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How to Start a Business From Home {Episode 239}
370 Plays1 year ago
Are you thinking about starting a business? In this episode Bonnie and Audrey share how and why to start a business from home. Whether you're thinking about a stay a home job with no experience, or getting ready to explore starting an online business, be sure to listen to this. They share the 2 main types of home based businesses, the pros and cons of starting a business from home, and a bunch of things you should think about before starting.
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About Outnumbered the Podcast:
Two moms, parenting a combined total of 19 kids and finding joy in the chaos.
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Background
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to episode 239 where we are talking about all our experience with home-based businesses. And instead of giving you lots of spammy advice like you might find on Google, we're going to give you our experience and just what a wonderful blessing it is to start your own business. You're going to find out the two main different types of businesses, some of the pros and cons of building a business and how it can help you grow in your life. So let's do it.
00:00:28
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Outnumbered the Podcast. I'm Audrey. And I'm Bonnie. We are experienced moms to a combined total of 19 children. In our weekly episodes, we explore relatable topics using our perspectives of humor and chaos. Tune in for advice and encouragement to gain more joy in your parenting journey.
Starting a Home Business: Common Questions
00:00:53
Speaker
Welcome back, friends. I am excited to introduce you guys to this episode we've got for you today because it's something we get asked a lot. At least I personally, I'm sure Audrey does too. And that's how to build a business from home. And both of us have been working on our businesses for over a decade, at least for me. You too, probably. Right, Audrey? Long time.
00:01:11
Speaker
Almost maybe. Yeah. And so everybody wants to know how to make money from home. And if you Google that, you will come up with all kinds of spammy results. So we're going to give you some cold, hard advice here today and it's going to be a fun one. Okay. So I have to tell you what my kid did the other day. So one of my kids, my teenage daughter was making breakfast and she was making a
00:01:36
Speaker
a sour cream cake or a crumb cake, and it had this filling that she put in the middle. And the filling was sugar and cinnamon, basically. And so it was like this powdery sugar stuff. Well, my toddler sitting there watching her toddler, four-year-old, sitting there watching her make it, and he grabs this bowl and slides it across the counter to him and puts his face right over it and does this big inhale sniff.
00:02:04
Speaker
So he gets coughs of sugar and cinnamon up his nose and then he's sneezing and coughing and drooling right down into the bowl. So she was freaking out and he was freaking out. It was pretty hilarious. Anyway, obviously we got rid of that bowl and made her a new one, but that was kind of
00:02:27
Speaker
cut hilarious to watch your toddler like in slow motion. I'm standing across the kitchen. I see him, you know, grab this bull, slide it toward him, put his face down, take this big whiff. But now you know, he will never do drugs because he knows what it feels like to snort sugar and cinnamon. Probably not fluent. I tell you what, this is the kid that attacks life head on, head first, crazy. I've had in my
00:02:53
Speaker
litany of child racing for the past 25 years. I have had kids that like are so rough and tumble that they like lose a toenail or a fingernail from their activities. This kid currently has both big toenails missing both. Ew. Yeah. Crazy.
00:03:13
Speaker
Have you ever seen the viral video going around about the kid who wanted to take the spoon, eat the spoonful of cocoa powder? No. That one is pretty hilarious too. He, the mom goes, are you sure you want it? It's not going to taste good. Are you sure? Yes. Are you sure? Yes. Eats this big spoonful and then goes powder pops out and he's like really grossed out, tries to rinse out his mouth.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's just cruel. Smells so good, but not so great. Okay. Same like tasting vanilla, right? Yes. Yes. The first time you taste vanilla straight up, you will never forget it. The nice little dose of vodka or whatever's in it. Okay.
Commitment and Definition of Success
00:03:50
Speaker
So let's talk about businesses for a minute. I want to say this right up front. It's one of the first caveats I tell people about building a business.
00:03:57
Speaker
Starting a business is not for making immediate money. When you're thinking, gee, I'm a little short on cash. Maybe I should start a business. Nope. Not a good idea. Okay. It is like growing a garden versus going to the grocery store. When you think I need tomatoes, do you go plant tomato seeds? No. You're going to be waiting a long time and it's going to require a lot of time and effort. So here's the question. Why do people grow gardens when they could just go to the grocery store?
