You’ve been asking for help with business owner mindset, and my guest Elle and I are here to deliver! Elle Turner is a Business Mindset Mentor, and host of her own incredible podcast “Taking it Personally”. She was gracious enough to join me for this episode, and we chat alllll things “business owner mindset” – you’re gonna love this one. Elle talks about Building the Business Owner, and spoiler alert – there are a lot of 🤯🤯🤯 moments.

Not only did Elle guest on the podcast, she has graciously created a Free Guide just for you to help build your mindset and help you get out of your own way. 🚀 

Download the Free Guide HERE.

Listen to Elle’s Podcast HERE.

Transcript:

Grab a seat and a cup of coffee because you just enrolled in Ultrasound Business School. We are obsessed with all things ultrasound and are here to take you on a journey through the messy and the magical side of business ownership. Think marketing, contracts, vendors, admin, growth mindset. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This is the Talking Tech Podcast, a sonographer’s guide to entrepreneurship. Here’s your host, Jennifer Lindsey.

Jen (00:31):

Okay, everyone, I am so thrilled to introduce you to my guest today on the podcast, Ms. Elle Turner. She is CEO of Elle Turner Creative. Elle, thank you so much for being here with me today.

Elle (00:46):

Oh, thank you so much for inviting me, Jen. I’m really looking forward to talking with you today.

Jen (00:50):

We are going to have so much fun. Now, Elle and I are in the mastermind together, with a bunch of other amazing business women, that’s how we met. Elle is an expert in mindset for business owners. Her key message really is that business is personal, right? We need to build the business owner to build the business, and I could not agree more. I’ve had so many people, so many sonographers that I’ve spoken with telling me, you know, how excited they are about starting their business, but their mind keeps getting in the way, right? Yeah. So I’m so thankful to have Elle on here, on the podcast today to kind of help us get our brains on track, because really the sky is the limit when we truly believe in ourselves and what we can accomplish. So let’s dive in. I know, and I feel like everyone understands.

(01:41)
Mindset is such an important part of starting and growing a business. I have mentioned this before, sonographers that I chat with are so pumped to start their business. They have these high hopes and dreams, but they have such a fear of so many things, right? Fear of failure, fear of being out of their comfort zone, right? Healthcare is their wheelhouse. Doing things like sales and marketing and running a business are out of their comfort zone. They’re maybe afraid physicians are going to ask them a question that they don’t know they’re used to being just that expert in their field and stepping out of that is scary. Yeah. So our brain starts playing tricks on us to keep us in our comfort zone, right? And this is where that mindset work comes in.

Elle (02:24):

Yeah,

Jen (02:24):

Absolutely. I know I’m going to learn a ton on this podcast from you, Elle, and everybody. Elle has the most lovely accent because she lives in Scotland. So we get to listen to her beautiful voice as well, which I get so excited about.

Elle (02:37):

Oh, thank you very much. That’s very kind.

Jen (02:40):

Now Elle, let’s dive in. I’m so excited because I know I am going to be taking notes while we’re on this podcast because I know I’m going to learn so much. We tend to really focus on the external parts of our business. And you know this better than anyone because you started a business and you’re going to tell us about this here in a minute. You started a business in a whole other track. 

Elle:

Yes.

Jen:

And have gone to the mindset side because you realized how important it is. You know, we think when we start our business, we need to focus so much on marketing, sales, you know, for us in, in our industry, the legal side of our business, what vendors we need. All of that’s of course important, but it’s not the only learning curve. So tell us a little bit more about the learning curve on the mindset side of things.

Elle (03:26):

Absolutely. I mean, I think that’s the sensible way to approach business. That’s the rational way to approach business. That’s what logically makes sense to us, right? It’s that the learning curve lies in all the things that we don’t know how to do. Mm-hmm. But what that actually does is takes the difference maker in your business out of the equation right. From the get go. And you are the difference maker in your business.

Jen (03:54):

Love that.

