Description and Show Notes
Finding the kind of support you need at this phase of your business journey depends on what kind of support you need, and why. If you spend too much time on social media, it’s easy to get distracted from your current business priorities and deviate from your long term mission.
Let’s talk about what to do BEFORE you ask for recommendations for coaches, virtual assistants, and marketing help for your business. Don’t Google or scour your Facebook Groups just yet.
Take some time to a little reflection and strategizing, first!
Transcript
Welcome to a compassionate side hustle strategy hosted by me, Rochelle Sanchez. I'm a business designer and mindset coach and I help side hustling, solopreneurs like you quiet your inner drama and build compassionate systems that allow you to show up consistently and authentically in your business.
No matter what culture you were raised in, your current setbacks, economic status, or internal struggles, you deserve to do what you love for a living.
So let's go together! and find that next best step for you on your business journey.
You know you need help with your business, but what kind of help, exactly?
Finding the kind of support you need at this phase of your business journey depends on what kind of support you need, and why.
Before you spend any more time reading into programs or opening your emails, I highly recommend jotting down some notes about your business and your current struggles. What's not working, what doesn't feel good, what would you rather be spending your time on. Maybe even write out your best guess on what kind of marketing funnel you currently have, whether or not it's working, just so you can see where you stand.
The reason for doing this, even if you're not a natural marketer or you don't have a strategic brain, is that the online world is filled with really good writers. Excellent market researchers. And of course, very effective sales people.
And if you're a highly sensitive person, you probably get affected by the people and messages and media around you. Social media platforms like instagram and facebook are counting on that. I think we're less aware of it now because social media and smart phones are ingrained into our culture and they're considered normal.
But consider for a moment the old school view of "the media." You think about people sitting in front of their television. I personally think of commercials, and how when I was young and let's say I was sick and couldn't go to school that day. It was weird to be home at 11:00am and seeing all these commercials that were clearly not meant for me. They were meant for an older, aging audience. Commercials for arthritis, or that life alert button, you know the one. "I've fallen and I can't get up."
Well, Instagram is essentially the new platform for getting overexposed to potentially irrelevant commercials. And yeah, I'm talking about paid ads, but I'm also talking about the content that a lot of businesses are posting. And the fact that Instagram is a marketing platform in general, with a lot of content creators and business profiles taking up most of the space on your feed.
So the reason I bring this up is that if you are a business owner and things aren't going very well, and you're not really sure what kind of help you need, then it will be easier for those researchers, copywriters, and sales people to influence you and slowly and passively convince you that THEY are what you need.
The right video with powerful messaging for a course on content creation will convince you that you need to learn more about content creation, even if you weren't thinking about that before.
The right post about someone's latest cohort with all the fantastic bonuses that expires in 48 hours will convince you that you need to join now, even if you weren't even looking for a group program.
That's just how it works. And so when you are working on your business, and making your own decisions, it's important to spend time reflecting on your own and being honest about what kind of help or influence you're letting into your personal business bubble right now.
So you might take some time to just be honest with yourself about what's working in your business and what's not, and to write it down so you can refer to it later.
I recommend writing in bullet form, and having two columns: one for the aspect you're writing about, and the second column you can write down WHY it's a problem, exactly.
See if you can fill out a full sheet of paper, both sides. Just keep writing all the issues and the WHYs and then leave it alone for a while.
Then come back to it, after a day or two, and see what patterns come up.
Do you see certain problems being repetitive, like it's actually all the same kind of problem but applied to different parts of your business?
And you can look at the second column and see all the reasons why you believe you have these problems, as a business owner, and if there are common areas there, too.
Like are they mostly that you just don't have time? Maybe you really are busy and literally only have 30 minutes a day to work on your business.
Or maybe they're confidence related, like you don't believe someone who looks or lives like you should be seen in viral Youtube videos or featured on podcasts.
Maybe it's an issue of security or certainty, like you don't want to take a certain action unless you know that's what needs to happen, and not something else, first.
Or maybe you just don't have enough money to do the things you want to do with your business. That's helpful information, too, and it will narrow down the possibilities once you start searching for places to get some help.
And then! When you're ready, you can consider what kind of help you might need for the specific problems you see in your business.
Maybe you need...
A business coach to help you decipher which opportunities to take and which income streams to pursue? If that's the case, the next step is to decide what kind of coach do you want, how much can you pay for one, and what you expect to accomplish after working with them.
Or you might just need...
A virtual assistant to take over the tedious tasks that take up hours of your time every week? And if so, how many hours of your own time are you buying back, exactly? Exactly which tasks do you want to hand off first, and which ones are you okay doing yourself for a little longer. Have those parameters ready in advance before you start asking around for VA recommendations.
Maybe right now you just need...
A community of co-working entrepreneurs who share your vision and give you input that's actually helpful, because they get what it takes to be a founder in these times. That's great. What kind of people would you hope are members in that community? How much do you want to pay for it, if anything at all? How do you hope your life will change as a result of being an active member for, let's say, 3 months straight?
On the other hand, the kind of help you need may be...
Help from a public figure. Maybe a local elected official, a director from a specific organization, or your school's principal. Someone who has the connections and influence that you need to impact more lives. You could go down that path and start asking for meetings with the right people in your community.
Obviously, there's no one right answer, because the answer is different for everyone and will change from week to week, possible day to day.
These are just some examples of ways you could get support with your business. And you might notice that I will always say to pre-decide how much you want to spend on it in advance. It will make the process easier for you so that you don't have to re-budget or get your spouse involved or deal with money mindset issues as you're finding the kind of support your business needs right now.
So again, I strongly encourage you to take some quiet time, on your own, to reflect, journal, and see what comes up for you. Get really clear on what you need and expect from these people or communities, before you start looking for them.
And then when you're ready, go out and find them!
Get in there, introduce yourself, ask for a discovery call to get your questions answered.
And then you can confidently sign up and pay the membership fees if applicable, knowing that you made the right decision for yourself and your business.
Remember to keep an eye on that sheet that you wrote out. Save it and keep it somewhere safe, and put some reminders in your calendar to look back on it at least once a month, and stay focused on those areas you said you needed support.
Remember, you deserve to do what you love for a living, and you deserve the support of people who get you and understand what you're building. Hang in there! I'll see you next time.
Compassionate Side Hustle Strategy is sponsored by Gentle Momentum.
What if you had someone to help you navigate both the inner drama AND the back end operational stuff that comes with running your business?
What if you never felt overextended, rushed, bullied, or pressured into doing things for your business that just aren't your thing?
Gentle Momentum is a hybrid coach-in-your-pocket mentorship and accountability system designed to help ambitious, mission-driven solopreneurs just like you, stay on track and focused.
It's exactly what it sounds like: a program designed to help you generate momentum in your business!
To learn more, visit Rochelle Sanchez dot com and click on the "Work with me" button.