Ep. 60: Two Secret Truths for Business Leaders & Entrepreneurs that will set you Free

For all you Business Leaders & Owners, including Entrepreneurs....

I want to share 2 secret things that so many of my clients have come to discover and how to own them in order for you to really bring your business and life to the next level.

Business is personal. Everything brings "their stuff/sh*t" to work, often unconsciously.

If you want to grow your business, you need to grow yourself. Your business is a direct reflection of you.

Follow me on Instagram @katweissner and check out my website at www.klwcoaching.com

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The Wildly Confident Podcast, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of KLW Coaching, LLC, all rights reserved. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

This podcast episode is for all of my entrepreneurs out there, for all of my business owners out there, for all of my people who are top leaders in C-suites. And I am here to validate a really common experience that many of you have shared with me. A common experience that I have had. Obviously I, I am an entrepreneur right now, but I have also been , uh, previously running a company before. And I also have the experience of being in the C-suites and being a joint owner at another company. I've had a and I've also had the experience of just being an employee someplace too, right? I've had a multitude of experiences and I can tell you that one thing I know is true, and one thing that a number of my clients have shared with me who've been in similar leader leadership type experiences is the feeling of being lonely or alone and no one really understanding their experience. And I'm putting words to that right now. That's usually the conclusion they can come to. But often they'll come to me just being really frustrated that their employees don't understand the pressure that they're under and their employees are constantly telling them how to run their business better, even though they maybe haven't asked for any of their advice or, and also their employees have a lot of demands that can feel very overwhelming to this leader who is in a position who's often worried about meeting payroll or meeting revenue target, or where to find the next big lead, like under a whole series of pressures that the employees underneath them literally have no idea what they are. They've never experienced them. And even if they think they have, they have not. I can just say this carte blanche, it's a lot easier to be an employee and a lot of circumstances than it is to be an employer, to be someone who's calling the shots and making the decisions that could make or break a company. And I , it's not meant to be mean to employees at all at all, right? Everyone, none being an employer or an employee, neither are good like, or any better than the other, right? But I, I really wanna speak to this aloneness or loneliness. I hear from people who are at the top of their organizations or who are running businesses because they have no peers within the organization. They can really almost feel like it's them against their employees at a certain point because they can be so frustrated with their employee's needs, with their employee's desires, all of this stuff. And then at the same time, they're still trying to keep the business afloat. It can be really overwhelming and they're , they can get really confused. And like, what I wanna say is, I just wanna validate, first of all, if you're in that position and you are overwhelmed with your employees' desires and needs, if your employees are constantly complaining about working too many hours or things are so hard for them and all this stuff, and you're like, oh my gosh,

Speaker 2: 3:23

If you only knew what I was going through <laugh> , right? And sometimes you feel like you're having to babysit them or be their mother so, so to speak, right? You're not alone. So many leaders feel this way and, you know, don't judge yourself. Don't feel bad about how you're feeling. You are kind of alone. And I want you to rec recognize right now instead of feeling disempowered about this 'cause you're alone. 'cause you're like at this top position and no one else has skin in the game like you do, right? Your employees think might have the illusion that they do, but they just do not, they don't know the pressure of having to meet payroll. They don't know the pressure of basically creating something from nothing and then continuing to feed it. Anyone who's an employee listening to this like so much love, right? It doesn't mean that one thing is better there than the other, but I challenge you to try to create something on your own on the side and then try to make money doing it. Maybe you are meant to be a business owner, right? If you have a lot of suggestions for your employer all the time, <laugh> , I know I always did <laugh> , sorry, lots of , lots of love to all the employers that I have worked for in the past that I have respect for. But um, yeah, that's part of the reason why I went out and created my own business. I had a lot of ideas that I just was like, I wanna do this. And like, Hey, then you need to go do it. You know, go do it. Go prove your medal . Go prove your merit. You know, but so I , I suggest for all those employees out there that are like, I know how to do it better, X, y, and Z, then go do it. Like, don't necessarily quit your job, right? But start doing it on the side. Start testing it out. 'cause maybe you are meant to be an entrepreneur, but one thing I know is that the , the people at the top, the people who are running these businesses do feel very alone. And , and I think they are. And I think this is why I wanna suggest to all of you, it's really important to try to get in a community or a network of people that are at the same level of you that where there's a confidentiality space. I know that , um, when I was at some of those levels and organizations I had joined, like , um, one of the groups I was part of was women's president, W p o, women's President organization, where all the women in that group were also presidents or CEOs of companies and had made a certain amount of money in those companies and it was a confidential space and it was a great place for me to go every month to feel like I wasn't crazy or I wasn't alone <laugh> , that other people were also stressed the out about money sometimes for their business and also frustrated about their employees demands, even though they love their employees, right? But they were just overwhelmed with a whole nother set of things they were dealing with and also being a great manager. So that's one of the reasons I hired my first coach was so I had someone to talk to about the struggles I was with. 'cause I didn't have anyone at work. I mean, being an employee, you guys, you have a lot of peers in the same level and you have a lot of people that you can talk with about your struggles, right? And get feedback on. But

