So, you've started a service-based business, what TF now

What's this episode about?
In this playful episode of the Disobedient Business Podcast, we dive headfirst into the exhilarating world of solo entrepreneurship, specifically zooming in on service-based business ventures. 

We're all about shattering the mould, tossing 'business as usual' out the window, and embarking on a journey to build utterly unique and integrity-packed businesses. Together, we tackle the vital need to trust ourselves over any cookie-cutter advice and steering clear of the dreaded 'one-size-fits-all' approach. 

We're banding together to champion realistic and deeply personal success markers, keeping our financial safety nets (like our day jobs!) snugly under us to keep those entrepreneurial dreams afloat. 

Plus, we're on a quest to sift through the world of guidance and support, advocating for choices that vibe with our own values and aims. We challenge the ubiquitous 'just be yourself' mantra, opting instead for a more nuanced exploration of authenticity in business. It's all about finding and fiercely following our own paths, making informed, heartfelt decisions, and, of course, causing a bit of good-natured trouble along the way. 

So join us on this wild ride every Tuesday for more daring business insights and a healthy dose of disobedience!

Key points in this episode:

01:21 What Exactly is a Service-Based Business?

04:17 The Realities of Starting Your Own Business

06:10 The Golden Rule: Trust Yourself Above All

12:52 Practical Tips for New Business Owners

21:12 Investing in Yourself: The Ultimate Business Strategy

23:44 Authenticity in Business: More Than Just a Buzzword

25:51 Navigating Social Media and Industry Comparison

29:10 Wrapping Up and What's Next

🚨 BIG NEWS YOU GLORIOUS HUMANS 🚨
Disobedient Business® LIVE; the newbie palooza is coming June 2024!
A 4-day virtual summit aimed at helping newbie business owners with wtf this online biz thing is and how tf it all works!
Tickets available real soon, get on the VIP list and be the first to hear at disobedientbusinesslive.com

Our group programme The Disobedient Business® Mastermind is now enrolling - check it out.

