37. 12 Lessons I've Learned in 7 Years of Business

Psst...can you keep a secret? After almost 7 years as an entrepreneur (and 1.5 kids later), I've got some juicy behind-the-scenes confessions to make. Stories you won't hear anywhere else...

In this episode...

I'm pulling back the curtain on the biggest blunders that massively slowed my roll and prevented me from achieving my full potential early on. We're talking about fears that paralyzed me, rookie mindset mistakes, critical oversights, and more TMI truthbombs that held me back big time.  

But don't worry, it's not all tough love! I'm also spilling the tea on the smart strategies that actually propelled me forward and brought major wins. The real keys to my success...revealed.

What we talk about...

The pitfalls I barely escaped:

• The mindset trap that had me treating my biz like a hobby (ouch)
• How underpricing from scarcity kept me stuck and small
• The dueling fears that led to constant self-sabotage 
• Why overconsumption without action is the dream killer
• The rookie mistake that stunted my audience growth
• Not trusting my gut when I should have

The success seeds I planted:

• Investing in this from day one (a total game-changer)
• Building undercover assets that paid out big time
• Getting visible in this way for an instant impact
• Developing a pivotal mindset for rolling with the punches
• The consistent habit that reprogrammed me for the win

Whether you're just starting out or seriously stalled on your journey, this candid, no-filter download is an absolute must-listen. I'm pulling back the curtain on my personal roadmap and the real reasons some things worked and others didn't.

You'll gain unfiltered insights into dismantling your limiting beliefs, building an engaged audience, purposefully creating your offers, and more. It's all the raw, personal truth I wish I could've heard years ago!

And I've got a limited-time treat for you!
 
You can score a $350 discount on my 6-week MOMentum Minimind where we'll map out all 6 pivotal pillars for your dream CEO Mom business. But seats are extremely limited for this deal, so you've got to act fast - the discount disappears on April 10!

LINKS
📈The CEO MOMS Growth Matrix - feeling stuck or plateaued at your current revenue? Snag your custom roadmap for sustainable growth from $0 to multi-6-figures in this FREE training! >>> yaelbendahan.com/matrix

🔥Join my FREE 3-Day Program, LEVERAGE - the process that’s creating multi 6 figure years (even if you’ve been stuck riiiiight at 6 figures for way too long) working nap times and being a full time mama. Claim your spot here >>> yaelbendahan.com/leverage

💰Offers in Your Pocket - 11 Offers You Can Pull Out of Your Pocket and Sell This Week! Only $9 - yaelbendahan.com/pocketoffers

✨Join the Collective
In the "building" stage of your business? Join the MOMentum Collective - my most accessible mentorship program for moms growing to $5-10K months.

💃 Apply for the CEO Mom Mastermind if you're ready to scale sustainably to $15-20K+ months. Read more about the mastermind here OR go straight to the application here.
Want to chat about the mastermind before you join? DM me on Instagram - instagram.com/theyaelbendahan

