Episode #304: Being Realistic in Business
TAYLOR BRADFORD: You are listening to episode number 304 of the Boss Girl Creative podcast. Today I’m talking about being realistic in business. On to the episode.
0:11
Hello! Welcome to Episode 304 of the Boss Girl Creative podcast. I am your host, Taylor Bradford. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode, which is all about being realistic in business and what that means. Before we dive into this episode, the doors to the Inner Circle membership are open. They will stay open through April 15th, and then they will close, and the doors will not reopen until August 1. I want to have the opportunity to help those in the membership dial in, dig in into quarter two so that quarter three and quarter four are going to be successful for 2021. If you are feeling like you aren’t where you wanted to be right here right now in 2021 at the start of quarter two, let me help you. Let my community help you implement. Get your head in the right mindset, and let’s just do this thing. Go to bossgirlcreative.com/InnerCircle. Memberships are $27 a month. It gets you access into the Inner Circle, the monthly live Q&As, the monthly business book club. It also gives you access to weekly office hours where you can ask me questions in a one-to-one capacity through my Voxer audio channel and more. You don’t want to miss out, especially if you’re feeling like quarter one didn’t turn out exactly how you wanted it to and you want help implementing. Get yourself into the Inner Circle. Again, doors close April 15th. Don’t delay. bossgirlcreative.com/InnerCircle
1:55
Okay, that was a lot. Let’s dive into being realistic in business. And this has kind of started or stemmed – this topic stems from the most recent Rachel Hollis episode debacle crazy pants situation. So if you haven’t heard about the most recent Rachel Hollis incident – maybe that’s what we should call it an incident – according to relevantmagazine.com, Rachel Hollis posted a video on Tik Tok responding to a commenter who noted that Hollis was quote-unquote privileged and quote-unquote unrelatable for employing a housecleaner. Hollis acknowledged her privilege but also defended herself, saying she’d worked hard to be able to hire someone to clean her house before going on a long tear about why she doesn’t want to be, quote-unquote relatable. This is what she says, “No, sis. Literally, everything I do in my life is to live a life that most people can’t relate to. Most people won’t work this hard.” And then she goes in to say most people won’t get up at 4 am, etc., etc. And this has caused quite a stir because she has had incidents in the past that had people calling her out, and she likes to place blame on her PR people and all sorts of crazy.
3:32
And what’s more interesting about this is her brand collaborations and her brand partnerships with other big names in the industry. Amy Porterfield being one of them, Jenna Kutcher being another one, Marie Forleo being a third one. And I’m sure there’s others that are involved. And so when one leader, one influencer has an issue, it causes a chain reaction of how the other leaders, how the other influencers are going to respond, react, and communicate. And I just find all of this incredibly fascinating because we are in still an infancy stage when it comes to influencer marketing. And the brands that we have all been learning from – all of those that I’ve just mentioned – have quite literally grown in front of our eyes and have become even bigger in front of our eyes as the years have moved forward since their inception or since their brand birth, I should say.
4:43
And I find all of this interesting because they keep saying – all of them collectively – that this is easy, that it’s as easy as 1-2-3. And a recent ad from Amy Porterfield – I don’t know if it was on Facebook or Instagram – it reads, “The number one way I get results in my eight-figure online business. Learn my complete Getting Started strategy. Click here.” And that’s interesting in and of itself, when do we go from six figures to eight figures? And what is the percentage of people that even get there? And how relatable is that? I know we all want to be successful, and we all need to have our own definitions of what success looks like, but if we have these leaders that say it’s as easy as 1-2-3, follow me, use my tactics, you can basically implement what I do and have the same kind of success, which is not truth. It’s not realistic. There are a lot of factors that go into how those people got to where they are. Some of it was luck. A lot of it was connection. A lot of it was right time, right place. A lot of it was their shtick they chose to stand on. But it’s not repeatable to the level that they are all teaching us it’s repeatable. It’s not. And then the flip side to that is how it makes us feel. It makes us feel that we have comparison issues, that we are not worthy. We must be doing it wrong. Why is she doing it, and why can’t I do it? She just gave me her secrets.
