Do you THINK of yourself as a BOSS?
If not, WHY not?
The biggest mistake we make when we start an online business is that we assume it will be exciting and easy and that the internet will take care of everything – all we have to do is build it and they’ll line up for our services all across the Milky Way (isn’t that where the internet is?).
And when that doesn’t happen, all hell breaks loose… in our heads.
And hell continues to break loose as long as we’re the kind of boss who doesn’t see herself as a BOSS.
Question: When you don’t think of yourself as a BOSS, how do you show up for your favorite employee (ahem, YOU)? Do you see the potential problems here?
SAY HELLO TO MISERABLE MABEL…
When you start a business, you’re usually both boss AND employee and it’s up to the boss, not the employee, to steer the ship. Except, we often end up like Miserable Mabel (not her real name), who doesn’t want “to be bothered” with the business side of things because “it’s not fun.” Miserable Mabel believes in magic.
Unless and until Miserable Mabel is willing to entertain a new perspective, she’ll stay stuck in her belief that, like so many things in life, it’s just “too hard.” Sadly, she’ll then become another would-be business owner who gives up because her mind makes her believe she can’t succeed and “this is just the way things are.”
SAY HI TO HUSTLIN’ HOLLY…
Then there’s Hustlin’ Holly. Oh boy, could I relate to Hustlin’ Holly, bless her/my heart. Holly believes it when they tell her she has to take “massive action” if she’s ever going to succeed in building a coaching business. She’s not afraid of working hard, but she begins to realize that working hard doesn’t guarantee success at all. In fact, Holly loses patience when she hears platitudes like, “Your success is inevitable,” because, well, it’s not – look at poor Mabel!
On really bad days, Holly likes to curl up with a bag of Doritos and a binge-worthy Netflix series to deal with the overwhelm. The thing about Holly is this: The girl’s got GUTS and she’s determined to figure this whole “entrepreneurship thing” out and eventually, she does find someone who can give her the kind of help she’s been looking for – the kind that’s motivating. The kind that makes her want to become a bona fide BOSS.
LOOK! IT’S SAVVY SANDRA…
Savvy Sandra is only a step or two ahead of Holly as far as skillset but when it comes to mindset, Sandra’s taken a very big leap. She finally believes it when her coach tells her that success is only 20% skillset and a whopping 80% mindset! You see, managing her mind is a skill that Sandra has practiced a lot, and it’s paying off, literally and figuratively. She’s making money AND she’s settling into a new way of being Sandra.
That’s not necessarily easy to do because changing the way we tend to “think, feel, do” our lives requires determined awareness of what our minds are thinking in any given moment, which affects the way we feel, which then determines how we behave. Sandra also recognizes that running a business, like living a life, means we have to get up more times than we fall down.
Finally, Savvy Sandra is committed to evolving as a woman being. Because the woman who got her HERE is not the woman who can get her THERE – the place she’s never been before – the land of “The Bona Fide BOSS.”
NOW MEET PURPOSEFUL PAULA, BONA FIDE BOSS…
Next up, Purposeful (Powerful Gutsy-ass) Paula! Who doesn’t want to be like Purposeful Paula? She’s a Bona Fide BOSS, meaning, she has learned to be the kind of woman who makes money in a way that makes her feel happy and fulfilled. Oh, and she doesn’t believe freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose… she’s redefined it to mean “everything to gain,” because when a woman owns a business, she owns her life, and that means there’s a purpose behind everything she does.
Who doesn’t want to be like Purposeful Paula? She follows her G.P.S. – which means she has a Goal, a Plan, and a Strategy for building a profitable business. She doesn’t throw spaghetti at the wall and hope it will stick. She doesn’t get sidetracked because she understands that there’s a time and a place for everything and trying to do it all, all at once, is what keeps the Hustlin’ Holly types stuck.
Another thing about Purposeful Paula is that she embraces the fact that building a successful business is an AFGO – Another Freakin’ Growth Opportunity – an opportunity to heal old wounds, become stronger, more confident, and more independent in every way.
This is how a woman finally owns her life.