Transcript

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fear of success. Is something way deeper and that could be even more insidious and harder to recognize. All right. And there are so many reasons that we can fear success. So whether it's because you're worried that, maybe we'll change as a person when we're, when we succeed. Maybe you grew up like looking at rich people as oh, rich people are so whatever, they're so materialistic and they're so snobby and they're so little blah. And then you're like, oh my God I don't want to be one of those people. So you won't let yourself be rich. Welcome to the Raising Your Business Podcast. I'm your host, Yael Bendehan, founder of CEO Mom Academy, Mom of 5, and lifelong reading addict. This podcast is here to empower moms to run their businesses and lives like the powerhouse CEO they are. I want you to believe that you can have the business success. You desire and be present with your family and to give you my best tips and strategies for how to make that happen. I'll be sharing the honest reality of balancing motherhood and business, business models that work for you, marketing of simplicity and the mindset of CEO mom. Now let's dive in. Hello? Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the podcast. This is my first episode. After my stand out and sell challenge after our CEO mama academy launch. And I'm really excited to dive into this topic because I actually I ordered an e-mail about this a while ago. And then I asked people. Do you want to know more about this? Would you prefer it in a podcast or a blog post or an email or however and so I'm going to be podcasting this and please God turning it into a blog post as well, because I think this is really important stuff. I think people do not talk about. About. The mistakes that they're making or the mistakes that they've made in. Because we all want to feel. Or sound like we're the expert, which is, valid But. And I'm gonna be talking about, this is probably an upcoming episode as well. I did a if you've seen the social media trend, Lately, which is, social media is fake. Here's some things I'm struggling with. And I put a post out there along those lines to just to see what would happen. And honestly, like my heart was beating so fast. But I, when I posted it, because I was like, oh my God. What are people gonna think? What are they going to think of me? And and I got a really incredible response. I'm going to be going deeper into that. In an upcoming episode, but today I want to discuss 12 lessons I've learned in seven years of business. And so I'm going to be talking about. The big mistakes that I made. In my business and also the things that I got, because we have to look at both. We have to look at both. What did we do? What, what could we have done better? And I've been an online business since 2017. All right. That is seven years of lessons, relationships, ups, downs, bigger and smaller years hustle. Ease. It is a lot, and as I was thinking about my years of business, I thought, why not share a few of my challenges and slip ups with you? We're friends. We should definitely talk about this. And the truth is I'd rather share this with you now, so you don't have to learn these lessons the hard way, like I did. And actually saw this. I saw a post saying that there's two mentalities. It's I want to save someone from the mistakes that I made. Or I want to save someone from the suffering that I had to go through or I suffered why shouldn't they? And I'm very much a proponent of the first one. Okay. I don't want you to have to make the same mistakes that I did. I want you to learn from my mistakes. Just as a, as a parent where we want our kids to just listen to us because we know. We can see them making. Really dumb mistakes. And I'm loosely know I'm looking at it. And now I'm like, I feel for my parents so much because. Some of the stuff that I see my son. My son's doing. I'm not my daughter yet. She's three. So she's good. She's a toddler. Of course you're gonna make mistakes. But even some things I see my sons doing my older sons and I'm like, oh my God you're just, self-sabotaging so badly. Please stop you. And I remember my parents saying the same thing to me as a teenager. And I was like, what do you know? Nothing, parents I'm 14. So obviously I know everything. And so I just thought that this would be a really good thing to share with you from my perspective of seven years of business and pivoting my business in the middle of basically building two multi six-figure businesses. In seven years. So without further ado, I'm going to share a bunch of mistakes that I made as well as a few things I did. Because it is important to focus on the good stuff too. Okay. And so the first mistake that I feel that I made was treating my business like a hobby. I really try to take it very seriously. I thought I was taking it seriously, but I did not see myself as a CEO mom, soon enough. And did not treat my business professionally enough. And when you treat your business as a hobby, you're going to make hobby level income. I was like, Ooh, maybe I could just make a couple of a hundred dollars in the side. Um, I obviously like at the time, I didn't really prioritize my work time. So very much.'cause. I was like, really my main job is his mom. Which it still is to be honest, but I was like, let me drive his mom. This is just like a side little thing that I'm going to do so I can bring in. See if I can bring in a little bit of money. So th the fact is, like I said, we treat your business as a hobby. You're going to make hobby level income. So how do you treat your business? Like a CEO. All right. The first thing you want going to want to do? Is knowing your money, generating activities and setting aside time, every work day to do them? Yes. Like a job. Okay. This is my job. I prioritize money-making activities first. And then I move on with my day. And that is when, you might not know those activities and that is why you need you. You need help, right? That's where you might need help. You might need, um, and I'm actually putting out in the next week or so I'll be putting out a a really awesome new little mini offer. That is literally going to tell you what your money generating activities are and what to do. If you want this. Just send me a message on Instagram. Send me a DM on