Elle (03:55):

And I found that out the hard way, which is why I do what I do now. I started just very quickly. I started my first business in the online space in 2016, designing eco-friendly stationery with a fiction twist because I’m a writer as well. And I thought that what I needed to do was marketing and sales, sure. And the legal side of my business and all the rest of the things that you mentioned there. And I had completely disregarded the fact that how I was approaching that work and learning all the things that I needed to learn after working in the corporate space for 20 years. Right. And you know, feeling like that expert in what I did then. Completely misunderstanding from my own perspective that it was how I was approaching this new role as entrepreneur.

(04:54)
That was going to determine how I took action and then the result of that action. So I thought that if I got sales or people said nice things about my stationary, my notebooks, that my mindset would be good as a result of that. Because I thought that that was the indicator, you know, positive comments, sales. I thought, well, my mindset will be fine then. Sure. But of course, I came to realize that I had it completely back to front. Yeah. And that I was looking externally for approval. I was looking externally for validation. And it takes its own time to get business off the ground. You know, nobody’s sitting, waiting to give you validation or give you a round of applause or tell you how well you’re doing or how hard you’ve been working because they don’t see that part.

(05:48)
And it’s not their role to see that part of it. So we have to do that for ourselves mm-hmm. And  that’s why I do what I do now. I help solopreneurs, micro-business owners look at their business as a separate being from them. Because I think when we started, it’s also personal. It’s all wrapped up, and business is personal, as you said. I love that. But in order to lead a business, we need to look at it as that, we need to disentangle it from our own doubts. We need to disentangle it from our own fears and it’s mindset work. That is the essential component I’ve found now as a not simply as a starting point, but as a business companion, as a priority business activity. Yes. Day in and day out. Just like marketing or sales. And, you know, that’s the way that I like to look at it and discuss it.

Jen (06:52):

I love that Elle, it is so true. And I’m sure everyone listening has like, their mind is getting blown because mine is too thinking of it. And I love how you said, disentangling it from our day to day, but also adding it in, ongoing to our business. Just like we always need to be marketing. We always need to be doing all of these kinds of external things to continue to build our business, but realizing that working on ourselves as the business owner is just as important. And I mean, you’ve been in business for a long time. I’ve been in business for a long time. I can definitely say that is absolutely true. And so I’m so excited to learn more about how we can actually do that. So you talk about needing to build the business owner, right? Kind of putting that separate from our business activities, the actual activities we’re doing to grow our business. What does this mean exactly? And what can we kind of be doing to build ourselves as the business owner? What’s this mindset work look like?

Elle (07:55):

What does it look like? Well, the unsatisfying answer is that it depends on what resonates with us as individuals. But I will be a bit more helpful as we go through this, give some examples, as we go through this conversation.

(08:13):

I think building the business owner is about developing a personal core that allows us to approach our work and take action and take the quality of action that our business needs us to take and our business deserves from us. But that maybe sounds a little bit, I don’t know, pretentious. I think there’s different ways to look at mindset work, and I think it can get a bit of a bad press. It’s just maybe positive thinking, sure. Or slap an affirmation on the top of however you’re feeling and if you say it to yourself often enough, you know, you’ll kind of brainwash yourself into believing. And, you know, I have found that that doesn’t work for me. And, what works for me is to look at mindset as a logical activity.

(09:07)
It’s not something that’s airy fairy, it’s not something that’s fluffy. It’s something that makes sense to me because I am the person who needs to take the action. And that action has to be of a certain quality. So if I am using my energy on internal conflict by doubting myself or putting my fears first or feeling like an imposter, which all still happens; but if I am expanding my energy in that way, then the quality of the action that I’m taking in my business is not as good as it could be. If I had done some work to focus on building my trust in myself and my ability to make decisions, to build my confidence, to keep the faith when there’s bumps in the business road, and just to recognize that all these things are sort of part and parcel of the job, and the job description and not take it to mean anything about me personally or my identity, I think is part of it.

