Ever felt like you're on a roller coaster of entrepreneurship, with ups, downs, and loop-de-loops you never saw coming? I, Daphne, am here to flatten out those terrifying twists and turns with my latest insights on what really drives a successful online business.
In an episode that's packed with the kind of advice I wish I had when I started, we're focusing on the four M's—motivation, mindset, management, and maintenance—to give you actionable strategies that will fuel your entrepreneurial spirit. Trust me, this isn't another fluffy "you can do it" pep talk; it's a blueprint for real, sustainable growth, and it comes with a free PDF overview so you can follow along without breaking a sweat.
It's not about being busy that will bring you the success you're looking for; it's about being effective. So, pour your favorite beverage and tune in as we share stories, strategies, and systems that will not just inspire but also equip you to level up your entrepreneurial game.
Atomic Habits: James Clear
Download Your Free PDF of this Podcast
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts
If you enjoyed the show, would you mind taking a moment to rate and review it? Your feedback really helps spread the word and connect with other Mompreneurs who are looking for content like this. Just click here, scroll down, give it a five-star if it meets your expectations, and share your thoughts. And be sure to let me know what part of the episode stood out to you. Thanks so much for your support!
Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast. I'm adding a bunch of new episodes to the feed, and, if you're not following, there's a good chance you'll miss out. Follow now >>
Ever felt like you're on a roller coaster of entrepreneurship, with ups, downs, and loop-de-loops you never saw coming? I, Daphne, am here to flatten out those terrifying twists and turns with my latest insights on what really drives a successful online business.
In an episode that's packed with the kind of advice I wish I had when I started, we're focusing on the four M's—motivation, mindset, management, and maintenance—to give you actionable strategies that will fuel your entrepreneurial spirit. Trust me, this isn't another fluffy "you can do it" pep talk; it's a blueprint for real, sustainable growth, and it comes with a free PDF overview so you can follow along without breaking a sweat.
It's not about being busy that will bring you the success you're looking for; it's about being effective. So, pour your favorite beverage and tune in as we share stories, strategies, and systems that will not just inspire but also equip you to level up your entrepreneurial game.
Atomic Habits: James Clear
Download Your Free PDF of this Podcast
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts
If you enjoyed the show, would you mind taking a moment to rate and review it? Your feedback really helps spread the word and connect with other Mompreneurs who are looking for content like this. Just click here, scroll down, give it a five-star if it meets your expectations, and share your thoughts. And be sure to let me know what part of the episode stood out to you. Thanks so much for your support!
Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast. I'm adding a bunch of new episodes to the feed, and, if you're not following, there's a good chance you'll miss out. Follow now >>
Hey, hey, hi and hello. My friends, this is your host, daphne, and I am coming to you today with a new episode of Mompreneur. Like a Rockstar, can you just feel the energy right now? I really hope that you can feel my energy. I've just felt so good recently with this new shift in business and I'm going on day five today of using these new products. And if I could just say how refreshed that I feel, even in the midst of the chaos of everything going on personally and professionally, I am finding some peace and a renewed breath of fresh air. And if you've been feeling a little lost or uneasy, I know how you feel, my friend, so I would encourage you, not now, but go out and listen to episode 15 from last week, which is embracing change and pivoting towards passion. It will help, I promise. Okay.
Speaker 1:So moving on and I guess you can even consider this, maybe transitioning from last week's episode leading into this week because I shared last week in episode 15, how I recently invested in a new business opportunity and it reminded me of being a newbie again in business and all the things that I did right, that I did wrong, that I wished I had learned sooner. All the memories just started flashing back and I remember this webinar that I did just a couple of years ago. So I went back to my old files, I revised the content way down and I'm bringing to you today episode 16, which is four things I wish I knew when I first started my business. Now let me just give you this disclaimer Today it's going to be a lot, but this is because it is some of my best stuff that I've put together over the years, and probably some of even the best stuff that you'll probably even take in this week or maybe this entire month. So if you're listening to this while maybe you're cooking dinner or chasing after a toddler or sneaking in some personal development on the company time, there's no need to take notes. I got you, friend. I have a free PDF that's going to give you an overview of everything that we're going to talk about today. But if you aren't multitasking while tuning into this, then grab yourself your favorite beverage of choice, turn up the volume to an uplifting level and spend a little time with me today as I share some of my not secrets, but more strategies to having a healthy online business.