00:04:24
Speaker
the same reason people build businesses versus just getting a job. Because it fulfills your life, because it requires growth, because it's so exciting to watch, because all these other reasons, and in the long run, it can end up supporting your family and really, really giving you a financial payoff. But it is not for immediate money, nine times out of 10. Every now and again, someone will get lucky and a business will make money immediately. But that's my first caveat, just so people know what they're getting themselves into when they want to start a business.
00:04:52
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, have a yard sale if you want immediate money. Oh, okay. It is a long game. Um, and that can be discouraging and it can also, we're going to talk about your mindset. Of course, we're going to talk about your thoughts, but that can be like discouraging. It can feel like, um, failure when you're not, if you consider, you know, if you.
00:05:17
Speaker
tie money and success together. It can feel like a failure. So it's something definitely to think about and consider. Like you're going to have to measure success in different ways, or you're just going to end up either beating yourself up or hating it or quitting all these things. But it can potentially benefit and help support your life for years to come. Or it, well, it depends on what you're measuring success by, right? Like financial success is like the huge thing that everybody's thinking about when
00:05:44
Speaker
they start running a business. But there are tons of other things that can be gained from building a business. So anyway, just keep that in mind. It's not going to happen today. Have a yard sale this weekend if you want immediate money. Yeah. I love that you mentioned that because there was one point in building my blog where I thought, okay, in order to make a lot of money out of this, I'm going to have to do X, Y, and Z. And I realized I didn't want to do X, Y, and Z. I just wanted to sew and share my creations with the world. And I
00:06:14
Speaker
realized that my why for that blog of that phase of life was to feel fulfilled. And I did make a little money here and there, but more important to me was to feel like I had something worthwhile to put out into the world. So again, like you said, just decide on your why and what you want out of your business. And as long as you're getting that, that is the definition of success, right?
00:06:36
Speaker
So like I mentioned, there are a lot of money-making scams out there. Everybody wants to teach you how to make some money, right? Because that seems to be everyone's impetus, right? It's like, well, I'd like a little bit of extra cash and it'd be great if I could make it from home. But there really are legitimate ways to make money from home, and it seems like every year there's more and more and more ways.
00:06:55
Speaker
Now, I'm not saying that people that want to teach you how to make money are bad. I have gone through a lot of really amazing programs where I've learned a lot. But for every legitimate one, there's probably 50 illegitimate ones or ones where people are just trying to fleece you. So be very, very careful and cautious in who you trust and where you go for that information.
Envisioning Your Business
00:07:16
Speaker
Okay, the first thing you want to do is decide on what you want your business to look like. So like type of work, where it's done, how many hours, ideal income. Do you want to take something that is your hobby and turn that into a business? And what are all the benefits, advantages and disadvantages of that? Do you want something that gives you location freedom? So you can work from home or you can work from,
00:07:42
Speaker
a sailboat in the middle of the ocean, or you can work as you're traveling, an RV across the US with your kids, or how about time freedom? Do you want something that's active? You have to be in front of your sewing machine sewing it, or do you want
00:07:59
Speaker
something that is more passive income. So you do it once and then it continues to make money. Those kind of things to start narrowing down what you want to do. It might be better to look at kind of big picture things than kind of the what to actually do, which can be smaller picture.
00:08:20
Speaker
Yeah, totally. And as a side note, from what I understand, it's notoriously difficult to get internet in the middle of the ocean on a sailboat. I read about a family that did that like sailed across the world and they had to wait till they get to a port to like upload their videos of their adventures or whatever. I know, I know. But as you mentioned, technology is always changing. And now you can take Elon Musk's from
00:08:39
Speaker
What's the satellite based internet thing he's doing? I don't remember. I forget the name of it. Anyway, you can take that anywhere. A satellite can reach, you can take it. There you go. So now even on the sailboat, you can get on Elon's internet. It'll be fine. Yeah.
00:08:54
Speaker
And here's another thought, you don't even have to know what type of business you want at this point, but I highly recommend at least fleshing out what you want it to look like, right? Maybe you don't know what you want to do exactly, but you do want to have a little bit of computer time, a little bit of creativity time, or you really want to work with people, or you really don't want to work with people, right? So just kind of set it up in your head as to what it looks like so that when the type comes along, you realize, oh, there's this thing called affiliate income that I can make by sharing people's like, oh, that would fit.