Visit our website at disobedientbusiness.com

Come say hi at hello@disobedientbusiness.com

Come and chat on Instagram at @disobedientbusinessco

Transcript

Pippa: 0:29

Welcome back to the Disobedient Business Podcast. Hi, I am Pippa Par and I am one half of the Disobedient Business Co with Lucy Par, who is my eldest Spawn and also my business partner. And we help, people, first business owners who aren't just sick of playing the game, but really wish the game didn't even fucking exist. They wanna do things differently. Disobediently, if you will, and create a sustainable and successful business that they love. So this episode you've started a service based business or what the fuck now? It is a solo episode. I am joined later in the season by some fab guests sharing their wisdom and their special zones of genius with you that will support you if you've recently started a service based business. But for today, you get moi. Aren't you lucky? So let's just clarify what I mean by a couple of things, shall we? Firstly, recently, and secondly, service based business. as they're both super vague and there are plenty of coaches out there that will tell you that service based business is not niche enough. we may or may not get into niching in this episode. We shall see. However, if you go back to series three, you can check out, my episode on niching, with wonderful guest, superstar, who, has very many views as I do on this idea of being a niche business. So, back to today. This idea of recently, I have certainly found that the idea of new service based business owners seems to range massively from, you might literally have pressed the button yesterday, qualified, or graduated, or done whatever it is you did to decide to take the step in and do something differently, it might have been two years ago. One thing, in fact, I've actually had a client who considers herself to be a new business owner who had been, I think what she'd probably describe as tinkering at the edges for seven years. And she still considers herself to be a new service based business owner. And the reason for that was, and what everybody that considers themselves to be new have in common, and one thing that is absolutely for certain, is it doesn't feel real or like a proper business yet, right? It still might feel like it's pushing water uphill. and, you know, a good example might be if it's your intention to do so, you sure as shit haven't been able to give up the so called day job just yet. Either way, the thing that unites those folks is it isn't sustainable yet. They haven't achieved whatever their version of success might be just yet. So in terms of service based business, what I mean when I say that is folks like coaches, copywriters, consultants, educators, designers, creative folk, essentially people who sell a service to make money as opposed to make or source and supply a product to sell. And I guess the only real exception there would be, yes, service based probably, extends to include digital products, things like courses, templates, that are hosted online, because more often than not, not always, but more often than not, those have been a distillation of a service that you also provide or provided that you have turned into a service. Potentially lower cost, more accessible product for people to be able to gain access to your skills and knowledge. So yes, recently and service based. So if that is you, then 100 percent listen on, although actually, you know what, even if it isn't, this is going to be an interesting episode. So stick with me. Let's start, hmm, with busting a business building myth, shall we call it, wide fucking open and chucking it in the appropriate receptacle, shall we? Starting a business is hard, like fucking hard, and at the same time it's also incredible and amazing to have your own business. Especially if you're someone like me, when you really, if you were to be employed again, would really have to resist the temptation to tell some people to just fuck right off. which of course, is somewhat frowned upon by most employers, is it not? The beauty of course, of having your own business is that You say who you work with. I was reminded I had a little thing going through my head of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman going, I say when and I say how and I say who. I can't even place where it is in the film and somebody, somebody DM me on Instagram and tell me what part of Pretty Woman she says that in. But that's the deal. You know, when you run your own business, you say who you work with, you say how you work, you say how often you work. That's the deal. And of course the reality sometimes can be that you're trading, there's plenty of meme that goes around on social media that tells, that will tell you that you're trading your unbelievably hard 9 5 for a 24 7. You know, and sometimes they're not wrong. Sometimes it's a bit like that, particularly in those early days. And what I will say is that anything, and I mean anything, You can do to make it easier or more possible for yourself to succeed. Do that. You know, do that, anything, whatever it is. I want to throw some ideas out in this episode that might live in that making it more possible for you to succeed wheelhouse. and first, and I guess by far the most important one, is this. Counter intuitively. Don't listen to me. I mean, sure, if there are things in this episode that serve you really well, please do take notes. I hope you have a notepad out. I'm going to start making some lists in a minute. and also, And I want you to imagine that I wrote this next bit in caps locks, just like, because I'm not going to shout because it would be