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Feeling daunted and a little bit terrified at the task ahead

Sharona87

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Hi,

My name is Sharon and I'm a mum of two young girls (3 years and 1 year old) living in Australia with my partner and we're both in the slooooow lane.

Since I was a little girl growing up in poverty in Kenya, I dreamed of being able to help my family and of course it seemed like the fastest way to do that would be with money.

I think I've always had entrepreneurial aspirations. My mum once asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said a "shopkeeper" (an owner of one of those shops on the side of the road that you see in Africa) and she was very disappointed I didn't say "lawyer" or "doctor". Right now I'm working in a very busy job as a manager in media/communications/pr.

Entrepreneurially, my barrier has always been in execution (and confidence in my ability to execute). I just can't seem to get anything off the ground. I have the drive and ambition, but it always seems like something is missing. I thought perhaps I needed a "turnkey" system and was lured into network marketing but that never sat right with me; I've tried finding mentors who've been successful and who might help me along and I'm now left begging for my money back from one of them (I suspect I might've been scammed). It just never seems to work. But that doesn't mean I've given up.

I'm currently listening to the TMF audiobook and although I've heard a lot of the information previously, there have been very critical "aha" moments that have added further pieces to the puzzle for me.

Most importantly, it's made it much clearer for me what I need to do to achieve what I desire which is financial freedom for me, my family, my kids, and hopefully their kids too.

With this in mind I'm feeling very daunted, and a little terrified, by the task ahead. Especially because I haven't executed anything successfully in the past. I think in total I've made $200 in the past 5 years. Spent a lot more than that in my endeavours though.

As for right now, I believe, with C0VlD-19, there's a goldmine of opportunities to deliver value, just like there was with the GFC. I'm very much in "search mode" and this forum has helped me come up with a few ideas.

When I'm feeling confident enough, I'll start a progress thread but in the meantime I'll lurk, soak up the value, take things one step at a time, while juggling a busy job and a hectic family life. I can do this!
 
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sparechange

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Welcome! Check out Sara Blakely, she has some good content out there (first self made female billionaire )

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPURpzGPMxQ


She has a masterclass aswell and has openly shared tips to get started I'm sure you could google articles.
 

Sharona87

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Phikey

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Welcome!!

While it's a bit daunting, it's incredibly exciting.

My one piece of advice is to focus on how you can you help people as much as possible. Once this clicked for me it was a gamechanger.

I stopped trying to chase income and became much more concerned about how I could help as many people as I could, in the best way I could.

After this I saw way more traction and people were asking me how they could pay me for the help. That's when you know you're onto something. You don't need to try to convince people anymore, they'll happily hand over their cash because you are genuinely helping them with their problem.

I think a lot of people new to entrepreneurship struggle because they're trying to find a solution to their own problem (lack of income) rather than turning to help others. Think about it, who makes money off these people? People that sell get-rich-quick schemes... And what are they doing? They're trying to help the beginners with their problems... lack of income.

Turn it around and help other people and the money will follow you.

An easy way to start is to consider your own skills and how you've helped people in the past. Think about industries you've worked in and the big problems that persisted. Maybe there's a way you can help them?
 
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Sharona87

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Jul 23, 2020
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Welcome!!

While it's a bit daunting, it's incredibly exciting.

My one piece of advice is to focus on how you can you help people as much as possible. Once this clicked for me it was a gamechanger.

I stopped trying to chase income and became much more concerned about how I could help as many people as I could, in the best way I could.

After this I saw way more traction and people were asking me how they could pay me for the help. That's when you know you're onto something. You don't need to try to convince people anymore, they'll happily hand over their cash because you are genuinely helping them with their problem.

I think a lot of people new to entrepreneurship struggle because they're trying to find a solution to their own problem (lack of income) rather than turning to help others. Think about it, who makes money off these people? People that sell get-rich-quick schemes... And what are they doing? They're trying to help the beginners with their problems... lack of income.

Turn it around and help other people and the money will follow you.

An easy way to start is to consider your own skills and how you've helped people in the past. Think about industries you've worked in and the big problems that persisted. Maybe there's a way you can help them?

Thanks! And I completely agree in the change in approach from chasing income to providing value and helping others.

I would say that I've had quite limited exposure to broader industries and audiences and in terms of skills I've completely fallen out of love with comms/pr/media work. However, I found the approach outlined in the thread below to be extremely do-able in terms of exposure to new audiences so I'm currently giving that a go!

