap.
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