00:09:20
Speaker
that would check all these boxes that I created that can help you decide. So let me just give you a couple of examples. Coaching, for example. I knew that I wanted to help people. I knew that I wanted to work from home. I knew that I wanted to have some opportunity to travel, which I can to speak or to go to masterminds and that sort of thing. Another example is sewing, sharing the creations with the world.
00:09:43
Speaker
something hands-on. If you're creative, something you can do from home, but you do actually have to do some work before you can share it, right? So again, just kind of ask yourself what you want it to look like, and then very often the type of work will kind of present itself.
Types of Businesses: Product vs. Content
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah, you also need to think about your non-negotiables. Like, what are you absolutely not willing
00:10:05
Speaker
for to do or to have as part of your business. So for example, you insist on being home at bedtime or for dinner. You want to be able to travel in the summer, all sorts of things. This is exactly what you do when you're looking for a job.
00:10:22
Speaker
That you know pays money and you get a salary from it that that's exactly what you do is figure out well I'm not gonna work say in a factory on an assembly line. Well, that's one of your non negotiable So you need to think about that from running a home-based business as well Yes, and I will say at this point that sometimes a business that you start in one certain way can morph in
00:10:42
Speaker
into something that isn't as sustainable or isn't what you want to do. But the great thing about owning your own business is you can pivot at any time. Let's say your business does grow and you end up managing a team and you didn't really want that. Or it's kind of grown into something that doesn't fit your lifestyle quite as well.
00:10:58
Speaker
You can sell it. You can hire a CEO and just stay on as whatever, a board member. You can quit and do something totally different. That's the magic of owning your own business is you can watch it carefully and not let it get to a point where you are overworking yourself. You can just limit yourself to a certain amount of clients or a certain amount of projects so that you maintain the business that you are hoping to keep.
00:11:23
Speaker
Okay, so at this point, we want to explain that there are basically two main different kinds of businesses. And I actually have a whole episode on my podcast about this, and I'll include that in the show notes. But the main two types are product-based businesses and content-based businesses. Okay?
00:11:40
Speaker
something physical, something that you either make or you have made for you, have manufactured, or you purchase wholesale and resell it. And there's a variety of different marketplaces you can do that. You can do it on your own website, on Etsy, on eBay, on Amazon, a million different ways.
00:11:56
Speaker
Okay, and content-based business looks like creating something that is content that you can put out there. So, for example, blogging, a social media account, a YouTube channel, courses, memberships, digital products, things that other people can consume that are not physical products.
00:12:23
Speaker
Yeah. And when it comes to digital products, even though we technically call them products, we're talking about things like PDF guides or digital sewing products or something like that. If it doesn't have to be fulfilled, it doesn't have to actually be shipped to someone, we like to group that in with the content because it can just be created from your computer or at home in some way and then given to somebody through the internet. So that's the difference there between the content and the physical product. So like Audrey does sell
00:12:49
Speaker
an actual product, but because she's not shipping a pattern to someone, she's just giving them access to it digitally, then we call that content. So there's the difference there. So there really are pros and cons of each of these types of businesses, and you can probably already see some of them if you know people who own businesses that are content or physical-based, right? Product-based.
00:13:09
Speaker
We very often encourage moms especially to look at content-based businesses over anything. They are just the easiest to get started. They always have the highest profit margin because you don't have to invest in an actual physical product. And they always have the lowest startup cost. You can just take some of your own information or knowledge or experience and start putting it on the internet.
00:13:28
Speaker
Now, I will say that I think sometimes creating a content-based business requires a lot more confidence in oneself because you're not selling a product. You're basically selling your own brain, right? Your own knowledge and your own expertise. But it's so fun and you can start very, very low stress, low pressure. You don't have to go invest $5,000 in new products and then try to sell them.
00:13:52
Speaker
I know, and there's something so rewarding about taking an idea. This is design. I'm talking about pattern design or fabric design. You take an idea that's inside your head and you make some marks on a screen and you give people the right to use those marks that you've made on a screen, lines, curves, whatever.
00:14:15
Speaker
They can take those marks and they can make an actual product. So they can, let's say I've designed a skirt that I had in my head. I took it out of my head. I put it on the computer screen. They took it from their computer screen and sewed a skirt from it. And then they're wearing that skirt or their child is wearing that skirt as they walk around. Like that's a really, really cool to say that skirt used to be in my brain. Like I created it out of thin air is the way my husband likes to, likes to phrase it. Like you create things out of thin air.
