The False Summit of Entrepreneurial Wealth | EP208

Ever felt like you're running in a hamster wheel, chasing that illustrious '10K month' as an entrepreneur? I've been there, and I'm here to share my evolution from a photography business owner to an online entrepreneur, along with the hard-learned lessons about the pitfalls of fixating on such financial milestones. The entrepreneurial roller coaster is full of ups and downs, but what really defines success and personal freedom? We're stripping back the curtain on the narratives spun by heavy hitters like Amy Porterfield, and questioning whether these income benchmarks are truly what we should be aiming for, or if they’re merely shiny distractions from our genuine aspirations.

This conversation isn't just about questioning norms; it's a heartfelt look at aligning our business ambitions with our deepest values. Next week, we'll welcome money coach Sarah Brill to the table, but before we do, let's talk about finding that sweet spot where work doesn't feel like a slog and life is more than just a series of tasks. From Vanessa Lau's cautionary tales to Amy Portfield's challenges, we'll examine the tightrope walk between business growth and personal well-being. Join me for a reflective journey that might just change your approach to your own entrepreneurial dreams, steering you towards a vision of success that's tailor-made for you.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:51

You're listening to the Mindset and Action podcast, the place to be to grow and streamline your business. I'm your host, donna Eade. Let's jump into the show ["Mindset and Action"]. Never start a business just to make money. Start a business to make a difference. Marie Forleo, welcome back to the podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:18

I am so glad to have you here today. I hope you're having a good day and I hope you're looking forward to a fantastic weekend. So today we are going to be talking about money, and this is quite apt actually, because next week on the podcast I have a money coach, sarah Brill, coming on the show to talk to us about money. So I thought I would warm us up and get you thinking about it in the meantime so that you can be ready to be open to what Sarah has to say. So how many times have you heard people talk about being able to get 10K months? You know coaches claiming that they will be able to get you to 10K months within a certain period of time, or people saying that they want to reach 10K months in the business. That's their goal. How many times do you see and hear that in an average week? I'm gonna guess it's quite a lot, because it seems to be everywhere that I'm looking People promising you 10K months, or people telling you you need 10K months, or people telling you that they want 10K months and it seems to be this arbitrary figure. Just like you know, 100k a year with is an arbitrary figure that people are plucking out of the air and saying this is what I want for my business. So what I wanna talk to you about today is the reason that this is and what it's actually doing to you when you're trying to sort of manage your own business and looking at your own finances, and we're gonna kind of dive into all that today. Before we jump into all that, I do want to give you my kind of personal view on this and how it kind of has affected me over the years, and I have been in the online space for a long time, so even before 2020, when I started this podcast, about five years previous to that, I was a photographer running a photography business, and so it wasn't so much an online business, but I was following a lot of online business people.

Speaker 1: 3:34

So that's when I met and fell in love with Amy Porterfield, when I met and fell in love with Jasmine Star. In fact, jasmine Star is who led me to Amy Porterfield. And Jasmine was on a platform called Creative Live, which was for creatives, and they had these classes that you could buy, and she was a photographer. I was a photographer so, yes, I bought her course and I did a lot of online learning back then in the online space and seeing these people become these online entrepreneurs. So Jasmine went from being a wedding photographer and that's what she was teaching to this marketing person and Instagram expert.