really rude, but imagine some caps locks here. Please do not abdicate responsibility for the success of your business to me or any damn so called guru on the internet because they look like they have some kind of successful business or are living some kind of work for 20 minutes a day, living on a beach with my laptop. lifestyle. Don't, don't do it. It's going to be, you might not think it, or if you've been trying to do this for a little while, you might already know this absolutely deeply within your bones, but there are going to be plenty of times when you look to abdicate this responsibility to somebody else. Don't do it. I cannot emphasize enough how many folks, myself included, I started my business in 2016. So. eight years in now, and certainly in those earlier days, I absolutely did this. Started a service based business. you know, so the kind of folks I mean are, they're superb at what they do, right? They've got experience. They're really skilled, offer super, super experienced. But they abdicate their entire business building, imagine some bunny ears around that, piece to somebody else. In spite of how switched on they are, how confident in their field they are, or how simply just sharp cookies that they are, when it comes to the business building bit, and I would say especially around things like marketing, sales and financing type stuff, they hand over the keys to the car and they hope and pray someone else will drive. No. Don't do it. Don't do it. Please don't do it. I promise you, that is not the pathway to your success. Folks, invest a gazillions, I mean gazillions of dollars and pounds into so called blueprints. Now, I'm not going to go on a rant about blueprints, but if you've ever been on our website, you'll know exactly how we feel about blueprints. And 10 step formula into there as well. Fuck knows what else. And they wonder why it doesn't work. And there's, I can tell you, plot twist. Just, you know, in case you were wondering at all. The reason it doesn't work is because one size most definitely does not fit all. I cannot get my ass into somebody else's jeans any more so than most people can get their asses into my jeans. exactly the same thing goes for so called business advice, so called business templates, whatever it may be. One size does not fit all. And so whenever you see any kind of homogenous I have the answer, anyone that uses the phrase the answer is full of shit. Run. Run so fast. Do not pay over your money. And more to the point, be fucking discerning and do your due diligence when you are paying over your money for something. I don't want that for you. So when I say, don't listen to me, I mean, listen to the episode. Great. Please do. Don't, don't tune out at this point. That would be very sad, but use all of those critical thinking skills that you possess to pass my thoughts through your value system filter. And if you don't know what I mean by that, please feel free to message me. I'm very happy to have a DM conversation with you and choose from what I've said and what I've shared with you, what you love And that goes for anybody's information that you consume. And fucking chuck out the rest. Seriously. If something gives you the ick. There's a really good reason it gives you the ick. Now, sure, there might be some mindset stuff around, I don't know, sales or whatever. There might be other things that are getting in the way and potentially making some things feel icky to you. I get that. I work with folks on that. Day in, day out. Cool. But if in your gut, you follow somebody on social media, or some, you know, people are raving about a particular program or whatever, sales page, and your immediate response is, fuck no. Don't, don't buy the thing because you thought it was a good idea, or because other people told you it was a good idea, for the love of all things holy, please don't. I cannot tell you how many thousands of pounds I wasted on stuff. Not gonna lie, one or two things I didn't even start, and these were not like hundred pound investments, one of them was almost two thousand pounds, and I did not even start the thing. To this day, still haven't. What a massive waste of money. And that wasn't coming at it from somebody that was absolutely loaded either, not at all. And if I look at the kind of things that I talk to clients about, by the time they come to work with us, in the Disobedient Business Co., they have often done exactly the same. Or they've got a graveyard inbox full of freebies, or a graveyard inbox or You name it, you're probably listening to this thinking, oh fuck, okay, I feel quite seen now. You're not alone. Without exception, I have not yet come across a, either an established business owner a bit further down the line, or a newbie business owner that I've had this conversation with that hasn't said, oh yeah, fuck. That, you know, almost seems to be the rite of passage. And if there's anything we can do within the Disobedient Business Code to you. I don't know, minimize that rite of passage and save you a stack of money. I would love to be able to do it. So the one and only thing in my opinion, and remember we're talking my opinion at the moment as opposed to fact, that underpins having a long term successful business relationship with your business, with your clients, with your customers, with people on social media, whatever, is trusting yourself. All of the rest, all of the website creation, the niching, the email marketing, the social media content plans, the whatever it is, all of the rest of it is just stuff. So listen to yourself first and everyone else second. And I 100 percent appreciate how hard that is because I'll touch upon it