070// Five Things I Got Totally Wrong as a Mompreneur

SHOW NOTES:

I’ll be the first to admit that becoming an entrepreneur is no cake walk. Over the last year and a half, there have been lessons learned, mistakes made, and plenty of “oops” moments.

The best thing that came from each of these missteps, though, was the growth that happened in the process.

As a work from home mom, mompreneur, or network marketer, there will be learning moments like these for you, too. Allow me to help you side-step a few of my personal “uh oh’s”, though. Here are five things I got totally wrong as an online business owner, but you can get totally right! We’re getting vulnerable over here. Let’s do it!

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Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hey, Hey, welcome to today’s episode. So we are getting real, I’m getting pretty raw and vulnerable here because we are talking about five things that I was so wrong about as a entrepreneur. So I really hope that when you listen to this episode, you are able to learn from my mistakes. Take some of the things that I maybe didn’t know or was a little naive to when I started my own online business as a mom and learn from those mistakes or be able to avoid those same pitfalls. So we’re gonna dive into five things I was so wrong about as a mompreneur let’s get started.

Pop in your earbuds or pull up a chair. Let’s dive into today’s episode. I’m coming to you from my brand new Yeti mic. I’m so excited you guys, because if you have listened to the podcast up until this point, , I don’t know if the audio’s gonna sound that much different. I feel like it probably will and will be better quality, but if you’ve listened to the podcast up to this point, the mic that I have used has just been, I think I’ve found it on Amazon for 9 99, like super cheap. If you guys have followed along for any amount of time, you know, I talk about like, you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get started in an online business.

Speaker 1: (01:53)
Like that’s the beauty of network marketing or starting an online business as a mom is that you don’t have to pay all this money to get started and you can start being profitable and you can make a living. Okay. So that’s what it looked like for me in my life. Okay. I knew I wanted to start this podcast because I had a message to share with you guys. And so I went on to Amazon and I failed a microphone for nine ninety nine, and that’s what I’ve been using for the entire first year of the podcast. But it, for Christmas, my darling husband, he bought me a new Yi mic. And if you guys know anything about podcasting or the tools, or maybe you, um, have heard other people talk about it, it’s basically like the top of the line. If you’re a podcaster, this is definitely the mic you want.

Speaker 1: (02:40)
and I actually kind of have a funny story about this because I did didn’t know this until the other day when Ryan was telling me, but so I also got, um, a new computer and some software stuff that I needed for my business, because as we’re growing and expanding, like it was just time for some updated tech, right? And so he, um, was shopping for that. And apparently the lady at best buy was like, this is a really nice computer that you’re buying here. Like top of the line. This is really nice. And then you’re getting this nice microphone. So what do you do that you’re buying, you know, the, this stuff. And he looked at her dead serious and you have to know my husband and his dry sense of humor, but he said, well, I’m a rapper. And I’m getting my wrapping career off the ground.

Speaker 1: (03:28)
That’s hysterical because he, I mean, he sounds like cornbread when he talks like he is so country and we live here in Alabama and I didn’t have much of an accent all through high school in college. Um, I really didn’t have a, a thick Southern draw, but when we got married and now that we live in Alabama, I do have a really thick Southern accent, but my husband’s is 10 times thicker than mine. And so he told the lady that he was a rapper and he’s getting his rapping career off the ground. And he said, she just kinda looked at him for second. Like, wow, that’s very interesting because you’re, you know, you’re facing the way you talk. You must sound different when you’re wrapping. And he was like, no, I’m just kidding. My wife has a marketing company. And, um, she has a podcast that she does.

Speaker 1: (04:13)
And so I’m just getting her some upgraded equipment, but it was just so funny cuz I could see him dead serious being like I’m a rapper so anyways, long story short, I am taking this new mic out for a test drive today. So this is the first episode that I’m recording with it super excited. And I’m really excited to dive into what we’re talking about today. This is a little bit different than some of the strategy and the maybe like the three steps or a how to type of episode, because instead today I wanna just get real with you. And let’s just talk about what it’s really like to be a mom who is running her own business. Okay. If you’re in the direct sales network, marketing MLM space, and you have decided either to start as a side hustle, or this is your main gig, it’s extra money coming in for your family or it’s what you want to be your sole career, wherever you are in that business, you are a entrepreneur now, and there are certain things that come along with that, that we may not expect or that, you know, we didn’t know, we signed up for.

Speaker 1: (05:20)
I know that’s definitely only the case for me. There were several things that I didn’t realize came along with running your own business, but I have learned them in the course of having my business as a side hustle and then it becoming my full-time career. I now do marketing full-time. I left my corporate advertising career to pursue my own passions and to really it on my terms. And I love doing that, but I have certainly learned things along the way. So in today’s episode, I have five things that I got wrong that I did wrong or that I was mistaken about five things I did that I was so wrong about as a entrepreneur. And I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back, I can see why. And I really hope to encourage you to step out and take a leap of faith.