(10:06)
Because I think I am certainly from my own experience, I’m not a terribly confident person. I’m not, I don’t feel confident. I’m not a confident person. But that is assuming confidence or lack of confidence into my identity in terms of it. Something that’s fixed, something that can’t be changed or I’m not a confident person, therefore I won’t be able to do that. And that’s just not the case. We feel a lack of confidence in certain situations, but that doesn’t say anything about our abilities as a person. And it’s recognizing these things and viewing them in that way. That is the mindset work. So it’s not just saying, oh, I’m confident, I’m confident, I’m confident, and as an affirmation, but it’s recognizing that it’s a feeling. Not an identity as one example of the work that helps us take the action we need to take. Because that’s what this is all about in this context of being a business owner, right. Is our mindset determines how we think about the events and circumstances that happen in our business and our life and the meanings that we attach to them. So our job here is to think in a way that supports the action that we’re needing to take, and to sort of dial down anything that is stepping in the way of that. And that to me is, is mindset work.

Jen (11:34):

Yeah. Absolutely. And I love that explanation too. You know, looking at it as something that is a thought or a feeling, not our actual identity. And I know this from personal experience, and I’ll tie this into, you know, our industry, when we first started our mobile side of our business, and I was the one who was doing marketing, didn’t have any experience in it at all. I had to go out and talk to physicians about our services, and I would literally sit in my car, half the time with tears in my eyes thinking, I am so scared to do this. This is so far outside of my comfort zone. And you talking about the fact that if we can take that feeling and say, okay, this is a feeling I’m having now, but once I do this enough, I can feel confident in this.

(12:33)
And I know from personal experience that has happened to me, I was nervous to talk to one doctor. I could at this stage in the game, go in and, you know, give a presentation to 20 physicians and not bat an eye, but it’s only because I did it over and over and over again and was able to get that confidence from that repetition of doing something that was outside of my comfort zone. And that was scary for me. And so absolutely. That’s so wonderful to think of it as this is not me as a person.

Elle (13:09):

Yeah. And I think I resonate with what you’re saying and, you know, in terms of what I have been doing, posting online or getting on video online, I mean, I was literally sweating the first time that I did it because, you know, it was all the fears of what are people going to think? What are they going to say to me? And one thing that I have found particularly helpful because it is true, what you said is a hundred percent true. That the more that we do things the more confident we get at doing them. But we still need to have something that gets us to do that first hurdle. Yes. Something that helps us to do that. And one thing that I found really useful is actually thinking, well, the role that our brain is playing and what it is trying to do now. I’m definitely not a neuroscientist. My background is in human resources and I’m definitely not a neuroscientist. So I do apologize if this is a very painful layperson’s description of what’s going on.

Jen (14:11):

We’re all lay people here. We do not say neuroscience. We just need help on how to get over this and get confident in this stuff we’re doing in our business cell.

Elle (14:19):

Well, my layperson’s interpretation of what our brains are doing. I mean, our brains are there to keep us safe. Yes. And if our brain detects something scary mm-hmm, it’s going to try to get us to not do it by any means necessary. So that means throwing anything at us to try and stop us doing it whether it’s got any basis in truth or not. And that makes sense from an evolutionary point of view, you know, the saber tooth tigers, it’s a popular story, the saber tooth. Yeah, absolutely. But our brain doesn’t know that. You know, going to see a doctor isn’t the same as being faced by a saber tooth tiger or doesn’t know that posting online isn’t the same. And so it provokes the same response in us, and I think even just knowing that it’s not. Again, it goes back to this identity piece or, you know, our propensity to sort of take things on ourselves and turn inwards on ourselves and think, well, I mustn’t be good enough.

