11 Serious Time Wasters That are Holding Your Business Back

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome back to the book your dream clients podcast. Today, we're talking about 11 serious time-wasters that are holding your business back. I'm excited to go over these with you!

I'm going to go through them and I'm sure you can relate to one or more. Maybe you're doing it right now. But these are really serious. And I see them in some of my students and clients when we're working together because I believe that procrastination is just a form of you trying to keep yourself safe. So the more we procrastinate in our business, it means that you are holding yourself back from judgment, rejection, failure, all of those things.

So if we sit behind our business and we decide to mull over something that is going to take up all of our time, we are basically just procrastinating on our success. This is perfectly normal. But they're not actual things that if you sit on Facebook too long, you're holding your business back. That's not what this is. This goes deeper.

So I want you to really listen to this with an open mind. I'm coming at you from a place of love and positivity because I really want you to keep moving forward. Otherwise, you're going to stay sitting where you are, and I know you don't want that for yourself. So let's dig into the first one.

One of the biggest things. I see my students and clients wasting time on for seriously, sometimes years is the website platform that they're going to use. I am not joking. I see a student or client or a member of my Facebook group ask a question that involves “what website platform do you use” when I know they've asked this years ago, I remember this. I think, “Oh my goodness. She is still stuck trying to get this website up.”

So, what usually happens is people launch their website. They work really hard on it. They put it out there and then they don't get their reaction they were hoping for. And then they scrap it and they decide to either turn to WordPress or Squarespace or whatever it is. And then they go back to the drawing board and then there they go, they're Googling WordPress versus Squarespace, Squarespace versus Wix. And they're asking everyone in the Facebook group getting everyone's 2 cents. They're not really looking for answers. They're looking for somebody to agree with where they should go.

We can sit in a website paralysis forever. If we want. Or we can just pick something and go with it. The most important thing is you're using something that feels right for you. And then you can easily manage and do love. There's no like, Oh, views a WordPress website. Then your business will be successful because Squarespace equals unsuccessful. What you put into your website is what will make you successful. Right?

So stop worrying about which platform to use. Stop asking everybody and just pick one and go. We have to keep moving. We can't just sit there and wait for everyone's opinions. In order to, for us to make a decision because it's not helping. Is it when you get a bunch of different opinions, shouted at you from every direction? Is it really helping you make an important decision? I don't know. I think for me that makes me feel overwhelmed. Anxiety builds. Because there are too many people yelling at me and I just really need to pick something and keep going.

Okay. Second one. How much should we charge? Oh, my goodness. Can we waste time trying to figure out how to price our coaching packages? Oh my goodness. Can we waste time trying to figure out how much to charge for our group program? We can waste years on this again, too. So think of how much time you have wasted, trying to figure out how to price your one-on-one coaching.

For example. How long have you been procrastinating putting a dollar sign and like four numbers on your sales page? Because you're afraid of what people will think. It's not the matter of. If you charge $100 for people to work with you or $10,000 to work with you, what matters is how you feel? Do you feel like you deserve this? Do you feel like, yeah, I can totally charge $10,000 for people to work with me. I can own that number and I'm going to go with it.

When I started, I was not charging what I what I am now, because your business evolves and grows. You learn more about your business. You spend more time on your business, you invest more in your business, which gives you the right to raise your prices. You can't raise your prices unless you put one on your website. What feels right for you? Stop looking at everyone else's and just put some numbers on there. Don't undercharge yourself. If the number you put on your website, It feels like, wow, this would be so awesome to get. And I know I can, it feels a little, it makes me feel a little nervous, but I'm just going to ignore that feeling and I'm going to put it up there. Just put it up there. Don't charge $65 for your sessions. You need to charge your worth. And sometimes charging our worth makes us feel really uncomfortable because we've never done that before. And that is okay. And perfectly normal. But what's going to feel worse is you never putting any pricing on your website? You just spending money on your business and time and never getting paid because you won't tell people how much you charge. Just put something and then you can always change the numbers. I've said this before. The easiest way to change your pricing on your website is hit, edit backspace and type in different numbers. It's not that hard. Just do, just do it. This is a tough love episode.