Speaker 1: 4:12

So I've kind of watched that evolution over time and I have watched the change in attitudes towards money not so much the change, but the growth and the distance that it's got from where I am as a person. So, to me, I look at money as a means to provide freedom for me and my family, for us to be able to do what we wanna do in the time that suits us. That's what I look at money for, that. It gives us that and that's what I look at money for that it gives us that. Have I got a figure? Yes, I will talk about that down the line, but seeing all of these people talking about you, know you can have 10K months. You can have this recurring revenue. You can do this. You can do that. Yes, I swallowed it. I swallowed it hook, line and sinker and when I started my business back in 2020, that was kind of my goal was to get to 10K months or to have a six figure business. That was what I wanted and I was starting from zero and it was just it was an unrealistic expectation, in my opinion, to go from zero to six figures as quickly as I'd got it in my head that this was gonna happen. And I think it's a narrative that we are sold and I think that it's time that we kind of step back and, like I said in Monday's episode, that we look more inward and we look at what we actually want. So let's dive into this topic of 10K months. So, first of all, it's kind of become a bit of an obsession, this 10K month benchmark, and it has become very popular in the entrepreneurial space and as the bigger influencers in the space get bigger and their numbers get bigger, they're kind of talking to people who are a little bit behind them, but their voices are very loud because they're so big in the space. So let me make that make sense.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Amy Porterfield she put out a reel recently saying that she had hit 100 million in her business last year and I believe that's the lifetime of her business. I think that's. It's just that she reached that number last year, not that she made 100 million in the year. It was a little bit confusing on the real, but that's what. I believe. She's made 100 million in her business over its lifetime and she hit that number last year. So she's making an awful lot of money.

Speaker 1: 6:49

And one thing that she teaches in her programs is the 10% edge. You do not have to be an expert in the space, you just have to have the 10% edge. So if you are 10% better than the people you are teaching, you have that 10% to teach them. So if you imagine that growing with you, if she is making, for example, 10 million a year, then the people that she's going to be talking to and aiming her stuff at are people that are at least 10% behind her. So she's talking about talking to people that are already making a million a year.

Speaker 1: 7:29

When she's talking about certain things Now, amy doesn't actually do that, she goes right from the start, but I think she's talking more about when you're starting. Don't worry about not being the expert in the space, because you're only working with people that are 10% behind you and that's enough to create that gap that you can fill with your knowledge. And then, as you grow, you become even, your percentage gets higher and you're then working with people who are maybe 90% behind you. However, the further somebody gets away from the start, the harder it is for them to put themselves in place of that person at the start. And if you went back to these people who are promoting and this isn't necessarily Amy, but the people that you see that are promoting these 10K months, you know, I've got a six-figure business, I can get you there too. You can get 10K months.

Speaker 1: 8:21

If they put themselves back to the beginning of their business, where they were maybe barely breaking 2000 a month and felt what it would feel like to have somebody tell them that they can make 10K a month, I think they might think differently about how they promote themselves. Because you kind of give this unrealistic expectation or maybe it's not unrealistic, but to me it kind of feels like this unrealistic expectation, this arbitrary goal that small business owners need to aim for. And if you're not aiming for that, are you even a business owner? You know? Are you even in this for the long haul. And I'll take you back to the quote at the beginning of this episode Don't start a business to make money. Start a business to make a difference. Marie Forleo, such a good quote because I think the whole online space seems to be gearing you to these financial goals. And, yes, we wanna have financial goals in our business because, at the end of the day, we wanna make a difference, but we also want to make a living and we wanna be able to provide for our families. And I think that, looking for this external validation of 10K months, you know I'm not gonna be a proper business owner unless I've got these 10K months. You know so and so down the road is making 10K months. Why can't I make 10K months? It's just a really sort of bad place to be in, and that's where I wanna go over to kind of the hidden costs of this 10K month lifestyle that everybody seems to be talking about.

Speaker 1: 9:52

One of the things that really gets me when it comes to looking at your turnover and this is a turnover amount. Guys, when people are talking about the income that they've made, they're talking about their turnover. This is not minus expenses. This is what they have made in total, before expenses, and that can often make you feel a certain way as well, because you're thinking this huge number, you're thinking that they're taking 10 grand a month home with them and you know, sailing away on yachts. So in actual fact, your head is probably thinking that you've got to try and earn 25 grand or whatever to make that 10 grand a month that they're talking about. But they're not. They're talking about turnover in most instances and that, to me, is, you know, again, creating this. It's a little bit. It's a little bit of a psychological twist. Do you know what I mean? It just psychologically, it just hits different when you realize that's a turnover amount because you don't know how much they spent to get that 10K.