again in a sec. So all that being said, That was the intro, folks. All that being said, here's a few thoughts from me of things that I'd love to invite you to pass through that critical thinking values filter we talked about, in these earlier days in your business. firstly, keep the day job. If you have one, keep the day job as long as you possibly can. And if you hate it, Because, not gonna lie, worked with a lot of people that in the earlier days really, really wanted to get out of their day job. Get a different day job. Don't use starting a business As a reason, and I'm smiling to myself when I say this, as a reason to throw in the towel. And I, the reason I'm smiling myself is because yes, I see you, I see you there six months in, you started your business, you're barely making, you know, any, any money and you're certainly not replacing a full time income at the moment. But you're seeing how amazing it is, and you're seeing how amazing it could be, and how the kind of people that you work with in your business, because let's face it, you put yourself out there, you chose the kinds of people to work with, and it might well be that the kind of job that you've got are really, I mean, you know, I've worked for the patriarchy, shall we say, and, you know, Referring to what I said a bit earlier, I would gladly have told both of the last two chief executives that I worked with to fuck all the way off and when they were done fucking off they could fuck off some more, pass the gate at the bottom of the field and continue fucking off down the field and into nether netherland because, oh my god, don't even get me started. So if you even slightly relate to that, there's every possibility that you get a little way in. You get a taste. for what being your own boss, working, selecting the kind of people that you work with, the kind of work that you do, how you spend your days. And it's very easy for the mind gremlins to take over and say, well you might as well just throw in the towel then. You know, you hate your job so much. I can't possibly, I've got my hand to my head in a kind of like Victorian self affected fainting style here. I know you can't see it, but you know, there it is. I can't possibly carry on. So unless you are lucky enough, or I could even say privileged enough, to have a source of income that means that your business is not the be all and end all, whether that is because you have a shit ton of savings, whether you have a partner, inheritance, whatever it might be, unless you're in that situation, Try not to get caught up in the romanticism of how incredible being your own boss is, because it can be, 100%. And stick with the day job. If the day job sucks, get a different day job. Or go slightly part time to give yourself a bit of breathing space, but whatever it is, baby, definitely not out with the bathwater. In the same vein, earn some safety money alongside your business. So I come across folks quite frequently that have gone the wonderful phrase in the industry is they've gone all in, they've gone all in on their business because the inference is if you aren't all in in some way that you're not committed enough or dedicated enough or whatever. Cough bullshit cough. And, have that money, have that safety money to run alongside your business. It doesn't mean you haven't gone all in, like some folks will tell you, what it actually means is that you don't have a nervous system that is so fucking activated as you're constantly worried about how you're going to pay this month's rent. And that is not a great place to feel. a great place to be, to feel great about getting out there and shining in front of potential new clients. So even if you have taken the leap and, you know, or you have some additional financial support that means that, you know, you don't have to replace the entirety of your full time income or whatever, have a bit of money alongside. And it doesn't matter for shit what it is you do, You know, I, I, full disclosure here, there were times in the earlier days of my business that where I'd given up the unbelievably toxic, aforementioned patriarchy, full time jobs. And, alongside my business, I actually did some waitressing. I honestly, honest to God, I actually did some waitressing. I went and worked in two separate, sort of gastro pub type situations. And I waited tables and I got great tips because, even in my mid forties, I don't know why I'm saying that as a qualification, I'm a damn good waitress. I'm very good with people. I'm incredibly empathetic. And, People love me. Maybe it's a pity thing. Poor midlife ladies still waiting tables. Doesn't matter. Don't care. It helped fund my business at a time when it wasn't taking enough money to be able to pay the bills. Because I have through that whole time, the last five or six years, I've been single and self sustainable in the sense of, you know, having my own property and paying on my own bills and not having any support. So yeah. it was a do whatever you had to do situation, right? So I want to encourage you to have safety money that means that you do not put your business in that awful stressy situation of having to make a particular number and constantly being worried that you're not. And talking about money, if you have the funds to pay someone or more than one person, to support you. Whether that be a techie person, because tech scares the almighty crap out of you, or a coach or a mentor to help you on your, establishing your business journey, that is money well invested in your longer term goals. And I'll come back to that in a bit. Talking of goals, have some. Wouldn't be much of a coach if I didn't encourage you to have