Instagram with the word blueprint and I will send it over to you as soon as it's ready to go. I'll be probably launching it. That's a really cool promo, like promo launch price. And then it's going to go up to whatever it's going to go up to. I don't even know how much you gonna charge for it. I haven't decided yet, but either way, send me a DM with the word blueprint and I will get you that link as soon as it is ready to be sold, because we're still in the middle of doing a little bit of editing and I'm going to be doing a little walk through of it as well. It's a PDF, but I'll be doing a walkthrough. So you can, to add my take. So that is the first thing, knowing your money, January activities and setting aside time, every work day to do them. The second way you treat your business like a CEO, so important. Is standing confidently in your pricing because you know that you are worth it. Okay. That means not automatically discounting. The second you say the price on a sales call, and I know that you do this. I have I have had, I've done it myself. I've had clients that have done it. So normally, I charge, so the price for, a sales page is$2,500. But because for you, I'll just, I'll give you a thousand dollars off. So it's only$1,500 before they've even. Express an objection whatsoever. Which is Just drives me crazy. I'm like, haven't even said anything. The more you automatically discounting it before they even have a chance to say yes, so you want us to know and stand behind your pricing. Because, you're worth it. I know my CEO, mom mastermind is worth every penny and more of what people are paying for it. And the truth is the price is going to be going up because frankly it's worth so much more than what people are paying for it right now. And I do have three spots still left at this at the founding pricing. It will be going up at the end of April. So if you've been interested or you've been looking at the CEO, my mastermind, even thinking about joining. This is your chance. The three more spots or until the end of April. So whichever happens first. To to join at the founding member price. If that's interesting to you, then just send me a message with the word mastermind on Instagram. And or you can just apply at the link below the link is in the description. So I know that, and that is why I'm raising the rate, the price, because like I started off as the founding of the founding investment, because I knew like I wanted to get a bunch of people in. I wanted to validate the offer. I know that the value my clients get from me in the mastermind and what they can do with the coaching. I give them with the support that I give them. They can make multiple five figures and more, like they can make six figures, frankly. Multi-six figures. Because I'm so confident about that when I have conversations about it, I'm not like normally the mastermind is this, but I'll give you a thousand dollars off. I'll just throw this in and that in everything in the kitchen sink to make it worth it, no. It's worth it because it's worth it. Okay. The third way to treat your business. Like a CEO is Building out a long-term offer suite rather than throwing offers out there without any rhyme or reason just to make some cash. So I want you to think about the longterm in your business. Does this fit into my offer suite? Does this compliment my other offers? Can this be a throughway to another. A bigger offer of mine. Is this there where I want people to end up right. Thinking about all these questions. I'm not saying that you can't have a cool idea and throw it out there. I'm not saying you can't right. That's part of what makes business fun. But if that is your entire business strategy is like what feels fun today and just throwing it out there and seeing what happens without a specific nurture plan, without a specific plan to upsell people or move people from one offer to the next, then that is not treating like a CEO. You're just treating. You're literally treating like a hobby. It's what feels fun today? What if nothing feels fun today? What if I just don't feel like working. This whole week or this whole month. You could do that, but that's not treating your business like a business. And the last thing. And I've taught the last thing, but the another, the fourth thing that I want to really mention here is knowing your numbers. Okay. You need to know exactly how much you need to bring in. So you can take home a desired salary and covered your cover, your expenses. And I, the book profit first is a really good resource for this. Because you really need to be like paying yourself first. I'm not saying that you can't take like a pay cut for a little while in order to make an investment, that's going to create a very big return on investment. Like maybe hiring a team member to free up your time so you can bring on more clients or something like that. But you have to know what those numbers are. I know exactly what my minimum number is. Like minimum what I need to bring in every month to take home the salary. They don't want to take home. And my overflow number. So how much is just feels so fun and flowy and expansive for me. And I want you to know those numbers too. So this is just to name just a few. Do you not treat your business like a hobby, treat it like the CEO that you are, and, um, and I want, I want you to know that, and this is all stuff that we cover in the CEO, mom mastermind, by the way, knowing your numbers, knowing your minimum number that you need to make and knowing how much you really want to make. So that is the first thing. The second one is pricing my offers from a place of scarcity and shame. That is the second mistake that I made. As I stated above, I was not confident about my pricing for a very long time. Why. Because. I didn't even graduate high school. And I felt so inadequate. About this for a very long time, because I am the daughter of a doctor and a lawyer. They, my parents never like they. They never, ever pressured us. They never pressured us to. Oh, you must go for higher education or, because this is what we do or whatever. They never did that, but. I felt very inadequate about it. And. I felt like that for a very long time. Before I realized that it wasn't any arbitrary level of education that qualified me to deliver services to my clients. So it was my skills, it was my