Jade Boyd: This is true for any business owner, if you believe that your business and your life can be compatible, you will find a way to make it happen and overcome whatever obstacles are going to inevitably come up along the way.

So as a business owner, I’ve always really valued learning from the mistakes and lessons that other business owners have learned. But I’ve actually learned by experience that there are just some lessons that you have to learn the hard way, and I talked to so many business owners on a weekly basis that feel like they’re the only ones who are struggling, they’re the only ones who are making mistakes, and so if the only thing that this episode helps you see is that you’re not alone in that, then I think it’ll be worth it. It’s totally normal to have hard days and even hard seasons as a business owner and being, almost 20 weeks pregnant at the time I’m recording this, I feel like I’ve had more ups and downs in the past four months than ever before.

So if you’re struggling or feeling just uninspired by your business or feeling overwhelmed or feeling even a little bit apathetic about your business right now, know that it’s okay, and it’s healthy even. Growing a business is really hard for everyone at any stage of business. And if you ever find yourself in a season where everything feels completely effortless and easy, it might be a good sign that you’re not stretching yourself or that you’re letting yourself be comfortable and stagnant and not growing as a business owner.

And like I said, this is true for business owners at any stage. When I started my business, I think I had the expectation that I would learn how to run a business and then there would come a time when everything would feel super easy to me, but in reality, every time I level up, every time my business levels up, there’s just new things. There’s new challenges and new obstacles to overcome. There are certain things that get easier for sure, but there’s also new challenges at every stage and there will always be more to learn, more to explore, more to try and more to develop in my business. And at some point I had to make the intentional decision to start seeing that as a good thing.

I read a ton of books and last year I ended up reading 84 books. My goal was 100, but first trimester hit and that put a damper on my goal in the fourth quarter, which was sad, but 84 is still great. And I think the average pages per book was like 350, it’s what Goodreads told me at least. So if I would have dropped some of the 500 page Court Of Thorns and Roses books, then maybe I could have hit a hundred anyway, but, I read a lot and roughly half the books I read last year or half the books I read in general are nonfiction. I love reading books about strategy, business, marketing, goal setting, productivity, but last year I noticed that there were very few books that actually stretched me and helped me learn something new.

And reading books that tell you all the things that you already know is actually really boring. I love it when I come across a book that gives me a new strategy or system or a new way of thinking about growing my business or being productive or really anything that kind of stretches me, right? That’s one of the greatest joys in life and why we love learning so much.

We get to keep learning and growing and exploring and that’s what makes it fun.

So learning things, even if it’s learning things the hard way, there’s definitely a positive side to that if you choose to see it that way. So today I want to share with you four business lessons that I’ve learned the hard way as I’ve grown and scaled my business in hopes that it’s encouraging to you wherever you’re at in your journey and maybe you’ll even be able to avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made along the way.

Lesson number one is that nobody grows a business alone. I am really grateful for my business education. I had a very traditional business education, getting my bachelor’s in entrepreneurship and then my MBA in marketing. And I’ve been able to apply a lot of what I’ve learned in B School to my business, but I do think that my more traditional educational background in business set me up to fail in one area, and that is that growing a business is not a solo sport and succeeding in business school is nothing like succeeding. In actual entrepreneurship and growing a small business. And yes, I had a million group projects and assignments and would say that close to 80 percent of my graduate degree was group work.

But let’s be real. Not every group member pulls their weight and I was hell bent on being a straight A student because I’m such a perfectionist. So I often took on more than my fair share of the work to make sure things were done correctly, and it kind of felt like a solo sport anyway. My teammates actually gave me the nickname coach because I was always the one who stepped in to lead projects and coordinate the team and make sure we were meeting deadlines.

And when I started a business I didn’t have a team or contractors like most business owners. It was just me doing my own thing. And in many ways I loved that because again, I’m a control freak and a perfectionist, but what I wish I would have learned earlier is to build community and network and lean on other business owners, even as a solopreneur.