Speaker 1: 11:03

So that's what I really want you to sit here and think about is do you wanna do what you need to do to make that 10K a month? Because that 10K a month might cost you 8K. And if you're somebody who's making 2K in your business relatively low expenses you know you're a one-person. Show you are bringing in 2000 pounds consistently. You've got your website, you've got a few little expenses maybe a couple hundred quids worth of expenses that are going out each month and maybe you put 500 aside in your business account for, you know, any capital expenses that you might have, like when the laptop blows up, or you need a new camera if you're a photographer or something. So you're keeping some money in the business and you're taking home 1200 a month for yourself, and then obviously your taxes off of that. So maybe that's where you are right now and you think, yeah, 10k months, that would be great, but if you had to spend 8K to make that 10K, would it be worth it? I'd say no, because you're having to work even harder. Maybe you've had to hire a VA, maybe you've had to hire in some other help to get there, which means that you have to pay those people and your expenses go up and all of a sudden you're only taking home exactly what you were taking home before. So that is something to really be mindful of when you're hearing these numbers is how much do you want to actually put into making that happen?

Speaker 1: 12:33

And that brings me onto that sort of impact of work-life harmony that I've spoken about before your mental health and your personal wellbeing, because trying for a goal that is just so far out of reach for you at this particular moment in time, whether that's because you've only just started or because you are ticking along nicely at. You know, two 3,000 pounds a month. To me, jumping to 10K on regular consistency is like that's. We need to set goals that are interim goals. We need to get to somewhere else first, so that we need a ladder. This is like trying to jump up to, like, the fifth rung of the ladder and rung four and three are missing. That's a big gap to jump and to me, we need to be thinking more realistically in terms of what we can do and what we can manage and what we can maintain, and to me, that is where we need to be looking. That is the important part. That is the internal work that we need to do.

Speaker 1: 13:41

So creating the work life harmony is looking at your vision for your life and what you want it to look like, not what other people's lives look like, because we're only seeing the highlight reel. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors or behind the camera, so you can't judge based on that. So if you've got somebody out there that's going yes, I've got 10K months and look at me, I'm on holiday and there always seem to be on holiday Could be the same blinking holiday that they're sharing pictures over the course of three months. You don't know. You just don't know. And so we need to go internal and we need to look at what do we actually want? And I think if you do that, you're going to be in a different position, you're going to be coming from a different place and you're going to realize that those arbitrary numbers plucked out of thin air aren't necessarily what you want or what you need, and we just then.

Speaker 1: 14:41

So I want to share a couple of examples for you here, and one of these examples is somebody that I know who worked with a coach that promised them 10k months. Now I don't know the ins and outs of this program. I do know the coach. She is a wonderful lady and I'm not sitting here bashing her by any means, but it's the case of turning around and making those promises and then the person who has paid to get those promises then doesn't get those promises. Now, is that the coach's fault? Maybe Is it the person's fault? Maybe there are so many factors that come into whether or not a person actually ends up making 10k.

Speaker 1: 15:23

I have spent money on programs, a lot of money on programs that have promised me x, y and z and when they haven't happened, you know I've been angry at the person that made those promises to me because I'm like but I did all the things and I'm somebody who does it, like I am a rule follower. Give me a set of rules and there is nothing more I like to do than following them. Tell me what to do and I will do it. I am that person. You know, I was a teacher's pet at school. I mean, there's probably some childhood trauma in there we won't get into, but that is who I am at my core. So when you give me instructions, I follow those instructions and I do them. And my issue then becomes well, I did the things and it didn't happen for me.

Speaker 1: 16:10

But there are so many things that can get in the way of that result and it could be that it's the wrong timing, the wrong pricing, the wrong pitch, the wrong offer. You know it's so many different things, so many nuts and bolts go into creating a business that you just never know what it is that didn't quite hit, and there's a reason. There will be a reason why it didn't quite hit and why it didn't work. And the same for my friend with these 10K months. You know if you are going to jump from, and I keep using this kind of two grand to 10 grand. These are both numbers that I picked out of the air. I have no idea what my friend's income is, no idea what anybody else's income is really, but I'm just plucking these numbers out of the air. So two grand to 10 grand is a huge jump and you have to kind of look at your business and think well, this business is currently ticking along nicely at this level. What's got to happen to it to take it to that next level and am I willing to do it?

