Episode 59 | Are You Expecting Too Much From Your Business?

Sophia Noreen: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another fantastic episode of The Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen, and I'm going to be your host for today. And today, as always, we are going to be speaking about business and life, and a few things in between. 

We are going to speak today about, if you are expecting too much too fast from your business, we are inherently very impatient. We do not like to wait for anything. And especially as a budding entrepreneur, or somebody who has that entrepreneurial drive or spirit or thinking of jumping into their side hustle, passion project or anything in between, we want to see the results immediately. And they have said that the Millennial generation and the Gen Z's are very impatient. That could be contributed by social media, us, having a very quick reflex to swipe to the next thing. And so, of course, we're going to be a little bit impatient when it comes to the results in our business.  
 
Today, I want to share a few tips to help you with your patience, to improve your patience as you start to grow and build your business. It's extremely important to keep perspective. And remember guys, I have been through this and I want to ensure that you can do exactly what I did. If not, even bigger and better. For anybody new here, I had an amazing idea on how to make some cultural festivities for the Muslim population, the Muslim faith. How could they make their festivities even more appropriate for their kids, or even more fun for their kids? Because I, as a mother, have children and I wanted to make our festivities just as special as Christmas and Halloween and Easter. I wanted those special elements for the kids to enjoy during those times.  
 
And again, if you have not heard this story, it goes like this. Basically, I couldn't find anything in the store. Nothing said Eid, nothing said Ramadan. And I was like, okay, I'll make it. I can only make so much stuff. As a busy mom, I was working full-time at that point, and I don't have the time. So of course I was like, why don't we manufacture to help other parents who are in a very similar situation. And we got picked up by Walmart and Indigo. Indigo is a very popular bookstore in Canada. And so, the story goes like this. 

If you have an idea, a passion or something that you think others would benefit from, it is your responsibility to try to bring it to life. And so that is my philosophy. There is always going to be competition at the table. That's okay, because there's more than one grocery store. So, of course, there can be more than one business that does something similar. Everybody has a different twist to it. Now, I don't want to get too much into that conversation right now about competition. But the reason that I'm bringing this up now is because there's many things that will come up that will hinder your expectations of your business. 
 
So for example, you might be looking to others as examples and you might be like, well, they did it in such and such time. For example, you might be starting off your cake business and you're like, well, look at them. They're essentially getting so many clients per month, and I'm not. And so today, I want to speak about your expectations of your business, and if you're expecting your business to grow too fast, or if you're expecting your business to grow quickly, because you have to fill some other expectations such as financial. So let's get right into it. These are my three tips to help you with your expectations on how fast your business should grow. 
 
First tip is you have to understand that your business is going to take time to grow, and you have to adjust your expectations. I know it's easier said than done, but you will need to work some evenings. You may have to work some weekends. You may end up needing to say no to a social event, because you will need to work. And I think many people make it look easier than it really is. You literally only see 10% of what an entrepreneur does in their business. And so, there's a very luxurious outlooks to entrepreneurship. Many people don't realize how much work is being done behind the scenes. So an entrepreneurial will come on social media and make it look so glamorous. They will come on this podcast, for example, and just chat with you. And that could be it. You may think, oh, that's all they have to do. They just need to jump on for a few minutes and chat with us, and that's how they're getting all their great clients to work with them. And that's absolutely not the case.  
 
That is just the tip of the iceberg because there's a lot of additional work that goes on behind the scenes, even for something like a podcast. We end up having to write some sort of script. We end up having to do some sort of research. There's also a lot of work behind the scenes when it comes to editing. the beginning, you may be editing yourself, then you have to market your podcast. You need to socialize your podcast. And that's one simple example of one type of business. And so you, as a business owner, if you want to grow fast or if you want to grow at all, you need to adjust your expectations to ensure that you are expecting to do the right amount of work to ensure that you get the right amount of results. 
 
And I know that this might be a mental shift for some people. They may think, well, perhaps I shouldn't do that much work because I have a great thing going and working my 9 to 5. And some people may have to take that in as a reality check. Working as an employee can be easier for some individuals. Running your own business is a different ball game. There is nobody behind you telling you what to do. For the most part, if you're a solopreneur, you don't have a team or even a partner that you're accountable for. And so it becomes really difficult to motivate yourself, especially if you have so many other responsibilities. If you're a mother, for example, as many of our listeners are. Or if you're a student, as many of our and listeners are. Just starting out, you have so many other responsibilities. You are not going to be told to work on your business.  
 