goals, would I? But seriously, have some goals. Sure, have some goals around numbers like cash and numbers of clients or whatever. And keep them simple. Write them down for the love of God. And look at them often. You know, write down what it is you're trying to achieve and stick them up on a wall in front of you. And have some kind of plan to get yourself from here to there. to there. Now, unless you're some kind of wild startup and have got investment backers or whatever, I would suggest that a five year business plan at this stage is probably not the best use of your time. planning for the next 90 days, probably a great use of your time. Have some kind of plan to get yourself from where you are now to where you want to be next. And don't put the next too far in the future, right? And a note to the spicy brained amongst you, and for the record, Lucy and I have more spice between us than a fucking Scotch bonnet, so we, we see you. But find a way to plan for your brain, because planning is key, and winging it is really the one. And whether your particular flavor of spice is autism, ADHD, it doesn't matter what it is, there will be a way to plan and execute that works for you. I can't emphasize enough how important it will become to find that. And sure, have those number goals. You know, whatever number goals you want. Don't have too many of them. Nobody wants to be reading War and Peace when it comes to revisiting their goals once every week, month, quarter, etc. But also have some goals around building You know, what building a successful business looks like and feels like to you. Because, sure, whilst a 5, 000 month or five clients is cool and all that, if your goals aren't anchored in shit that matters to you, it's all a bit So, have goals around what we call success measures within the business that are meaningful to you. What a successful business might allow you to do, for example. How it would allow you to live. How it would allow you to contribute. Whatever that is, look beyond, I want X of this and Y of that as your goals. And coming back to talking about getting help, there are a lot of things, a lot, I mean like an endless list of things that you could invest in during these heady, but scary as fuck and oh my God, stressful early days of starting your brilliant business. And depending on who you're listening to, of course, they are of course going to tell you that their one thing is the most important. And that is fair, right? And it's not necessarily a sleazy sales tactic, because a good percentage of honest and great business folks will truly believe that their one thing is the thing that you must buy, in order to help you on your business journey. And sure, that makes sense, right? Of course it does. So, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw this one into the ring. but I'm gonna, as I have said already, ask you to use your discernment and those critical thinking skills, et cetera, and see how it lands with you. But in my opinion, by far, I mean like off the chart by far, the best investment you will make if you're able to is working with someone or working in a program that allows you to learn to trust yourself more, for you to believe in yourself more, for you to get out of planning and thinking and get into action. lots of stuff can be googled or you can purchase cheap templates. and let's face it, nothing needs to be shiny and perfect and wonderful at the beginning anyway. But again, that's something that you quite often need someone to help you with because we quite a lot of us fall into perfectionism and shiny stuff in order to be somehow valid or worthy as a business owner of our services or the whatever we're selling. But the one thing, the one thing that will get in the way of you achieving those amazing success measures that you create for yourself is you. Which sucks. And I'm really sorry to break it to you if you haven't figured it out already, but it won't be whether or not you've learned how to use a particular piece of software, or set up a welcome sequence, or, I don't know, decided on your so called niche, or whatever. It will be you. So I, when I say this, I don't say it lightly. Whoever it is that you work with, and obviously, sure, we'd love you to work with us, but whoever it is that you work with, get some support. To help you keep it moving forward and to help you really, really step into your, I am a business owner era, right? and I think paying for anyone or for anything in is another one of those discerning critical thinking skills things. What is important to you? would be the question that I would underpin a lot of those decisions with. What skills or knowledge are you lacking and what ways could you gain it? So for example, there's no point signing up to teach yourself how to create a Squarespace website if you are so unbelievably time stretched that this new knowledge is very unlikely to ever get implemented. you know, another way of thinking about it would be, what could you Google versus what could you sign up for that was low cost, for example, or what could you simply pay someone else to do for you? And I think another really helpful question is there, you know, am I time poor or am I more cash poor? As the answer to that question will likely influence your decision. So, slight change of tack now, another common funsy you're gonna hear is, just be yourself. Just be yourself. That's the answer. Just be yourself. what's that lovely phrase? Just be yourself. Everybody else is taken. Fucking hell. Really? Okay, no, sorry, going a bit back, Pippa. Much of the online business industry got on the authenticity bandwagon a few years back. And yes, 100 