Speaker 3: 6:21

When you are a leader in a company or at the top, there is a certain loneliness and you have to cultivate community outside of your company usually. And so for me, that was getting involved with an organization where I had other women, although we were in all different types of businesses, but that, you know, when you're a business leader, you're facing the same types of issues. It doesn't really matter what business you're running, you're facing all sorts of the same issues. So it's nice to find peers that can relate to you. You can share stories. And this is why I so just completely believe in having a coach. Even I have a coach right now, right? Because as an entrepreneur and really as like a , primarily a solopreneur, I do have some contract people that work for me occasionally, but I'm really running my own coaching business. It's lonely. And a lot of my entrepreneur clients say that like, it's lonely being by yourself. You need to find someone that you can really be in , in almost like a work partnership with that doesn't work at your company that maybe you check in with them once or twice a week on your business goals. And again, that can be a coach, right? Like I said, I hired my first coach 'cause I was like, oh my gosh, I need, I need someone to talk to that I can safely talk to. And there's no one in this organization I can, so who can I safely talk to about working through some of the business troubles I'm in and sorting out my mind, right? I don't have a boss here. <laugh>, when you work for yourself, you know, there is like a a something wonderful about having a boss because you know, there's someone there that at least is gonna tell you yes or no. But when you work for yourself or you're at the top of an organization, there's no boss, there's no one to tell you yes or no. It's, it's not the easiest position to be in. You know, there is kind of like a sense of relief when someone else is there to be like, oh, well this is it. Here's your boundary, right? You don't have any boundaries when you're running something at the top. And that can be scary to people. So it's nice to have a sounding board. It's nice to have a coach, right? And a lot of the , uh, number of my clients are in these positions and they come to me as a sounding board every week. And they've told me over and over again, it's like, it's invaluable. This just helps me. I, I have no one I can talk to about this stuff and , and within my organization, and you have been in a number of these positions before and I can just come here and talk to you about this stuff and you listen and, and you help guide me through it. And then I get so much more done during the week because of that. And I know I have a safe place to discuss this. Again, it doesn't have to be a coach, it can be an organization or you can have a one-on-one relationship, right? I have all three of those right now. I have, I just kind of think, you know, spending an hour in each one of these groups a week is a good use of my time. But I have a , a one-on-one coach. I have like a friend who's in a similar business to mine, and we meet and push each other on our goals, right? She's kind of like my cheerleader and