Speaker 1:Do any of these sound like you? You've started a new business, but you're struggling to get your business off the ground. You feel like you're putting a lot of time into your business and not seeing results. You don't have an upline, a mentor or a business coach who's guiding you to do more than just a daily checklist for your business. You're not feeling good enough to ever have a successful business, or you've never built a business from scratch before and you want to know what it takes. Or maybe you're at that final point of frustration and you're ready to give up. Or you're like me and you're totally energized and ready to make things happen.
Speaker 1:But y'all, I didn't always feel this way. At some point in my journey, I felt like everything that I just listed out A couple months after I'd signed up with Beachbody. This was years and years ago, but after a couple months I signed up, I was finally ready to build a business, but I had no idea where to begin. My sponsor had left the company and at the time, I had no idea who, or even if there was another leader in my upline or who I could turn to. I had already failed at trying to start up a franchise just a few years prior, and although Beachbody well now known as Body, truly does have some top-notch training and tools and resources and tremendous support. What I felt that I was personally lacking was training on what I needed to know to have a legitimate business. I didn't want to just learn how to hit milestones that my network marketing company was setting for me. I had seen a lot of turnover with entrepreneurs in the first few years of being in business and I always felt that if people could have just stuck it out a little bit more or tried something a little different, maybe they would have had the success that they had big dreams about in the beginning.
Speaker 1:The nitty gritty of what's kept me committed for as long as I have and having success like I've had. It isn't any training that I got from a business checklist, but it's the four things that I'm going to share with you right now. I call them the four M's motivation, mindset, management and maintenance. And remember, I have a PDF for this episode, so if you can't write anything down, don't feel like you're going to miss anything. I have it all in there for you. And to make this even easier to follow along with because I know today's going to be a lot I'm going to share with you the four M's, but just know that each M is going to contain two parts. Got it Okay, so let's move on.
Speaker 1:So the first one is motivation. And when it comes to motivation, I'm not talking about, like your raw, raw cheerleader let's do this sort of thing, don't get me wrong. Motivation is awesome, but when it comes to building a business like a real create your future based around your success type business, motivation has to be a lot deeper than what most people think. And typically, this first M is where most people completely drop the ball, because they get excited about something new and they think that that burst of energy that they have is going to carry them through the trenches of what it's actually going to take to make this little dream of theirs, or big dream of theirs, work, to make this little dream of theirs or big dream of theirs work. So motivation is made up of two of my favorite things because, quite honestly, without these two things, what's the freaking point of even being in business? You cannot build anything. Without these two things. They will be the foundation to what grows your business, your future and, ultimately, the freedom that you desire, and they are why and vision.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about your why. Now 50% of you are already shaking your head because you knew this was coming. If you have been taught well via any type of business training that you've been a part of, then you know the importance of your why. Now the other half of you listening in might be kind of new to this, or maybe you've heard about having a why, but you don't quite understand what it means or why it's so important. Let me break down what I believe having a why means and why it's going to be the gas to not just getting you started but to keeping you going where you want to go.
Speaker 1:When I ask people about their why, almost everybody says their families, more specifically, their kids, and although I will not argue that my kids are like the number one reason that I do all this, they aren't the only reason, and most times they aren't even the reason that carries me from one side of a challenge to another. For some of you, that might've just sounded pretty harsh, but you have to be selfish with your why and you have to understand that. You need to be flexible, knowing that your why is not always going to be the same all the time through all the seasons. There's many times that my family's absolutely the driver pushing me along from one step to the next. But there are many times that my family's absolutely the driver pushing me along from one step to the next. But there are also times that my vision of talking on stage or having a nicely cushioned income or being recognized as a leader in my industry are of a great desire to me.