percent it is key to bring yourself and your values and all of that good stuff to your business. And also, don't be surprised when it's not that fucking simple. And I don't say that to scare you or anything like that, but I say that to comfort you because if you've been hearing just be yourself, just shut up as yourself, just be visible, just this. and it's not feeling possible or it's not feeling easy. it's not you, it's them. It's, it's, it's the so called people saying just be yourself. Not you. If you are finding all of that kind of stuff challenging, that makes you a perfectly normal and typical human, and you are not flawed in any way. Starting a business is a personal growth journey of the highest fucking order. And much of the time it opens up the, How well do I even fucking know myself door? And if you then sprinkle in a little dose of societal structures, capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy anyone, maybe with a little soupçon of nervous system regulation, and always entertaining the fabulous expectations of others. Just Be Yourself is, in that context, fucking reductive at best and downright confronting at worst. And to be honest with you, it's this kind of thing that makes me saying getting help with the you stuff and not the how to stuff is the best possible way to invest in those early days. But please, whatever you do, whatever you invest in, whoever you invest in, just remember, if people are saying just anything, as if it's the most important thing in the world and you're finding it hard, that is not a you problem, that is a them problem. Another thing that I'd love to, I'd love to invite you to do, is I would love to tell you to avoid comparing yourself to others. But I'm not gonna, because you're a human, and of course you're going to compare yourself to others. Why wouldn't you? What I will say is this. Curate things like your social media. I mean, for literally, at its basic, curate the kind of people and the kind of things that you're following on social media for a start. And make sure that you follow people that nourish you in your business. Case in point, if you're a coach, you know, don't surround yourself with dozens of others of your peers or doing exactly the same thing, unless they happen to be your ideal client, obviously. Surround yourself with people that inspire you rather than make you feel like shit. And it's really interesting because it amazes me how much we actually do that. You know, how much we actually do, surround ourselves with, I'm sure unintentionally, I'm absolutely positive unintentionally, But we surround ourselves with people that make ourselves feel like shit. It's really interesting. And in a similar vein, you're totally going to want to feel like you fit in, in some way. because, you know, us humans, if you're even remotely familiar with Brene Brown's work, us humans crave belonging, and that's, you know, manifests itself as trying to fit in, unfortunately. And you're going to want to feel like you're doing it right. I've got the bunny ears out again. And this leads to Emulating others in your industry, intentionally or otherwise. And yeah, I kind of do mean copying. And I remember when I started out as a coach years and years ago, now there was a real trend of, Like cute florals or luscious women with gorgeous blonde hair, sitting on beaches with flower crowns and a laptop. And for a hot minute, you'd laugh if you saw some of the pictures and some of the graphics I can tell you, for a hot minute I tried to be that person as it was, it was the only real version of so called success that was being modelled to me at the time. So if you do want to follow folks on socials that inspire you and you potentially end up accidentally comparing yourself to, At the very fucking least, follow folks that are showing up in a way that you love, and not just what you think your industry success looks like. Because if they're not modelling, so if you look at my situation, if they're not modelling bold and sweary and out there and disrupting the status quo and that kind of thing, and that's the person that you are, and instead you follow the aforementioned boho flower crowned, you know, brigade, for example, and, you know, I'm absolutely, I couldn't be knocking the boho flower crowned brigade less. It's beautiful. It's very much a you do you boo and I'll do me boo situation. but if you're not following You know, those people that are emulating the kind of way that you would want to show up. It's like the double whammy, right? You know, not only are you comparing yourself to something that is unachievable, it's not what you want to be anyway. So what an utter fucking waste of time, right? And It matters not how hard you try, if it ain't gonna be able to be that way anyway, as people can, people can spot that kind of cognitive dissonance a mile away. So what I mean by that is, even if you tried to be the boho, you know, beach person that I've just described, if that's not you at your core, something will always feel off. Both to you and to the people that are, that are, in your community in some way. And are very unlike, they're just not gonna connect because, like I said, that cognitive dissonance is really gonna, it's gonna hit. So I don't want this episode to go too long, so I might call it a day there. we are going to explore these concepts and more in greater detail in all the remaining episodes of season four. So be sure to subscribe and all that fun stuff as a new episode comes out every Tuesday. So that's all for this week, folks. Join us again next week for more disobedient business and fucking with the status quo. We will see you next Tuesday.