00:14:44
Speaker
There are times when products speak to your soul and you really want to put them out there in the world. Think about our interview with Alpine Baby Company. She sews baby leggings and baby clothes and sells those. Think about our interview with Katie of Dear Mushka. She had some things on her heart that she wanted to turn into art products and sell those to people. There's something that
00:15:11
Speaker
that she had that want to come out. So like just listen to what's inside of you. Nobody knows the best place to start, but you, but you can also find inspiration in going back and listening to a lot of the women that we have interviewed on this podcast who were moms who had something calling them and they reached out and did it.
00:15:30
Speaker
Yes, I love that. And I love that we're saying you're not going to know where it heads. And I think that's one of the beautiful parts about starting a business because sometimes I think if we knew where we were headed, we would be too terrified to even start because very often it grows into something that we never anticipated, which is beautiful and wonderful. But I'm personally grateful I didn't know early on what this was going to lead me to because it would have been a lot scarier than to look at it all. But you just one step at a time, right?
00:15:54
Speaker
And definitely listen to your heart. Listen to what God is inspiring you to do because we all have some beautiful, amazing talents and skills. And I think one of the most amazing things about living in today's day and age is that we have so many conveniences that we actually have free time. I don't think we moms fully understand just what a huge blessing free time is. And I get it. Just like most of you, I'm like, what are you talking about free time? I don't have any free time.
00:16:19
Speaker
But we really do. We don't have to take our laundry down to the creek and scrub it down there. We don't have to make everything from scratch. Well, Audrey does, but I don't. We have so many conveniences that allow for us to put other goodness into the world. And you can do that in a number of ways. We're not saying you have to build a business, but if you feel inspired to, you can. And you can put your beautiful artwork or crafts and your inspired thoughts or impressions that come to you and put them out in the world and help somebody else.
00:16:48
Speaker
It's a wonderful blessing of living in today's day and age, as long as we can keep ourselves from wasting that time just on TV or going out to lunch all the time. There's nothing wrong with that every now and again.
00:17:00
Speaker
This episode is brought to you by our free episode guides. We have done so many amazing episodes that you can use, but we were afraid they might be getting lost in our almost 250 episodes.
Promotional Guides
00:17:11
Speaker
Yes, so we created these free episode guides so you guys can find everything you're looking for in one spot. We have one for our series on babies and toddlers, teens, on marriage, and so on. But today, we want to make sure you know about the guide we made for you about schooling your children.
00:17:27
Speaker
We both homeschool our kids, and in our episodes, we share tons of information and resources about what has worked for us. In most of these episodes, we discuss the topic like history, math, or science in relation to the seven different learning styles so you can teach your child in the most effective manner possible.
00:17:44
Speaker
And even if you're not a homeschooler, we know these can help you with homework and other projects that your kids bring home. So be sure to click the link in the show notes so you can grab the free episode guide to all our episodes, including the one for homeschooling your kids or educating them in another way. When planning your school year, be sure to listen to the specific episodes pertaining to where you need extra help, depending on the topic. And we know that our amazing resources and tips will help you successfully educate your own kids.
00:18:08
Speaker
Okay, so a few more things to consider before starting a business.
Pre-launch Considerations
00:18:12
Speaker
How much time and effort will this take to turn a profit? So that is something we get, sometimes we get really excited about a business idea and we just jump right in and we just think, oh, actually, later on, I'm not making any money. When am I going to start making money? And, you know, should I have thought about this a little bit longer?
00:18:26
Speaker
or how much money will I need to invest, right? You want to make sure you have a little money set aside if you're going to need to buy a new computer or buy some software or buy products that you want to sell. Ask yourself, are you willing to do this long term? And again, you're not going to know that for sure. But if it's something that you just barely picked up yesterday, maybe don't start a business with it today. Maybe give yourself a few months to see if it's something that you're going to enjoy doing long term.
00:18:48
Speaker
And then finally ask yourself if you have an exit strategy. Let's say you do build a business and you end up hating it or you end up getting to the point where your kids need you more and you want to leave. Do you have a way out? Do you know how you're going to maybe get some of your money out of the business or sell it or what's your exit strategy?
00:19:05
Speaker
Yes. And that is like, you can also pivot. Like you mentioned earlier, you can also pivot. You don't have to feel like a failure and just quit. Like you can also pivot and change and try something different. That's the one really nice thing about working from home. Okay. A few more things to think about. You can create a business doing almost anything you love because somebody else has.
