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What You Need to Know Before You Sign Up for Yet Another Program There’s an insidious travesty happening in the entrepreneurial world and I’ve stayed silent about it long enough. It’s time to expose what’s really happening to unsuspecting entrepreneurs and business owners when it comes to seeking the perfect answer to their business needs. You probably already know it as chasing after the bright and shiny object syndrome. It happens when the perceived need to learn more, be more and do more outweighs the need to actually get clients and run a business. Why The Bright & Shiny Object Syndrome Happens New entrepreneurs, especially women, often horde a deep-seeded secret that weighs them down and prevents them from growing their business to the heights they are perfectly capable of, but often don’t realize it. That secret is the debilitating knowing they will be exposed as a fraud. I know this because I too had this fear years ago. It kept me playing small. It stopped me from stepping outside of my comfort zone. It dictated all of my business decisions from how much to charge to how I should be positioned in my industry to whom my ideal clients were. The thought of being exposed as a fraud far outweighed any voice of reason that declared otherwise. It was a powerful force that controlled my every move. But I had no idea this was going on. I wasn’t consciously aware of how much my actions were based upon that one fact: Feeling like I was a fraud. But was I really a fraud? Hardly. My educational background and previous business skills and experience put me far above the level of many of my competitors in the web development and digital marketing space. But I still found a way to discount all of that. It wasn’t enough. I needed to learn more. Clearly they know far more than I do – just look at how “successful” they are. They know the “secret”. So what did I do about it? I signed up for every program I could in order to find out what that secret was. I embarked to find that perfect formula to follow. That magic system that would take me from point A to point B easily and effortlessly. That thing that would make me successful. Once I completed these programs, THEN I’d skyrocket my success! Not. And it’s probably not going to work for you either. Yes, you’ll get some new insights out of the training. You’ll learn a few things along the way. But it won’t be enough. And that’s because it’s not really what you need. Not by a long shot. More than likely all those programs will just result in you feeling more overwhelmed and confused than ever before. How on earth are you going to find the time to implement all this, let alone understand how to do it all? There’s only so much time in the day and wouldn’t you prefer to be working on what you’re passionate about instead? The reason why you went into business to begin with? Here’s the deal. What you really need is to start believing in yourself. I can’t tell you how many struggling entrepreneurs I have worked with over the years. They aren’t able to reach successful heights in their business and the first (and often only) thing they will blame is themselves. Their inner voice is screaming at them: • You don’t know enough. • You need to learn more. • You are clearly in way over your head – what were you thinking anyway? • You’re better off just quitting before you are exposed as the fraud you really are. This may sound very familiar to you too. So what does an aspiring entrepreneur do when they have thoughts like these? They sign up for every course, program, system, webinar, teleseminar, telesummit imaginable. They become addicted to learning. In their quest to no longer feel like a fraud, they embark on a mission to learn every single aspect about running a business they can. They feel they MUST learn how to: - Figure out who their ideal client is (even though they’re not sure what to do with that info once they have it) - Build a website themselves (even though technology has never been a friend of theirs) - Design their own logo and marketing materials (even though they have never had any formal training in graphic design) - Set up a sales funnel (even though they’re not really sure what that is) - Write the sales copy on their website and landing pages (Even though writing does not come easy for them) - Do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on their website (even though they aren’t sure what that means) - Conduct webinars and teleseminars in order to launch their new program (even though they don’t have a program to launch yet) - Get on stage and be a speaker… write a book… participate in JV partnerships… hold workshops…. The list goes on and on! What results from all of this? Entrepreneurs are spending SO much time and money on learning all of these skillsets that aren’t a part of their core competency, they aren’t left with any time or energy to focus on their own business! And here’s the insidious part of it all: The people who are selling you these programs and systems know full well you are prime for the picking. They are capitalizing on your fears and are making loads of money doing so. They are counting on you feeling you MUST know all of this stuff before you can be successful at your business. They also know that once they have your attention, you are prime to be “upsold” on higher-end programs or at least make affiliate commissions by referring other products/systems/platforms you MUST have. Their business survival depends on it. “BUT SUSAN!” I can hear you saying out loud… “in order for me to be successful, I have to have all of these things in place, and I can’t afford to hire anyone to do it all for me!” Yes. But. There’s a couple of falsehoods in that statement: - You do NOT need a website or marketing materials (yes, that’s coming from a web developer and online marketer!). Not right away at least. I sure didn’t have those things in place when I first started. - You do NOT need complex marketing funnels and fancy lead generating downloads - You Do NOT need a huge list or any list at all for that matter - You do NOT need to have every duck lined up in a neat row before you can start talking to clients and generating business. Eventually, sure, you can work towards incorporating all of that into your business and marketing model. But not until you can afford to have it done properly. Wasting your time and money on learning how to do it all yourself is simply that – a waste of time and money. And that’s because you will never learn as much as what the pros know in those key areas to get the same kinds of results by doing it yourself. You simply can’t know it all. Plus that deep-seeded fear is also going to do whatever it takes to stop you in your tracks. What You Really Need All you need to start and run a successful business is to trust yourself, your knowledge, your expertise and your ambitious drive to do what it takes to make it work. And most of all, you need the confidence in yourself that you are absolutely, unequivocally more than capable of bringing your business vision to fruition. Your passion, energy, drive and vision is the fuel that moves your forward and creates the opportunities you need to make your business successful. Not all of those programs you’ve signed up for. The more you believe in yourself, the more opportunities will materialize that will get you one step closer to achieving your goals. Will you be rich in 30 days like many sales pages promise? Unlikely. But if you are wanting to build a sustainable business, you probably don’t want that kind of huge growth anyway. Stop believing all of the hyped-up promises we are bombarded by everywhere we turn and instead, start believing you already know what you need to move forward. And of what you don’t know, the right help at the right time will show up for you. Now go. Trust yourself. Build a sustainable business with confidence and kick that false nagging voice that’s tell you you’re a fraud out the window. Stop giving away your power to those that are hungry for your money and make the right choices for you based on confidence, not fear. You have a vision you need to fulfill and have no time for those kinds of mental blocks slowing you down! To Your Success, Susan
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