results. It was my experience. And once I own that I was able to price for, from a place of lifetime value and not from a place of fear and shame. And what does lifetime value mean? It means what is the lifetime value of this offer? So let's say someone comes to my CEO mastermind. For one year. And they learn. The skills to build up their offer suite. They learn the skills to sell better. They learn the skills to hone in on their messaging. They learn the skills to Upsell and cross sell clients from one offer to another. So they don't have to bring in as many people on the front end. They learn all those skills. Now they can re reopen the mastermind for another year if they want ongoing support. For sure. And I would love for them to, because I freaking adore my clients. They are the best people ever, literally the best people ever. But. Even if they didn't. Those skills are going to stick with them for life. And they will use them over and over again. You're a copywriter. You. You're not just delivering a sales, but you're delivering a sales page that can make money launch after launch, when you're a website builder, you're not just delivering a website, you're delivering an asset that can bring in clients and customers and leads on a daily basis for years and years. So that was what I mean by lifetime value. And I want you to price. From that point of view and think about your pricing from that point of view and realize that whatever you're going to charge is probably so much less, it's just a tiny percentage of the overall value of your offer. And that's how it should feel. It should feel like a no brainer. And when you are sold on that, by the way, your clients are much more likely to be sold on that too, because they will feel that confidence, that energy coming from you. so that is the second thing. The second mistake I made was pricing my offers from a place of scarcity and a place of shame. And. It was not even shame. That made sense because yeah, I didn't finish high school, whatever. I got married when I was 18. And I became a mom at the age of 19. And then, you know what I did, I took a few courses and I learned how to be really great at marketing. And that's how I started my business. So freaking watt wouldn't have to do anything with whether or not I got a diploma handed to me at the age of 18 or technically 17. Cause I skipped a grade. Right? Nothing, absolutely nothing. But it was something that I just felt embarrassed about myself. And now I say that from a place of pride, I'm like, yeah, I didn't even finish high school, whatever, and I have a business, you can do it no matter how many qualifications you have or lack thereof. All right. So that is the second one. The third mistake that I made was letting my fear of failure and my fear of success. Hold me back from achieving my goals. So I don't think I have to explain. To you. The idea of fear of failure. Okay. We all have it, especially if you're an Enneagram three overachiever like me and a failure can feel like actual death. But, that's not a hard thing to explain. Of course, you don't want to fail. It feels yucky. It feels gross. But fear of success. Is something way deeper and that could be even more insidious and harder to recognize. All right. And there are so many reasons that we can fear success. So whether it's because you're worried that, maybe we'll change as a person when we're, when we succeed. Maybe you grew up like looking at rich people as oh, rich people are so whatever, they're so materialistic and they're so snobby and they're so little blah. And then you're like, oh my God I don't want to be one of those people. So you won't let yourself be rich. Maybe we're worried. Do I be leaving people in our lives behind? Like I had a client who was like, I have family members who are very poor, and we live in the same neighborhood and I'm embarrassed to talk about my business and I'm embarrassed to, because I don't want them to feel jealous or it may be. Or look at me differently, right? Maybe it'll change our relationships. Going to say it like, it is very hard to bear a balanced marriage and entrepreneurship. It is not an easy road. It is not an easy road. And the important thing to realize. And I'm not saying this from a place of oh, and you're doomed. All right. My husband and I have had many ups and downs as a couple in our marriage in general. But definitely since I started my business, Due to various business related things. I'm a very, I'm a very entrepreneurial. Like I'm much, I'd much more go for the bigger risk, the bigger potential. And he's more of I'd rather just have a job and just get a salary and that's it. Right. Both personalities. Makes sense. Both ways of thinking, make sense, neither of them are wrong, but when you put them together, It can create a lot of friction, and so we've had a lot of, discussions and, and hard times. Because, we disagree on different ways to approach things. I also, I know I, for a long time, I held myself back from making more money because I was worried that he might feel emasculated. He might feel like, if he's not the primary breadwinner anymore, I'm making more money than him. He's going to. Not feel adequate as a husband and he's, and he's going to feel like whatever, I don't know. And the truth is like maybe he might've felt that a little bit. I don't know. At this point, I know he'd much rather I make, he's very happy for me to make more money than him. He's go for it. You. Don't worry. Don't worry about me and my feelings. But again it was just a, it was a fear that I had because of the way our roles were in our marriage beforehand. Cause I was a I was a. I was a stay-at-home mom and he was the breadwinner and that was it. And then when I started building my business, it changed things. That might be something that you might worry about. How is it gonna change my relationships with my partner, with my family. Maybe you're worried about not knowing how to manage all the money that you want to make. Entrepreneurs very often know how to make money. Don't necessarily know how to hold onto money. Or how to manage the money once they had it. So that might be a fear too. I don't know how to deal with that much money and I've had that fear and I've had that reality where I'm like, I don't know and I just want to say that again, it's a skill that you can learn