Speaker 1:At first, my why was about being able to help contribute to the family income while still being able to be a stay-at-home mom. I didn't want to have to return to the family income while still being able to be a stay-at-home mom. I didn't want to have to return to the corporate world. I no longer wanted to drop my kids off at daycare, nor pay the $2,200 a month that it was costing for two small kids. I didn't want to have to ask permission to take a day off for a field trip or to leave early for a sports practice. My why was about being able to remain present with my family, to be able to spend time with them on my terms, not after I had clocked out making someone else money. But now I feel that that's kind of been accomplished and we're at stages in our life where mama's got her family all taken care of and I'm able to be the mom I always dreamed I could be. But now it's me time. It's time that I put myself forward a bit and start pushing for my dreams, because, although the family is status quo, that just means that I have a different kind of work to do as a mom, and that's to be the best example to my girls of what's possible when you go after your dreams, as well as support them on their paths as they too are figuring out life.
Speaker 1:Although we were taught to have a why, I just really wish someone was bold enough to tell me to be wildly selfish and what that really means, because that's what's going to keep your foot on the gas pedal. So the other part of motivation is vision, and I probably just dropped another obvious bomb on you with this one by saying that you have to have a vision, but really I should have said you need to create a vision, because when you create a vision, it's easier to stay disciplined and stick to your goals, when you know what they are, who else they matter to and how you'll feel when you achieve them. Vision isn't just about what you want, but visualizing how you're going to get it Now for all you older generation people like me, you might not even remember this movie, but I'm gonna take you back to one of my favorite Julia Roberts movie and it's Pretty Woman. And at the very end of the movie there is a guy walking across the street shouting what's your dream? I hope you just smiled if you remember that part of the movie. But anyway, I want to know, like really, what is your dream?
Speaker 1:Having dreams is what makes us feel alive. It gives us purpose, it creates the motivation to get you started and oftentimes to keep you going. If you're not setting goals or have a vision for what you want and where you want to go, you're not going to move forward. You might move, but without a map to get you where you want to go. You might end up at the mountains when you really wanted to go to the beach.
Speaker 1:Create a vision around the key things that you want in your life, like your family, your health, money, travel, community faith, and then set goals for them, whether it's going to take five weeks or five years to reach. Once you have the goal, then you can create action plans around them of how you're going to achieve them, reverse, engineer what it's going to take and when it needs to happen, and then you're going to have yourself a plan. Otherwise, you'll just let life happen to you when it's going to happen, and, and then you're going to have yourself a plan. Otherwise, you'll just let life happen to you when it's going to happen and you get what you end up with. So, remember, we're talking today about the four things that I wish I knew when I first got started. Implement the first one, which is motivation, along with your why and your vision, and then we're going to move right on to the second M, which is mindset.
Speaker 1:How we think about something determines how we take action, and when it comes to mindset, I'm sharing with you two key areas that we need to tackle in order to be the best versions of ourselves and have the businesses that we want, and they are limiting beliefs and habits. When your mind becomes connected with where you need to go, there's no more convincing needed. Limiting beliefs are wrapped up in a nice little bow when we're children and they're given to us as a gift. It's our body's way of being in safe mode, like protecting us from harm. Our minds will literally go into what's called fight or flight mode when we're faced with something new or scary or challenging, our minds do not want us to do these things, because what if it hurts? What if you fail? What if you suck at it and people laugh at you? Limiting beliefs are basically like the guard standing outside of a castle trapping you in so that you can't ever see the beauty that's on the other side of the walls. So basically, you're like Rapunzel now, when you let your fears hold you back from going after what it is that you want. I already told you I'm a mom of two girls, so I'm a huge Disney princess fan.