(15:21)
I mustn’t be up to this, other people can do this, why can’t I? And all these, that self-doubt and imposter syndrome that rears his head, I think it just helps to know, well that’s an evolutionary response. That’s a natural reaction. You know, we don’t want to be rejected again. Possibly, you know, when animals don’t want to be separated from their herd because that makes them vulnerable. My understanding that, you know, we want to be brought into situations, not kind of banished from them, et cetera. So, you know, it’s brainwork to be fearing rejection and fearing looking, you know, silly in front of groups of people, et cetera. Because we don’t want to be banished. So I think once we realize that it is a biological thing

It’s not about us or our abilities. Right. I found that that really, really helped because mindset work isn’t something that you just do once and that’s the end of the story. You know, I don’t like to kind of compare it to housework or working out or that sort of thing because it makes it sound like it’s not fun. But I think mindset work is the most fun, but we’ll come to that. But, you know, you can’t say, oh, I cleaned the house last November, I’m fine now. Or, you know, I worked out in the mid nineties, I’m set for life kind of thing. In a way, it is something that we have to keep doing. And, you know, the more we expand our comfort zone, there’s always something else that comes up that needs to expand it even further. So the doubts that we maybe have worked through in one situation, they may crop up again, or there’ll be new ones that never even occurred to us because it’s something that wasn’t relevant before. So it’s about being vigilant to the fact that our brains are doing this to us, that our thoughts aren’t necessarily based in truth and it’s about shifting them faster rather than not having them because we are humans and we’re going to have the thoughts.

Jen (17:25):

Exactly.

Elle (17:26):

And that there’s nothing wrong with that.

Jen (17:28):

I’m so glad you brought that up because I have so many clients that, you know, say to me, were you nervous about this at all, Jennifer? Like, am I just crazy? You know, I’m so nervous about whatever it is. You know, going in and speaking in front of the physicians for the first few times when they’re presenting their new service or their first day at a new client’s office. And what I think has helped, and you hit the nail on the head with this, is me saying, yes. And honestly, if you weren’t nervous, that would be odd.

It’s so ingrained in us. And if we think about it that way, I love how you’ve explained that because if we think about it in the scenario that this is what our bodies are supposed to be doing to protect us. Yeah. But we have to understand that that fear, like you said, isn’t the same as that saber tooth tiger. Our fear is not the same. So we have to train our brains to understand this is normal. This is what my brain should be doing, and I need to understand that this fear that I’m having is not because of danger, it’s because of the unknown.

Elle (18:39):

Discomfort.

Jen (18:40):

Yeah. We’re trying to stay in our comfort zone, and I love that quote. I don’t know who said it, but growth never happens inside our comfort zone. Yeah. And it really doesn’t, it really doesn’t. There’s no way to build a business to build that life that people are, are excited about, and have goals toward without getting outside of our comfort.

Elle (19:04):

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, when you’re saying people were asking you, is this, you know, did you feel like this? Is this, is this sort of “normal” to feel this way? I mean, I think that when we do have doubts, when we do have fears, when we do have these thoughts, it is worth recognizing them and looking at what help are they giving us? Because yes, there’s the component that it’s a natural reaction within our bodies because of being human, but also it is telling you something too. So if you are nervous about something, you know, you are approaching it with a bit of humility rather than just sort of barreling in with an arrogance that’s going to be not well received. So, I mean, I think it’s, it’s looking at your fears. What are they, what are they telling you about what’s important to you? So in what way is that fear your friend, for want of a better expression? And then just how can you utilize that in a way that’s going to support action? Like I keep saying, rather than hinder it. And that’s really what we’re trying to do.

Jen (20:11):

So going back to, we kind of touched on this a little bit already, one of the real things that a lot of my clients are nervous about, you know, is around sales.

Elle (20:27):

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.

Jen (20:29):

Because their real health is healthcare. That’s what they’re used to. When they speak to physicians in their day-to-day job as a sonographer, they are an expert in what they are doing, and they feel confident speaking to their radiologists, their cardiologists, their fellow sonographers because they’ve had experience. I always try to remind people too, remember when you first got out of school, you didn’t feel as confident as you do today. Think of it in that kind of scenario as well. But they’re out of their comfort zone there. So I know we’ve talked about, you know, what this mindset work is, the purpose of it. Do you have any strategies that we could kind of utilize to get over that fear of the unknown? So let’s say, you know, we can even use the example of a new business owner, they’re getting ready to go out and start their sales and marketing cycle of their business. What should they be doing? Should it be like journaling? I mean, there’s so many different ways, I think, and like you mentioned at the top of the podcast, it kind of has to be something that resonates with each person. But what are some of the strategies or things that they could look at doing and maybe find some of the best options for them?

