058: 3 sneaky mistakes that slow your (business) roll

Click here to listen to the Podcast via iTunes (be sure to subscribe!).

Or read the transcript below.

Hey loves, it’s Mona Lisa Ondevilla, and welcome to this week’s episode of the Love, Light & Business Podcast. I’m really excited because today, I’m sharing with you the 3 sneaky mistakes that slow your roll in your business.

I am constantly asking myself…

… how did I feel when I was first starting out as a new girl boss?

… what was I doing that didn’t work?

… how did I actually make this happen?

… what did I wish someone told me?

I’m constantly asking that because I know that so many of you are in the place where you’re a new entrepreneur, a new coach, and you haven’t gotten your first 5 clients, or if you’ve gotten clients, it’s not consistent, and it’s not enough for you to replace your income.

I remember being there so I’m always asking myself - what do they need to know in order for them to pass that level? So they ARE living in according to the life they love, and they are living aligned, and they are living their purpose?

In this Podcast, I’m answering this question.

Let’s get started.

Today’s episode is an accumulation of a lot of what I’ve learned on my journey - being a full time coach now for 3 years is not something you get to without learning a lot along the way.

When I was first starting, I felt like I was on the journey alone - I didn’t know what steps to take, what was normal, what wasn’t normal, because I didn’t have anyone around me doing this whole coaching thing - let alone online marketing. That’s not the people who I rolled with.

It really seemed like a far off dream, but a big part of me said to me - YOU can do this Mona Lisa. This is real! In the back of my head, I knew I could do it and I was rooting for myself but there was no outward manifestation of my business.

My husband - then fiance - he always has supported me and believed in me, and he was like one of the only ones! Everyone else was like WHAT on earth, this is a crazy hobby that maybe she’ll outgrow, maybe she’ll forget about.

But I always knew that this was something that I would be good at, that I would succeed in. It really was only a matter of time.

And after making so many mistakes, I started succeeding, I started getting traction, receiving clients, living my purpose, I started my Podcast…

But I didn’t pop out of the box mistake free - I still make mistakes to this day, I still fail a lot to this day - but there were some beginner’s mistakes that I made for a very long time, that I wish someone had told me and been like, “excuse me, you need to stop making this mistake because it’s hindering you in your business more than you think!”

That’s what I’m gonna be sharing with you today!

So let’s get into the first mistake.

The first mistake is a BIG mistake that I see SO many women - including myself - making. If you are still making this mistake, you gotta find a way to STOP it! This mistake is continuing to look outside yourself for answers when you don’t even need any more knowledge or info, what you need is action!

What does this look like? This looks like being addicted to getting all the courses, but not taking action on them. It feels like progress but it’s not real progress. What happens is you never feel ready enough, you’re trying to learn everything, when in fact you only need a few key components in order to get started (and likely, they are things you already know!).

I absolutely love learning and I’m always growing and evolving in that way. I am also a big fan of taking action - I buy a course, I take action. Otherwise, what is the point of all of that information? It’s just information that gets stored in my head and will make me feel overwhelmed! And feel guilt, and shame, and you procrastinate… yikes!

One of the big mistakes that fuel this mistake is constantly looking around at what everyone else is doing, seeing what everyone else is up to, to see what you should do.

Which is totally normal in the beginning… I was always looking at other people’s stuff in the beginning because I wanted to understand the space I was in, what it looked like to be a coach, to be an online entrepreneur…

… but there comes a point when doing that is actually hindering you.

If you feel like you already know a lot of the stuff the people you compare yourself to are saying, then it’s time to put YOURself in the position of an expert and go and take action on your business.

The problem with comparing yourself to everyone else is that you’ll never see yourself as the expert, and step into your own as an expert, no matter how much you know.

Mistake #2 is a mistake that can really hinder the growth of your business and the progress of your business. I’m going to give you some examples from my own life of what that looks like, in your business.

Mistake #2 is not wanting to start over and do something again because of all the work you’ve already put in.

I just need to say right now - you 100% need to do the wrong thing in order to figure out and do more of the right thing!!

Please move on if something isn’t working in your business.

Let me give you an example.

In the beginning of my business, I was a learning a lot of things, in particular, I was finding my ideal client.

At first my idea of my ideal client was anyone who was in a transition in their lives. If you needed help, I was your girl! And this wasn’t working - you can’t talk to everybody, particularly, everybody in the personal development space! People were confused by what I was doing, and I wasn’t getting clients beyond friends.

