Today, we’re going to talk about my seven most unpopular opinions about business. These unpopular opinions are rooted in my own truth, my experience, my own business, and my business growth, as well as working with lots and lots of women over the past six years. I encourage you to listen with an open mind and heart. And if something triggers you, instead of being like “that’s not for me”, take a moment and sit in discomfort. Many times our triggers can tell us a lot about ourselves. So without further ado, let’s dig in.
Unpopular opinion #1: Business can be a lot harder than working for someone else.
A lot of people start their businesses with the expectation of it being an easier path. And in so many cases, getting a job would be easier. Most people don’t understand the responsibility that comes with running a business. We all know it’s safe to say most people can start a business, and be in business, but scaling a business and growing a business is incredibly hard. I have worked my butt off for this and it has not been easy. I love what I do, I enjoy what I do, and I love the impact that I make, but would it be easier to go work for another company as a marketing director? It would be easier. Now, the difference here is I would feel way less fulfilled. So, I’m choosing my hard. The pressure of running a business where you have team members you need to pay changes things. You can’t just take a couple of weeks off because you don’t feel like working. I think it’s time to stop glamorizing running your own business.
Unpopular opinion #2: If your life is in constant chaos, you will likely hit revenue ceilings.
Your life and your business are very integrated, especially if you are someone that is working forward-facing with clients. If your personal life is in disarray consistently it will affect your business growth. I’m not saying that you can’t make any money with a life that’s in disarray on the other side of it but it will stunt your growth. Get your house in order, not just because you want to grow a successful business, but because you should for you.
Unpopular opinion #3: You are not owed success.
Nobody owes you anything. It is entirely up to you to grow this business. It is time for a lot of you to get out of that victim mentality and take responsibility for the things that are not working in your business. It’s not the algorithm’s fault, it’s not your competition’s fault, it’s not your kids’ fault because they’ve been sick and you haven’t had time to market. Take responsibility. You cannot get to where you are going in a victim mentality. Otherwise, it doesn’t work. The next time you go to complain about something that’s not working in your business, look at it through the lens of “this is my fault, there’s a reason why this isn’t working, and I take responsibility for that.” You are going to find growth when you do that.
Unpopular opinion #4: It’s not enough to have a marketable skill anymore.
It’s not enough to have an online storefront and an audience anymore. That might be the toughest truth of all. You have to be willing to develop the skills to compete in the market. Understanding that you’re a business and you have to compete with the market, you have to compete in your messaging, you have to compete with your visibility. You have to compete by having a unique position and having a strategy for staying visible and generating leads.
Unpopular opinion #5: Staying in victimhood doesn’t help you
If a peer is more successful than you and is bringing in more clients than you, she probably has a better marketing strategy than you, or she’s developed her marketing skills better than you. Being salty at her, being irritated, and staying in victimhood doesn’t help you. Get up, and compete with her. Get the support that you need to do what you need to do to compete with her.
Unpopular opinion #6: You will always find a way to avoid what you have to do
You always have an excuse for why you can’t implement your strategies or why there’s no time or why this task got put in front of it. You are always finding a reason why you can’t implement it. It’s really unlikely that it’s a time problem. Most likely it’s a self-sabotage thing, a fear of failure thing, it’s a fear of success. It’s an avoiding discomfort thing, it is not prioritizing thing, it is a not having discipline thing. There’s never a time where I’ve arrived with no blocks. I’m always working on this stuff, but I need you to understand there were conscious choices that I made and habits I formed in order to work through these blocks. If you don’t have the business or the life that you want to have, maybe it’s you because it starts and it ends with you.
Unpopular opinion #7: Personal development is necessary for business growth
Personal development is and always will be the most important work that you do to grow your business. I could probably just stop there because that just says it all. But if you don’t take care of yourself and you don’t take care of your own mind and your own body and your own spirit, you can’t really grow a business past a certain point. It requires so much internal work to just work with clients, to put yourself out there, to humanize yourself, to have that personal brand, to set those boundaries. It takes so much work and it requires you to always be in that growth mindset, to always be learning how to do things better and trying to take those subconscious things and make them conscious. Personal development work is the most important work that you will do.
That is it for today! Seven unpopular opinions about business, straight from my heart to yours. I hope you enjoyed the episode. I’d love to hear your unpopular opinions about business! And if you love listening to Six Figure Shift, I would so appreciate it if you would just take a second out of your day and rate the show and leave me a quick review.