00:19:26
Speaker
It's out there and so like if they created a business, why can't you you you might have to keep trying new angles? Your thoughts are going to determine success or failure Really like really your thoughts about it will keep you going or make you quit and then you can be a good mom and a business owner because think of somebody you know who is a
00:19:50
Speaker
a business owner and a great mom that you look up to. So just think about those things for yourself. If you don't feel like you can do a business while you are in your parenting years, you can also wait. You have permission to do that too. You don't have to start a business. It will wait for you.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yes, I'm so glad you brought that up and I think we could do an entire episode on this, but as passionate as Audrey and I are about taking care of yourself, we have noticed that when we have something for ourselves and when there's just a little side hobby or a full blown business, we show up better as women and as parents. We have a way of putting our own beauty and genius out into the world and we feel
00:20:32
Speaker
more fulfilled because of that and are able to show up better for our kids. But there are times when we have to step away. There are times when we have to scale things way back because our kids need us more or we have some sort of an emergency. And that is the beauty of building a business versus going out and getting a job and working for somebody else is that you get to have full control. And you could even just shut things down for six months and say, no, my family needs me right now. So beautiful thing.
00:20:56
Speaker
Okay, so let's talk about concrete steps for building a business just for a quick
Understanding Marketing Funnels
00:21:01
Speaker
second. If I could tell a younger business owner me one thing, it would be that you need to have a marketing funnel. Now, don't get scared away by weird business terms. We're just going to show you really quickly what it looks like to get people through the process of buying whatever you have to sell. So basically, you need a way to consistently get new customers.
00:21:21
Speaker
You need a way to build a relationship with them, right? So once they're aware of you for them to know, like, and trust you, and then a way to turn them into buyers. So those three steps. I never really fully understood that until just a few years ago. And I think it would have saved me a lot of suffering. I could understood that early in my business.
00:21:40
Speaker
Okay, so let me give you an example of a funnel that's maybe more understandable than like the words marketing funnel. That's freaking you out for a second. Okay, so at Project Run & Play, we have a number of free children sewing patterns that we put out there in the world. And anybody can go get these patterns and download them for free. So that is the first step of what you said. I forget the technical term that you used because I'm mostly a mom.
00:22:08
Speaker
So that's like getting an audience and then building a relationship with them. How we do that is once you buy the pattern, you do it by checking out on our website, even though it's free. And through that, what we're doing is we're getting permission from you to use your email address.
00:22:30
Speaker
So then once somebody buys one of our free patterns, then they're added to our email list and then building the relationship with them is how we do that by sending out our weekly newsletter. It's filled with what's going on on the blog, pattern feature, sale information about the shop.
00:22:47
Speaker
kind of some what's going on in the community or a fabric feature, a sponsor feature, all these different kinds of things. What's just fun sewing stuff and then turn them into buyers. That's step three. So through that, like for our newsletter subscribers, we always offer like a coupon code for a pattern or something that's on sale.
00:23:06
Speaker
Um, and so that is like step three. So we're getting them by giving them something free. We're building a relationship by consistently giving them good. Content through a newsletter and then turning them into bars, hopefully by, um, offering them good products at a discounted rate. Does that, is that a good way to explain a funnel, how a funnel works?
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Basically, just each one of those steps is so important and very often we'll have kind of like a hole somewhere where people are not moving to the next step and that's how we fix things. It's really cool. So just another example of a content-based business is as a coach, I offer people some free help right through my podcast and I also have a couple of freebies like I have a free starter guide to start a business.
00:23:48
Speaker
They get on my email list and every week I tell them another tip for building a business, and then I try to get them to purchase my course or purchase a coaching package with me so that they can get more help and further their progress in building a business. It's not difficult. It's not a difficult concept. Well, it can seem like a scary concept, but it really isn't difficult to implement.
00:24:07
Speaker
It's just you're going to have to find a way to get new people in, which is probably, side note, everyone's biggest mistake is we don't have enough new people coming in to see our stuff so that we can get them in to become customers and buyers. Because obviously, not everyone who becomes aware of you is going to buy from you. There's a lot more people up here than get... That's why they call it a funnel, right? It kind of funnels down to the
00:24:29
Speaker
the smaller amount of people that will actually become customers. But so there's your business marketing lesson for the day. But if you're not interested in that, that's OK. But if you do start a business, come back and listen to that because you're going to want to know it.
