Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
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Okay, Sophia Noreen, let's dig into this. I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here.
Sophia Noreen: Hello everyone. Welcome back to another fantastic episode of The Boss at Podcast. Today I'm gonna chat with you guys about a contingency plan and why I do not believe in the Burn your Boats rhetoric. Some people think I'm insane for doing all the things that I do, but there is a reason behind it, so I wanted to share that with you.
And I want you to be able to take away what you need from this episode so you don't feel so guilty if you are still doing a side hustle while doing your nine to five. So let's get into that. The first thing is that we have to remember when we are starting a business, we are doing an experiment. You do not know if your side hustle is gonna work.
You do not know if your product is the right product fit for the customer that you're picking to. You don't know if your product will actually work at all. You don't know if you're going to even like being an entrepreneur and running your own business. So when you start your business, you are going to be experimenting.
And if you are going ahead and jumping two feet into your business, you're not only putting yourself at risk, you are essentially not giving yourself the opportunity to test out the. And if you will get entrepreneurs, the one that comes to mind is Phil Knight, who is the founder of Nike. He did not jump into Nike right away.
He worked as an accountant for a number of years before he decided to quit, and he went then into his business full time. He was actually working in different firms as an accountant. Then he decided to scale back and do a job that was less demand. The point is he took steps towards getting to becoming a full-time entrepreneur.
Now, was it hard for him? Yes. And you guys should read the Shoe Dog. It is such a fantastic, fantastic read or listen to it on Audible. It is no doubt a book that I recommend to anybody who's thinking about starting a business or as an entrepreneur. A lot of great life lessons in there. So anyways, my suggestion is to view your business.
As an experiment and then give yourself the opportunity to do the experiment while still remaining financially sound and not being so overwhelmed with the cash flow of things that you're unable to be creative in your business. Another thing that you need to keep in mind is that if you are stressed out about your cash flow, about how you're going to.
Provide for your family, how you're going to manage all those other demands of life, then your creative juices for your business are going to decrease. So the stress hormones that are released actually hinder your creativity. And if you think about what business actually is, it is a creative venture. You will always need to be providing some sort of creativity, innovation in your business.
That's how you will stay ahead. That's how you'll stay apart from your competitors. That's how you're going to continue to service and provide what you need for your customers. And so if you are starting off, In a situation where you may not feel confident financially to not only invest in your business and also provide for your families or yourself, then you are putting yourself at a disadvantage because you will naturally be blocking the creative juices that will be provided to you to flow into your business.
So that's another reason why I do tell people, if you need to stay in your nine to five while you are figuring out if the business is the right fit for. And if you have the right product market fit, that's the biggest thing here. If you don't have the right product for the right market at the right time, it's not going to work.
And you will need to pivot and continue to innovate and change those things in your business to provide the solutions that will allow your business to grow. And the only way to do that is by being creative. And so that is the reason why many people do need to stay in a nine to five position. Having a consistent cash flow for their life, their livelihood, and perhaps to invest back into their business while growing the business.
On this side, I know some business owners get into a real bind with cash flow, and sometimes we'll take on clients or customers or do things in our business that may not be what you're aligned with. That generally happens when we are in a stressful situation with cash flow and we just need to make the sale.
I know this is very true for our service based providers. They will take on clients that might be more work or not the right fit, and the reason they're doing it is because they need to be able to continue bringing in the customers to keep their business going. Now, if you had your business on the side and you are still working your nine to.
Then perhaps the demand for you to get those customers wouldn't be as great. So that way you would be able to choose who you would want to work with. I know some people would be like, Well, how do you know unless you work with those customers that are difficult? Or How do you know unless you try that product sale out, if it's the right fit, you may not.
And that goes back to the second point, whereas it's an experiment. It's one of those ideas where if you are able, you don't have to take on all the customers that come your way. You can select the ones you wanna work with. And if you recall, being an entrepreneur is really about the journey. You learn so much about yourself and you are able to then say, Hey, I like working with this client, not that client.