GOLD! - No network? No money? No idea? No education? NO PROBLEM!

Apologies if I don't have the etiquette quite right yet with linking to other threads in the forum!

Edit: spelling
 

danyk

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Hi,

My name is Sharon and I'm a mum of two young girls (3 years and 1 year old) living in Australia with my partner and we're both in the slooooow lane.

Since I was a little girl growing up in poverty in Kenya, I dreamed of being able to help my family and of course it seemed like the fastest way to do that would be with money.

I think I've always had entrepreneurial aspirations. My mum once asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said a "shopkeeper" (an owner of one of those shops on the side of the road that you see in Africa) and she was very disappointed I didn't say "lawyer" or "doctor". Right now I'm working in a very busy job as a manager in media/communications/pr.

Entrepreneurially, my barrier has always been in execution (and confidence in my ability to execute). I just can't seem to get anything off the ground. I have the drive and ambition, but it always seems like something is missing. I thought perhaps I needed a "turnkey" system and was lured into network marketing but that never sat right with me; I've tried finding mentors who've been successful and who might help me along and I'm now left begging for my money back from one of them (I suspect I might've been scammed). It just never seems to work. But that doesn't mean I've given up.

I'm currently listening to the TMF audiobook and although I've heard a lot of the information previously, there have been very critical "aha" moments that have added further pieces to the puzzle for me.

Most importantly, it's made it much clearer for me what I need to do to achieve what I desire which is financial freedom for me, my family, my kids, and hopefully their kids too.

With this in mind I'm feeling very daunted, and a little terrified, by the task ahead. Especially because I haven't executed anything successfully in the past. I think in total I've made $200 in the past 5 years. Spent a lot more than that in my endeavours though.

As for right now, I believe, with C0VlD-19, there's a goldmine of opportunities to deliver value, just like there was with the GFC. I'm very much in "search mode" and this forum has helped me come up with a few ideas.

When I'm feeling confident enough, I'll start a progress thread but in the meantime I'll lurk, soak up the value, take things one step at a time, while juggling a busy job and a hectic family life. I can do this!

Hi Sharon!!

Welcome, this forum is awesome. :) Glad to have you here!!

If you have some ideas, this forum is a spot to share them and get pretty much immediate feedback if you want it. Like MJ says, don't be afraid of sharing your ideas because there are a million different ways to execute on the same kind of business. You got this! Excited to watch your journey from afar!

I'm almost through listening to TMF and recently finished Unscripted and Wealth Exposed. They are the best books next to the Bible! "Treasure Maps" :) In my intro I posted that I was going to execute my first entrepreneurial venture, first 'business launch' by my birthday which is August 31, I feel the pressure and it's great actually. Since last week when I introduced myself to the form I've written out three children's books that I've had ideas about for awhile. My daughter is 2 and like you I've been in the slow lane chugging right along. I can draw pretty decently so it'll be fun little side thing to pop my entrepreneurial cherry. Low barrier to entry so that'll be crowded but interesting so good experience to build on, and who knows! they might be a hit lol.

Wishing you a great rest of your day/night! (time difference lol)

- Dany

(P.S. @MJ DeMarco thank you for making it so my whole typed out reply isn't deleted if I accidentally hit the wrong button. Which I hit the wrong button and I about... :) Nope it was still here when I tried to reply again. phew! Thank you!!)
 

Sharona87

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Hi Sharon!!

Welcome, this forum is awesome. :) Glad to have you here!!

If you have some ideas, this forum is a spot to share them and get pretty much immediate feedback if you want it. Like MJ says, don't be afraid of sharing your ideas because there are a million different ways to execute on the same kind of business. You got this! Excited to watch your journey from afar!

I'm almost through listening to TMF and recently finished Unscripted and Wealth Exposed. They are the best books next to the Bible! "Treasure Maps" :) In my intro I posted that I was going to execute my first entrepreneurial venture, first 'business launch' by my birthday which is August 31, I feel the pressure and it's great actually. Since last week when I introduced myself to the form I've written out three children's books that I've had ideas about for awhile. My daughter is 2 and like you I've been in the slow lane chugging right along. I can draw pretty decently so it'll be fun little side thing to pop my entrepreneurial cherry. Low barrier to entry so that'll be crowded but interesting so good experience to build on, and who knows! they might be a hit lol.

Wishing you a great rest of your day/night! (time difference lol)

- Dany

(P.S. @MJ DeMarco thank you for making it so my whole typed out reply isn't deleted if I accidentally hit the wrong button. Which I hit the wrong button and I about... :) Nope it was still here when I tried to reply again. phew! Thank you!!)