00:24:40
Speaker
I know that, um, this is really useful. Uh, like you say, it's one thing you tell a younger you because so many business owners, okay. Speaking personally, when I have started businesses in the past, I have operated under the mindset so often of if you build it, they will come. But guys, we are in the midst of a city full of skyscrapers and everything is so saturated that you really have to have a way of directing people to your stuff. Cause cause it's good. I mean, let's not lie. Your stuff is good.
00:25:10
Speaker
Yeah, and if you build it, they will not come unless you have a funnel, unless they know how to get there, right? So yeah, great reminder.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So one thing I want to talk about is support from your family or your husband. Um, so you have to have a supportive partner to be able to take the time that it takes to build a home-based business. Um, my husband has been so incredibly supportive of me taking time and sometimes money.
00:25:41
Speaker
to build things that are maybe not benefiting the family or maybe won't like, you know, maybe the business name to pivot and do something else. If you have a spouse that is not supportive or doesn't understand, you can try like educating them
00:25:58
Speaker
Or you can try doing it more on like the hobby level where you have something that does produce in a way that you both see as successful and then you can start your your side business on the profits from that. So it's not like taking time or money from your family and like that. That was first. But another way that you need to be supported is like
00:26:26
Speaker
A family member, friends, neighbors, that kind of thing. So if you have people in your life who are constantly bad mouthing, entrepreneurial entrepreneurs or people who run their own business or small businesses or that kind of thing, their paradigm is just big business and work and get an income.
00:26:46
Speaker
Like that kind of thing you need to find somebody you need to find how to surround yourself with people who are Familiar with and supportive of what you're doing and that doesn't have to be like your next-door neighbor or people in your family There there are communities out there a very very supportive successful on business people and we can drop some of our favorites in the links in the show notes, but if you are surrounded by Debbie Downers you're gonna pretty soon give up and quit so that is just something I want to just touch on too is support from
00:27:16
Speaker
people who are in your life. Yes, I'm so glad you mentioned that. I will say first off from the husband perspective, husbands sometimes might need a little bit of education, right? So when you come up to them with an idea like, I want to spend a bunch of money and a lot of my time to do this thing and it's going to mean the house is a wreck and sometimes the kids get a little bit neglected and blah, blah, blah. You know, most spouses are going to be like, I don't love that idea.
00:27:45
Speaker
When they understand what it means to you, when they understand the potential payoff for your family, both emotionally and potentially financially, I believe that most spouses are like, yeah, let's give it a shot. Because I think about how I would react if my husband said the same thing, hey, I want to spend a bunch of money and a bunch of time away from the family to build this thing. I'd be like, oh. But if it meant a lot to him, then I would try to be supportive.
00:28:07
Speaker
And I think in the first couple of years, my husband was kind of a begrudging supporter, but in the past few years, he's become so supportive because he realizes how much it means to me, right? So if you have a spouse that wants you to be happy, then just educate them and just let them know, I need this for my sanity and I need this to see what I can do, right? And even if they never get super duper supportive, find your tribe, find the people that understand. And I will say this, that you might be surrounded with people who are not necessarily Debbie Downers, but they just don't get entrepreneurship.
00:28:35
Speaker
and that is a different thing. They just don't understand it and so you're going to want to talk about it all the time and they're going to be like, okay, but has anybody seen the latest movie? They want to talk about things that are relevant to them and so if you don't have a tribe of business building besties, we'll call them that,
00:28:51
Speaker
you're going to feel really alone, right? It's just like motherhood. It's a whole new experience that a lot of people don't understand until they go through it themselves. So find some sisters, find a sisterhood, get on Marco Polo together, vent about the problems, celebrate your successes together. It helps so much. So I will also say that one of the best things you can do for yourself is to get a personal coach or listen to a coach who can help you work on your mindset. And I happen to know one,
00:29:20
Speaker
But seriously, coaching has helped me in my business.
00:29:24
Speaker
in the last few years more than any other tool ever, right? Probably more than any of the tools I've ever used in my business because it works on the engine of my life, which is my brain, right? It helps my brain get in the right place so that I know how to work on my goals. And that's true for any goal. We love the concept of managing our mind. But anyway, if you struggle in any capacity, just start listening to some coaching and see if that helps you out. I promise it will.