So you have to adjust your expectations. I think when you adjust your expectations, you should say to yourself, I am doing this because, and think about that North Star. We speak about our North Star in a few episode. One of our first episodes about a year ago now, so I would say within the first five episodes, we speak a lot about the North Star. And that is basically, what is pushing you to the business. What is allowing you to continue in the business? And so you really, really need to hold onto your North Star when you're adjusting your expectations. When you are saying to yourself, okay, I am going to be working on this business because, then you think of that person or persons or community or mission, and that will help push you towards doing the business. Even when it's hard. Even when it gets difficult, you'll be like, okay, I am doing this because. And the mission or the people, or whoever you're trying to impact could be your family. Some people are like, I am doing this for my family. I'm doing this for my girls so they can see that women are able to trailblaze and make things happen. As simple as that. So that is my first tip. I know we all want to grow fast, and I know we're impatient. But you have to adjust your expectations.  
 
The next tip, so tip number two, is you need to be present in the current state that you're in. So for us in our product-based business, Also Sophia, we are in the phase of scaling. We started off in the discovery phase. I would say, I started in the discovery phase as an early entrepreneur. When I still worked in my hospital job as a physiotherapist. And I would be thinking about different businesses. Because naturally, if you have that entrepreneurial drive or spirit, I feel like something will always pull you in that direction. It can be a good idea., it could be a mission that you really want to explore. For me, of course, it was a combination of both. I was in a very secure job. That drive just pulled me along the way. But before I got that idea and that mission, I was looking for other things like I looked into coffee. As a physiotherapist, I thought to open my own clinic for a while, opened my own gym, and I literally explored these areas in business.  
 
So you could be in that stage as well. The first stage I call is the discovery phase, and this can last for a number of years where you want to do a business, but you're not sure what you want to do. You have all these great ideas, so you're going to go ahead and you're going to explore them. And that's perfectly fine. I actually encourage people to remain in the discovery phase until they have something that's compelling them to work a little bit more than they're used to working. So for example, I would definitely work on the gym idea. I did my research there. We got to the financials and we realize, well, it's not going to be as sustainable if we have a hiccup. And the COVID pandemic was a good hiccup that if we had opened the gym, we would have likely been dragged down with it. So we didn't pursue that. But another reason why that gym idea didn't go into fruition was because I wasn't driven. I didn't have that North Star. I wasn't being pulled, which brings us to our first point that we spoke about just minutes ago that, if you don't have that compelling vision, it's going to be really hard to motivate yourself and move forward when it gets really difficult.  
 
So if you don't have that North Star, that mission, that vision, or that person, or that community in going through your discovery phase and you're not being compelled to work on it, say after hours, then I would let it go. So for tip number two, you need to be present in your current state. So, of course, a discovery phase is one of the states  then build-it, I would say, building your business. And I would say, Also Sophia, the product-based business was in the build-it phase for about, I think the previous two years while we were getting our foundations laid. We are using influencer marketing to discover who our ideal target audience was. We were getting to know the community and what they wanted. We were going into a large retail space, so we were building connections and understanding how that world worked.  
 
And then the last phase, to really break it down, I'm sure there's more phases that could be in between. But for me, those are the three big phases: discovery, build-it, and then scale-it is the final phase. And that's where you really have established your standard operating practices, your SOP, and you start scaling your team, your distribution channels and potentially, even scaling to different continents and different countries. And so, we are approaching the scale-it phase for Also Sophia, and we are starting to grow our team. We have established SOPs, Standard Operating Practices, that are going to help us scale without too many hiccups, hopefully.  
 
And tip number two is really about being present in that current state. When you start a business, it is a journey. And I know it looks really glamorous to say, okay, I'm starting today and I want to be a million plus dollars in revenue in the next two years. But that may not be part of your journey, and it might take longer to get there. If that is even a concept for you. Some people are like, no, I'm going to keep it as a nice sustainable practice at home. My goal for the business is to bring in a good amount of money so I can use it for my spending like family vacations. 
 
Many people are in that position. And I think that position is wonderful, because not only that you're feeling your entrepreneurial spirit, it's a hobby business, right? So it's a hobby for you. You're able to understand and enjoy business, and it's not stressful, or it may not be as stressful. So it's the best of both worlds. Be realistic with that current state that you're in even when you're in that hobby business. Are you in the discovery phase where you're trying to figure out what do I want to do? Or are you into a point where you're building your foundation? Be present, and think about the journey and the process, and trusting the journey and the process.  
 
You cannot build a beautiful tower unless you have a strong foundation. And you don't want to build a beautiful tower if you haven't done your research and understood the land that it sits on. So the discovery phase will really help you understand the land. When you're in the build-it phase, it'll help you understand if your foundation is being set appropriately. And then of course, in the scale-it phase, that's when you're laying the layers of bricks to build your tower higher and higher and higher. And so, be okay with that. I would take a moment now and just rate the stage that you're in. Are you in stage one: discovery stage, two: build-it or stage three: scale-it? And be present with that. And that's completely okay, right? To say, I'm in the discovery phase. I'm okay with it. I'm not going to rush this phase. I want to ensure that I'm enjoying this phase. I want to ensure that I've chosen the correct path for myself at this point. And you can always change the path later. But at this point, this is what I'm choosing to do. And then you move forward to the build-it phase. Lay your strong foundation. Start getting your standard operating practices together before you start saying, I'm going to cross the continent. I'm going to cross that big pond. We need to build it and then scale it.  
 