Okay. The next one, which tools and programs should we use? Should we use HoneyBook? Should we use Trello? Should we use Asana? Should we use Convertkit? Should we use HootSuite? Should we use tailwind? Oh my goodness. Let's decide on all the programs and then compare every single one for the next two years so we get nothing done. 

I feel like I'm yelling at you, but it's coming from love. I really want you to just pick something. It's like I'm looking at my toddler trying to see her decide if she wants a granola bar or, or a little big of chips. Just pick something. Just feed your hunger and move on. So here's what you need to do. You need to write it down. The things that you need to function in your business. You need a calendar. You need email, you need a website. Social media scheduler, project management, email service provider, and design software. Okay. Then write all those things out. The things that you need to have happen in your business every single day. Then write down the first tool that comes to mind for each one, go with it and start using it.

Do you like it? If you don't like it and use a different one? It's okay to switch. I switched dozens of times. Because your business is going to change and your needs are going to change. And you're either going to want to make things a little bit more complex or you're going to want to simplify some things. It's okay to change. I changed my email service provider, which was a huge move for us. But it felt really good at the time to do it. It was the right move. And I had the extra time to make it happen and the help. So think about what is going to be the easiest thing for me to do not the quickest win. Can I just go use something like Mailerlite? I can get familiar with email marketing. Can I just go and use Squarespace? Because they know that I have tools at my fingertips to help me just pick something. How many times am I going to say that on this episode. Pick something. Okay.

Another thing I see people wasting an ungodly amount of time. Is writing a welcome sequence. They'll just spend. Six months writing this thing. I feel like as we're building our business and we're just learning about everything. We're hearing so many people talking about And welcoming your subscribers and so they can get to know you better. Yes, I think that is extremely important, but I think the execution is wrong. This is what we're doing wrong.

We are putting up a task of creating a five email welcome sequence on our list. And that is really daunting because you are literally looking at writing a ton of content. So what happens? You keep pushing it back on your list. You push it back to tomorrow, next week, next month. Until that magical moment happens when you feel like writing five emails. I know there isn't a day where I want to sit and write five emails very often.

So, what I like to do is break it up. If you're going to write five emails for your welcome sequence, write one a week for five weeks and finish it up. So you can stop procrastinating on getting this sucker up there. Write your five emails. One every Wednesday. Put it in your calendar. And then on the sixth week, you can go and schedule them in your email service provider and be done.

Don't use this task to put off communicating with your list. Everything always has a deeper meaning. You are not putting your welcome sequence out there because you're afraid of people unsubscribing from you. You're not putting your welcome sequence out there because you're afraid that you don't have anything to say. And everyone's going to think that you're not interesting. And they're going to regret signing up for your freebie. So we have to get rid of those bad, those bad thoughts, those negative feelings, those tendencies, to think that you're not good enough because you are. And if you want to send your people a five-day welcome sequence, more power to you. Break it up into small bits. So it doesn't feel overwhelming for you and get it done.

Okay. Another thing that we waste away too much time on is social media numbers. Every day we're going in and seeing who unfollowed us. And should we follow all of these people that engage with us and don't engage with us? And maybe we should analyze the heck out of why nobody liked my Instagram post. And maybe we shouldn't even post for like a week because that'll show them. I want you to stop freaking out about unfollows and engagement.

I always talk about the silent followers. Some people don't really like liking posts. They read it and they move on. So what would happen if you didn't show up what would happen if you're like, this is pointless, I'm not doing it anymore, then they would never see your stuff again. They would wonder what happened to you. You know, those people, when you don't see them post and you go look and you're like, Oh, Is she okay. So stop obsessing about people not liking your stuff and start showing up for the people who need you. We waste way too much time obsessing over things that don't matter. Cause we can't go to their house and say, Hey when I posted that, that infographic to go listen to my podcast, and then you unfollowed me, why'd you do that? Because that hurt my feelings. You can't do that. And that's weird. That we would want to, cause we're kind of acting like we can't take everything so personally. And so stop obsessing about things that don't mean anything in the big, long run of your business life.