So I started out in business as a photographer and I started in late 2019 right before Iowa winter set in and then a global pandemic started and I had a rough first year in business. Honestly, I am tempted to say that it doesn’t even count because it feels like it didn’t count. And I know that if I, would have been more proactive and reaching out to more seasoned photographers for advice and mentorship on how to launch a photography business or even other small business owners in general, even in that really weird season, I would have been able to book my first paying clients and grow that photography business in that first year much, much faster. And throughout growing my business through pivoting into business and productivity coaching, this is a lesson that I’ve learned the hard way, it feels like multiple times again and again and again in new ways. Like I said before, every stage of business is hard for different reasons and having a supportive community of women in business who I can actually reach out to and trust at various different levels of support has not only changed my business and what I’ve been able to accomplish, but it’s changed my quality of life and has just made me feel more encouraged and supported.

And like, I’m not alone in this, even though I don’t have employees, I do now have more contractors that I work with, but still having that support system, there’s something different in that than having contractors or employees even. And I often let myself spiral in indecision or go into a research role because I love doing research.

I love learning, like I said. Rather than just reaching out to somebody in my network or in my community who I know has the answer and I don’t know why it’s been so difficult for me personally to admit when I need help and to ask for that help, but the more I’ve been able to like get over myself and do that for myself and for my business, the faster I’ve been able to grow, the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve like personally grown as a business owner and as a leader. And the faster I’ve been able to overcome hurdles and make progress. So the first lesson I have learned the hard way again and again, is that nobody grows a business alone.

And originally when I was outlining this episode, I went into detail of like all of the things that I would have done differently to grow a community faster and all the things that I ended up doing and the things that have been most helpful and effective in helping me build those relationships that are real solid relationships and people, business owners in every industry, either virtually or in person that I can reach out to. And I decided to pull that out into a different episode. So stay tuned for that later on, but there was a lot in that and I wanted to be as concise as possible.

So moving on to lesson number two, the second lesson that I’ve learned the hard way is that messy action is better than no action.

So as a business coach, I do get a behind the scenes look at a lot of different businesses and that’s an honor and a privilege. I get the privilege of helping overwhelmed women navigate really messy seasons in business and life and oftentimes have that first row seat when they are in the hardest season when they do need to ask for help. But most of my clients come to me at a place in their business where they’re already busy and overwhelmed, and they don’t have a lot of margin for new projects and new plans, but what I found with my clients and with myself is that it doesn’t really matter how busy you are, what matters is how committed you are to your goals and taking imperfect action in the right direction even if that’s like a tiny baby step at a time. And I wish that I would have realized that messy action is better than perfect action sooner. It seems like something that’s really obvious when you think about it, but in practice is so much more difficult.

And I still struggle with perfectionism in many areas of my business and my life. But overall, I’ve grown so much in my ability to let done be better than perfect. And it’s still so uncomfortable for me to let my like quote unquote messy show. publicly, but I know that no one can relate to the perfectly curated version of me anyway.

So even speaking in this episode about mistakes that I’ve made in lessons, I’ve learned the hard way and saying that I’m not a perfect person. Part of that feels aligned and like normal to me. And part of that still feels a little bit hard.

And I think the prime example of this in my business and like the biggest regret and the reason why this lesson is so prominent on my mind right now is that I’d been dreaming up a coaching program, like The Business Edit, my signature group coaching program that I have now, I’d been thinking about it for over two years before I finally created it and launched it.

And in my mind and even out loud to my business coach, I said, there’s no way that I can build this in less than six months. Like it’s so much, there’s so much that I need to like document and so many trainings that I need to create and you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the excuses. And guess what? I actually built and launched it in three months. And it was three months during my first trimester in pregnancy, which were a very hard three months and it’s completely changed the trajectory of my business and the possibilities for this year and the possibilities for my clients and the level of resources that they’re able to get from me. So even though my trainings aren’t perfectly edited down, I’m still adding extra resources to my coaching portal, but it exists and it’s actually helping people and it’s doing me and my clients far more good than it would have done sitting in the back of my mind for two more years, right?

And I know that people say, no one can see the imperfections that you can, but it kind of makes me roll my eyes when I hear this because I’m extraordinarily detail oriented. It’s a blessing and it’s a curse. If you borrowed a book from me, you would probably see highlights of like all the grammar errors in every book because I find them in almost everything that I read and I cannot help but notice it.

