So there’s a lot that goes into growing a business. There are a lot of trials and errors and growing pains and figuring shit out as you go. Now obviously there are shortcuts you can take, like working with a mentor and leveraging their knowledge to help you collapse the timeline of growth or investing in systems and lead gen that help things run on autopilot so you’re getting high-quality leads funneling into your business in your sleep.
But, even with those, your business is unique. So just to clarify when I say shortcuts I’m saying that in quotation marks. Every single business is different, every single business owner is different, and there are going to be learning curves that you still have to learn on your own and different roadblocks that are going to pop up for you in your journey that aren’t the same as the ones that pop up for me or another business owner in theirs.
And even in those shortcuts, there can be pitfalls and learning curves. Maybe that mentor was really good at marketing but was actually terrible to work with or maybe that funnel really was epic, but sucked for your business and was a waste of money. So sometimes even the shortcuts don’t work like we hope or plan.
Even still, as I said before, there is a lot that goes into growing a business. But one thing that every single one of my 7-figure clients has, their secret weapon, if you will, is rock solid support.
This support can come in a lot of different ways, and types of support that one client has can obviously vary from types of support another one has, but the point here is that a key differentiating factor is that these clients, you know, these women, asked for, found, and utilise support. Not just in their businesses but also in their lives, and that has a direct impact on their business.
As women, we tend to ask for help or communicate what we need far less than men. I don’t want you to just take my word on that, so indulge me a little as I read an except from a Harvard Business Review article titled Nice Girls Don’t Ask.
The start of this section is called Getting What You Settle For
And I quote. “Women are less likely than men to negotiate for themselves for several reasons. First, they often are socialized from an early age not to promote their own interests and to focus instead on the needs of others. The messages girls receive—from parents, teachers, other children, the media, and society in general—can be so powerful that when they grow up they may not realize that they’ve internalized this behavior, or they may realize it but not understand how it affects their willingness to negotiate. Women tend to assume that they will be recognized and rewarded for working hard and doing a good job. Unlike men, they haven’t been taught that they can ask for more.”
So this article talks a lot about women negotiating and in traditional professional roles, so by that I mean those working primarily in corporate or for SMEs or working as an employee for a company, but from what I have seen and experienced working with entrepreneurs and small business owners for the past 9 years is the same. And it can be even more exacerbated depending on the culture and where that woman grew up.
Women struggle to ask for help. It’s like there’s this extreme guilt or fear of being judged or feeling like we’re being selfish or frivolous or whatever.
So let’s use a real-life example. Every single one of my 7-figure clients has support, right. But one of those types of support is support in the home. Someone or a company to help keep the house in order. Now of course some who have kids have childcare, others have laundry service or a meal service, but as a baseline everyone has some type of support at home.
So when I started gaining a lot of traction in my business a couple of years ago, I, too decided to hire a housekeeper. I was struggling with working way too much and not having enough time and I do a lot better when my home space is calm and clean. She would come twice a month, be here for 90 minutes or so, I’d pay, she’s happy, I’m happy, win win. But when I first started working with her, ya’ll. It was SO hard.
I felt guilty. It felt ridiculous that it’s just me and I was having someone come in and clean. And also, just as a side note, I like things clean and I like things organized, and until this apartment I’m living in in Lisbon right now, I hadn’t lived in one place more than a year and half since 2011. Moving sucks, and moving a bunch of extra crap you don’t need makes it even harder, so my point is I don’t have clutter and a bunch of extra stuff I don’t use laying around, and I already keep a clean space. So there was zero reason to feel guilty – it wasn’t like I was a slob and the place was always gross or a mess anything like that.
But still. I felt super guilty. I felt bad that it was just me and I was afraid that she was judging me.
In conversations with my clients – every single one of them struggled with this as well. Because asking for support can be really hard.
But it is a legit game changer. There are a lot different areas you can have support in. And you’ve probably heard the expression you can’t fill from an empty cup. So if you are constantly trying to hold it all, you get burnt out, overwhelmed, never have time for anything, and it’s just a hamster wheel that’s hard to get off of.
So having support can help take a lot of that off of your plate. Here are some types of support you can have, and please note these are all paid support, so of course you can have friends or a business group that you bounce ideas off of and support you when needed or a partner to helps you navigate etc etc. But these specifically are paid support types that can be incredibly beneficial:
For business:
↠ You can have support in the form of a mentor or a coach
↠ You can have support in the form of a team
↠ You can have support in the form of a Mastermind or accountability group
Personally:
↠ You can have support in the form of a housekeeper, childcare, a laundry service or a meal service
↠ You can have support in a counselor or a therapist
↠ You can have support with a chiropractor or a massage therapist or a personal trainer
And again on the note of you can’t fill from an empty cup, so self-care is a really big one here too. Although it may not sound like it, having a spa day or a salon appointment can also be forms of support.
So what’s the difference here between choosing to allow yourself to have support versus not? Well, a couple of key things.
In business, you probably hold a lot. You’ve got clients to serve, bills to pay, and most likely, a lot happening behind-the-scenes. Personally, you probably hold a lot. Spending time with your family, making time for friends, running the household, managing the day-to-day. It can get really exhausting.
And if your business gets busy or starts to take off, that can mean that it spills over into your personal life. Likewise, if you’ve got things going on personally, that is going to have a direct impact on your business.
So having the right support is 100% my 7-figure clients secret weapon.
They aren’t having to worry about if things are getting done when personal stuff pops up because they’ve got the support of a team to run things behind-the-scenes.
They’re able to show up fully for clients because they weren’t up until 2am trying to clean the house because they’ve got the support of a housekeeper keeping things clean and managed at home.
They’re able to move through blocks and challenges in business quickly because they’ve got the support of a coach or a mentor helping them navigate.
They’re not about to pull their hair out out of frustration when Monday morning rolls around because they took time for themselves and have that support in place.
Now obviously having all of these support structures isn’t feasible from day 1 and even if you have the cashflow, you still need to be discerning about who you’re bringing on to support you.
Just rushing in and hiring support just for the sake of it can do more harm than good, so in business, when you’re looking for support in a mentor or coach, make sure they actually can deliver and you’re a good fit.
When you’re looking for the support of a team, you need to evaluate HOW much support you actually need. Do you need multiple team members or can you just bring on a VA to help take things off of your plate? Now I know this is a really big one for my clients, so there will be more episodes coming down the line addressing the team topic.
When you’re looking for support in the form of a Mastermind or accountability group, same concept, make sure it’s a good fit for you and it’s full of people who can help elevate you and are where you want to be.
And it’s the same concept personally – you can ask for recommendations, read reviews, and make sure whomever you’re going to be hiring is a good fit for what you actually need.
What about you? Do you currently have support in either your business or life in general? Did you have any resistance to bringing on support? I would absolutely love to hear from you.
And if you are looking for support in your business, either on strategies you can apply to actually or on the team front, just pop me a DM and I’d be happy to have convo with you there.
Have a wonderful rest of your week and I will see you next Monday. Thank you again for being here!