Speaker 1: (06:08)
And if you’re wanting to start your business or you’re wanting to grow your business, to just know that it’s not all gonna be perfect from the beginning, you’re not gonna have the right stuff. You’re not gonna have, you know, like me with this podcasting, you know, I went on Amazon and I was scrappy and I just figured it out and I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. And when I started in my Facebook group, I was like trying to be just like everyone else. And that didn’t work out and we’re gonna get a little more into some of the things that I, I did get wrong. But then I just want you to know that all of that comes together and it’s all part of a learning process. And you stepping into your role as an entrepreneur and you figuring it out and you becoming the person and the business owner that you’re really striving to be.

Speaker 1: (06:55)
It comes with lessons learned. It comes with mistakes and slipups and slower growth than what you might think. Like it comes with all of that. But at the same time, it’s so worth it because being able to set the pace for my family, to be able to really make an impact and not just an income, because for so many years, I was more focused on the money and making an income. But when you are in a business where you can really make an impact too, and you can use your voice and you can help other people. And when you’re making money, while you do that, like it’s so worth it to go through the trials and the tests that you’re gonna go through to come out on the other side of that. And to be able to say, I I’m an entrepreneur and I have a successful business, but hopefully this episode is gonna show you a couple of things that you can watch out for and you won’t make the same mistakes that I did.

Speaker 1: (07:51)
So five things I was so wrong about as a entrepreneur. So the first thing is this is a thought that I had. So this is a thought that was terribly mistaken and misaligned. And it was that I really thought the harder that I worked, the more money I would make. And for the longest time I carried that with me. I was so used to having a career where even though I was in commission sales, I wasn’t even just a regular nine to five job where I got paid hourly it, but still, it was like the harder I worked, the more money I made. And so I thought that that was the equation to making more money. Like I just have to work harder. And so if I wasn’t making money at the beginning of my business, as quickly as I thought it was like, well, I’m not working hard enough.

Speaker 1: (08:38)
I’m not digging in like I can it stop and rest because I just, I have to make this work. I have to get it off the ground and I’m not working hard enough. But what I actually found as I started to scale my business was that it’s not about working harder. Okay. It’s about working smarter. And so the more productive that I was able to be with my time and the more I was able to really hone in on who I served, get super clear about that it became less and less difficult. And I also changed my mindset around this. I stopped thinking the harder I work, the more money I’m making and started thinking the more impact I make, the more money that I’m gonna make. And so I started focusing on that, not making things hard, not having to work harder, resting when I needed to rest stopping and spending time with my kids.

Speaker 1: (09:30)
When that was the more important thing at the moment and not feeling guilt about that. And, and I can honestly say now that I don’t work as quote unquote hard as I did in the beginning, but I make more money now, do you have to put in the sweat and the time in the beginning? Absolutely. I’m not saying that being an entrepreneur is not hard and it’s not a lot of work because it is. But the mindset that I have that the I worked, the more money I would make was false because the more productive I’ve become and the smarter that I’ve worked and the more I’ve been able to automate the more money I make. So it’s not directly tied to that because if that is true, then the flip side would have to be true, which is that if you’re not making money, you’re not, not working hard enough.

Speaker 1: (10:17)
And that a lot of times could not be further from the truth. I see it all the time with my students and with the moms that I coach and work with is they’re trying so hard, you know, they’re sacrificing time and they’re just working so hard and they’re not making any money and it’s not because they’re not working hard enough. It’s because they haven’t really nailed down how to be productive and how to do the right things in their business. You can work really, really hard doing a lot of things, but if they’re not the right things, then it’s not gonna give you the results that you’re looking for. So that’s one thing that I learned that was wrong was my personal thought. And my belief that the harder I worked, the more money I would make. And that just wasn’t true. Okay. The second thing that I was wrong about as a entrepreneur was I thought that hitting a 10 K month would literally solve all my problems.

Speaker 1: (11:13)
that was the goal that I worked so hard. And we see this mess a lot in online marketing. And especially in like the online coaching space, when you’re looking for mentors and coaches, it’s all about that 10 K month, that 10 K month. And that’s an excellent place to strive to be. And honestly that 10 K month, yeah. When I hit that, it was what, the income that I had previously made. So I’m not saying that, you know, oh, don’t worry about hitting a 10 K month. If that’s your goal, that’s great. But it didn’t solve all my problems. in fact it actually didn’t feel all that different. Um, I don’t know if I thought there were gonna be like balloons and confetti, maybe when I crossed that threshold. And I felt like, okay, now I’ve made it as an entrepreneur and that’s really not happened.