and you can work through that because Once you're aware of that fear. You can work with it if you are not aware of it you really can't do anything about it. So I just want to bring this up. Because this is where self-sabotage comes from the most right. Fear of success because it is so it's so easy to hide, right? Because no normal person's going to be like, oh, I'm afraid of being too rich. I'm afraid of doing too well. So I would like to encourage you, if you do find that you're not taking actions that, you should be taking. If you're not putting yourself out there, the way, you should be, or maybe you're just letting opportunities go by. I want you to dig deep into your motivations to see whether it might actually be fear of succeeding rather than a fear of not succeeding. There might be keeping you from achieving your full potential. And this is something that I dive into a lot with my clients. So that is the third thing. Third mistake. That I made as a business owner. The fourth mistake. And this is so important. So please do, as I say, not as I did. All right. Looking back. I really wish I'd focus on building my email list earlier. I didn't focus on building my email list early enough. My list is not nearly as big as you would expect for someone who's been in business for seven years. Although the truth is. I've built it to almost 10,000 people technically. My overall list is 10,000 people, but I only have about, I don't know right now currently about 2200 active subscribers, because I'm obsessive about cleaning it up. I have a list cleaning, illest, scrubbing automation that people go through if they haven't opened my emails in 90 days. So I'm always cleaning it up and I'm always getting unsubscribes because like people are going through that thing. And if they're not opening it, then they get like kicked off the list of people who are receiving my emails because. I want, I want people who want to read my emails to. Be getting them. And that brings my stats up. That does it. That makes it better. But. So technically, yes, I have a 10 K email list. But it is. It's basically a quarter of that. Because I'm always cleaning it up. So this year I'm focusing a lot on aligned audience growth. So being part of collaborations creating really aligned and like high value and like high level content on Instagram. And running ads to lead generation funnels that we'll all directly speak to and attract my ideal clients. So if you have been focusing on maybe nurturing your list, you. Or, creating, having a podcast or or just selling, doing a lot of like sales posts and things like that. And you haven't really been focusing on getting in front of new people. I really would like to encourage you just to focus on that as well, because growing nurturing and selling are the three really important components of a business that will keep growing and. I did not feel I did not do. I did not focus like last year, there was not a ton of audience growth. I just wasn't in a head space for it, to be honest. So this year I'm changing that and I'm being part of a lot of collaborations. I'm ha I have a really awesome. Audio series coming up, which is going to be. Not just growing my list, also giving you a crap ton of value. So I'm really excited for that. So keep an eye out for that. And. I'm setting up a couple of front end funnels. That will bring in leads on a regular basis, especially when I am going offline for maternity leave. So that is the fourth thing. I did not focus on building my email list early enough. I not happy about that. The fifth mistake that I made. Is consumption. Over creation. I spent way too much time learning. And not as much time implementing. So I became good at a lot of different things, but it took me much longer to become at one, become good at one specific thing, which was the strategy right now. Now. There's a lot to be said for both.. So if you've read the book range, there's a book called range. It's a very pretty turquoise color. It's one of my, one of my, actually one of my brand. Color. So I actually just saw it and I loved it and I bought it, but it happened to be a really great book too. It's the idea is that people who are a little bit good. A lot of different things or know a little bit about a lot of different things. Then they tend to be. They tend to be like better at thinking outside the box at at ideating things at troubleshooting things because they are not like one track minded, so that's fine. But if you are a course junkie like me and you get off on knowledge. The struggle is real. But if you've been buying all the courses and you haven't been seeing significant growth, You might just be at the stage where you need a coach to help you find the golden nuggets you need to actually implement instead of consuming information without taking action. And if you feel like you must consume content. Which I'm not saying you shouldn't. But I'm saying you should limit it and you should focus more on creation rather than consumption. If you find yourself consuming a lot of content. But what I would ask you to do. I would challenge you to do this is. Create before you consume. So first create any content you're gonna create for the day and then move on to, listening to a course training that you would just bought. So that is a really good way to to be able to have your own ideas and not get stuck in the learning trap and not the implementation. And I just find that again for me, I love learning new things. Like I would buy a new course every single day, if I could. Because I love learning stuff. It just, I collect knowledge as a hobby. Okay. And I love it, but. It's not necessarily going to move the needle on my business. And there's a lot of courses that I bought that I did not use. And it's a shame, right? It's really a shame. So create versus consume, create over consuming. All the time. All right. The sixth mistake. That I made in my business. And this one is really important. I didn't trust myself enough. All right. And if you remember, I discussed a few PI. A few podcast episodes ago. About finally passing my driving theory test when I trusted my instincts and I didn't second guess myself over every question. And, I took the theory test four times, no, four times. Yes. I failed and I failed. And I realized that very often the questions I failed on or the ones that