Hi Dany!

Thanks for that tip! I definitely need to change my mindset around sharing ideas, I always like to keep them close incase they fail so I don't get judged! Lol. But you're right, and the feedback (both critical and positive) will help speed the process along.

How wild is parenthood! The shift from one to two was madness and I'm still reeling haha.

Wishing you only the best on your journey and I'm looking forward to having more conversations :)
 
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danyk

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Hi Dany!

Thanks for that tip! I definitely need to change my mindset around sharing ideas, I always like to keep them close incase they fail so I don't get judged! Lol. But you're right, and the feedback (both critical and positive) will help speed the process along.

How wild is parenthood! The shift from one to two was madness and I'm still reeling haha.

Wishing you only the best on your journey and I'm looking forward to having more conversations :)

Sharon --

I am working on that too. :) This book is helping with the mindset as well "Mindset, the new psychology of success" by Carol S Dweck. I'm not finished with it either but it has a solid amount of good information.

Yes, it's completely wild. I actually just took my first break from my 2 year old. Was never away from her for even a night but a week ago was able to arrange a housesitting gig for a whole week 'stay-cation.' My husband took over to give me a break. It was SO needed, and beyond refreshing.

We are thinking about having another one... tell me about the madness!?

What are some of your initial ideas? How can we all help?

D -
 

Sharona87

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Sharon --

I am working on that too. :) This book is helping with the mindset as well "Mindset, the new psychology of success" by Carol S Dweck. I'm not finished with it either but it has a solid amount of good information.

Yes, it's completely wild. I actually just took my first break from my 2 year old. Was never away from her for even a night but a week ago was able to arrange a housesitting gig for a whole week 'stay-cation.' My husband took over to give me a break. It was SO needed, and beyond refreshing.

We are thinking about having another one... tell me about the madness!?

What are some of your initial ideas? How can we all help?

D -

Thanks for that recommendation! I'll take a look :)

Ok I'll start with the idea/s-

I currently don't have deep knowledge or exposure in any industry so my thinking is to force that exposure in a sense.

I'm using the technique outlined in this thread: GOLD! - No network? No money? No idea? No education? NO PROBLEM!

And I'll be targeting YouTube content creators. I'm currently compiling my list.

I'm also in a position where I can deliver leads directly to an autoresponder, so the lead can be nurtured and marketed to immediately within the autoresponder email flow rather than needing to go through a landing page once they've indicated interest. The only thing with this one is I can do it as a middle man, but once again it would increase my exposure to businesses and my opportunity to learn more about their needs. In terms of targeting I thought I could go where people are already looking for leads, so udimi, Udemy, clickbank... I sent a few outreach emails to clickbank offer owners last night and have already received a response with lots of questions indicating interest. I'd like to send lots more though to get a better idea.

Another bubbling idea is Google for Jobs. It's not been rolled out in Australia yet so maybe this is an opportunity to set things up so I'm ready to launch a service as soon as GFJ is available in Australia. Problem here is I've got no idea how to go about this so lots of research is required.

But my focus is on increasing exposure to business owners and starting a conversation about their needs...

On parenting two kids-

My kids are less than two years apart in age (20 months) which in hindsight was quite close! My first baby was pretty much still a baby! And to top it off she was getting into the tantrum stage which was a challenge. Another thing too is you think the amount of work will increase linearly and simply double, but somehow it quadrupled! Lol. Don't ask me how but it was wild! I think also because we didn't really get to experience a "break" when things start to get a little easier at 1 year old, by that point I was already pregnant again. But a huge positive is that it's not so much getting thrown in the deep end again (I guess unless you have twins or something), so there's a sense of at least knowing a few things going in eg you know the baby will wake every three hours or more or less, you know breastfeeding might not be as straightforward, you know about developmental leaps etc. But if you have an attitude of going with the flow and, as much as you're able, looking after your mental health then it'll be all good. I have no idea how some have 5+ kids! Legends!

Edit: Just wanted to add that the above lead generation idea isn't through Google's Lead Gen extension, which in itself presents another interesting option...
 
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danyk

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Thanks for that recommendation! I'll take a look :)

Ok I'll start with the idea/s-

I currently don't have deep knowledge or exposure in any industry so my thinking is to force that exposure in a sense.

I'm using the technique outlined in this thread: GOLD! - No network? No money? No idea? No education? NO PROBLEM!