6:46
And, by the way, if you would like to see some epic running commentary on this Rachel Hollis thing, and Amy Porterfield being called out related to it and Jenna Kutcher being called out related to it, and all the other things that are seemingly coming out of the woodwork because of this, the conversations that are happening because of this, it’s quite interesting and fascinating. Go follow my friend, Rachel Kay Albers, on Instagram and start with her highlights. Start at Free 46 in her highlights, start there and watch them current for you to get a handle on what this whole Rachel Hollis thing has called into question. It’s more than just she’s made an error of great proportions. It’s more than just that. It is now how is that going to affect Amy Porterfield? How is that gonna affect Jenna Kutcher? How’s that gonna affect Marie Forleo, etc., etc., etc. Because they all share the same kinds of audiences, and they are all financially gaining from their partnerships from their BFF bestie partnerships. It’s quite fascinating.
8:01
But I want to get back to what this episode is really about, and it’s business and being realistic in your business. We have to be realistic. We can’t be the Amy Porterfield. We can’t be the Marie Forleo. We can’t be the Jenna Kutchers. Do we even want to be at this point because of what this is now called into question? They don’t want us to relate to them? They don’t want us to truly have the same kinds of success that they have and what is their kind of success? We see the pretty packaged with a bow on top version of their success. Their marketing screams that they’re successful. We’ve got Amy P jumping from six figures to eight figures and saying how easy that is. But is it really that easy? No, it’s not. It’s not realistic. They are making money off of this down-to-earth business model with humongo Click Funnels attached to it – and that’s a whole ‘nother story. Something that I have never been 100% behind. I don’t want to play the webinar game. I don’t want to play the Click Funnel game. I don’t like that. Do you – oh no. Anyways.
9:22
How realistic is what they’re claiming is supposedly realistic? It’s not. We are all still trying to be that, though, and I think we need to call ourselves back and figure out why we are allowing these types of figures to make us feel the way they’re making us feel. Why are we consistently giving our money to these people when we already have the tools in our own toolboxes to be successful based on our own definition? Now granted, there are things that we’re always going to want to learn more about. The technology side of things and the nitty-gritty side of things, like running Facebook ads and how to properly set that up or on understanding your Google Analytics or understanding your Google Search Console. That stuff worth learning because it just widens your own toolbox, but to take their strategies that they’re supposedly using to scale their businesses, that’s not realistic. I’m not in the business of being conventional like that, of teaching you that you got to do it this way because this is how I’ve made my money, and this is the way you’ve got to do it. And then there’s the other thing to think about, have they really done it? Have they really pulled back the curtain and shown they’ve actually done it? That’s something else to think about.
11:00
So the amount of people who I’ve personally witnessed, quote-unquote, make it they found their shtick, they found what was relatable to them. And what they found was authentic to them to go out into the world to share, and they dug in. Now, some of it had luck. Some of it was showing up and not giving up. Some of it was being relatable to somebody’s pain point. But for those bigs, the Amy Ps, the Marie F’s, the Jenna Ks, the Rachel Hs of the world, there was always a helping hand that got them there. And we don’t know what that helping hand actually was made up of. Was it just their shtick? Was it financial backers? Was it knowing a humongo celebrity and knowing that they could give you a leg up and make you credible because of that attachment? Because now, if we go back and look at what is going on in Rachel Hollis’s world, it is calling into question all of these people that she’s been BFFs publicly with, and how they’re going to respond and how they should respond because you got to know that there’s a lot of financial things attached to incidents of this proportion. So not only do you have to come at it from a friendship side of things, if you are, in fact, actual friends, and not just pretending to be, but also from a business standpoint and how this affects your bottom line. It’s very interesting.
