I blame coaches. And I might get a bit sweary so you'll have to forgive me.
Not all coaches but those coaches who advertise that they can help you make £100k working 2 hours a week from your villa in Barbados - RIGHT NOW and it's so EASY.
It's a bloody lie! A big fat coaching lie.
It's not easy.
It takes a lot of hard work to build a business that virtually runs itself and brings money in consistently.
Don't get me wrong, you could achieve what they're describing if you have the right type of business and a few years to make it happen but for most people, it's never going to work that way.
I don't want to put a damper on your dreams. Far from it. I just want to give you a reality check.
I'm very lucky. I've built a business that brings me in 200k per year and is growing rapidly. I work part time, I have lots of holidays and I love my work.
It's taken me almost 3 years to get to this stage and it's only in the last few weeks that I've eased off the gas.
Before that it was pretty non-stop.
In the first year I worked my socks off.
My business took over my life. I had a 3 year old at the time and I spent lots of time with her but every spare moment, day or night, I was working on the business. I was marketing on social media, creating content, planning, scheduling, putting payment systems in place, learning new technology. It was HARD! I'm not a natural student and I had to get my head around techie stuff that made me weep in frustration but do you know what? I had no choice.
I had a failed business behind me, a 20k bill with the tax man and a mortgage to pay. I had no choice. I had to make it work.
I knew that I had a great business and I knew that women business owners need my teaching - it makes a difference. I knew that there was nothing stopping me creating a 100k+ business except myself.
So I worked like a crazy woman, day and night, around Chloe, around scant sleep, around a grumpy husband who kept asking me when I'd bring in some money (he's lovely really, but times were hard and he was as stressed as me).
I got help, I hired a virtual assistant and that took off a tiny bit of the burden but I still worked and worked and worked.
I built my Facebook page, I built my subscriber list, I did surveys, I tested out new product ideas, I marketed my new products like there was no tomorrow - because I had no choice. I had to make this work.
I'm very lucky, I (just in the last month) now have an awesome business manager now and we're STILL working like crazy women.
Just recently we had 2 big product launches and we lived like students for the duration of those launches. Really long hours, cheese on toast at 9pm, too much caffeine and sugar, as soon as the kids were in bed we were back online working till midnight. And it paid off. We had amazing launches.
But they didn't just happen!
The amazing launches made a lot of money but they were built on 2.5 years of bloody hard work, of relationship building, credibility building, making connection and above all, sharing top quality, helpful, valuable content with the fabulous women business owners in my community. And that content all has to be created from scratch. Again and again.
So, when I see people promising this idyllic situation where you work 3 hours a week from the beach and make 100k I think 'yeah, you've missed out the first 2 years and then some!'
It makes me sad because it gives people a false sense of what it takes, so they feel like a failure if they don't achieve this dream within a year or two.
You can achieve whatever you set your mind to but you have to be realistic.
It won't just happen.
You can't do 'half-arsed' marketing and expect miracles.
You have to want it.
Really want it and be prepared to work really hard to get it. And anyone who tells you otherwise needs looking at long and hard - they've either had an amazing lucky break or they have missed out a BIG chunk of the story.
Now, I know you. You're not afraid of hard work. Keep going because success WILL come but don't get disillusioned if you're not working from Barbados this time next year.
- Get really clear on your ideal customer
- Be consistent and persistent with your marketing
- Don't believe the hype
Good old fashioned hard work will win every time.