Speaker 1: (12:05)
Not what happened for me. It was pretty normal. And I say that because a 10 K month there are expenses involved when you run your own business, that’s not all a hundred percent profit. So yeah. I mean, it didn’t just change everything. It didn’t solve all my problems and it also didn’t make me feel like, okay, I have arrived and I can quit striving. And that’s one thing that I really want to want you to take from this particular thing that I was wrong about out is that if you’re striving for a 10 K month and you, or whatever that number looks like for you, like six figures in a year or something, or the next rank that you’re gonna hit, or, you know, a certain number of people on your team, whatever it is you’re striving for when you hit that, that’s not where your journey’s gonna end.

Speaker 1: (12:52)
It’s not like a light bulb is just gonna click on it. It’s gonna be like, yep, you’ve achieved it here. You are. Now you can just coast your business is great. Like all your problems are solved. Like you’re still gonna have stuff to figure out. There’s still gonna be different things that you’re gonna be learning at different stages as you scale your business. And so I was wrong about that. I really thought that for reason, this was like a predetermined, like ending point for me. And really it was just the start. It really just motivated me to continue working and moving forward and making an impact and making a difference and to serve more. And it also came with a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure and expensive software and things like that. It’s just a whole different ball game than what I thought it was gonna be in my head.

Speaker 1: (13:41)
Like somehow I had made it into this, um, like this finish line to cross and it wasn’t a finish line. It was really just the start. So if you have something like that in your mind that you’re shooting for, I think it’s amazing and awesome to of goals me with that particular goal striving towards it is really what pushed me and motivated me. And so I think that that was still a good thing to be striving for, but just know that whatever goal you’re striving for, that’s not the end. You don’t just coast. It’s not just over from there. That’s just a goal. It, it’s just a, um, a point that you want to get to and then you can grow from there. So just meeting one goal or hitting a 10 K month will not solve all of your problems, just like having a six figure year will not solve all your problems.

Speaker 1: (14:31)
It’s a great goal, but it can also just be the starting point for you. The third thing that I was wrong about, and I wonder how many of you are in this boat too? Okay. So I really believed that I could do everything in my business myself. I honestly was like, I am so fast at this. I know marketing like the back of my hand and I do so I, I could just be a solopreneur. Like I can do this a hundred percent on my own. And for one I learned that I don’t have the time in my day I don’t have the physical hours to scale to those size that I wanted to get to by myself self. I needed to bring in help. I needed to hire some help, but not just that, if you’re not at the point where you need to bring in and hire help, and you do have time to run your business and you know, you are a solopreneur, you’re doing it by yourself.

Speaker 1: (15:25)
Like you still don’t need to just feel like you need to be in business by yourself, right. You need support. You need help. You need guidance. I still had a lot to learn over the last year and a half that I’ve been growing my business. You’re gonna have a lot to learn also, but I needed support in ways other than just like hiring in ways other than a team member. Yes, I did end up needing that too, but I, I just, in my mind really thought that I could run an entire business right by myself. And that could not have been further from the truth because I really did need support. And I really did need guidance and mentorship to get me to the place where I wanted to be. And I’m not saying that I’m there yet. I have not quote unquote arrived by any means. And so I’m glad I learned this lesson because I know that from here forward, I’m gonna need more help. I’m gonna continue to need to add team members. I’m gonna continue to need to ask for help where I can, I’m gonna continue to need support and continue investing in to make my skills better and all of that. So that was one thing that I was so totally wrong about was thinking that I could just do it all myself.

Speaker 1: (16:44)
Another thing, number four, that I was wrong about was feeling like I had to choose between my business and being a mom in my mind, it was black and white. Like I either was gonna have a super successful business. And that had to be where my focus and energy was, or I was gonna be a good mom and my business may or may not take off. And so the only way that I learned that was just from, um, taking a step back and doing like, there was really no way to unlearn that in my mind, other than to do it, to be present with my kids and say, you know what? I’m making the decision to be a good mom. I’m making the decision to prioritize. And I’m also just gonna work on my business when it’s time to work on my business. And then when God blessed my business and things grew literally doing, it was the only thing that taught me that I was wrong about that.

Speaker 1: (17:42)
It’s not that black and white, you know, seeing other people do. It helped a lot as well, because there’s a lot of people that I look up to in the online space. There’s a lot of mentors that I’ve hired that are successfully balancing being a mom and also running a business. And so that helped, but I still carried that belief with me until I actually did it until I actually was able to say, wow, I looked up and said, you know, I am running a business and I feel fulfilled as a mom. And that absolutely has nothing to do with me. I will say that when I turned that over to God and said, God, I can’t do both. Like, I’m not doing a good job of balancing both. It was his grace that allowed me to be a able to do each thing better.

