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The three things that slowed my progress as a new business owner and the three practices that helped me succeed.
Show Notes
In this episode, I'm going to share with you the three things that slowed my progress as a new business owner and the three practices that helped me succeed.
Other resources
The RELEASE Method - 7 steps to releasing your biggest sales blocks + attracting your next client
More on Khalida
Khalida DuBose is a business coach specializing in mindset and simplified business strategy. As a previous crowdfunding coach, she supported more than a thousand crowdfunding campaigns and project creators in their quest to bring their dreams, passions, and ideas to the world. Now, she focuses on helping women of color online business owners nail the foundations of running a successful business and cultivate a rock-solid mindset as they navigate the entrepreneurial journey. For more information on Khalida, visit khalidadubose.com. Follow Khalida on Instagram @khalida.dubose. You can email her at khalida@blackgirlbusinessbar.com.
The Black Girl Business Bar is produced by Zuri Berry (@ZMCPodcasts). Music by Vincent Tone and Die Hard Productions.
Creators & Guests
What is The Black Girl Business Bar?
The Black Girl Business Bar Podcast is for Black entrepreneurial women who crave practical information to implement in their businesses and careers. They want tips and tactics that work and they want on-the-go mentorship that will make a difference in their businesses, projects, and lives.
Hosted by business coach and crowdfunding expert Khalida DuBose, the Black Girl Business Bar is all about letting Black women know what's possible for them in their entrepreneurial journey.
Hey friends. Welcome back to the Black Girl Business Bar podcast. Today, I am sharing with you some insights from my journey as an entrepreneur for the last two and a half years.
Before I get into that, though, just a quick reminder that I am going to be dropping episodes bi-weekly for the remainder of summer 2022. And then in the fall, I am hoping to return to a weekly schedule. So just wanted to remind you guys of that. If you haven't been here before, my name is Khalida DuBose, I am your host of the Black Girl Business Bar, and I am super excited to talk about this subject today.
So jumping right in, I know you might be thinking two and a half years is not that long to be an entrepreneur and you will be completely right. But I think that it's just that sweet spot where I'm able to share enough of my hindsight perspective.
You know, that perspective that we all wish we had when we were getting started. But it's just not available. So here's a little bit of mine. I'm going to share with you today three things that I think kind of slowed my progress and then, you know, I'm going to share like three things that I think, that I did really well or that I do really well that really helped me to keep going in this journey.
So first things first, worrying about timelines has really slowed me down. I would worry about timelines instead of worrying about the sound business practices.
Okay. So you might find that you're doing this also in your entrepreneurial journey is worrying more about like, when is this going to happen? You know, am I hitting this milestone? So not to be confused with goals, But am I going to hit this milestone? Did I double the amount of money that I made last month? Did I double the amount of money that I made last year, et cetera. And thinking that that has to happen on a timeline. So for me, my version of this looks like, well basically I'm notoriously tidy. I like things neat and tidy. So in my career as a coach, I naturally want things to kind of march along the timeline like they did in my regular corporate career, like they did when I was in school. So I was taught a way, just like most of you where it's like, okay, K through college, basically we're on this timeline. We're a certain age when we hit these milestones. So for me in my business, you know, when I came in, I started thinking, okay, well, I see all these coaches, I see all this stuff happening. And they said that if I followed these steps that I'm supposed to hit this, and this is what they hit. And that's just not how it happens. So worrying about timelines definitely slowed me down quite a bit. And then I had to really start to coach myself through that and had wonderful coaches also point it out.
So trying to do the most was the second thing that I really, really, really think slows all of us down. We get out here and we try to do so much. I'm sure you can relate to this. My version of this looks like trying to be on multiple platforms, trying to launch a course right out of thegate. I talked about that a little bit a couple of weeks ago on the podcast.
And then trying to market like I was a six-figure entrepreneur, Or a multi-six figure entrepreneur right at the start. In other words, I completely overlooked the part of entrepreneurship where you're supposed to stay in your own lane and not try to hop to the fast lane too quickly. I see this happen with a ton of entrepreneurs where you compare yourself to somebody who's not even in the same. speed classes. You, if you will, So trying to do the most too soon, whether that's adding programs or launching, you know, things that you shouldn't be launching yet, because you don't have the experience just yet, or just trying to keep up with everybody else. They're marketing this way, so I should be marketing this way. Once upon a time, they were probably marketing the way you should be marketing today when you're getting started. And even at two and a half years in, it's not about time, right? It's really about where you're at because somebody two and a half years in could be at a different place than someone else.
The third thing that I will say, that really got in my way a lot was focusing on people who weren't buying. So this, this goes to my marketing, Which is very important in business because you're attracting clients. So I would focus too much on the people who weren't buying.
So what does that look like? For me that was like creating marketing messages for people who I consider not the investors. And telling them why they should invest. And I hate the word should. But why they should invest. Instead of focusing my messages to people who already invest people who already understand how important it is to have support in their business, et cetera, I would focus all my energy on like, do you need to do this, you need to invest. Those were the three things worrying about the timelines, you know, trying to do too much, too soon, focusing on other people and then focusing on the people who weren't buying from me. Focusing on the wrong audience is another way of saying that.