Your content medium. What does that mean? Should you blog, should you podcast or do you have a YouTube channel? Do you want to spend the next year, two years of your life deciding which one you want to do Probably not. So, which one feels easiest to you right now, if you want to have a YouTube channel, but you're not sure if you should have one and you're not even, you'd have no clue how to make it happen. Then if this is something you're procrastinating on, well, why are you procrastinating on it? Is it because you were afraid to do the video? Is it because you don't have enough time? You don't know how? What could you do right now? That would give you a quick win then probably a blog.

Most of my clients start out with blogging and then they usually go to podcasting. 95% of the time. Blogging is great for so many reasons. And podcasting is great for so many reasons. So let's just focus on those two. If you want to launch a podcast and you're waiting for the perfect time, the perfect episode and the perfect music, and the perfect this and that. You're never going to get it out there. Just get it out there. I used to have a podcast before this podcast. And my podcast, I've been doing this for years and it's not perfect at all. But I show up for you every single week because I believe that you need to hear what I have to say. Because I believe that I can help you. I know I can help you. And you listen because you think I can help you. And I love that, that this is my content medium. I like to blog as well. But I didn't start out doing all the things. I started out blogging 10 years ago, I used to blog every day. Which is way too much. The point of this being just do one thing, you don't have to do everything that I do. You don't have to do everything that she does, or she does over there. Don't obsess about getting the perfect podcast video channel blog up. Just pick something. Get consistent with it.

But the most important thing is that you just go ahead and do it. If we're not producing new content on a regular basis. We are disappearing in the grand scheme of things. I mean, we're not going to drive traffic to our website. We're not going to show people that we continuously have new ideas to help them. We're not showing people that there are other ways for them to build their business or to get help or to meet their goals. We need to show up.

Sometimes I wonder where people get the idea that they can start working with clients and having these big successful businesses when they don't want to do the foundational work to make it happen. We have to do that work. It's like expecting people to show up to your house warming party when you haven't even built your house to start. Pick the easiest thing. And get good at it. Okay, consistent with it. And if you want to add to your plate, do it, but don't put everything on your plate right away. That's overwhelming. And you're not gonna do anything with it. It's too much.

The next thing people obsess over is if they should have a Facebook group. Stop obsessing If you should have a Facebook group. It's probably because you want to have one and you're afraid that nobody will join it. I said this before, the first two people who joined my first Facebook group was my mom. And then my grandma. And now we have over 2000 people in there. I don't have a 40,000 person Facebook group, and I don't care about that. But my first two people were my mom and my grandma. And that is awesome. Everyone starts at zero. Don't forget that if you want to have a Facebook group. Then go create one. It'll take you five minutes, go do it and tell people to come over there, show up for them, build connections with people. That's how you move forward in your business. Otherwise, you're just like standing in quicksand wanting all of these things to happen, but not even trying to get out, not even asking for help, or using tools that are right in front of you, that can help you grow. 

The next one, the next tough love tip. What everyone else is doing. You are sitting there thinking, yeah, but she does this and she does this and you're paying attention to all the noise. And you're not focusing on what's important. Right in front of you on your screen, inside your head, inside your heart, what's important to you. Why did you even start this business? Did you start this business so you could be hard on yourself and look at everyone else and get into the comparison mode. That's not why you started it. Come back to why you started. And I know that you comparing yourself to everyone else is not a part of this. We need to do some mindset work. We need to build up our self-confidence. And step into our own power so we can help people. That's what coaches do. They don't stay hidden. And wondering what everyone's going to think of them. You decided to be a coach for a reason. Not everyone can do this. You can. You're here. So stop holding yourself back. Who cares what everyone else is doing. Don't compare your beginning to someone's middle. We have to just keep going on our own journey. No one is going to ever travel the path you're traveling on. So what is the use and comparing someone else's journey to yours. 

Number 10, getting everything perfect. Not going to happen. Your website will never be perfect. Your branding will never be perfect. You're messaging, everything. Nothing will ever be perfect. Even if you pay $10,000 for a website, you'll probably be sick of it by next year. 