Speaker 1:We all have limiting beliefs, and actually part of what took me so long to get to where I was was my own limiting beliefs around network marketing. It wasn't looked at as a traditional job. There were so many objections I knew I was going to have to overcome. I wasn't following in anybody's footsteps. I didn't go to school or get any specialized training to prepare me for this, and surely my husband didn't sign up to be married to someone that was quote involved in a pyramid scheme, so I was already imagining what his corporate coworkers were going to say. But had I listened to myself and all those crappy excuses as to why I couldn't or shouldn't do my business. I can't even imagine what my life would look like right now. And then we get to habits. Have you heard the quote? You're not running your life, your habits are. I never really thought about how my own habits could either level me up or have my business come crashing down.
Speaker 1:Habits are the basis of our success. They are what we repeatedly do of our success. They are what we repeatedly do. We already have many habits, but what we don't realize is that we mostly have the bad habits on autopilot, and that's why it's important that we practice good habits with intention.
Speaker 1:I'm going to drop another Julia Roberts movie on you. Have you ever seen the one called Runaway Bride? Well, in it, julia Roberts plays the character of Maggie Carpenter, and she has left three of her fiancés at the altar, giving her the nickname the Runaway Bride. With each man that she is with, maggie adopts their preferences, and in this case, it's how her fiancés like the way that their eggs are cooked scrambled, poached egg whites. Only like the way that their eggs are cooked scrambled, poached egg whites. Only Now, when she's called out for it, she tried to justify the way that she would change her mind all the time going. That's just called changing your mind, and the other person replied to her it's called not having a mind of your own when it comes to habits. You have to be aware of what yours are or you'll naturally adopt those around you, whether they're good or bad.
Speaker 1:According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40% 40% of our behaviors on any given day. What you do repeatedly, like, what you spend your time doing, what you spend your time thinking about, ultimately forms the person that you are, the things that you believe and the personality that you portray. In the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, habits are essentially made up of four steps cue, craving, response and reward. In short, the cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving, and then ultimately becomes associated with the cue. So how does all this relate back to what I wish I would have known when I first got started? Well, for one, I wish I would have started to write down all of my known habits and to become more aware of the ones that I was unconscious to. It would have been nice to know what cues triggered responses that created my habits, good or bad. It'd be also nice to know how could I change up those cues. In addition to the habits that I had, what habits was I going to need to make a business work? What behaviors or thoughts or actions were now going to be required of me?
Speaker 1:So I want you to take a few seconds here, whether you need to pause this or not and just start thinking about some of the negative thoughts or habits that you have in your life that's holding you back. How would your life be different? What would it look like if these didn't exist? Okay, so we just went through two of the four M's motivation and mindset. We're halfway there, guys, but now it's time to move along to the third M, which is management, and this isn't what you probably are thinking about, especially if your immediate thought was that I was going to mention something along the lines of time management. Nope, not it. This is about being the badass boss, the AKA manager of your business. My best advice here do it sooner than later. Later, when you start treating your business like a business, as if you just invested a million dollars to it and failing was not an option, then you'll be in business and literally that can be from day one. It's all up to you.
Speaker 1:So let me separate management into two important areas leadership and community. For leadership, as I just mentioned, you want to be in business as if you already have a thriving one, and I'm not saying, oh, fake it till you make it, or anything to that sort. What I'm saying is put yourself into the mindset of being a business owner. Invest now in the tools that you'll need to make it happen. Don't wait until you have a certain amount of customers or achieved any sort of rank or glamorous success, because obviously, with that type of success, your leadership skills will grow, but you don't have to check off any certain milestone to give yourself permission to lead, even if right now, your only client is your sister. You're a leader, my friend, so start acting like one.
Speaker 1:Here's a couple of suggestions to kick off your business right away. First one have a client management tool, and you might have just went. What's that? It's basically a system like a database that helps you manage your clients, your teams and your business activity. And trust me, I am a straight pen to paper gal all the way. But that is not sustainable as your business grows. So invest and learn now what systems are going to work for you sooner than later.