Elle (21:47):

Yeah, I mean, journaling is always a great one because that helps us articulate our thoughts, That’s, you know, when we’re putting language around something, then that makes it simpler to understand. But I think also coming into play here is our general perception of sales and what that is. And I think a lot of mindset work on finding out how the mindset work resonates with you can be done by questioning. What’s kind of coming up for you in relation to the topic? So what, you know, what is it about sales that’s causing the issue? Are you seeing it because in a way that you’ve maybe been watching movies with salesmen in it? They’re, you know, behaving in a way that you think’s a bit ugh.

(22:46)
You know, is that your perception of sales? What is the perception of sales that’s causing you this unease rather. And you know, I think if you’ve had experience being a sonographer, you know that you are able to do the job. It’s just in a different format. And it’s about believing in what you are offering that person. Say the doctor, it’s about believing in what you’re offering them, but also recognizing that you’re on the same side because you both want what’s best for the patient ultimately in the end. And I think we tend to look at sales as, because of our connotations that it can come with, we tend to look at sales as us taking something from somebody or being on the opposite side of a fence from somebody.

(23:42)
But you’re not. You are on the same side as your physician, because you both want the same outcomes. So it’s about focusing on the fact that you can provide them with what they need. And, that’s a positive thing, I would say that’s a positive mindset. That’s a supportive mindset to go into the conversation with, is that you have got the thing that they need in order to achieve their end result, which is your end result too. That the patients get the best service possible. So I think it’s always thinking about your customer. What are they needing? And how are you providing it? Rather than the fact that you are trying to get money from them, which is essentially what scares us all is because we feel that we’re taking something as opposed to giving something, and that’s not really the case.

Jen (24:38):

I love this. This is so true. So, you know, for our listeners here, like think about the business model, our mobile ultrasound, that’s what the majority of my clients are in mobile ultrasound fee for service. Where they’re going into the physician’s practice, the way that it’s actually set up, the physician is actually receiving a revenue back by having them in the office. The patients are receiving exceptional care back in the practice where they already feel comfortable. They don’t have to go to the hospital or another imaging center, fill out a bunch of paperwork, figuring out where to park. We’re kind of an extension of their staff. We’re really creating an ultrasound department in their office and managing the whole thing. So I love that, thinking about it as being in kind of partnership with the physician and not like we’re on the other side of the fence taking, because we obviously have to charge for our services.

Elle (25:31):

Yeah, absolutely.

Jen (25:32):

That’s what we’re doing. But not focusing on the investment that the physician is making, we’re focusing on the fact that I have something that can help the physician have that same end result that they are wanting, which is great care for the patients. Yeah. I mean, there’s a thousand other things. I love that mindset and you’re right. I think having that mindset really helps us kind of go into an uncomfortable situation just with that mindset shift of being able to provide something to someone rather than taking

Elle (26:03):

Absolutely. Because it’s a win-win that  you’re taking part in. And you, I think that is looking at the other person and what they are getting out of the situation, but there is nothing wrong with thinking about what you are getting out of the situation as well. And why you started your own business in the first place, and why what you are wanting to achieve for your life from having your own business and allowing that to fuel you as well. Because, you know, what I’m very conscious about with mindset work is it’s very easy to say, but it still leaves it in every individual’s hands to actually do. And you could go in to a doctor’s office with the best role in the world and this win-win mindset, and it may not be received the way that you would want it to be. But that comes back to this core of self-trust and being able to weather these bumps because, you know, you have approached it with a mindset that’s allowing you to take action towards your business goals rather than be derailed.

(27:14)
So it’s not about needing the result to be the way that you would ideally hope it to be in order to keep your mindset on track. Does that make sense?