Speaker 1: 17:20

So, for example, if you are going to create a program that you're going to sell and that program is going to bring in a chunk of money for you, you have got to create that program. You've got to film the videos, you've got to create the content, you've got to do the workbooks, etc. That's going to take a lot of time. Have you got the time to do that? If you're going to run a live program, you've got to commit to turning up on certain times. Are you going to have the systems in place? Are you going to need help to be sure that you deliver that program well, so that when you go to redo it, you've got people that are going to shout about it for you.

Speaker 1: 18:03

All of these things are things you've got to consider because it all takes time and effort and if you're going into it half-heartedly or you're going in with the mindset of you know I'm thinking myself rich, I've worked on my money blocks, money is coming to me and you put something out there that's not great. The money is still not going to come to you because what you put out wasn't right and, like I say, there's nuances to everything and you don't know what's going on behind closed doors. But focusing on what other people are telling you is possible is probably robbing you of the happy life that you actually want. So I would love it if the thing that you took away from today was to sit down and create your vision of what you want your life to look like, and this isn't, you know. I mean it can be. You can sit there and go. You know I want to go on three abroad holidays a year. I want to be on a yacht. I want to do that. You can do all of that, but I want you to think about what's really going to make you happy.

Speaker 1: 19:22

Now, I've seen in the last three months people who have lost people, people who have, you know, had anniversaries, of people passing and people going through some really tough times, and it breaks my heart to see it and it breaks my heart for them and their families and what they wouldn't give to have one more hour with that loved one. So I know we're talking business here. I know this is business revenue. However, go back to what Marie Folio said about making a difference and go back to why you started your business in the first place and it may have been to make money and make a difference, but there has to be a personal reason why as well. And for me, my personal reason is to give me more time with my family, and anything that allows me to do that is a win in my book. So I'm not out here trying to do 10K months because I don't think I wanna do the work that is involved in 10K months. Now, a couple of years down the line, five years down the line, maybe that will change.

Speaker 1: 20:45

However, right now I wanna replace my job income and I want to be able to go abroad on holiday at least once a year and I want to not feel guilt around spending money on myself. So at the moment, you know, money is what it is. I'm not gonna go into my finances, but it is what it is. Where I actually do sit there and feel guilty like, do I need to buy this, yes or no, and sometimes that's a good thing, because it certainly stops impulse buying. But I wanna be able to buy that fancy face cream if I want it, I wanna be able to buy that expensive jumper if I want it and I wanna be able to go on holiday again.

Speaker 1: 21:39

So when I lost my job, I lost quite a big chunk of money when I was made redundant and the business has yet to recoup that or to make that up. So that's my goal. I just want to be able to bring home take home pay, the take home pay that I bought home when I was working, and that's the level of work that I am willing to put into my business right now, and that is what I would like to get out of my business right now and that will make me happy in my business Now. Will I then want to push it and maybe earn some more so I can do some more things quite possibly, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. So reflect inwards on what would actually make you happy now, like, what is the thing that you want the most? And I bet you it's not. Well, maybe it is.

Speaker 1: 22:35

We're in the middle of winter right now, so sunshine, sea, sand, sunshine and sangria is probably what we all want right now here in the UK. I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but it has been pretty miserable for last week. Today is sunshine and I'm actually, after this podcast recording, I am going to go for my walk, I'm gonna make it a long one and just soak in some of that sunshine, because it has been sunny all day and I wanna get out there and enjoy it and simple things like that. My business allows me to do that, even not hitting my financial goals, I can do that. I choose to do that. So this is something that I'm so passionate about, because I think we all get wrapped up in this sort of online space and what everybody is saying, and I really want us to truly just boil it down to what we truly want out of our lives. Where do we wanna be spending most of our time. And how can we make that happen? And just remember, the more you work, there's a point, you know, there's a tipping point where you work, you work, you work and you have that balance and then suddenly, to get what you really want, you've gotta push a bit harder, you've gotta work a bit longer, you've gotta do that extra bit and all of a sudden you're a manager and you're taking on a team. And I was listening to.