Speaker 1:My second tip to kicking your business off right away and stepping into that leadership role is to not wait to build an email list, no matter what age you are or generation that you're from, email is something that is not going away anytime soon. In fact, I've seen it become even more increasingly popular in the last few years, especially with all the changes in social media. Social media cannot and should not be the only way that you communicate with your audience and I, you guys I'm kicking myself for not starting an email list sooner and being more consistent with my communications. I can only imagine even how much further along that I would be. When you have an email list, you're the owner of your business, because right now, if you're just relying on having a Facebook friends list or your Instagram followers to connect with, I'm sorry but you're just renting space. You don't own or have rights to those contacts and if anything were to happen to those platforms, what would happen to your business?
Speaker 1:Social media is really just the face of your business. It's where people go to establish that know, like and trust factor and decide if they want to buy anything from you down the road. When you use email, it builds people up to take action on what you have. The point of emails is to get your target customer past their limiting beliefs, all those limiting beliefs that you just listed out earlier on. Guess what? We all have them, and once you've broken up with yours, you can help others do the same. When you know your customer's problems, your emails help solve them. And once you've broken up with yours, you can help others do the same. When you know your customers' problems, your emails help solve them. Also, emails are great for tracking, setting up campaigns and have more capabilities to get your messages in front of the right people.
Speaker 1:And my last tip it's be a leader. You can't spell leadership without lead, right? So I'll keep this one short and strategic, but when I say lead, I'm talking right out the gate. Set up team calls, have one-on-ones with your clients. Don't wait for permission to be a leader in your business, even if you have a solid upline or boss or team or community, it's important that you put yourself in a position where people feel they can trust and start coming to you.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of the next topic, and that is community and here I just really wanted to say a couple of things about leadership and social media and how you're representing yourself. Your social media profile will do one of two things it will attract and create curiosity, or it will repel and drive people away. If you feel like you're lacking in connection, go out and look at how you're representing yourself online. Like seriously, would you want to be friends with you? Do you provide value? Can people tell from your content, like what you do?
Speaker 1:When you become a business owner, your social media needs to level up. You're no longer posting your candy crush scores or taking quizzes on what spirit animal that you are. By the way, those create viruses on your devices and collect private data, so don't do it. I'm not saying, though, that all of a sudden, you have to start spamming your new business and the products that you're promoting. I'm not saying that at all, but you do need to consider the type of content that you're putting out there, the graphics or the pictures that you're posting, and what type of political debate that you're deciding to be a part of. If you want people to take you serious and start trusting you, you need to go out and audit yourself.
Speaker 1:If I saw someone's profile that just seemed a little wacky tabacky. I'm likely to unfollow them and I'm surely not gonna buy from them in the future. And then the last thing that I'll say about community show up like literally every day, in different ways that represent who you are and the message that you wanna send out. Oh my goodness, friends, can you believe it? Boy, this went by really fast, but we were already at the final M, which is maintenance, and really this is my favorite. This is where it all happens. I know earlier in the episode, in the motivation section, I mentioned that Y and vision were vital in making things happen, but this is the M that brings all the others together and get shit done. It's also the M that most people know the least about and therefore typically don't do. It's where we get stuck between having a hobby mindset and a business builder mindset. Really, this fourth M should be renamed magic, because when you learn and do these next two things, your business does a complete turnaround.
Speaker 1:The first thing that you must do for the highest maintenance of your business is daily activities Again another no brainer, right, but you would be surprised how many people know that they have core daily activities to do in their business, but they don't do it. They know they have to be consistent, but they aren't. They get caught up doing the quote busy work like scrolling social media, and then they wonder why their business isn't growing when they're always working and always busy. It's because they aren't doing the actual activities that move the needle, that help them connect with others, that put them in front of other people to actually get to know them. They're not building a community and creating that email list like I mentioned. I'm gonna guess, or hope anyway, that most of you that are in business use some sort of daily activity checklist or to-do list, either one that maybe you were given from your company via a handbook, something you found online, or maybe even a tracker that you created yourself, knowing the activities that were going to be required to help you reach the necessary milestones and success in your business. Regardless of what type of daily tracker you have, make sure that the activities listed on them are associated to you growing a business and making money, and not just hitting certain ranks or status. This is especially for those in direct sales or network marketing. Oftentimes you will hear of people reaching levels of achievement in their organization only to have their businesses take a dive shortly after. And it's because, although they achieved what I call outside success, the recognition and all the fame, they didn't have the fortune, they didn't build a sustainable business with processes and systems and through genuine work.