I went back to. And then I second guessed my initial, like my knee jerk. Answer. And I was like, Ooh, maybe that's wrong. And I changed it. And then I'm like, shoot, I shouldn't. So many times I look back and I'm like, yeah, I think you can get, you can up to five questions. I think if you get five questions wrong, then you fail. And three out of five of the questions would be ones that I actually had the original answer to. And then I changed. And so the last time I took it, I was like, that's it. I'm going to just take the test and I'm not going to even go back. I'm not even gonna look at my answers. I'm not gonna look at anything. I'm going to do it. Zoom through it. Press P. Press submit and walk out the room. And that was when I passed. So yes, I really do believe each hire a coach when you're ready. And I've had a coach for the majority of my business. But make sure that you are clear on your own values and priorities so that you can filter any advice or strategy or coaching that you get through that lens. Okay. Your business is your business and you're the one who is ultimately running it. Not your coach. All right. So yes. Get support for sure. But trust yourself to be guided to the right actions. And trust yourself to know Lino. If someone is. Recommending something that feels very unaligned with you or your values, your priorities. That you can push back and be like I don't think I can do that. And here's why. All right. And I, as a coach, I will very, I'm very open to that. If someone's I don't feel right about this. Like for example, I was on a call with a client the other day, a one-to-one call with one of my mastermind clients. And and I was discussing her offers and I was like, this offer, it feels like, I don't think you need this offer, right? Because it was like a half day or a full day or something like that. And I'm. And I was like, don't, the half day and the full day was, there was such a small difference in the price. I was like, just stick with one. One blanket price for a one day basically a one day offer and leave it at that. And she thought about it and she was like the truth is. I think that I need to have this half-day as an option. Maybe not like front and center, but I want to have it as an option because there are some people that I work with who do half day. Things like some people she collaborates with who do half day offers and she wants to be able to collaborate with them. And and bundle her pricing with them. And so she wants to have a half-day price point for those people and she didn't want to, um, burned her bridges with those particular collaborators, because they did send her a lot of clients. And I was like, oh my gosh. So for sure. So I'm like, what, how about you focus on. That's not the thing you're focusing on selling front end, but only when people come to you with these already established half day situations. Do you pull this half day option out of your back pocket and say, yeah, I can do a half day. So I'm very open to hearing that because I want you to build your business the way you need to build it. And what feels right to you. And I don't know all the information and I in. And you do. I can give you my best strategy as a coach, but I want you to be able to run it through your filter in your lens. And your priorities. So those are the six other big mistakes that I feel that I made in my business. And I really want you to not do that. So please listen back take notes because this is something that I think is going to be really it's going to be really important. So that is, that, is that the six mistakes? Now let's talk about the things that I did. And what I would do again, if I was starting over now, because let's not be too hard on me, I did do quite a few things. Because obviously here I am with a business that I love and that makes me money. And that really is moving me and my family towards the life that I really want us to have. So I really want to share the things that I did that I would do again a hundred percent and absolutely do not regret and that I think you should do. The first one is. I invested in training. An uncomfortable amount in myself and getting support early on. So starting with courses on social media, on ads and funnels, that's what I started investing in along with my first mastermind, which was one K a month at a time when I was making about.$2,500 a month. These investments paid for themselves. When I took the time to get an ROI, when I took the time to get a return on investment. So investing in myself. It was something that I did and I, sometimes I've over-invested But I really do think I've learned a lot from every single investment that I've made. And many people are hesitant to invest in coaching too early in their business. But I found it absolutely invaluable. We do not have time to waste throwing spaghetti, all the spaghetti at all the walls as mamas. We need someone to give us a plan and tell us, okay, this is what I would do. If I were you here's, here are your action steps because. We waste so much time deliberating over what to do, and having someone to bounce ideas off of is really like there's, it's priceless. It's priceless. And if you want to know more about how to get return on investment. From the things you, you buy. Listen to episode 36, I think was our last episode. It's called how to make sure you get an ROI out of your investments. Very simple. So the first thing I did was I did invest in myself. I invested in training and I invested in coaching support and I did it and I invested in team as well. Although that was up and down. There's a couple of team members. I would like I would stand by a thousand percent. I'm so glad I did it. And those people I'm if you people that I, I wish I had it. So it's one of those things that you have to learn over time. And hiring's an entirely different story, which is an entirely different podcast episode. But the one thing, one thing I did right. Was investing in myself. The second thing, and I still do this to this day and she says all these things here. I basically. I still do to this day. The second thing is that I built relationships and I'm still building relationships. Relationships have been my number one time investment in my business. And they have been the gift that keeps on giving on multiple levels. Okay. I've gained support. I've