Speaker 4: 9:19

I'm hers. And I think that's really important, especially if you're a solopreneur. If you're not, you can have your team or your employees, you can be in that relationship with them. And then I have professional organizations I'm part of where it's a confidential, safe space where we can share what's going on and it just makes you feel not alone. So I just wanted to share that if anyone is in those places of leadership or running your own business, it's okay. You're , you know, it is lonely. You're not, you're not crazy. It is lonely and please reach out to get support. And um , it really does help. It helps grow your business. And the other thing I wanna say about working for yourself or having your own business is there is no place to hide. This is the other thing that I have determined. It is really different than being an employee. When you are an an employee, when you have your own business, when you're an entrepreneur, your , the success of your business basically rides on your own internal beliefs about success. It rides on your own internal beliefs about yourself, your confidence, right? Your clarity, the whole thing ride , like kind of just rides off of you. And so one of the reasons I see entrepreneurs or businesses stuck at certain levels is because the people running them are stuck at a certain level. And so in order to bring the company to the next level to make more money, to have more success, they have to bring themselves to the next level. They have to deal maybe with some past traumas they didn't wanna deal with. They have to deal with some limiting beliefs. I often say like, we're creating version 3.0 or 4.0 of you, so we can bring your business to version 3.0 or 4.0 of you. And so when you, when you have your, you've created something from scratch, right? You've created your own business from scratch, that business becomes like , um, part , it's part of you, it's an extension of you. And because of that, parts of you are in the business, good parts and bad parts, right? Not , we're not perfect and we don't need to be judgmental over this, but if you're stuck and your business is stuck, like it's plateaued at a certain revenue point, I'm always like, where are you plateauing in your life? And it , it's sometimes things you just like don't even think are related to business. Like your sex life, <laugh>. I mean, I'm telling y'all like business is so personal. I am not a fan of saying that business is not personal. Everyone, companies want you to be like, leave, leave your at the door and come in, be impersonal. But everyone brings their in. Everyone brings their trauma in. And more than anyone, the owners bring their trauma because the business started out with them, typically by themselves doing this. It's just woven into the fabric of it. And as business owners, I think we have a responsibility to work through our own stuff , uh, to our employees. So we're not polluting the space that, that they're in. Anyone who's ever worked in a toxic workspace can like see their employer's trauma all over the place. It's like nasty, right? And of course, don't stay , you know, if you're working in an abusive or toxic workspace, you know , um, take care of yourself. You know, obviously it is really important for us to, to realize that if we are stuck in places, it might not be our advertising that needs to change. Maybe that also does, but maybe there's something in us that needs to change. Maybe there's something in us that needs to shift. And when you have your own business, one of the hardest, hardest, hardest things is you just, there's no place to hide when you're an employee. You can blame other people for things. You can not take responsibility for things, right? You can be like, well that wasn't my job. When you have your own business, everything is your responsibility. You cannot hide from anything. It is the, it is such a huge amount of personal growth you're gonna need to go through often to , to be able to have a successful non-toxic workplace <laugh> . And to be a leader at that place that I don't think people realize like there is, this is why my, my customers, my clients that have their own business that are entrepreneurs, often fantasize about working for somebody else. They're like, I'm just gonna quit this. I'm gonna go work for somebody else. Because there is a certain, there is a certain amount of relief knowing that it's not all on your shoulders. And you don't have to constantly be like, trying to figure out like, what do I need to shift? What do I need to uplevel? What are the beliefs that are holding me back? Right? Like, it, it , there's no one to blame but yourself. And that's really, really, really a lot to carry. And so that's why , again, I think coaching is so important. I think it's so important to have a coach if you're an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, if you're a leader, if you're a business owner to help you work on that 3.0 or 4.0 of yourself so you can grow yourself to grow your business and recognize that maybe you are supposed to go work for somebody else too. Like sometimes that is gonna be what you need to do. And all you employees out there that are listening to this, so many, if you're one of those employees that has a fantasy about having your own business, do it. Not all employees have that, right? If you ha like think you can do it better, if you have a great idea, then do it. Like I like do it on the side though. Like I always say like don't just quit your job cold Turkey <laugh> , then start your own business. Because starting your own business is like, it's, it . There's a lot of financial outlay you need and it's better off you do it while you have a current job. So you can have some of those financial resources and you do it on the side as like a side hustle, so to speak and tell you your own business has enough financial momentum to support you. If you're one of those employees like me who had a fantasy about having her own business, do it. You won't regret it. You will learn so much about yourself and

Speaker 5: 15:15

You will uplevel yourself so much and it will be hard and it will be painful <laugh> . But it's also hard and painful probably for you to be working for someone too, right? Not everyone is meant to have their own business, y'all. And there's nothing wrong with that. We're all here living our best lives or trying to live our best lives and everyone has different paths in life. So I really did this pod podcast more than anything to validate the experience. So many business owners and leaders have told me, and entrepreneurs and solopreneurs have told me about being lonely, feeling like their employees just don't get it and they don't get it guys. And that's okay. We can give 'em a big hug and we can be like, well how would they ever understand this? They've never been in this position. They might think they understand it, but we know they don't. 'cause they've never owned a business like this. They've never had this experience, they've never been through all of this to get to this place. And they don't have to live with the fear of, of losing it or making the wrong choice and how that's gonna affect other people's lives. And so have compassion for yourself. Realize you're not crazy and fricking get support for yourself, okay? Like I said, join a org , a confidential private organization. Get yourself a life coach , uh, or some sort of business coach where you can have like an outside place to just bounce ideas off of a safe place or find like a buddy, you know, like this, you know, growth buddy I have where we're constantly pushing each other to grow into different spaces in our lives. So I hope that's helpful. And you know, this is <laugh> . This isn't easy. You know, having your own successful business isn't easy. If it was, everyone would do it. This is why statistically so many businesses fail. Not all of it is your personal fault, right? Sometimes there's circumstances outside of our control. And there , there , you know, there's other things in society, other unconscious manifest manifestations that might be stopping us from getting what we desire. But a lot of it does rest within your control. So give yourself a big hug and if you're plateauing in your business or in your career, deep breath, close your eyes and just see if there's anything that comes up for you. Anything that comes up for you on why you might be plateauing, why your revenue might be stuck at a certain spot. And I want you to look outside of your business. It might be that you do need to hire someone new for advertising or you do need to shift some employees positions around. But what do you need to do in your personal life? Is there anything in your personal life, anything about you as a person that needs to change? So sit with that and if you want any guidance on this, I'm highly intuitive and I ask great questions and I can very much empathize with you. I've been exactly where you are. Book a consult call with me. My consult calls are not sales calls. Actually a full session where you just get to experience what it's like coaching with me. And if you want me to tell you about the program I do, I will. If you don't, I don't. Right? But you really just get the joy of having like a full hour plus long session with me and getting some real help on wherever you're stuck. So anyway, hope you all are having a great day and I'll talk to you next week. Bye.