And, even in the best courses or coaching programs I’ve been in, it’s tempting for me to like, make down a running list of the things that they need to fix, either typos or broken links or automated emails that are actually saying the wrong thing. I don’t actually do that, but it’s very tempting for me to do because I do notice everything, and ultimately it’s just the small things that don’t really impact how valuable the content or program is or book is overall, but I do notice everything. So when I release what I consider to be B plus work, I know that it’s still extremely high quality, but I’m always trying to get like that perfect arbitrary A, just like I’m in B school again.

And I wish that I would have launched this coaching program two years ago so that I could be on version 3. 0 instead of version 1. 0 right now, but ultimately, I’m so glad that I finally decided to take messy action in the right direction, and I know that that’s going to take me so much further in really every area of business.

This is just one specific example that I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. But I do think the lesson of being willing to take messy action and being imperfect and just showing up and trying things and experimenting and taking risks, honestly, knowing that you don’t have 100 percent certainty that it’s going to work out. That is going to get you much, much farther than doing nothing or thinking about things or overthinking about things, which is my tendency.

Okay, moving on to lesson number three, another lesson I’ve learned the hard way is that cultivating a healthy mindset will really make or break your success in business. Another reason why I was able to get over my perfectionism and take action to build and launch this group coaching program is because I hired a coach who held me accountable and called me on my BS as I worked through all the decisions that needed to be made.

And I remember at one point early on, I was struggling to believe that I was making the right decision for my business. I was kind of stuck in that, like, should I do this? Should I not do this? Is this going to work out with 100 percent certainty? Obviously, like I just said. Nothing can be a hundred percent, so I was like waffling back and forth. And it was still early on in my pregnancy and my coach didn’t know that I was pregnant yet, but I knew and I was already wondering if this was the right move for my business if I wanted to take a real maternity leave and what that was going to look like and spoiler alert, I had hired this coach because she had built a phenomenal group coaching program and recently taken a real maternity leave and it was something we talked about before I even joined.

But in that moment of indecision when I was waffling back and forth every day between I should do this and this isn’t going to work out. She challenged me with something that’s really stuck with me. She basically said, do you believe that you can build a group coaching program that’s compatible with the type of life you want to build? And if you do, you’re going to make it work and you’re going to figure out, and problem solve along the way, but if you don’t believe that it’s not going to happen. And I chewed on that for a really long time, and I remember talking to Caleb about it too. I’m like, do I believe this? Does just believing this make this true?

And I’m not a woo person at all. So the idea that just believing something makes it true is not acceptable to me. But ultimately, I know that she was right and if I can believe that I’m capable of growing my business in a way that’s compatible with my lifestyle goals, and this is true for any business owner, if you believe that your business and your life can be compatible, you will find a way to make it happen and overcome whatever obstacles are going to inevitably come up along the way.

And it hasn’t been that long since I realized this. These are all recent mistakes or lessons I’ve learned the hard way, but I wouldn’t have the business that I have today or the foundation for a scalable business that I have today if I didn’t get my mindset right. If I didn’t start believing that this was possible and I could do it, I would have stayed stuck in my indecision waiting for that 100 percent guarantee forever, or at least two more years, probably longer.

And ever since that conversation and that realization, I’ve just thought of more and more instances in my business where I’ve held myself back by having a crappy mindset, like I’m not good enough to join that program or I’m not experienced enough to take that stage or this is so much easier for everyone else is one of my favorite go tos or I can’t do X until I do Y, there are just so many toxic beliefs that have held me back, and it’s so easy to recognize these thoughts when other people have them, but it’s much harder to break the cycle in your own mind. At least that’s what I’ve found for myself. Especially if you’re not in close community or have a coach who knows you well, who can recognize and point out those patterns and those beliefs and trends as they’re coming up.

Another thing that I’ve learned about cultivating healthy beliefs as a business owner is that I am the type of person who believes it when I see it. And there’s some things that just don’t work like that, but going back to taking messy action in the right direction, my beliefs get upgraded the more I’m able to take risks that pay off and kind of like prove things to myself, right?