Speaker 1: (18:31)
Like I became a better business person. I became a better mom. And so I’m not taking credit for this lesson whatsoever. Okay. But that was strictly just God working through me and my life. But that’s something that I was so wrong about. I really believed that I was gonna have to choose between my business and the, a good mom and that brought up a lot of guilt. And so I’m really glad that I figured out that, that wasn’t true. And if you’re in that place too mama, where you’re like, I’m just failing at both. Whether you’re a person of faith, because some people who listen to this podcast are some people aren’t, I would just encourage you to stop and think about where that’s from, take a step back and just release that. Like I released it to God and said, you know what? Like, you’re the only person that can help me be a better mom.

Speaker 1: (19:20)
And you’re the person that literally gives me everything. I have every blessing that I have and I turned it over to him. And so if you’re in that place too, I just incur, urge you to like step back and really evaluate, um, what needs to change so that you don’t feel like you’re having to choose one or the other. Okay. Fifth and last thing that I was wrong about as a entrepreneur was okay, so I kept working toward words, getting to like this switch. I thought there was gonna be this switch where everything would just start working, where everything that I had in place, boom, would start clicking where all the content that I was posting, boom, would start picking up engagement where all the courses or the course that I had built, boom, it would just start selling or where I thought, you know, okay, I’m getting some coaching clients here, I’m working with them.

Speaker 1: (20:17)
And then the floodgates are gonna open tomorrow. And it’s just a light switch is gonna turn on. And what I learned was that it really wasn’t so much of a switch. It was an evolution. And so things were very slow, steady in the beginning. And that’s fine. And you may be like me thinking that there’s this switch where all of a sudden everything’s gonna work and feel like, oh my gosh, if I could ever just get to that tipping point to that tipping point where things will just fall into place. And you feel like if you’re not getting to that tipping point, you’re not being successful. But the success is actually in doing the small things in the momentum that’s being built up into that point. It’s the evolution. And for some people, there is a switch for some people it’s like night and day, the faucet just turns on for some people it’s not.

Speaker 1: (21:10)
And for me, it, it wasn’t that way. It was an evolution and it was a slow and steady growth. But I feel like because it did, um, grow in that way, that it’s a very sustainable business model that I have now, because it is so consistent. And, um, yeah. So, I mean, I, I feel like that’s okay if you’re where you’re thinking that there’s just gonna be this, um, switch that’s gonna flip and all of a sudden everything’s gonna start working. Don’t feel like all the progress that you’re making up to that point is in VA because evolution and the process is really where there are a lot of wins and you’re making a difference even in that, in between stage. And the next thing, you know, you look back and this is what happened to me. I look back and I was like, wow, look at all the people I’ve helped look at all the people I’ve served, look at all the sales I’ve made and, you know, know there, wasn’t just like one point where I could say, oh, this is what changed in my business.

Speaker 1: (22:13)
Um, it was really more of an evolution. And then I know I said, that was the last thing because that’s five, right? Um, yeah, that was five things that I got wrong as a entrepreneur, but just one bonus thing. Okay, I got this wrong. I thought that with the right amount of research and training and mentorship, that I could skip the hard parts of business, I was so naive. Okay. I really did. I thought I’ve done marketing and advertising for years in a corporate setting. Like I’m gonna skip the hard parts and just get right to the good stuff in business. And that could not have been further the truth. You have to go through the hard parts because if not, your foundation is shaky, your business, isn’t built on a solid foundation because you haven’t done the hard things. The nitty gritty that it takes to really get your business set up for solid sustainable success.

Speaker 1: (23:05)
So don’t feel like you get to just skip the hard parts. That’s not out a thing. . So I hope you found a little bit of motivation, inspiration in these five things that I personally was mistaken about and got wrong when I started my business. And I hope that it empowers you to just go forward, take messy action. It’s okay to get some things wrong. You’re not gonna get everything right. You’re gonna have bumps along the way, but I encourage you to just keep going, keep building your business, keep your eye on the prize, whatever that is for you, whether it’s like I said, a side hustle, whether it’s a flourishing business, whether it’s leaving your nine to five, whether it’s having some extra money to take your babies on vacation, like whatever it is, just stay focused on the goal and why you started your business in the first place and know that I am cheering you on. If you need any support and encouragement, you can always find me in these successful networking moms, Facebook group, just search, successful working moms on Facebook. And I’d love to cheer you on in that community as well. I’ll see you on the next episode,

Speaker 2: (24:12)
You’ve been listening to the successful networking moms podcast. If you are ready to take action, start reaching your sales, recruitment, and income goals. Now then join us in the success full networking moms, Facebook group. This free community offers support from me plus the accountability of a thousand other networking moms, scaling their businesses, search on Facebook for successful networking moms, or check the show notes for the link to join.