Okay, the next tip tip, number three is you need to take responsibility. It's very easy again to say, I'm growing too slowly. It's very easy to be impatient. What is not okay is not taking responsibility for that. If you're starting a business, then it's your business. It's your responsibility. It's not your husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, daughter, sister, brother, whoever you're partnered with potentially or not partner with, but think they should be a partner, it's not the responsibility. It's your responsibility. It's your business. You're the one who wants to do this. It's you who's decided to take on this extra amount of effort to make something happen, to make something real. I think that's the most beautiful thing about business. It's in your mind, at first. And then you start actioning out certain things to make your vision come to life. 
 
And that's why I think business is extremely, extremely magical in a lot of ways. It's a very creative and iterative process. You need to be a creative mind to be able to come up with the idea, to strategize the idea, to operationalize the idea, and then finally, to problem solve when things come up. That is the beauty and the magic of owning a business. But the only person who can do that is going to be you. And if you're strategically not able to do a few of those things, that's fine. But it's now your responsibility to find people that can help you do those things.  
 
For example, you may say to yourself, I'm not a great problem solver. When problems arrive, I become very stressed out when problems arise. I'm not able to function when I'm stressed. I need somebody else to help me with that. So knowing that limitation about yourself will help you find somebody who can then help you in the business. So taking responsibility is tip number three, because many people will sit there and say, my business is taking too long to grow. My business has taken too long to grow. I'm not getting any sales, not getting any clients and the list goes on. But now, whose responsibility is it to go get those clients and sales? It's yours, right?  
 
In a future episode, I may talk about the masculine and feminine energy because I do feel that the masculine energy allows individuals to go and get what they want, versus a feminine energy is a little bit more passive and will allow things to be coming to them or being received. In business you have to embrace your masculine energy, and you have to take responsibility and get what you need. And so in many cases in business, you do need sales and that's generally what causes many hiccups when it comes to wanting to achieve your goals. Another hiccup that can occur is the lack of standard operating practices. 
 
So you may have a flood of sales, but you're losing away your customers because your not keeping them happy. Your customer service is not working. You're overbooked and you don't have a way of scaling because you're just too booked up, and you don't have any other personnel helping you in your business. So things like that can cause your business to not scale, not grow at the pace that you were expecting it to grow. Again, that responsibility is on you. You're the one who now has to take control and figure out why is that occurring?  
 
Okay guys, those are the three tips. So let's go from the top, and I want you to take a minute after this episode. And if you are in that situation where you're expecting your business to grow fast and you are being disappointed because you're not getting the goals that you are expecting, then use these three tips to ground you, take a hard look and see if there's something that you should be doing that you're not doing. So again, tip number one is adjust your expectations. Understand that entrepreneurship may look glamorous, but again, it takes a lot of hard hours. And are you actually putting in the hours of work that is required for you to grow at the scale and the speed that you want to grow?  
 
The second tip was look at your current state of your business. Where are you in the trajectory? Are you in the discovery phase? Are you in the build-it phase, or are you in the final scale-it phase? If you are looking at Amazon, obviously, they're at the scale-it phase. Probably scale-it and maintain-it phase, as they continue to grow certain areas of their business. Other areas of their business, they're maintaining or they're optimizing. You know that they took a long time to build before they scaled. So again, I'm using that big company as an example, because many people will see the picture of Jeff Bezos sitting in his basement with a spray-painted sign called Amazon from 20 years ago. It's something to think about. You cannot compare your stage of business to somebody else's stage of business. Check your stage, and be present in that current stage. Enjoy that current stage. And if you're ready to progress from that current state, do it responsibly.  
 
And the final tip was take responsibility. You need to be responsible for your business. It's only your business, nobody else's. You need to enjoy it, but at the same time, you need to work at what is missing. So take a deep dive, look at it. And if you're like, wait, I'm not scaling. I'm not growing. What's going on? Is it because you need to show up more to do your sales? Is it more that you need to show up and fix your standard operating practices? Is it more that you need to hire a team member so you're not the bottleneck in your business? These are really, really important conversations you need to have with yourself. You may need to lean on somebody to help decipher what's missing. So really take a hard, hard look at your business. And this exercise is important, right? 
 
You can only have these real conversations with yourself, and maybe a mentor or a coach or a best friend, a business best friend, but you do need to be honest with yourself, and you do need to ensure that you're not being deceitful with yourself. Okay guys, again, take a hard look. Ensure that you're not expecting yourself to go too fast, and you're expecting too much from your business without putting in the hard work and the time. And if you have any questions, always feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. Or you can follow us on Instagram at [email protected]. We'll talk to you guys next week, same time, same place. Remember, make a plan and take action, and yes, you can have it all. Bye for now.