gained clients visibility and yes. Money from building relationships, especially in my masterminds and in programs that I joined. And if you're looking for a mastermind of like-minded mamas that you can build relationships with and, we have one client in my mastermind who got a clue who literally got a client because everyone in the mastermind saw a post about something that she did and tagged her in it because they were like, oh my God, this is exactly her right. I cannot even tell you between my mastermind that had been in for years. I joined a very high ticket group coaching program. And honestly, one of the biggest ROIs that I got from that program was not just the stuff that I learned from the program, but the people that I met a bunch of us put together a little kind of peer. Voxer group and we stayed in touch for years and years. We've actually still, just recently just got back into touch and I've been catching up on what's been going on with us, but I cannot tell you, I cannot begin to describe. How much I learned from that group of women. And how much I was able to, I've interviewed them in my, in my summits and in my and I've brought them into my events and I've been in some of their programs and There have been so much collaboration going on just from that small group of people. And I will say that the majority of clients that I get came in some way, shape or form from relationships that I built. Whether it's through collaborations that I was part of it. That's how they got onto my list or whether it was through me speaking in other people's groups. One of my best mastermind clients right now came from me doing a training in somebody else's membership. What, it's it's bananas. So I highly recommend. Working on relationship building. Look at relationships as part of the investment that you're making in a group or a mastermind, if were you to join. That's really important, not just to get coaching from the coach, but also to connect with the other people in there, because that can give you so many dividends on, from a friendship level and from a business level. The third thing. Was that I got visible very quickly. All right. So I was not an, I was not such an F now I look back, I'm like, oh my God. I knew like a fraction of what I know now, but I got visible very quickly for what I knew. Which was basically visibility is so meta, but I just knew how to get in front of new people very easily. And people knew my name and my face, the point that when I attended a huge conference in 2019, so this was about two years after I first started my business. My friends just got tired of walking around with me because they kept stopping to speak to people. I knew this was like a thousand person conference and I kept running into people that I knew and big. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we were connected. We were in this Facebook group together. Oh, we had a coffee chat, and. And it wasn't like from a place of oh, wow. I'm like the mayor, right? I know everybody, but I just got really good at getting to know people. And it got me into a lot of different rooms and it got me very well known in a lot of different places. Again, that's like a sub. Thing of relationships, but also show I started showing up doing Facebook lives weekly on my. On my Facebook page and sharing it to my profile and people, some of my family members, my friends were like, what are you doing? I don't even understand what you do, but I chose not to be embarrassed of it. I chose this to be like, yeah, I have a business now. I'm showing up like a business owner, take it or leave it. And people loved it. I still have people who are like, oh my God, I love following you on Facebook because I just love seeing your posts. And I love seeing your updates and you just, it's so cool. So again, getting visible, how can you get your face in front of as many people as possible in whatever way you choose to do it? There's so many ways to grow your audience. I have an entire like bonus course. In CEO mob academy called the collab vault that I'm we're. I'm actually recording this, as we speak. And because there are so many ways just to get in front of new people quickly. And and I just, I want that for you. I want you to get in front of more people. I actually was actually, I remember I was featured in Denise Duffield Thomas is I think most recent book. I forgot what it was called even, but she was asking for She was asking for testimonials about some of her stuff or whatever. And I, I sent one in and I was literally featured in her book. And it's just so cool. People like, oh my God, I just saw you and her. And I'm like, yeah, I did not even predict that. But again, Look for opportunities to be featured, to be known, to get visible. There, there are more than you think there are everywhere not to the IX. Into the expense of like actually selling your own stuff. But again, the more people you get in front of the more you get your name out there, the more likely people are going to come and find you and see what you have to offer. The fourth one, the fourth thing I did right. Was pivot. I was open to pivoting when things weren't working and I did not stay attached to my strategy. If I needed to shift something due to feedback or results. Now, this also has a little bit of a, of a. We're bad side to it, right? Because sometimes I would get, ADHD tired of doing something. And I would just pivot quickly before things even had time to work. But I've gotten much better at that. And I actually have a podcast episode. If you go to episode 22. It's called pivot. So how to know whether to pivot or whether to keep going. So I would if you've been wondering about whether you need to pivot in your business, whether it's pivoting your entire business model or pivoting an offer or whatever, I would go to that podcast episode and listen, because it is really good. And I have and I have a really great. I have just some really great questions to ask yourself. To in order to basically figure that out for yourself. So be open to pivoting when necessary. I, right now I'm looking, I was looking at my, my, my 2024 P yearly plan. And I'm looking at my Q2 plan and I am adjusting some things based on what happened in Q1, based on my current energy levels. I do highly recommend having a plan to start with because you can't pivot