1434: Top Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make by Chalene Johnson on Starting A Business & Entrepreneurship

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Work Daily. Top Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make by Chalene Johnson of Chalene Johnson.com

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Are you struggling as an entrepreneur? It doesn't matter whether you are new to business or your old school.

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, ironically it can be hardest for old school entrepreneurs because for many their conventional mindset might result in huge career mistakes,

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: costing a freaking fortune costing lives, too. What I mean by that is,

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: one money is left on the table, two life is wasting away, and three business isn't nearly as successful as it could be.

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I know from experience. See, I had that old school, I'm supposed to figure everything out myself mentality.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Hashtag not so much, and that brings me to the number one mistake of business owners and entrepreneurs.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Thinking they need to figure things and all things out for themselves because that will save the money.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: It goes something like this. I'm smart, I'm resourceful, I'm creative, how much does that cost?

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Really? I could build that. What are they charging to do that? But I could figure that out.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I watch them YouTube videos. I'm not paying for a course on that, I'm not paying for an expert on that.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't. I would, but I can't because I don't have any money. So I'll find an app that does it.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, hand up right here. Guilty is charged. I was the queen of figuring everything out.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't even imagine the things I've wasted time on learning. From editing music to designing clothes,

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: literally things that I have no business doing. But that's what we've been taught,

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: that if you want to save time and money then what you've got to do is figure out how to do it for yourself.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: The thinking is that because you don't have to be an expert, you can do it yourself.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Wrong. Do just enough research to find out what you need. I'll throw you a bone here.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: You can toy with something once. Once. You can edit a couple of podcasts, add fonts to a couple

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: of photos, you know, play around with some things up till the point where you realize, okay,

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I now know enough to know what I'm looking for. And that's all folks. But you're like, girl,

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm already with the program. I'm not about trying to figure this stuff out myself. I'm outsourcing

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: projects and you're outsourcing, outsourcing some more and more. Which happens to lead me to the

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: number two mistake that people make outsourcing projects. How is that working out for you, ladies and

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: gentlemen? Not going so well. But Shaleen, you said this would save me money and I've heard from

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: other experts that this would save me money and time. Let me tell you why it's not working for you.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Because this stuff virtual assistant hiring websites gets updated all the time.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_00]: As soon as you and I figured out, then the not so scrupulous type show up and it turns into a

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: nightmare. Well, I'm just here to caution you that those sites where you just get massive amounts of

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: variation and people from all over the world are not my top choices. Are there good people there?

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Heck yes, there are always exceptions. I will never say anything definitively, but the bids are all

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: over the place and that's one of the reasons why we, my husband and I, struggled with this.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: outsourcing became a full-time nightmare for us until we figured out that instead of outsourcing

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: tons of single jobs to individuals, find permanent part-time team members who can do several

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and or many jobs. The number three mistake that business owners make is being very careless with

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: their assets. You'll know I got hacked yes? I got hacked majorly. No one is protected from those

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: who live in the dark web. That's for real a place, my friends. Hence it's imperative to be careful

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: with your assets. But how? Well, set yourself up with a system that protects all of your information.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: A two or three factor authentic information set up for every single place you sign in.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: These days, if anyone other than myself signs into anything online, which they do because I have a

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: team, I get a notification to my personal phone immediately. Everything, every email, every social

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: media platform, every account, every file and dropbox, everything. Then each and every assistant

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: personal assistant, virtual assistants, all the assistants, has their own vault in an online

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: super secure password manager. The whole team uses it. This sounds complicated to you, huh?

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't blame you. It sounded complicated to me too, but this is what people need to learn.

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: You know what? Your smartphone seemed complicated too when you first got it.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The number four mistake entrepreneurs make is treating their digital business like it's a messy closet.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: You have a desktop that's covered with files and things you've taken your screenshots of and

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: things you want to look at later and PDFs you want to read. Then you bought new phones,

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and you've kept old phones, and you bought new computers, and kept old computers,

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and you have hard drives and SD cards, and you got photos on some external hard drives somewhere,

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and you have some stuff over here on this computer, and you're not sure what file it's in,

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and some stuff saved in documents, but you haven't really put them in file systems.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And what about what you have saved in the cloud? And what the heck and where the heck is this stupid cloud?

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Does this sound like your digital business? Digital overload is resulting in a digital mess,

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and that is costing you time, money, peace of mind, and the clarity that you need to take

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: your business to the next level. You have to accept that, and you've got to get your digital life organized.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I have my inbox at zero, thank you very much, and I get thousands of emails every day.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It's because I have a system now. It's really, really simple, but it took me years and years

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: to figure it out. It was like the last of the moheakens. If I can solve this, I thought,

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm quite sure I'm going to get a Nobel Peace Prize or something. Still waiting.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: The secret is not so much a secret anymore, and it's not about you having better habits.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_00]: It's about you having a system. There's a right time and a right way to do things.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Getting your digital life in order in this ever-changing world is paramount.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Trust me. You just listen to the post titled Top Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make by Shalene Johnson

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: of Shalenejonson.com. This show is sponsored by Better Help. We all have non-negotiables.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you never skip leg day or have to take your morning walks, but when your schedule is packed

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: with kids activities, big work projects, and more, it's easy to let your priorities slip. Even

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: we know what makes us happy, it's hard to make time for it. Therapy can help you reclaim control

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: of your time and values. And make no mistake. Therapy is for everyone. Whether or not you've been

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: through significant trauma, therapy can be a great tool for setting boundaries, learning positive

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: coping skills, and ultimately becoming the best version of yourself. If you're thinking of

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: starting therapy, give Better Help a Try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient,

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with

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[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P dot com slash work daily. And I want to say thank you to Shalene

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: for letting us share her work here. As she's a world-renowned motivational speaker with more than

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: 30 years as a health expert. She's a New York Times best-selling author. She's a health and lifestyle

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: expert and top health podcaster as well with over 20 million downloads of her show, The Shalene Show.

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: She and her husband have trained tens of thousands of fitness professionals and consulted with the

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: world's largest health club chains. She has sold millions of fitness videos and she is in the

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: most fitness videos. And on the business side of things, she's created a variety of personal and business

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: development programs that are worth checking out. So come by Shalenejonson.com to check all that out

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: that's CH-A-L-E-N-E. Shalenejonson.com and you can find that linked in this episode's description.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's going to do it for today. I thank you as always for being here and for clicking subscribe.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Have a great rest of your day and I'll see you back here tomorrow, where you're optimal life awaits.