So it’s still January at the time I’m recording this and I’m scheduled to guest interview on two very popular, at least one is top 100, I think the other one is as well, podcasts this year. And I would not have believed that I was a guest worthy of a top 100 podcast until I saw it happen. And now my belief in what’s possible for me has been upgraded.

So that only happened because I took action and I took a risk of being rejected and that ended up paying off and I’ve been rejected from other podcasts too, so that still happens. But when it comes to cultivating a healthy mindset, I think it’s really important to know what’s going to work for you personally to actually change your belief and not just say that you believe it.

So just thought I’d throw that little extra tidbit in there.

Okay. Lesson number four is if you can’t manage stress, it will hold you back in business. Last summer I had a very stressful week and looking back, I can’t even remember why it was stressful necessarily, but I remember posting on my Instagram stories and asking if anyone would be willing to come on my podcast and talk about managing stress as a business owner because it’s something I needed to hear for myself.

And it’s embarrassing that that’s how recently I recognized my inability, I guess, to manage stress and how it was affecting my ability to manage my business and just my life overall, but it’s true. That was kind of like a, a wake up moment for me. And I think stress is oftentimes praised or put up on a pedestal in American culture.

Like the more stressed you are, the more important. And successful, you must be, but that’s absolutely not my version of success. And I don’t want to be the type of person who falls into stress spirals or runs around telling everybody how busy I am and how important my problems are and how overwhelming they are.

That’s just not the type of life that I want to live. So last fall, again, pregnancy just keeps coming into this. So, sorry to sound like a broken record, but I got pregnant and I read a book called Real Food for Pregnancy, which I would highly recommend it for anyone who’s expecting, but there’s a chapter in the book that talks about stress management and all of the effects that stress can have on your baby’s development when you’re pregnant, and what to do about it, obviously.

But that was another wake up call for me that this problem wasn’t just affecting me. It was affecting my business, my marriage, my developing unborn child, and probably indirectly my clients on the days when I wasn’t showing up as my best self. So it’s not something that’s just affecting my quality of life.

It’s impacting everything in my life.

And I wouldn’t say that I deal with chronic stress, but on the days or weeks where I do feel particularly stressed, in the past, I haven’t managed it well. So in the past few months, I’ve done a few things to try to be better about managing stress, and again, I kind of wrote a laundry list of all the different things that I’ve tried and all that I’ve learned since I noticed this and have started focusing on it.

And I’m going to pull that out into a separate episode because there’s just a lot to go over there. And maybe I will bring a guest in the future to talk about managing stress. So if you’re an expert in that area, feel free to shoot me an email and we can chat about what that would look like, but bottom line is that knowing and dealing with your stress is so important to make sure that you’re not derailing your productivity and kind of sabotaging your own success in business or in any other part of your life.

So overall, I wish that I wouldn’t have had to learn these lessons the hard way. And this again may sound cliche, but I really do feel privileged to get to go on this entrepreneurial journey and running a business is hard. Like I said, at every stage, and it can be stressful and you do make mistakes and it is public, like a lot of what we’re doing when it comes to content creation or social media or like online business is very public and that can be hard and stressful. And when you do make mistakes and learn hard lessons, it can be really frustrating and it can be easy to feel like you’re the only one, but I’m really grateful that this is the type of life that I’m living because with that again comes so many cool opportunities to learn new things and develop as a person as I’m developing as a business owner and as a leader and it’s just a lot of fun and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So if this episode was helpful or encouraging to you, I would love your help to get this podcast into the earbuds of many more women in business this year. And a great way to do that is to share this episode or another one of your favorite episodes. If you’ve been listening for a while with a friend or tag me on Instagram with your favorite takeaway from this episode or whatever message resonated with you today.

Like I mentioned, I’m planning my content way further in advance this year, and I’m so excited for the episodes that are coming to the podcast over the next few months. I would be beyond grateful if you could help me reach a big podcast download goal for this year by sharing this podcast with more of your business friends who need to hear what this podcast is preaching and teaching and sharing.

So with that said, thank you so much for tuning in today. And until next time, business minimalists, take what you learned today and get 1 percent better this week.