something if it doesn't exist, but also be open to shifting that plan when it when it may not work for you anymore. And the last thing I did. And I would say. The last thing I did. But these are just the tip of the iceberg, honestly. W one of the last things I want to mention in here today, Is prioritizing mindset work. I did not do this from the beginning. But when I started working on my mindset, this is last, but certainly not least. I doubted that it would do anything. I was like, this is such mumbo-jumbo right. Mindset. I heard my son. I'm like, ah, What do we need that for there? Wasn't more things that you work hard and do the strategy. But what I really started focusing on it and clearing out all that Minecraft that was keeping me from doing the things that needed doing right. We discussed earlier the fear of success and fear of failure. And they're doing the mindset work was would help me identify that. It was incredible how quickly the right clients started coming to me, the right ideas started flowing and I was able to focus on what I really wanted to do and what I was best at. And I will say this. I'm not like a super like manifesting. Crystal coach. But magical things started happening when I began to journal my dreams and my ideal life. And I looked back at my journaling from a few years ago, and so many things have come true. In fact. I put a baby on my vision board for 2023. And. I really wanted to, everything wanted to get pregnant. But I really wanted to get my driving license before I got pregnant. And I didn't. But now I'm getting it now, please. God. And the baby happened. And it was not like a super planned situation. So it's crazy. It's crazy. Like when we set our intentions for something how really does something for us. I just, I would just challenge you to start journaling out what your ideal life look like. It looks like. What your ideal day looks like do it now, because I promise you in a few years, you can look back and be like, oh my God. Wow. Wow. I've come so far since then, when those things felt like so far away. And so out of the ordinary and so out of my realm and now like they're just my normal now, right? So the last thing I wanted to mention today that I did write was prioritizing mindset work. This is really important. Okay. These are just the tip of the iceberg of the things that I've learned in seven years of business. And that is a big part of what I bring to the table as a coach. All right, because I've run a service-based business. I have sold coaching. I have sold group programs. I've sold courses. I've sold small digital products, right? So whether you work with me, one-to-one whether you work with me in a mastermind or in any other mentorship role, I have that context of building both a service-based business and a coaching business. I've worked behind the scenes of other businesses and have grown my own. I've fallen. I've gotten back up again and I've grown our family by one and a half children since starting my entrepreneurial journey. And I started off with four. And so I would love, love, love if you, that feels like something that you want. If you, I feel like the kind of mentor that you want. Like I said, I do have our CEO, my mastermind is still open for the next three people or until the end of April at the founders pricing. Our next call is this Wednesday. And we are going to be focusing on spring, cleaning your business, your offers, your messaging, your mindset. So three spots available, or till the end of April, or until those spots are filled. And then the investment is going up. So make sure to get application in ASAP before they go away, the link is going to be in the description. So you'll see it there. And if you do want to preview. Of what it's like to get support inside of the mastermind. I have spots open in my momentum mini mine, which starts. April 14th. And you can get$350 off when you joined before April 10th. All right. So the mini mind is a, essentially a six week business plan. And we in coaching calls where we map out the six parts of your aligned CEO mom business. So we have the foundational and grounded CEO mindset. We have aligned to magnetic messaging. We have irresistible offers that are set to scale. We have the mom viable marketing and content. We have your aligned and relaxed sales plan. And we have your smoothest silk time-saving systems, and we're going to go through all six of those parts in the mini mind together. You are going to get a private telegram group. We're going to get weekly coaching. I'm inside. I'm going to be in my, in the telegram group, Monday through Thursday to answer any questions you have in between the drops and our calls. And you're going to get my eyes directly on your six part business plan. So you can kickstart your CEO mom journey with a coach that has made multiple six figures selling everything from service to coaching, to courses. And I will say that six weeks of coaching with me is normally four figures and above, but this is not. And if you've ever wanted any preview of the kind of support that you could get inside of my mastermind and you want to just test it out, you're definitely going to want to hop in here. So you just go to And dan.com/mini mind. And use the code early to get your$350 off before April 10th. I've got 15 total spots available in this many mind. And a few are already sold. I'm so excited to hear your thoughts on all this stuff. Have you made similar mistakes? Did you recognize yourself at any of these? Do you feel connected. To any of the things I'd gotten wrong or the things I've gotten. Right. Tell me, I want to know. And I really hope to see you inside the mini mind. If you have any questions about it, just shoot me a DM. On Instagram and I cannot wait to see you in there and I'll be back next week. I can't thank you enough for listening to Raising Your Business. I hope this episode has inspired you to take another step towards building a business and life that you love and growing your income in a way that works for you and your family. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a second to rate and review and let's connect on Instagram. Screenshot and share it on Instagram stories so we can get the word out to more mom business owners like you. Tag me at theelbendahan and share your biggest breakthrough from today. See you next week.