Jen (27:26):

Absolutely. And that’s, I think such a great point. You know, you mentioned this earlier as well, if we’re separating ourselves from like the external praise, not you utilizing that to fuel our mindset, which is so important. Like you mentioned, when you first started your first business, that’s what you’re waiting for, is like the skills and the oh these are amazing and all of that to fuel our mindset. But I say this to my clients and, and sonographers I talk to all the time that there are going to be bumps in the road. So we are basically taking on as the CEO of our company, there are bumps in the road for the hospitals we worked for, or the imaging centers we worked for, the doctor’s offices we work for, but 90% of those we don’t see as the employee.

(28:19)
Somebody else is dealing with those. Someone else is dealing with the marketing and the sales and all of those types of things. But as the CEO now, we are seeing the backend part, the business that every business has. I think sometimes that gets so nerve wracking for people because when you do hear a no, or like you mentioned, walking into the office and you know, this is a win-win and the doctor’s like, I don’t like this idea at all. It’s like crushing. But you have to understand that’s not you, like you’ve said, it’s doesn’t have anything to do with you and it shouldn’t be the fuel for your mindset work because you’re absolutely right. That can be something that is absolutely crushing to someone.

(29:04):

If that’s what they’re basing their mindset on, that can be crushing and they can come out of that meeting saying, this is not going to work. Wow.

Elle (29:14):

And again, it’s recognizing that there’s nothing wrong with that reaction. But the mindset work is to do with shifting that so that you’re not staying within it. You know, I mean, if people unsubscribed from my newsletter or, you know, leave my group or whatever, it’s still like, oh, what did I say, what did I do? But, you know, it’s kind of like you know, that’s, that has to be fleeting. And the more that you focus mindset work as an actual valid activity, the more fleeting that can become.

Jen (29:47):

That’s such a good point as well because you’re right. I mean, like you said, you’ve been in business for a long time. I’ve been in business for almost 20 years. We don’t like hearing the no’s or like you said, an unsubscribe or something like that. I mean, this isn’t talking about never having those feelings again.

(30:05):

It’s about understanding them and being able to shift that mindset quicker. Right. Am I understanding that?

Elle (30:11):

Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. But within this context of mindset work to help you in your business and to be your business companion, it is about what is going to support the action that you want to take towards the goal that you’re trying to achieve and what’s not going to hinder it.

Jen (30:36):

Right.

Elle (30:36):

Double negative there. Yeah.

Jen (30:38):

Yeah. And we talked about this offline before we started recording today. That, you know, a lot of the things that we do when we allow our brain to take over. That brain trying to keep us in the comfort zone situation, it actually hinders the actions that we actually take. Yeah. And so I loved that you brought up that point because in a sales situation as an example, you know, we have to be out marketing to our physicians to move our business forward. And having a mindset in which we are hindered from doing that as much as we should be doing is going to hinder our business as a whole. Yeah. So I loved that you’ve talked about understanding the mindset. We need  to be able to actually take those actions, those business building actions that we need to be taking to move our business forward.

Elle (31:49):

Yep. Absolutely.

Jen (31:51):

I think understanding that, and, you know, some of the things we’ve talked about in our, mastermind and, a lot of people since my audience is healthcare, they might not know what a mastermind is. So basically it’s a bunch of incredible people. Ours is all women. We have what, 12 or 13 ladies, I think? Something like that. 

Elle (32:10):

Like that. Yep. 11, 12.

Jen (32:12):

We’re all business owners in just different industries and it’s just so much fun because being an entrepreneur can be lonely. It really can. Because if you think about it, you mentioned you’re from corporate, you know, all of our sonographers are used to being around a hospital. So they’ve got administration or if they’re in a physician practice, they have the physician, the office manager, other staff, those types of things. But as an entrepreneur, you’re kind of in it alone. And so I think it’s so nice to have these types of groups. So for our Ultrasound Business Academy as an example, we have our monthly Zooms with everybody else who’s in the same boat as you. And that’s kind of what the mastermind is, just a bunch of us. We have some trainings, we also do hot seats where we each kind of have like, “Hey, here’s what’s going on in my business, what do you guys think about this? How could I do this better? Or, you know, what are your ideas about this new service I’m coming out with those types of things.” So a mastermind is a really cool way to get a bunch of entrepreneurs together and have it feel more like a place with likeminded people.