My second iteration of my ideal client was engaged women because I had just gotten married, and it was a really stressful process and I don’t think people actually talk about it, and how stressful it actually is in your life, with your family, and friends, and your relationship.

I dove straight into the wedding industry… and it wasn’t working. I realized my heart wasn’t in the industry, after having done it.

So I was like OK…. I gotta move on.

At all of these points, I decided, this isn’t working, I gotta start over and move on. And at every point here you guys, I created opt-in’s, free gifts, websites, logo design, graphic design… I basically launched an entire business every time.

If I didn’t start over though, I would NOT be where I am today.

And finally… after a few more iterations of my ideal client, I found my ideal client, and from there, things really started to explode.

I’m sharing this with you because so many of us think we have to get it right from the beginning and that is so fake and so no true. It sets us up to think that if we don’t get it right from the beginning, we are SO over, and that’s not true at all.

You’ve got to fail a million and a half times in order to succeed.

Allow yourself room to fail and allow yourself room to let go of the stuff that just isn’t working.

I wanna do a little asterisk here because you have to know when it’s not working before you throw in the towel, and without getting into all of the strategy and all of the numbers, (that’s definitely something that I would recommend, and that’s not something I can get into with you on the Podcast or we’d be here forever!), but what I can say, is that in the beginning, when I didn’t know the strategy, what I used and what I relied on was my intuition.

Knowing that what I was saying wasn’t really landing, knowing it was time to move on.

Sometimes it took a long time to realize this… !

If you’re stuck making this mistake, it’s gonna look like you taking a bunch of action, building the website, putting content out, and not getting traction. And you don’t really have a clear path, and you’re trying to push it, but NOTHING is working! If you’re stuck in this particular mistake, that’s what it’s gonna feel like - no fun at all!

OK, so let’s get into the 3rd sneaky mistake -

The mistake is not dropping old stuff because you feel guilty about moving on because of the “should’s”! You feel like you should have done that whole training, you should have finished that whole book, etc.

I’m a big fan of take what you need from each training, teacher, book, coach, and often it’s not the WHOLE THING - more often than not, it’s ONE LIFE CHANGING NUGGET.

Let’s talk about books for example.

I actually don’t finish a lot of the personal development books that I read, but I really feel called to certain books at certain times. And I usually read, if I’m being really honest, a third, until I get something really big, and really juicy, and then I implement that! And maybe later, I go back to the book later, or maybe I don’t.

I like to absorb one unique nugget, implement, and put the process or thought into my life rather than absorbing so much that it just feels like there’s now ALL of these things I have to do, and that I can’t move on without finishing the old stuff.

Instead, think - what was it from that particular course, training, experience that I needed?

You won’t necessarily get exactly what you think you need from everything, but you need to learn to give yourself permission to let go of the old stuff.

This also has to do with old friends, people who are no longer aligning with you. Also drop that guilt, clean it up, allow yourself to move on from what no feels energetically aligned with you.

How I like to learn from authors and experts in my life is identifying what my very next step is, and finding help around THAT. So right now, I am heavily into funnels and I’ve been building funnels out for the past year now, and everything that I’m doing, all of the investments that I’m making, are with people who understand high-level funnels. I’m advanced now in my funnel implementation and strategy, so that’s where I’m at - I’m not at this point in my career and my business focused on writing a book, even though that’s something I eventually want to do.

I’m not gonna go and find and invest in a course like “how to write a book in the next 30 days”. That’s not what I’m focusing right now.

The old me who made this sneaky mistake would buy alll the things.

You just have to identify your next step!

I will share that in the beginning, the biggest thing I needed help with was finding clients. I thought, how the heck do I find clients online?! If that’s it for you, let it be THAT, and get the support and training you need around that.

You might be like… well Mona Lisa, partnering with people will help me get my clients! And yeah, that’s true, HOWEVER, that doesn’t need to be your focus right now. There are other, more simple structures that will lead you there faster and more efficiently.

So there also is a time element to consider - your business plan will be different based on your own goals.

I recommend getting expert help around your next step from someone who has done that - it’s exactly what I do in my business and it’s what I continue to do because I don’t know everything and I also don’t wanna poke around on Google all day!

I am a big fan of learning from others who have come before me.

Identify that next step, and allow yourself to drop all of that old stuff, that you’ve probably already learned from in a way that you may not have acknowledged yet!

Alright loves, that’s all for today’s episode! I hope that this has served you and helped you and I will see you next time for the next episode of the Love, Light & Business Podcast.