Speaker 1:I can sum up my daily activities into five categories. The first one, fitness and nutrition. This is my exercise, my healthy eating and my wellness. The second, branding and marketing. That's my social media, my email and any promotions that I'm doing. Third, sharing opportunities sharing of my products, sharing of my service, sharing of my business, sharing my community, sharing me. And fourth is leadership, so professional development, working with mentors and helping others. And the last one is engagement, so that's putting together events, online groups, attending local networking, going live. All that that encompasses groups attending local networking, going live. All that that encompasses.
Speaker 1:Does it make sense why I included daily activities under maintenance? Because it's important that you learn how to maintain the key activities that will move you appropriately. You can't do all the things every day, and when I bring up daily activities, this also refers to not just what you're doing, but how you're doing it and when. Most often, you're handed a sheet of activities to check off so you know what to do, but then you're like okay, now what? How do you not just manage what you have to do, but then maintain everything so that you're doing the right things in the right amount of time on the right days? Well, this is actually where the second piece comes in. To have the highest maintenance of your business, you need the daily activities and you need to have a schedule. Your schedules shall set you free. Seriously, this is one of my most favorite quotes.
Speaker 1:It amazes me how many people have a business or say they have a business, but they have no schedule. They have no time blocks for when they're working. They have no days of the week assigned to work on certain projects. It would blow your mind how many people I worked with even those that have been in the network marketing space for years who don't have any type of calendar. Now they may have one for like their personal life or their real job, but when it comes to maintaining their daily activities for their own business, they walk into each day completely blindfolded, with no structure, no strategy, no schedule and usually with the mentality of oh, I'll just do it when I have time. How many times have you said that to yourself?
Speaker 1:Having a schedule is like putting together instructions for how you want to build something. Take a car, for example. You don't just decide one day that you want to build a car and then you just build a car. You need to know what parts that you're going to need, what gets put together first, how much time each step is going to take, and are you going to need help from anybody. This is just like building a business. If you don't have a schedule for your business, even if you're only working at a couple hours a day, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you won't have a business for too long. Either you're going to get burned out from trying to fly by the seat of your pants or your business will fade over time.
Speaker 1:Without some sort of systems in place, success is a guessing game. Your schedule should not be. Your work needs to be intentional, and that all starts with having a plan. A poorly maintained calendar leads to unnecessary overwhelm, thoughts of giving up, feeling as if you aren't meant for success and you're unworthy and you're not smart enough, and all those limiting beliefs that we just talked about. I just heard this quote this week in one of my workouts Self-confidence comes from doing what you told yourself you were going to do. So maybe your business is going like the movie Groundhog Day Different day, same result or no results.
Speaker 1:If so, I hope that some of the information I shared today will help you discover what's been holding you back from moving forward.
Speaker 1:Or maybe you heard something today that's an easier way to what you've been doing or not doing.
Speaker 1:I just felt that this episode is really important because, although entrepreneurship is a bumpy, rocky road that's going to give everyone a unique experience, that doesn't mean that you have to go through the extra trials and errors that maybe some of us, more seasoned people, have already had to do. If you're hoping for more time, more peace, more space in your life, you need to be serious about learning the systems of what it takes to not just take control of your calendar, but to be disciplined with what you need to do in the time that you have it. Make the decision to never get in your own way again, to push past those limiting beliefs and actually see yourself as your future version. I know this was a handful, you guys, and thank you so, so much for your time today and sticking with me. I'll keep this ending short and I just want to remind you to check the show notes for the link to the guide, and I'll see you all next week. Bye for now.