What's exciting about running a business is you can always change things and make it feel more you. You're not wearing the same clothes in your closet that you were 10 years ago, right? So your business isn't going to be the same way in 10 years. Probably even a year from now. I love that. So stop the perfectionism. And keep moving. Getting it done is better than perfect. We all, we always hear that. But it's so true. What would happen if you waited to be perfect? Nothing. Just. Go. And I'm lovingly pushing you ahead. And there are so many people who need you and we need to keep moving. So we can get in front of them so we can help them be there for them, guide them, coach them. That's why we're here. Nobody cares if you're perfect. People realize that that's not going to happen. People are going to think that you are perfect for them because you show up in a way that feels right for them. You provide guidance to them. It feels perfect for them. But they're not, nobody works with you because they think you're perfect. They work with you because they know you've been where they are right now. And that is perfect for them. 

The last one, switching niches. Yes, it's okay to evolve your business. But when you go from a financial coach to a health coach to a business coach and to a money mindset coach in the matter of six months, you are confusing people if your niche doesn't identify with where you were five to 10 years ago. And you can't, you can't match that, feeling that your clients are having right now because you've never been there. And you're just using a catchy name you saw on Instagram. Then no one's ever going to feel connected to you.

If you want to be a money mindset coach are you promising people, these large goals, and these massive gains in their financials? And you're struggling and you have the worst of money mindset ever? People can smell that. If you look back at your past and you realize that you achieved a lot and you acknowledge that and you're open to helping people get to where you are. That's what coaching is. We can't go on Instagram and shop for a clever name. And then use it while not having a journey or history to relate with. You can't, it's going to be hard to write copy for posts, for sales pages. It's going to be hard to guide your clients because you don't understand where they are. You don't get it. And that's okay that you don't get it. You don't have to have gone through everything in the world. That's why we're not Walmart. We can't help everybody. And that's fine. But what can you help people do? 

I think the biggest mistake people make is not giving themselves enough credit. And acknowledging everything that they've accomplished up to this moment. Even if you're in the thick of working on your business, have you ever looked back at your to-do list from the past week? And really congratulated yourself because of everything that you've done? All the little things like I'm looking at my list right now in front of me. And there are so many things on this list. And so many things I have crossed off in the last week and I'm like, wow. You've done a really good job this week, Lindsay. I mean you've moved mountains. And I can help other people do that. And that's what I do.

It's always going to be massively important for people too. That you get them. And so when we switch things around so much it just clouds the messaging up. I think that evolving is good, but take your time and ask yourself why you are switching things. Are you switching things because they're not working? Or you haven't, maybe you haven't given it enough time?

And I'm talking massive niche switching. Not just, you know, a simple, simplifying your niche or niching down, but literally switching niches, like I help people create a dog walking business and then switching that to, I help people make sourdough bread. Like those big differences.

So think about why you keep switching and switching and switching and ask yourself why. And maybe you need to tap in a little bit into your own history and recognize what you've done and how huge it is that you're here. What do you really want to do? Have you even gave that a second thought? Are you scared? That people might reject it and not think it's good enough or it's weird or, Oh, now she's this. But what would happen if you were confident in what you are meant to do, what would happen if you're so confident that you can help people do this? Because you've done it before. And I'm going to own this statement. I'm going to, I'm going to help so many people and I'm going to keep moving. It's not going to be perfect. But I'm going to keep moving because done is better than perfect. Progress over perfection. Right? I know you can do this.

So if any of these things, if you find yourself getting hung up in and choosing this program or that program and comparing yourself, and should you do this, or should you do that? Ask your gut. Ask your intuition. If there's a decision that you need to make in your business. And you're feeling really excited about it in the afternoon, and you're ready to hit the button or you're ready to invest, or you're ready to do whatever it is. My suggestion to you would be to sleep on it. And then when you wake up in the morning, how are you feeling? Are you excited? Or you're like, eh, I'm kind of glad I didn't do that. Trust that feeling. That is the most clearest. That is the clearest feeling you will have that day when you wake up. Trust yourself. Not anyone else and keep moving. You got this! Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for listening.

And please send me a DM if you're like, how do I get out of this rut? How do I get out of this? This procrastination. Of perfectionism. How do I get out of this? Just DM me and we'll talk it out. Thank you so much for listening. And I will see you on the next one.