Elle (33:24):

Yeah. Like, like you’ve got colleagues again.

Jen (33:26):

Exactly. Exactly.

Elle (33:28):

I love it. Because what we were saying earlier about this tendency to think, is it just me who’s like this? When you have people around you who are all in business, or starting their own business, then you see it’s not just you. You know, we have different spins on the same fears really.

Jen (33:55):

That is so true. Like we were talking about in our mastermind that there are, and I talk about this with my audience too, once we get our businesses up and running, kind of past that startup phase, there are business building phases and there are marketing phases kind of depending on where we’re at in our business. For those that are listening that maybe haven’t heard me talk about this before, you’re in a business building phase until you’re consistently reaching a revenue goal that you’ve set for yourself. And once you’re there, you can either raise that revenue goal, and continue in a business building phase or transition more to a marketing phase where you’re creating awareness, building a pipeline, those types of things. What happens a lot, and I think has so much to do with mindset, is that marketing activities that we should be doing in a marketing phase are easy.

(34:49)
They’re kind of behind the scenes, right? They’re like posting on social media a picture of your information or posting some things on LinkedIn or those types of activities. Whereas business building activities are the things that get us outside of our comfort zone. It’s actually meeting with physicians. It’s having a vendor booth at a health fair, talking to people face-to-face. It’s the things that get us outside of our comfort zone. And so sometimes when our mind is in that mindset of this makes me uncomfortable, so I’m going to focus on these activities, but they’re the activities that aren’t actually going to move the business forward. So that correlates, I feel like, so well with what you were saying, that your mind has to be in the right place for you to be able to do the activities that are actually going to move the business forward. And that is a mistake I see a lot of business owners make a lot of the time, is that their brain’s playing tricks on them and thinking they’re super busy, which they are, they’re just working on the wrong activities. And so to be able to understand that, allowing our mind to understand what activities we should be doing, but getting in that right head space to get out of our comfort zone to do those activities is so important.

Elle (36:17):

Absolutely. And I think this comes back to the point about what’s individual for people as well, because, you know, I was smiling to myself there when you said, oh, posting on social media is easy. Yeah, I certainly didn’t find it easy at first because I was thinking, oh, I’m going to offend the person who runs this Facebook group and they’re going to boot me out and I’m going to be embarrassed and all this kind of thing. And I was building that up in my mind as a thing that was preventing me from taking the action to become visible. So it can show up in different ways for different people, but part of it is the awareness that, like you said yourself is thinking, well, why am I doing this?

(37:04)
Why am I updating my website again? Or why am I changing my Facebook about section again, or whatever. If Facebook even still has an about section, I’m not sure. But a lot of it is about recognizing and being honest with yourself. And again, it comes back to the self-trust part and the looking at yourself as the owner of a business. Not just the person who is their own boss to the extent that they can do what they like. It’s not about being able to do what you like per se. It’s about being able to do what your business needs you to do. And sometimes the two things don’t match up. Sometimes they do, sometimes they do. True.

Jen (38:06):

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.

Elle (38:07):

Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes it’s the, oh, I’d really rather just have a cup of coffee and a cross on to be honest. But, you know, that is so true.

(38:19):

It is about that separation, but also the personal aspect that is about cultivating the core strengths, I suppose would be the word of self trust and decision making and those sorts of things. And the belief that you can find a solution to whatever comes up. That, that sort of thing.

Jen (38:45):

That is so key, having the belief in yourself that no matter what comes at you, you can figure it out. Yeah. Now, yes, it may be stressful, right? We know this as business owners, it may be very stressful. We may have the thought in our head like, oh my word, this is too much. But understanding, quickly shifting that mindset again to say, okay, I have the CEO pants on. And I am going to do whatever I need to do to make this a success. That is so key for business owners because, if you don’t have that mindset, you will stop.