And I'll be targeting YouTube content creators. I'm currently compiling my list.

I'm also in a position where I can deliver leads directly to an autoresponder, so the lead can be nurtured and marketed to immediately within the autoresponder email flow rather than needing to go through a landing page once they've indicated interest. The only thing with this one is I can do it as a middle man, but once again it would increase my exposure to businesses and my opportunity to learn more about their needs. In terms of targeting I thought I could go where people are already looking for leads, so udimi, Udemy, clickbank... I sent a few outreach emails to clickbank offer owners last night and have already received a response with lots of questions indicating interest. I'd like to send lots more though to get a better idea.

Another bubbling idea is Google for Jobs. It's not been rolled out in Australia yet so maybe this is an opportunity to set things up so I'm ready to launch a service as soon as GFJ is available in Australia. Problem here is I've got no idea how to go about this so lots of research is required.

But my focus is on increasing exposure to business owners and starting a conversation about their needs...

On parenting two kids-

My kids are less than two years apart in age (20 months) which in hindsight was quite close! My first baby was pretty much still a baby! And to top it off she was getting into the tantrum stage which was a challenge. Another thing too is you think the amount of work will increase linearly and simply double, but somehow it quadrupled! Lol. Don't ask me how but it was wild! I think also because we didn't really get to experience a "break" when things start to get a little easier at 1 year old, by that point I was already pregnant again. But a huge positive is that it's not so much getting thrown in the deep end again (I guess unless you have twins or something), so there's a sense of at least knowing a few things going in eg you know the baby will wake every three hours or more or less, you know breastfeeding might not be as straightforward, you know about developmental leaps etc. But if you have an attitude of going with the flow and, as much as you're able, looking after your mental health then it'll be all good. I have no idea how some have 5+ kids! Legends!

Edit: Just wanted to add that the above lead generation idea isn't through Google's Lead Gen extension, which in itself presents another interesting option...
Thanks for that recommendation! I'll take a look :)

Ok I'll start with the idea/s-

I currently don't have deep knowledge or exposure in any industry so my thinking is to force that exposure in a sense.

I'm using the technique outlined in this thread: GOLD! - No network? No money? No idea? No education? NO PROBLEM!

And I'll be targeting YouTube content creators. I'm currently compiling my list.

I'm also in a position where I can deliver leads directly to an autoresponder, so the lead can be nurtured and marketed to immediately within the autoresponder email flow rather than needing to go through a landing page once they've indicated interest. The only thing with this one is I can do it as a middle man, but once again it would increase my exposure to businesses and my opportunity to learn more about their needs. In terms of targeting I thought I could go where people are already looking for leads, so udimi, Udemy, clickbank... I sent a few outreach emails to clickbank offer owners last night and have already received a response with lots of questions indicating interest. I'd like to send lots more though to get a better idea.

Another bubbling idea is Google for Jobs. It's not been rolled out in Australia yet so maybe this is an opportunity to set things up so I'm ready to launch a service as soon as GFJ is available in Australia. Problem here is I've got no idea how to go about this so lots of research is required.

But my focus is on increasing exposure to business owners and starting a conversation about their needs...

On parenting two kids-

My kids are less than two years apart in age (20 months) which in hindsight was quite close! My first baby was pretty much still a baby! And to top it off she was getting into the tantrum stage which was a challenge. Another thing too is you think the amount of work will increase linearly and simply double, but somehow it quadrupled! Lol. Don't ask me how but it was wild! I think also because we didn't really get to experience a "break" when things start to get a little easier at 1 year old, by that point I was already pregnant again. But a huge positive is that it's not so much getting thrown in the deep end again (I guess unless you have twins or something), so there's a sense of at least knowing a few things going in eg you know the baby will wake every three hours or more or less, you know breastfeeding might not be as straightforward, you know about developmental leaps etc. But if you have an attitude of going with the flow and, as much as you're able, looking after your mental health then it'll be all good. I have no idea how some have 5+ kids! Legends!

Edit: Just wanted to add that the above lead generation idea isn't through Google's Lead Gen extension, which in itself presents another interesting option...


Sharon,

That sounds like a great place to get your feet wet. Might as well dive straight in! Love it. I don't know much about what you are trying to do so I don't have much of a critique to offer. Once you get a few meetings under your belt you could create another post about it to discuss your game plan and I'm sure other fast laners would chime in!! Definitely excited for your journey.

That's amazing. You go Mama! And 100% agree, legends!

Talk soon,

D -
 
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