5 Hurdles to Overcome as a New Business Owner
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Starting a business can be hard. The hardest part is accepting the fact that there are many challenges we will encounter and have to overcome, alone. Everyone’s first business journey is unique. Maybe you just started a business, or you are planning to start one.
Rest assured, I am sharing my challenges as a way to provide some insight as to what to expect. I first started my Networks Marketing business 2 years ago. I started my business, while working full time, no experience, with a 7 month old baby and low budget.
These were the 5 main challenges I faced:
Uncertainty and risk
Work-Life Balance while working full time and with kids
Building a Strong Team
The Opinions of Others
Delayed Results
The Challenges I Faced as a New Entrepreneur and How I Overcame Them
So if the uncertainty of whether you should start your own business because you are afraid of what you will face is taking up a lot of space in your thoughts, then you are in the right place. I am here to tell you that those challenges are what will grow you so much more than you ever imagined.
I started my business a few months after I had returned to work from maternity leave. I had used an excess of my sick days and had a very small paycheck compared to my pre-maternity leave paycheck, despite the annual salary increase (which all teachers on a salary schedule get). Also, I had to pay for daycare and a babysitter. Needless to say, I had a few strong reasons why I wanted to bring in an extra stream of income. The low cost start up opportunity landed on my lap and I started the same day I learned about it.
Challenge #1: Uncertainty and Risk
When I first started, I was stepping into totally foreign territory. All I have ever known to be was a teacher. I felt that the risk of failure was present every step of the way. This created a new found sense of pressure and anxiety, in addition to the ones I already had from the challenges of returning to work after having a baby.
Through my business journey I learned that mindset has been a determining factor when it comes to success. Whether it's overcoming setbacks, embracing change, or maintaining a positive mindset amidst uncertainty, our mindset can make or break our entrepreneurial journey. Personal development really helped with my mindset. One of the first things I started doing was reading. I did not have a good relationship with books or reading in general. Mainly because most of my reading for the past few years was required from my grad and undergrad classes. The very first book that helped me overcome this first challenge was The Power of One More By Ed Mylett. The mindset shift I experienced was an understanding that when I want more and want to grow more in my business and pretty much every aspect of life is to do more just once. Once more. Once more and so on.
Challenge #2: Work-Life Balance While Working Full Time With Kids
We all think that there is a secret formula to having the perfect work-life balance. The truth is, there isn’t. We all have unique family dynamics and different sets of priorities. Every time I wanted to make time for my business, something with my family or work came up that would have me drop that task and “get back to it later”. This turned into a cycle that made me feel like I was failing at my new business and resenting my family for it.
Motherhood has influenced my perspective on mindset and personal growth, tremendously. As a parent, I eventually understood the importance of modeling a growth mindset, resilience and practicality. As my mindset grew stronger, I came up with solutions to my whole work-life balance situation. I bought a family calendar to display on the kitchen fridge. I sat down with my family and we organized the whole month. We added important dates, events, parent solo dates, family outings, work blocks for my business (so they would know when I would be busy at my desk or on a call). To this date, we will use it and update it every month. This was the best solution to balancing my business tasks and family activities.
Challenge #3: Building a Strong Team
If you have a business in networks marketing or have just started one, or maybe have a business in which you rely on team members to get tasks done and meet goals, then you know what I am talking about here. Actually, I love how fast someone can start a network marketing business. The start-up cost is low and you can make money fast. It is actually a pretty popular money making side job. In addition to that, it is easy to learn and is replicable. However finding a team member that aligns to your vision, commits to learning the skills and is willing to adapt to all the changes that come with a growing business, is challenging. Building and maintaining a strong team is crucial to a sustainable direct sales business. If you are interested in diving into direct sales, click here to learn more about joining my team.
Here I go again with another book. I had always assumed that people are simply as intrinsically motivated as I am at getting things done. But that is not the case 99% of the time. As part of my business building books to read, I read The 5 Levels Of Leadership, by John Maxwell. As I started reading, I learned I really needed to polish my leadership skills. The highest level of leadership was my new goal.
As a teacher, I have had somewhat of a passive leadership role with my co-workers and paraeducators. I never had to be actively involved. We just all did our part in our job. When you are an entrepreneur, you need to be actively involved and have systems in place that will help your team reach their goals. It is best to have a step by step training. A task list to complete after each step that will help practice the skills needed to build leads in business, which eventually will turn into sales. As a leader I am there every step of the way. As a coach. As a mentor.
Challenge #4: The Opinions of Others
This was a huge one for me at first. I would hesitate and would overthink everything, every step of the way because of the preconceived ideas in my head about what others would think. Who does she think she is? Why start a business when you already have a stable job? Why would she add another thing to her basket? And the list can go on.
The way I overcame this challenge was simple. I got out of my own head. I learned to shift away those negative thoughts about what others would think or say and to just keep going. The truth is, the opinion of others doesn’t really have a direct effect on your business. There will be people who do not support you and people who will support you always. Or support you for a season. This was another huge mindset shift in growing my business.
Challenge #5: Delayed Results
Who doesn’t like to see results right away? I know I do. The truth is that very few things in life give you immediate results. If you want to lose weight, you have to stick to your regimen. If you want to learn a skill, you have to practice often. Results in business take time. The key for me was to stay consistent. I know that consistency gets thrown into every conversation about results, and that's because it works.
Sticking to my daily plan was hard for me. I created a daily block schedule. I was not used to being consistent. My ideology was to be free and live day by day as it went by. Consistency has never been something I felt good at. But it was the only way to flow the daily tasks for my business to grow.
Every challenge we face when starting a new business venture can be overcome. The key is to keep on going and learning what works best for us as we face each challenge. This will look different for everyone. Overcoming challenges will unlock your journey to personal growth.
If you are looking for a low cost business to start while working full time, let’s chat. Set up an appointment with me and I would be thrilled to provide some guidance and options.
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