12:44
But at the end of the day, most of us – getting back to is this realistic in business? – most of us, myself included, feel that comparison game, feel that imposter syndrome, feel that unworthiness because the big break hasn’t happened yet despite the millions of courses we’ve taken, the millions of podcast episodes that we’ve listened to, the millions of books we’ve read. I’ve said this in the past; there’s no amount of books and courses and podcasts and YouTube videos and whatever else that’s going to make the difference for you. You are the difference. You are the differentiating factor. You can’t replicate you. So we can’t be a Rachel Hollis – although I’m not sure many people want to be a Rachael Hollis right now – but we can’t be an Amy Porterfield, or we can’t be a Marie Forleo. It’s because it’s not realistic. It’s not. Do we want it to be realistic? That should be an even better question. Or maybe that should be the question. Do we even want that?
13:59
So what is the big break for you? If we boil this down to is this realistic in business and having realistic ideas of what our business needs to look like for us and what we want our businesses to look like for us, you gotta ask these questions of yourself, what is the big break for you? For me, it’s financial ease and abundance. For me, it’s feeling worthy of even being here. For me, it’s showing that I did it my own way, unconventionally, with purpose, with intention. I don’t want to subscribe to the ways of the easy as 1-2-3 because I know it’s not easy as 1-2-3. I still struggle every day with mindset issues. And I’ve been – I’m pretty successful. If you looked at my asset sheet, my husband and I have been smart with how we’ve invested and how we’ve grown our businesses. But it still doesn’t mean that I feel like I’m worthy, that I’m worthy of more, that I’m worthy of financial ease, that I’m worthy of financial abundance. I have chosen to do this my own way. And I want you to choose to do this your own way because that’s what is going to make this be realistic for you.
15:42
In periods of hardship – and I’m in a period of hardship right now – my comparison game, my imposter syndrome, my unworthiness, magnifies to the nth degree. I can’t even put a number on it. My weaknesses become exposed. Why is this so hard? Why am I not enough? I know how to run a business. I know how to grow a business. I teach how to do these things through a podcast that’s nearly six years old. So why do I feel this way? It’s because of the APs of the world, the JKs of the world, the RHs of the world who say, “Girl, just do it this way. It’s easy. You’ve got this.” But I’ve done all of that. So what’s missing? Is it me?
16:47
Being realistic in business is something we have to get better at. We have to work at keeping that comparison game at bay, which I know is easier said than done. We have to find our worth. We have to claim our worth. We have to believe that we are worthy. We have to know that there are going to be periods of abundance and periods of struggle, that that can and is normal. Being realistic in business is accepting all of it. It’s accepting where you are. It’s accepting what you have to sacrifice. It’s accepting knowing that you are on the right path, you’re on the right journey, and it will happen in due time. And you have to know that it’s not as easy as 1-2-3 that these people have made it out to be. It’s simply not. There’s work. There’s grind. There’s hustle. There’s self-care. And at the end of the day, it boils down to knowing that you have what it takes to do what it is that you want to do. That you are worthy of getting to where you want to go. That you are worthy to make a difference in this world, to make a difference for your family. That is what you can control. We can’t control anything else. Truly we can’t. But that is the way you feel, the way you acknowledge how you feel; that’s what is realistic. That is what you have control over. You can go out and attempt to follow the B-School principles or follow the Amy Porterfield principles or follow whomever is teaching at such a high level that you’re just like, wow, they’re jet-setting all the time, and how are they doing it? You have to peel back the layers to yourself to see what’s realistic for you and define what is the big break for you. That’s the realistic part.
19:26
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Again, get yourself into the Inner Circle, go to bossgirlcreative.com/InnerCircle. The doors close April the 15th, 2021. They will not reopen until August 1st. I want to help you implement at your level and for your journey. That is what I’m here for, to help you with your strategy, with your implementation, and let’s get you to where you want to be. Let’s help you knock out those 2021 goals. Again, go to bossgirlcreative.com/InnerCircle. And until next time, I hope you have a great rest of this week.