Speaker 1: 23:57

Vanessa Lau did a video a couple of days ago where she talked about how she left the internet for a year. She deleted all her social media, she didn't upload on her YouTube channel and if you don't know who Vanessa Lau is, go and look her up on YouTube. She was a young girl that decided to ditch her corporate and make YouTube and the online entrepreneurial space her oyster. She made it. She had a team, she was doing everything, she was in masterminds, she was so big in her space and she was just about like she was taking off and she cut it all dead because she'd lost herself, she'd lost her way, she wasn't doing what she loved anymore. Suddenly she was a manager of people and that was never the goal, and to me. That's something you have to look at.

Speaker 1: 24:47

You know, amy Portfield started on her own with a VA. Then she got her you know, right hand woman in Chloe and now she's got like 20 to 30 staff. And now now she's got to that point she's able to step back a bit and let her team take most of the reins and she just has to kind of do the public facing stuff and they take care of all the systems and structure behind it and she's made it so that her whole team has a four day work week. That's amazing. She could take off if she wanted to for a long weekend without an issue. But she had to get over that hump first of being the CEO of her company and doing all of the hard stuff to get to the point where she could step back, drop down, not be the CEO. She's got somebody else who's the CEO and she's obviously still the owner and she does all of the stuff that she wants to do in her business. But it's the CEO's responsibility now to manage all those people. So she's done it, she's made it.

Speaker 1: 25:57

But look at what it cost, look at how she's managed that, and if you've ever read her book Two Weeks Notice. You'll know that she went through a partnership that was really toxic and she nearly lost her entire business, and to me, that's not where I wanna be. I don't wanna do that. I wanna help the people that I can help to create the podcasts that they love and to share their message with the world. That's what I wanna do. Will I want to grow it at some point? Maybe Will I want to have some people on my team working with me on a regular basis? Possibly I would like to have a small team, but it's a small team and there is a balancing act to be had there between what is possible and what's not. That's probably a subject for a different day.

Speaker 1: 26:44

Because we're talking about that 10K month and that is what you've gotta kind of realize is, as the business grows, as that revenue grows, the expenses will grow with it, because there is no way you're gonna be able to sustain 10K months all by yourself Just not possible. Unless it is a completely passive, off, you know, hands-off business where you know you're selling a membership and it doesn't matter how many people are in there, because you can manage it yourself. Again, I still don't think that is manageable. There comes a point where you can't be online 24 seven, you can't be managing the comment section and everything else in a community space. You're gonna need somebody to do that for you. So there is always increased expenses with increased revenue and you have gotta find the point where you're happy at, and I don't think jumping from 2K to 10K is a realistic goal. I would set smaller goals, and we were talking about it on Monday we'll talk about it again.

Speaker 1: 27:51

Slow business, soft ambition that is what I'm going for this year. That is what I want for you. It just sounds so much nicer than hustle and grind. You know I don't want you working yourself to the bone to burn out. I want you to look at what's really important to you. And hey, if 10K months is what's really important to you, then you do. You boo, go for it. I wish you all the luck in the world in reaching that goal. I just want that goal to come from a deeper meaning for you. I want that goal to come from you running your numbers, looking at your calendar, knowing the time that you have, the time that you want, where you wanna spend that time, and knowing that that is what is in alignment for you. So that is it for this week's episode. I hope that has given you some food for thought.

Speaker 1: 28:48

Now, one of the things that can stand in our way when we're looking at trying to reach these milestones in our business when it comes to revenue and that will apply from going from 2K to 3K, 2k to 4K, 2k to 10K, whatever. You know we kind of get stuck in a rut, as it were. We get in our comfort place that, whatever is our level of comfort, and something just stops us breaking through those ceilings, and that is an issue that we need to break. So next week on the show I have Sarah Brill coming in to talk to us about our money mindset, so definitely stay tuned for that one. We've got a mini mindset Monday with her on Monday, so join me for that. But Thursday's episode we're gonna be diving into her expertise, which is the money mindset. So join me for that because it might just help you shift some of these 10K narratives that we have running around in our head. So until next week, guys, love you lots. Bye for now, somebody by the tree quality.