And then taking us over to the things that have been really helpful for me that I think would be helpful to you as well. If you're kind of going through some of this stuff in the newer part of your journey.
So I focus a lot on managing my mind. This is something that, you know, I'm very thankful that I've always done. I didn't realize I was doing it. So I became more intentional about it as I became an entrepreneur. But I always kind of journaled, I always did these things. And when I became an entrepreneur, I started focusing on my mind, how do I manage my mindset? I treat mindset. Like I would, anything else in my life that's important and it's scheduled, right? So if I go work out at the gym or if I have appointments, it is on a schedule. I walk each night on a schedule, unless for some reason I can't.
And so I started focusing on my mind and making that a very intentional process for me, because in this journey your mind will make or break you. It will make or break your success. It really will make or break anything in your life in general. But especially in entrepreneurship and when you own a business.
So my flavor of this looks like exercising, making sure I'm very intentional about that, using mindset tools that I share with clients, but you know, to give you an example of things like, meditation is something that I really love to do. Not everybody likes to do everything. But meditation is one of the things that I like to do. Intentional journaling, making sure I keep track of my wins. You know, like how well I'm doing so I can just keep managing my mind focusing on the things that were very helpful for me.
So that's, that's one thing. Number two, I stopped worrying about the timeline. So yet we're going back to the timelines and really what I'm trying to say here is I stopped focusing on what other people think. How fast I move through my timeline, if that makes sense.
So I'm not just like, well, I have to hit this goal by this time, this time, this time. Of course I am, but there's an underlying reason. And that's because there was the sense that if I don't hit these things, then other people are going to think this about my business. So when I just kicked that out and I really don't care what people think about my business, you wouldn't even know unless you came and I told you like all the intimate details, but when I kicked that out and I stopped worrying about that so much, I just feel like there's such a sense of ease. And it does come back up. I'm not going to lie about this. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It comes up. We have to manage these things like constantly manage these things.
And the beauty here is that you get good at it after a while. You kind of know that your brain is starting to kind of play a trick or your brains going down the wrong path. And you're like, hey, that's not helpful. And so you're able to manage it.
So the final thing. That really was so helpful for me was that I didn't get caught up in needing a lot of certifications to get started.
You know, one of the things I noticed about women in particular in the online business space, and I kind of noticed this in the corporate world too, was just that need to have like the next certification. I'm certified in all these things. In the corporate world, it was I have all these letters behind my name.
And I'm not against education. I'm not against, you know, getting certifications or like really bettering yourself. But there's a difference between like, let me get this so that everybody can trust me and I can feel better about myself, versus I actually need this knowledge and I just want to learn it so that I can have better practices.
So those are two different things. So I really didn't get caught up in that. And instead, what I did was I really focused on gathering a lot of evidence about myself. I've talked to you guys about this before, and really the process of gathering evidence is just so easy, making sure you keep track of like the things that you do that you're proud of writing down the small things.
And I even think that If you didn't have the practice of gathering evidence or like intentional journaling and like keeping track of all of your milestones and wins before, you can even sit down and have a couple of sessions where you just kind of like go mining for it. You just go digging around and think about things that you did in the past that you're really proud of. And then think about the processes. Think about the habits that you had to develop and then just kind of store that all in like your brag bank. Like this is the thing that I did. And you're using that bank for yourself.
You know, you don't have to drag it out to the world, but it's for yourself for the times that you're in the middle of this journey. And you're like, you know, I need to keep going and I don't have to be certified to do this.
So my whole thing with certification is like, yes, use it if you need it. But I just don't love the idea that like, somebody needs to tell you that it's okay for you to go do the work that you love to do right now.
I hope that was helpful for you guys. If you're on this journey right now and you're kind of like caught up in these things. Think about these things. Are you invested too much in timelines? Are you trying to do the most right? Are you trying to do too many things in your business before you get started? Are you comparing yourself to the wrong people right there ahead of you and you shouldn't be focusing on what they're doing? Are you focusing on the people who aren't going to be buying from you, right? Are you focused on the right audience?
And then, you know, turning your attention to making sure you're managing your mind. Mindset is always going to be important about anything in business, anything in life. Worrying about other people thinking it'd take you right back into those timelines, if you're like me, or it could take you down another path. But worrying about what people think about your business or comparing yourself. Those are just two really big pitfalls of everybody in entrepreneurship. And then getting caught up in needing so many certifications and needing to feel perfect before you really go out and do the things that you need to do.
Make sure you gather some evidence for yourself because you totally have what it takes. And there's always somebody that you can help right at the point that you are at right now.
All right, friends. Thanks so much for hanging out and listening to the Black Girl Business Bar podcast. If this episode was helpful for you, let us know by taking a screenshot and sharing it on social media. Don't forget to tag me so that I can say hello. We are dropping episodes every other Tuesday this summer on your favorite podcast player. And I can't wait to see you back then.