00:29:58
Speaker
podcast has done for me is to help me not look for or not rely so much on validation from outside of me. Like having the power, being empowered, like the power can come from within to do what I want to do without it having to be validated by other people like it. Like just working on my own internal mind and the empowerment coming from within has been like one thing that's really helped me with coaching.
00:30:15
Speaker
One thing that, listening to some coaching,
00:30:28
Speaker
If you're a stock and you don't know where to start, you can begin by journaling. Just write down some questions, write down your fears, what you have about starting a business, your thoughts, ask yourself, and just start answering those questions or writing the pros and cons, everything that's related to it. You can start writing it down. You can ask yourself other questions like,
00:30:48
Speaker
So these kind of questions would be to find out what you should do a business in. What do people ask when they come to me for advice? What am I good at? What do I love? Who do I really want to help? How can I make a difference? Those kind of things. Like if somebody's always asking you the same questions, you obviously have some knowledge that you can share with the world.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah, and even if they don't, even if you think, well, I'm not really good at anything, there is something you care about more than other things, right? And ask yourself where you would want to make a difference in the world, and that can be a really great place to start. And then also ask yourself how you want your business to serve you. Make sure that it's not a one-sided relationship. Make sure that you're putting your time and effort and money into the business, but it's also serving you. So ask yourself how extra money would help and make a financial goal, like what you would like to make from your business.
00:31:38
Speaker
Ask yourself how feeling more fulfilled could benefit your life. How could that improve your relationship with your family? How could time away from your family improve your parenting or your relationships? Because as we all know, being with your kids all day long can be exhausting, right? So remind yourself that this business is going to benefit you as well and make sure that you are getting the benefit that you require out of it.
00:32:01
Speaker
So if you're thinking about or wanting to do something from home for yourself, we just encourage you to try. You don't get punished for trying. And you can just stop if you don't want to try anymore. So anyway, I also want to acknowledge that I feel super privileged to have a husband who makes an amazing business that he can support our family while I explore some of the things
00:32:31
Speaker
that have been on my heart and on my mind and some of these skills that I want to put out in the world. Sharing this podcast, this takes time and effort and money to put our parenting advice out there for you guys, share it with you. And I just feel so blessed to have a spouse that's supportive of me reaching out and putting things out there in the world. And it has, like you mentioned, fulfillment. Even if that's the only thing that a business, any of these businesses that I've tried to do and things that I've tried to put out there in the world,
00:33:01
Speaker
Even if that's the only success that comes from them, there's not financial success, but there's fulfillment. I think that's pretty important too. And if you're feeling like you could use a little something as well, you're not going to get punished for trying.
00:33:17
Speaker
I love that. Yeah. I will also say that one of the greatest blessings I've gotten from my business is growth and education. So I really value self-improvement. I want to be constantly getting better. And so I like to read self-improvement books and watch courses and things, but my business has
00:33:35
Speaker
helped me leaps and bounds above probably anything else other than motherhood itself in being smarter and more aware and more open-minded and more capable. I've learned so many skills. Recently, I wrote down all of the actual concrete skills I've developed as a business owner and I was blown away. I thought,
00:33:56
Speaker
This is like a college degree, things that I've learned from other entrepreneurs, from the internet, from friends, from books, because I want to build this thing. I really view it as a way of continuing my education and of doing something hard that's going to require me to manage my mind and manage my emotions. If you want to sit back and coast through life, you can do that. I mean, good luck as a parent. Parenting does the same thing. It makes you grow. There's not a lot of coasting as a parent.
00:34:22
Speaker
If you are constantly looking to improve yourself, building a business is a great way to do it. You just learn and grow so much. It's a beautiful, beautiful experience. All right, friends, thanks so much for listening this week. We will talk to you next week. I'm Bonnie. I'm Audrey, and we're Outnumbered. Thanks for listening, friends. Click the link in the show notes to subscribe to our email and never miss another episode. Show us some love by leaving a review on iTunes or sharing the podcast with a friend. Thanks for all your support. We'll talk to you next week.
00:34:54
Speaker
All right, friends, thanks so much for listening this week. We will talk to you next week. I'm Bonnie. I'm Audrey and we're outnumbered. I can't be on mute if I'm going to say I'm outnumbered. Okay, let's do an intro.