Elle (39:28):

Yeah. And again having the solution can be getting external help, you know. It doesn’t mean to say you have to actually understand the inner workings of your computer or whatever. No. You not having the solution means, well, this is not my skillset, therefore I need to outsource this. That is you finding the solution. That’s not you not being able to find the solution. You know, it’s recognizing that.

Jen (40:03):

I love that. Now, I would love to get kind of a final thought here because I have people say this to me a lot. I want to start my own business, I’m excited about starting my own business. Obviously, I’m not feeling a hundred percent confident because I don’t know everything. So I need to research everything. I need to know everything before I jump in. I’ve got to feel a hundred percent confident in all of this stuff and then I’ll start. But we all know that whenever we start something new, we’re never going to be a hundred percent confident. Because there’s a learning curve for everything. The only way to get confident is to get in it,  and do the thing we’re not confident in to actually gain the confidence. So what do you have as kind of advice for someone who’s considering starting their own business, feeling like they need to feel that 100% confidence before they do it? What advice do you have for us around that? What can they be doing or thinking or shifting as far as their mindset goes?

Elle (41:11):

I think we think we’re looking for confidence, but we’re not looking for certainty.

Jen (41:20):

Oh.

Elle (41:21):

And we’re looking for certainty that whatever action we take is going to work the way we want it to work, and in the timeline that we want it to work in. That’s what we’re really saying there when we’re saying, I’m not a hundred percent confident to start this. Oh man. And so I think the baby steps are recognizing that you are your business’s biggest asset. So you go because you can.

Jen (41:52):

Absolutely. Oh man, I love Elle. So Elle and I are on Zoom doing this podcast and I’m in the background as she’s talking, doing like the mind blown thing.

Elle (42:03):

That is so good. That is so good. And that’s so true. Yeah. We’re not looking for confidence. We are looking for certainty. I want to be a hundred percent sure every step I make is going to be the right step. Exactly. How I want it to work out exactly how I want it to look. That is so true. Yeah. And we’re never going to have certainty in anything. So you’re right. Baby steps.

Jen (42:28):

Whatever it is. And that’s just our brains again, because it’s looking for the certainty, it’s looking for the solutions. It’s looking for all problems to be solved. 

Elle (42:41):

So I think we raise the stakes around things like business. It’s the same with, you know, gardening. You know, we plant something with no knowledge of whether or not it’s going to flower or not, but we haven’t raised the stakes around that. And it doesn’t work, the frost gets it or something and we think, oh, well I’ll try again. And we haven’t raised the stakes around gardening, so we don’t feel it so deeply, but we raise the stakes around business because business is personal. It is.

Jen (43:14):

And, and we’ve gone through full circle.

Elle (43:16):

We’ve gone full circle.

Jen (43:19):

Elle was so incredible. Thank you so much. I mean, I learned a ton. I am certain that everyone listening learned so much. Can you please tell us? I hope so. Where to find you so that we can continue to learn more from you. I know you’ve got your social media, you have a Facebook group too as well, right?

Elle (43:39):

There’s lots going on at the moment. I mean, I’ve got a podcast called Taking it Personally. Obviously very welcome to come and join me on that and listen to that. Probably the best place is really my mailing list. If I may leave you a link to that, because that’s always the place that I share news first. And I love it. Share all the dates, share all the details.

Jen (44:07):

I love it. Ok. So everybody, I’ll have a link when we post the podcast, we’ll definitely have a link on our website to ensure that you have access to Elle’s mailing list and podcast. And she has a little gift for everyone. This was so generous of her. She’s going to create a worksheet template, something for us based on everything we’ve spoken about today to really help us get those mindset shifts that we need for our business building the business owner. So we’ll have that as a link as well. Thank you so much for being here today, this has been incredible. 

Elle:

Thank you for having me. I’ve really enjoyed it. Really enjoyed talking to you Jen.

Jen (44:52):

Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much.

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