And if you don't have the stress, Of needing to financially provide, then you will naturally not need to take the clients that you don't like once you figure that out. So really by allowing yourself the time to grow your business and the opportunity to experiment in your business, and then of course, being able to make logical sound decisions and not emotional ones based on the financial demands of your.
Then you will enjoy this entrepreneurial journey a little bit more. And again, this is the reason why I say yes, you eventually may need to burn your boats. You may eventually need to quit your nine to five and jump all in. If you want your business to grow, you will need to pick and decide which lane are you gonna stick in because you.
B, doing everything at all times, but at the very, very beginning stages, and I know many of you guys are at the very beginning stages where you're trying to figure out where am I going with this business? Is this the right fit for me? Am I able to execute at the level that I want to to be able to grow this business?
While you're figuring it out, it's better and safer to try to do both your nine to five and side. I know post pandemic, many people didn't go back to the office or a traditional workplace. They said forget it, Not interested. And hence the reason why we have a few labor shortages in North America. Anyways, it's fine to take a break and it's fine to try it, but don't take the time away and say, Hey, I failed at my business.
Because you didn't give your business the opportunity to grow, and you didn't have the opportunity to grow the business because you went back to your full nine to five and said, I'm not an entrepreneur. I can't do that. They actually have a stats saying entrepreneurship is actually decreasing. Although it seems that it might be increasing, it's actually decreasing, and that might be because a lot of people are not giving themselves the.
And the energy and the space to be an entrepreneur and they're thinking they have to go all in and they can't do both. But I'm saying you can. You just have to be strategic on how you're gonna spend your time. And of course, we have a ton of episodes on how to manage your time more effectively and efficiently, so you can do both at the very early stages and you can buy back your time by hiring the right people.
Partnering with the right third party providers to get your business off the ground, and that's how we grew our business, our product based business. Also, Sophia, I have been working either a full-time job or part-time job the whole time that it's been growing. Many people are shocked. They have no clue that I work another.
I openly and transparently talk about it because I want to be an example for many to say, Hey, she can do that. So I can do that too. I can have my career and start my business on the side and see if it sticks. And you can have a family. I have two kids, uh, not married. And yes, it might be an anomaly because how do you manage it all?
But again, it comes down to how you use your time and how you're productive. But the point is you will eventually need to burn the boats. Yes, you will eventually need to jump in and focus and stick to. But at the very beginning when you don't know, is it worth saying, I'm not good at being an entrepreneur, because you didn't have the financial stability to be able to provide for yourself and your family.
You didn't have the financial stability to invest in your business. You had the stress of not having the finances, so you weren't creative enough in your business, and then you had to make emotional decisions because logical. You've thought to yourself, I need that money. I need that cash flow. So emotionally I'm going to do this, although it wasn't the right fit for the business.
So again, guys, I want you to make sure that you're giving yourself the bandwidth of time. There are a lot of businesses that you can start on the side while you're figuring out where you'd like to put your attention in focus while still maintaining your career or your traditional job. It's okay to do both, and that's really the takeaway of today's episode is it is okay to do both.
You do not need to choose at the beginning, and if I can do it, you can do it too, but eventually you may need to choose. And again, shoe dog, Phil Knight really does a great job of being an example for us because we all know what Nike is. We all know that he was very successful in how he. But without going through all the stages of his growth, he may not have gotten to where he is today.
He also went through a lot. So read the book, listen to the audio book. If you're an audio listener, a very good inspirational read for all of us. And remember, you can make a plan and take action and catch us again here next week because you got this. And if you have any comments or questions, you can leave it below the video if you're catching us on the.
And if you are catching us on the podcast on Spotify or Apple, you can go ahead and follow us on Instagram. We are at Bosek Club and you can leave us a comment there on a direct message. And we know you got this. So remember, we'll talk to you guys next week and take care. Bye. So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode?
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